Page 39

Ruben was there in a heartbeat, leaning down to feel the muscle.

And when he pressed on it, when it hurtmore,I kicked him right in his shin for the effort. “That hurts,” I snapped.

“Why? Did you pull a muscle?”

“No, I’m just not used to exercise like that. I’m sore.”

“You’re sore from just that?”

“What, you don’t get sore?”

He shook his head. “Most Spirits don’t because we don’t grow or lose muscle the same way as humans. Minds do, I believe. It seems you are not one of the more physically superior types.”

“Physically superior,” I muttered, mocking him by raising and lowering the intonation of the words.

He shook his head as though he weren’t surprised by my little outburst. “You should take a hot bath, then rub out the knots in your muscles.” He paused. “I could help you with that if you wish. When people do it themselves, they rarely do a good enough job since they tend to avoid pain.”

“Yeah, I’m a big avoid pain person, so maybe not?”

“You will hurt far more tomorrow if you don’t take care of it tonight. I assure you that you will sleep better if you just do as I say.”

“Only if you talk dirty.”

He snorted softly then rose. “I’ll start the water. You don’t need to soak long—I know you’re tired—but some amount of hot water will help your muscles to relax and make the massage more effective.” He didn’t wait for my opinion, instead walking toward the bathroom.

The splashing of water in what sounded like a hella-deep tub came from the room, along with a delicate floral scent. Had he added some sort of bubble bath?

A place like this would probably have all sorts of goodies like that, wouldn’t it?

He came back about five minutes later. “I set out a towel for you and one of the robes the hotel had. The water is still filling, but it is deep enough to get in now.”

I got up without help—mostly because I refused to ask for it—and limped my way in.

That would have been far too shameful to let Ruben see it, especially as he strolled around the place like he was one hundred percent fine.

I closed the door behind me, then got a look at the bathroom for the first time. The tub was deep, but made of metal, like an old trough to feed horses. Other than that weirdness, the bathroom was actually pretty nice. It had a large window that opened to a private outdoor space, meaning I got to batheandlook at nature.

And for anyone with an exhibitionist kink, this was the sort of thing that would make their entire trip.

I never thought I had such a kink, but I felt like I kept discovering things about myself I never knew before. I’d say I was kink-suggestible. Even if I didn’t think I was into something, it didn’t take much for me to change my mind and decide I might just be.

I thought about the way Kelvin had watched Harrison and me, the lust in his eyes, the desire there as he’d held back and not touched.

Yeah, I guess I could understand the appeal of such a thing.

However, that was for a not sore and exhausted person. For me, I only wanted the water, maybe the massage, then hours of sleep.

Ruben had booked the room for two nights so I could sleep as late as I wanted and we wouldn’t have to worry about a checkout time.

I stripped off my clothes—it took more work than it should have—and lowered myself into the water. It was extremely hot, but Ruben was right. The moment I submerged my legs, the pain started to subside. I turned off the faucet, the tub already almost full with me in it at as well.

There were no bubbles, but the water was oddly cloudy.

“What did you put in here?” I called out.

The door opened, and I put an arm over my chest to hide my tits, but leave it to Ruben to be gentlemanly even now. He didn’t actually step into the bathroom, nor around the clouded divider, not where he could see me.

What a far cry from Kelvin, who would have beeninthe water with me if he had his way.