Allie nodded and winked. “Massage Therapy Institute of Denver.”
Mack’s pulse jumped. Sariah was in school to be a massage therapist. That fit what he thought he knew of her and this was a fabulous lead. “Thank you,” he called to Allie.
“See you soon.” The door closed, but he could hear the two women giggling together. They hadn’t given him Sariah’s number, but this was almost as good. They had his number and he knew where she was going to school. He’d call and get a massage appointment. Sariah would have to talk to him then. A massage from Sariah? His pulse jumped and his entire body warmed as he imagined lying on a massage bed with Sariah’s hands working on his bare back. His mama would be appalled at the visions he started having of him sitting up on the bed and pulling her close, without a shirt on. He shook his head to clear it and focused on finding Sariah.
Chapter Eight
Mack asked Siri to navigate him to the Massage Therapy Institute. She informed him they were twenty-five minutes away. He hit go and asked her to call the Massage Therapy Institute as he drove east toward Denver. A woman’s voice answered with a crisp, “Massage Therapy Institute of Denver. How may I help you?”
“I’d like to schedule a massage with Sariah Udy.”
“I can schedule a massage for you with one of our students but we don’t schedule for a particular person. I apologize. Would you still like an appointment?”
Mack gritted his teeth. Apparently, this breakthrough was going to be similar to the others and not an easy route to Sariah. “How late can I schedule a massage appointment?”
“Our last appointments begin at five p.m., sir.”
“If I schedule a massage, is there a chance Sariah will be my therapist?”
“A slim chance, sir, we have dozens of students at the level of performing massages for the public.”
“But Sariah is one of them.”
She hesitated then admitted, “Yes, sir, she is.”
At least he had a chance of his therapist being Sariah. What did he have to lose? He’d get a massage, pass the time until Sariah was done with school. “Please schedule me for a massage.”
“What time, sir?”
He glanced at the clock. It was now after one and he was at least thirty minutes from the school. “Do you have an opening at two?”
“Yes.”
“That will work.”
“Your name, sir?”
“Mack Quinn.”
“We’ll see you at two p.m.”
“Thank you.” Mack disconnected. He drove through a Kneaders and ordered several sandwiches and a fruit smoothie. Stuffing the food down as he finished following Siri’s directions to the massage institute, he made sure to chew a bunch of breath mints on the off-chance he found Sariah.
He parked next to the massage school and a few minutes before two walked through the glass doors and up to the reception area. It was nothing fancy but it was clean and looked professional. Sariah was becoming a massage therapist. How great was that?
“Hi.” He smiled at the older lady manning the desk. “I called for an appointment at two? Mack Quinn.”
The lady nodded to him, not smiling. She was dressed in a navy-blue business suit and her hair was in a severe bun. “Yes, please follow me, sir.” Her voice was as crisp as on the phone and her movements were fast and jerky.
Mack hurried to keep up with her as she led him through the reception area, down a short hallway, and edged open a door to a small therapy room. The tranquil sound of a waterfall and the scent of lavender oozed from the dimly lit room.
“Please undress completely, cover your lower half with the sheet, and lay face down.”
Mack’s eyes widened. “Um … I only want an upper body massage.” He had had hundreds of full body massages throughout his football career, they were a necessity for recovery, but the thought of being naked with Sariah in the same room didn’t sit right with him at all.
Her eyes narrowed. “Fine, undress from the waist up. The attendant will knock before entering.” She whirled and tapped away from him.
Wow, apparently you didn’t need people skills to be a receptionist at a massage therapy school. Mack closed the door, peeled off his shirt, and laid face down on the bed. His body covered the entire bed and his feet hung off the end. He figured he didn’t need the sheet with his pants still on.
Moments later, there was a soft tap on the door. “May I come in?” It was a male voice. Ah, no.
“Yeah,” Mack grunted.
The man entered, introduced himself, asked where Mack was feeling tight, etc. Mack responded and tried to relax as the man gave him a deep tissue massage. The guy was good, but Mack just wanted to find Sariah. He finally worked up the nerve to ask, “Do you know Sariah Udy?”
“Yes, sir, I do.”
“Is there any way I could speak to her?”
“I’m sorry. Sariah’s with a client right now.”
The man continued his kneading of Mack’s back, shoulders, and neck. When he finished, he told Mack to take his time getting up and to drink the water bottle he’d left for him then thanked him for coming.
Mack thought he responded appropriately, but his mind was searching for Sariah. He sat up quick, saw stars for a second, and chugged the water bottle. Hurrying to put his shirt on, he rushed out the door and down the hallway. Just his luck the same, stern lady was at the reception desk.
“How was your massage, sir?”
“It was great.” Mack pulled out his wallet and paid the crazy low rate of thirty dollars for a full-hour massage and left a thirty-dollar tip. “Can I please schedule another one?”
“Of course.” She tapped on her computer. “What date and time please?”
“Right now,” Mack said.
Her sharp gaze darted to him.
“Three o’clock, please.”
“You’re still hoping to find Sariah Udy?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She shook her head and rolled her eyes. Then she tapped on her screen some more and tilted her head. “This way, please.”
He followed her down the short hallway to a different room. The smells and the waterfall imitation sounds were the same, must be a standard for the school. He shut the door, took off his shirt, and laid down again, praying, Please be Sariah, please be Sariah.
The soft tap came on the door. “May I come in?” A female voice this time, but not the one he hoped for.
“Sure,” Mack grunted.
The woman came in and started asking him questions and working on him. Mack got through the questions before he started asking his own. “Do you know Sariah Udy?”
“Yes,” her voice became more cautious and Mack wondered if everyone in the universe was protective of his girl. Okay, not his girl, but maybe someday his girl.
“Could you get a message to her for me?”
“Maybe. What’s the message?”
“Tell her Mack Quinn is here and I’m going to keep getting massages until she is my therapist or school is over. If I don’t find her before school is over today can she please meet me out front at six?”
The girl worked a spot in his upper back with her elbow for a few seconds before replying, “I’ll give her the message. You play for the Patriots, right?”
“Yeah.”
The rest of the massage was spent talking football. Mack liked the massage and the talk, but he was too keyed up about finding Sariah to truly relax or focus on anything else.
The lady finished, thanked him, gave him the spiel about standing up slowly along with a water bottle. Mack stood, downed the water, grabbed his shirt, and hurried back to the reception desk.
Tight-bun reception lady took his credit card, he signed and added a tip then he asked her for a four o’clock appointment.
“Do you know how to give up?” she asked him tightly, letting her professional demeanor slip a little bit.
“No, ma’am.”
The lady’s lips curved in what might have been a smile, but Mack
didn’t want to assume too much. Then she pushed out a sigh, tapped the computer some more and did her crisp, “Follow me,” and staccato down the hallway.
Third room, same smells, sound, and bed. Mack was getting tired from flying in this morning, all the runaround today, the massages, and the soothing smells and sounds. If this wasn’t Sariah, he wouldn’t talk, he’d take a nap instead. He peeled off his shirt, the scents of different oils they’d worked into his back probably overpowered his Taylor cologne that Navy had picked out for him. In his sister’s words, “You need this smell, little bro, manly and succulent.”
Laying down on the bed, he shut his eyes and prayed for Sariah to come in. If it wasn’t her, he might give up on the last hour and just rest in his rented Cherokee until six when she should be done with school, but what if he missed her?
The tap came at the door and a female voice, “May I come in?”
The disappointment that it wasn’t Sariah rushed over him. Maybe the stern bun lady was right and he needed to stop being so persistent. A worse thought nagged at him, maybe the woman he thought was his destiny really wasn’t.
Sariah loved her schooling and her classmates and teachers. They learned and practiced on each other in the mornings, then throughout the afternoon they practiced on real people, if people came in. If not, they practiced on each other some more. It was better to work on real people because they knew each other’s aches and pains too well, and sometimes they even got tips, which was really nice.
Friday afternoon she had a break with no client from four to five. Everybody else was busy so her instructor told her to take a break and read up on techniques. She headed back to the main classroom, drank some water, and checked her phone quick.
Her eyebrows rose when she saw she had seventeen texts and many missed calls. Fear rushed through her. Had something happened? Rather than check the texts, she pressed call back on the phone call from Caleb.
“What’s up?” she asked him, clinging to the phone. They’d had a horrid scare last spring when Josh and Caleb had been in a car accident where Josh ended up in a coma.
“Mack Quinn came here,” Caleb said.
“What?” She gripped the phone even more tightly. Nothing was wrong with her family, but this news still made her stomach tumble. Mack Quinn went to her house and she missed him?
“Yeah. He stopped by and Josh gushed all over him. Why would he come here, sis?”
“I don’t know. He and I have … talked a couple of times.” Mack had come for her! Did that mean he didn’t like Scarlett Lily? She’d watched social media and Google diligently but had seen nothing indicating they were dating. Scarlett was in California finishing up a movie, so maybe they just hadn’t had the time to be together.
“Hmm. He wanted your number but when I asked why he hadn’t gotten it from Hyde he admitted he’d tried. If Hyde shut him down, I didn’t want to give him anything, you know?” He paused. “Did you want me to give it to him, sis?”
“I … I’m as confused as a baseball player at a lacrosse game.” She pushed her hair back from the right side and touched the mottled skin on her neck. Mack Quinn. She’d love to see him again, talk to him, but the thought of going somewhere with him and having someone take pictures of her, maybe see her deformity and shout how she wasn’t worthy of the charming and handsome Mack Quinn … she couldn’t take that again.
“Josh told him you lived with Teresa. I wanted you to have a head’s up.”
“Thanks,” she murmured, her thoughts bouncing all over the place, but they were all centered on Mack.
“He seems like a nice guy,” Caleb said.
“Yeah, he does.”
“Talk to you later. Be careful, sis.”
“I will. Love you.”
“You too.” Caleb disconnected.
Sariah looked through her texts and saw a bunch from Caleb, Trudy, and Mary and a few from Aunt Allie. Teresa didn’t text but she’d called. Sariah hit the call back on her number.
“Sariah, girl!” Teresa screamed excitedly into the phone.
“I never have to doubt how much you like me,” Sariah said.
“Of course, I adore you.” Teresa laughed. “Mack Quinn came here for you.”
“H-he did?” Persistent, wasn’t he?
“He’s pretty hot, my girl, and he said he isn’t with Scarlett Lily. Do you like him?”
“What do you mean he isn’t with Scarlett Lily?” She ignored the question.
“That’s what he said when I questioned him about kissing her at the party. Said she wants his brother, Griff.”
“Oh.” Sariah’s brain felt like it was exploding. She sank into a chair, grateful no one else was in the room. “What else did he say?”
“He wanted your number but we didn’t know about that so he gave us his number. Oh, and Allie told him to go get a massage. Did he show up at your school?”
Sariah’s gaze darted around the classroom, as if he would appear suddenly. She wished he would. It seemed he was focused on finding her. Her heart fluttered at the thought.
Jane rushed into the room. “Sariah! You’ll never guess who I just did a massage on.”
“I’ve got to scatter, Teresa.”
“Okay, love. Let us know what happens.”
“I will, thanks.” She hung up the phone, stood on quivering legs, and faced Jane. “Mack Quinn?” she asked.
“Yes! How’d you know? He asked about you.”
“He did?”
Jane nodded, her blue eyes wide. “Oh, my goodness Sariah, he’s so tough. I’ve never worked on a body like that. Muscles upon muscles.”
Sariah was having a hard time breathing, imagining Mack with no shirt on. What would those muscles look and feel like?
“Joseph told me he worked on him the hour before me and he asked for you then. And get this, I just saw him walk into another room. Georgina’s with him, but I just know he’s trying to find you, getting massage after massage until he does. Do you want to go relieve her of her duties?” Jane giggled and squeezed her hand.
Sariah was having an out of body experience. Mack had traveled to Colorado and was obviously pursuing any lead to find her. She was hot and cold all over. Did she want to give him a massage? Yes!
“Sariah?” Jane’s eyes lost their sparkle. “Don’t you want to see him? It might take the entire school to protect you from him, but you know we would.”
Sariah shook her head and then nodded. “No, I mean, yes, please, I definitely want to dance my fingers over muscles upon muscles.”
Jane grinned again, taking her hand and tugging her toward the hallway that led to the treatment rooms. Sariah increased her pace. She should go freshen her makeup, spritz on body splash, make sure she didn’t have spinach from her lunch salad in her teeth, but the pull of Mack was too much.
They reached treatment room seven and Jane tapped softly on the door.
“Yes?” Georgina asked.
Jane opened the door. “I need you,” Jane lied.
Sariah stared at Mack lying face down on the massage table. His body took up the bed and then some. He had on some fitted dark gray chinos, and she was grateful he wasn’t completely undressed like most clients would be. She didn’t know if she could’ve handled seeing more of him than she already could. Jane had understated how many muscles he had and how fabulous those muscles looked. She froze in the doorway, aware Jane and Georgina were having a quiet conversation, but not registering any of it. She wanted to touch Mack Quinn, but more than that she wanted him to sit up and look at her, talk to her, hold her. Okay, her wants were piling up too quick.
“You’ll share the tip with Georgina?” Jane whispered to her.
“You can have all the tip,” Sariah said.
At the sound of her voice, Mack pushed up and in one swift move was on his feet. “Sariah?”
Jane shoved her into the room and shut the door. Sariah would’ve fallen, but it was a small room and Mack reached out and steadied her with a hand on her elbo
w. His handsome face split in a grin. “Sariah. I’ve been looking for you.”
She stepped back and leaned against the counter that held their supplies. She wanted to hug him, savor each one of those beautifully-sculpted muscles, but she needed to keep her head on right now. “So I’ve heard.”
His smile grew, but his blue eyes looked uncertain, as if he worried she’d turn him away.
“Do you want to continue with your massage, Mr. Quinn?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No, I want to talk to you.”
“Ah, so you aren’t interested in my expert massage techniques?”
“Oh, I’m interested, and I’ll talk you into a massage sometime soon, but right now all I want to do is look at your beautiful face and beg you to go to dinner tonight.”
Her heart was thumping quickly, but nerves also assaulted her. She pulled her hair tight to the right side of her neck, making sure her ear was covered. He wouldn’t think she was beautiful if he saw her scars, but he’d come all this way and he was so charming and appealing to her. He dwarfed her physically but she felt no fear around him, besides the fear of him seeing her burns. She felt a pull to stay close to him, let him protect her and smile at her like he was doing right now.
“Hmm, dinner,” she forced some sass into her tone. “I might be persuaded. Give me your top picks.”
He chuckled. “I couldn’t care less. I’d eat McDonald’s if it meant spending time with you.”
She wrinkled her nose, though her heart soared. He wanted to spend time with her. “Not a huge fan of McDonald’s but … okay.”
He laughed louder. “No, I meant, McDonald’s isn’t my top pick, but I’d eat anywhere to be with you.”
“Do you like Thai food?”
“Sure.” He lifted and lowered his broad shoulders.
Sariah’s mouth went dry as she glanced over his muscular upper body. She wished he’d let her massage him, but him saying that he wanted to look at her and talk to her meant a lot. “I know a good Thai place that’s close by.”
Mack took a step closer and she could hardly catch a breath. What she wouldn’t give to put her hand on one of his bulging pectoral muscles then slide her fingers up to his broad shoulders.
Quinn Family Romance Collection Page 32
