by Robin Huber
After a short drive along the San Francisco Bay, Derek pulls up to the curb in front of the St. Regis hotel. Hotel is probably an understatement. It’s a forty-two story sky scraper.
“This is where we’re staying?” I ask, staring up at the tall building.
“Isn’t it fabulous?” Callie smiles at me from the passenger seat.
I raise my eyebrows and nod as I slide across the seat behind Kellan, taking his hand as we exit the SUV, where we’re promptly greeted by a bellman with a large luggage cart.
“Welcome to the St. Regis,” he says to us, tipping his hat. He swiftly begins to load our luggage onto the cart, and Kellan and Derek give him a hand.
We follow him inside the main entrance where another suited man tips his hat to us and says, “Welcome to the St. Regis.”
“Thank you,” Kellan says as we pass him, ushering me into the lobby before him. “Wait here,” he says to me, leaving me with Callie, while he and Derek head to the check-in counter.
“Derek’s already taken care of everything,” Callie says, eyeing Kellan curiously.
“Maybe he has a question or something,” I say, scanning the elaborate lobby. It’s modern and elegant, a vast contrast to our little house on the island. I sigh. I miss it.
Kellan and Derek return a few minutes later.
“Ready?” Kellan asks, taking my hand.
“Yep.”
Another young bellman leads us to the bank of elevators. “After you, Miss,” he says, waving me in front of him. Once we’re all inside, he presses the button for the eleventh floor.
Derek leans down and whispers something into Callie’s ear, which only piques my interest because she immediately turns around and smiles at me.
I raise my eyebrows at her curiously, but she quickly steels her face and whips her head back around when Derek nudges her. The elevator doors open and I step forward to follow them out, but Kellan squeezes my hand and pulls me back.
“We’re not getting off?”
“No”—he shakes his head—“not yet.”
I look at Callie between the sliding metal doors and see her smiling up at Derek before they close.
“Your suite is just a few floors up, Mr. James,” the bellman says.
Our suite?
He presses the button for the eighteenth floor and we’re whisked up. The doors open moments later and he waves us out of the elevator before him. He leads us down the hall to our room where he taps a key card on the door handle and opens it for us to go inside.
Wow. My mouth pops open when I see the beautiful suite. It’s modern and sophisticated, just like the main lobby.
I walk across the dark hardwood floor that spans the living room, trailing my hand along the back of a silky gray sectional sofa that sits across from of a large flat screen TV and overlooks the city through a wall of floor to ceiling windows that span the suite. I walk into the bedroom and see a giant king size bed, or maybe bigger, that’s made up with a plush white duvet and silky white pillow cases. It shares the same incredible view of the city.
The bathroom is equally impressive. There are two sinks in the marble vanity and rectangular-shaped white stone tiles cover the floor. The shower-for-two is enclosed in glass with showerheads mounted on the ceiling. There’s also a massive soaking tub that’s surrounded with the same stone tiles that span the floor, and there’s a small flat screen TV mounted on the wall above it.
I walk back into the living room and find Kellan, who is tipping the bellman and thanking him for his help. I hear the door close and seconds later, Kellan’s arms are wrapped around me. He kisses my neck. “I bet the view is fantastic at night when it’s all lit up.”
I turn around in his arms. “Kellan, this is incredible, but...it had to cost a small fortune.”
“I wanted your first night back to be special.”
“Let me pay for half,” I insist.
He laughs and holds my face in his hand. “I don’t want you to pay for half.”
“But, Kel–”
“Stop,” he says, putting his thumb over my mouth, and I smile up at him when I see the way he’s looking at me. He moves his hand and kisses me deeply.
“This is pretty special,” I say against his lips. “And you’re very sweet.”
“I was thinking that maybe we could have a nice dinner tonight, if you’re not too tired.”
The corners of my mouth turn up at the prospect of a date with Kellan. “I think that sounds great.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I press my lips to his again and kiss him softly. “Oh,” I say, reaching for the paper in my back pocket, “I need to call Mia.” I sit down on the arm of the sofa and pick up the phone on the table next to it. After I’ve assured her that we made it to the hotel safe and sound, I hang up and return to Kellan’s arms.
“There’s one other thing,” he says, narrowing his eyes mischievously.
“What?”
There’s a knock at the door.
Kellan opens it and lets Callie in.
“Ready for our spa day?” she asks, clapping her hands together.
“Spa day?”
“Yes!” she squeals. “They have the best spa here. We’re going to spend the rest of the day relaxing and getting pampered.”
“I’ve been relaxing in paradise for the last two months, but okay, why not,” I say, knowing I really don’t have any choice in the matter. Even though I was really hoping to spend the rest of the day in that giant bed with Kellan. I look up at him and ask, “What will you do all day?”
“I’ll think of something.” He winks.
* * *
“Right this way, Ms. Evans, Ms. Bishop.” A pretty woman with a sleek blonde bob escorts us to a locker room that looks more like a fancy lounge with saunas. “Your spa therapist will greet you soon. Would you care for a glass of water while you wait?”
“Yes, please,” I say, and Callie echoes my request.
“All right, I’ll give you a moment to change into your robes.” She steps out of the room and we quickly undress, tying on the silk robes that have been laid out for us. The woman returns a few minutes later with our water. “Ranae and Marta will be taking care of you today,” she says, handing us each a glass as the two women greet us.
“Hello, Ms. Evans. My name is Marta. I’ll be your spa therapist today.” She’s exotic looking, like many of the women from the village on La Isla Azul, but her face is made up to perfection.
“You can call me Makayla.”
“Okay, Makayla. Are you ready to get started?”
I bob my head and wave to Callie who is busy chatting with Ranae. Marta leads me to a dimly lit room with a large soaking tub in the middle of it. It’s filled with fragrant water and there are flower petals floating on the surface.
“It smells wonderful,” I say to her.
“Yes, we use many different minerals and oils and herbs to relax your body and renew your senses. If you’d like to get in, I’ll be back in a few minutes to begin your facial.” She steps out of the room and I remove my robe, and sink down into the tub.
Ohh. It feels wonderful. The water is perfectly warm, relieving the chill that has lingered on my skin since we left Costa Rica. I rub the scented oil that shimmers on the surface of the water into my arms and lay my head back against the towel behind my neck. I close my eyes, only cracking them open for a moment when Marta returns.
“Okay, Makayla, I’m going to begin your facial now,” she says quietly. “This process incorporates crushed pearls that will give your skin a beautiful, luminous glow.”
I smile automatically, thinking of my precious gifts from Kellan.
After my soak and my facial, Marta takes me to another room where she instructs me to lie down on a narrow bed. I lie on my stomach in the dimly lit room, enjoying the peaceful sounds of nature that are playing softly through hidden speakers.
“Now, I will begin a hot stone treatment that will relax your muscles and balance your body,”
she says soothingly.
I’m not sure how I can get any more relaxed than I already am. But, slowly, she places several smooth, warm stones along the middle of my back and the heat radiates through me, up my shoulders and neck and down my arms and legs, all the way to my hands and feet. When the stones have cooled, she removes them and begins a massage that sends me into a relaxation coma for the next hour.
“Makayla,” she whispers quietly, “I’ve finished your massage.”
“Okay,” I mumble, reluctantly blinking my eyes open.
“When you’re ready, you can put your robe on. Lunch is being prepared for you,” she says softly. “I’ll be back in a few minutes to get you.”
“Okay,” I mumble again.
She leaves the room and I slowly lift my head and push myself up off the bed. Kellan should have come with me. He needs a massage like that. I briefly wonder what he’s doing.
I slip into my robe and Marta comes back into the room. “Your lunch is ready. You can follow me.” She leads me to a private room that’s surrounded by windows with a table in the middle that’s covered in white linens and sparkly tableware.
“Hey, hun,” Callie says, strolling over to the table, looking refreshed.
“Hi.” I smile up at her.
“Wasn’t that fantastic?”
“Yes. I think I’m still comatose from my massage.”
“I told you, they’re amazing here.”
“It was a good idea.” I exhale a contented breath and assure her, “I’ll pay you back.”
“It wasn’t my idea,” she says, sitting down. “And I didn’t pay for it.”
I look at her curiously. “Kellan?”
“Yes. He asked me to bring you here.”
“Why?”
She laughs. “Maybe because he thought that you would enjoy it?”
I smile and bob my head. “Yeah. No, of course...”
“I think it’s sweet that he wanted you to have a spa day.”
“It is. I just kind of thought he’d want to spend the day together.”
She puts her elbows on the table and folds her hands under her chin. “You’ve got it bad.”
“I just don’t like being apart from him. It feels strange. We’ve been together almost every day for months,” I explain, but I hear how pathetic I sound.
“Okay, who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”
I laugh and shake my head. “I don’t know. I never thought I’d feel this way about anyone.”
She smiles. “I have to say...it’s kind of adorable.”
I roll my eyes and a server approaches the table, saving me from embarrassing myself further.
“Ladies, your lunch is served. Seared salmon over field greens.” He places the salads in front of us.
“Thank you,” we say in unison.
When we’re finished, Marta and Ranae lead us to another room where we sit side by side with our feet in tubs of swirling warm water. I wiggle my toes against the small, smooth stones beneath them, thinking of the black stones that surrounded the waterfall on the island, and I feel an ache in my chest.
Marta massages my legs and feet and scrubs them until they’re baby soft. “Would you like a French manicure or would you like to pick a color?” she asks.
“Oh. Um”—I haven’t thought about nail polish in a while—“just something natural.”
“Okay. I’ll pick a nude color. And I’ll use the same on your nails.”
“Big Apple Red for me,” Callie says to Ranae, and I smile at her. That’s been her favorite color since we were in college.
Marta paints my toes and then moves on to my nails.
I look down at my feet, which are now adorned with glistening polish and I feel...sophisticated. I was just happy to have a razor and some lotion on the island. Having my toes painted again feels like a luxury.
When Marta and Ranae are finished with our nails, Ranae picks up a nearby phone and says, “Ms. Evans and Ms. Bishop are ready for the salon now... Yes... We’ll bring them up.”
I look at Callie. “Salon?”
“The salon was my idea,” she admits, pressing her lips together over a tight smile. “I thought you could use a trim and a blowout.” She winks and eyes the ends of my hair.
I smirk at her, but she’s right. My hair is long overdue for a trim and the salt water hasn’t been easy on it.
Marta and Ranae take us back to the locker room where we get dressed, and then they lead us upstairs to a swanky salon. The walls are striped with black-and-white marble and the stylists’ chairs are all white leather, contrasting a sleek black leather couch that lines the wall in the waiting area. Large mirrors adorn the walls and chrome lighting fixtures are suspended from the ceiling.
“Marta!” A tall, lanky man with a perfectly styled dark wave over his forehead saunters over to us and kisses Marta on both cheeks. “Is this my doll?” he asks, glancing down at me.
“Julian, this is Ms. Evans.”
“Just Makayla.” I smile at him.
“Makayla, it’s been my pleasure. I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay with us. Julian will take good care of you.”
“Thank you, Marta.”
Julian leads me over to his chair and when I sit down, I see Callie seated across the salon in the reflection of the mirror. She waves at me and I wave back.
“Look at all this hair,” he says exuberantly as he runs his hands through the ends of it. He holds it up to his face and inspects it carefully. “When was the last time you had it cut?”
“Oh. Um. A while. I’ve been...on vacation.”
“Well, you must have been in the sun, because these highlights didn’t come from a bottle.”
“I was, yes.”
“Well, they’ll be gorgeous when I’m finished with them.”
“What exactly will you be doing?” I ask curiously.
“Well”—he contemplates—“a trim, for one. At least two inches. And maybe a keratin treatment. What are your plans for tonight?”
“Dinner.”
“With friends?”
“No. With my...boyfriend.” I quietly cringe at the word, which feels much too commonplace for Kellan.
“Somewhere nice?”
“I think so.”
He looks at me in the mirror and ponders. “Romantic,” he says after a moment, like he’s answering his own question. He begins working. “So...tell me about this boyfriend. He must be good-looking if he landed you,” he says, giving me a wink, and I feel myself blush. If he only knew how good-looking Kellan is, he would be saying that I’m the lucky one.
“Yes, he is very handsome.”
“What does he do for a living? Wait, let me guess. He’s...an investment banker.”
“No.” The thought of Kellan as a suited investment banker is amusing. But I’m not really sure how to explain what he does. Personal savior...body guard. “He used to be a marine. He does private security now.”
“Ooo...like Jason Bourne? I can work with that.”
I laugh and shake my head. “I think Jason Bourne was a secret agent or something.”
He waves his hand and tsks, “Technicality.”
I spend the next couple of hours under Julian’s expertise getting washed, treated, washed again, trimmed, and blown out. He sweeps my long, now much silkier, waves into a style that cascades around my face and falls over one shoulder, spraying it in place with something that makes it looks super shiny.
“Now, let’s do your makeup,” he says, spinning me around.
“Okay, but not too much.”
“You don’t wear makeup?”
“I do, I just haven’t been wearing a lot lately.” I haven’t been wearing any lately, actually, and I’d like Kellan to recognize me when he sees me.
“Okay, well, I can make it look natural. Your skin is flawless. I’ll just give you a subtle glow.”
“That sounds good.”
He takes his time doing my makeup. It looks very natural, but d
efinitely enhances my eyes. I stare at myself in the mirror for a few seconds and see a trace of my former self in the reflection. The last time I put on makeup, I was getting ready to go to work at Syntec. That feels like a lifetime ago.
“Everything okay? I tried to go light on your eyes.”
I nod and smile at him. “Yes, you did a great job, Julian. Thank you.”
“You’ll have that boyfriend of yours eating out of your palm tonight.”
I smile shyly and look for Callie, finding her sitting on the black leather sofa in the waiting area reading a magazine. “Thanks again,” I say over my shoulder to Julian as I walk over to her.
“Oh, Makayla, you look beautiful,” Callie says, looking up from her magazine.
“You don’t think it’s too much, do you?”
“No, no. It’s perfect.”
“Ms. Evans, if you’ll follow me,” the bellman from this morning says, approaching me as we exit the salon. “Mr. James asked that I take you back to your suite.”
“Oh, okay.” I look at Callie, but she just smiles at me and waves as the bellman leads me away from her.
Chapter 20
Makayla
“Do you happen to know what time it is?” I ask the bellman as he escorts me up to the eighteenth floor.
He glances at his watch and smiles. “It’s six-thirty.”
“Thank you.” I can’t wait to see Kellan and thank him for the fantastic day. I follow the bellman to our suite and he waves me inside.
“Is there anything that I can get you, Ms. Evans?”
“No. No, thank you.” He looks at me and I look at him. Crap. I don’t have any cash for a tip. My eyes dart around the room for Kellan, but I don’t see him. “I’m so sorry, I don’t have any cash on me,” I say, embarrassed, making a mental note to get some cash out, now that I have access to my bank account again.
“Oh, no, that’s not necessary. Mr. James has already taken care of that,” he says politely.
“Oh, okay.”
He hands me a sealed white envelope. “He wanted me to give you this.”
I crease my eyebrows and take it from him. “Thank you,” I say, looking down at it curiously as he leaves me. I lock the door behind him and immediately open the envelope, finding a small piece of paper inside.
