by L. L. Ash
“Spa day?” I asked, sounding like an idiot.
“Yeah!” she said hopefully, her arm tangled and holding onto Dad’s. “Maybe a massage, and get our nails done! They have a spa here in the hotel we can go to.”
I glanced at Dad, and there was a weird pleading expression in his face. Like he was begging me to say yes.
“Ok,” I said, slapping on a smile.
I’d do anything for Dad, even though he’d hurt me by getting married behind my back.
Penelope practically squealed in delight, then ran off to go shower so we could go.
Dad lingered behind, grabbing a bowl of cereal, just like Hunter had. He came to take up the same spot on the couch beside me that my new step-brother had vacated only an hour before.
“I know this is weird,” Dad said, looking at me with hopeful eyes. “But we really want this to work out between you guys, and we want you to be happy, too. Penelope loves you, and she wants to be the Mom you never really had.”
“I don’t need a mom,” I said a little too harshly, which made Dad wince.
He sat back, poking at his cereal while I tamped down my temper.
“Why did you do it?” I finally asked.
That was the crux of the problem. He’d made a huge life decision and didn’t even bother telling me about it until it was done.
It had always been him and me, and I felt fucking abandoned.
“I love her,” he said meekly, shrugging his shoulders.
“But why now? Why did you have to sneak away to do it? I mean, honestly, Vegas? You’re a grown adult, Dad!”
He gave a little half smile and patted my knee.
“We went to Vegas because we wanted to be selfish for once in our lives,” he admitted. “We knew you two would be mad, but we wanted this, just for ourselves. We didn’t want a big wedding, and a trip to Vegas was better than some mediocre courthouse marriage. We have a memory together to last a lifetime.”
“But I should have been there, Dad. I would have been there if you’d told me. Instead you lied to me, over and over again. You said you were dating someone, not contemplating marrying her. And why didn’t you tell me it was her? You know how Hunter and I—”
He knew. Sort of.
“Because I knew you’d do this,” he admitted, with a teasing smile on his lips. “I know you hate him, but you two can get over it. You’re right. I’m a full grown man, and I will deal with your anger. I deserve it. But you’re a full grown woman, too, and it’s about time you two forgave each other. You were dumb kids, and you grew apart. It’s simple.”
Not that simple.
“I’ll never stop hating him,” I whispered. “He hurt me too much.”
Dad sighed with a deep frown.
“I love her, Ivory. I think I’ve loved her for a long time, since she was there for you as a kid those times I couldn’t be. She’s a giving, kind, and an incredibly strong woman. Whatever is holding you back from getting along with Hunter, I’m asking you to please, try and forgive him. And if you can’t, then at least try to get along. It breaks Pen’s heart when you two snap at each other.”
I tried not to flinch at the words.
Of course, he didn’t mean to make me feel like crap, but he did. Especially when I had another hit of reality that I wasn’t his most important girl anymore. Penelope had that spot, now. Evidently young love didn’t have an age limit. I remembered what that feeling was like, and how consuming it could be.
Dad fucking deserved love after dealing with Mom for so long, and even though I mourned what we’d had, just him and I for so long, I wasn’t going to resent it. I was going to celebrate with him, and do what it took for his happiness.
Even get along with Hunter.
I gave a wonky smile to Dad and leaned my head on his shoulder.
“I can do that. Penelope was always so good to me as a kid. She gave me a place to go when you were gone, and when Mom was unbearable. She fed me when Mom refused to go to the store, and she gave me moments of what it was like to actually have a Mom that cared.”
Sadness radiated from Dad’s smile.
He hated the fact that Mom was such a shitty parent. Her taking off with some multi-level marketing guru to Australia was the best thing that ever happened to us, abandonment included.
Mom had contacted me once, going on and on about how happy she was with her new boyfriend while Dad was stuck with the divorce fees. Never once did she ask me how I was, nor did she even bother with a return address. I didn't hear from her again in the past four years.
“Thank you, baby,” he said, putting his arm around me and squeezing my shoulders in a sideways hug.
“I’m ready!” Penelope said cheerfully, coming out of the master suite with a pretty yellow sundress and matching flip flops.
“I better go get ready for pampering,” I told Dad, then got up to join Penelope by the door.
Dad followed, kissing my forehead with a grin on his face, then he leaned in and kissed the woman who had always been like a Mom to me growing up. It was so weird, but so...right.
The joy and love radiating off the couple made me happy, even if it was a strange thing to see.
I slipped my shoes on, trying not to notice the lingering kiss, then slipped out the door behind Penelope as we went down to the hotel’s lobby.
“I’m so excited to spend some time with you,” she said, taking my hand in hers like she used to when I was little. “It’s been a long time since we had time together.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, awkward, but also glad to have time with her as well.
“Is this weird for you?” she asked blatantly, though her smile never wavered.
“A little,” I admitted, and she just gave me a sympathetic smile.
“I’m sorry, honey. We knew it would be, but we thought, maybe, this vacation could help us all bond. You know?”
“We’ve bonded,” I agreed. “I mean, Hunter and I aren’t trying to skewer each other anymore, so I’d call that improvement.”
Penelope rolled her eyes.
“That boy,” she groaned. “I swear, when he became a teenager, I don’t know what happened to him. It’s like that sweet little boy disappeared overnight.”
Yeah, that sounded pretty accurate.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged.
She shook her head a little, then squeezed my hand.
“I don’t want to talk about him right now. This is about you and me, and we get to have a mom-daughter day. I’ve never done this before, so please go easy on me.”
I snorted a laugh.
“I’ve never done anything like this either,” I said, letting out a little cackle. “So I couldn’t judge even if I wanted to.”
She gave a sad smile, then approached the front desk to buy whatever spa package she wanted.
I waited a few steps behind until she finished, then waved me toward the east side of the building.
“Now, I’ve never had a massage, before,” Penelope whispered at me. “I’m a little nervous.”
“Isn’t the point to relax?” I asked her.
I didn’t bother mentioning that I’d never had one, either.
She shrugged.
“Yes, but I never played by the rules.”
The spark of mischief in her eyes was something new. Penelope had always been sweet, but unpredictable and a rule breaker? No.
It was an uncomfortable series of undressing and redressing into robes in the back of the massage suite, then another really fucking awkward moment of getting onto the massage tables beside each other like some kind of couple’s massage, completely, buckass naked. Nothing was covering me except a little sheet and my panties, which made me really uncomfortable.
“Good morning!” a happy, pleasant voice greeted us as the door opened.
My face was in the little donut face pillow thing, so I couldn’t see her, but the woman sounded petite and sweet, so I was a little relieved.
“Good morning,” Penelope tittered bac
k, sounding as nervous as me.
“My name is Julia, and this is Jamie. We are going to perform your massages today,” she said. “We have you booked for an essential oil, full body and hot rock massages. Is that right?”
“That’s right,” Penelope agreed.
Legs clad in white scrubs or something like it, approached the table. White slip on canvas shoes were on the feet, and another identical pair went to stand by Penelope’s table.
“Let’s get into the oil massage, then we’ll finish off with the hot rocks,” Julia said.
Did the Jamie woman even talk?
The sheet was adjusted around me, spreading out so it was covering more than just my bubble butt, then the feet went away. Both masseuses gathered at a little counter in the room where I imagined they were getting the oil, then one set came back to me.
“Are you comfortable?” Jamie finally spoke.
But it was definitely no female.
The voice was incredibly deep and velvety; calming in the best possible way.
I let out a little nervous squeak, but then nodded into the hole pillow, hoping he could see it because I didn’t trust my voice.
Warm, slick fingers touched the top of my shoulders, and I both melted and tensed at the same time.
“Is this your first trip to Hawaii?” Jamie asked me, his fingers incredibly strong as his hands slid across my spine, then up my neck to rub.
“Yep,” I managed, but then Penelope went on to take over the conversation, which was a good thing, because I needed all my five percent current brain functioning to work through how I felt about a strange man massaging me.
It didn’t take long. I was soooo into it after about, oh, two point three seconds, once he hit the first knot in my shoulder.
Julia prattled on with Penelope, but Jamie must have gathered that I didn’t really want to talk, so he silently moved, his fingers dragging up each arm and wringing tension out of my fingers, one by one.
When those hands moved down, he paused with the sheet thing at my hips.
“Would you like me to massage your glutes?” he asked.
The hell were glutes?
Oh, right. Gluteus maximus.
He was going to massage my butt.
“Sure,” I agreed, though my heart started pounding.
It had been so freaking long since I’ve had hands on my ass, that it was actually kind of exciting.
He moved down the white sheet just to the bottom of my butt cheeks, which were still covered in my thong because I wasn’t going to show that to Hunter’s mom. His fingers dragged over the line where my underwear came up, but didn’t touch it or disturb the straps before he went to work. It wasn’t a gross, salacious touch, though. He used knuckles and palms to work out the tight muscles. And holy hell was it good!
Why wasn’t ass rubs a normal thing? I mean, honestly. I could use an ass massage like, every day after sitting in those awful chairs in my classes at UCLA.
“You’re good at this,” I mumbled, half drunk on how good it felt.
He gave a little chuckle.
“That’s kind of my job,” he countered.
Touché.
While he moved down to my thighs next, working out those tight muscles, I started wondering just what he looked like.
I imagined some kind of he-monster, hairy and bulky with muscle, and probably of Swedish descent.
“Alright, you ready to turn over?” Jamie asked after finishing with my ankles and feet.
Turn over? Uhhh...I wasn’t into a massage with a happy ending. Well, not with my new step-mom in the next bed over, anyway.
“How’re you doing, honey?” Penelope asked. “Isn’t this amazing?”
I nodded, though she couldn’t see it.
“Why haven’t we done this before?” I asked her back, and she agreed that we’d missed out.
“This is your first massage?” Jamie asked, fussing with the sheet and spreading it out completely before tenting it a little. “Go ahead and turn.”
I managed the tight turn on the little table, and settled back down before catching my eyes on the hunk of hunkiness right above me.
Holy hell!
“Mhmm,” I mumbled in a strangled voice.
He moved the sheet again to make sure I was covered, then he met my eyes for the first time.
Jamie was an incredible example of the male species. I was right that he was strong, but the bright blond hair and blue eyes I had imagined were actually tight-cut brown hair and dark green eyes that sparkled like emeralds in his head. His smile was wide and friendly, and though I should have been immediately put on guard, his aura felt safe and comfortable, and the only thing I was thinking about was if my legs were freshly shaved enough or was he feeling the prickle?
“I remember my first massage,” he said absently, starting at my legs again and working the muscles on the front of my body. “It was pure magic.”
“Same,” I agreed, and he rewarded me with a bright smile.
“I think we need to do this again before we go home,” Penelope said, which made Julia giggle while working Penelope’s right thigh.
I nodded at her, now that I could move my head and actually look around again.
She grinned at me, then settled back and closed her eyes to enjoy it.
Hell, I did the same.
Extremely sexy guy or not, I just wanted a nice body rubbing, and I was getting a good one, so I had to soak in every minute. It wasn’t like I could afford this kind of treatment on a student’s budget.
The front went faster than the back, since he didn’t massage my belly, but after legs and arms, he did my ribs, careful to slip a towel over my boobs before lowering the sheet to my belly button, exposing just a small strip of skin for him to rub.
“This ok?” he asked before touching me. “This is the diaphragm.”
“Oh! You have to do it,” Penelope put in. “It hurts so good!”
I looked up into those jewel eyes and nodded.
“Sure. You’re the pro. I’ll take what you’re willing to give me.”
He gave a little bit of a smirky grin before gliding gentle fingers over my ribs. After a few passes, the pressure built and I could feel each rib moving with the motion. In my entire life, I’d never had those muscles rubbed, and it felt amazing. It wasn’t just because his hand or arm would brush against the towel once in a while and send tingles through my boobs. Nope, not at all.
After that, he covered me again, leaving the towel under the sheet and went to my shoulders, pressing his knuckles into the soft part of my shoulders.
“Of God!” I yelped, which got his attention.
“You ok?” he asked, easing up immediately. “Too hard?”
“Nononononono keep going,” I mumbled.
Was it possible to be massage-drunk? That’s what I felt like. Drunk on pleasure.
He went back to it, just not as hard at first until our time was up.
“We’ll move on to the hot rocks now,” Julia said.
Jamie backed off and went back to the little counter, where some rocks were sitting in a hot water bath. They moved them onto a towel, then brought them over, a few for each me, and Penelope.
I turned again, him holding my sheet again while Julia held Penelope’s, then on the rocks went.
It wasn’t as nice as hands on my body, but it was still pretty relaxing. The heat sank into my muscles and down to the bone with satisfying warmth, and I started actually getting sleepy.
After a while, Jamie and Julia were back, taking off the cooled rocks before settling the sheets over us again and wishing us a good day.
I wrapped up in my sheet and leaned on my elbows, smiling at the two as they left.
Jamie gave Penelope a smile and wave, then he met my eyes. If I didn’t know any better, I would think there was something there, between us. But it was probably just a weird sort of gratitude I had for him mixed with the odd high from relaxation that made me wish maybe there was something more ther
e.
After getting dressed, staying back to back, we went to get manicures next.
Penelope chose a pretty, pearly white while I went with my typical black. I didn’t have time for long, fake nails, so I just did a gel polish while she got the whole nine yards.
All flushed and in a pretty dress, not hiding any bruises, Penelope was beautiful. Hunter might have gotten his coloring from his dad, but he got his incredible smile and eyes from his mom.
“How do you feel about lunch, then we’ll head back and see what your dad’s doing?” Penelope asked, her nails freshly spiked and painted a rosy gold.
“Why don’t we go get him?” I asked. “He hates eating alone.”
“That’s true,” she said with a happy grin.
Well, damn. She probably did know he hated eating by himself. She was his wife, after all.
- 13 -
Ivory
Up the elevator we went, trailing the scent of lavender and chamomile with us as we entered the suite.
Dad was watching TV, sprawled out on the couch like a king on a throne. It was really good to see him so happy and relaxed.
“Hey girls!” he chirped happily, turning on the couch to look at us. “You’re both glowing!”
I threw Dad a wink, which he returned, but Penelope just smiled bashfully at Dad like they were on their first date.
“Thank you, Rich,” she practically whispered.
He threw the remote onto the couch and got up to give her a hug and another kiss that lasted longer than I was comfortable with.
“Aw, shit. Can’t you do that in the back?” came a rough voice from the door.
We all turned to see a ruffled up Hunter, scrunching his nose in disgust while trailing in sand.
“I have every right to kiss my wife as much as I want, whether you’re in the room or not,” Dad responded, not taking Hunter’s bullshit while he squeezed Penelope tighter in his embrace.
Hunter just rolled his eyes, but I saw his lips tilt just the slightest bit in a smile.
“And who smells like flowers? It’s strong.”
“That’d be us,” Penelope said with a giggle. “Ivory and I got massages this morning!”
“Why wasn’t I invited?” he demanded, finally giving in to the grin trying to break across his face.
