“Oh dear, you really are a sweetheart,” Marie smiled at her and shook her head gently. “But you have to trust me on this, this is one of the best parts of being a guest here at the chalet.”
Marie clapped her hands briskly and looked at the team of women dressed in immaculate white uniforms. “Alright, time to get to work. Your services are required.”
Marie left, and Sabela placed herself in the ladies’ eager and able hands. Soon she found herself being served afternoon snacks of fresh fruits and flaky pastries, while the women gave her a thorough once over. They discussed the need for pedicures, manicures, waxing and exfoliating. They exclaimed in pleasure over her smooth complexion, and tsked at her for not moisturizing her elbows enough.
And after they plucked and poked and prodded to their satisfaction, they set up a massage table and asked her to lie across it. She wanted to clap in glee. She was getting a massage.
Sabela had never had a professional massage before, and it was heavenly. If she’d known that it was possible to feel that good, she might have made it a point to save up to visit a trained masseuse. All her stress melted away.
When the massage came to an end, she reported to the bathroom and sank into a tub already filled with warm water scented with lavender bath salts. Then a body mask. Then more bathing and soaking.
They washed and trimmed her hair, dried it straight. They applied something to it that made it glisten in the light. They oohed and ahhed, exclaiming over how pretty it was until Sabela got embarrassed from all the praise.
Body cleansed and perfumed, hair dried, she wrapped herself in a robe and reported back to the bedroom to find a chair had been set up. The aestheticians gathered around, and as a team, they worked to prep and prime her for her big night out. They gave her a pedicure and manicure, leaving her nails gleaming and so beautifully shaped, she would have thought they were fake if she hadn’t known better.
While the body team worked, other women scoured her closet and pulled out different dresses, holding them in front of Sabela, carefully analyzing each look.
They laughed and told stories, mostly in English, but sometimes they slipped into French or German. Sabela enjoyed the parts she could understand, the pithy comments about their husbands and boyfriends, the way they joked with each other. They seemed like a big, boisterous family.
Sabela thought of her own family. She wondered if Trevor even cared she was gone. She’d left messages for him, but he hadn’t returned them. Perhaps he was being taken care of by a bevy of nurses, treated like a prince the way she was being treated like a princess. If so, Trevor definitely wouldn’t care that Sabela was gone.
Eventually the topic of conversation turned to the topic of the handsome Mr. Morgan, and all Sabela could do was blush and brush off their questions. Whatever there was between her and Colin was confusing at best and nothing at worst, and so she deflected as much as she could.
The aestheticians joked that she was being secretive and laughed in good humor about how humble she was for dating such a gorgeous, wealthy man and not bragging about it.
That suited Sabela just fine.
“You’re only young once,” the woman who did her nails laughed.
Twenty-four going on twenty-five. Sabela couldn’t help but grin.
After Sabela was groomed and dressed, the crew moved her into the dressing room and set her in front of the vanity. Their collection of makeup, more plentiful than Sabela had ever seen, was laid out across the top of it.
Soon, a collision of colors and shades was all Sabela knew.
Foundation sponges, powder brushes, and mascara wands all worked in rapid succession to transform her. The women chatted half in English and half in other languages, laughing and enjoying their time with her. Sabela felt like a model at fashion week, getting dolled up to make her grand debut down the runway.
When they were done with her half an hour later, Sabela found herself blinking at her image in the mirror. Who was that stunning woman looking back at her? While it was true that she took care to always look good, she’d never had professional makeup done before.
She looked more sophisticated than she ever had in her life.
Her make-up was perfection, highlighting her smooth, youthful skin and deepening the brown pools of her eyes. Her hair was styled in a sleek chignon that served to elongate her neck.
Then they dressed her in a strapless, black silk number they’d selected. It was cut almost too low for Sabela’s comfort. Next came a pair of golden, strappy heels. They adorned her earlobes with a pair of sparkling crystal earrings and arranged a gorgeous necklace of sparkling onyx pearls around her neck.
Looking in the mirror, now more than ever she felt like a princess.
Tonight, would Colin be her prince?
The thought made her blush, and Sabela sank back into her chair to try to digest her feelings.
“You are very beautiful, Ms. Vaughn,” one of the girls told her, accent thick but voice sincere. “Mr. Morgan will be blown away.”
“Colin’s not the only one,” Sabela mumbled, stunned. She stood up and turned left, then right, to look at herself from different angles. “I think I’m blown away enough for the both of us.”
All of them laughed. One of the aestheticians hurried back into the closet and selected a faux fur coat to keep her warm. Sabela wrapped it around her shoulders and looked at herself in the mirror one last time.
Where had the diner waitress gone? Was this what she would look like if she didn’t have to worry about taking care of Trevor? Could she be this beautiful all the time?
The thoughts were poisonous, and she pushed them away for fear of them ruining her. The ’ifs’ didn’t matter. Trevor was her brother, and she would take care of him until he was back on his feet and able to care for himself.
Once that happened, she’d revisit the thought.
The team of aestheticians gave her the thumbs up, and Sabela knew she was ready. The women left one by one, laughing and waving as they did, and Sabela bid each of them goodbye and thanked them for their work.
Being poked at, prodded, and waxed until she was sore had never been so worth it.
She ran her hands over the silky fabric of the dress and wondered what it might feel like for a second set of hands to explore her like that. How would broad, firm palms feel tracing down her hips or down the curve of her back?
Imagining that those hands belonged to Colin sent a shiver of pleasure through her that even the faux fur coat couldn’t keep away.
Colin was rough around the edges, there was no denying that. But beyond the sorrow he kept inside that made him lash out, she thought there was something else inside of him. Something good.
She’d seen glimpses of it when they’d talked, after all. It was just a matter of getting it to the surface and easing the pain he felt away.
Like pulling a thorn out of a lion’s paw, Sabela thought. Colin would always be a lion, mighty and powerful, but he’d lose that unsavory edge that made him more of a monster than a king of beasts.
The king of beasts that wanted to take her until she begged for mercy. She shivered, squeezing her thighs together, drawing a sharp sensation of pleasure up into her belly.
Sabela was more than ready for whatever the evening would throw her way.
She hoped.
Chapter Twenty-Five
COLIN STRAIGHTENED HIS CUFFLINKS as he waited by the front door for Sabela to arrive. He had Bruno bring the car around front to warm, so it was waiting just outside the door.
The click of heels on the wood floor drew his gaze upward in time to watch her step into the main hall. She was a vision. He knew that the spa staff that he hired out from a nearby resort had spent the afternoon pampering her and getting her ready, and they did not disappoint.
Sabela looked breathtaking.
Colin’s heart caught in his throat, and his pulse raced in his ears as he took her in.
Long legs disappeared into the faux fur jacket he’d pe
rsonally selected for her. The golden heels she wore gave her extra height and added confidence to her posture that was stunning.
Never had he seen her lips look so plump and inviting, nor her eyes so spellbinding.
The sliver of bare thigh he saw was enough to redirect his blood south.
She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and he was utterly captivated. Not even Blanca had ever been so beautiful.
He realized his reaction was visible too late; Sabela was smiling at him, obviously pleased by his wandering gaze. He mentally shook himself to remind himself that he was the one in charge.
She arrived at his side, gorgeous and glowing. The anger and hurt he’d seen earlier was gone, made better by his apology and the afternoon spent being pampered. Hurting her had never been his intention, and he was glad to see it soothed away.
Colin realized he hadn’t felt anything, himself, except for anger and pain for four long years, and when Sabela made him feel emotions outside of that, he wasn’t sure how to process it.
The revelation struck him.
Sabela wasn’t a blank tool or an emotionless pawn. She was firmly a person to him now, a person with feelings and emotions that he couldn’t ignore.
He wanted to see her smile, and he wanted to be the one to make her smile. He needed to get a grip, he told himself. Think about sleeping with her. That will fix it.
Except, the idea of taking Sabela only made him feel more … too much more.
“You look stunning,” he finally said.
“You clean up pretty well yourself.” Sabela beamed, sparkling eyes catching the light.
He offered her his arm, and she took it.