“I enjoyed it,” I admitted. “But then I started thinking, afterward. I know he's going to leave. There's not even a question of that. He's going to go back to New York, and he's going to-”

Mina groaned. “Gretchen. I thought we talked about that,” she said.

“I know, I know,” I said. “I'm getting ahead of myself. And I shouldn't be, but you know me, Mina. I’m just not the type of girl to sleep with someone once and then never sleep with them again. And I like him. He's arrogant and a little obnoxious, but I really like him, for all of that. We click.”

Mina shook her head as well. “I feel like I should be happy that you've finally gotten over Lino, but you don’t seem happy. More confused.” She pulled me into her arms. “So, you kicked him out of your bed?” she asked after a moment.

I laughed and nodded. “Yeah,” I said, grimacing a little. “I have never been that rud

e to anyone before. And there was something about the situation. Anyway, I just needed him to get out of there.”

“Aw, man,” Mina said. “I wanted things to be different for you.” She laughed a little. “Not least of which because if you married a billionaire, can you only imagine what would happen to our shops?”

“Speaking of our shops,” I said, frowning. That's right. It was time to get down to business.

“What have you done?” Mina asked, looking cautious but also interested.

“I haven't done anything yet,” I told her. “But I woke up this morning to a message from one of the hotel concierges. One of the women from Trinity Resort. Apparently, they've got a couple there who wants to get a massage done together, this afternoon, and she was wondering if that was something that we could do here.”

“Did you call her back yet and remind her that, oh yeah, you're only one person?” Mina asked. “I mean if they don't mind waiting.”

“I was thinking,” I said slowly.

“Uh oh,” Mina said, but she still looked interesting.

“I know the pineapple business is going well,” I said. “But they were looking to get the massage done this afternoon, and I know that you've got help coming in. I thought that maybe you could join me over here.”

Mina stared at me for a beat and then burst out laughing. “I don't know the first thing about massage,” she said.

I laughed as well. “Sure, you do,” I said. “Maybe you think that you don't, and maybe you aren't classically trained or anything like that. But you've massaged me, remember? And you've done wonders for my shoulders. Besides, a lot of massage is just about mimicking. You just need to glance over every once in a while, and see what I'm doing and copy that. Couples massages are so easy.”

Mina bit her lower lip. “I don't want to screw things up for your business,” she said.

“And I know you don't need any extra money or anything, with the pineapple shop taking off,” I said, trying to make my voice sound soothing. “But seriously, it would be that easy. I wouldn't be asking if I didn't think that you could do it.”

Mina frowned and then moved around behind me, her hands coming up to my shoulders and resting there for a moment before she started to knead at the tissue there. I couldn't help groaning. “Just like that,” I said, letting my head loll forward. “Oh fuck. You're going to be a better masseuse than I am.”

Mina laughed and then withdrew her hands. “Are you sure?” she asked.

“So sure,” I said confidently. I didn't wait for further confirmation from her before I called the hotel back, letting them know that we could accommodate the Jensons that afternoon. I kept my eyes trained on Mina's the whole time, and even though she had a slightly bemused smile on her face, she didn't protest. Good.

“What do we do now?” Mina whispered at me as the Jensons changed into their massage outfits.

I couldn't help laughing a little. “Relax,” I advised. “We'll give them a couple of minutes, and then we'll go in there and get the massage started. Start at their feet; they're tourists, so their feet are probably really tired. And then just work up their legs, through their back, and through their shoulders. You've got this.”

“I can't believe I let you talk me into this,” she said, shaking her head.

“You're going to be great,” I said confidently. “I'm going to let you have Mrs. Jenson; just don't be too firm with her, all right? But as long as you can get her to relax a little, she'll probably be easy.”

Mina sighed a little but followed me into the massage room and got to work.

“So, the two of you are just here on vacation?” I said, smiling at Mina's startled look. What, did she think all my massages were conducted in strict silence? I couldn't even imagine how awkward that would be.

Mrs. Jenson giggled a little. “Actually, it's our honeymoon,” she said.

“Oh, wow,” I said, surprised.

“We were married to other people first, if you can believe that,” Richard Jenson told me, laughing as well. He reached over and tangled his fingers into his wife's fingers. “We were both married, and we each had four kids. But then we found one another.” He whistled an appreciative note. “Don't get me wrong, my first wife, Helen, is an incredible woman. But I've never felt anything like what I feel for Trish.”

Tags: Claire Adams Romance
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