“You’re starting to lose me here, Steph.”
I sighed. “Do you think under different circumstances, Sarah would’ve become the Goblin Queen?”
I looked at Sara pleadingly, as if I needed to hear her say it. To tell me what I was feeling was alright.
“What if he hadn’t kidnapped Toby, but rather approached her in the normal sense?”
Or knew what he’d done in the past was wrong and vowed never to do it again…
“But then…” I pursed my lips. “She wouldn’t have been able to be with him anyway. He was a being from another realm.”
An immortal god with a kingdom to rule.
Sara cleared her throat and wrapped her hands around mine. “I’m not sure why you’re using analogies to get to your point, but I’ll humor you. She could’ve been with him if she agreed to become immortal. But you’re right. He didn’t deserve her after all the shit he pulled. I don’t care how much he claimed to love her.”
Become immortal. My heart sunk to my feet.
“You need to talk to him, Steph. Clearly, you both like each other, and he seems pretty understanding, so talk to him.”
I wanted nothing more than to tell her everything. Get her opinion on everything. But I couldn’t.
“Come on.” She grabbed my shoulder, pulling me back. “Shut all of this down. We have a contest to primp you for.”
“Primp?” I asked.
“We still haven’t used our free spa passes, remember?”
Who could think of relaxing at a time like this?
“Go change. I’ll meet you there,” she said, shoving me toward the door and slipping our passes into my pocket.
I stood outside of the spa, chewing my thumbnail. When she said to meet her here, I didn’t realize she meant in twenty minutes, which is how long I’d been standing here. I was sure of it.
“I’m gonna take a wild guess and say this isn’t a whiskey tastin’, is it?” Hades said from behind me.
I spun around to face him, and my heart raced. “Hades?”
He dipped his chin down. “Hey, darlin’.”
“Sara, she must’ve—” Tears threatened my eyes, but I held them back.
“She did.” He smirked. “Rather clever, I gotta say.”
I stepped forward. “About yesterday, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
He held up a hand. “You don’t have to explain.”
“No, I do. I said that we can’t because I didn’t know if we could.”
His face fell blank.
It was better than that scowl of his.
“So, you don’t regret kissing me?” His brow raised.
Gulping, I shook my head. We stood in awkward silence, staring at each other.
I glanced behind me at the spa. “I probably know the answer, but have you ever been to one of these before?”
He smirked. “No.”
“Me either. I can give these passes to another couple,” I said with a shrug.
He walked up to me and slipped his hand into mine. “Or we can experience it for the first time together. I can power through it if you can.”
My throat constricted, and I tightened my grip on his hand, letting him lead me into the spa.
The attendant, a young man, greeted us with a warm smile. “Kalimera.”
Hades bowed his head.
“Eísai mazí?” the attendant asked, cocking an eyebrow at Hades.
“Naí,” Hades replied with a nod, pressing a hand against my lower back. “Passes, sweetheart?”
“Oh, right.” I dug into my pocket and held them out.
The attendant motioned with his hand for us to follow him.
As he led us to the back, I leaned toward Hades. “What did he ask?”
“If we had passes.” His lips thinned.
I narrowed my eyes. “Are you screwing with me again?”
He gazed down at me with brightened eyes but said nothing.
“This is what I get for letting that Greek Rosetta Stone collect dust.”
The back area of the spa had several doors leading to changing rooms.
The attendant pointed to the left. “Gynaíkes.”
“Women,” Hades translated.
I locked eyes with him as I slipped into the changing room. We gazed at each other until the door closed, breaking our trance. Several white robes hung from silk-lined hangers, and there were cubbies to store personal items. I removed my shorts and shirt, standing in only my bikini.
I had a choice. Keep the bikini on or not. A simple choice, but it made my mind reel. A week ago, the version of me that arrived in Greece wouldn’t have stewed on it for long. She’d have kept the swimsuit on. The one-piece.
I pulled on the strings and let the suit fall to the ground. The robe caressed my bare skin when I slipped it over my naked form. It was soft and fluffy terry cloth. When I returned to the hallway, Hades walked out of his room at the same time. I clenched the neckline of my robe and stared at his bare chest peeking out.
His eyes roamed down my body. When he reached my feet, he cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his head. “You ready?”
I nodded. In truth, I wasn’t even sure what I should be ready for. Were we getting massages? Facials? I bit back a laugh at the thought of Hades with a clay-based mask on his face.
The attendant held his hand out toward another room. Two tables situated side by side with face pillows and white sheets draped over them. He rattled something off in Greek with a wide grin and left. I shuffled into the room, playing with the ties of my robe. Hades walked in behind me, shutting the door with a light click.
“He said they’d be with us in a moment and to get comfortable under the sheets,” Hades said.
My stomach clenched when he said “under the sheets” and thoughts nowhere else but in the filthy, filthy gutter invaded my head.
I moved to one table, undoing the ties of the robe. Glancing over my shoulder, I caught him staring. He shot his gaze skyward, rubbing the back of his head again.
“I can turn around,” he said.
I should’ve been lady-like and asked him to, but surprisingly I wanted him to watch. Instead, I let him make up his own mind, kept my back to him, and slipped the robe over my shoulders. As bold as I felt, I couldn’t bring myself to take a peek at him. But the sound of a husky breath letting out of him as I crawled under the sheet told me he hadn’t bothered turning around.
I shoved my face into the pillow and turned my head when I heard his own robe’s sound coming off. My cheeks warmed when his perfectly rounded and muscular butt stared at me. He slipped under the sheet, and I turned my face away with a grin.
“I saw that,” he mumbled.
We spent the next hour being massaged by Georgios and Alexandra. Hades asked for Georgios, claiming he’d have the stronger hands to handle his extremely tight muscles. A small part of me hoped he asked because he knew Alexandra had a good possibility of trying to take the massage to a whole other level once the aura kicked in. Involuntary groans escaped my throat when she’d worked my lower and upper back. Sitting at a computer desk all day had been taking its toll. They rubbed large chunks of salt against our skin, wiped it off with hot towels, and instructed us in Greek before leaving us to slip on our robes.