“Slow your roll, B.” Jen laughed. “Like I’m dumb enough to let a dude put his hands on me.” She sent him a mental image of the room around her and all the female masseuses.
“Why are you all wearing nothing but sheets?”
Jen rolled her eyes. “We’re getting massages, Decebel. We can’t very well get them with our clothes on. Not to mention, I just showed you that it’s chicks, not dudes, rubbing our stressed-out bodies.”
“I could have taken care of your stressed-out body,” he muttered.
“Yes,” she agreed. “But then you wouldn’t have let me leave our bedroom for girl time.”
“You’ve had a lot of girl time over the past couple of weeks. What happened to mate time?”
“You do realize that you sound like a child who hasn’t gotten to play with his favorite toy in a month, right?”
Decebel was quiet for a moment, but she could practically feel the wheels in his mind turning, though he wasn’t letting her hear what was going on in there. Then she felt a wicked glee come through the bond. That didn’t bode well for her.
“You know, baby, I think you females have the right idea. It’s been a little stressful getting everything ready for the celebration. I bet all the males would like massages, too. There’s a lot of tension in the shoulders and back from all the tree lifting, lighting hanging, and sleigh building work. I’m sure we could get Adam to take us somewhere.”
Jen thought about a woman’s hands on her mate’s delectable body. She tried not to grind her teeth. “You have the ankle biters, B. You won’t leave them behind.”
“We could go in shifts. A few stay behind and watch the kids while the others go and get their… What did you call it? Oh, right, zen. They can get their zen.”
Jen counted to ten in her mind and then reminded herself that she was a mature adult who was fully capable of having a productive argument with her mate without resorting to physical pain. “Do I need to remind you that it’s a female rubbing my back?”
“Do I need to remind you that your body is mine, just as mine is yours? The only hands that should be rubbing either of us is each other.”
Why was that sexy and irritating at the same time? Probably because it meant she was about to have to give up her massage. “You owe me.”
“And you know I’m always happy to pay up,” he said with a satisfied purr. She could feel his satisfaction at having won this little skirmish.
“I want a massage that works out all my knots and makes me boneless and sleepy with no hanky panky.”
“Wait, what?” His voice rose and the satisfaction fled.
Jen laughed out loud. “Sorry, babe. Got to go. We’re getting dressed and then heading to the hotel restaurant to get our grub on.”
Jen heard rustling around her and opened her eyes. She lifted her head and saw the masseuses were leaving, and all of her friends were wrapping sheets around their bodies as they climbed off their tables. She pursed her lips. “Let me guess, y’all’s mates weren’t thrilled with the evening’s activity either?”
“Stupid furbutts,” Jacque huffed.
“It’s kind of sexy.” Zara’s eyebrows bounced up and down. “My man wants to be the only one who puts his hands on me.”
Jen stood up and looked at the newly bonded female. “You’ve just been demoted from new favorite to HBB.”
“Do I want to know what HBB stands for?” Zara asked.
Jacque and Sally shook their heads as they answered in unison. “Definitely not.”
“Is it disturbing that I’ve known her long enough that I’m starting to understand the acronyms?” Crina asked.
Jacque nodded. “That’s a sign that you need to be reprogrammed. You’ve let the Jen virus infiltrate your brain. Don’t feel bad. It happens to the best of us.”
“Well, if they’re not going to let us get our massages, let’s go eat expensive food until we can’t move,” Peri suggested.
“I can’t believe you let Lucian put his foot down,” Elle said as they retrieved their clothes.
“I pick my battles,” Peri responded.
“And he threatened to let a chick give him a massage, didn’t he?” Jen said with a laugh.
Peri muttered something under her breath. It didn’t sound complimentary.
Within twenty minutes, they were all dressed and seated in the fancy hotel restaurant. Jen practically salivated, staring at the menu. “I say we order it all.”
Jacque pulled out a black credit card and slapped it down in the middle of the table. “Let’s do our worst.”
Their worst took the better part of three hours. After it was all said and done, they’d not only ordered at least one of everything on the menu, but two of most of the desserts. Now, the women were leaning back in their chairs, hands resting on their stomachs. Groans could periodically be heard coming from each of them.
“Why did you guys let me eat so much?” Sally laid her head on Elle’s shoulder.
“Because we were all scared to come anywhere near the hand that was shoveling food into your mouth. You growled whenever any of us even reached for a plate close to you,” Rachel told her, a small smile on her lips.
“I didn’t.” Sally shook her head.
“Totally did,” Jen agreed with Rachel.
Sally looked a little sheepish. “I was hungry. It was a long day.”
“It has been a long day, but a fun one,” Jacque looked around the group, her eyes landing on Jen. She winked at her friend, and Jen smiled. She couldn’t disagree. Even with their mates going all caveman on them, which was kind of sexy though she’d never admit it, it had been a great day.
“I say we get some sleep, and then tomorrow we can go get the awesome cakes and head home before our men come hunt us down,” Jen suggested.
Laughter erupted. They knew she was not wrong, and nods of agreement went around the table as they stood up. Peri snapped her fingers, and a large amount of money sat in the middle.
“After the mess we made, the waitress deserves an amazing tip,” the high fae said. Peri wasn’t wrong. It looked like a litter of wolf pups had gone to town on the table instead of eight grown women. Jen figured once the waitress saw the large sum of cash waiting on her, she wouldn’t care one bit.
*****
Elle said her goodnights to all the other females, and they each headed into the rooms that filled the massive suite Peri had procured for them. The living area was littered with bags and bags of presents, but they were all so tired that they didn’t even stop to talk about what they’d bought or who they’d bought for. She was exhausted, which was kind of funny considering she was a fae warrior who’d fought in more battles than she could count. But one day of shopping and seven other chattering females wiped her out.
“Have you had fun?” Sorin’s voice nearly caused her to jump out of her skin. She turned to find him leaning against the doorframe that led to the bathroom. She was so tired that she hadn’t even picked up on the fact that he’d closed the mate bond down to a low hum, but it was blaring wide open now that he’d revealed himself.