“Who’s Ming?”
“A miracle worker. I know you have a demanding work schedule, but I’ll need you to have open availability after work for the next two weeks.”
Could he do this? Put himself in the hands of a stranger and trust her to find him happiness?
Yes. He hadn’t come this far to quit now. If he kept his focus, it would all be worth it.
“Okay.”
Her smile grew, and he admitted he’d do just about anything to see it again. She was a definite witch, with her apparent power to spellbind him with a single gesture or facial expression. “Great. Trust me, and I’ll take you all the way.”
The innuendo almost made him groan. But he refused to go down on the first round. He dropped his voice and pretended to be in control.
“I’m looking forward to it, Kennedy.”
He caught a flare of unease in her eyes, before smoothing back to her polished social director demeanor. But Nate suspected there was a lot more to her beneath her surface. And he wanted to find out just what those layers held. Maybe he’d even show this beautiful woman a lot more than she ever suspected.
Maybe.
He stood. “I’ll see you tomorrow at six.” He left without looking back, wondering how it would all turn out.
four
NATE EYED THE bright red door with suspicion, but his eager guide for the evening gave him no time to think. Just pushed him through until he popped into an empty waiting room. The lights were dim, and there was only one large counter set up. No magazines, no water, no snacks. When he’d first heard he was going to a spa, he figured a little pampering couldn’t be so bad. Images of hot towels, long fragrant massages, and a beautiful woman rubbing his feet flickered in his head. But this was a dump.
Located on the edge of Verily, hidden up a steep hill, there seemed to be neither foot traffic nor pedestrians. Just a broken-down building with a bright red door. Elizabeth Arden it was not. How did this place get clients?
Kennedy motioned for him to take a seat as she walked up to the desk. The woman frowned at her instead of giving her a welcoming smile and launched into a tirade in heavily accented Chinese. Kennedy listened, nodded a lot, and basically seemed to try to suck up to her. What type of establishment was this? If this was the type of business Kinnections patronized, he may have made a terrible mistake.
Kennedy did a slight bow and returned. Sweat beaded her brow. “Thank God. Ming will see us.”
“Who is this person? There’s no customer service. No nice amenities. And they seem rude. We should leave.”
She dropped her voice to a fierce hiss. “You do not make any negative comments. One complaint and we’ll get thrown out. Ming is the best, and she’ll return you back to normal. Above normal, actually. You’ll never be the same.”
His unease grew. He pulled at his lab coat and noticed the new stain of mustard on his lapel from eating lunch at his desk. Again. It had been hell getting out on time, but he was looking forward to beginning his journey toward his future wife. Who would’ve thought it would begin in a crappy underground dungeon with a woman named Ming?
“What is she going to do to me?”
Kennedy pointed a finger at him. “Whatever she wants. You need to follow all her instructions exactly. This is very important.”
“I’m not stupid.”
“No, but you like to argue, and that will get us thrown out.”
He had no time to respond. The door behind the desk swung open without a sound. He caught an impression of an elfin figure dressed in a Japanese robe, shrouded in shadow. One long, bony finger drifted out and beckoned him forward.
“Go,” Kennedy whispered.
Crap, why was he scared? A little old lady couldn’t hurt him, and if he didn’t like anything, he’d just walk out, no matter what Kennedy said. He straightened his shoulders and stepped through the door.
She led him down a dim hallway. The small woman moved lightning fast, practically floating over the ground as they turned right and made their way deeper into a maze of unending hallways. He itched to throw bread crumbs or mark a wall to find his way back, but there was no time. He stumbled twice just keeping up. Finally, she stopped and entered an unmarked door.
A long, flat limestone table took up the center of the room. Towels were placed around the site, and a luxurious open glass shower was set up in the corner. The walls were a pristine white and bare of decoration except for a few shelves that displayed an array of glass bottles. Music drifted softly from the speakers. He caught a flute, birdcalls, and the sound of rushing water. The air was moist and smelled of clean soap and the faintness of lavender. Ming headed toward a small bamboo-type desk with a large white basin and began prepping. Nate watched as she busied herself like a doctor preparing shots, lining up jumbo-size containers and pouring liquid in. Finally, she turned and faced him.
“You get naked.”
“What?”
The top of her head didn’t even hit his chest. Her bare feet peeked out from underneath the white robe that seemed to swallow her whole. Black hair was cropped close to her head, and her dark eyes snapped impatience and command. “I say get naked. Then lie on table.”
Nate held on to his lab coat and shoved down the panic. Naked? In front of her? Hell, no. “Um, can I leave my T-shirt and boxers on? I’m not very comfortable removing all my clothes.”
She spit in his direction. Sheer disgust marked her face. “You big baby? You no get naked for old woman? What you so afraid of?”
He jerked back. “I’m not scared! I just don’t think I need to.”
Ming took a step forward and wagged her finger in the air. “You orange. You look like carrot. I fix you, but you listen to me. Now get naked and lie on table on stomach.”
Kennedy’s words flashed in his mind. This was his first test. How could he fail already? And he was orange. Even Wayne agreed today that he should do something because it was distracting his concentration. He had hoped it would go away, but after four days, it still hadn’t faded. Was he really nervous about a professional seeing him without clothes? No, he refused to let her win this round by acting like a child. Women did this stuff all the time, right?
“Fine.” He took off all his clothes, folded them neatly, and placed them on an unoccupied shelf. The table was smooth and cool as he stretched out on his stomach, and his head was cushioned by a soft mat. He turned his head to the right, closed his eyes, and tried not to think of his naked ass up in the air for Ming to view.
He waited a while, breathing and listening to the flute, and began to relax. Steam began to rise up in the room and opened his pores. Maybe this wouldn’t be too bad. A massage was something he really needed for his neck and back. Long hours spent stationary had tied him in knots. Maybe he’d even get in a bit of a nap. He figured—
“Aghgh!”
A mass of cold liquid was dumped on his back, trickling down his rear. Before he could process, a thousand stiff bristles worked its way over his skin, the rough back-and-forth motions scraping him and causing a mixture of tickling and pain, until he twisted around and batted it out of the way. “That hurts!”
“Be quiet.”
He gasped. She scrubbed harder, completely disregarding his tiny yelps as she worked every inch of his skin, from the soles of his feet, ass, back, shoulders, and even his armpits. His skin tingled and burned, and the tiny beads of gel caused an abrasion that he swore would mark him for life. Dear God, he was going to have scars! She had no idea what she was doing, and seemed to even chuckle menacingly the few times he jumped and tried to wriggle away from the brush of doom.