“I’m good. I’ll stay right where I am,” I mutter.
My masseuse laughs under her breath.
“Don’t worry, you aren’t the first husband to have this issue,” she says quietly.
I open my mouth to correct her but stop.
What’s the harm in her thinking that Iris and I are a thing? It’s like the plane all over. I’m fully into fantasyland.
I can pretend it is real for a little while longer.
The masseuse continues to rub and hits a particularly tender spot behind my shoulder blade, making me grunt.
Iris sighs, and I swear to Christ if I wasn’t lying on my stomach, everyone in the room would know exactly what her sounds do to me.
I shut my eyes and try to tune her out. I am on edge the entire massage, unable to fully relax, which I am sure Glenda, my masseuse, found amusing because every time I would tense due to Iris, she would let out a little laugh under her breath.
Thankfully, she doesn’t out me. She’s getting a hell of a tip.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” Iris says teasingly.
I let her believe I had been asleep, which is why I didn’t answer her when she spoke to me during the massage. Truth is, I couldn’t talk to her and keep my cool. I needed to focus.
“Is it over? That was torture,” I grumble.
Iris giggles. “Torture? You fell asleep.”
I turn my head over and look at her. She’s got a line on her face from the table. Her eyes are glassy, and if I’m honest, it’s the most relaxed I’ve ever seen her.
“Did you enjoy it?” I ask, making her smile.
“Ten out of ten, recommend. If Matilda was a man, I would have proposed.”
Jealousy rolls through me, and I push it down.
Jesus, have I really gone so far off the deep end that I’m jealous of a woman because she made Iris happy?
What the hell is wrong with me?
“Hey, are you okay?” she asks quietly.
“I’m perfect.” I clear my throat. “Are you wanting to do anything else while we are here?”
“I mean, I was going to either order room service or check the on-site restaurant since it’s reopened. Which, in case I didn’t tell you, it was smart to open it as soon as we finished it. The business from the neighboring resort alone has made it more than worth it.”
“I have a good idea every so often,” I tease, making her laugh.
“That you do. That you do. So what do you say? Want to have dinner together?”
“Sure.”
“At the restaurant?”
I sigh, feigning annoyance. “Fine.”
“Look at you being all agreeable and shit. If I would have known all it would take was a massage, I would have made you get one earlier,” she teases with a smile on her face.
The way she smiles at me makes my heart ache and wish for something else.
