10 Rich
Kim sleeps most of the way, snoring softly as she dozes, and it’s kind of cute. Occasionally she wakes up and pretends she wasn’t passed out, commenting on the scenery before dozing off again a few minutes later. She’s less guarded than she seemed when we left the house, and I’m glad she’s relaxed. Even when she opens her eyes and takes in the hot springs she doesn’t tense, that calm ease staying in the set of her shoulders and the bounce in her steps.
The hot springs cover a large area along the base of the mountain following the natural springs. The property itself is gated to keep out wildlife and lurkers, but even with primal play it leaves plenty of room to mess around once inside the establishment. On the drive up past the gates we saw half a dozen cabins, and there’s three dozen more spread throughout the area. I purposefully asked Jude if one of the cabins on the outskirts was available, and he just laughed and gave me one with a view down the river.
“This place is huge,” Kimber says, adjusting her sunglasses as we get out. The main dwelling is where we’ll check in, get our room keys and learn all the details on what’s being offered during our stay, so we park here before continuing further down the dirt road.
I grin, wrapping a hand around her waist and tugging her to me. She doesn’t fight it, but eyes me curiously as we walk through the doors. It’s warm today, and even if there’s supposedto be a drop in the temperature soon with fall setting in, we’ll have a good time. “Just wait. Once winter hits, only the cabins on the front half of the property are available to guests. We got in at the perfect time.”
“The leaves,” she says, staring out the windows. “The whole drive up here was gorgeous.”
“Colorado in the fall is pretty when we get to enjoy the season,” I agree, and she smirks. I nod towards the check-in counter where a woman with dark brown hair is fiddling with a computer screen.
“Georgie,” I say, and she looks up at us with a smile. “How the hell did Jude convince you to work up here?”
“Hi to you too,” she says with a grin, revealing the sparkling tooth gems she recently had added. Her blue eyes move past me to Kim and her grin widens. “Rich! You’ve finally brought a guest! Hi, I’m Georgie, I hope he doesn’t scare you off.”
Kim’s eyes widen when Georgie reaches across the counter, grabs her hand, and shakes it vigorously. “Oh, uh, I’m Kim. Nice to meet you. Rich is fine.”
I snort. “Fine?”
She glances at me and shakes her head. “Kind of annoying, if I’m being honest. He talks a lot.”
“You enjoyed my talking on the way up here,” I argue.
“Jude talks a lot too,” Georgie says with a laugh. “He’s my older brother. He told me you’d be by this week, Rich. Said you’d have a new delivery with you. Did you bring anything good?”
I snort. “Want to come with us when I give him the order? Jude will just love that.”
Georgie laughs, tapping away at the keys. “Thanks, but no. I’ll save mentally scarring my brother for a different day. I’m trying to be on his good side right now.”
Nodding along, I don’t question it. Jude is fiercely protective of his little sister, so I’m kind of surprised to see her working behind the desk. The few times I’ve seen her over the years she’s usually hanging around asking her brother for cash, and although she’s kind of fun to talk to, she's usually in and out so fast I don’t even realize she’s left.
“Jude said you got the All-Inclusive Package,” Georgie continues, wiggling her eyebrows. “In cabin forty-two. Fancy.”
“What’s the All-Inclusive Package,” Kimber whisper-asks into my ear. I think she’s trying to be quiet, but it's loud anyway.
Georgie chuckles, reaching behind the desk to pull out a pamphlet. “You can look it up. Here’s the brochure for primal month. There’s a lot of different things, but half of it is sex toys and Rich stocks most of those. He’s got this wickedly cool set of trackers that hide in a necklace - hey, kind of like the chain you have on!”
Her voice is loud, and Kim reaches up automatically to the chain around her throat. It didn’t escape my notice earlier that she’s still wearing the tracking necklace, but I didn’t want to give her any reason to take it off. I like seeing it around her throat.
It reminds me of my hand, the watch catching the light when I stole her air. The way her eyes bulged and watered and the fact that she gave me that power, trusting that I’d take care of her once she passed out.
“...really good product,” Kim finishes saying, and I missed whatever she began with. “I’m impressed, but Rich’s products are always good.”
“That’s why Jude buys them,” she says knowingly, winking at us. “Here’s the key cards, put them in the mailbox outside the cabin when you guys leave. We’ll collect them aftercheckout. If you want to keep them for souvenirs just drop the sleeve. We’ll deactivate them after your stay is over.”
I take the little packet that Georgie hands off, letting Kim take one of the cards. Her eyes widen when she notices the image on the front. They aren’t normal hotel cards.
“We have a waiver you can sign if you’d like to be featured,” Georgie says with a smirk. “Some people want boudoir or in-scene photos, and if you want to let us use the images on some of our keycards we cut off a chunk of the bill. Lots of paperwork though. Keep that in mind.”
“Wow,” Kim says, showing me the image on hers. They mix them up, so I’m not surprised mine has a different image. “Doggie style with a tail plug. I dig it.”
I smile, wrapping an arm around her again. “Come on, I want to show you the cabin. Then I can drop off the delivery if you’d prefer to… take in the springs.”
~~~
“I don’t think I’ll ever leave here.”
