Page 81 of Serenity

“Where are you?”

“I’m at the spa. Just trying to rinse the ick of it all away.”

“You want to talk about it?”

The lengthy pause between my answer and his question was compelling. Enough to muster more concern. Enough to have him on a flight back from Dubai.

“Baby?”

“I don’t,” I sniffed as staggering tears surfaced on my cheeks.

“Serenity.”

Duke’s voice was low. The way he spoke my name, benign. I wished like hell he was in town. Wished like hell I could fall into his arms. Wished like hell he could make me forget the day. His distance made those wishes impossible to fulfill. His distance placed him eleven hours away.

Aware of the significant time difference between Paramour and Dubai, I asked him, “Shouldn’t you be asleep right now?”

Entering the sauna, I stripped down to my bare skin, placing the phone on speaker. With the robe acquired from the front entry, I draped my limbs and headed for the steam room.

“Nah. It’s not exactly bedtime where I’m at today,” Duke responded. “What are you doing right now at the spa?”

“I’m headed into the sauna. I’ll probably need to call you back.”

Hanging up the line, I fractured into a fit of tears.

RICH NIGGA MATH

“I’ll be here for a while, Reed. Go have dinner on me.”

Exiting the back of the Cadillac SUV, I entered the spa located high above Paramour’s Canyon. At the front desk, I checked in, booked a room for the evening, and headed toward the saunas.

Toeing out of the Magnanni hard bottoms coating my feet, I discarded my socks, followed by my slacks and suit jacket. Unhooking cufflinks, I unbuttoned my dress shirt and hung my belongings in a locker nearby. The plushness of spa slides luxuriated my feet. With a towel draped over my shoulder, I searched the shared sauna rooms for Serenity with no luck. There were four private saunas nearby. On each door, I knocked until I heard her dispirited voice call out to tell me the room was occupied.

“Somebody is in here!”

“Bee. Open up. Let me in.”

In an instant, the door to the sauna was unsealed. Bee’s downtrodden mood squeezed my heart uncomfortably. Apprehensive quiet filled the air. Painfully obvious was the fact that she’d had a bad day. The duke was here to scare the troubles away.

“Duke? Hey. What are you—”

Silencing the inquiry, my lips slammed into hers. Sliding across the seal of her lips, my tongue demanded entry before dipping inside. Flavored with anger, frustration, and need, Bee moaned at my attack.

“I missed you,” she fussed, pulling me closer as if trying to absorb my entire existence.

“Tell me what’s wrong.”

Headfirst, Serenity dove into a recount of her day with Solari and the accident following her departure from the facility. By the end of her recollection, she was covered in sweat that had nothing to do with the sauna—a foretelling of the degree of stress she carried.

“You didn’t go to the hospital following the accident?”

“I’m fine.”

“Bee.”

“It was just a little bump to the vehicle. I’ll be okay.”

Though wary about her well-being, I let it pass. There were levels to my influence over her decisions. She was as stubborn and headstrong as they came, but I wouldn’t trade her for another soul. If she said she was okay, I had no choice but to believe her. Still, I’d keep a close eye out for any disturbance to her routine.

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