Page 25 of Marring an Athlete

“I won’t look, Anna. I promise,” he said. His voice had lowered. Anna wonder if that was just because his face was smashed into the table.

“Promise?” she asked.

He shifted and then held up his pinky. “Promise.”

Anna nodded and then slowly began to untie the sheet. Once it was loose enough to open, she flopped onto the table and let the sheet fall on top of her.

“I’m confused. Are you not husband and wife?” Greta asked as she stood over Anna.

“Oh, we are. Except. . . we aren’t having sex until we are ready for babies.” Why was she telling a complete stranger this? She was all out of sorts.

Two warm hands caused Anna to yelp as she whipped up to see Greta standing over her. Feeling like an idiot, she pretended to adjust the sheet and then placed her face back into the hole on the table.

“Wow. You are a woman of great willpower. To live with a man who looks like that and not want to be with him.”

Anna swallowed as she heard Michael snort next to her.

“Do we listen to music while we get massaged?” Anna asked. Anything to get the conversation off of her and Michael having an intimate relationship.

“Of course. One moment.” Greta left the side of the table and soon, soft melodic music drifted from a speaker in the corner.

When Greta returned, she didn’t push the conversation anymore. Instead, everyone remained silent, allowing the music to surround them.

Anna was grateful for that. If she were honest, her thoughts about Michael were even more muddled than before. As much as she wanted to say that the feelings she had had for him for so long were gone, she had a sinking feeling that wasn’t true anymore.

He had become the subject of her thoughts from the moment he walked through the coffee shop door, though she tried as hard as she could to push him out.

“So, what are we going to do?”

Anna turned to see Michael glancing over at her. He gave her a smile as his masseuse worked his back. His muscular back.

Focus, Anna.

She cleared her throat. “About what?”

“Getting McKenna and Sam back together?”

Anna felt stupid. Of course, that was what he was talking about. What did she think he meant? “Well, I think they’ve just forgotten how to love. How to talk to each other. You know, that sort of thing.”

He studied her for a moment before he placed his face back in the hole of the table. “Okay. We need to get them to talk to each other. How do we do that?”

“You need to relax,” Greta said, pressing lightly on Anna’s back.

“Sorry,” Anna said, resting her face on the table. It was probably good that she stopped staring at Michael. The lines of his muscles were distracting her. “Well, I think we need to get them to do things together.” She tried to think back to every romance movie she’d ever seen.

Michael shook his head. “I’m not sure that’s going to work. I mean, Sam isn’t exactly Mr. Personality.”

Anna stared at the floor as thoughts moved around in her mind. What did she like? Surely McKenna would like the same. “What if we were to plan, like, a romantic dinner for them?”

“That could be a good starting point. But we might need more. What did McKenna say to you? I couldn’t get Sam to talk about anything. Zilch. That guy is shut off tighter than a clam above water.”

Anna drummed her fingers on the table as she thought. She was trying to recall the conversation that she and McKenna had on the flight. “Well, there’s cooking. McKenna has always been really self-conscious about that.”

“Oh yeah. That is not a strong suit for McKenna. Did you know she almost burned down her apartment in college?” Michael whistled. “It was bad.”

That was perfect. There was nothing like a little cooking together to bring a couple closer. “Do they have cooking classes here?” Anna asked, shifting to the side and glancing over at Greta.

“Cooking classes? I believe so.” She pressed on Anna’s back and nodded toward the bed. “You can talk to your guide about that.”

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