Page 73 of Shiver

“Apparently, everyone who ate dessert last night got sick, so they won’t be able to join us for breakfast today,” she tells me hesitantly.

“I’m not seeing the problem, princess. You’re gonna have to spell it out for me because we didn’t have dessert, and I thought time away from your family was agoodthing.”

“It is, but my parents had some romantic excursion booked for this afternoon, and it’s non-refundable, so they begged us to go in their place, and I said yes.”

My heart rate starts to slow. “That doesn’t sound so bad. I’m sure we can have fun together,” I tell her with a wink, hoping to, at the very least, help her mood change from sad to annoyed. Annoyance I can handle. I’m used to her being annoyed with me. Sad? Not so much.

“I mean, I guess not. But I had my massage planned, and now I can’t do that, so I’m just a little bummed,” she explains.

Understanding dawns on me.If my girl wants a massage, she’s getting a massage.

“Let’s just make the most of it, okay?”

She nods, standing. “Ready for breakfast?”

“Always,” I answer, following her to the door. I make a mental note to call the spa as soon as we’re done eating.

***

“I’m gonna go make a call. I’ll be ready in a few minutes, and then we can head out,” I tell Samara, closing the sliding door behind me.

The phone rings a few times as I wait for the hotel spa to answer. “La Rucia Spa, how can I help you?”

“Hi, my girlfriend had a massage booked for today and had to cancel due to some last-minute changes in our itinerary. I was wondering if you have any open availability?” I ask, making sure there’s a smile in my tone.

“I’m so sorry, sir, but we’re booked out until next March,” she informs me.Shit.

“Could you check to see what kind of massage Samara Perez-Allen in the honeymoon suite had booked for today?”

“Yes, sir,” she answers, and I hear her typing and clicking. “She had a ninety-minute full-body deep-tissue massage with hot stones added.”

“Great, and how much does that usually cost?”

“Twenty-two hundred Dominican pesos, which is about three hundred and seventy USD,” she informs me.

“Great, how does two thousand USD for all of that, plus a facial and body scrub done in our hotel room, sound?”

She sputters on the other end of the line. “Sir, I, we… We don’t have any availability.”

I feel horrible for putting her on the spot, but money talks, and I’m willing to pay if it means Samara gets the vacation shewants.I’m not okay with using money or influence to get whatIwant, but this feels a lot more like a necessity. Samara’s been known to make me do and think differently than I typically would, even if she has no idea she’s doing it.

“Is there anyone…” I clear my throat. “Anyfemalemassage therapists willing to stay after normal working hours? I’ll pay whatever their price is. Hell, I’ll double it,” I tell her.

“One moment, sir,” she says, and I hear her speaking Spanish with a few people in the background. I can make out some of what they’re saying, thanks to Gianni’s language proficiency, but I’m not great at speaking anything aside from English and some really shitty Italian.

She gets back on the phone, releasing a long sigh. “We can make that work. Two thousand USD at six tonight.”

“Sounds great,” I tell her. “Thank you so much.”

“The pleasure is mine, sir,” she says before hanging up.

I smile to myself, heading back inside to meet Samara for ourromanticexcursion.

Chapter fifty-nine

Samara

Ipull off my flip-flops, tossing them in my backpack as we step out onto the sand, not wanting to kick any up onto my legs.

---