Page 16 of Locking Down Qetesh

She shook her head. "Ella told me the other day. The first event for everyone is dinner tonight."

"Then down to the spa it is." I flashed her a smile. "Though if you'd rather I stayed at the opposite side of the room to you, I'd understand."

"Why would you do that?"

"Maybe you don't want someone you work with to see you in your swimsuit."

"I'm several thousand years old," she reminded me. "I think I'll survive you seeing me in my bikini. Unless this is your way of telling me that you don't want me to see you like that."

"It's fine," I promised.

"Then I'll see you down in the spa. I'll be the one in the polka dot bikini and ignoring everyone."

"Sounds good to me."

I watched as she disappeared into her room, feeling a strange kind of kinship to her, even if we'd only just met. Though with the way Ella and Nadia's pre-wedding celebration weekend was going to go, Tesha and I were going to be fast friends by the end of it.

Chapter 7

QETESH

Despite the small size of the hotel, the spa was surprisingly large, and I was looking forward to spending most of my free time here over the weekend. Maybe I should start going to the one in the Jinx hotel. Unlike Jacob, I didn't have a good reason not to. I wasn't really anyone's boss, and I could take my time and relax.

I draped my towel over one of the chairs and set down the bag with a puzzle book and a pencil in it by the side of the bed. I felt a little silly bringing a whole bag just for a couple of things, but I needed to put it in something for when I was in the water.

The hot tub was blissfully empty, which made it the perfect place to head first. I grabbed a scrunchie from my bag and used it to put my hair into a bun. I knew from experience that it was better not to have it in the way during a spa day.

I closed my eyes and sank back into the warm water and let out a sigh. This was the life. There had been many human inventions I'd enjoyed over the years, but the spa was definitely one of the ones at the top of my list. There was something about places like this that truly soothed the soul.

"Mind if I join you?"

I opened my eyes to find Jacob standing by the side of the hot tub in a pair of surprisingly boring black swimming trunks. "Be my guest."

He got into the tub, leaving plenty of space between us, which was appreciated, though not entirely necessary. I never felt as if he was invading my space, probably because he wasn't.

"It looks nice in here," he said.

"It does. And the rooms are nice. The mattresses don't have annoying springs."

He chuckled. "It's a good thing, so many of them break if you have a hotel mattress with springs. It can get expensive to replace them."

"I can't say I've ever thought about that. I imagine they're also the most cleanable kind of mattress. And if that isn't a factor, then I don't want to know. I want to live out my life in blissful ignorance."

Amusement danced over Jacob's face. "If it were my hotel, then I could assure you that I would make sure that everything was up to the highest standards, cleaning included."

"Is that what you want?" I asked. "To have your own hotel?"

"I don't really know," he admitted. "I never really planned my career, it just happened to me. I started working in the restaurant of a small hotel when I was a teenager, and then when I finished school, I moved up a bit. Before I knew it, I was a manager for a different small hotel. And then a bigger one, and then another, and then Jinx."

"Do you like it though?"

He nodded. "I do. I like working with people most of the time, even if I also like having peace when I'm by myself."

"I see that. I love being at my parties and seeing all of the people interact with one another and have a great time, but I want to go home at the end of it and put on noise-cancelling headphones."

"I can imagine that must be a relief after the intensity of one of your parties."

"It really is," I said. "But I do love them."

---