Page 35 of River
CHAPTER 10
Massage on the Beach
Noah
River led me to a massage place on the beach where sweet local women with flowers in their hair smiled and welcomed us.
“You want couples’ massage?” one of them asked us.
River stopped and turned her face to me with a grin. “I’m buying you a massage.”
“But…” My face fell. “I thought you meant that you’d give me a massage yourself.”
“Trust me, I wouldn’t be half as good at it as these experts.”
I swallowed my disappointment and went along. The place was like an oversized covered four-poster bed built in sturdy bamboo. It was wide enough for two people to lie side by side on plastic mats covered by towels.
“You take off top,” one of the two women instructed me and gestured for me to remove my t-shirt. I stripped out of it and saw River pull her dress off as well.
I don’t know why the sight of her white underwear was any different from seeing her in her black bikini the day before yesterday, but it felt a thousand times more intimate, and I closed my eyes trying to get a hold of myself.
“You two honeymoon?” the little woman chirped in her high-pitched voice while pointing for us to come and lie down next to each other.
“No, we’re just friends,” River explained and didn’t look at me when she went to lie down on her stomach.
I felt dry in my mouth and emptied the bottle of water in my hand before getting up on the bamboo construction and lying down beside her.
River told the women we wanted a full body massage, and I went with it. This wasn’t my first massage, and even though I’d hoped River was referring to something involving touch between her and me, it was still lovely and relaxing.
The soft breeze from the ocean and the sound of the birds and waves had a calming effect on me and gave me time to go over everything that had happened since River knocked on my door this morning.
Opening my eyes, I watched her.
Her face was turned toward me, but her eyes were closed. She had her hair tucked behind her ear with a single strand falling down over her forehead. Her nose was long and straight, her lips full and a little bit chapped. Her eyelashes were long and dark.
As if she could feel me watching her, River opened her incredible chocolate-colored brown eyes and watched me back.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked.
“That I didn’t think I’d see you again.”
“I could tell you were surprised that I came this morning.”
“Very.”
“Happily surprised, I hope.”
“Yes. I’m trying to figure out what to make of your new sudden interest in me.” In the back of my mind, I wondered if she’d somehow discovered that I was wealthy. But that was impossible since the few people who had knowledge of my inheritance were back home in Norway.
She closed her eyes again as if she had no explanation for her interest in me.
“River?”
“Yes.”
“Can I take you out to dinner tonight?”
“You mean like a date?”
