Page 48 of The Physical Attraction Seminar
“I’ll give you a hundred grand to fuck off.” I hear Barrett pick up the phone and grumble into the receiver. “Oh… morning, Buster.”
I pull the comforter down, barely peeling an eyelid open. It was still pitch black outside, so I’d hardly call it morning. Following the chaos of the foreplay seminar yesterday, we took the opportunity to unwind on thebeach for the remainder of the day. After a long day under the sun, we crumbled onto the bed, instantly succumbing to exhaustion. Just a guess, but I’ll probably need at least six more hours of sleep before I’ll be fully prepared to be a functioning human being.
“Mhmm. Mhmm,” Barrett hums. “Sounds great. See you then.”
“What time is it, anyway?” I croak out in a sleepy voice.
“A few minutes past five.”
“It should be a crime to call someone this early.”
“Agreed. I’m going back to sleep.”
“Why are you still talking?”
I’m barely awake when Barrett pulls me in closer to his side and whispers against my hair, saying, “Oh, by the way, apparently, we have couples massages with Charlene and Buster at ten.”
A handful of hours later, the four of us are downstairs in the resort’s spa. We’re sitting in heated loungers overlooking the ocean with fluffy white robes on, and it’s the most relaxed I’ve felt all week. The air is filled with the gentle hum of ambient music, and the sun is shining through the windows.
Our massages, on the other hand, were the opposite of relaxing. Neither Barrett nor I knew what kind ofmassages were in store for us, and the room was already crowded with two couples. You can imagine our surprise when we found out these were tandem massages, with two therapists attending to each person.
My personal nightmare was being crammed into a small room with twelve people, the air heavy and stifling. Then there was Buster, who found no problem with it and snored the entire fifty minutes.
“So, how’d the two of you end up coming here?” Barrett asks with his eyes closed as he relaxes in the heated chair.
“We had a gift card,” Buster answers for the two of them.
“To the seminar?”
“No, silly,” Charlene says. “To the resort. I entrusted Buster with the task of booking our tickets, unaware of the weekly conference rotations. So, he went straight to the resort website and booked a room for one of the least busy weeks. And well… you can imagine our surprise when we got here.”
“Sounds familiar.” I shoot a piercing glare at Barrett and he opens his eyes just long enough to catch a glimpse of it.
A faint smile creeps across his face, and it’s so infectious that it compels me to mirror the same expression.
“Are the two of you coming to the information session on male vocalization in the bedroom?” Charlene whispers quietly to me.
“We’re going to skip that one. I think he’s got that one down.” I jerk my head in Barrett’s direction,and he struggles to catch his breath after choking on his cucumber water.
“Lucky woman.” Charlene nudges my arm with a wink. “Tell him to find Buster later so he can get some pointers.”
“You two ladies keep chatting. We’re going to go to the bar and get this young boy here a drink,” Buster announces, slapping Barrett on the shoulder. “He could use one after all that coughing.”
Barrett gives me a pleading look, his eyes filled with desperation, as he moves to stand silently.
“You know what? Maybe we should go back to the room and—” Before I can even finish my sentence, Buster is already hastily ushering Barrett towards the door.
“You ladies don’t miss us too much.” Buster shoots us a playful wink. The two of them walk out of the room together, the door closing behind them with a soft click, leaving Charlene and me alone.
“Now that it’s just us girls, I need to be nosy.” She doesn’t waste any time before diving in, and honestly, I respect it.
I haven’t talked to Camila all week except for sending a few sporadic text messages to assure her that I’m still alive. Everyone back at B.B.E. still thinks we’re attending a business conference, and I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to explain this one yet.
I could use a healthy dose of girl talk right now.
Or so I think… until Charlene narrows her eyes at me with pursed lips, and a sense of dread settles in my stomach.
Even before she opens her mouth, I can predict exactly what she’s going to ask.
