I’d thought about what the best approach would be while we were heading over, and I didn't think that question set off any red flags.
"Oh certainly, I can give you the last name on the card that was used to purchase the certificate. Would that help?" she asked with her same calm smile.
"That'd be great," I answered, handing it over to her. She typed away on her computer for a minute before smiling.
"All right, it looks like a Mr. Wilder purchased the certificate, but that was only a few days ago. Were you mistaken about when you received it?"
Her voice drifted out after the name “Wilder” passed her lips.
I couldn't even process the second half of her sentence.
Holy.
Mr. Wilder.
Liam-freaking-drop-my-panties-Wilder had taken the time to give me a belated birthday present.
My breathing sounded awkward when I finally muttered a response. "Oh, ha-ha, I guess I was confused about another gift certificate. Thanks."
I didn't even wait for her to say anything else before darting toward the changing room. I fumbled through the process of changing into a robe and slipping on the spa's sandals. My brain felt frozen in shock; like that bit of information had thrown a cog into my whole system.
When I caught up to Becca, she'd already changed into her robe and was lying with cucumbers on her eyes in the relaxation room.
"Is that you Kinsley?" she asked when the door closed behind me.
"Yep," I murmured, all of a sudden scared that she'd ask me about the gift certificate. I didn't want to tell her it was from Liam because I wasn’t sure what his motives were yet.
"These cucumbers burn. Isn't that weird? It's like they're so cold that they're freezing my eyes off."
Leave it up to Becca to make me crack up in the "relaxation room" of a spa.
"Take them off then, dufus."
She smiled but didn't move to sit up. "No. I want my money's worth."
I reclined next to her just as a spa attendant came in and offered us warm towels and jasmine-infused water. To our credit, we acted as civilized as possible until the attendant left the room. The second she was gone, I leaned over and ate one of Becca's cucumbers.
"Ew! That's sick. That had my eye cooties on it."
"Tasted minty," I joked and waggled my eyebrows.
“Hey – have you thought at all about what you’re going to major in?” she asked.
I groaned. She’d just asked the dreaded question. “Oh god, do we have to talk about this at the spa? I have no clue. I just want to play soccer.”
“Yeah, same.”
“We register for classes in a few weeks, right?”
“Yup,” she nodded, taking a sip of her water. “We have like three months left to enjoy sweet freedom.”
“You mean three months to go to as many parties as possible.”
“Exactly. We won’t have time once the semester starts.”
Just then, the door clicked open and a pretty, petite woman stepped in quietly. "Ms. Bryant, if you're ready, I'll be taking you to your waxing room."
What?! I’d had no time to relax my chakra. If anything, my chakra felt even more panicked. What kind of spa was this?
"Can she come with me?!" I begged, pointing to Becca.
Becca groaned. “I don’t need a full-frontal view of your no-no zone.”
"Not like on that side of the table,” I clarified, “I just I don't want to go in by myself."
The petite woman smiled and nodded. "If you'd like your friend to hold your hand that's perfectly fine, but I promise it won't be too bad. I'm very good at what I do."
She sounded extremely confident, which was good considering she was about to be working with hot wax around a very important part of my body. Would it be rude to ask to see her degree? She better have graduated from Harvard Cosmetology. Yale Cosmetology just wasn’t what it used to be.
I reluctantly followed her toward the waxing room while Becca giggled next to me. She was enjoying my misery way too much.
Once we were inside the room, the petite woman walked me through what to expect and I tried not to break Becca's hand off in the process.
"You have to ease up. She's not even starting yet and my hand went numb about two minutes ago."
"Okay, sorry, sorry. Just tell me when she’s about to go," I apologized, staring up at the ceiling and feeling like I was sweating out of every pore on my body. "Why did I agree to this? I've never had any complaints in that area before. I mean, I'm not like a wildebeest, but I groom myself... I swear. Oh god, do I look like an Amazon compared to the other women that come in here?" At that point I was just rambling to keep myself preoccupied. I could hear the petite woman shuffling around and I automatically imagined the worst. Like what you do at the dentist's office when your eyes are closed and they start up the drill.
I jumped when the woman's hand touched my leg and then a loud crunching sound almost forced me to bolt from the room. "Ah! That didn't sound good."
"Sweetie, that was just me opening the sterile wax strips. We're going to get started, okay? I'm going to go fast—" I could feel her starting to smear on the wax. It was warm, but not too hot. "You won't even feel a thing and it'll be over befo—"
"AHHHHHHHH! SON OF A," I screamed as she pulled the first strip. The crazy lady didn't even pause. She kept going until I was yelling expletives even sailors would balk at. I was practically in tears while Becca, of course, was laughing her ass off. She could hardly contain her joy and I wanted to put hot wax on her face just to see how much she liked it.
"It's seriously not that bad, Kinsley!" Becca laughed as the woman started smearing on some cooling cream.
"You probably don't even remember! You’ve probably done it so many times that you’ve ripped off all of your nerve endings!”
Once it was all said and done, I’ll admit… it wasn’t that bad. The woman finished and cleaned up quickly, and then I swapped rooms to get my massage. The massage room was larger and the lights were low so that it felt soothing and calm. Finally, I’d get to actually relax.
Yeah, right.
The hour-long massage felt amazing, but I couldn't stop thinking about Liam and the fact that he was giving me the massage. Kind of. Well, okay, he knew I would use the gift certificate; maybe he was picturing me on the table.
Every time the masseuse worked out a new part of body, I imagined it was Liam's hands instead of the woman’s... I just prayed Liam’s weren’t quite as delicate and soft. But, whatever, I wouldn’t judge him for it.
Needless to say, when Becca and I finally left the spa, I was turned on and walking bow legged. Not a pretty combo.
"You can't keep walking like that or people are going to think your massage had a happy ending. Does it still hurt?" Becca asked.
"No, it just feels so... weird, like something should be there. I feel like those smooth lanes at bowling alleys."
Becca shot me a disgusted face. “Oh my god, that’s sick. Stop picturing your vagina as a dirty bowling alley.”
I threw my head back laughing.
"I wonder if Liam would like it," Becca added so casually that I swear she was trying to get a genuine reaction out of me.
"Who cares," I muttered, putting the car in reverse and trying to push him out of my mind. It worked for half of the way home and then my brain turned into a broken record player, repeating questions over and over.
Did he get me the gift certificate because he wants to be friends?
Did he want me to use it and think of him?
Was I supposed to act like nothing was different between us?
How long will it take for me to get used to this no-hair situation down there?
Does he like hair down there? Do they make hair extensions for that sort of thing… just in case he does?
Was I willing to glue on a vijay toupee for him?
Chapter Seven
Earlier in the week Coach Davis had warned us to keep Saturday morning free for our
team bonding activity. I had no clue what she had in store for us, and to be honest, I would have preferred to go relax on the beach, but maybe team bonding would do us some good. Tara and I sure as hell needed it.
When Emily, Becca, and I pulled up to the soccer fields, there was an old yellow school bus parked near the entrance and a few of our teammates were already lingering outside talking with Coach Davis and... Liam.
"What the hell is he doing here?" I asked with furrowed brows.
Emily swiveled to see what I was talking about. "Oh, Liam? I'd imagine all of the coaches are coming since it's a team bonding thing."
Becca turned toward me with a devious grin. "Maybe Liam can show you what 'team bonding' really means."
I threw the car into park and gave her a pointed stare. "It's too early to decipher what that even means. Bonding as in… having sex?" I asked, grabbing my bag and adjusting my spaghetti strap workout tank.
She waggled her eyebrows. "It means he could teach you some really good bondage techniques."
I shoved her arm. "You're supposed to be a prude, Becca."
She scoffed. "Just because I haven't had sex doesn't mean I'm a prude. I'm repressed, and therefore even less of a prude than other people."
"Well maybe you should hook up with Liam then."
She arched a brow. "I don't think I'm the one he wants."
I hopped out of the car before she could say anything else. My face was already flushed from her comment about team bonding, so when I glanced up and saw him slowly perusing me from top to bottom, my heart thumped wildly in my chest. Stop picturing Liam as a dom. Stop it. Damnit, Becca.
Liam kept his distance as I went to join the group, but that didn't stop me from peeking at him from beneath my lashes. His soccer shorts hung low on his hips and I could see a sliver of his boxer briefs. Calvin Klein, of course. A shiver ran down my spine and I had to shove my gaze away before I started awkwardly panting.
Dear Mr. Klein or should I call you Calv,
It’s me again, Kinsley. Thanks so much for designing your underwear line. If you ever need a focus group for future designs, I’d like to be included. I’m a very good package inspector with excellent attention to detail. Attached you will find my list of references.
"All right, girls, let's load up!" Coach Davis said, clapping her hands. We all shuffled onto the bus, groaning about how early it was. After I took my seat, I tilted my head to the side and watched in horror as Tara took the seat beside Liam in the front. I wanted to slow time and push her away before her bony butt could touch the seat. But, I wasn’t a wizard, so instead I crouched low in my seat so that I could no longer see them sitting beside one another.
Did he want her to sit next to him? Why the hell did it matter?
"She's a sleeze-whore," Becca whispered next to me. I hadn't realized that she'd sank lower in her seat as well.
I couldn't help but smile at how ridiculous we looked. Our knees were hiked up against the seat in front of us and our chins were tilted down onto our chests.
"Should we ride like this the whole way there?" she asked.
"I'm not watching that the whole way. So yes..."
Just then, Tara's shrill laughter rang out throughout the bus.
"Is he up there making her laugh?" I whispered.
"No. He probably asked her to scoot away from him and she thought it was a hilarious joke," Becca said, trying to make me feel better.
"What if he invited her to sit beside him?"
Becca shot me a pointed stare. "Not possible."
The bus ride didn't take too long after that. Still, Becca and I stayed crouched down, joking and trying to exist in our own world. It was easier that way. Seeing Tara and Liam talking affected me in a way it definitely shouldn’t have if I thought of him only as my coach.
I was in deep trouble.
The bus pulled to a stop, and I finally sat up enough to see that we were outside of a giant army camp. My eyes widened. Were we going to have to work out with soldiers? Did people do that?
Coach Davis stood up at the front. Her grey hair was pulled into a high ponytail and she was smiling bright. “Team, we’re going to do an obstacle course today. Not an ordinary one. This is a course used to train top-level recruits for the army."
A few girls groaned.
"The goal will be to work together. We aren't done until everybody crosses the finish line."
Tara stood up to stand behind her. "That's right, we're only as good as our weakest player," she added, staring directly at me with chilling blue eyes. I made a decision right then to kick her ass at the obstacle course. Team bonding would have to take a rain check.
Becca raised her hand and Coach Davis pointed at her. "Are we allowed to have hunky army guys help us? Like if they wanted to give us a boost over a super tall wall?" Of course she highlighted her point by cupping her hands as if grabbing an ass.
The entire bus started cracking up, and even Coach Davis cracked a smile.
"Becca, this is about team bonding, so no, there won't be anyone around to give you a boost unless it's one of your teammates," Coach Davis said before turning and heading out of the bus. Everyone else started filling out behind her.
Becca sighed as if exasperated. "All right, Kins. Then it's all you, bud."
I acted disgusted. "I'm not touching your butt."
"Oh please, your hand has been itching to touch my ass," she said, making a big show of smacking her butt. I laughed and pushed her forward. She was blocking the middle of the aisle with her ridiculousness.
As soon as we hopped off the bus, the obstacle course spanned out before us. Although the term obstacle course didn’t seem fitting. This was some kind of ninja warrior bullshit.
We all lined up at the very beginning and stretched out so that we wouldn't get injured trying to hurl ourselves over various objects. Becca did her best to spot any available army guys, but they must have cleared the area for the day… probably in anticipation of her arrival.
It started off easy enough; we took our turns going over each obstacle and eventually spread out across the course. Even the coaches were participating, which meant our dear Liam was off somewhere doing something manly. I was too busy trying not to die jumping through tires to notice.
Mid-way through the course there was a mud pit so narrow that only one person could crawl through at a time. The goal was to crawl beneath barbed wire across the entire field without scratching your back.
When it was my turn, I slid down to my stomach, feeling the cool mud slide between my fingers. I was adjusting into a good pose when a heavy shoe dug into my back and my entire body fell into the mud, face and all. Ew. Ew. Ew.
"What the?!" I coughed.
"Oh my gosh, my bad! I must have tripped," Tara's voice rang out overhead.
I twisted my upper body to stare up at her and she started bursting out laughing. "You have mud all over your face!"
Correction: I had mud everywhere: my mouth, ears, and nose included. Instead of responding to her, I used a clean part of my shirt to wipe my eyes, but it hardly helped. That's when I saw Liam standing behind Tara looking royally pissed. His sharp features were masked in a furious scowl, and I couldn't help but wonder if he was going to tell her off. I didn't bother sticking around to find out. I crawled through the mud pit imagining an elaborate dream sequence that included Tara falling onto barbed wire while Liam carried me off into the sunset. Weird, David Beckham was there too and he also wanted to help carry me, and then for some reason they had to take their shirts off... damn the pit ended before I got to the good part.
After the mud pit, the course wove into a dense forest. Most of the team started to split up even more, but Becca and I stayed close together as the tree canopy darkened over the path. Midway through, I couldn’t see anyone near us other than Liam. For whatever reason, he was holding back and keeping pace with us instead of racing ahead. The path continued through the forest until it was blocked by a giant lattice of rope that spanned a f
ew yards above the ground. There was nowhere to go but up, unless you wanted to just walk around the path… but that was cheating.
"Geez, that's freaking tall," Becca huffed, bending forward and resting her hands on her knees. I followed suit and then twisted around to see Liam eyeing the rope lattice. His shirt was covered in sweat and his dirty blonde hair was slicked back and sinfully sexy. I loved seeing that version of him; it made me imagine him hot, sweaty, and naked above me.
Woah. Slow down there, tiger.
I caught his eye and he narrowed his gaze on me, tilting his head an inch to the side. I whipped my head back toward the rope and tried to control how flustered he made me feel.
"I can't go yet. I need to catch my breath," I said to Becca.
A flash of movement whipped by me as Liam passed us and started spanning the roped web. He made it look effortless, and Becca and I stood there gawking up at him as he climbed foot after foot. The whole process probably took him a minute, tops.
Well. Let’s add that to the list of things he can do.
1. Sex-up ladies
2. Play professional soccer
3. Wear Calvin Klein boxer briefs like it was his life’s calling
4. Climb tall rope things
"Let's go. The longer you stand there, the worse it seems," he shouted down to us.
Becca cast me an exasperated glance.
"I'll go first," I said, feeling more confident as I moved toward the bottom of the lattice.
"Take it easy and make sure you don't lose your footing. There's no net to catch you if you fall," Liam warned.
His words took whatever morsel of confidence I had and shredded it. Why the hell was Coach Davis making us do this? If I fell and broke my leg, I'd be out for the whole season. Oh, but at least I’ll have bonded with my team. No, wait, I haven’t done that either.
I pushed aside the thought and started to climb up the web. It was strange trying to get my bearings because the lattice dipped forward and back as I climbed higher. My heart sank every time it shifted. Once I'd moved past the midway point, I knew there was no going back. I couldn't look down, and when I glanced up, Liam's intimidating gaze stared back at me, so I kept my eyes trained on the rope in front of me.