"Oh. My." Is all I can say. Almost all I'd managed to say since we'd driven to the Mountain King Spa and Resort. And by 'we' I mean Lacey, Simone and I.
The main lodge of the Spa spreads for acres, glass and wood and clever pebbled paths through evergreens and heated pools where steam curls in dreamy mists.
I clutch the strap of my purse tightly as we check in, my head swiveling in wonder around the plush lobby with it's double fireplace, atrium ceiling, and lush plants.
They somehow managed to drag me down here for a proper clean-up after I told them about my not so official date with Noah. I wasn't even half as excited about it as they were, and it's almost as if they've been planning this for a long time.
Lacey greets the desk clerk with a friendly smile, calls him by name, and chats easily about how much she and her companion had enjoyed their stay earlier in the season.
He all but simpers over her, calling up a bellman to take care of our luggage and guide us to our private cabin nestled on a ridge behind curtaining pines.
Then the cabin itself simply wipes my mind clean.
A huge wall of glass opens up the living area to the majesty of the mountains, offers a tempting peek at the private hot tub built cleverly into the rocks.
The bellman leads the way into a bedroom with its own glass doors leading to a stone terrace. Two double beds are made up neatly with thick pillows and quilts, and the bath— I only manage a quick look— has a mile ivory counter, an oversized jet tub, and a separate glassed-in shower.
All I can do is sink down on the side of the bed and wonder if I'd wandered into someone else's dream.
______________
"Take slow, quiet breaths." The technician, therapist, consultant, whatever the hell she's called, begins to wrap me in something warm and damp. "Is this your first visit to Mountain King Spa?"
"Yeah."
The claustrophobia comes quickly, unexpectedly, as the wrappings snugs my arms close to my body. I feel my heart pound, my breathing shorten, and I begin to struggle.
"Easy. Just relax." A warm heavy blanket goes over the wrappings. "A lot of clients have that initial reaction to an herbal wrap. It'll pass if you just clear your mind, let yourself go. These cotton balls are soaked in our Eye-Lax solution. It'll probably help with your puffy eyes. You haven't been sleeping enough."
Puffy. Now I'm blind as well as trapped. I wonder if I'd be the first client to tear herself free of herb-soaked restraints and run naked and screaming out of the Ladies' Treatment center.
Not wanting the distinction, I fight to relax, let myself go. Music is playing. Or it isn't music really, but the sounds of water falling into water and birds chirping. I take one of those slow, quiet breaths and remind myself I had only over forty-eight hours for this.
In less than five minutes, I'm sound asleep.
I awake groggily twenty minutes later with the consultant murmuring to me.
"Huh? What? Where?"
"We're getting all those toxins out of your system." Efficiently the consultant removes the layers of herbal wrap. "I want you to be sure to drink plenty of water. Nothing but water for the next few hours. You have a gommage in ten minutes. So relax. I'll help you with your robe and slipper."
Still half asleep, I let myself be bundled into my robe and slide my feet into the plastic slippers the spa provides. "What's a gommage?"
"You'll love it." The consultant promises.
So I'm naked again, on yet another table with yet another woman in a pale pink lab coat, fiddling with me. At the first rough swipe with a damp loofah over my bare skin slicked with a fine sandy cream, I yelp.
"Was I too rough? I'm terribly sorry."
"No, it just caught me by surprise."
"Your skin's going to be like silk."
I shut my eyes, mortified, as the woman rubs my bare butt. "What the hell is that stuff you're putting on me?"
"Oh, it's our special exfoliator. Skin-Nu. All our products are herbal-based and available in our salon. You have fabulous skin."
"Thank you."
I get back to the suite after six. All but crawling, as my legs are so limp and loose they don't seem willing to hold weight. My body feels so light, so pampered, so relaxed that my mind simply have no choice but to follow suit.
Maybe the fifteen minute bath with a bunch of other naked women after my full hour massage had been a bit of overkill. But I'd lost my head.
"There you are." Lacey is just popping the cork on a bottle of champagne when I walk in. "Simone and I had just decided we wouldn't wait for you."
"You're positively glowing," Simone clasps her hands together.
"I don't think I can move. That guy, that massage guy, Travis, I think he did something to me."
"You had a man?" Eyes wide, Simone hurries over to lead me to the couch. "For a full body massage?"
"Wasn't I supposed to?"
"My massage therapist was a woman. I just assumed..." she trails off as Lacey offers her a flute.
"I ordered a female for you, Simone. I thought you'd be more comfortable." Lacey passes another flute to me. "And I requested a male for Allie because I thought she should start getting used to what it feels like to have a guy get his hands on her— even in perfectly professional surroundings."
"If I wasn't afraid I'd melt if I tried to stand up again, I'd punch you for that."
"Honey, you should be thanking me." With her own glass, Lacey eases into the arm of the sofa. "So was it great or what?"
I sip the wine. "Maybe." I sip again, let my head fall back. "He looked like Kenny Rogers, and he rubbed my feet. God, and there was this place above my shoulder blades."
I shudder. "He used his thumbs. He had incredible thumbs."
"You know what they say about thumbs on a man." Smirking, Lacey lifts her glass, toasts when I bother to open one eye. "I've noticed that Noah has very... large... thumbs."
"Isn't noticing other guys enough for you?"
"Tom has wonderful thumbs." The minute Simone hears herself say it, she chokes and goes beet-red. "I mean, he has good hands. That is, I mean, they're very..." She snickers at herself, gives up. "Long. Could I have some more?"
"You bet." Lacey bounces up, grabs another bottle. "A couple more and maybe you'll tell us all about Tom's wonderful long thumbs."
"Don't tease her about it," I say. "Not everyone likes to brag about their bedroom activities."
"I'd like to," Simone says, and flushed again. "I'd like to brag and strut and tell everyone because it's never been like this for me. I never knew it could. I never knew I would." Though she has no head for liquor, she knocks back a second glass. "And Tom is so beautiful. I mean his face and his heart, but his body. Oh, my God."
She presses a hand to her chest and holds out a glass which Lacey obligingly fills. "It's like something carved out of amber. It's perfect, and I get all loose and fluttery inside just looking at him. And he's so gentle when he touches me. And then he's not, and I don't care because I want him, and he wants me, and everything goes wild and I feel so strong, as if I could make love with him for hours, for days. Forever. And sometimes I have three or four orgasms before we're finished..."
She breaks off, blinks, swallows. "Did I just say that?"
Lacey takes a slow, labored breath, a long drink. "Are you sure you want to stop? Another few minutes, and I might just come myself."
"Oh." Hurriedly, Simone sets her glass down. "I didn't mean to embarrass anyone."
"You didn't." My own stomach is fluttering as I reach over to pat her arm. "I think it's wonderful for you, and for Tom."
"I'm so happy I found him, and both of you," Simone's voice breaks. "I love all of you so much. I love you so much. I'm sorry," she says, and springs up to rush to the bathroom.
Moved, I sit where I am and listen to the sound of water rushing into the bathroom sink. "Should one of us go in there?"
"No." Looking misty-eyed herself, Lacey fills my glass again, then drops onto the couch beside me. "We'll give her a minute."
I look down at my glass, then lift my gaze to Lacey's. "I guess I'm glad I got to know you. I didn't like you at first," I quickly add before things get more sloppy. "But I'm glad we got to know each other."
Lacey smiles, taps her glass to mine. "I'll drink to that."