Page 87 of License to Kill

When I finally escaped the spa, I emerged as a new woman—or at least a woman wearing new and improved skin, extra soft with a bonus of a crisp, nice scent. Jake waited outside with Amelia and Mellisa, and I went to him, shoving my arm in his face. “Smell!”

He sniffed. “I don’t know what that is, but you smell good enough to eat.”

I eyed the display of products, debated my options, and headed over, searching for anything I recognized from my spa adventure. After some trial and error, I discovered the scent was lotus flower. I grabbed two of everything with the scent and returned to the counter with my treasures.

With a low chuckle, Jake settled in his seat to wait. “You better grab an extra or two of the body wash, else you will be stricken with sadness within a month.”

“You’re right.” I returned to the display, grabbed more of the body wash, and also snagged an extra bottle of the massage oil. “Oh! They have green tea, Jake.”

We hadn’t lived together long before things had fallen apart, but I’d learned from his hotel habits that he appreciated the scent of green tea, as it didn’t bother his sensitive nose.

That got him moving, and he joined me to check the tester bottles. Like me, he went on a rampage. “Obviously, I’m going to have to bring you here every few months and cruelly abandon you for the day so I can hide my personal shopping activities.”

The woman at the counter giggled. “We offer spa services for men as well.”

“You’re coming next time, Jake.”

“And it seems I will be enjoying a day at the spa with my wife in a few months.” Jake carried his bounty to the counter. “If she missed anything in that scent of hers, please add it to the pile.”

The woman smiled, checked over my selections, and gave a nod, going to the back and returning a few minutes later with a set of four bottles. “We’re in the middle of restocking, and the shampoo and conditioner are new in this scent. We also have the green tea in shampoo and conditioner.”

“He wants them,” I told her.

“Apparently, I need new shampoo and conditioner, please.”

Several hundred dollars later, and with enough bags we needed Amelia and Mellisa’s help to carry them all, we escaped from the spa and returned to our room.

I waited for the ax to fall, and once inside, I stared at Mellisa and waited for the verdict.

“Why are you staring at me like that, Karma?”

“I’m a mess, and I’m waiting for you to confirm this.”

She shook her head, rolled her eyes, and headed for the fireplace, adding wood and kindling before lighting it. “You are physically a mess, yes. That will be corrected with time. Are you psychologically a mess? I will evaluate that in about two months, after I have a chance to do proper therapy treatments with both you and Jake. Amelia is on hand as my assistant for this, and she’s also here to be a stabilizing influence for you both. She is also here to monitor your scents.”

Amelia tilted her head to the side. “She just came fresh out of the spa, and I can smell him on her from here—and he reeks of female fox. It’s underneath the perfume, but that’s only because the perfume is fresh.”

That caught my attention. “Say what?”

“You stink of male wolf.” Amelia made a show of pinching her nose closed. “I don’t want to know what scandalous things he’s been doing with you, but something has changed on the smell front.”

“That is not what his father told me yesterday,” Mellisa replied.

Both women stared at me before giving Jake their full attention, and I giggled at the open suspicion in their expressions.

I took over tending the fire, leered at Jake, and said, “Pervert.”

Jake sighed. “Really, Karma? Why am I getting tossed under the bus here?”

“I am innocent of all wrongdoing. All I did was be a good little fox. You told me so repeatedly. I’m a good little fox.”

“You are a good little fox,” he replied.

“I am very confused,” Mellisa announced. “Amelia?”

“Obviously, she was a good little fox, and he appropriately rewarded her for being a good little fox. If she’s much more of a good little fox, she’ll end up being a pregnant little fox, and she’s about twenty pounds underweight for that right now. Karma, has anyone taught you how to make sure your wolf is fertile in case you wish to become a pregnant little fox?”

I blinked. “I mean, I knew it wasn’t precisely easy for Fenerec to have children, but I was unaware of a fertility problem.”