Page 42 of Kailirex

CHAPTER 24

STELLA

I soaked until I was a prune, luxuriating in the complimentary bath foam the hotel provided. Then I pulled the plug and stood up, turning the shower on to wash my hair and rinse all the bubbles off my skin and out of the tub.

I got out, putting on one of the two seriously lush terry cloth robes the hotel provided, along with a pair of fairly decent one size fits all matching slippers. Then I sat down at the dressing table and looked in the drawer, doing a happy dance in my seat as I found a comb and a hair dryer. I was just finishing up my hair when Kai returned, laden with several more bags that I’d expected him to bring back. I turned off the hairdryer and got up to greet him.

“I’m back,” he said, as if I couldn’t see that. “I’m sorry if I was late.”

“Nope, you’re just in time and I’ll love you forever and ever if you have panties in there for me.”

“I do, and I hope you’ll love me even if I hadn’t, seeing as we are mates.”

I giggled, standing up on my tippy toes to kiss the end of his nose. “Of course, I will, silly. I’m over halfway there already.”

Actually, after the way he’d handled things with Mom, Dad, and Pop, I was all the way there. Bam! Total arrow to my heart. But it was way too early to cop to that without sounding like a clingy loon, so I took the safe road.

“I am already completely and utterly yours,” he said.

I stared at him. “Really?” I squeaked.

He nodded. “Really. How could I not? You have shown yourself to be everything I could ever desire.”

Shit! Now I wish I had just come out with it.

“It’s alright,” he continued, completely misreading the reason for my expression. “I am certain you will finish falling for me very soon, and then you will be ready to tell me.”

Okay, I could definitely work with that. We could hang out today, maybe sex each other up a bit more tonight, go to the wedding tomorrow, and then after we got back and saw Dad was fine, I could tell him over some of my homemade fettuccine alfredo. Yep, that would totally work.

I distracted him from saying anything more about the subject by looking into the bags he’d brought. ”There has to be a week's worth of clothes in here!” One bag had three pairs of the same strappy sandals even, in three different sizes.

“Aw, you got me some nice sandals for tomorrow, even. The size six should fit.”

“We can return or donate the ones that do not fit,” he said. “Beth said it would be best for you to try them on, in case the size fits differently than expected.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Beth works at the shoe store?” I fished, feeling a flush of jealousy.

“No, she is Jason’s wife and the mother of two beautiful young I met on the elevator. They were going out to buy some shoes for one of their young and offered to help me.”

I felt silly for having felt so possessive. A sales clerk was exactly who he should have asked for assistance if needed while shopping alone, after all. Still, there was a huge, unexpectedly jealous part of me that was relieved that he’d made friends who were married and who’d helped him instead.

“She suggested you wear the tankini with the sandals tonight, with the kaftan over the top. She said you could go to the bar and then the hot tub and pool without having to come back and completely change. Also, they invited us to join them for the evening meal at seven. I told them that was fine.” He looked stricken. “I only just realized I should have asked you first.”

“No, it’s cool. But shouldn’t we meet up with our hosts and some of the other guests?”

“We will see them at the wedding and then the luau,” he replied.

“Oh! Okay. Sounds good.”

I took the suggested clothes and undid my robe to put them on. My head whipped back over to Kai as I heard him growl.

“You bare yourself most tantalizingly!”

“Nope, nuh uh!” I said, backing away. “You go get your shower and change into the trunks and one of those shirts I saw in there so we can go to the bar. Mom and Dad want a picture of me with a mai tai!” I reminded him.

He huffed out a sigh that more than expressed his complaint at not having time to play with me first. Still, he did as I asked and went into the bathroom, closing the door. I began emptying the bags the rest of the way out, thrilled to see some blue mascara, sunscreen, and lip gloss in one. The blue was a navy blue, but it would do. There was also some after sun moisturizer. I definitely owed Beth a huge thank you, I decided, as I slid on the tankini bottoms and found they were a perfect fit. So was the top and the kaftan was marked petite, so I wasn’t going to trip all over it as I walked.

I opened the mascara package and returned to the dressing table with it and the lip gloss.