A Soldier of Shadows
Page 31

“You said something, Ben?”
It was River’s voice.
I looked in confusion toward the door of the changing room. Then back at the girl sitting on top of me. I swore. Inches away from my face was no longer the vision of River, but the gleaming face of Aisha.
She burst out laughing hysterically. Then, before I could grab her neck, she vanished.
Curse that girl!
The real River stepped out of the changing room, in the same thin red bikini, and looking just as breathtaking.
“You said something?” she repeated, moving toward my pool.
As she slid into the water and took a seat next to me, I told her what just happened. She flinched slightly as I described how Aisha had come on to me.
“She was going to kiss you?” River said, an unmistakable hint of jealousy in her voice.
“She would have,” I said, “if I hadn’t heard your voice calling from the changing room.”
River caught my arms, the same way Aisha had done. She sat on my knees, facing me.
“She sat on you like this?” she asked.
A slight smile curved the corners of my lips. I could already see where she was going with this. I placed my hands on River’s hips, sliding her down my knees until she was sitting on my thighs.
“Like this,” I replied. “But how do I know it’s you this time?” I dropped my voice to a whisper.
She closed the distance between our faces and kissed my lips. When she drew away, she had a cheeky smile on her face.
“Do you think anyone else could kiss you like that?”
I paused, feigning thought. “I’d need you to do it again for me to be sure…” I ran my hands up her back before closing my lips around hers, more slowly this time, and more deeply. I didn’t give her my answer for another five minutes. I got too lost in her, her soft tongue, her full lips, the contours of her body melding with mine as we held each other so closely.
No. I doubted there was a woman in the world who could make me feel the way River did.
She drew away from me in the water, her lips flushed red and slightly swollen. She cocked her head to one side. “Well?”
“Hmm… I think you’re River.”
She grinned, nudging me in the shoulder. She submerged herself in the water and reappeared, her hair slicked back. Her bikini clung to her chest, pearls of water dripping from her hair and eyelashes, making trails down the shape of her body. Damn. River looked beautiful in water.
I couldn’t keep myself from joining her in the center of the pool. I placed my hands on her thighs, drawing her toward me again. I guided her into wrapping her legs around my waist. She placed her hands on top of my head.
“Come down with me,” she said.
I dipped the two of us underwater. Her mouth pressed against mine. I’d never made out underwater before, and it was an odd experience. But making out with River was something I’d relish anytime and anywhere.
“You’re beautiful,” I said, as I lifted her up again.
She rested her forehead against mine, staring so closely into my eyes that I lost focus. “So are you,” she whispered. “Prince Benjamin.” A playful smile crossed her lips. “If we got married one day, would that make me a princess?”
I chuckled, unable to keep myself from responding with: “You don’t need me to be a princess.”
She giggled. “You’re so cheesy.”
She ran her hands through my hair. I wasn’t quite sure what she was doing with it—it felt like she was trying to make it spike upwards. Apparently failing in her endeavor, she cast her eyes around the chamber. Her face lit up. She pointed toward what appeared to be four massage tables lined up along one of the walls.
“Aisha said that you need to wind down, right?”
“You’re winding me down just fine…”
“Well, I have another idea,” she said.
She detached herself from me and climbed out of the pool. I admired her graceful form as she walked across the room. She bent down when she reached the massage tables and removed three bottles from a little cabinet next to them. She returned to me and set the bottles down in a row at the side of the pool.
“Move to the steps,” she said.
I did as she’d requested, and sat down on one of the steps, my back facing her. She picked up the first bottle. When she opened it, the scent that drifted out was divine. Planting her feet either side of me, she sat behind me, one step higher, and started to massage the back of my neck with the oil. Her hands, wonderfully firm, kneaded against my muscles, releasing tension I hadn’t even realized I’d had. I was surprised by how good she was.
“Did someone teach you?” I asked.
“In another life, my mom was a sports injury therapist,” River replied. “She studied massage, and I learnt a few tips from her.”
She massaged me for the next ten minutes, and I was sure she would’ve continued for the rest of the hour if I hadn’t caught her hands and stopped her.
“Okay,” I said, raising myself from the step, and guiding her to sit in my place. “Now it’s your turn.”
Pouring some oil into my hand, I began massaging her back. I doubted I was doing as good of a job as she had with me, but she seemed to be enjoying it thoroughly. She closed her eyes, her head lolling back slightly as I worked my way around her shoulder blades. Every so often, I leaned in to kiss the side of her neck or the backs of her shoulders. I relished the slight tremor that ran through her body each time my lips grazed her.