Wet: Undercurrent (6 page)

“Voda?”

“It’s another spa hotel. You would have free rein of the place since no one would know you’re there. You can feel up all the women you want.”

He chuckled. “You refer to yesterday before I brought you to the pool room. I was merely stretching my legs. You cannot blame a starving man for indulging when a buffet is set out before him.”

“Well, there you go. All you can eat is waiting for you at Voda.”

“And what about you?”

“Me? Well, I work at Voda, so it’s not like you wouldn’t see me.”

“You work at Voda? Then why are you here?”

Crap. Okay, that was stupid. She couldn’t exactly tell him the truth, but she didn’t want to lie, either. “No one vacations where they work. Besides, I wanted to check out the competition.” That wasn’t a complete lie. She was there on vacation, sort of. And she was there to check out the competition, though her checking was for work, not out of idle curiosity.

Her boss had given her seven days to assess Onsen to find out how they maintained their usual income during this time of financial belt-tightening while Voda had to fight to break even every month. It took her three days of studying the inner workings of Onsen to see there were no differences. The staff, the service, the food -- nothing about Onsen was better than what Voda offered.

The resorts even shared the same generic naming sense.
Onsen
was the Japanese word for hot springs.
Voda
was the Russian word for water. Lulu had joked with her boss about adding in the K -- changing it from voda to vodka -- to gain more customers, but they’d both agreed they would probably get people expecting a drinking vacation instead of a spa visit.

On day four, Lulu had stopped working so she could enjoy the vacation part of the trip. No more scrutinizing every little thing and taking mental notes to be transcribed as emails she would send to her boss later. The difference was Hotsuma. She had no intention of telling her boss, or anyone else, about him.

“And how does Onsen measure against Voda?”

This was not the direction she wanted the conversation to go in. “They’re about the same, if you take away the exoticness of the Japanese theme. So it wouldn’t be a culture shock for you.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“There are other hotels too. Or you could skip hotels altogether and go hang out at a water park. That could be a lot of fun. You would have to be a lot more covert when you’re getting your jollies, but you would never be bored with all those people having fun around you.”

That’s right. Turn the conversation away from Voda and her stupidity for mentioning it. It would be great if Hotsuma did go to Voda. Great for the hotel and for her. He would be close and their relationship could continue. The hotel would prosper too. But Voda was doing pretty well without supernatural help. Would Onsen still thrive, though? Lulu didn’t want to be the cause of such an old and grand hotel going under, competition or not.

She said, “Hotsuma, maybe you should try to talk to Masato and negotiate with him to stay here as a free entity. If he doesn’t want to deal, you’re already halfway free so you could just leave.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Good. You do that. I’m going to breakfast. I’ll see you in the hot springs in an hour or two.”

“See you there.”

Lulu watched as the tub stopper lifted and the water drained. Yup, it would definitely be weird using water for the rest of her life.

She finished dressing and headed to the dining room for the hotel’s complimentary continental breakfast. Hunger made her walk fast. She had woken up starving. After all that sex and then skipping dinner… Skipping dinner?

“Oh, shit,” she said under her breath.

“Good morning, Lulu.”

She turned and smiled at Richard. “Good morning. I’m so sorry. A friend surprised me at the hotel last night. We got to talking and dinner totally slipped my mind. I’m really sorry about that.” Again, not totally lies. Hotsuma was a friend, even if she had just met him. And they had been talking last night once she was too tired to have sex.

“I understand. I was a little disappointed, of course. But it’s fine.” He looked around her. “Where’s your friend now? Not hungry.”

“He’s not that kind of friend. Eating with, I mean.”

Richard’s smile vanished. “Oh.” He shook his head a little and pasted his smile back in place. “Yeah. Duh. Of course a pretty girl like you would have a… friend.”

She almost felt sorry for the man. But if this got him to leave her alone, then she was thankful. “I’m still interested in learning about that painting. I missed dinner last night, but there’s no reason we can’t talk now while my friend is away.”

“Sure. Why not?”

Breakfast passed with Richard in teacher mode. He’d dropped the flirting attitude and regaled her with fact after fact. No jokes inserted for flair and nothing to lighten the tense mood. Lulu almost breathed a sigh of relief when he excused himself. She was glad she didn’t since Masato took his place.

The fact that he appeared a minute after Richard left made her think he might have been waiting for her to be alone.

“Good morning, Ms. Swade. I hope you don’t mind if I join you for a bit?”

“I’m honored the owner of the hotel wants to even speak to me.”

“How are you enjoying your visit?”

“Quite well. You have an amazing hotel. Richard was telling me more about the history.”

“Yes. We discussed financing a trip for a few of his students each semester so they could study the art.”

“That’s generous of you.”

The more small talk they engaged in, the more nervous Lulu felt. Why was Masato even talking to her? From the brief introduction Richard had given for her, there was no way Masato would interrupt his busy schedule to seek her out. She didn’t get a flirting vibe off him. Or maybe her anxiety at being found out was keeping her from noticing. Whatever the case may be, she wanted to escape.

“You stopped using the soap, I see.”

“Soap?” The musk and incense smell that went away after having sex with Hotsuma. She’d almost forgotten she had told Masato it was the hotel soap. “Oh. I… it was drying out my skin so I went back to my usual brand. Nothing against the hotel brand, mind you. I just have sensitive skin.”

“I’ll relay your concerns to the manufacturer. It would be bad for a spa hotel to have products that damage the skin of our patrons.”

“That would be unfortunate.” She sipped her orange juice and tried to think of a way to get away from him. What did he want?

“No, it would have been unfortunate if you kept using it. I’m glad you stopped before it did any permanent harm.”

Lulu almost choked. She knew a hidden threat when she heard one. Masato might sound cordial to anyone listening in on their conversation but she was close enough to hear the malice. She managed to force a smile. “Thank you for your concern.”

“Not at all. I am the hotel manager as well as the owner. It’s my job to keep an eye on our patrons to ensure they stay out of trouble during their visit.”

Another threat. How much did Masato know? Or was he fishing? “I feel special to have the owner checking up on me personally.”

“I feel thankful Richard brought you to my attention. Such a lovely guest shouldn’t be left alone. You are here alone, correct? Richard said as much.”

“I am. I wanted some alone time to get reacquainted with me. You know how it is. Too much time at work and all that. I felt like being pampered.”

“That is a good plan. You should let being pampered be your main concern during the rest of your visit.” His phone chimed. “Excuse me one moment.” He stood as he unhooked the phone from its clip and took a few steps away to talk.

Lulu looked around for an escape route while trying to appear like she wasn’t looking. What was it with her and trying to run away from the Mizuno men? Sure, she’d stopped running from Hotsuma after she got to know him, but she doubted the same would be true of Masato.

She watched him while waiting for a chance to leave. Hotsuma said he and Masato could be twins. Masato had piercing dark eyes framed in a slender face and a square jaw that sported a closely trimmed beard. His lean, muscled body was her type. But that didn’t mean anything. Even if she thought Masato was hot, his personality was a real turnoff. She liked Hotsuma, but imagining him in Masato’s body did nothing for her.

Masato returned to the table but didn’t sit. “I have business to attend to, Ms. Swade. I hope you enjoy the rest of your visit.”

“Thank you, Mr. Mizuno.”

He held her gaze for a moment before leaving. Lulu almost oozed out of her seat in relief. This whole situation was getting heavy. She needed to get to Hotsuma and tell him what was happening. Masato had already called in a priest. But if he suspected Lulu was involved, then he might find a way to keep her and Hotsuma apart.

She skipped going back to her room to change and headed straight for the hot springs. Like the day before, the hot spring was full of giggling women. She would be upset at Hotsuma playing around if she wasn’t so frazzled over her meeting with Masato.

She went to her cubby and sank into the water. After a calming breath, she whispered, “Hotsuma.”

No answer.

“Damn it. Stop diddling those women and get over here. We have issues.”

“Believe it or not,” Hotsuma said in a soft voice, “this is not my doing. The women are entertaining themselves. I’m only watching.”

A little of her upset faded. “Oh.” And then his words sank in. “Oh!” She glanced in the direction of the giggling women, now glad she had decided to sit away from them. “That’s your fault, you know.”

“I take full blame.”

“Yes. You sound all apologetic.”

He laughed while running one hand up her leg. “What has you so frantic?”

“Masato threatened me.”

His fingers gripped her thigh. “What?”

Lulu glanced around to make sure their conversation was private. She lowered her voice more and put her hand to her ear to pretend like she was talking on a phone. “At breakfast, Masato came over and talked to me. He made all these veiled threats that amounted to him telling me to quit while I’m ahead.”

“
Kuso
.”

“If that’s a curse word, then I agree one hundred percent.”

“How did he find out?”

“That’s your fault too. That scent you put on me when we first met. Masato must have recognized it. I thought I played it off by saying it was the hotel soap, but he must have known better.”

Hotsuma sighed, making the water around her bubble. “I’m sorry. I had just awakened. I managed to follow you to the hot spring but you ran. Marking you with my scent was the only way to track you. I didn’t want to lose the only woman who could set me free.”

“That’s sweet, but we still don’t know
why
I’m the woman who can set you free. And speaking of which, let’s get to it. Masato is getting serious. We need to get you out of that room before he brings in the priest.”

“Duck down.”

Lulu took a breath and slipped below the water. She felt the shift this time when Hotsuma moved her from the hot springs to the pool room. She needed to ask how he could do that. Then again, it didn’t really matter. She was just happy he could. It saved her from trying to sneak down the hidden hallway.

She surfaced in the middle of the pool and looked around. Nothing had changed. Masato might suspect something, but he hadn’t done more than summon a priest. She hoped that was all he did.

“Are you ready?” Hotsuma hugged her waist, bringing her ass up against his arousal.

“You certainly are.” She giggled when he kissed her neck.

“The ladies in the hot spring were very… invigorating.”

“You could act a little embarrassed.”

“I could but I would be lying. Just like I would be lying if I said I only wanted you here to break the wards.” He slipped one hand down her stomach and between her lower lips.

The feel of his fingers passing over her clit made Lulu bite her lip to keep from moaning. She let her head fall back onto Hotsuma’s shoulder. “We haven’t started yet.”

“You haven’t started yet. I see no reason to wait.”

“Hotsuma, the barrier.” Her feeble attempt at arguing lost to the pleasure spreading through her body.

Water pushed at her breasts as Hotsuma guided her to the edge of the pool. “There.” He strummed her clit.

“Oh, yes. Right there.”

“I meant the ward, Lulu.”

She touched the edge of the pool and barely registered the shock of the ward breaking. Hotsuma rewarded her by moving his fingers faster. She rocked her hips against his touch, which also rubbed her ass cheeks over his hard dick.

“So good,” he whispered as he slid his fingers lower and dipped two into her hole. “So tight.”

Her breath came out in huffs. His fingers rubbed her inside, bringing her close to an orgasm. Was it the spell’s side effects making her this hot or Hotsuma? He massaged one of her breasts with his free hand and she stopped caring.