The Ex Games(11)
Author: Jennifer Echols

A few times over the years, Chloe and I had surprised hotel guests in compromising situations in the sauna. Tonight I might walk in on a beer-fueled boys’ night out for a group of middle-aged men, in which case I would make an excuse and back out of the sauna. But now that the hallway door had developed this squeak, at least I knew I wouldn’t interrupt folks in the middle of something they shouldn’t be doing in a public place.

As I pushed open the sauna door and stepped into the eucalyptus-scented steam, I saw I wouldn’t be alone. The other occupant had heard me coming and was wrapping his towel more modestly around his bathing suit. I could still back out of the small, dark space. I hesitated to slide onto the bench across from him until I got a good look at him.

I squinted through the mist and finally realized it was—“Nick! I mean, Ex!”

“Hayden! I mean, Hoyden!” He sounded as surprised to see me as I was to see him. His eyes slid to my bare tummy. “You have a body like a rock.”

Right back at ya, I could have said. I’d known Nick was built. His family had a membership at my parents’ health club, and he sometimes came in to lift weights. His favorites were the arm curl machine and the abdominal machine, where he would lift hard for long minutes and then fight for a few last painful crunches. Not that I made a habit of standing there and staring at him as he worked out. That would be creepy. I watched him on the surveillance cameras behind the reception desk.

Even though he never worked out with his shirt off, I could have predicted that what I saw now had been hiding under his tee: six-pack abs with beads of sweat sliding down them like the disembodied torsos in workout machine infomercials. But I was surprised at how thin he was. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on him anywhere. I watched the muscles of his upper arms move underneath his skin as he leaned forward and put his hands on his knees. I had the strange sensation I was seeing a different person, a real person, rather than the model-handsome perfection who had sashayed his way through my school and my fantasies for the last four years. Suddenly he was less a superhero and more a boy my age, caught off guard in the sauna.

I liked this Nick even better.

And he approved of my body, too.

Or did he? Did a girl want to be a rock? Was this a compliment? I draped my towel across the bench opposite him and sat down. “What kind of rock?” I asked casually. “Granite is rough. Mica is shiny and flaky.” Whoops. I was feeding him jokes. I might as well have sat there and insulted myself. Nick didn’t even need to participate.

Both of those sound right, he would have said if we were trading insults across the chemistry classroom. Instead he said, “Come over here and give me a closer look.”

Nick was hot, and his voice was honey. We were alone in a cloud of steam. I wanted so badly to close the five feet of space between us by hopping down from my bench and jumping onto his.

But there was no way. That’s what I’d do if I were still the new girl at school who wasn’t wise to him yet. I said, “You’re the one who wants the look. You come over here.”

His gaze slid up my body to my face. His eyes locked with mine and held me there. Would he give in to this battle of wills? Or did he figure that if it led to contact with a girl, he always won?

Yeah, he sure was acting like he had the upper hand. Still holding me in place with his eyes, slowly he stepped down from his bench. He stepped up onto my bench and settled beside me on my towel. And he slid one hand onto the bare skin of my tummy.

I tried not to flinch. I told myself he didn’t mean anything by it—he was just the school’s biggest flirt—so there was no reason to make him unhand me. In fact, I’d found through experience that people who didn’t flinch seemed to fare better with Nick, because he wasn’t sure what to do with them. And I had told him to come over here.

Besides, it was just my tummy, my innocent tummy that I showed to the general public every summer at the pool. But Nick had never touched my bare tummy before, and my body screamed at me to pay attention, this was serious, just as when he’d touched my bare hip in the school hall last Friday. However dark and dangerous I’d considered Nick before, he was about to get a lot worse.

Or better. “The smooth white stone that statues are carved from,” he clarified, brushing his warm fingertips across my skin. “Marble.”

I did my best to keep my tummy absolutely still so he wouldn’t feel how fast I was breathing. This required me to take very small breaths of heavy hot sauna air through my nose. No wonder what I said next sounded strained: “Marble? With black veins? Sounds attractive.”

He smiled a little. “Statues don’t talk.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t buying this sexy rock metaphor anyway.”

His eyebrows went up and his face opened into that who, me? innocent expression of his, even as his pointer finger dipped inside my belly button. “I’m trying to be nice to you.”

“I can tell.” Something needed to be done about this belly button issue. I didn’t push his hand away because … well … I wanted it there. But I couldn’t just leave it there without acknowledging it, either. That would show weakness, telling Nick he could do whatever he wanted with me and I would just sit there and take it. That would be every girl he’d ever dated. Instead, I put my hand on top of his and pressed gently, like I approved.

Which I did.

I think I surprised him. Oooh, I loved this! His nostrils flared a little, and his big hand under my hand spread all the way across my tummy, stroking there slowly. Something was definitely going to happen, and I was going to let it.

But while he was off balance, I needed information from him. Now that I’d gotten over the surprise of seeing him at Chloe’s hotel, it occurred to me just how out of place he was. “What are you doing here?”

“Chloe invited me.”

“She did?” I squeaked. I hoped he didn’t assume I’d put her up to it. I knew I couldn’t trust Chloe and Liz to quit the Cupid business!

For once, being a very bad actress served me well. Nick could see I was floored by this info. He explained, “Chloe asked Gavin to invite me to your victory party. Didn’t they tell you?”

“I didn’t see Gavin,” I said slowly, still puzzling this out. “I only talked to Chloe for a minute. I don’t think they know you’re here.”

“Maybe they don’t,” he admitted. “I came in and saw Davis and Liz making out in the hot tub, and I heard these groans coming from the pantry. What are Gavin and Chloe doing in there anyway?” he asked in his I’m so innocent voice.