Into the Tide (Cottonwood Cove #1)(55)

“It’s normal that it hurts, right?”

“Oh, yes,” she said, placing cold rags all over my lady parts while I lay there spread eagle. Normally, this would be mortifying, but it was burning so badly that I didn’t care. The cold rags were soothing. “It always hurts, but it’s just doing an extra good job today, I guess.”

I surged forward, sitting up on my elbows. “What does that mean?”

“I think the heater thing is on the fritz, so the temperature may have been a little off.” She cleared her throat. “Luckily, you kept that little landing strip, so I didn’t pull your entire vagina off with wax.” She barked out a laugh like the whole thing was hilarious.

I glanced down at the cloths covering me up. “Yeah. I’d sort of like to keep my vagina.”

“For sure. It’s still there. I just checked.” Her laugh was ridiculously high-pitched. “Let’s have you lie back, and I’m going to put some salve on it. I get this from a special healer, and it works wonders,” she sang out. “But, maybe you can have your boyfriend blow on the sensitive area later if it still hurts.”

I groaned. What the hell was she even talking about? “I don’t have a boyfriend. I need to have someone blow on it?”

She pulled off the towels, and I tried to sit back up, but the woman nearly karate chopped me in the throat. “Lie down. Oh, what a shame that you don’t have a man. You’ve got yourself a pretty kitty there, girl. But you could just fan it yourself with a notebook.”

I had to fan myself now?

And did she seriously just say I had a pretty kitty?

I flinched when she started applying what felt like a mix of Vaseline and superglue on my bikini area.

“Does everyone have to fan themselves after they get waxed?”

“Well, I think we all like to be fanned downstairs, am I right?”

I laughed and shrugged awkwardly. “Oh, yeah, sure.”

“You might be a little irritated. The first time is always the worst, and like I said, the wax was a bit hotter than usual, but at least it did the job. You should be fine by tomorrow, or for sure in a few days.”

“A few days?” I squeaked.

“I highly doubt that long. The healer said this stuff works miracles.”

I glanced down to see myself slathered in some sort of ointment, but I couldn’t really see what was beneath it. I sat forward and pulled up my panties, wincing a little when I pulled on my shorts. I followed her out to the lobby and handed her my debit card, and she quickly rang me up.

“Our girl is looking very chic downstairs,” Veronica said to the girls, and everyone laughed.

What was this? Hot wax banter? Is that a thing?

“Of course, she does. And I knew you’d work your magic,” Sloane said.

“How’d it go?” Del asked me.

“It was fine. Not the most pleasant experience, but I survived.”

“There were some issues with the wax, and it was definitely hotter than usual. But Lila took it like a champ.” Veronica shrugged.

“Let’s hope Lila takes everything like a champ,” Sloane said, and everyone burst out in laughter. I rolled my eyes because the virgin jokes were exhausting, and my bikini area was currently on fire.

“You okay?” Del said, leading me out the door.

“Yes. I’ll live. She gave me some salve from a healer, so she said I should be fine in a few hours or a few days,” I said as we walked. I kept my legs apart to prevent my clothes from rubbing because I was feeling super raw down there, and I was starting to get concerned.

“What? Salve from a healer? Sloane, what kind of witch doctor did you send her to?”

“I don’t know. She’s never given me any special salves. I’ve never had any issues with her,” Sloane said as we walked toward the cars.

“Wait, didn’t she take off one of your eyebrows once?” Rina asked, as we paused in front of the two cars.

“Oh, well, yeah. That did happen the one time. Faulty wax, or something. But, you’re waxed and cleaned up, and that’s what matters.”

“True. At least it’s over,” I said, shifting my legs to try to cool the fire between my thighs. What the hell was in that salve?

“Lila’s driving with me,” Del said. “We’ll meet you guys there.”

We all got in the cars and headed to dinner.

“Well, at least you’ll have this weekend to recover before you see Kline next week.” Del pulled out of the parking lot and drove the short block to Cottonwood Café.

I was quiet. “Yep. That’s a relief.”

I’d gone through all of this to make sure I looked good for this weekend. But she didn’t know that.

Del put the car into park. “Lila Mae James. Cut the shit.”

“What?”

“Sloane and Rina may have been born under a log, but I was not. You did not get waxed for Kline Barley, and we both know it. I’ve given you enough time to come clean, even pouring on all the chatter about Kline that we both know isn’t true, but now I’m forcing you to spill it.”

“How do you know nothing’s going on with Kline?”

“They don’t call me the world’s most observant human being for nothing,” she said, as we watched Sloane and Rina walk into the restaurant.