Reunited in Steam: Months of Craving Finally Ignite

The heavy glass door of the spa’s private wing sighed shut behind Dante, sealing him into heat that already clung to bare skin. He had come straight from the locker room in the spa-issued black towel that barely circled his hips, water still beading on the carved planes of his chest and the deep V that disappeared under the cloth. Months had stretched since the last night he and Monica had shared a couch and a bottle of wine, the air between them thick with unfinished sentences and the press of her thigh against his. Now the Korean spa’s cedar and eucalyptus hit him like a second pulse, and there she was.

Monica stood near the entrance to the co-ed steam room, pale towel knotted high on her breasts, freckles dusting the tops of her shoulders. Twenty-eight looked like confidence on her—long legs still damp from the shower, dark hair twisted up so the nape of her neck gleamed. Her eyes found him instantly. The smile she gave was slow, knowing, the same one that had haunted him through lonely nights and half-hard mornings.

“Dante.” Her voice carried the low husk he remembered. “You actually showed.”

“Told you I would.” He closed the distance, letting his gaze travel without apology—over the towel’s edge, the soft swell beneath it, the way her nipples had already tightened from the cooler hallway air. “Been thinking about this place since you texted the address. Been thinking about you longer.”