The next morning came before I was ready.

The sun burned bright, warming my skin as the rays floated in through the window. I groaned and turned my head further into my pillow trying to block out the light. The movement was mute.

After I finally managed to pull my seemingly dead limbs out of bed I went through the morning ritual, splashing water on my face, brushing my teeth, brushing out the tangled waves and ringlets. It took me about ten minutes to notice that Anthony wasn't here when I woke up.

Pulling on a loose white tee, flip flops and a pair of jean shorts that had numerous paint splatters along the patched work shades of blue denim - like I said, I was running out of clothes - I stepped out and started looking around for Anthony. I looked along the coast line, half expecting him to have stepped out to make a phone call. I looked briefly in the surround gazebos but once again came up with nothing.

Hearing my stomach rumble fiercely I gave up on the search for my strange disappearing fiance and wandered over to the food hall in search of my next meal.

I seemed to find both Anthony and food in the same place - why am I not surprised.

"Hey babe," he greeted me. "Have a nice sleep?"

"It was okay." I sat down on the seat opposite him and picked up a grape from his large tray that held an arrangement of fruit, cereal and a few steaming pieces of toast. "You're up early."

"I couldn't sleep, I was so hungry. As soon as the sun rose I came here to watch them prepare breakfast and was first in line for the food." He smiled proudly.

It was then that I remembered his sour face as he looked at last night's dinner - rock lobster. He hadn't eaten the food and was no doubt starving.

"Fair enough." I didn't bother to plate up my own food and just continued to steal bites from Anthony, who was either to hungry not to notice or didn't mind my scavenging efforts.

We finished our breakfast with full stomachs and didn't hesitate when walking to our next activity. Today's activities included a full day of relaxation where falling asleep is recommended and there was limited social interactions with anyone including Anthony - so basically my idea of a perfect day.

We headed over to the spa sanctuary of the retreat and began our day by getting a massage and spending two hours mediating. When a small gong rang to signal the end of our meditation, I opened my eyes and found I had fallen asleep and started to drool shortly after starting the meditation.

Quickly wiping my hand across my lips I turned to see Anthony chuckling at me.

"I was waiting for you to start snoring babe."

"Excuse me, I am a lady - I don't snore!"

He laughed hard. "I'll record you next time."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Don't you dare."

Finishing up were lead out of the Meditation hall and over to the mud spas. I'd never had a mud spa before and honestly the idea unsettled me slightly. I hated dirt under my nails let alone sitting in a pool of mud. But at this point, I was far too relaxed to care anymore.

I walked into the small change room and started to rid myself of my clothes, pulling my hair up into a quick and messy bun to keep it out of the mud. I knew the mud was good for skin, but I highly doubted it was good for hair too. Wrapping a towel tightly around my body, I walked out of the another door and into a room with a large in ground mud spa.

The walls were covered in a glassy black obsidian. The lights were dim and the mud looked anything but invited.

I moved over to the pool and was seconds away from letting my towel drop to step into the pool when I heard the soft noise of a door shutting. Jumping slightly, my head snapped in the direction of the sound as my hands greedily clutched at the towel as if my life depended on it. Anthony walked into the room, his right hand running through his hair as he stepped further into the room.

"What are you doing here?" I couldn't believe I had been so naive as to think that they would give us our own pool in our own room, after all this was a retreat for married couples who should be familiar with each others bodies.

Anthony smirked at me. His towel was wrapped around his waist and looked a lot looser than mine, almost as if it were begging to fall to the ground with every second that ticked by. His chest was bare showing sturdy build with a decent amount of defined and chiseled outlines of each muscle. From the curve around his biceps to the lines on his hard stomach. I desperately tried to drag my eyes up from his naked chest and focus on his eyes but that was not an easy task.

"Relax babe, you can look."

I blushed furiously and quickly looked away, focusing my eyes on the mud pool.

"How do you want to do this?"

He chuckled at my words. "Well, since we're being so forward - "

"You know what I mean." I rolled my eyes.

"We're reasonable adults remember, and besides, this is supposed to be relaxing." I saw this hand gesture to the mud out of the corner of my eye.

I huffed a deep sigh.

"Ladies first." I could hear the amusement flooding his voice as he spoke.

"Turn around." I told him, praying that my voice didn't quiver and sounded firm - commanding.

A lazy smile stretched playfully across his lips for a moment before he spun slowly on his heel. Once his back was facing me, I walked towards him wanting to enter the pool closest to him. I turned my back to him and faced the pool, putting my feet in the mud pool.

Licking my lip nervously, I turned to look over my shoulder. Anthony was shifting a little impatiently but he remained with his back turned to me.

Taking a deep breath I spread my arms wide, opening the towel. The cool air nipped at my skin and nervous goosebumps erupted along the nape of my neck and down the center of my body to my core.

I quickly submersed myself in the mud, never fully dropping my towel until the majority of my body was covered in the mud. I shifted to one of the corners of the mud bath and let the mud float up toward my collar bone.

"Okay, you can turn around."

Anthony turned with a wide smile on lips. His hands rested at the based of stomach, gripping his towel. He motioned for me to turn around with one of his fingers, turning it slowly in a circle.

Realizing I was staring I quickly shook my head a little and turned in the mud until I was facing the black obsidian walls. I took a deep breath feeling my nervous get the better of me. My eyes looked at the marble, studying the reflection - wait, reflection?!

"Oh my god!" I quickly looked down, averting my eyes from the tainted outline of Anthony's naked body as he submerged himself in the mud pool.

I heard Anthony chuckle. "I was wondering how long it would take you to notice."

"You couldn't have told me?!" I yelled frustrated and turned around.

"Relax, it's not like it was fantastic quality, I mainly just saw your stomach and a small outline of your hip. Not exactly the parts I wanted to see." He spoke with a devilish edge to his voice.

I swallowed hard. Wanted to see. He wanted to see me? Did he think about me in that way?

Or more importantly: Do you?

"Getting a little perverted here Babe." I gave him my darkest look.

"Only for you."

***