Giselle was waiting for us at the end of the hall, her frosty gaze moving over me as she opened the door to an office, revealing a man with long black hair speaking on the phone. He was also shirtless and barefoot, wearing red loose-fitting pants that resembled a billowy sarong. And he was impressively muscled. With tribal tattoos.
He looked up at our arrival, did a double take, then frowned at Giselle, holding his finger up as he said to the caller, "Okay, we've got you down for Monday at three. Thanks for calling. Okay. Bye."
Upon hanging up, his attention lingered on Giselle and then skipped to me. "Marie?"
I nodded. "Jared?"
"The owner, Rebecca, isn't here right now, she had to go pick up her son. But she's going to try to return before you leave." His face split with a smile as his eyes moved over my body. "So nice to meet you."
"I'll bet it is," Giselle mumbled, crossing her arms.
Jared's attention shifted to Matt, and he blinked. "You're the walk-in?" Jared was looking at Matt askance, making no effort to hide his displeasure.
"Yes. I am." Matt looked at my cuddle partner and then glanced down at himself, as though searching for what offended the man.
Jared scoffed, blinking rapidly and turning a plainly furious face to Giselle. "Well, that's just great."
She crossed the threshold into the office, saying to us, "Give us a minute, would you?" and then pulled the door mostly shut behind her.
"Really? You're giving me grief about him?" we heard her ask. "Look at her. She's all tits."
Matt and I shared another glance, his eyes flickering to my chest and then back up.
"Real nice, G," Jared said, sounding equally furious.
"And her hair? She's exactly your type. I should know."
Matt grimaced, but it looked like he was trying not to laugh.
"I'm not the one who has a history of being unprofessional," Jared could be heard saying in a hushed tone. "Keep your hands out of his shirt."
"They like it when I stroke their stomach." It sounded like she was speaking through clenched teeth.
"You only stroke stomachs with six-packs and we both know it."
Matt's eyes widened almost comically, a mixture of shock and panic behind his gaze as he pointed to his torso and mouthed to me, I don't want her touching my stomach.
I gestured to my chest and mouthed back, I don't want him touching my tits.
A hastily repressed laugh erupted from Matt and he clapped his hand over his mouth to stop it. Despite his valiant effort, the sound drew their attention and the door opened, revealing a furious Jared.
"Is something funny?" Jared was now aiming daggers at Matt.
"No." Matt shook his head as though to strengthen his denial. But then abruptly began nodding, his eyes swinging to me and narrowing. "Actually, yes. There is something wrong."
My lips parted, maybe to refute his claim, maybe to agree with him, I'll never know. In the next moment, Matt had wrapped his arm around my shoulders and addressed our would-be cuddlers. "The truth is, we're cuddle virgins. And I think-no, I know-I speak for Marie when I say that we're nervous. So we've been talking and we think maybe it would be best if Marie and I cuddled with each other-"
I snapped my mouth shut, my gaze dropping to the floor.
"-and you two could take us through the positions. Teach us how to cuddle. Be our cuddle sensei," Matt finished, his tone beseeching.
Giselle and Jared shot each other a look of confusion as she asked, "And we'd still get paid?"
"Of course." Matt nodded, his hand sliding from my shoulder to my arm, his big hand warm on my bare skin.
Jared glanced at me, asking softly, "Are you sure that's the experience you want, Marie?"
"He just said it's what they want," Giselle snapped. "You just want to cuddle with her," she added in a harsh whisper.
I winced, realizing I would get nowhere with these two. Evidently, they were dating, or involved, or something. And also evident, they had some major jealousy issues to work through. I wasn't going to get an authentic cuddle experience either way. But at least with Matt as my cuddle partner, I didn't have to worry about Giselle stabbing me in the middle of the session.
Plus, per Matt's anti-relationship tirade just moments ago, I was fairly certain his interest in cuddling was purely academic.
"It's what I want," I rushed to declare, hoping to cut off a rekindling of Jared and Giselle's tiff, my arm lifting to wrap around Matt's torso. "As long as one, or both of you can guide us through it."