I’m not sure I really have the answer to that. “I guess I’ve built my brand on being the girl who has it all together. I don’t like admitting that sometimes…I don’t.” The words feel unintentionally vulnerable as I say them.
He reaches across the table and squeezes my wrist. “For the record, I like seeing that girl. The one whodoesn’thave it all together. It’s okay to let your guard down and be vulnerable sometimes.”
“I could say the same exact thing to you.”
He presses his lips together. “Yeah. You could. And it would be true. I don’t let many people get to know me, Millie. But maybe underlining our sex agreement, we could have an understanding between us that it’s okay to just be ourselves for the next month. We’re not perfect, and I don’t want you to act like you are. I just want you to be you.”
The air crackles between us as this whole conversation leaves me feeling even more frazzled than I already was.
It’s giving a feeling like we’ll keep in touch beyond this even though that’s not what our agreement is.
And for some reason, that’s suddenly a scary thought.
CHAPTER 21: Archer Bradley
Spa Day
After we eat, I wheel her down to the spa.
She twists in the wheelchair as her eyes make contact with mine. I don’t say a word as I approach the counter. “I have a reservation for four o’clock,” I say.
“Ms. Monroe, right this way,” the woman at the desk says, and I help wheel her back to the room where she’ll get her massage.
“A massage?” she asks once the door is closed and we’re in here alone.
“I’ll just help you onto the table, and then you’re on your own. Until you’re done, anyway.”
“Aren’t you getting one?”
“Yes, but mine is a little shorter than yours, so I can help you at the end, too,” I say.
Her eyes soften. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
“I’m a nice guy. I just don’t let most people know that. You hurt your ankle, and I figured you need to try out thespa as part of your deal here anyway, so here you go. I’m being accommodating.”
“You’re being weird, but I like it.”
I chuckle, and then I help her undress and climb onto the table.
I’m tempted to do more than help her, but then I’d have a boner while I’m getting my own massage, so I keep those thoughts at bay.
“See you soon,” I say.
“Mm-hm…” she mumbles, and I let myself out of the room and into the room beside hers.
An hour later, my massage is over. I’m used to getting these at the clubhouse a few times a week, but there’s something different about getting a full body massage at a spa over one by an athletic trainer focusing on key muscle groups. I’m relaxed, a term I would pretty much never use to describe myself.
I haven’t been relaxed in years. A decade, maybe more.
I quietly open the door to Millie’s room, and I nod at the massage therapist in there. I made an arrangement ahead of time that I’d come in at the end and finish the job the therapist started, and now is the proper time to think about what parts of Millie’s body are hiding beneath the sheet that’s barely covering her.
She’s so relaxed that I’m pretty sure she’s nearly asleep.
I start by pouring some of the warm massage oil slowly over her back. I rub it into her skin, starting with her shoulders and moving my way down her spine, and as tempted as I am to shove my finger in her ass, I don’t. Instead, I pull the sheet to the side and massage one side of her ass. Jesus, her ass is perfect.
I pull the sheet off her completely, letting it fall to the floor. She shifts a little, startled that her massage therapist is suddenly massaging her ass with no sheet covering her, and I bend down so my voice is close to her ear.
“It’s just you and me in here,Monroe,” I rasp.
