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I leaned over and retrieved the bottle. “What’s in it?” I asked, popping the top and taking a whiff.
“Eucalyptus,” we said in unison.
“Good nose,” Tyler said.
I smiled and took another sniff. “I think there’s another note of something in here.”
He shrugged like he hadn’t ever noticed or cared to check.
“Yeah, here”—I held the bottle up to his nose—“do you smell anything else?”
He took a sniff. “No.”
“Huh,” I said and turned the bottle around to the list of ingredients. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
“What? What else is in it?” he asked, seriously interested.
I bit down on my cheek to keep from busting up. “Anise!”
“You’ve gotta be—” he snatched the bottle from me.
I couldn’t keep the laugh in. “OMG! That was so good! I totally got you!”
“You little shit,” he said. But he couldn’t help laughing at how I’d tricked him.
I motioned for him to turn over onto his stomach.
“All right, Sandman. You just relax and enjoy.”
I used lotion all over his body to knead and work out his knots. He enjoyed the massage; if I was going by the groans and moans, he let loose. When I finished, I told him to flip over. Then I massaged the front of him—chest, arms, hands, thighs, and his right calf and foot.
His breathing was shallow, almost like he was sleeping, his opened eyes the only indication that he was, in fact, fully awake. I looked at his leg, where it had been removed, and the scars that remained. I rubbed the eucalyptus lotion into my hands, warming it up before I touched his leg. “Is there any particular method to doing this?” I asked him.
“No. I’m not too sensitive anymore. It took a lot of work and practice to get there, but you can massage it as you would any other area of me.”
“Okie dokie,” I said. “Let me know if there’s anything you don’t like or something you would rather me do.”
“Okie dokie,” he echoed.
I set to work, massaging and rubbing his stump, working my way back up his calf and knee. I gave his already massaged thigh a squeeze. “All done. How was it?”
He let out a raucous snore, then laughed. “It was amazing. I could have fallen asleep.”
“Why didn’t you?” I was worried I had done something wrong.
“Because watching you was way better.” He sighed like a cat who’d just had his back scratched. “I can’t keep my eyes off of you.”
I bent to him for a kiss instead of answering. I couldn’t figure out how to respond to him. More and more, he was catching me off guard. And his sweet comments and compliments were beginning to unnerve me.
“Thank you,” he said.
“Anytime,” I answered.
And I meant it.
