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I was exhausted. It turned out that holding in your emotions took more energy than letting them out. At least for me.
“Do you want to lie down?” she asked.
“How I’m answering yes to that is beyond me. I’ve been lying down forever and a day.” I wished I had the energy to tell her we’d hit up a hot spot in town, but not only did I just flat-out not feel like it, my medication wasn’t to be mixed with alcohol.
I was going to be a full-on bummer for a while.
“It’s okay. Come.” She walked me by the hand through to the bedroom and patted the bed. “Honestly, this downtime will be good for both of us. I don’t need to be burning the candle at both ends anymore.”
Her tenderness touched me. She knew what I’d been thinking and quelled it before I ever uttered the strange apology people always made when they weren’t well enough to party or show the other a good time. We should all be allowed downtime. But people like me, who were typically the last man standing? It didn’t feel right not to play host. It made me feel a bit like I couldn’t invite Maeve into my house anymore.
But the sincerity in her eyes was whole. Not even a crack of wanting for anything other than being right here with me was there. Somehow, with guilt raging through me, she quieted all my doubt.
I sat on the bed, kicked off my shoes, and lay down on the other side of where she sat. The bed was the right kind of soft. “I feel like Goldilocks when she found the little bear’s bed. Not too hard, not too soft. I’m going to sleep like a baby tonight. Hated those hospital beds.”
“Mmm. It’s more than the bed that’s a problem in a hospital.”
“True.”
Maeve lay down beside me, drawing a finger along my waistband and just under the bottom of my t-shirt. “Would you like a massage?”
“A massage?”
She nodded then reached over to a bedside table, opened a drawer, and wiggled a bottle of oil in her hand. “I wanted to give you the complete spa experience. Incense. Fairy lights. A rubdown.”
“How about I give you one?” I offered. I didn’t want to be her patient now. Much as a massage sounded amazing, the last thing I wanted to do was become something to her other than her lover. Or her husband.
“Don’t be silly.” She read the label on the bottle. “It specifically says ‘for men only.’”
I tried to snatch the bottle, but she yanked it away quickly.
“No. No. No. For men only. Says it right on the bottle, I swear. You can get me the women’s version another night. Now, let’s take off this shirt…” She urged me to sit up and eased my top off. “And the pants…”
I lifted a brow. “Oh, and the pants? What kind of massage is this? Happy ending?”
“Maybe.” She giggled. “Full body for now, we’ll see how big your tip is.”
“You know how big my tip is.”
“Shhh…” She pressed her tiny hand into my now naked chest, easing me back down onto the bed. She yanked at my pants and boxers and threw them on the floor dramatically. She had a sensual, predatory, and melodramatic look on her face. The humor was more than welcome.
Much as I always wanted to fuck Maeve two ways to Sunday, having a little laugh right now, after all that had been piled onto our shoulders in the past days, seemed to shake a tiny bit of it off.
She stared at my dick which was nearly half-mast. “I might just give you a freebie.” She swirled a finger in the air. “Roll over.”
On my stomach, the duvet was smooth and cool against my skin. It was that certain kind of feeling only a high thread count, clean sheet could give you. Like a sigh of relief upon my skin. The oil was cold when it hit my spine but not enough to make me flinch. It didn’t take long for me to feel miniscule hands smoothing up and down the length of my back, releasing tension I hadn’t even known was there.
In fact, she didn’t even knead my muscles at first. Her hands glided along my skin, skin so taut and strained from pushing the weight of the world uphill. With each slide along me, she took the ache of all that was into her hands. I didn’t know where she put it. I could only hope she didn’t hold on to it.
“Stop,” she whispered.
“Stop what?”
“Stop thinking about whatever’s making your eyebrows tense like that. You’re supposed to be relaxing.”
A smile came across my face. It was amazing to be so connected to someone. Amazing to be so loved by someone. I’d just about released the thoughts that had been swirling when more came flooding in.
“I wanted to give you a warm welcome our little holiday home.”
