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“It’s no problem. I’ve just been relaxing here on the table while I wait.”
He didn’t lift his face from the cradle, but she’d know that muscular back anywhere. She’d practically committed every plane and angle of it to memory simply through touch. Lying in bed with him, her fingers had traced every inch of his back while he held her in his arms.
She swallowed hard as she looked at his body on the table.
You can do this. You’re a professional,she reminded herself as she tied the apron holding the oils and lotions she used around her waist.
“What brings you in today, Mr.Alistair?”
“I’ve been having a lot of stress, lately. I thought maybe you could help me.”
She rubbed a calming blend of essential oils in her palms and then waved them below the face cradle, so the scent reached his nose.
“Where does it seem to be bothering you?”
This time, he lifted his head and looked at her. Her breath caught in her chest; she’d almost forgotten how handsome he was.
“My heart.”
She wanted to climb on the table and bury herself into his side and soothe her heart, too. But that would be a bad idea.
With a sad smile, she asked, “What are you doing here, Aiden?”
He sat up, moving the sheet so it covered him below the waist as his legs dangled from the table.
“You said a massage would be good for me. That it’d help my aura.”
“I did say that.”
“And I’m pretty sure my aura is completely fucked up right now. You see, there’s this woman I can’t stop thinking about. I thought for sure she was as crazy about me as I am her, but for some reason, she won’t see me again.”
“Aiden…” she whispered as a single tear trailed down her cheek. “I am crazy about you. But I can’t be with you. I’ve seen our future if we’re together, and it ends with me heartbroken. I can’t go through that. It’s better to not even start anything.”
“But wehavestarted something, Sunshine. The Universe obviously wants us together.”
“It was so I could help you get out from that black cloud that was following you around. I did that. Now you can move on.”
“You obviously haven’t checked lately, because that black cloud is back in full force, and it’s brought friends.”
She studied the area around his head. He wasn’t lying. The colors surrounding him were dull, and blacks and greys swirled around them.
He cupped her cheek in his hand. “I need my Sunshine back.”
Dakota leaned into his touch, closing her eyes as she relished the warmth of his hand and the scent of his skin.
An image of them together, holding hands flashed in her mind’s eye, followed, as always, by the one of him leaving her crying.
“I’m sorry, Aiden,” she whispered as more tears fell. “I can’t.”
With the pads of his thumbs, he swiped at her tears with a sad smile. “Don’t be sorry. You can’t help how you feel.” He pulled his hands away, and she felt his defeat as his shoulders slumped. “But I had to try one more time, you know?”
She nodded, too afraid to speak. She was certain it’d come out in a sob.
“I’ll go,” he said softly.
Finally, she found her voice. “No. Let Angie give you a treatment. I think it would help you.”
“No, I don’t think I’m up for it right now.”
