“I hate you so hard.”
“You know, in my head, every time you say that I substitute ‘hate’ for the word ‘love’.” Nick exhaled on a sigh and watched Roslyn limp toward the bed, chain trailing behind her. Apparently she’d pulled some muscles today. The woman was seriously out of shape. They needed to fix that. He was so used to working with other fit people it hadn’t occurred to him how behind she was. What if something happened? “Lie down on your stomach and I’ll rub you down.”
“No.”
“Yes.” He rose from his seat at the table, forgetting about the last of the creamy salmon pasta he’d cooked for dinner. Not a bad effort for tinned ingredients, if he said so himself. He’d spent the time drying out from the drug and alcohol binge developing new hobbies. He’d actually found he enjoyed cooking. “Please come and lie down.”
“You’re only saying please to pacify me.” Her forehead crinkled and she crawled onto the bed with achingly slow movements. Damn it, he shouldn’t have pushed her so hard. She’d washed up and changed into comfortable clothes after they’d gotten back. Thank goodness she’d gotten it out of the way before her muscles seized up.
“Sure. If it makes you feel better.” He had body oil in the bedside table. Just like he had sex toys and shit to tie her up with. Nice to know that this time the use would be for her pleasure. “Lie face down.”
Roslyn gave the drawer of supplies a dirty look. “You’re a pervert, by the way.”
“Butt plugs have their place, darling.” Nick sat on the bed beside her, unscrewed the cap on the oil then set it aside. “I can demonstrate on you if you like.”
“Sod off.”
“You’ve never played with one? Really?”
“You’re a freak.”
“Says the woman who can’t admit to liking it when I take control.”
She growled.
“Lie down,” he said, placing gentle pressure on the middle of her back.
“We need to establish some ground rules.”
“Sure. Pants off!” He tucked a finger either side of her black yoga pants and dragged them down her legs before she had a chance to fight him. Pale blue silk panties remained, cut to reveal a nice slice of her ass cheeks. Silk. He liked silk. Satisfaction hummed through him at the sight.
“Hey!” Her hand flailed at his thigh, landing a slap that was half-hearted at best.
“Hush. How did you think I was going to give you a rubdown? Relax.”
She huffed and grumbled, but bad luck.
“Ros, if we don’t work the kinks out it’ll be worse tomorrow.”
“It’s your kinks that concern me.”
He snorted. “Come on. Stop fussing.”
“Fine. Just make it fast.”
As if. He poured the almond oil into his hand, letting his skin warm it. “Fast is up there with polite. Bloody unlikely.”
It would be nice to start with her thighs, but he knew it was best to work his way up to them. Safer. She lay still, tolerating him for now, though who knew how long her lack of resistance would last. Physical exhaustion was an old army trick for breaking down willful resistance. Get down and give me twenty, and all that. It worked just fine on Ros, too.
He smoothed his hands over one tense calf, working the line of muscle in long strokes with his fingers and thumbs. No chance of rushing; he just enjoyed the feel of her lovely soft skin beneath his hands. Tension eased out of her gradually as he made no obvious grab for her ass or anything. She relaxed against the mattress, body going lax as he worked over the bottom half of first one leg and then the other. The rounds of her ass cheeks were clear against the silk panties. He would have loved to have sunk his teeth into her there. He hadn’t bitten her again, despite her epic loss to him regarding the tree climbing. Encouraging her was more important than getting his jollies.
For the time being, at least.
“Should have put a towel under me,” she said, interrupting his filthy thoughts. “We’re going to get the sheets dirty.”
“Never mind.” He wished. Dirty he could definitely do. Time to change the subject. “We’ll just go for a walk tomorrow. Take it easy.”
“We can go outside again?”
“Mmhmm.”
His fingers slowly massaged her thighs, inching higher, but not too high. The palms of his hand slid over the sides of her legs and the sensitive area below her butt. Nice, long upward strokes to lull her into submission. That was the way to go. She almost didn’t fight him when he went for the hem of her long-sleeve T-shirt. “Let’s get this out of the way.”