Serenity (Inevitable #5)(31)

       
        

"Yeah, that sounds like Tessa. She's a great girl. Ian is just about the luckiest man in San Francisco to have a wife like her," murmured Matthew.

"They're both lovely people," agreed Sasha. "Tessa in particular is very nurturing, very caring. I'm grateful to have her as a friend."

He grunted as she located a particularly tight spot, but then let out another sigh of relief as she began to work out the knot. "Jesus, you really do have a knack for finding all the sore spots, don't you?" he asked half-jokingly. "Ian has been singing your praises to me, but I admit to being skeptical when I walked in here. But you do, uh, have magic fingers."

Sasha laughed this time, the sound reminding him of tinkling bells. "I do my best," she assured him. "It's more difficult with bodies like yours and Ian's, though, considering how much muscle mass you have. I have to dig a little deeper sometimes."

Matthew grit his teeth, determined not to cry out in pain when she definitely dug in deeper as she moved to his shoulders. "I, um, don't have anywhere near as much muscle mass as Ian, though," he pointed out. "The guy could be a linebacker or a tight end on any professional football team. Though considering he's British I guess he'd be the prop or a flanker on a rugby team."

"I'm afraid I don't know much about professional sports, American or otherwise," admitted Sasha. "But while you may be a bit leaner than Ian, you're still very muscular, very strong. And very, very tense. I could spend the entire hour on just your neck and shoulder blades. Did you fall asleep in an awkward position or something?"

Sheepishly, he told her about slumping face first onto his desk the previous day. "I guess all of the stress is starting to catch up with me," he acknowledged. "It's been a rough few months all around."

Unbidden, Matthew found himself telling her about the nasty, contentious divorce proceedings and how uncooperative Lindsey was being; how difficult it had been on him not to see his children as often as he would have liked; how his responsibilities at work seemed to be mounting at an alarming rate, and how he rarely seemed to have a minute to himself these days.

Throughout the one-sided conversation, Sasha didn't comment or offer up any sort of opinion or feedback. Occasionally she'd make some small sound of acknowledgment or sympathy, but mostly she just continued with the massage, her slim, capable hands working out knots and tension and soreness that he hadn't even known existed in certain spots.

At some point he ceased talking, far too relaxed by now to do anything but close his eyes and enjoy the pure indulgence of the massage. Sasha was rubbing some sort of lotion into his skin, and the subtle scent was both pleasant and vaguely stimulating. And, as her hands gradually moved to his lower back, hip flexors, and hamstrings, Matthew unwittingly became aware that other parts of his body were also feeling, well  – stimulated. Perhaps it was simply because it had been so long since a woman had touched him in any manner  – sexually or otherwise  – but his body was definitely reacting to Sasha's soothing, knowing touch. Combined with the scents of the massage lotion and aromatherapy oil, the strains of the hypnotic violin music playing through the speakers, and the cocoon-like warmth of the heated pad beneath his naked body, Matthew felt surrounded by sensations, all of them pleasant, almost hedonistic. And with each stroke of Sasha's expert hands on his muscles, his erection seemed to grow another inch, until it was almost painfully swollen. 

He bit down on the fabric covering the face rest, determined not to emit the slightest sound that might betray his growing arousal. He shifted around a bit awkwardly, trying to find a position to more comfortably accommodate his rapidly hardening cock. Sasha merely rested a hand in the middle of his back, stilling him, and he obeyed despite the overwhelming urge to do otherwise.

But it was when she murmured to him softly, "Time to turn over", that he had to fight off a sense of panic. There was no way, no way, to disguise the fact that he had a rather obvious hard-on. But there was also no easy way to refuse Sasha's instructions, so Matthew rather gingerly eased himself onto his back, willing his cock  – which seemed to have a mind of its own at the moment  – back into compliance.

Sasha spent a couple of minutes pulling and readjusting the sheet and blanket, making sure he was adequately covered, and if she noticed his rather conspicuous erection she was far too discreet and professional to acknowledge the fact.

It was with equal parts relief and dismay when she only spent a few minutes working on the front side of his body, mostly focused on his shoulders and neck. He figured that the hour was nearly over, and marveled that sixty minutes could go by that quickly. She gently massaged his temples and forehead, soothing away the tension headache that was almost always with him nowadays. She lifted his head very slightly off the table, her fingers threading through his scalp for a few seconds, before she carefully set his head back down. Matthew wanted to moan  – or purr  – from the sheer pleasure of it all, and couldn't help feeling dismayed when Sasha stepped away from the table, quietly signaling the end of the session.