grinned, and before he told me what he was doing, his hands went for my ankles and he was dragging me across the trampoline toward the edge. I sat up as much as I could once my butt hit the metal edge, but his arms slid under the backs of my knees and shoulders, and he hoisted me up into his arms, smiling the whole time.
Well, at least until he turned, kneeled, and lowered me to the grass right there, where the majority of the trampoline blocked us from being seen by everyone on the deck.
“Lean forward,” he said the second I was down.
I did and grunted the whole time. I was pretty sure I whined too.
He chuckled. “You’re all right; you tweaked it. Happens to me all the time. Relax.”
Relax?
His fingers dug into my lower back a second later, and I straight-up grunted as he kneaded my muscles.
“That was a pretty impressive backflip,” he said from behind as he dug some more into my back and I groaned again. It hurt, but it felt kind of good at the same time. But mostly it hurt.
“I hope it was if I’m not able to walk tomorrow, damn it.”
“You’ll be fine,” he assured me a second before his hands went under my shirt and touched my bare back.
I only froze for a second before I relaxed and let him keep doing it. I mean, he got massages all the time. What was a little bare skin? It wasn’t like he was touching my butt or anything.
“Thank you,” I told him with another grunt.
“You’re welcome,” he said, still working those incredibly strong fingers right above the band to my jeans. I hoped my butt crack wasn’t peeking out. “You gotta be careful so you don’t hurt yourself.”
I waited until he changed the motion he was doing and moved to a slightly different spot. “Thank you for coming to save me,” I told him, trying to ignore the feel of his warm fingertips.
And the urge to shiver over them.
His thumbs pressed deep along my spine, and I winced. “I was more worried about you flyin’ off the side and breakin’ an arm.”
“I just broke my back, no big deal.”
His puff of a laugh was low as he kept on massaging me.
“Zac?”
“Hmm?”
“Who’s watching our tres leches if you’re here?”
I felt a warm weight wiggle in behind me, hot breath blowing against the back of my neck.
“Are you awake?” the voice whispered.
I was on my side, holding my phone up to my face as I replied, “No.”
Connie dug her knuckle into a spot on my spine, and I squeaked when she got me right on a nerve. “You awake now?” she giggled inches from my neck.
Reaching behind me, I tried to aim for her arm, but she was too close and grabbed my fist with both hands, holding it in place so that I couldn’t get her. “Oh my God, why would you do that? My back still hurts, you monster. What are you doing?”
“Ah, you’re fine. I saw you ice it. Luisa’s taking a shower,” she whispered. Her son was passed out on the other bed. He’d been the first one to jump in and shower and had been out like a log by the time I’d gotten out.
“You all right?” I asked her, turning off my screen and rolling onto my back carefully, with another grunt, to get a good look at her. Zac had worked on my back for at least five minutes, assuring me the whole time that I’d be fine later, but it was still achy. I’d walked back to his car like I needed a cane… and gotten teased the whole time for it.
With her hair wet and all over the place, and no makeup, she looked like a version of Connie I hadn’t seen since before she’d been too young to put on makeup. Our parents hadn’t let her until she’d turned sixteen. Well, Mamá Lupe hadn’t let her until she’d turned sixteen was more like it. “I’m good.” She let go of my hand and tried to knuckle me again, but this time, it was my turn to grab her hand and make sure she couldn’t get me again. She raised her eyebrows. “What’s up with you?”
“Nothing, I’m good. Work sucks, but everything else is good.” I smiled at her.
“Are you going to make me ask or are you telling me on your own?”
I blinked. “Tell you what?”
She sighed. “What’s going on with you and….” She made