Rollo held his breath—what was she doing?
She dug her thumb in hard, and everything else fell away.
This strange . . . massage . . . was shaping up to be one of the single most memorable moments of his life, and yet, seemingly oblivious, Felicity chattered on.
“So anyway, I was really into it,” she said, making circular motions with her thumb. “Into massage school, I mean. But boom, my first hairy back and that was it.” She laughed.
“Wait.” She froze. “You don’t have a hairy back, do you?”
What was she on about?
“No,” he managed. “Not that I know of.”
“Oh good. ’Cause that’s a deal breaker. Though it’d be a shame to have come all this way . . .” She giggled.
“So anyway, I’d really thought it would be my thing. Massage, I mean. Livvie, my Aunt Livia, that is, used to . . .”
She sighed wistfully. The sudden sadness in her voice had him cracking open an eyelid to watch her. Felicity’s lively brown eyes were suddenly quiet. He studied her hand on his leg and fought the urge to take it in his.
“My parents died in a car accident. I was just a little kid, but . . . I was in the car with them.” She grew utterly silent, her uncharacteristic stillness jarring.
“You probably don’t know what that is,” she finally said. She sighed, resuming a slow, stroking motion along the side of his thigh. “A car . . . It’s like a really fast carriage. But with no horses attached.”
She worked silently then, seeming to collect her thoughts.
Rollo watched her, and wondered at the foreign emotion that stabbed his chest. The poor lass, baring her thoughts for all and sundry. And yet, in that instant, he couldn’t fathom what she might be thinking.
“Anyway,” she said finally, “I was hurt. My back. It was bad, for such a little kid.”
She paused, using the opportunity to dig her fingertips in deep. “I guess we have that in common, huh? Getting hurt at such a young age. But I had Livvie to massage my back every night.”
She slowly released the pressure and it was like a torrent of blood was released, rushing through his leg, up his spine, to the base of his neck, making him light-headed.
Groaning, he let his head fall back, savoring the feel of tendons and fibers that had long been in iron knots relaxing for what felt like the first time. Even his chest felt as if it were opening, his breathing somehow freer, his neck, his jaw, all somehow eased.
“Good, huh?” She smiled at him, then looked back at his leg. His left had been snapped in two, but it was his right that had been utterly smashed.
“It’s a tragedy that this wasn’t set right. I had to have a back brace myself, for a while. But it was the feel of Livvie’s hands on me every night. That’s what really saved me. So, I thought, maybe massage. But, no. All those hairy backs.” She gave a quiet, sad laugh. “I can’t really seem to find my thing. But I will,” she finished, sounding an upbeat note.
All that talking had eased her, and she became immersed in the muscles around his right knee, finding knots, digging, stroking.
Rollo let himself grow easy too, shutting his eyes, savoring the feel of a pair of deft hands working his body.
It was entirely inappropriate, but he couldn’t bring himself to make her stop. He hadn’t felt this good since before the accident. How did she manage it with just a single touch?
And if she was capable of making him feel so good with a mere hand on his leg—?
The thought sent a bolt of heat straight to his groin.
His eyes flew open, and his first sight was Felicity doggedly massaging his calf between two hands. Deep in thought, she licked and bit at her lower lip.
He felt himself growing hard, and harder still. His eyes flew from her mouth.
But they landed on her chest. She’d had to lean down, and her dress was tugged dangerously low, her breasts rising and falling with her efforts.
Losh, but was she trying to pull herself out of that thing?
He tried to move away, and must have made some sound, but the effect was the opposite of what he’d intended.