Travis's Gift (Riley's Pride #3)- Sandra R Neeley Page 0,48

human. He swallowed, then slowly sat up straighter and leaned slightly forward to reach his leg. He looked down at his leg, then quickly back up to meet her gaze. “Here. This is where I rub it,” he said, placing his hands on his leg. “I try to rub deep to get to the deep bone pain. But, I’ve never had anyone else try to massage it for me. I’m not sure it would help.”

“Didn’t the nurses try to massage the pain away?” Libby asked.

“A time or two. I couldn’t stand their touch, it’s too sensitive,” he said.

Libby offered him a soft smile. “I understand. We’ll see if I can at all. Sit back, close your eyes, and relax. I’m going to start gently. If I touch somewhere that you don’t like, tell me and I’ll adjust my hold, okay?”

Travis nodded reluctantly. He was not impressed with the female he loved seeing this weakest part of him — but she’d insisted, and to her it meant something, so he was doing his best to tolerate it.

“Once we make sure where I can touch you without hurting you, then I’ll increase the pressure,” Libby added.

“Okay,” Travis answered, sitting back against his pillows which were stacked against the headboard.

Travis’s body jerked at Libby’s first touch, and he opened his eyes to watch her response to touching him.

“Sorry, are my fingers cold?” she asked.

“No, just not used to anyone touching my leg.”

“Have a little faith,” she said gently, then placed her hands around his leg, just where the amputation was, and let them lie against his skin for a few minutes until he got used to her hands on him. Once he closed his eyes again, she began to very lightly run her hands over his leg. She concentrated on the parts without the severing scars. Once he was no longer clenching his jaw, she placed her hand over the end of the amputation, where the scars from removing the parts of his leg that weren’t able to be saved were. When he didn’t jump at her touch, she smiled, then added her other hand to the end of his leg. She began to press gently with her thumbs as she gradually worked her way from the end of the stump of his leg toward the knee. At first he grimaced when she began to press on his leg. “Hurting you?” she asked, while still massaging.

“It’s sore. It’s always sore,” he answered.

“If it gets to be more painful than usual because I’m working sore muscles, let me know,” Libby said. Then she scooted closer to him, and lifted his leg, laying it on her thigh so she could reach underneath and behind it as well. It took about ten minutes before Travis went from grimacing to actually, fully relaxed. He’d even let his head fall slightly to the side, and was breathing evenly, in a relaxed fashion.

“We good?” she asked.

“Yes,” he answered.

“I’m going to try to massage a little more deeply.”

“Okay,” he said.

Libby went back to the base of the amputation and repeated all her movements, this time with a great deal more pressure. She was careful around the amputation scars not to press directly on them, but the rest of the leg was fair game. Because she’d already loosened up the muscles in the leg, it didn’t take long to work her way back to the knee, then she began to work the muscles above the knee. Once she’d made it half way up his thigh, and she’d actually gotten a few pleasurable moans from her ministrations, she switched to the other leg, repeating the same massaging motions to the opposite leg, sure that it was under stress as well because it took most of his weight. That leg was scarred as well from shrapnel impacting it, but it had not been as damaged as the right leg. The bones had been intact, so the scars were simply flesh level. It wasn’t pretty, but it functioned.

Libby smiled when a soft snore escaped Travis. She carefully got up off the bed, covered him, and turned off the light in the bedroom as she walked into the bathroom for her shower. She couldn’t stop herself from grinning. She’d given him relief from the chronic pain he lived with. So much so that he’d been able to fall asleep. That in itself was more than she hoped she’d be able to do for him.

Libby showered and washed her hair. She dried off, then walked out