3. Jesse
JESSE
T rue to her word, Wren texts me the next day to confirm my appointment with Adrian.
Despite my sister working at the spa, I’ve never actually had a massage before.
I stretch and go to the gym—I’ve even gone to a couple of yoga classes over the years.
But having someone rub oil all over my naked body when there’s no promise of a physical release sounds like a very specific circle of hell I’d rather not visit.
Still, no amount of stretching or time with the heating pad has sped up my recovery. I’m too young to be this hurt after a fall.
So fine, I’ll try the massage and pray I don’t embarrass myself.
The bell on the door chimes as I pull it open, the sound more like a cheerful gong than anything else.
“Oh good, you made it,” Wren says with a smile as she comes around the corner and greets me at the front desk. “You’re all set. Adrian is in the back so I’ll just bring you to the room and he’ll meet you in just a minute.”
Turning on her heels, she leads me down the hall, the warm gray walls and mixed media both aesthetically pleasing and soothing.
Pausing outside the second room on the left, she waves with a flourish.
“Thanks,” I tell her, peeking into the room.
“Don’t be a baby,” she teases, giving me a small shove until I cross the threshold.
“I’m not being a baby. I just think it’s weird.”
“It’s not weird. Try to relax, okay? I know this isn’t usually your thing, but I think it’s going to help.”
“I’ll try,” I tell her, squeezing her forearm as she turns to leave.
“Oh, good, here’s Adrian now. I’ll see you later,” Wren says before slipping out of the room, as someone steps into it and shuts the door.
My eyes widen in surprise as I stare at the man before me, the man whose only acknowledgment is a flash of recognition in his gaze.
Son of a bitch.
“Adrian.” I repeat the name Wren gave me, the sound foreign on my own tongue because that wasn’t the name he gave me.
And it certainly wasn’t the name I was groaning into a pillow as he fucked me from behind in his hotel room.
Or when he was blowing me later that night.
Fuck.
“The notes I have say that you were involved in a situation at work that left you with lower back and leg pain?” he says, the picture of cool, calm, and collected, the bastard.
“That’s what we’re doing?” I ask, widening my stance and crossing my arms over my chest. I hate games and this feels like one. There’d been no power struggle that night, our general builds evenly matched. I’d submitted to him because I wanted to.
Exhaling audibly through his nose, he blinks and then blinks again.
“I’m at work.”
“And?” I goad, not giving him an inch and trying like hell not to think about all the inches he gave me.
“And I don’t use my real name when I’m out.” He huffs, belatedly adding, “Too many Rocky movie references.”
“Seriously?”
“You’d be surprised,” he says and when I don’t reply, he adds, “or not. Look, Jesse, I didn’t lie to you. Nate—Nathan—is my middle name.”
“You said you were here on business. ”
“I was. I am .” He motions around the room.
“No, this is not on business. This is ‘I got a job at the place your sister and brother-in-law fucking work and own’ or whatever they’re doing.”
“So what part are you mad about exactly?” he asks, leaning his hips against the massage table.
I open my mouth before closing it, the low soothing music and smell of oil lulling me into something a lot less confrontational than when he walked in here.
“You’ve had your hands on me,” I growl, and his lips twitch just the slightest bit. “How the hell am I supposed to?—”
With what appears to be incredible restraint, Nate, or Adrian , pushes off the table to stand at his full height.
“Do you want to cancel?” he asks, his eyes dancing with amusement and something else that looks a lot like vulnerability.
“I don’t want to get you in trouble, but how am I supposed to be naked on there with your hands all over me and not get hard?”
This time he chuckles, a wide smile stretching across his handsome face. Sober me knows exactly why drunk me took him home.
“I promise to remain professional, Jesse.”
I scoff. No way I’m gonna be the only one with his dick up around here. And now I’m itching for a fight, so I take a step closer and another until I’ve closed the distance between us.
“And what about you?” I let my gaze trail down his body before moving up to meet his jade eyes, the ones that had held me captive in that dimly lit bar.
“What about me?”
“You’ll remain completely unaffected?” I ask, tilting my head slightly to the side. “The whole time?”
“I’d really like to keep my job,” Adrian says, his voice low and sexy. “It’s not like I knew you’d walk in here as my client today, so yeah, I will do my best to remain unaffected. ”
“I’m not going to report you to my sister.” I chuff out a laugh and shake my head.
“Then what do you want?” he asks, eyeing the clock. “You’re already down to seventy minutes.”
“How about a wager?”