Couples Massage
. . .
Cade
Getting naked in a spa room with Ellie would’ve been my favorite retreat activity, if it weren’t for the deranged love therapist and two other men in the room with us.
“Everyone comfortable?” Lovejoy asked from her bowl-shaped chair in front of us as Ellie and I settled on the massage tables. Only a few feet separated us, white sheets covering our asses.
Lovejoy had already introduced our masseurs, Andre and Luca, both of whom had been on my grandfather’s spa staff for years.
“Very comfortable,” Ellie answered, crossing both arms on the table and resting her chin on them. Her eyes were glued to the platter of croissants sitting on a spare table, and I could swear she was salivating.
I dragged my gaze away from the attractive slope of her exposed back, finding another reason this was a terrible idea.
How the hell was I supposed to just lie here while Luca was rubbing oil on his hands and getting ready to touch her?
“Good, good.” Lovejoy flipped through a stack of flash cards before beaming at both of us.
“This activity is about relaxing the mind and body, but also thinking about your future. I recommend leaving your inhibitions at the door and really allowing yourself to speak from the heart. How does that sound?”
Like my own personal hell, I thought while sticking my face into the hole in the table.
But Ellie quickly agreed, so I grunted noncommittally.
“Wonderful,” Lovejoy praised with a clap of her hands. “Luca and Andre, start with focusing on any tension in their shoulders. Really dig into the soft tissue there. Cade and Ellie, close your eyes, and we’ll begin.”
Andre wasted no time digging into my shoulders, while I grudgingly shut my eyes.
“Let’s kick things off with one of the big questions couples discuss before marriage,” Lovejoy continued. “Do you two see children in your future?”
“Yes,” Ellie answered immediately, making me pause.
I’d never really given a wife and kids much thought, but it was almost too easy to picture a couple mini versions of Ellie and me running around the penthouse and playing with her hellion. They even had blue hair.
“And you, Cade?” Lovejoy asked, yanking me out of the daydream.
Andre kept a steady pressure on my shoulders—which were somehow tenser than when we started.
“That’s a private discussion,” I said, followed by an uncomfortable beat of silence.
“Completely understandable. I’m not here to pester you.” Lovejoy cleared her throat, and the grin reentered her voice. “Let’s talk wedding plans, then! Have you set a date yet?”
Ellie jumped to answer again. “Well, they say when you marry in June—”
“We’re also keeping that private,” I cut in before she could ramble out another lie for us to keep track of.
Lovejoy just laughed lightly.
“I see you play your cards close to the vest, Cade. You know what, why don’t we work our way up to the big stuff?
I have a few other questions that might seem odd at first, but they speak to the foundation of your relationship.
Let’s start with a fun one. If your partner were transformed into a worm, would you still love—”
“That’s enough.” I pushed up from the massage table, shrugging off Andre’s hands and pulling the sheet around my hips. He backed off, and I strode past Lovejoy to open the door. “I think we can handle it from here. Thank you, Bliss.”
She gaped over her shoulder at me, and the cat-eye glasses amplified her widening eyes. “Oh, but we’ve only just begun. I’m here to help guide the discussion.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ellie lift her head to watch us.
I struggled to keep a pleasant expression and reached for a lie Lovejoy would fall for. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to take more of a lead in my and Ellie’s therapy sessions. This retreat means a lot to my fiancée, and I’ve been slacking. It’s time to pull my own weight now.”
Dr. Lovejoy blinked owlishly, then broke into a wide, toothy smile.
“Oh. Yes! Yes, of course.” She jumped up from her chair and handed over the flash cards. “That’s a wonderful idea, Cade. I applaud you for taking the initiative.”
“Thank you. Now, if you wouldn’t mind…” I gave the hallway a pointed glance, and Lovejoy straightened.
“Ah, yes. I’ll just leave you both to it, then.” She stepped into the hallway before jabbing a finger into the air. “Oh, we have our next mandatory activity later this morning. Group yoga begins on the main deck in forty minutes—don’t forget!”
“Couldn’t if I tried,” I muttered, then swung the door shut behind her.
I turned back to the room to see Ellie watching me with laughter in her eyes and her lip trapped between her teeth.
With the therapist gone, I tossed the flash cards onto a side table. Trekking back to the massage table, I glanced between the masseurs. “You guys all right with a quiet session?”
“Absolutely, sir.” Andre nodded with a smirk. “Are there any problem areas I can focus on for you today?”
“Do you have any experience with overenthusiastic therapists or meddling mothers?” I asked dryly.
He chuckled. “Maybe I could schedule your mother for a deep tissue massage?”
“There aren’t enough massages in the world to help her,” I said under my breath, getting back on the table.
The session was pretty standard from there. Andre kneaded my back—annoyingly effective at easing tension I wouldn’t admit was there.
Without Lovejoy around, I’d even say it was relaxing—until Ellie let out a soft moan that reached straight to my bones.
I cracked an eye open and lifted my head.
Ellie’s head was turned toward me, with her cheek pillowed on folded arms while Luca worked on her back.
Blue hair spilled over her shoulder, loose and silky.
I couldn’t keep my gaze from taking in how low the sheet rested on her backside—revealing a small dimple sitting above it which I had the strongest urge to lick.
Kicking myself for looking, I stuck my face back in the hole.
That didn’t stop my ears from listening to Ellie enjoy her massage. The more little sounds from her, the tenser I grew, until a soft sigh made me open my mouth without thinking. “Watch the hands there, Luca.”
He uttered an instant apology, but Ellie snickered. “Cade, please let the nice man do his job.”
Nice man? She’d just met him ten minutes ago.
“This feels amazing,” Ellie murmured. “It’s like every worry is melting away. Are your hands made of magic, Luca?”
My eyes narrowed at the floor, while Luca laughed. “I’m just well-trained, Miss Darling.”
Another sigh drifted over from Ellie’s table, and I ground my teeth. My shoulders tensed faster than Andre could relieve them.
Taking a deep breath helped—sort of. Focusing on Andre’s methodical kneading worked better. My breathing slowed. It was almost relaxing.
Until another moan floated over from Ellie, and I pushed up from my table as my last shred of self-control snapped. “Okay, guys. We’re good from here. You two take the rest of the morning off. Appreciate it.”
Both masseurs blinked back at me, before Andre nodded. “You got it, sir.”
Grabbing towels to wipe the oil from their hands, they both quickly exited. I slid off the table, wrapping the sheet around my waist and rolling my shoulders.
Ellie cleared her throat behind me.
“What was that all about?” she asked lightly, eyes sparkling as I moved to the side of her table. She cocked a brow. “I understand asking Dr. Lovejoy to leave, but those guys were perfectly professional.”
“Professional or not, I’m not going to listen to another man make you moan,” I said, earning an audible gulp from Ellie.
“Oh,” she whispered, then her lips twitched. “So you called off the whole thing? I was really enjoying that massage.”
I nodded at the table. “Lie back down, then. I’ll give you one.”
Her brows inched higher. “… You’ll massage me?”
“Sure. Lie down.”
Ellie glanced between me and the table, before shrugging and lying back down. “Well, if you insist.”
I rubbed a drop of oil between my palms and eyed Ellie’s back, way too happy about this turn of events.
Just like cuddling, I didn’t know the first thing about massages.
But they seemed easy enough, and I placed my palms between her shoulder blades—copying the kneading motions Andre had used on my back.
Almost immediately, Ellie melted into the table with a soft sigh.
So damn responsive.
Massaging Ellie was yet another line to add to my list of terrible ideas lately.
Now with my hands on her, I couldn’t stop thinking about kissing her again.
Touching more of her. My gaze strayed to where the folded sheet just barely covered her ass, then I looked up at the ceiling and swallowed hard.
I needed a distraction from how soft her skin was, and apparently my mind was still stuck on Lovejoy’s first question.
“You said you want kids?” I asked the ceiling.
“Oh yeah.” Ellie hummed, practically melting against the table as my hands worked down her back. I pressed my thumbs along her spine, rubbing them in deliberate circles. “A whole house full. I’ve always wanted to be a mom.”
That simple sentence shouldn’t have tightened something in my chest the way it did. Maybe it was better not to talk. Better to focus on the massage and her impossibly soft skin and the slim neck I wanted to lick and bite and—
“You’re really good at this,” Ellie murmured, oblivious to where my mind had gone.
My hands flexed against her. I needed to distance myself from her neck and sweet words. “How about I get your legs, too?”
“Yes please,” she said with a happy sigh.
Another terrible idea. I’d never been a feet guy, but that changed the second I took one of hers in my hands. Rubbing Ellie’s toes and working the oil between each one was a special kind of torture.
I worked the oil up her legs with slow precision. My fingers brushed the sheet at her thighs, and I paused, resisting the temptation to inch it higher.
The sounds leaving Ellie had changed, too. Her breathing picked up, toes curling. She cleared her throat, not so oblivious anymore.
I forced myself to start back at her ankles, then went up her legs again.
The room was quiet. No therapy questions. No talking. Just Ellie’s increasingly shallow breaths and my focus on kneading her smooth, gorgeous skin.
The further I rubbed up her thighs, the tenser Ellie’s muscles grew. With each inch closer to her backside, her legs would twitch apart a little further, like an invitation. The sheet crawled up with the movement, and my thumbs pressed harder in reflex.
A soft moan spilled from Ellie’s lips, which made me instantly hard.
I started at her ankles again. With each pass of my hands up her legs, my throat grew drier. My brain felt disconnected from my body. I didn’t know how long I spent kneading the muscles in her thighs, but I itched to reach higher. To rip that damn sheet off her ass and—
“Cade,” Ellie breathed, and I froze with my fingers digging into her upper thighs. Her fingers fisted the sheet underneath her. “… Please touch me.”
The tension building in my shoulders snapped like a rubber band at the quiet thread of desperation in her voice. “Darling, I thought you’d never ask.”