6. Dominic
There was no denying the woman was beautiful. Almost otherworldly so. Her deep bluish-green eyes spoke of depths to rival the ocean’s, and streaks of red and gold flashed in her dark brown hair as the morning sun caressed each strand.
But it wasn’t the masseuse’s beauty that had captured my interest when I saw her staring out the window. That wasn’t the only thing, at any rate.
No, the calming sensation that washed over me the moment I entered the room was like nothing I’d experienced before. The feeling piqued my interest, enticing me to explore that sensation more.
The pink flush that swept over her face after seeing my naked body branded itself behind my closed eyelids, and I grinned against the massage table’s face cushion. My amusement of her innocent reactions stirred the dragon within me awake, and my interest in her doubled as Jou’s curiosity mixed with mine.
The distinct sound of slick oil rubbing between hands drifted closer as Marissa moved to stand at the head of the table. Her once white sneakers were covered in a layer of filth and?—
Fuck me.
I sucked in a breath as her palms touched my shoulders, and a surge of cool energy caressed my skin. Since our kind ran hot, my dragon rumbled his appreciation.
Her hands stilled. “Is everything okay?”
Fearing she’d remove her hands, I nodded and cleared my throat. “Just cooler than I expected.”
That was quite an understatement.
“Sorry,” she said quietly. “It’ll warm up as I go.”
As she resumed the massage and pressed the heel of her palms into my muscles, her touch sent wave after wave of ocean breezes and deep waters over my skin. The more she touched me, the more I drowned in the sensations, and my eyelids fluttered shut.
I had loved the ocean as a child and begged my father to take me to the Delaware beaches every summer. The waves there were as familiar to me as the man’s face—one I made sure to never forget—and this woman’s touch brought those memories rushing toward the surface with sparkling clarity.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Marissa’s soft voice slipped between the cracks of my consciousness, “why choose someone from a massage school? Considering your obvious success in life, I mean. You can afford the best.”
With great difficulty, I pried my eyes open and focused on the lines of the floor. “That’s quite the assumption.”
Her hands paused on my arm. “Okay, but it’s an accurate assumption.”
I chuckled. Sassy, and I liked it. “Despite what you see, I know what it’s like to start at the bottom. Someone helped me, and now I like to pay the favor forward.”
While it was true that Ichiro Sato had taken me in after my father’s death, that didn’t mean my grandfather had made it easy. Even though the old man owned most of the city’s underground dealings, I had to work for what I had just like anyone else.
Well, maybe not just like anyone else. Most people didn’t have to break bones and spill blood to succeed in life. Not literally, anyway.
Satisfied with my answer, the pressure of her touch resumed. “Huh.”
That certainly wasn’t what I’d expected a woman in her shoes to say. Generous, maybe. Altruistic. Even chivalrous. “Huh?”
“It’s just interesting.”
That was more like it. “How’s that?”
“Not many in your position would do the same.”
“I presume most in my current position are too relaxed to think clearly,” I said with a teasing note. “Your touch is remarkable.”
Once again, her hands stilled, the pressure lightening. “You know what I mean.”
Not even a bashful thanks for the compliment? I must have been losing my touch. “Many wealthy people in this city didn’t start at the bottom like you and me. It’s hard to appreciate the climb if you’ve never had to make it.”
She didn’t respond, but thankfully, she didn’t remove her hands either. Her cool touch continued to ease the tenseness in my muscles and mind, and Jou soon drifted back to sleep, rumbling softly.
Once again, I floated in and out of memories, contentment seeping into every pore as I lost myself in her touch. The sensations pulsed through me like gentle waves, continuing between my legs, where I felt myself stiffening.
This wasn’t the only time I’d grown hard during a massage, but it took me a few moments of focus to realize she wasn’t doing a very good job at the massage part. Not even for a student.
“How long have you been training to become a masseuse?” I asked as she moved down my arm.
“A few months.”
So, either she was a terrible student or lying about how long she’d been training. Not that it mattered at this point.
She reached my hands, and an electric shock ran up to my shoulder. It wasn’t painful, at least not in my arm. But my cock stiffened to painful proportions.
What the hell was she doing to me?
Warm air kissed my skin as she pulled her hands away, and I wondered if she could tell I was so aroused. The sound of slick oil between her hands came again. An image flashed through my mind—one of her naked and rubbing oil over my body before I made her come in a very different way.
I didn’t usually have this kind of reaction toward women, not since I was a teenager unable to control myself. Beautiful women came and went from my life like fashionable clothes. Sometimes they suited me nicely for a while before their vibrancy faded or fell out of style.
Keeping them at arm’s length was the easiest way to maintain my fa?ade as a womanizer. If I ever hoped to convince Ichiro I was the right man to take over the Sato empire, I needed to keep my true intentions hidden. I couldn’t let emotions interfere with my plans.
And that meant living a lie for the better part of a decade.
Coolness returned to my skin as Marissa’s thumbs rubbed down my leg. A sharp pain shot through my calf, and sparks raced up my leg. I grunted as my muscles seized.
An emptiness filled my entire being as she snatched her hands away. “Oh! I’m so sorry.”
Laughing, I flexed my foot to release the cramp. “Not your fault. I forgot to warn you it tends to do that.”
“Your leg randomly goes hard as a rock?” she asked as she gently rubbed my calf.
It wasn’t the only thing hard as a rock right now. “It’s from an old injury.”
“From Subliminal?”
My body stilled as a primal instinct took over, preparing to fight. How did this woman know about Subliminal? The gym was strictly for the Gifted.
Was this massage a setup?
Was Ichiro finally trying to put the Sato bastard down?
“Subliminal?” I asked.
The masseuse’s hands paused. “Er, sorry. Was I not supposed to know that? I just—it’s just that I recognized your tattoo from when you used to fight.”
While I remained on edge, some of the tension eased from my body. Enough to encourage her to continue the massage. “You’re a member?”
“Uh, not anymore.”
Of all the things I expected from this curious creature, it wasn’t an interest in boxing. “Small world.”
Her laugh caught me off guard, cooling my body from the inside out in a tantalizing way. “That’s for sure. I won’t say anything, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“It’s not. The NDA you signed covers that.”
“Oh, right. Duh.” She slid her hands up to the top of the sheet and held it ever so slightly away from my body. “You can flip over now.”
Turning over, I was grateful for the chance to study the exquisite details of her face.
She lowered the sheet and tucked it in around my body. As she did, the sheet tented above my erection. Her gaze flicked to it and a red flush overtook her cheeks and neck before she looked away again.
I couldn’t gauge whether her reaction was due to inexperience or innocence. “Lying here naked makes one rather vulnerable, doesn’t it?”
She cleared her throat and pumped more oil into her palms. “Like you said, nothing I haven’t seen before. No need to be embarrassed.”
Amusement curled my lips into a smirk. “Do I look embarrassed to you?”
Her seafoam gaze met mine, and I nearly drowned in those depths. She studied me for a heartbeat before saying, “No.”
The remainder of the massage passed in comfortable silence, punctuated only by the occasional awkward fumble as her inexperienced hands worked over my muscles. Despite those moments, my body slowly melted into the table.
It was the best and worst massage I’d ever had, and it was over much too soon.
“Time’s up,” her melodic voice roused me.
As Marissa moved away, wiping any remaining oil from her hands on a clean cloth, I sat up and watched her work. There was something magical about the way she moved. Considering she knew who I was and was also a Subliminal member, that meant she was Gifted as well.
I just couldn’t tell what she was.
“That was incredible,” I said genuinely. “Do you use your Gifts?”
She continued to pack up her things with her back facing me, but her shoulders tensed. “No. That was just a regular, plain old massage.”
“Could have fooled me.” I slid off the massage table, dropping the sheet and pulling on my sweats. I knew she would be more prepared this time, but I’d half-hoped she would catch me naked again, only from the front. See what her touch did to me.
“Be sure to let the school know you were satisfied when you get the feedback form,” Marissa said over her shoulder.
Far from satisfied, I was just tying the string of my pants when she turned to face me. Her gaze slid down the front of my body and snagged on the hard length straining against the fabric. Her throat bobbed as she gulped.
“I need…uh, to get the table,” she stammered, her gaze flicking behind me.
I didn’t move. “Sure thing.”
She hesitated another moment before stepping around me, angling her body in a way that made it clear she didn’t want to touch me. The only question was whether she was afraid of offending me or that she’d like it. Likely the latter.
Turning to watch her pack up the table, I enjoyed the way the muscles along her toned arms and legs flexed and moved. Her boxing hobby was more obvious now.
She slung the table’s bag over her shoulder, then reached for her supplies. “Did you know there was a Gifted masseuse at the school?”
“No, that was purely coincidental.” But now that I’d met her, I would request her services every time. Just not because of her Gifted nature.
She glanced at the bedroom door. “Okay, well, um, bye.”
Usually, I would head straight for the shower after a massage. But as Marissa left the room, I found myself following her. The words were out of my mouth before I’d even processed the thought. “How about a date?”
The question must have surprised us both. Her body tensed slightly but she didn’t answer until she reached the elevator and pushed the button. “That would be a hard nope.”
“Why?”
She shrugged and then had to catch the strap before the giant bag fell off her shoulder. “I don’t date clients.”
The elevator door slid open and she stepped inside.
“Don’t consider me a client then.”
She pushed the lobby button. “No can do, I’m afraid. School rules, you know?”
The dragon inside me rolled over lazily and chuckled. We both knew there was no such rule, which meant…
Was she saying no to a date with Dominic Sato?
As the doors started to close, her lips curled into a smile that set my pulse racing. She fluttered her fingers in a wave. “Toodles.”
She disappeared as the doors slid shut.
I stared at the elevator, stunned. This masseuse was very different from any others I’d flirted with in the past. It was as if she had woven some kind of spell around me, making me question everything I thought I knew about myself.
And then she’d turned me down.
Shaking my head, I forced myself to move away from the elevator and concentrate on the matters at hand. Getting sidetracked by a pretty face would only jeopardize my chances of gaining Ichiro’s approval, if such a thing was possible in the first place.
And yet as I walked back toward my bedroom, the lingering scent of jasmine and salt-filled breezes followed, teasing my senses and kindling the curiosity within me. I’d always been confident with women, but something about this one made me feel uncertain, vulnerable even.
No, with so much at stake, I couldn’t allow distractions. I ran a hand through my hair, pushing thoughts of Marissa to the back of my mind and vowing to focus on what truly mattered—securing my future role as head of the Sato empire.