“It’s nothing major,” I wince, adjusting my back and letting out a little grunt. “I just fell weird and my lower back is all twisted up.”
“Let me help. I can give you a massage. Carmen showed me a few things.”
“She did?”
He looks sheepish. “Yeah, before… We’ve hooked up a few times and she’s shown me some techniques.”
My skin crawls at the image of them together, sensually touching each other that way. Her words from that first night ring like an alarm in my brain.
Are you gonna take me home, soldier?
“Come on,” Marco adds, standing up and ignoring his food. “You’ll feel better and be able to relax. Doctor said you needed rest.”
I eye him. “She said I needed to take it easy.”
“Get on the couch, Jay,” Marco says in a curt tone and a little shiver runs down my spine. He’s already walking away, and after taking another bite, I stand up and make my way to the living room. Marco joins me from the hall holding a bottle of lotion. The same bottle of lotion I’ve used all too often to jerk off to the thought of him.
The fucking irony of this all.
“How are we supposed to do this? I can’t lay on my front.”
He considers this and looks at the couch. “Lay over the back. Put your knees on the cushions and lean over.”
I gulp and nod once, propping my knees up and leaning my stomach against the back of the couch. My back twinges as I settle in.
“Are you stable enough?”
“Yeah.”
He bunches my shirt up under my arms, then slowly lays his palms against my bare skin, skimming down my back.
Oh my god, I’m gonna die.
When he reaches my lower back, he holds his hands still. “It’s warm here. This is where you have most of your pain?” he asks, gently nudging my left side.
“Yeah. You can feel that?”
“It’s hotter where you have knots.”
“Oh.”
He lets go and pumps my jerking lotion into his palms. I listen to him warm it up between his hands then apply them to my back. His touch is firm and welcoming.
“Is this pressure okay?”
I let out a breath. “Yeah. It’s perfect.” Fuck, any touch he gives me is perfect. He digs his thumbs into my muscles, slowly dragging them across my slick skin.
“I can’t really get the leverage I need. I’m gonna kneel behind you, okay?”
“S-sure,” I stutter as he places his knee next to mine, and I can feel the warmth of his thighs against me. I clear my throat. “So, Carmen taught you this?”
“Yeah. I’ve kind of been getting into this stuff. Massage, yoga, meditation.”
“Maybe you should do this once you’re out of the Army. Have you given any more thought to that?”
“I have. And I think this next deployment will be my last.”
“Really?” I say, twisting my back to look back at him, but pain lances through my chest.
