A grin burst across her face that Cam could only describe as diabolical. “Oh, darlin’, just you wait!”
In five minutes, Cam found himself in a room, stripped down to his boxers and lying under a thin sheet on a flat table with his face in a padded donut, wondering about his life choices. Soft music played in the background, and the air had a clean, fresh smell to it.
Sabrina had stepped out for him to get undressed and settled. She knocked softly before coming back in. “Are you ready?” she asked.
Cam noted an amused tone in her voice and became wary. “Yeah?”
At first, he expected her to just rub his back with some oily stuff. He changed his mind quickly when her elbow dug into his left butt cheek.
“Shit!” The word exploded from him before he could stop it.
“Lower back problems stem from your glutes being too tight. I bet your psoas muscle is also a factor.”
“So-Ass?” Cam bit out as tears gathered in his eyes.
“Cuss if you want to. It’s pronounced ‘so-az,’and it’s related to the hip flexors. I know this is tough and hurts. You have some really crunchy spots here, so please tell me if it’s too much. I can ease off a bit. And a word to the wise? Relax your sphincter.”
Cam’s attention flew from the pain in his rear to her words. “What? Did you just tell me to relax my butthole?”
She laughed. “Absolutely, sugar. If you loosen that muscle, it will reduce your overall tension and make this massage easier and more effective. Try it. You’ll see.”
“I’m doubting your intentions.”
She laughed again but kept up the pressure on his butt cheek. “I’m a professional. I promise, nothing I do is meant to hurt you, and there are no ulterior motives. You can trust me.”
Cam took a breath. “Okay. I’ll… um… do my best.”
Jeez, how many times had he talked about his butthole with a woman? Up until now, zero.
The pressure she applied was steady, and the muscle gradually released. “I like your ink.”
Cam’s back tensed at her compliment. He hadn’t thought about what she might find on his back. Most people didn’t notice beneath the elaborate tattoo. He hoped she wouldn’t either. “Thanks.”
The tattoo was a black-and-gray clockface with interlocking gears on the inside and hands that were permanently pointed at four forty. A set of forging hammers crossed over either side of the clock and appeared to be breaking it open. The scripted phrase across his shoulders read “Forget the past. Start over. Every day.”
“That’s a very specific time. Why did you choose it?”
He hesitated before saying, “It’s when I was born.” He hoped she picked up on his reluctance to talk. The short answer seemed to work.
She moved from spot to spot, finding trigger points and working them. Cam did his best to keep from tensing up and fighting her. It was hard.
Speaking of hard….
“Tell me about Ernie.” He had to keep her talking, more to keep himself distracted than her.
Her breath intake was sharp but didn’t sound angry.
“That’s kind of a long story. You sure you want to hear it?”
“Yeah.” He was genuinely curious about the pretty woman.
She moved to the other side of the table and worked his right butt cheek the same way. His concentration moved from his burgeoning dick to the pain, though he could admit that the left one was a lot looser now.
“I barely remember when my mom and dad were together. She was there, and then she wasn’t. For most of my childhood, she would show up whenever she felt like it, stay for a few days, sometimes a few weeks, then disappear again. Ernie didn’t divorce her until after I turned eighteen, I guess to see if she’d eventually settle down and be an actual mom to me. But I always wondered how he could stay married to someone who didn’t stick around for any length of time.”
She shifted to his lower back and spine, pressing her fingers into the tendons just above his butt crack. He bit back a curse and tensed for a moment but forced himself to let it go as he listened to her story.
“I grew up with Ernie and my stepbrother, Rodrigo, Ernie’s first wife’s son. Ernie adopted him, so legally he’s my older brother, but he’s never really considered me to be his sister, even though we grew up together after his mom passed away.”
