“Good afternoon,” the girl practically whispers. “Are you checking in for a service?”
“Yes, couple’s massage at four under the name Landry,” Damon says, flashing me a small smile. His silver Omega watch catches the light as he fishes his credit card out of his wallet and passes it to the girl.
She swipes it and hands it back, attached to a clipboard with some paperwork on it.
“And this one is for you,” she says, handing another clipboard to me. “If you’ll please fill out the first page front and back, and then just sign at the bottom of the second page. Be sure to highlight any problem areas you’d like your masseuse to focus on, and of course, you can always ask them to adjust thepressure once you’re back there, but the scale on the right will let them know where to start.”
We take the clipboards and our seats. I feel like I’m back in middle school, trying to cheat off Damon’s science test.
“What’d you put for pressure?” I ask, leaning over to look at his paper.
“I went with a five. I actually like to relax during my massages,” he answers.
“What’s a five?”
“You know, like, medium.”
“Show me,” I demand, holding my forearm out.
He squeezes me with what he considers moderate pressure, and I barely feel it. Going back to my form, I circle eight.
A few minutes after we finish, a young man and woman dressed in black scrubs come through a door off to the side of the check-in desk.
“I’m Rafael,” the man says. “Which one of you is Damon?”
Damon raises his hand, looking a little too excited about this, because Rafael looks like he just stepped out of someone’s Italian wet dream. His voice is higher-pitched, his hair is obsidian perfection, and his naturally bronze skin is undoubtedly the envy of everyone up here in the winter. I bite the inside of my cheek as I notice the rainbow-colored bracelet tied to his left wrist.
“Looks like you’re with me, then,” the woman with him smiles, holding out her hand to shake mine. “I’m Eloise. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Uh, yeah. You too.” I fumble through my words, too busy watching Rafael eye-fuck my boyfriend to give an appropriate response.
Knowing I won’t be able to relax while Fabio’s fucking hands are on Damon’s bare skin, I reach over, grab Damon by the backof his neck, and haul his mouth to mine in a kiss that’s sure to leave a mark.
“Enjoy your massage, baby.” Looking at Rafael, I lower my voice. “Neck, back, arms, and legs only. You got me?”
Rafael licks his lips and stares me down like he’s trying to figure out if he wants to yell at me for suggesting he would be anything other than professional, or if he likes the possessive display in front of him.
In the end, he chooses humor. Giving a nonchalant shrug, he looks me up and down from head to toe.
“The consequences for stepping out of bounds look just as appealing as committing the crime, big boy.”
Damon barks out a laugh, and the sound echoes loudly in the quiet space.
Grabbing my hand, he says, “Hey, Li. We’re getting a couple’s massage. We’re going to be in the same room. Nobody’s getting inappropriately groped today, okay?”
“The same room?” I ask, repeating his words in case I misheard.
“Same room,” he confirms.
Feeling a little foolish, I use two fingers to point between my eyes and Rafael’s with a grin on my face. “I’ll be watching you.” My tone is light as I try to walk back my act of possessive dominance.
Rafael laughs. “My guess is Eloise will have you so dead to the world that you won’t even remember we’re there.”
“We’ll see about that,” I mutter.
“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Eloise says, looking over the paperwork on my clipboard.
I may have overestimatedmyself or underestimated the power of an eight on that stupid scale, but after that ridiculous stunt I pulled, no fucking way am I backing down now. For such a small person, Eloise’s grip is that of a Scottish strongman. But I need Rafael to know I can handle this…that I can handlehimif he gets a little too comfortable with Damon over there.
