Worth the Trouble

by Becky McGraw

  Tara, the petite Asian masseuse she had met once, stood on wide steps beside the narrow massage bed. Hovering over Ethan's naked body, her hands moved rhythmically over his muscles. Well he wasn't entirely naked. He did have a swath of white sheet gathered over his buttocks. But Rocky could see the rest of his all, muscled body glistening in the light from the three large candles sitting on the supply table at the head of the table.

  Laying face down on the table, his face was hidden inside a cushioned donut at the head of the table and his arms were spread like wings on extensions at the side. She felt like a voyeur of sorts, but was unable to stop herself from savoring the moment to let her eyes drink their fill of him.

  They roved from the mouthwatering tattoos on his muscled biceps, to the well-defined muscles of his shoulders, then clicked back down each vertebrate of his spine, until she reached the fading scar from his surgery, a permanent reminder that he had almost given his all to help someone else.

  Tara's hands glided over his body, stopping now and again to dig her fingers into his flesh focusing her attention on a particular spot. His soft sexy moans when she did that sent tingles coursing through Rocky. At a particular spot near his scar, Ethan gasped and it was all Rocky could do to stop from gasping herself.

  Lowering the sheet a little, Tara began working her thumbs over the top of his firmly muscled buttocks. A dull throb started between Rocky's legs, and she didn't realize she had been holding her breath until she became lightheaded, so she sucked in a quick breath.

  The woman was playing Ethan's body like an instrument, hitting just the right keys for maximum effect. Her ministrations were having maximum effect on Rocky as well. Watching this had heat traveling through her at warp speed heading straight south.

  With her experience limited to one wrong man, and one time with Ethan, Rocky had no idea what the right notes on a man were, or even where to start to make a man moan with pleasure like that.

  But she was paying attention.

  The desire to push Tara aside and explore Ethan's body with her own hands again was strong inside of her. When Ethan moaned louder, lust slammed into her and Rocky had to shut her eyes for a second to get control of her breathing and galloping heart.

  "Your hands are magic, Tara," he slurred, then she moved her hands to his upper thighs and began kneading. Briefly, Tara stopped to reach for a bottle on the side table. She squeezed oil into her hands, then rubbed them together.

  Slowly spreading the oil over his long legs, Tara rubbed it in starting at his upper thighs before working her way down to his calves, then his ankles. Moving up again, she stopped to massage his calves for a second, then slid her hands up the back of his thighs to start kneading again below his buttocks.

  "Can you feel this?" she asked softy as she kneaded deeply into the back of his thighs. He might not be able to, but Rocky sure could, she felt every squeeze of the woman's hand as if it were on her own body.

  "More every day, because of you," he mumbled into the cushion where his face rested.

  "Good," Tara said and Rocky saw her smile softly. "Massage is the best thing to stimulate your circulation and restore sensation to your muscles," she informed.

  Rocky was sure of one thing, what Tara was doing to him was definitely affecting her circulation and causing all kinds of sensations in her body.

  "Are you working out like you're supposed to?" Tara asked him.

  Ethan chuckled. "You think Terri is going to let me do otherwise?"

  "Your sister is trying to help you," Tara told him quietly.

  "Between her and Rocky, I'm going to be running marathons soon," he mumbled.

  "Rocky?" Tara asked curiously. "Isn't she a horse trainer?"

  Hearing her name, Rocky stopped breathing again and her hearing perked up.

  "Yeah, Terri asked her to do equine therapy with me," he said with another chuckle.

  "Interesting," Tara said moving her hands a little lower on his thighs where she punched him lightly with her small fist.

  Rocky saw his muscles tense, then he asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

  The same question that was running through her own mind.

  "Nothing...just relax." Tara told him and patted his thigh then started kneading.

  Ethan didn't respond for a long time, then he said, "I'm working hard in the gym with a new trainer, but Terri thought it would help if I worked with Rocky too." There was a note of defensiveness in his voice.

  Tara snickered then replied, "Yeah, I bet she did."

  Ethan tensed up again and Rocky watched as he pushed up on his arms and twisted his body to look at Tara. Rocky quickly pulled her hand away from the curtain, and almost squeaked when she saw it sway, before it settled back into place.

  "If you have something you want to say, say it," Ethan told Tara a little gruffly.

  "Forget it, I didn't mean anything. Now, relax so I can finish," Rocky heard her say with a short laugh. "Just suffice it to say your sister has your best interests in mind, but the way she goes about things is a little unusual."

  Ethan huffed out a breath, and Rocky figured he must've complied, because she didn't hear anything else. Unable to help herself, she leaned forward again and pushed the curtain aside to look at him again.

  The door opened behind her and Rocky gasped then spun around guiltily.

  Terri walked inside with towels stacked in her arms. Their eyes met and a puzzled look came over her face, then she lifted an eyebrow and it was comical when she realized what Rocky had been doing.

  Heat surged up Rocky's neck and set her face on fire. Desperately, she tossed around a few lies in her mind to explain what she was doing. Nothing sounded right to her, so she settled for the truth. "I came to find you, I have a favor to ask," she squeaked then added quickly to explain her presence outside of the massage room, "And I wanted to tell Ethan something."

  "Oh yeah?" Terri said in a sing song voice as if she didn't believe a word of it and knew exactly what Rocky had been doing. She walked to the curtain and pushed it aside. "Looks like you found me, just give me a sec," she said with a wide grin and a wink, then went inside the room. "I brought you some more towels Tara."

  Walking over to the table at the head of the massage bed, Terri knelt to put the towels into the warming cabinet, then spoke to Ethan. "Baby brother, I think Rocky is looking for you."

  Looking at you, is what that came out sounding like, which is exactly what Rocky had been doing. When Ethan turned over on the table to prop up on his elbows and stare at her, the sheet slid off so that it just barely covered his hips. Rocky's mouth went dry and other parts of her moistened. His green eyes met hers and sparkled devilishly in the candlelight.

  Mouth flapping a few times, she wrestled with her tongue, until she finally said in a squeaky high-pitched voice, "I came to tell you I think Leigh Ann will be leaving in a few days, so we can start your riding lessons then," like she hadn't just told him that less than two hours ago. Terri didn't know that though, and she hoped Ethan wouldn't point it out.

  He didn't, but his pleased-as-punch smirk turned into a sexy knowing grin.

  Ethan put his hands behind his head to rest on them, making no effort to cover himself when the sheet slipped even farther down, exposing more of his oil-slicked skin to her view. Muscles flexed rock hard then, tattoos stretched and desire shot through Rocky like a ricocheting bullet. Her mind went into overdrive as she imagined how good it would feel to slide her body against his with all that oil on him.

  It was obvious this man knew exactly what he was doing to her too, they probably all knew it. Heart lurching in her chest, in a low voice she didn't even recognize as her own, Rocky said, "Terri, I'll be out at the barn when you have a few minutes to talk."

  More embarrassed than she'd ever been in her life, Rocky spun on her heel and power walked out of the spa. She was going back to the barn where she belonged, and she was staying there. If and when Ethan wanted a riding lesson, the arrogant man could come and find
her.

  "How long was she out there?" Ethan asked Terri who looked like she was holding back laughter.

  "I have no idea, but she wasn't just listening," Terri informed him and put her tongue in her cheek. "What's this about riding lessons?" she asked.

  Ethan stretched then sat up on the table and pulled the sheet across his lap, but didn't respond. He wasn't getting into an argument with Terri, and that's where he was afraid he'd wind up if he told her what he planned.

  "Ethan Wayne Cassidy, you better tell me what you're up to," Terri said and put her hand on her hip, looking a lot like his mother when she wasn't about to let go of the bone she'd found. The use of his middle name was also a maternal clue he'd better come clean.

  Evidently Tara picked up on the tension flowing in the room, because after casting him a sympathetic look on the way out the door, she disappeared into the dimly lit outer room.

  Ethan huffed out a breath and shrugged. "I'm joining an equine search and rescue team. The vet that Rocky went out with the other night invited her to join the group and I want to join too," he told her.

  "So you're going to kill yourself because you're jealous?" Terri asked incredulously.

  "I'm not going to kill myself, and I'm not joining because I'm jealous...I need this, Terri," Ethan replied defensively.

  Guilt took wings inside his chest seeing her twisted lips and narrowed her eyes. How many times had he told both Terri and his mother the same in the past, and yet here he sat half-paralyzed, because of the stupid chances he'd taken with his life. But Ethan had learned some hard life lessons from this experience, like how precious it was and not to take it for granted anymore.

  Wiggling his toes, Ethan looked down at them. Half-paralyzed meant he was making progress though. Feeling was coming back in his legs in hit-and-miss spurts, but it exciting nonetheless. The workouts and massages had been helping, especially since he'd ramped them up now, and was putting in more effort.

  As much as he hated admitting Terri was right, he did want to get back on his feet, no matter if he ever got back to the level of mobility he was before the accident. Being in that damned wheelchair for two months had about killed him. Staying there would have killed him, mentally at least, if she hadn't cared enough to come after him and drag him here.

  "How many times have I heard that? Have you forgotten you can't even walk? I was talking about you riding slowly in an enclosed area for exercise, not traipsing through the woods looking for adventure with a search and rescue team," she told him, then added, waving her hands for emphasis, "Trust me when I tell you trail riding is not for the faint of heart." Terri huffed out a frustrated sigh then finished with, "You don't even know how to ride a horse! Have you ever even been on a horse?"

  His sister was more worked up than he'd seen her in a long time, and cute as hell.

  "Nope," he told her with a big grin. "I'm going to double up in the gym and work harder, so get that new trainer you hired jacked up to torture me, and I am going to learn to ride. Rocky is going to teach me."

  "If she lets you off with that stunt you just pulled she might. Otherwise, you might be learning on the horse I learned on. If she says 'meet Cason' and tries to put you on a horse the size of a Chevy, run, don't walk your ass out of that barn. Roxanne Baker is not a woman to be trifled with, I'm warning you."

  "What stunt?" he asked batting his eyes innocently.

  "Embarrassing her by showing off. I saw what you did."

  "She wanted a good look, I just gave her one," Ethan replied with a laugh.

  "And she's going to pay you back, have no doubt...just be ready."

  "I can handle her," he told Terri confidently.

  He wanted to handle Roxanne Baker all right, he wanted his hands all over that beautiful body of hers. He wanted to run them over her long smooth legs, her pert breasts, and he wanted to explore that cherry-flavored mouth of hers again. And he would.

  Whether her mama liked it or not, whether the damned vet who evidently had the hots for her liked it or not, Ethan was going to have Roxanne Baker again. Since she'd basically been caught red handed playing Peeping Thomasina outside the massage room door, he had hope that might be exactly where she wanted to be.

  She had put the quietus on that for now though. To get her to stay with the program and teach him to ride, to get the vet to let him on the team, he knew he was going to have to keep his hands off of her somehow. That didn't mean he couldn't make her want his hands on her though.

  Kissing her, making love to her again, was secondary to learning to ride a damned horse, however. Learning to ride was his ticket to making himself useful again, and protecting her while she did something she was not trained to do. Her joining that search and rescue team with no training was just ridiculous. It could get her hurt...even if she rode a damned horse like a centaur, and shot a gun like Annie Oakley.

  Sometimes those operations involved tracking bad people who also had guns. People who would have no qualms about shooting or hurting her to get away. She could get lost in the damned woods herself, without survival skills or knowledge of how to find her way back to civilization. Any number of nightmare scenarios had replayed like a broken record in his mind since she told him what she planned.

  That meant he was going to double up in the gym and get his legs back under him, while learning to ride a damned horse at the same time. A daunting task, but doable if he was committed. And he was. Ethan was all in now to make it happen.

  "Can you order me some crutches?" he asked Terri suddenly. If he wanted to get back on his feet, he needed to stay on them, build his muscles up and get his balance back.

  Surprise flickered over her face, but she told him. "I have some in the first aid shack. I ordered them and a cane when I ordered the walker. I just didn't think you were ready for that yet."

  "Oh, I'm ready. That damned walker makes me feel like an old man, and if I have to sit in that chair one more day I'll go nuts. Can you get the crutches for me?"

  "Damn right, I can," she said and let out a squeal that hurt his ears. Ethan flinched when she ran over to him and flung her arms around his waist. "Welcome back to the land of the living, baby brother."

  He hugged her to him. "I'm not there yet, sis, but I'm halfway there because of you. Thank you for pushing me."

  "You're welcome," she mumbled against his chest then pushed back and pointed her finger at him. "Don't go out there and hurt yourself!"

  "I won't, I promise. You said equine therapy is supposed to be good for the handicapped," he reminded her with a grin. This was different he knew, but it was also more in line with what Ethan was used to doing. Excitement bubbled inside his chest and he would have danced around the room if he could.

  "The only thing handicapping you is your lack of a sense of self preservation."

  "Rocky will take care of me," he assured her.

  "Oh, Rocky is gonna take care of you all right," Terri told him then shook her head and warned. "I'm telling you she's like a rattlesnake when she's mad, be careful, Ethan."

  "Her bite can't be any worse than yours. If you didn't like her, you wouldn't have worked so hard to throw her at me."

  Terri's eyebrows lifted over her green eyes and her face flushed. "I didn't do that, I needed her help with your therapy," she told him sounding far from convincing.

  "Bullshit, sis. You thought you'd play cupid and that was your way to hook us up. I can handle my own love life, so butt out," he told her gruffly then added. "I already think she's pretty special though and I've got this...trust me, okay?"

  "Okay...but don't go out there to that barn for a little while, unless you have a death wish."

  "Just get me the crutches," he said then slid off the massage bed to his feet, holding onto the table for support. It felt damned good to be vertical again, even if it wasn't under full power. "Hand me that back brace, so I can put it on."

  That piece of hardware he would probably be stuck with for a while longer. Being jostled around on a horse,
he was going to need it, and probably a bottle of painkillers. For the last two days, he hadn't taken any. He was done with being hazy and the damned things made him sluggish.

  "I need some ibuprofen too, please," he said to Terri on her way out the door.

  "You're gonna need a lot more than that. I'll bring you some Epson Salts and the special horse liniment that Jarvis cooks up in the chuck wagon for the trail drives. Your ass is gonna be on fire."

  CHAPTER SIX

  "Leigh Ann!" Rocky yelled when she stomped through the front door and slammed it behind her. What happened just now at the spa was all her sister's fault. If she wasn't here, then Rocky wouldn't have been up at the spa looking for Terri in the first place. And she wouldn't have made a fool of herself by ogling Ethan...or getting caught doing it.

  She wasn't going to ask Terri to let her sister stay at the big house, she was telling Leigh Ann she needed to leave, now. This would only be the beginning of the drama that always followed her sister, and Rocky didn't want any part of it.

  Cupping her hands around her mouth, she yelled her name again.

  The door opened behind her, she spun around and Terri stood there. "You wanted to talk to me about something?" Terri asked with a half smile.

  "Um, yeah, but I don't think I need to ask now," Rocky replied feeling her face heat.

  Terri walked farther inside then went over to the sofa to sit down nonchalantly as if she hadn't just caught Rocky spying on her brother.

  "You sure seemed hot on finding me a few minutes ago, so I thought it must be important," Terri said smugly with a laugh in her voice, then she sniffed a couple times and added, "Wow, it sure smells rank in this place, you might want to check around for dead mice."

  "Skunk," Rocky clarified walking over to the bank of windows at the front of the room. "My sister got sprayed last night and the smell hasn't cleared out. I'll open the windows."

  "Your sister is here? That might explain this then," she said with a snort then held up a hot pink thong.