by Mika Lane
She waited for a moment, while her eyes adjusted to the low light.
Whoa is right.
The man before Gaia pleased her, with his broad pecs and ripped stomach. His hair was askew from lying down, a couple flecks of silver hiding in the glossy black mop that pointed in every direction. But oh, his face—it was a face that had been adoringly crafted by kind, if not perfect, genetics. Chiseled cheekbones rose to a set of piercing blue eyes, and just below, a slightly crooked—but devastatingly fine—nose. Thankfully, the bearded scruff on his unshaved faced only partially obscured the delicious little cleft in his chin.
Biting the corner of her lip, she stared.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his forehead creased.
Busted.
“Yes! Sorry. I’m fine.” She whirled around to the supply cabinet for her oils and lotions—and to regain her composure. Without turning back to him, she added, “I was just thinking you look like someone I know. I mean, someone I knew.”
She took a deep breath, her poise returning to its rightful place, and faced him with a smile. She extended her hand.“Mr. H, I’m Gaia. Nice to meet you.”
The furrow on his brow disappeared, and a dazzling smile surfaced.
He took her hand, and a tingle shot up her arm. Her nipples immediately hardened, poking into the fabric of her white robe. As a redhead, and as fair as they came, a blushing face was always just moments away.
She spoke quickly. “Why don’t we start on your back, Mr. H?” She demonstrated with her hands. As if he didn’t know how to flip over.
“Sure, why not?” He turned, settling his gorgeous head and messy hair into the table’s face cradle. His rapid movement caused the white sheet covering him to shift. It slithered to the floor in a sort of slow motion. She found herself immobilized as she stared at a mountain of muscular ass.
She scooped the sheet off the floor and returned it to his backside, covering him from foot to neck. Her hands rested on him, the sheet precluding skin-on-skin contact. For the moment, anyway.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the oils fragrancing the room. When she opened them, her gaze was caught by the dance of candlelight up the walls and across the ceiling.
“Shall we begin, Mr. H?”
“Mmmm-hmmm.” His approval was muffled but clear at the same time.
She swept her hands along the length of his back from just above his ass, up to his neck, for a warm up. When his breathing fell into her rhythm, she ran her fingers through his hair and lightly scratched his scalp. He moaned quietly and pushed his head back against her fingers to increase their pressure.
Leaving him covered with the sheet, she ran her hands down over the mounds of his ass, past his hard calves to his feet. He jumped.
“Mr. H, are you okay?”
“Mmmm,” he mumbled from the face cradle. “Just a bit ticklish there.” He squirmed on the table, most likely to rearrange his privates, and settled back in.
Her hands slid to his shoulders, pulling back the sheet. Pouring warm oil into her hands, she began to knead the sides of his tight neck, pressing deeply with her knuckles. He twitched.
“What do you do all day that has your neck so tight?”
He lifted his head from the cradle, just enough to speak. “I’m hunched over a computer for hours at a time. It’s bad.”
“Yes. But you seem healthy. And strong.” Her gaze wandered back over his epic ass. Thank goodness he was lying facedown.
“Mmmm,” he murmured again. “Thank you.”
She peeled the sheet to his lower back, just to the crack of that marvelous ass, and slid her oiled hands over his flawless, golden skin. Pressing into the knots at his shoulders caused him to twitch again, but she persisted—knowing that the pain would soon turn to pleasure.
Next, she zeroed in on his lower back. His ass rose a bit as he reached down to shuffle himself again. She had him both relaxed and turned on.
She pulled the sheet lower, her fingers itching to cover him in more oil. Magnificent.
She re-coated her hands with the warm emollient and ran her flat palms lightly over the highest points of his ass cheeks. Beneath her touch, he shivered from the tease. His flesh exploded into goosebumps. Gaia was left with her own shivers, as a zing of electricity shot straight to her sex.
She kneaded the muscular prominence she’d been dying to touch, and Mr. H rocked below her to vary the pressure on his sex. She pressed into his gluteal muscles, not backing off until he moaned in discomfort.
“Mr. H, why don’t you flip over now?”
Before she could rearrange the sheet to give him some privacy, he flipped to his back. The sheet fell again.
As he settled into a comfortable position, his very erect cock bounced from his leg back up to his belly button. Gaia bit her lip. Actually, it extended beyond his belly button and then came to a resting position standing up straight.
Holy shit.
Damn if Mr. H’s sex wasn’t a specimen of perfection. All smooth and golden, there was a delicious-looking smear of pre-cum on its tip. Below, at the base, his testicles dropped back between his legs. It was all framed by a perfect triangle of tightly curled hair that ran in a thin line right up to his belly button.
A bead of perspiration collected at Gaia’s hairline while her client propped his head on his hands to watch her, wearing that smile again.
“May I, Mr. H?” she asked, nodding at his straining erection.
“Be my guest, Gaia.”
Her knees shook as she reached for his stiff cock. Something about this man unhinged her, and his assured sensuality made her heart pound and head spin. She ran her shaky fingers through his curly pubic hair, making circles around the base of his cock. When she reached his sensitive flesh, a small moan escaped his lips. The throbbing in her own sex intensified. She leaned more deeply into him not only for his massage, but also to keep her balance.
Her fingers grazed the sides of his erection. Checking for his reaction, she caught his dark gaze blazing into hers, his lips parting as his breathing rasped. Brushing over the ridge of his cock, she ran a fingertip around the head, scooping a drop of his pre-cum onto the pad of her finger. Without breaking their stare, she brought her finger to her mouth and savored his salty tang.
“Shit.” He groaned as he watched her. “Holy shit.”
Propping himself onto his elbows, he motioned for her to move closer. Placing his hand on the tie belt holding her robe closed, he cocked his head and looked at her. “May I, Gaia?”
“Yes,” she breathed, the fingers of one hand continuing to tease his excited cock.
With a flick of his wrist, he pulled the bow on her belt until the long strip of fabric fell to her sides. Her kimono drifted open, revealing sheer lace panties and the inner swell of her bare breasts. He hissed between pursed lips. His fingers ran along the open threshold of her robe with a touch as light as a feather, as if to savor the feel of the high-quality cotton. He looked up at her again, and with their gazes locked, his thumb and forefinger pinched the fabric enough to draw it farther aside. He wore a slight smile as he found her exposed nipple, pink and tight from excitement.
Slowly, so very slowly, his hand wandered until it reached her exposed breast. His fingertips grazed her skin just lightly enough to leave a wake of goosebumps in their track.
He ran his finger along the mound of her breast in a spiral pattern, until he reached her aching nipple. As he did, he rubbed her hard point with his coarse palm. Her mouth fell open, the pleasing shock radiating straight to her wet pussy, intensifying the throb already there.
“Gaia?”
“Yes, Mr. H?”
“I want to come on your tits.”
Her knees shook at his demanding words. She’d not let herself feel this turned on with a man in…well, in a long time. She’d saved those moments for when she was alone. Like in the dressing room at Kiki’s.
With more oil in her hand, she encircled his cock with a firm grip, her fin
gers barely able to reach around its circumference. Her stroke spread the lubricant. When her movement increased in speed, he groaned.
With her other hand, she reached between his legs to gently grip his balls. The slightest tug had his entire body shaking, and he threw his head back.
That is one fucking beautiful man.
She didn’t think it possible, but his cock grew even harder, and his pre-cum mixed with the massage oil as her hand pistoned wildly.
“Oh, fuck yeah,” he moaned. “I’m gonna come.”
As he did, Gaia held his cock against her breasts to catch his streams of cum. Hot, white ribbons of his fluid quickly covered her, and she used the head of his cock to spread it around her hard nipples.
“Look at those gorgeous tits with my cum all over them,” he gasped.
She nearly came herself, standing right here, covered by this man’s seed. She continued to pump him, drawing out his orgasm, leaving him in mini-convulsions.
As his shaking lessened, he collapsed from his elbows onto his back, fists banging on the table, head rolling side to side.
With a shudder, he slipped her hand from his cock, perhaps because he’d reached his peak of sensitivity. She took a warm towel to begin her clean up, which he took to wipe her coated breasts.
“You don’t have to do that,” she said.
He continued his slow cleaning. “I know. I want to.”
Well.
He then turned the towel on himself.
“My god, that was hot,” he said. “Thank you.”
“Thank you, Mr. H. I agree, it was hot.”
If he only knew…
“Gaia, I’d like to take you to dinner.”
Hmmm. This was normally when she summoned a pretend rule about not dating clients. Except that it wasn’t a rule, just something the girls hid behind, as needed. But Mr. H was different somehow. She couldn’t explain it. He just was.
After all, it had been two years…
This wasn’t dishonoring Dan’s memory, was it?
She gave him a smile.
There was just something about him…
“Can I get back to you, Mr. H?”
“Sure. Here’s my card. And call me Luke. Luke Hall.”
“Okay, Luke Hall.”
Chapter 4
Gaia tugged on the bulky front door to Left Bank, the French-inspired bistro favored by all the Devi’s girls. She was immediately comforted by the pungent scent of moules frites, the garlicky mussels and fries she adored. And ate far too often.
Jake, the bartender, waved to Gaia as she grabbed a stool at the bar. He performed the universal “want a drink?” hand signal—the old raise an invisible glass to the lips move.
She nodded an enthusiastic yes, and he reached into the cooler for her favorite prosecco.
“You know me so well.” Gaia laughed as he arrived to pour bubbly into a flute.
He set the bottle on the bar and leaned onto his hands.“How’ve you been?”
People had been asking her that for the two years that Dan had been gone. And how could she possibly answer? Did they really want to know that she sometimes had such pain in her chest she couldn’t stand upright? That panic attacks left her gasping for air? That she’d give anything in the world to have just five more minutes with him?
That if she’d known how painful losing Dan would be that she might never have married him in the first place?
But still. It was kind of him to ask. Very kind. He couldn’t know what it was like. Hopefully, he’d never have to.
“I’m all right, Jake. Thank you for asking.”
“Glad to hear it,” he said with a cute grin. It was easy to see what her coworker, Dakini, saw in him. They’d been an item for a while.
It was funny, thinking about a couple like those two. While they were Gaia’s age, give or take, they seemed so much younger. Or maybe it was just that she felt decades older?
She sipped her prosecco, losing herself in thought. It surprised her to have been attracted to two men in one week—wait, make that a single day. The first in her sister’s shop, and the second at work with Mr. H. On one hand, she was pleased. Didn’t that mean she was healing? And isn’t that normal? But on the other, her heart was heavy and ashamed. The love of her life had suffered and had been robbed of his life far too young. But she’d been robbed, too, and her suffering dragged on…abated by nothing, not even time.
She’d met her beloved at the wedding of a woman who’d left Devi’s Bliss to get married, have kids, the whole shebang. When she married Dan one year after they met, she’d secretly hoped she might be next in line to “retire” from Devi’s and start a small family of her own. But a headache plaguing Dan, just an annoyance at first, turned out to be a tumor. Before long, that headache stole her husband and stole a young man’s life. She’d screamed and cried for so long over the injustice that she didn’t think she could ever cry again. It was as if she had a finite supple of tears, and she’d used up every last one when she lost her husband.
She’d been mostly numb since. Sure, she’d managed to go through life, get shit done, keep it together. But that was just going through the motions. There was little feeling behind it all. No getting up in the morning, jumping out of bed, excited about the day ahead. It was only her work at Devi’s, and helping her sister at , that saved her.
Until now. Things were different, as if the electricity were coming back on after a lengthy outage. Damned if she knew why.
But…was it unfaithful to the memory of Dan?
A tap on the shoulder, thankfully, yanked her out of her uncomfortable reverie. A grin exploded across her face when her beautiful sister settled onto the barstool beside her.
She gave her sister a peck on the cheek. “Tab, how are ya, sweetie?” Tabitha’s long blonde hair was held by a piece of hot pink lingerie elastic. Only she could pull that off.
“I’ve been better,” she answered, rolling her eyes.
Jake spied the sisters from across the bar, and when Gaia motioned to her nearly-empty glass of prosecco, he dug into the cooler for a bottle.
“Jake, you are too good to us,” Gaia said, as he delivered Tabitha a fresh flute.
He smiled with modesty. “Hey, any friends of my girl are friends of mine. Plus, she told me if I didn’t take good care of you guys, I’d be in big trouble.” He gave them a big wink and waited on the next customer.
Tabitha watched him walk away. “Damn, he’s cute.”
“You’re not kidding,” Gaia said as she sipped her bubbly. “Dakini did well with that one.” She turned to her sister. “Okay, bring me up to date.”
“Well, I found out the building was bought by some tech guys. Figures, huh?”
“Yeah. I mean, I don’t think you can blame the tech folks. If it wasn’t them, it would be some other industry. Besides, their patronage has granted us both very nice lifestyles.”
“I guess. But can’t I hate just this one douchebag for threatening my livelihood? Why does he have to kick me out for office space? I’ve worked so hard…” Her sister’s voice choked.
Gaia put an arm around her sister. “I know, Tab. I’m upset too. I love Kiki’s. And I’ll hate the tech guys, too, in solidarity. It’s fucking ridiculous they’re not willing to renew our lease.”
“Thanks,” her sister said, sniffling. “The last week has been such a downer.”
“I know. That’s why I’m taking you out tonight.”
Tabitha continued, “So, I called the attorney handling the sale of the building. He promised to set up a meeting with the new owner so we could try to negotiate and talk things through.”
“Who are the new owners? Did he give you any specifics?”
“No. But, apparently they’re some entrepreneurs who’re flush with investor cash.” Tabitha took a sip of her prosecco.
“Fuck, Tab, I’m so sorry.” She took her sister’s hand. “Don’t worry. We’ll work this out. I have some money in the bank, and the girls at Devi’s want
to help, too—”
Her words came to an abrupt stop when she saw the tears on her sister’s face. She’d never been able to watch her sister cry without crying herself, and swallowed hard to get rid of the growing lump in her own throat.
Tabitha dabbed her eyes with a cocktail napkin from the bar. “Oh, Gaia. I’m scared. I’m scared I’m going to lose everything I’ve worked so hard for. Sure, I could just go out and find a new space. But building it out as nicely as what we have now would cost a pretty penny, and getting our regulars to come to a new location wouldn’t be easy. I mean, look how busy Kiki’s is during lunch hour. People just walk over from their offices.”
“I know,” Gaia said, rubbing her sister’s back. “There aren’t many locations in the city where you’d get that kind of steady foot traffic.”
Tabitha dabbed the last of her tears. “Enough about me. What’s up with you?”
Gaia studied her champagne glass with pursed lips. She shrugged. “You know. Same old, same old.”
Now it was Tabitha’s turn to throw an arm over her sister’s shoulders. “I know it’s been hard for you, Little Sissie.”
“The girls at work are bugging me about trying online dating.”
“Yeah? What do you think? You know, that’s how Kris and Tom met,” Tabitha said, referring to the retired Devi’s masseuse at whose wedding Gaia and Dan met.
“I’m just not sure it’s for me. But I might be getting closer.”
“Closer to what?”
“To wanting to spend time with a guy, considering a relationship. Something like that.”
“Oh? What changed?”
“I’m not sure. But the other day when I opened the shop for you, a customer came in. There was something about him I was so drawn to. I haven’t felt that way since…Dan. I mean, this customer said he was married and I’ll probably never see him again. But something in me woke up. And there’s more.”
Tabitha leaned back on her barstool. Hand on hip, she demanded, “Spill it! What’s going on?”
“A client asked me out.”
“Oh. Well, clients ask you out all the time.”