by Folsom, Tina
He started to understand the depth of his feelings, and his body yearned for a joining with her. He had to get himself under control. After what Holly had told him about Sabrina, he knew she had to be wooed gently. Ramming her with his rod wasn’t the way to go. Not yet anyway.
When he stepped back into the bedroom, again fully dressed, he looked around for her. He found Sabrina on the terrace, where she’d already spotted the next surprise he’d planned for her.
The staff of the inn had organized a professional massage table and set it up outside. She looked at him, her green eyes questioning him.
“What is this?”
He was sure she’d seen a massage table before, but that wasn’t her question. “It’s exactly what it looks like. Are you ready for your massage?”
“When’s the masseuse coming?”
He could tell she liked the idea of a massage and smiled. “He’s already here.” Sabrina looked at him, and within seconds realization washed over her face.
“You?”
Daniel nodded. “I took a class.”
More like a crash course. Last night. He handed her the bathrobe which lay on the massage table.
“Get undressed and put this on.”
He nodded toward the bathroom.
“You can’t be serious.” It was only half a protest.
“I’ve seen you naked before. There’s no need to be shy. I promise you, you’ll enjoy it.”
Sabrina contemplated whether to allow him to massage her. The idea of a relaxing massage pleased her, but she was unsure as to her reaction to feeling his hands on her naked skin. It was one hell of a temptation, and she wondered if it would be safe. He’d been a gentleman all day up till now.
Even when she’d found herself waking up with her body half covering his, he’d not used the situation to his own advantage. She knew that she’d been the one who’d cuddled up to him and not the other way around. Just before she’d fallen asleep, she’d felt the urge to be close to him, and her mind had already shut off. Her instincts had taken over, and she’d scooted over to him. Her body had just done what it wanted and molded itself to his.
He’d placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head before she’d freed herself from his body but had made no other attempt at touching her. Well, their agreement had been that he was allowed to kiss her, but she’d thought he’d meant those steamy, hot, smoldering kisses he’d bestowed on her during their first two evenings of passion. Not the chaste pecks he’d given her today.
“I’ll be right back,” Sabrina announced, took the bathrobe and went back inside. Less than two minutes later she was back, wearing the bathrobe with not a stitch of clothing underneath it.
It was time to see whether his kisses would remain this chaste after he’d massaged her. She stopped her own thoughts. Why the hell was she even thinking that? She should be happy that he kept his tongue to himself. His tongue. The thought of it caressing her skin …
No! She shouldn’t think of it. He’d basically blackmailed her into this weekend and this booking, and she’d be out of her mind if she let herself be lulled into this again. She had to think of herself and the fact that in a few days he’d be gone, and she’d be miserable, because she’d fallen for a man who only saw her as a toy to play with.
Sabrina dropped her bathrobe and lay down on her stomach. She was fully aware of his gaze on her and how he swallowed hard when she stood before him entirely nude for a mere few seconds.
Daniel placed a large soft towel over the length of her body.
“I hope you like the scent of lavender.” His voice sounded raspy.
“Mmm hmm,” she replied and relaxed into the comfortable massage table.
She felt his hands graze her shoulders as he pulled the towel down to her hips. The sound of his hands lathering themselves with oil followed, and she went rigid in anticipation of his touch.
The instant she felt his strong hands on her back, starting with long strokes from her shoulders down to her waist, she realized that she would have a snowball’s chance in hell of resisting him if he tried to seduce her. But it was too late to withdraw now. She was in his hands, in his very capable hands.
An involuntary moan escaped her as Daniel’s hands continued to rhythmically glide up and down her back. She clenched her jaw to avoid any more audible signs of pleasure. That was all she needed, letting him know that she was putty in his hands.
“Relax, baby,” he whispered. “You’re so tense.”
Did he know everything that was going on inside her? “Why are you doing this?”
“You mean the massage?” he asked softly.
The sound of his voice alone made her want to melt. Combined with the gentle kneading motions of his hands, it proved to be a toxic cocktail for her already tortured heart.
“Everything, this weekend, the massage.”
Daniel paused before he replied as if he didn’t have an answer. “I like you, Holly.”
She had to stop him from saying things like that. It wouldn’t lead to anything. It would just make things harder when they parted ways.
“Daniel, I’m an escort. You seem to keep forgetting that,” she lied, hoping he could be brought back to the reality of their situation. Even though she wasn’t an escort, he’d hired her as one, so for all intents and purposes she was his escort.
Sabrina heard him suck in a breath, and seconds ticked away in silence as he ran his hands down her spine, his thumbs putting just enough pressure on it to make her shiver with pleasure.
“I don’t care what you are.” His voice was unusually tense as if he was angry. “I can see what’s underneath,” he added, his voice a little softer than before.
Daniel was saying all the right things. If she’d met him under other circumstances, he’d be the perfect man. Kind and considerate, passionate and experienced, hot-blooded and strong. But the circumstances hadn’t been right. He’d hired an escort because he’d just broken up with his girlfriend. He was on the rebound, and it was obvious that he didn’t want to have another relationship. Why else hire an escort? It guaranteed sex without the strings attached.
Sabrina didn’t comment but instead concentrated on his hands. Every time his hands stroked down to her waist, his fingertips reached lower, gently caressing the top of her ass. And every time, she wished he’d go lower.
As if Daniel could tell what she wanted, his hands finally left her back altogether and slid underneath the towel to stroke her round cheeks. Instantly, another guttural moan escaped her lips. His movements turned into a caress and had nothing to do with the massaging strokes he’d lavished on her back and shoulders.
His fingers blazed trails of fire over her cheeks, then rode down to her thighs before reversing and traveling back up again.
Sabrina felt heat shoot through her belly, and within seconds moisture pooled at the juncture of her thighs. The way this man could arouse her should be illegal. She had to stop herself from allowing her body to arch toward his hands.
If he continued a few minutes longer, she knew she’d come without him ever touching her any more intimately. Her body trembled lightly at the thought of it, and she tensed trying to control herself as not to scream and ask him to take her.
“I’m sorry,” Daniel suddenly said and pulled his hands away from her.
Disappointment swept through her. He covered her back and shoulders with the towel before pulling it back from one of her legs. The soft late afternoon breeze cooled her hot leg but not for long.
After pouring more oil on his hands, Daniel placed them on her leg and slowly moved down from the top of her thigh to the tip of her toes. Did he really think those strokes would keep her from getting aroused again? He surely had to have noticed what he’d done by caressing her ass.
With every stroke, her skin turned hotter. As he ran his hands from the back of her knee up her thigh again, she held her breath. Would the hand which ran along the inside of her thigh reach high enough to notice how wet she was? Would
he let his finger slide high enough to feel her moist flesh or even penetrate her?
To her dismay, Daniel stopped before he even got close and then reversed his stroke and moved back down. His hands felt like sizzling irons on her skin, just hotter and softer. She knew she kept a lot of tension in her body, but she felt how he worked through the knots in her muscles.
Sabrina just wanted to let go and not think of anything, and the more she concentrated on his hands and forgot about everything else, the more she felt her muscles relax.
She’d deal with everything else later. For now, she only wanted to bathe in the warmth of his hands and the tenderness of his strokes. She didn’t want to read anything else into it.
“You have wonderful hands.”
She could hear the smile in his words when he answered. “You have a beautiful body.”
“Do you often give massages?” She envied his girlfriends, and a knot formed in her stomach at the thought of him lavishing another woman with this kind of attention.
“This is my first.”
She was startled. “Your first? That’s impossible. You’re amazing.” She didn’t believe him. Nobody was this talented.
“It’s easy with a pliable body like yours.”
Daniel pulled the towel back over her legs, covering her completely.
“How are you feeling?”
Disappointed that it was over, she wanted to say, but didn’t. “Weak.”
He chuckled. “I think it’s called relaxed, not weak.”
Sabrina turned her head to look at his face. His lips wore a soft smile, but his eyes couldn’t hide his desire for her. For several seconds, she didn’t say anything and only looked at him.
“Thank you. It was wonderful.”
“You’re welcome.” He looked almost tortured before he turned away from her gaze. “Just keep resting here as long as you want to.”
And with those words he went back inside. A minute later, she heard the shower. She knotted her eyebrows. He’d taken a shower only an hour earlier. Even though it had been pretty warm out, it wasn’t exactly scorching hot in the late afternoon sun, and besides, the terrace was shady.
Sabrina turned her head out toward the valley and the vineyards. It was a beautiful sight, and life could be perfect if only circumstances were different. She sighed.
17
His second cold shower of the day didn’t do any more good than the first. He was an idiot. He should have never let the real Holly talk him into continuing this charade. He should have gone with his gut instinct and told Sabrina the truth as soon as he’d walked out of the Escort Service’s offices.
Now he was stuck between a rock and an even rockier place. On the one hand, he wanted nothing more than to make love to her, but on the other, he’d promised her she’d be the one to initiate sex. If he came up with any more brilliant ideas like this one, he’d be the next addition to the Darwin Awards for eliminating himself from the gene pool.
What made him think Sabrina would come to him if only he wouldn’t hit on her for a day? The massage had left him completely and utterly hot and bothered, and he was the one who’d given it, for God’s sake. Sure, she’d enjoyed it, but other than that, he’d seen no reaction from her that would have told him she wanted to be touched in a more sexual way.
When he’d caressed her delectable ass, she’d tensed under his hands, and he’d had to pull away in order not to destroy the moment altogether. She’d kept her wall up the entire time. Her comment that she was an escort had basically insinuated that she didn’t want any other relationship with him. She’d put him in his place.
That thought was what finally brought his erection down, not the cold water of the shower. She didn’t want him. As Holly had said to him, Sabrina hadn’t had sex in three years, and she hadn’t been in a relationship. What if she’d enjoyed sex with him only because she hadn’t had any in such a long time, but in the end she really didn’t want anything else?
Daniel felt depressed when he stepped out of the shower and dried off. Putting a towel around his lower body, he went into the bedroom. Still consumed with his thoughts about her, he dropped the towel, reached for a new set of clothes and slowly got dressed.
When he turned, he saw Sabrina standing in the door, which connected to the living room. Her cheeks were rosy. How long had she been standing there? It didn’t matter. He wasn’t shy, and she’d seen him naked before. But her pink cheeks suggested that he’d embarrassed her.
“I should take a shower too,” she announced and brushed past him on her way to the bathroom, averting her eyes.
“I’ve made dinner reservations for seven o’clock. Take your time.”
Daniel looked at his watch. He could do with a drink, but he knew he’d be driving them to the restaurant, and he wanted some wine with his dinner. No drink, then, for now.
He plopped down on the couch in the living room and switched on the TV. Anything to distract himself from the thought that she stood in the shower, naked, the water pearling off her perfect skin. Did this cottage have air conditioning? His eyes scanned the room. No air conditioning.
Why was he so hot? Had he gotten too much sun earlier in the day? He shook his head. No, it was more a case of having gotten too much of Sabrina under his skin. It appeared it was pretty much an incurable condition by now.
Daniel watched the early evening news but barely listened to the anchor. From the corner of his eye, he saw a movement and looked to the side. Sabrina had finished her shower already, and through the open door to the bedroom he saw that she’d come out of the bathroom only dressed in a towel.
Damn, didn’t she know that the bedroom door was open? Seconds later, he panted heavily when he saw her drop the towel and pick through her bag for some new clothes. Hell, didn’t she realize that he could see her from where he was? She was killing him. She literally would be the death of him.
Instead of being a gentlemen and looking the other way, he let his eyes glide over her naked body and watched her get dressed. First, she pulled up the tiny black panties, then she stepped into yet another thin summer dress, similar to the one she’d worn the night they’d gone to the cooking class. His hand instinctively went to his crotch, where he felt the familiar bulge that had become his constant companion since he’d met her.
Fuck, could this woman not wear a bra? Did she have to slip into the dress without it, knowing that with every step she’d make tonight, her gorgeous boobs would bounce suggestively?
As she bent down to put on her high heeled sandals, he admired her shapely legs and hallucinated about how he’d throw her over the dresser, rip her panties off and plunge himself into her.
Daniel jumped up from the couch and headed to the kitchen, ripped the freezer open and stuck his head into it. The cool air hurt, but he needed it. Slowly, his breathing returned to normal.
“What are you doing?” Sabrina’s voice startled him, and he hit his head on the freezer door as he pulled out.
“Ouch!” Great, how would he explain this? “Nothing. Just checking if we have ice cubes.”
She raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment any further. She looked stunning. Her skin glowed both from the sun she’d gotten in the afternoon and the oil he’d used on her during the massage. The scent of lavender was still all around her.
She wore practically no make-up. Not that she needed it. Her face was flawless, and her eyelashes so naturally think that no mascara would have added anything to her expressive eyes.
“I didn’t expect you to be done so quickly.” None of his girlfriends had ever gotten showered and dressed in under an hour, let alone in under fifteen minutes.
Sabrina shrugged. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
“Come, we might as well drive into town early and do a little sightseeing before dinner.” Anything to get out of this cottage and the temptation to strip her naked.
The little town of Healdsburg was centrally located in between Alexander Valley, Chalk Hill and Dry Creek Valley.
Daniel wasn’t disappointed in the restaurant Tim had recommended, and judging by Sabrina’s appetite, she loved the food too. When he’d massaged her, he’d noticed that her curves were fuller than those of any of his ex-girlfriends, who’d barely ever eaten more than a little salad or some sashimi for fear of gaining a pound or two.
He liked to feel the roundness of her hips and the fullness of her breasts, and it reminded him that he hadn’t touched her breasts in far too long. Severe withdrawal symptoms made themselves known in the form of uncomfortable pangs in his abdomen.
During dinner, their conversation centered around observations about the wine country. He avoided anything that could be construed in a sexual way, and Sabrina seemed to do the same. On the drive back to the cottage, they were both quiet. He knew what was on her mind, because it was also on his mind: they’d be sharing a bed tonight.
18
Sabrina had felt the tension all evening. There’d been an awkward silence between them on the way back in the car. As soon as they’d gotten to the cottage, Daniel had switched on the TV and installed himself on the couch.
She took her time in the bathroom, but at some point she couldn’t stall any longer and, dressed in a simple short cotton nightdress, she went into the bedroom. It was still empty. She slipped under the covers and wondered when he’d finally come to bed.
She missed his touch and his kisses more than she wanted to admit. There really was no way around it. She wanted him, and she didn’t want to deny herself anymore. To hell with the consequences. By now Holly had probably stocked up their freezer with enough ice cream to see her through the worst once Daniel was gone.
The sound of the TV ceased, and a few seconds later Daniel came into the bedroom and closed the door behind him. He went straight for the bathroom. Sabrina shook her head when she heard the shower again. This would have to stop. And she would make sure it did.
Daniel couldn’t have looked any more tortured if he’d just had his teeth pulled. And she knew that she was the reason for it. She wasn’t being fair to him. He’d paid to spend time with her and to enjoy himself, and she was spoiling his fun. And her own fun at the same time.