And wait they did all the way through her morning clients, then lunch at Al’s. Then, during a slow hour, she’d forced him to listen to her favorite podcaster, determined to convince Jacob about Gary Hudson’s virtues.
“See,” she said when the broadcast ended. “I told you he’d grow on you.”
“Sure.” Like mold. “He’s great.”
A burning sensation rolled into his stomach, and his jaw ached. Damn. He was jealous of the guy and all the dude had done was impress Claire with his fucking movie reviews. “You want me to put these away for you?” he asked, pointing to the stack of towels she and Dorie had folded while the podcast played.
A chime sounded announcing her next client. “Cabinets at the back,” she said. “Thanks.”
He picked up the towels and pain lanced into his shoulder. “Shit.”
“You can put those down right now,” she said firmly. “And after this day is over, I’ll work you in for another session.”
Jacob jostled the towels but didn’t obey her order. “Technically, I’m only cleared for fifteen visits by my military insurance. Now that Dorie knows why I’m here all the time, you don’t have to treat me every day,” he said. Not to mention the idea of her touching him after hours had him wondering what would happen if he touched her too.
Her eyes narrowed and a tiny dent furrowed the space between her brows. “Consider it a bonus treatment. I’d like to pay you back for all the time you’re spending with me instead of actually resting and relaxing,” she said. “Now put the towels down before you do permanent damage to yourself.”
Whoa. “Whatever you say,” he said, then plunked the damn stack down. He’d been right. Women did have some damn manual with instructions for perfecting the evil eye along with a tone of voice which brooked no argument. And no nonsense.
After she said goodbye to her last client of the day, and Dorie had gone home, Claire turned to him. “Get on a treatment table, face down,” she said. “And I’ll get started on your shoulder.”
“What? No torture chamber inspired exercises?”
She laughed. “No,” Claire said. “You’ve earned a mega reward for everything you’ve done and I don’t want to overtax your muscles. I want to make them feel good.”
He could think of dozens of ways for her to make all his muscles feel spectacular, especially… Don’t go there again. You’ll give yourself a serious case of blue balls. “Bring it on,” Jacob said, walking to the table, then climbing on it.
“First I’ll hook your shoulder and back to the muscle stimulator machine,” she said. “Then I’ll apply cold and hot therapy to ease the tension in the shoulder.”
“I prefer hot.” Hot… wild… fuck. What the hell was wrong with his brain? Taken a vacation down south… Good thing he had laid face down on the damn treatment table otherwise Claire’d figure out he had the hots for her.
“You’ll get plenty of heat later,” she said, her southern drawl more husky.
Holy crap. She sounded sultry, sexy. Oh man. He was in deep shit. Closing his eyes, he inhaled a deep breath and listened to the wheels of the electrical stimulator’s cart squeaking as she pushed it toward the table.
“Right. Sit up for a sec and take off your shirt,” she said. “Then I’ll apply the electrodes directly to your shoulders and back.”
He rolled over and sat, then took off his Henley and held it out. “Here you go.”
Her nostrils flared ever so slightly and those hazel eyes grew a little darker. “Thanks.”
She took it, her fingers lightly brushing against his and a jolt of electricity went through him. Hell, he didn’t need the electrodes on his skin. Just her touch ignited every nerve he possessed.
He held her gaze and the sparks skimming over his skin arced between them. Her breath hitched, and she parted her perfect pink lips. If he leaned over, he’d bridge the distance between them. Act on the energy pulsing from her to him and back again.
Instead, he looked away, breaking their connection. “I better lay down,” he said, turning around and pressing his body against the cool vinyl.
When he heard her soft sigh, the whisper of sound nearly undid his resolve. He clung to it, barely, when she applied the electrodes one by one with trembling hands.
Claire finished attaching the electrodes to Jacob’s muscular upper back and broad shoulders. Her pulse thrummed at his nearness, and she took a deep breath to drag some air into her lungs to slow her racing heart. Big mistake. She also drew in his scent—so crisp and masculine her pulse accelerated even faster.
She looked away from his bare skin to turn the machine’s dial to a low electrical rhythm. “I’m increasing the frequency in small increments. Let me know if they’re too strong or not.” Not only did she want him even more now that he’d moved into her home, but she’d grown closer to him in the short amount of time they’d shared space. How could she not feel an intimate connection with him when they spent every waking moment together?
“Will do.”
She waited ten seconds. “Well? Higher or lower?”
“Higher.”
After turning the dial to the next level, she glanced his way and indulged in another long look. Freckles covered his lightly bronzed skin, and she wondered if they really were everywhere… even… oh boy. Heat bloomed, flared low, and an exquisite ache tugged at her core. She’d love to find out if they did…
She shifted her eyes back to the dial. “How does it feel now?”
“Perfect.”
Perfect like him. Physically and more. She let her naughty gaze return to his muscular back. Just looking, that’s all. Yes. Those freckles did dip below his waistband. The heat flaring low radiated from her core into every inch of her body making her nipples pebble… her breasts heavy.
“More?” she asked through dry lips, suddenly parched.
“No,” he said. “This is perfect.”
“Great. I’ll set the timer for ten minutes.”
“Could you make it fifteen?” he asked. “Feels awesome.”
The satisfaction in his voice sounded like he was having an orgasm. She reached for her water bottle on the cart and gulped some down, nearly choking on the cooling liquid. “Absolutely,” she said when she caught her breath.
After quickly inputting the duration into the machine, she moved away from his table and went to her work station to key more client data into her laptop. “Relax,” she instructed. “Let the internal stimulation massage the tension out of your shoulders and back.” Meanwhile she’d try to get her libido to settle down.
She failed miserably, sneaking glances his way whenever she heard him sigh or groan as if beyond satiated.
She’d never been this insanely curious about a man. It was as if Jacob had awakened something she’d completely forgotten existed. Sure. She’d been in other relationships, but the guys she’d dated had been like plain vanilla ice cream compared to Jacob.
Jacob definitely wasn’t vanilla. No. He made her think of decadent sundaes dripping with extra chocolate sauce, covered with heaps of whipped cream.
He exuded strength, control, power… he tempted her with his wickedly tantalizing smiles and the teasing lilt in his voice. Not only that, he’d stepped in to protect her without hesitation.
She trusted him with her life.
The honorable man beneath with the drop-dead gorgeous looks and perfectly chiseled body amounted to a lethal combination. Deep down, she knew one taste of Jacob Lawson wouldn’t be enough. Ever.
She busied herself with oiling her massage stone, trying to squash the tantalizing lure of actually acting on her desire. The soothing scent of lavender filled the air and calmed her riotous nerves.
The timer rang. “Ready for the next round?” she asked when she returned to the treatment table to switch off the muscle stimulator machine.
“Oh yeah,” he said.
She removed the electrodes, then approached him from the end of the table. “Hold on,” she said, climbing onto the tab
le to straddle him from behind.
He jerked his head up and shot her a wide-eyed glance. “What are you doing?”
“Positioning myself to give you a deep-tissue massage.”
“But you’re…”
“Sitting on your ass, I know.” She held up her jade stone. “For leverage.” Normally, she’d have stood beside the patient’s table to perform her task, but she doubted she be as effective from that vantage point with Jacob. Not given his height and size.
“How deep are we talking?” he asked as he lowered his head back to the opening on the table.
“That depends on the knots in your back.”
Taking a deep breath, she began using the oil on the stone to lubricate his skin with repeated pressed strokes. She discovered several small knots running down the right side of his spine and two larger ones below his shoulder blade. Cruising the stone to the left side, she found more smaller knots.
“I don’t think sleeping on my couch is doing you any favors,” she said as she pressed the stone deeper into his back to work the easier kinks out first.
“You got a better solution?”
She furrowed her brow and concentrated on smoothing out his tension. “You could sleep in my bed.” With me. No. Bad idea. But riding the top of Jacob’s extremely fine butt made her think naughty thoughts. He’d slowly erased her inhibitions. Something she’d struggled with for years. “I mean,” she continued, “We’d switch places.”
“Not going to happen,” he said. “I’m there to guard you, not kick you out of your room.”
Gritting her teeth, she started applying pressure on one of the bigger knots. “I don’t want to add a screwed up back to your list of reasons for not returning to your SEAL team.” She leaned over him, shifting to get better traction.
He groaned. “I don’t know if I can take much more.”
“I know this hurts, but I promise you’ll thank me later.”
She could ease off but then loosening the connective tissue to make his muscles more flexible meant working through them layer by painful layer.
“I can handle what you’re doing to my back, but I’ve got another part bothering me.”
“Where?”
“Trust me,” he grunted. “You don’t want to massage this part.”
More heat flared through her and her cheeks flamed. What if he knew how much she wanted him to touch her, claim her? He did see her as a desirable woman and had probably restrained himself out of some misguided sense of duty.
The hell with duty. But she had to figure out how to get them both to the point where they’d act on their attraction because her hot SEAL wasn’t going to make the first move.
“I see.” She set the stone aside to knead the knot with her fingers and thumbs. “Then I’ll focus on this one.”
And focus she did, continuing to massage his back until she’d softened the knots into manageable ones. “Feel better?” she asked when she finished.
“Mostly.”
“Your other part still bothering you?”
“Nope. That’s all under control for now.”
For now, not forever. The tiny slip of the tongue resurrected her libido again. “Excellent.” And in more ways than one. She pushed away from him and got off the table. “Stay there while I get something to clean off the oil.”
She hurried to the back to get a washcloth. Her pulse thrummed and jumped in her throat while she ran the cloth under warm water. Should she tell Jacob she wasn’t immune to him?
Squeezing the excess water from the washcloth, she decided to go for it. But she’d have to slow things down first. Other than lunch at Al’s, which had ended in disaster, they’d never even been out on a date. And though they’d been thrown together for all the wrong reasons after their initial meeting, she wanted to spend time with Jacob for all the right ones.
With that in mind, she returned to the treatment table determined to take charge of her attraction to Jacob. “Okay.” She wiped his muscly back. “I have a proposition.”
He rolled around and sat to face her. “What?”
“Here.” She gave him his shirt and watched him shrug it on before speaking. “You know, I’ve been thinking about errr… your earlier predicament. And… “
He raised a brow. “And what?”
“Well, I know you’re supposed to protect me, but you and I like each other. At least,” she glanced down, then back into his eyes, “part of you does.”
The tips of his ears turned bright red. “Yeah. But I can control it. You don’t have to worry about me doing anything wrong.”
“I’m not.” She picked up the washcloth and twisted it. “Worried that is…” Claire raised her chin ever so slightly. “I’d like to know if the rest of you is interested in me too.”
He got off the table and stood toe-to-toe with her. “You know I am.”
Her stomach did a little flip. “Good,” she said. “Then quit stalling and ask me out.”
Chapter 6
“You sure you want to take a chance with me?” Jacob asked. “Cause I’m not staying in Eagle Rock indefinitely. As soon as my shoulder’s fixed, I’m going back overseas.”
“So? Lots of other people have successful relationships in the military.” She raised her chin and held her ground. “Besides, I’m not asking for a proposal. Just normal stuff like dates and, if we mesh, well, maybe more.”
His ears burned and more blood rushed into his groin. “More?” Dozens of ways to have more with Claire popped into his brain… crap. He shouldn’t…
“Maybe,” she said. “I haven’t been living my life like a nun, but I take things slow. Are you good with slow?”
“Slow…,” he said carefully. “Yeah. Slow is good, slow is fine.” They’d hold hands or something or kiss or… hell… or maybe something more…
He moved away from her and scrubbed his face. “I’ve got an obligation to protect you. I want you, but I bet there’s some kind of Brotherhood Protector rule about not dating clients.” Yeah. He’d edge out of this situation with a bullshit excuse because… well because he was a fucking idiot.
“First, I’m not paying for your services so scratch the so-called Brotherhood Protectors’ rule book. Second, even if there is such a rule, I don’t see too many Brotherhood Protectors following it—your sister and Ethan are a case in point.”
“Isn’t it wrong for you to date your patients?” he asked, while secretly hoping she’d say no.
“Not in this case, because I’m providing you free treatment in exchange for your protection,” she said. “So the situation is different. If I could, I’d refer you to another PT, but again… we’re not breaching any code of ethics if you’re not paying me. Any other objections?”
“You’re right,” he said. “There’s no reason we can’t get to know each other better, but I…”
“But what? Are you or are you not interested in me?”
“I think you’re awesome. Brave beyond belief.” And his body was hyped up big-time for her, but his brain had to process where this little getting to know each other might end. “Normally, yeah. I’d go for it, but I think you’re going to have different expectations. I can’t live up to them.”
“Funny. I didn’t take you for a mind reader. How can you possibly know what I want or don’t want other than being with you?” She closed the distance between them. “I want to spend time with you—see where things might go once Vance is out of the picture. If he’s even in the damn picture.”
She licked her lips, drawing his gaze to her pretty, bow-shaped mouth. His heart rate accelerated and warmth flooded his chest. Oh yeah. He was interested all right. Hell, he wanted to kiss her. He took a deep breath and willed every cell in his sex-starved brain to stand down.
She wanted dates first. Not kisses.
She wanted slow. Not fast.
She deserved dates and long slow kisses. He wanted to give them to her… see where things went before he shipped out again. “You’re right.” He tucked
a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Even if Vance isn’t in the picture, I’d want to spend time with you. But are you sure? Because I got the impression you didn’t want to hang out with me during the wedding.”
“I know I was a bit…”
“Standoffish?”
“I was a nervous wreck that day.”
“Understandable given the news you were dreading.”
“Well, that’s come and gone,” she said. “We’ve been seeing a lot of each other while you’ve been protecting me. But it’s not the same as going out for a simple date, even if there’s a likelihood it’ll get interrupted by bad news. I’d give anything to take my mind off worrying about Vance Riley right now.”
Several choice ways to do just that popped into his brain. They’d bypassed slow and dating all the way to the bedroom where he’d share the mattress with her.
But Jacob had learned to be a patient man. And he’d practice plenty of it to give Claire what she wanted. “Then I say we lock up this joint and go to Blue Moose Tavern for dinner.” Jacob moved a little nearer, inhaled her sweet scent. “Sound good to you?” He gave her one of his trademark get-out-of-trouble grins. One he’d perfected to avoid punishment for stealing cookies and later on, to get a pass on when he forgot to hand his homework in on time.
“Sounds great,” she said, then stood on her tiptoes and brushed her mouth against his.
A jolt of electricity shot through Jacob and a rush of hot blood thundered in his ears. The heat traveled low and filled his groin, making his cock hard. Fuck. His body had to be in a serious sexual deprivation zone if this brief contact of her mouth on his made him want to toss out slow and go straight to fast.
Straight to fast with touching every part of her incredible body and bringing her to the point of no return. Straight to fast with moving over her, on her, in her and taking there again… and again… then he’d revisit taking her slow and easy and savor every damn inch of her until she went over the brink with him.
Claire would make it a hell of a lot harder for him to be patient. If one light kiss had this much potency, he’d have an even tougher time leaving her behind.
Brotherhood Protectors: Falling for Her Temporary Bodyguard (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 6