Bodywork (23 page)

“Yeah. The problem is, most of the people she’s interfered with are still together.” She frowned. “She didn’t like my ex at all, or so she told me after we broke up.”

She sounded confused, but not bitter, so he asked, “Why did you break up again? Because he cheated, right?”

She nodded. “He and I met at one of the many festivals around this town. I forget which one now. It was fun while it lasted, but looking back, nothing I did was ever right for the guy
, w
ho was, and this still makes me laugh, a doctor.”

Their eyes met, and Shane clearly recalled their first time in her massage room. “Oh hell.”

She laughed. “Trust me. That was the best thing that’s happened to me in months. And I’ve never thought about the word
doctor
since then without a mental image of Dr. Collins
giving me my medicine
.”

He saw the irony of it. “I’m surprised you didn’t laugh my ass out of the room.”

She leaned closer and whispered, “You mean, before you
licked me to orgasm or after?”

“Shit. Don’t talk like that in public.” He groaned. “It’s too hard to hide what you do to me. You’re lucky. When you’re turned on, it doesn’t show.”

She smirked. “My nipples get hard.”

“Stop, please.”

She laughed again.

“So, your doctor?”

“He’s not mine anymore. Thank God. The guy had the nerve to
constantly
criticize
everything about me. He
was subtle, but when I look back, I see how much I changed for him.”

“If he wanted change, he should have had someone else
.
”

“Exactly what I ended up telling him. But the kicker was finding him in bed with his secretary.” She grimaced. “She was on her knees and… well, you get the picture.”

“Ouch.” He hurt for her.

“Yeah. A pretty blond with big boobs and no brains.”

He gave a mock sigh. “The perfect woman.”

She grimaced. “Jerk.”

“Yeah, well, I
learned that not only was
my ex cheating on me with some tattooed bastard,
she tried cleaning me out when she moved out.”

“No way.”

“Yep. The cheating was a big problem. I’m big on loyalty. Like you.” She nodded, and he felt that closeness with her deepen. “Then stealing from me? Hell no. I kicked her ass out and haven’t seen her since. The hard part was that I thought I loved her.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment, then asked in a softer voice, “Did you?”

“I thought I did.
The
good times we had were nice. I liked being part of a couple.” Hearing himself out loud, he knew the time had come to change the subject. He sounded like a sap. “But that’s the past.”

“And the past should stay buried. I’ve heard it all before.” She took a large swallow of water and continued, “But trust me, it rises up to bite you in the ass when you least expect it. The hardest part for me was that I trusted
the
jerk
.”

“I should have seen
Lisa
for who she was.” He nodded. “We both had lapses in judgment.

“Kind of makes it hard to trust again, you know?”

He did know. “Which is why you and I are friends
. We know each other, well, carnally, but this. I like this, us having lunch. I’m not trying to impress you or anything.” Okay, that was a lie. “And I don’t need to
make up stories
to get into your pants.”

She choked on her water. “True. I’m not after your money or an engagement ring
, and I have no reason to lead you on about anything
. We have a good thing going.” The
y
nodded at one another. “So let’s not screw it up.” She lifted her glass. “Here’s to keeping everyone else out of
our business
.”

He knew she referred to their mothers, his brother and her friend. “Hear, hear.” He didn’t bother mentioning Mac, because he didn’t want her to worry about him, or possibly be attracted to him. Mac’s track record with women could be intimidating, and considering Shelby’s quest to have sex and nothing more meaningful, his friend would be the perfect candidate to try if Shane fizzled. Not that he intended to fizzle…ever.

They ordered coffee and told each other more stories. The ones about
George had them both amused.

“I swear the kid is my mother in a seventeen-year-old body.
He’s mature for his age
and really open about life. You have no idea what it’s like to get dating advice from a
high school senior
, especially w
hen his words mirror my mother’s. It’s eerie,” he said over her laughter.

“I like Geo. Rhymes with Leo.”

He
chuckled with her
. “What about Ron? He sounds like a character.”

She raised a brow while the waiter cleared their plates. “
You were military, but you d
on’t have a problem with gays? Good to know.”

“I’m in Seattle.”

“So? Lots of haters everywhere.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not one of them.
Just because I served
in
the military doesn’t mean I agree with policy, and in cas
e you missed it, they repealed D
on’t
Ask D
on’t
T
ell.”

“Finally.”

He agreed. “
I don’t care what people do in their spare time, as long as they aren’t hurting each other
and it’s consensual
.”

They spoke about his time overseas in generalities and about her business.

After a pause, Shelby said, “So y
ou
broke up a while ago too.
My relationship was a total loss, but I didn’t see the end until he cheated. Did you see it coming?”
As soon as she said it, she looked like she wanted to take the words back.

Should he take it as good signs he wanted to know about Lisa?
He hoped so. “Lisa
and I were together for a year.” Should he tell her the truth? He didn’t want to lie, and
the thing Shelby definitely wante
d him for was the sex. “She
said she started up with the tattoo guy
because I was too
vanilla
,
”
h
e ended in air quotes.

Shelby gaped. “You’re kidding me. You? Vanilla?
Dr.
Collins?” She blushed.

“Yep. Lisa thought I was boring. Too domestic I guess, because I liked monogamy.”

“Sounds like a bit—ah, witch.”

He grinned. “Yeah. She left me for
a
tattooed guy who thought piercing his genitals meant he was
the coolest of the cool
.”

“Ew.” She cringed. “I’m not against tattoos, I guess, but piercings? Ouch.”

“My friend thinks I’m a lightweight because I don’t have a tattoo. I just don’t want one.”

“Why
mar
such a fine body?”

“That’s what I’m saying.” He flexed his arm, and she laughed with him.

The lunch crown left the restaurant, and only when the waiter kept shooting him looks did Shane realize they’d overstayed their welcome.

He paid for their lunch
over Shelby’s protests—yet another reason he liked her. She didn’t expect him to foot the bill for everything. They left and stood on the sidewalk.

Though he didn’t want their afternoon to end, he also didn’t want to have sex with her.
Well, h
e did, but not today. Being physical now would water down their time as a prelude to sex, and he wanted to remember today as something special.

“I guess I should get going.” To his surprise, she didn’t sound
in a
hurry to leave. Maybe she’d enjoyed their time as much as he did. “Would you like to walk around a little? I don’t have anything pressing.”

He grinned. “Yeah. Long as you don’t try pulling me into any clothing stores while you try stuff on. That’s a real date, and one
t
hat tortures us poor male creatures. Shoe shopping, purse shopping, and clothes shopping. A trio of horrors.”

“Yeah? Well try hanging out at a tool warehouse or car detailer. Bo-ring.”

As they walked and argued, the
afternoon turned into
evening. Shane left her at her car and promised to call her next week, for another
nonsexual
get-together
. Or as normal people called it, a date.

He smiled to himself as he walked back to his vehicle. Not dating had never been so
fun
.

*
*
*

Late Wednesday afternoon,
Shelby couldn’t believe Mac had actually shown for an appointment. She’d thought his interest one that he’d later regret. Instead, the man had booked
her
for an hour and a half.

He la
y
on her massage table on his back, naked from the waist up and
from the
knees down. A large blanket covered his groin and upper thighs. He had a broad chest
with a sprinkle of dark hair
and was thickly muscled all over.
An obviously good-looking man, any way you looked at him.

And her best friend hadn’t said one word about the man other than that he was her boss. Interesting.

“Thanks for fitting me in,” he murmured in a deep voice. He lay with his eyes closed,
seeming half asleep
.

“No problem.” She started at his feet and worked her way up his legs. Carefully dealing
with
his knee, she felt for problem areas. “You know, you muscle types are actually harder to work on that out of shape people.”

“Really?”

She gently massaged the area around his tibia and eased under his knee.
“Yeah. Your connective tissue is so thick it makes it hard to break through to release the toxins.
But I’m stubborn. I’ll work it out of you. Might hurt a little though.”

He sighed. “I’m used to the pain. But if I can regain more mobility, I’m all for it. Hurt me, Shelby.”

She smiled to herself and got to work. An hour and a half later, Mac lay on his stomach
,
snoring.

She eased out of the room and quietly shut the door behind her
. She’d give the guy a few minutes,
because
she’d really worked him through his paces. He’d tried engaging her in conversation, prodding her about dating and men. Not quite leading to Maggie, but she had a feeling he’d been on the road there. And then she’d started working deeper into his tissue and he’d shut up and let her concentrate.

Flexing her fingers, she
tried to work the cramps out of her hands. Maggie happened to stop in and saw her.

“Hey neighbor.” Maggie smiled and shook blond bangs from her perfect forehead.

“Hey there yourself, you old hag.”

“
Wuss
.”

“Cat lady.”

Maggie laughed at that one. “Tough client? Your hands seem to be gnarled up
, like an old, dried up pru
ne.”

“Prune this.” Shelby shot her the finger. “Hold on, I’ll be right back.” She knocked on the door of her massage room and finding no answer, entered.

Mac was still sound asleep. Sexy in a huge, big as a bear and mean as a grizzly kind of way.
S
he liked him for that. “Hey Mac. Wake up.”

He grumbled, turned his head to the side and blinked his eyes open. “Shit, I fell asleep?” he asked groggily.

“Apparently my vast powers of seduction failed. Get up and come on out and pay me.”

“Yeah
,
yeah.” He yawned and started to rise.

“Hold on. I don’t want to see more than I have to.”

“But there’s so much of me.” He sni
ck
ered as she made a hasty escape.

She returned to the main office, where Maggie waited with a strange look on her face. Maggie.
Oh hell.

“You have to go,”
Shelby
shoved her friend to the door
and whispered,
“Your boss is here.”

“Here?” Maggie squeaked. “What’s he doing here?”

“He’s here for a quickie in the back
.
” Shelby
huffed
. “I was working on his knee, Maggie. What do you think
he’d be doing here
?”

“Hell if I know. You’re
never around to talk to anymore. Working or
gone all the time. Rumor has it you’re seeing some guy I know
nothing
about, and you refuse to take my advice
about men
.”

“Yours or Dr. Phil’s?”

“
It’s all good
.”

“Wait. Who told you I was seeing someone?”

“Crap. I gotta go.” Maggie tore out the front door
just as Mac emerged from the massage room.

He
rolled his neck a
nd shrugged
those massive shoulders
into a stretch
. “I feel like a new man
. You have killer hands.”

“Thanks.”

“B
ut my knee aches.”
He walked slowly, his limp noticeable.

“You need to take it easy for a few days.” Shelby moved around her front desk and took a bottle of water out of her mini fridge,
tucked away under the counter. “Drink this. And drink more when you get home.”

“Back to work, actually.”

“Dedicated. I like that.”

“So why not go out with me?”

This again?
She shook her head. “We covered this. I’m seeing someone.”

“Yeah, right.”

She frowned at his persistence. He hadn’t seemed very interested in her before. “I am. He’s a really nice guy.”

Mac snorted. “That explains it.”

“What?”

“
Your secret misery.
He’s nice. I’m so sorry.” His sneer actually made her laugh.

“Nice is not a bad thing.” She
grinned
. “Besides, he’s not nice when it counts.”

“Oh. So
you do like a bad boy? N
ot as
quiet and collected as you
seem
.”
Mac dug out his wallet
and
handed her a credit card. “I knew it.”

“Shut up.” She handed him back his card and had him sign, and realized she’d told a client to “shut up.”

But he only smiled. “
Right. I’ll see you
next week
. Same time okay?”

She checked her book and seeing the slot open, wrote his name down. “Sounds good. And keep off that knee, Marine.”

He waved away her concern and left. It was only after he’d gone that she saw he’d given her a
fifty percent tip
.