“Heather, pour the oil on Jess’s back, here in the middle. Just a few drops. We can always use more if it’s not enough.”
Jess concentrated on the sensual flow of the oil on her skin, anticipating the next step. It had been a while since someone had touched her in a nonmedical context. She tried to remember when she’d had sex last but came up blank. Not during her pregnancy, and she hadn’t been on a date for several months before that. Had it really been over a year?
Warm hands spread the oil, their touch light as a feather and hesitant. Not exactly unpleasant but not very relaxing either.
“You can use your whole hand. The distribution of the oil is as much for your skin as hers,” Lena said, and more hands touched her. The second pair, Lena’s, was stronger, more decisive, painting wide arcs and circles on her back.
That was more like it. Jess sighed and relaxed into the movement. The experience was similar enough to the professional massages she’d had in the past that she could switch her brain off.
All too soon, they moved on to something else. Lena demonstrated a certain stroke, and Heather tried to emulate her. The back and forth between the two sets of hands was confusing at first. Jess had never noticed the strength lurking in Lena’s hands.
The general stroking and kneading paused. “After the warm-up, we’ll search for knots and areas of tension in the muscles and tendons. Follow the lines of the muscles with your fingertips, and soon you’ll notice little differences, bumps.”
Heather did so, hesitating here and there. “Is this one?”
Ouch. Not quite. Jess wanted to tell her it was her scapula, but Lena beat her to it.
“This is part of the shoulder plate. Move farther to the middle and take care not to press too hard on the bones, especially the spine.”
Heather did as instructed, and Jess groaned.
Oh yeah, that was definitely a tense spot.
Lena chuckled. “I guess we found one. Now we’ll work on loosening it.” She demonstrated something that felt as if she was trying to push an iron rod through Jess’s skin.
Before Jess could complain, the pressure disappeared. She groaned again, this time from relief.
“Pressure is one way of relieving the tension, but only temporary. I’ll show you some other tricks.”
As Lena proceeded to work the spot between her left shoulder blade and her spine, Jess wanted to melt into the table. She hadn’t even realized how much her muscles had suffered in the last months. It had been ages since she’d last felt able to move freely.
Closing her eyes, Jess gave herself over to the massage. She could almost visualize wave after wave of endorphins bubbling from the spring in her mind and floating through her body. The low tones of Lena’s explanation muted to white noise as she sank deeper into the bliss.
Heather found a different spot to test her newfound knowledge. It wasn’t as effective as Lena’s touch but still felt wonderful.
No wonder her mom loved to participate as Lena’s assistant. Who would say no to a free massage?
Movement next to her head alerted Jess someone had changed positions. She opened her eyes. Bare feet had entered her field of vision, and she recognized the black yoga pants as Lena’s. Her feet were slender, and muscles played under her skin as she rose on her toes for a moment. Purple polish, so dark it was almost black, shone on immaculately groomed nails.
It wasn’t as if Jess had a foot fetish or anything, but she appreciated beautiful feet. She’d always loved to give her girlfriends foot massages when they’d come home after a day of walking around in too-high heels.
The urge to stretch out her arms and touch Lena’s instep popped up out of nowhere. She could almost see herself caressing Lena’s feet. She’d start with a massage of the soles, then she’d stroke along the inside. Lena would shudder and moan, and Jess would push the cuffs of the yoga pants up and trace a finger over her shin. Goosebumps would erupt all over the soft skin, and she’d kiss them away and—whoa!
Don’t get carried away here, Jess! She licked her dry lips. What the fuck had just happened? She was warm and tingly all over, and her breasts were too tight, squished beneath her.
“Are you still okay?” Lena’s face appeared again in her field of vision. “You tensed up.”
Oh, great. Jess wanted to bury her face in the table, but the hole that allowed her to breathe made it impossible to hide. “Fine. I’m fine.” She swallowed and willed her croaking voice to behave. “Just a cramp in my foot.”
“Right or left? Let me have a look at it.” Lena stood and started to move toward the end of the table.
Oh fuck. Why had she said that? If Lena gave her a foot massage now, she’d die of embarrassment. “No, no.” She quickly wiggled her toes. “All good now.”
“Sure?” Lena was back at her head. She touched Jess’s shoulder. “Let me know if it returns.”
“Mhm.” Jess’s agreement morphed into a moan as Lena’s hand slid to her neck and traced with thumb and one finger up and down next to her spine.
Lena explained something to Heather, but Jess didn’t listen as thoughts swirled in her head.
Had Lena noticed? Since when did she fantasize about feet? Or Lena? She couldn’t stand her and wasn’t attracted to her. Or was she? Why had her libido chosen this moment to wake up?
This was the fault of all the endorphins altering her brain chemistry. Nothing to worry about, a completely normal reaction for anyone. She suppressed a snort. Right, blame it on hormones. Like everything else that’s happened in your life recently.
An eternity—or at least what felt like one—later, they finished with the same circular motions as in the beginning.
Lena pulled the dressing gown up over Jess’s back and placed a large, fluffy towel over
