GRIND

I smiled to myself, but Liam's hands were suddenly at the insoles of my feet, and I nearly jumped out of my skin from the contact.

"Sorry, I'm starting down here at your feet, then I'll work my way up your legs. I'll help you out with the anxiety, don't worry. Just breathe," he said, his voice calming.

His large hands worked my feet, turning my ankles this way and that. Fingertips dug into the spaces around my heel and kneaded the balls of my feet. If I were sitting up, I’d be letting my head loll back. It was nearly impossible not to make a sound, especially as he rubbed in more massage oil.

His fingers pushed and skimmed over the muscle of my calves as he worked his way up. I was holding on, able to keep the crappy thoughts at bay. But instead of feeling at peace, something else was taking hold in my brain. I imagined what Liam must look like, rubbing my legs with his large, capable hands. My eyes fluttered as he firmly pushed up past the tendons behind my left knee until he reached my hamstring. It ached from being sore, but now I was aching for an entirely different reason.

"Is this pressure good? There's a lot of tension in your hamstring here," he said, his voice even quieter. Biting my lip, I smiled to myself. "Mm-hmm." The pressure was definitely good.

Liam splayed his hands out, working them up and around the aching hamstrings, one at a time. Between the calming scent of the lavender and the soothing way Liam pressed the heels of his hands into my legs, I was in heaven. My mind was torn, trying to figure out if I was more turned on than relaxed though. When I felt his presence even closer to me—his white shoes squeaking on the tiled floor as he moved closer into view—my stomach flopped as a new scent hit me. This one reminding me of a woodsy aftershave that I knew must be Liam. My eyes fluttered shut again as he moved to my other hamstring, his thumbs rubbing on either side of the tendons there.

In the midst of my somewhat sleepy but still massively horny thoughts, I wondered how Liam came to be so good with his hands. Had he always been a masseuse? Surely he could’ve been an underwear model and made three times as much money! Deep down I knew that he knew where his talents lie…at the ends of his hands.

The deeper he massaged my sore muscles, the more relaxed I felt. But as his fingers started softly stroking upwards along the sides of my knee, I realized he was going to go up even further.

I caught the moan that threatened to escape my throat as Liam's fingers deftly stroked and pushed along the fleshier part of my inner thigh. "It's good to rub all around the trouble spots. It helps get the blood flowing and helps to push the toxins out. Otherwise you'll have a little knot of tension right around here," he said, his fingers slipping just inside the edge of the towel where it barely covered my thick thighs.

My chin trembled as I imagined Liam suddenly becoming overtaken by his lust for me, his fingers pushing further and further up, slipping past my already wet folds, methodically rubbing at my swollen bud while he explained what he was doing, whispering in my ear. Oh, if only…

What started out as feather-light strokes of his long fingers turned into Liam really getting in there, using the whole of his hands to push down and dig deep into each muscle. My breathing picked up and I found it almost impossible to concentrate on whatever words were coming out of his handsome mouth.

“Always make sure to stretch out your hamstrings really well before going on a run that far. I like to stretch for about fifteen minutes, myself. Then again, I usually only cover about five miles most days.”

Deep down a tiny part of me felt smug. I beat out Mr. Buff in the running department? Who knew? But the smugness easily faded back into something else when I remembered that Mr. Buff also had his large, capable hands on my left thigh…

It was difficult not to squirm because as Liam's hands did go further up each thigh, all I wanted him to do was to say the hell with this and touch me there, my insides quivering like mad.

I couldn’t believe the effect his touch had on me, and desperately tried to warn myself to calm the hell down, but it wasn’t working. Liam lifted the bottom part of the towel another inch and I could feel it lying flush against the bottom of each of my round ass cheeks. He was so, so close.

My fingers scrambled over the edges of the massage table and held my breath when his fingertips repeatedly skimmed along the soft skin directly under my ass. The heel of his hand was right there…right where my ass and legs all joined up in the most delicate manner!

But just when I was sure I was going to come just by Liam's professional touch, he cleared his throat and walked to the other side of the table. Instead of pulling the towel up even more like I was secretly begging him to, he pulled it down a few inches, leaving the top portion of my tailbone exposed. Suddenly Liam’s feet were right under my head.

The massage continued upward, where he placed his hands on my lower back and worked his way along either side of my spine. Thankfully Liam was quie

t, letting me enjoy the extra deliciousness of his touch elsewhere. It wasn’t between my legs, no, but I had to admit that his magic fingers felt phenomenal no matter where they were on my body.

It didn’t feel like very long though, when Liam’s hands dropped away from my relaxed shoulders and he walked away, the sound of a faucet turning on making me pout to the floor. "All right, Miss Waterhouse, we're all finished here. I think that from now on, warming up your hamstrings for two to three minutes before you go for a run would be a good idea.” The sound of the faucet stopped and Liam took a few steps back toward the table. “I know you’re anxious about your test results, but try to get some relaxation while you're here. There’s no sense in worrying over things you can’t control, if you ask me. Oh, and you'll need to drink some of our lemon water, once you're finished up."

He turned so that I saw his feet again. "I hope you start feeling better soon." His tone had changed, sounding grittier for some reason, before he quickly exited the room.

I slowly sat up, actually feeling somewhat dizzy. As I slid off the massage table, I was mortified when I realized that in my lustful thoughts, my overexcitement was now very clear evidence for Liam or anyone else to see. I frowned and grabbed the bottle of cold lemon water he’d placed nearby, chugging down a few gulps before strategically placing it right by the small puddle of wetness, hoping no one noticed.

Chapter 2

ALY

* * *

Following behind the bubbly younger assistant in her stark white polo, I was given another glass of champagne and led back to the woman’s clubhouse locker room. "There are several differently sized pools, as well as three different hot tubs. We have a recently renovated sauna room if you'd like to relax even more. I almost forgot!" she added, her big brown eyes going wide. "We just had a party of five cancel their afternoon appointment, so it looks like you'll have the entire clubhouse to yourself for the next couple of hours."