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  And then you had to think of interesting stuff to say and couldn’t ’cause you were so embarrassed?”

  Maddie nodded, so grateful she didn’t have to spell it out for him. The awkward silence that followed her lame statements about ‘Mama’ filled her inner ears like lead.

  “Then Elaine was like ‘Oh honey, I guess you’re not wearing your creative-teacher hat today.’”

  “Bitch.”

  Maddie blinked. She’d thought so too, but it was maybe only the second time she’d ever heard Greg use that word. “I think she was just trying to make it not be awkward—”

  “I think we both know you’re cutting her more slack than she deserves. Anyway, go on.”

  “I just kinda hid and listened to them talk. They all have boyfriends or fiancés. They were going on about annoying guy habits, cute guy habits, former boyfriends, current sex lives. And I had nothing to say. I’ve had two crappy dates that ended at the doorway and who wants to hear about that?” She sniffed, her lip quivering just to think that—at nearly twenty-two—the sum total of her ‘guy history’ was her constant fight with her feelings for Greg. She’d never found anyone to measure up. She looked towards him, her eyes stinging all over again. “I just sat there feeling like some stupid wallflower. Don’t get me wrong, I am so happy for Lisa and I can’t wait for her to be a mom and have baby stories, but that’s just not my futu—”

  “Who said that?”

  The hard edge in his voice was so sudden it made Maddie flinch. “Well no one out loud, but… c’mon, now. I’m high maintenance and I’m not being flooded with offers—”

  “That’s such bullshit.”

  She felt him scramble off the bed and kneel in front of her, his hands on her thighs, his thumbs high up. A big-ass bucket of adrenaline swashed up the back of her legs as he tightened his grip just a little.

  “Maddie—let me tell you something about girls like Elaine. She’s friends with Lisa because the Westgaits and Van Tullekens run in the same Westchester jet-set, and she resents your close friendship with her ‘BFF’. See, you and Lisa have something in common—and I’m not just talking about becoming friends at special school. You’re gonna graduate from assistant to fully-fledged teacher one day, right? And Lisa has been figuring out a professional network to sell her art. Elaine has no goals. She’s going to float through life either on her own trust fund or someone else’s. She’s never had boundaries set for her and probably feels totally insecure. You, on the other hand, have a lot to offer a guy. You’re focused. Smart. And let’s not forget beautiful.”

  Maddie’s head spun. She’d never heard him say so much at one time before. And that last phrase… she swallowed hard and tried to think of a response, but he wasn’t done.

  “Tomorrow, during part two of this over-complicated baby shower, just… feel sorry for Elaine, okay? The rest of the girls are nice enough and the guys are fine. Just cut loose and be yourself.” Greg pressed up from the floor and kissed the top of her head. “Besides, I know at least one guy who really wants to kiss you.”

  At least one?

  Maddie felt a starburst flare in her chest as his aftershave wafted around her. She could pray that one of them was him, but was curious about the ‘others’. She managed a grin. “Now’s the time to give me a name. Any name. I promise I won’t act on it and show you up, but I could do with the ego boost.”

  “I’m gonna run you a bath, then we’ll get something to eat.”

  “Greg, who wants the kiss?”

  He laughed as he retreated to the bathroom. “I’m not saying a damn thing! But I’ll make you a deal—if you’re back in your room all happy tomorrow after the main shower, I’ve got a little surprise for you.”

  She yelled over the sound of running water. “Give me a hint?”

  “Private massage, in your room. New masseur shows promise, but he needs a guinea pig. However, if you get back here all upset, it’s cancelled. Got that?”

  “Got it!” She grinned and flopped back on the bed. He always knew how to cheer her up and she was determined not to let anything get her down for the rest of the weekend.

  She was back in her room five minutes before Greg pounced.

  Maddie giggled as he put his arms around her waist from behind and made a point of sniffing the air by her face. “All right, I had a couple of drinks!”

  “I’m getting Pina Colada, Long Island Iced Tea, champagne. A hint of red wine—”

  “Okay, more than a couple.”

  “But not to help you have a good time?”

  She caught the cautionary tone and turned to face him, linking her hands behind his neck. He was wearing a tank top. The sensitive skin of her underarms brushed over the muscle tone in his shoulders. She gave him her best innocent look. “Fine, maybe to start with. But no way was I passing up on that private massage!”

  “And later?”

  She rested her face in the warm dip of his shoulder. “What you said yesterday totally helped. I had a blast. I was wondering if Jamie Westgait was actually making a pass at me and Elaine pretty much proved it by getting all snotty.” She grinned just thinking of the vibes the girl gave off as her younger brother flirted with her. “And you know what? I didn’t give a damn. I just kicked back and enjoyed myself.”

  “Did you flirt back?” Greg murmured into her hair.

  “No, I was just polite. I’m sure he’s cute—his face feels cute—but it’s not ‘cute’ I’m after.” She inhaled Greg’s safe, clean, fresh smell, trying not to make the joy of it too obvious on the exhale. “I met a lot of the boyfriends and they were all really nice but none of them are… like you.”

  “I’m glad you had a good time. All you have to do is concentrate on who you want to be with and someday, a very lucky guy will get to keep you for himself and give you all the babies you want.”

  She imagined fighting her way around a nursery of squalling tiny people, trying to figure out who was in which bassinette and which diaper to put on first. She figured her nose would be up to that task, but her voice recognition was way below the standard people seemed to expect from the blind. She’d make a horrible penguin. The thought made her giggle. “I thought I might stick to two kids—a few years apart. Not quintuplets.”

  “That’s just your lazy-girl talking.” Greg chuckled. “So, you kept your end of the deal. Your masseur will be in your room at eight. I’m giving him the spare key card, but he’ll knock.”

  “You won’t be introducing us?”

  “Nope. I have a massage booked for myself at the same time. I have this competitive urge to see how much better at it I am than the standard spa girl-or-guy.”

  Maddie laughed. “I’m sure you could teach them a thing or two.”

  “Nuh-uh. I’m all in it for the pleasure, this time.” He gave her a peck on the cheek and went to pull away, but then caught her hand again. “Oh—I ought to tell you, your masseur’s damn good at what he does. He’s a trainee, but more like a prodigy.”

  She sighed in anticipation. “Oh, that sounds good.”

  “But he doesn’t speak a word of English apart from ‘no’, which doesn’t really help because he doesn’t know what he’s saying ‘no’ to. Oh, and he wears way too much body-spray, which is something I’ll need to address when I can get a training interpreter who can speak Czech. Can’t have him drowning out the essential oils.”

  Maddie frowned. “How am I supposed to communicate with him?”

  “I’ve printed Braille cards for him to give you, don’t worry.”

  “You’re amazing.”

  “Of course.” Greg let go her hand and headed for their adjoining door. “If all goes well, we’ll both have the time of our lives this evening!”

  Greg wasn’t kidding about the masseur’s cologne. Even before he was a few steps into her room, she was assaulted by a nasal punch of patchoulis. It wasn’t unpleasant, but maybe it could be dialed back by half a bottle or so. She smiled in the masseur’s direction and breathed shallowl
y as a set of cards was placed into her fingers. The top one read, ‘I am Anton. I will be giving you your deep-tissue massage today. While you read these cards, I’ll set up the massage table. It will be five feet in front of your bed, running parallel to the foot.’

  She smiled. So like Greg to make sure she could find her way without having to ask for help. The second card listed the oil options, from sweet almond, wintergreen, lavender and pure wheat germ oil—she opted for the latter. That would soften her skin, too. She pulled a band off her wrist and bundled her hair into a loose bun at the back to keep her hair clear of her neck and shoulders. Then she read the next card.

  ‘I have placed a towel gown on the bed to your right’, it said. ‘Please undress in your own time and I will tap you on the wrist when the table is ready. Please lie face down on the table with your arms to your side behind you. I will tap the soles of your feet when the massage is complete.’

  Maddie looped the gown over her forearm and made her way to the bathroom, where she slipped out of her skinny jeans and top and stripped down to her panties. She felt a little shiver as the material brushed against her bare nipples as she pulled it on. Even as she tied the gown around her, she felt weirdly exposed. She found the wall switch for the fan and silenced it, putting her ear to the little crack of the bathroom door. Anton was busy setting up the main room—she heard the clink of bottles on a side table, grunts of effort and snaps of hinges as he fought with the fold-out massage table. She wondered if Anton was cute.

  She closed her eyes and a flash of Greg’s twenty-two year old face appeared inside her lids. She didn’t want to know if Anton was cute, or even what he looked like. For now, he could be Greg.

  She imagined Greg’s hands working across her body and gripped the doorjamb, breathing just that little bit too fast. She pushed out to the bedroom and found the cards on the quilt where she’d left them. She thumbed through to the oil choice card and showed it to Anton, who grunted acknowledgement. Hopefully there were some little diagrams showing which Braille instruction related to which scent. Anton tapped her wrist to let her know he was ready to start and offered his elbow over to the table. She smiled at him, but didn’t take it. She needed to be in control in her own room.

  It helped that she’d been Greg’s guinea pig a few times while he was doing his initial sports massage training. She got herself easily into position on her knees on the table, slipped her gown off backwards and lowered herself until her face was in the little porthole in the headrest. She closed her eyes as Anton got busy with the draping, covering her from the small of her back to the backs of her knees with towels. The warmth was delicious. There was a click, and distant music began. It was soothing.

  A trickle of warmth ran the length of her spine and it took serious control to suppress inappropriate noises as he smoothed the oil across her back in wide strokes of his palms.

  “Oh, that’s good.”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  Rats, she’d forgotten he didn’t speak English. Poor guy probably felt he had to respond in some way if she spoke, so she stayed quiet a little while, floating with the music. He started with her hands and arms, kneading the tension out of her stick-bearing elbow. Then his thumbs worked over the knots of her spine and out across the back of her shoulders. His touch started light but became more purposeful as he worked his way down, pushing from her spine outwards with the sides of his thumbs. Each stroke gave her a cool-warm flush and when his entire palm swept down her sides on both left and right, his fingertips just brushed the sides of her breasts. The intimacy made her catch her breath.

  Oh, do that again.

  She stifled a groan as he repeated the swiping motion over and over, perhaps six times. She realized she’d parted her legs a little under the towel. She pulled her knees back together again, hoping he hadn’t noticed anything more than a wriggle. Her face grew hot in the enclosure of the headrest. And then he was circling with his fingertips on the incredibly sensitive skin below her armpits. His touch was too firm to tickle but too luscious to relax through and she tightened inside. Very gently, he took her wrists from behind and pulled her arms around and up to the top of her head rest. She overlapped her forearms and slowed her breathing but he kept up that circling stroke all the way down to her waist. It took everything she had to not part her legs again.

  She imagined Greg stroking her like this. They’d be talking as he worked and then he’d climb up onto the table, a knee on either side of her back and reach his hands further beneath her with each stroke until he was cupping her breasts in his palms.She imagined him sliding her nipples between his fingers and her pussy gave a sharp, wet twitch. She couldn’t get aroused. Anton would hear her change of breathing and—worse—he’d smell her getting hot.

  “Do you mind if I talk?” Her voice came out in a squeak that embarrassed her.

  Anton finished her back massage and re-draped her towel, covering her back but exposing her panties and legs to the cool air in the room.

  She was given a moment’s respite as he started work on her calves, kneading deeply into the muscles. The cool-warm flashes still hit her with every stroke, but as her legs were stiff, the initial ache took the edge off her arousal. She felt it was vital to keep talking as he moved up towards the back of her knees.

  “Don’t tell your boss, but this is an incredible massage. The best I’ve ever had and… Greg does the best massages.” She stuck her thumb up in approval, wanting to show her appreciation in some tiny way.

  Anton chuckled, but ‘Hmmm-hmmmed’ in exactly the same way he’d replied to everything else she’d said.

  “You’re so totally lucky having him as a boss. He’s honest and strong and such a hard worker. He built his business up from the ground, you know? Seven years—that’s all it took from masseur to the boss of four centers. I’m so beyond proud of him,” she murmured as Anton’s hands slid over the backs of her knees and up onto her thighs. He had big hands, this guy, his thumbs pushing carefully into the tissue. Her pussy twitched again as he moved further north but she felt too limp and languid to care. If he was going to be this good at what he did, he’d better get used to turning his clients on while he was still a trainee. She let her mouth run away from her as a distraction from the urge to rock her hips onto the table beneath. She knew she was talking her head off but didn’t care. It wasn’t like he could repeat any of it ,anyway.

  “You stay good at this and stay loyal, and Greg will take care of you like he takes care of everyone else. He’s already told me how damn good you are at this, but there’s no jealousy. He’s so generous, but he can be a handful… I remember once, he told one of his office staff that she was on the internet way too much on company time. Just because he’d been nice about it, she figured could keep doing it. So he downloaded a soundfile to her hard drive and she couldn’t open her browser without the ‘Criminal Minds’ theme blasting at top volume.” Maddie giggled, but a sudden, hard sweep right up her inner thighs made her exhale in a rush. Anton’s fingertips were almost at her panties. He dragged his palms back down again but she couldn’t help moaning with need. She was getting so turned on that even if he turned out to be some untrustworthy guy, she wasn’t sure she’d resist if he tried stroking her between her legs. The thought of it made her panties wet. He had to be nearly through by now. Another few minutes. Then she’d tip him, hit the shower, and get herself off.

  Because she had to come at this point. Had to.

  Anton’s circling motions on the backs of her thighs made her eyes water.

  Oh hell, just keep talking. He doesn’t understand any of it, anyway. Might as well get it off your chest…

  “And this isn’t going to interest you one little bit but, oh, Greg is so gorgeous. I remember exactly what he looks like and he’s just gotten better with age. He lets me get so close it’s like handing my soul to him. I use any excuse to touch him—always have. If I haven’t… held hands with him or hugged him in a few days, I’m like a crabby… girl… who hasn
’t gotten her… fix…”

  Anton’s palms paused on the back of her knees and she got her breath back.

  “When we camped out when we were younger, I’d always freak out about being alone, and he’d stay with me until I felt safe. Usually, he’d fall asleep with me. I could really draw out the drama, trust me.” She felt a little ashamed, remembering what Greg had said about her not crying so easily. She’d grown out of the habit of creating a drama because she didn’t want to abuse his trust. But at the height of her crush, she’d go to any lengths to touch him. “If it was a warm night, he’d strip down to his underwear and I’d run my hands over his body. And I mean… all over his body—cock and balls, the whole deal. I tried to keep the pressure light but feeling him get hard set me on fire. I had to put my hand down into my panties to touch myself because he turned me on so much.”