Page 88 of Without You

“What…” I clear my throat. “What are you doing here?”

“Came for a massage.”

“No.”

He falters. “Yes?”

“No.”

“Katie,” Maria chastises. “This is your two o’clock.” She turns to Elijah. “I’m very sorry. I interrupted her lunch and you don’t want to get in the way of this one’s food.”

He smirks. “See? I told you. I’m a paying customer. Filled out all my paperwork already and everything.”

I shake my head. “Yeah, still… no.”

He wiggles his eyebrows and puts his earbuds in their little case, shoving them in his jeans pocket. “I assure you, nothing’s amiss here.”

I narrow my eyes at him.

He crosses his arms across his chest.

I huff.

He smirks again, thinking he just won.

“Fine. Let’s go.” Dammit, he was right. He won.

I storm past him. “Wow. This is relaxing already,” he jokes and Maria giggles.

I roll my eyes and turn, confirming that he’s following. He’s wearing a very sure-of-himself expression which is so very annoying.

As soon as we’re in the massage room, I get down to business, behaving like the professional I am. “I didn’t have a chance to look at the schedule to see what kind of massage you scheduled.”

“Swedish,” he says, beginning to unbutton his shirt after tossing his coat on the chair.

I shake my hand in front of him. “Oh, no. No, no.” His fingers pause. “You can wait to get undressed until I’m out of the room. Completely out,” I add on. “Are there any particular areas that are aching today?”

The jerk’s mouth ticks up in a half smile and I can tell he’s resisting the urge to say something different than what comes out of his mouth next. “Shoulders and neck mainly. My lower back usually needs some extra attention, too.”

“Got it. You mentioned regular massages, when was your last one?”

“Two weeks ago. That’s my usual, though. I get pretty severe migraines if I don’t keep up with the massages.”

“Does your regular masseuse do anything with pressure points?”

“Yeah.”

“All right. I’ll leave for a few moments and you can go ahead and strip down to just your underwear. Slip between the flannel sheets here. The heated pad is turned on so you shouldn’t be cold. Start face down.”

He nods his understanding then I slip out of the room, closing the door behind me.

I speed walk to Maria and tug on her arm, pulling her with me. “Katie! What in the world?” she gripes, shuffling to keep up. I’m sure I look like a lunatic, yanking her around.

“Shh.” I shush her. “Wait a second.”

As soon as we’re out of hearing distance of anyone else, I launch in. “Just yesterday that guy in there helped me change a flat tire.”

“Aww,” she coos, her hand on her heart.

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