Page 24 of Bren

Looking over my shoulder, I ask innocently, “Did you say something?”

“Nope,” he shakes his head in denial.

Biting my lip to stop the smile that’s threatening to break free, I walk into my room but leave the door open. It was fun torturing him, wish I’d thought of it before.‘If it wasn’t for this headache, I’d enjoy it a lot more,’I thought, rubbing at my neck.

A groan leaves me as strong fingers knock my hand away and dig deep into the muscles of my shoulders. My head falls forward, giving him better access.

“That’s good,” I whimper slightly as he presses down on a knot.

“Jesus, Bren, you own one of the best therapy businesses in the county. Why haven’t you been for a massage?”

“No time,” I let out another moan as he finds another knot and then whimper as he takes his hands away.

“I’m not finished,” he laughs. “Where’s your muscle-relaxing stuff you brought out last week?”

Tilting my head towards the chest of drawers in the corner of my room, I say, “Over there.”

Pushing me gently towards the bed, he orders, “Go lie down.”

I don’t argue; my head is pounding, and I know from experience that taking tablets won’t work. The only thing that does is to relax the muscles in my shoulders, neck, and face.

Pushing my pillows from the bed, I lie down.

“I’m moving your straps down your arms, Bren,” Alec warns, pushing them down and off my shoulders, and then his hands are on me. I groan as he hits a particularly bad knot and then relax as he slowly works the knot. As the tension slowly leaches out of me and I sink lower in the bed, my body decides to wakeup, and I can’t lie to myself—having his hands on me is making me incredibly turned on. By the time he finishes, or at least I think he is because he moves away, I open my eyes when the bed moves. I turn my head to see him settling back against the headboard. Patting his leg, he says, “Come, let me rub your head and face. I remember what you showed Ben.”

Surprised, I sit up and turn, lying back down with my head on Alec’s lap. Tilting my head back, I look at him, “You remember?”

“Of course I do,” he replies, taking the tie from my hair and running his fingers through it, before digging deep and massaging my skull. I whimper slightly at the tenderness of my head, and he instantly lightens his touch. “Sorry,” he mutters.

“Don’t apologise; this is amazing and my head is feeling ten times better. I can’t believe you remember me showing Ben how to do this.”

He’s silent for a while but doesn’t stop running his fingers through my hair and pressing down on the pressure points I’d shown Ben all those years ago. “I keep telling you, Bren, I noticed more about you than you think.”

A smile tugs at my lips and a flush of happiness flows through me. Neither of us says anything as he moves to my face and massages it. It’s not long before I feel myself drifting off. I didn’t intend to fall asleep, but it felt so good to be cared for and wanted.

My room is dark when I wake to Lexi’s whimpers; there is an unfamiliar heavy weight thrown over my waist, and for a second, I wonder who it is. Then Alec speaks huskily in my ear, “Sorry, Bren, I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I’ll go and feed her.”

Lifting his arm from me, Alec gets up out of the bed. “Alec,” I call out softly. He turns towards me with sleepy eyes, and I have tosmile at his hair sticking up all over the place. “Bring her here; I’ll feed her.”

He nods and leaves the room; I can hear him changing Lexi, and then he’s back and handing Lexi to me. Taking her, I get comfortable before putting her to my breast. “You can stay,” I say just as Alec gets to the door. He stiffens in surprise, asking, slightly disbelieving in his tone, “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” I reply, patting the bed where he’d been asleep not ten minutes ago.

Alec gets back into bed and turns on his side, watching us. I’d love to know what he’s thinking, but it’s been a peaceful night, and I don’t want to mess it up.

“How’s your head?” he asks quietly.

Smiling, I turn my head towards him, “It’s fine. If you ever get tired of being a mechanic, I’ll hire you at the spa; you’d be very popular with the ladies.”

Alec snorts, “No thanks. Besides, the only woman I want my hands on let me touch her tonight for the first time in months. I don’t want to touch anyone else.”

Not saying anything, I give him a small smile when he says those words, and I realise that he may have shattered my heart with his carelessness, but now he was slowly putting it back together again, a sliver at a time.

Chapter 13

ALEC

The anger and fear that ran through me when Bren told us about what had happened today nearly took my breath away. It was then I realised how much she meant to me and had always meant to me, but I was too stupid to realise it.

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