Page 48 of Unholy Gambit: Checkmate in Blood
He finished it off with gauze and tape over the top. “Roll over. Your back’s been bothering you since you first opened the door to me, and all last night, too. Let me help you with it.”
She pursed her lips. He wasn’t wrong, but… “You just want to see my butt in my panties.”
He leaned in, kissed her lips. Trailed slow, deliberate kisses along her jaw to the tender hollow beneath her ear. His voice was low, his cool breath ghosted over her skin. “If I wanted you out of the panties, you’d be out of them by now.”
Judging by the way her clit was throbbing fromthat, he was probably right.
And honestly, her lower back was still bothering her, and arguing suddenly didn’t make a lot of sense. She rolled over, adjusted her hair, rested her cheek on the cool comforter, and stretched her arms down by her sides.
He started at her shoulders and worked down, massaging the tension away as he moved lower and lower.
By the time he reached the painful areas, working them didn’t hurt as badly as if he’d gone straight there.
It wassohard to keep the muscles under his fingers relaxed. She managed it a few minutes, but then gasped and felt italltighten when he pressed into a particularly tender area.
“You’re tense through your left QL,” he murmured, continuing in the same area, but a little gentler. “All the way up to the lat.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
His hands moved like someone who knew every inch of human anatomy. It took her a minute to adjust to relaxing under his cool fingers. They weren’t icy, just room temperature, and once she thought of them as an extra help towards reducing the inflammation, they were perfect, a soothing contrast that melted tension with every slow pass of his fingers.
“You’re a massage therapist too? On top of your many other talents?”
“No. I just know a lot about anatomy.”
She thought that through, trying to figure it out, but nothing came immediately to mind.
“Why would you need to know where specific muscles are? Or what they’re called?”
“I promised not to lie to you.”
“Then don’t start now.”
“I have many tools in my toolbox. You know of the spiders and snakes, but sometimes I have to resort to the old-fashioned kind of torture. I’m quite good at my job.” He sighed. “I’m not asadist who enjoys torture simply for the sake of hurting people. It just happens to be something I’m good at.”
She recoiled a little.
At first.
But then she remembered the gang members. She knew he was in her head, but she said it out loud anyway. “Whatever you’ve done, whoever you’ve been, I like who you are now. Maybe I’d have opted to go a different route with the gang-rape thing, but I’m also not wholly certain you didn’t make the exact right choice.” She pulled in a slow breath while his fingers probed sore muscles. “If I think you’re wrong, I’ll tell you. If I’m in the grey area with you, I’ll tell you that, too.”
Strong, unhurried fingers pressed into the knots of her lower back in slow, arcing strokes, coaxing the tension to loosen. When she flinched, he eased the pressure and let his touch drift upward, mapping each muscle like he was memorizing her. When she sighed, he lingered.
Eventually, he made it to her butt muscles, also tight, also in need of work, but now, his skilled fingers stirred her up while they relaxed her. She squirmed under his touch, heat pooling low in her belly.
“That’s not where we’re headed tonight, Aurélie.
“Your hands feelridiculouslygood.”
His thumbs worked just above the curve of her ass. Her spinefinallystarted to loosen. Her breath deepened.
And her clit throbbed between her legs.
“I’m pretty sure my leg’s okay.”
“It should be. If I scent infection, we’ll get you some antibiotics.”
“No. It’s okay. It’s fine. Your fingers can keep exploring.”
