Page 57 of Play of Love
I thought I’d do a little reciting of my own and join him. “Be near me when my faith is dry,” I cut in. His smile widened. “And men the flies of latter spring. That lay their eggs, and sting and sing and weave their petty cells and die. Be near me when I fade away. To point the term of human strife. And on the low dark verge of life the twilight of eternal day.”
“Well this is interesting, now isn’t it,” he stated. “Now we have something in common.”
“Yes. I never took you for the poetry reading type.” I shook my head.
“My sister could tame the inner beast.” He nodded then glanced down at the book for a second.
“How was yesterday?” I asked tentatively. I’d worried that being at the cemetery would wear him down again.
He nodded. “It wasn’t terrible. I talked. I tried to talk to them as if they were still here. And I realized that as long as I remember them they’ll never leave me.”
That was beautiful, and I was happy for him.
“They won’t.” I nodded with reassurance.
“Thanks for being there the other night, and well…for still being here.”
“You’re welcome. How are you feeling?”
“I’m sober.” He smiled. “This is my second day without a drink. My hands are shaking, but other than that I think I’ll be fine.”
I looked at his hands and noticed a slight tremor as he held them out. I’d heard that shakes were a bad withdrawal symptom when you stopped drinking. I hoped he wouldn’t experience it worse than what I saw.
“I may be able to relax you a little.” I beamed at him.
“What do you plan to do?” There was a saucy glint in his eyes that made my nerves scatter.
“Give you a neck rub.” I gave excellent massages.
He frowned. “Just my neck?”
I giggled. “I can do a shoulder massage, too.”
“Come on, then, princess, don’t keep me in suspense.”
I moved over to him and went behind him so I could place my hands on his shoulders. The muscles on his neck were equally as firm as his chest. I’d never known anyone with such sharp muscle definition.
In New York, I’d seen male models do their photo shoots, but he wasn’t a male model he was an athlete. The muscles were different. And he was very tense.
“You have to relax,” I told him as I tried to work my fingers through his muscles.
“I don’t know if I can, this feels awfully kinky to me.” He looked up and gave me a cheeky smile as I pressed into his shoulders.
“Josh, it’s a shoulder massage. How can that feel kinky?”
“It just does. Are you sure this isn’t something we should continue upstairs in a nice silky bed?”
“Josh.” I smacked his shoulder playfully and he caught my hand.
“What? I can’t help who I am. Besides, I don’t want Hilda coming in and getting the wrong idea.”
I placed my hands on my hips and looked at him through narrowed eyes. “That makes no sense. Wouldn’t being in bed upstairs give her the wrong idea?”
“No, because if we were in bed upstairs there would be no guessing as to what we’d be doing. If she see’s us like this she’ll just wonder, but never be quite certain if something’s going on between us.” Trust him to say that. I didn’t know how he came up with these reasonings.
“But there isn’t anything going on between us.”
“Isn’t there?” He raised his brows.
