himself. He already looked far more relaxed than when he’d entered the shop, and she hadn’t laid a hand on him yet.
‘Are you comfortable?’ Holly asked, once she’d remembered to breathe again. She’d had a few clients since she’d started the massage part of her business a few weeks back, but none of them had affected her in this way, no matter how gorgeous they were. Harriet Meadows, certainly, hadn’t made her catch her breath when she’d given her a massage. She needed to get a grip. An uncomfortable reminder of how attracted she’d been to him all those years ago worried at her memory, until she resolutely pushed it to one side. That was then, this is now, she thought.
‘Really comfortable,’ Charlie said. ‘It feels so good to lie down after three hours crammed in the corridor of the train.’
‘Good,’ Holly said, focusing on the techniques she was about to employ on Charlie’s back in an attempt to keep the professional distance. ‘Well, hopefully after this massage you’ll feel even better. So, I’m going to start off with medium pressure on your neck and shoulder blades. If it feels too hard, or too soft, just let me know and I’ll change it up a bit.’ She rubbed her hands together and then uncorked the freshly prepared massage oil. ‘Likewise, if you think my hands are too cold, let me know and I’ll warm them up a bit.’ She dribbled a little bit of the oil onto her palms and then rubbed them together again. Then, taking a deep breath, she put her hands onto Charlie’s broad, muscular back. Feeling the tension in his neck and shoulders, she began to press and squeeze, working her fingertips into the knots and kinks of his shoulders and neck. ‘Some people like me to talk to them while I do this, but others prefer to be quiet, so let me know if you want me to shut up,’ Holly said. She felt the smooth warmth of Charlie’s skin, in contrast to the tension in his back, and she pressed her fingers deeper into the junctions of his shoulder blades, easing out the very worst of the stiffness she found there.
Charlie groaned as she switched tack and dug her elbow into a particularly stubborn knot between his shoulders.
‘Too hard?’ Holly asked. She was leaning over Charlie’s back and felt a sharp, pinpricking tingle deep within herself as she smelt the remnants of his musky aftershave, underpinned by his own scented warmth, combined with the deeper, more peppery scent of the massage oil. In response to her nearness, she saw her breath lift the hair on the back of his neck when she spoke. She was compelled to pause the movement of her hands for a moment, and drew another deep breath.
‘No…’ Charlie murmured. He was face down, resting his head on the circle of the massage table, so Holly couldn’t see his expression. ‘It feels amazing. I don’t know why I haven’t had one of these before.’
‘You feel quite knotted,’ Holly said, focusing on the vertebrae in his neck. ‘I really would think about getting a new office chair. And booking a seat on the train home.’
‘It’s been a busy few weeks,’ Charlie’s voice, muffled from the position he was in, sounded more relaxed. ‘But this is definitely… helping.’
Holly, who was again using her elbows as well as her hands, felt the warmth of Charlie’s back against her own skin as she pushed deeper into his shoulder blades, feeling him breathing in and out, his chest rising and falling, and then hitching slightly, as she hit another tender spot.
‘Did you want me to work on your lower back a little bit, too?’ Holly asked as she straightened up.
‘If you’ve got time,’ Charlie replied. He sounded as though he was almost dropping off to sleep. Holly took that as a compliment.
‘No problem.’ Shifting down the bed, Holly drizzled some more massage oil onto her palms and began to manipulate Charlie’s lower back. ‘You’ve got a really good, long, straight back,’ she said as she focused on his spine, trying not to notice how attractive it was as it swept into the curve of a very delectable bottom. ‘You should take better care of it.’
‘If it means getting more massages like this, then I definitely will.’
They lapsed into a more comfortable silence as Holly continued to work, to the gentle beat of the relaxation music and the scent of the incense in the air as it burned slowly down. After a few more minutes, Charlie’s breathing seemed to slow, and Holly felt his back muscles relax under her hands, and she knew he was starting to drop off to sleep. This wasn’t unusual with her clients; she’d been told when she took the massage course that this was definitely a sign that she’d been doing her job right.
With a feeling of slight regret that the massage had come to its natural end, Holly wiped the oily residue off her palms with a fluffy white towel and then spread a larger one over Charlie’s back to keep him warm while he lay there. Giving him one last, long, lingering glance, she padded from the treatment room.
9
Charlie woke with a start. Heart thumping as he breathed unfamiliar scents and heard exotic music, it took him a good few seconds to realise that he’d dropped off to sleep on Holly’s massage table. Feeling slightly embarrassed, and hoping against hope that he hadn’t been snoring, he sat up slowly, grabbing the tumbler of water that was on the unit beside the massage table, because he felt incredibly thirsty. As the cool water hit his throat, he realised that his neck and shoulders, while feeling as though they’d had a workout, felt a million times looser and more relaxed than they had before he’d entered the world of ComIncense. Holly had worked wonders with her hands and elbows.
Squashing the hugely erotic thoughts about where else Holly’s hands might feel good on him, he stood up and grabbed his shirt from the chair in the corner of the room, buttoning it up hastily in case he’d been asleep for hours and Holly was waiting to call it a night. He was glad he’d been face down during the massage so that Holly had been unable to see the look of pleasure on his face, as he wasn’t sure how appropriate that would have been, under the circumstances. Glancing at his watch, he was relieved to see that he’d only been asleep for half an hour or so. Hopefully he hadn’t put Holly out too much.
As he exited the treatment room, he noticed the lights were out in the shop, and that the only illumination was coming from a couple of thick altar candles that had been placed in dishes on the shop counter. The music had changed from the Celtic-sounding melodies to something that sounded a little more Eastern mystical, and as Charlie cast his eyes around for Holly, it took him a moment to realise that she was curled up with her legs folded under her in a yoga position; child’s pose, he seemed to remember it being called, courtesy of an ex-girlfriend who was a yoga convert.
Charlie padded out across the shop floor, not wanting to disturb Holly in the middle of her routine. As he drew closer to her, she straightened up to a sitting position and raised her long, shapely arms in the air, palms flat and together, before bringing her hands down in front of her. From where he was, behind her, Charlie was struck once again by the beautiful contrast of brilliant red hair, somewhat subdued in the candlelight, roughly plaited and tumbling over her back to just below her bra line, which he could see through her vest top when she stretched her arms. He felt a sharp sting of longing spiralling downwards into his abdomen as he saw the sweeping curve of her waist and hips, and the outline of one full, rounded breast as she turned slightly to one side. She was utterly, completely gorgeous; not just in this light but in any light.
Clearing his throat, as much as to dislodge the sudden dryness that seeing Holly like this had created as to announce his presence, he spoke, hoping that his voice wouldn’t betray the sudden sting of arousal that he felt. ‘Um… I’m sorry if I’ve kept you waiting.’
Holly took a moment to complete her yoga pose, bowing her head to her chest, which again
