The Collision on Hardwood Drive Read Online Free PDF Page B

warmth of the table against my breasts and the light blanket covering my backside like a reassuring arm. I let the calming scents in the room wash over me as I took another deep breath.
    “I’m ready,” I said. “You’d better behave, mister.”
    Rob reentered the room, his mere presence making me painfully aware of my nakedness under the sheet. He approached the table slowly, pouring a steady stream of oil in his hands and rubbing them to warm the slippery liquid.
    “What do you like?”
    “In a massage?”
    “I’d prefer to know how you like to be fucked, but yes. My immediate concern is your massage preferences,” he said, nearly purring the sex-laced words in my ear.
    “Hard,” I said, bury ing my face in the headrest.
    “That’s what I thoug ht.” His tone suggested we weren’t talking about massage preferences anymore. I didn’t correct him, but I didn’t confirm anything for him, either. Not directly, anyway.
    Instead, I giggled q uietly and relaxed. “Well, start slowly, and work your way in.” Otherwise, I’ll go nuts.
    He had raised his ha nds, feigning surrender when I brought my head up to look at him again. He smiled, handsomely, and said, “Whatever you want, Steph.”
    I felt his strong ha nds slide up my back, kneading his palms deep into my shoulders. The warm oil was luxuriously slippery on my skin, and his large hands knew exactly how to release the tension gathered under my skin. I could feel the strength of his arms as he dug into my neck before massaging my scalp and running his fingers through my hair. My whole body was ablaze from the touch of his hands, but I felt utterly languorous.
    As he massaged away, I felt his warm breath tickling my ear. “You’d better be single,” Rob said, lowering his voice to a growl. I smiled into the table, not saying a word. “That’s a yes , then? I’m not sure how that’s even possible. Just look at you—newly single, I’m guessing?”
    “Mmhm,” I confirmed, not sure about how much I should be sharing here. I thought about it and quickly decided that if I was going to scare him off, I might as well do it sooner rather than later. I continued, trying not to sound hesitant, “Yeah, I was with someone for four years. Then, six months ago, I walked in on him with another woman—in bed. In our bed.”
    Rob whistled, long and low. “The guy’s an idiot. What kind of man cheats on a woman like you?” His warm hands rubbed at my lower back, thumbs tracing firm circles on either side of my spine.
    “Flattery will get y ou everywhere,” I said.
    I sighed, enjoying t he contrast of his rough hands and the silky oil as they moved over my bare back. “I think I’m angrier with myself than I am with him. I’m so pissed that I wasted so much time with a dick like him, you know?”
    “Why did you?”
    I had to think about that for a good long moment before I could even begin to formulate an answer. “Well,” I said, thinking about my words very carefully before letting them escape my mouth. “He had a strong personality, charming, and intelligent. He was a journalist, and he took his work seriously. Although now, I think he just took himself really seriously. I mistook his egotism for passion.”
    Rob kept smoothing oil all over my body, moving from my back to my legs. He rubbed at my calves, running his knuckles from my ankles to the backs of my knees.
    “I think I just want ed to prove to myself that I could make a relationship work—that was most of it, anyway. I— ohh , yeah. That feels good. Mmm, right there.” I groaned as his strong hands squeezed my thighs, soothing the muscles that were tight and sore from the day’s rehearsal. I forgot what I was saying, lost in relishing the pleasure his hands brought me.
    “Keep going,” Rob said.
    “He never made me ha ppy,” I continued, “and the worst part was that he didn’t even try. I don’t think he thought much about anyone, except himself. I should never have let the