by Casey Hagen
She stumbled off the edge of the bed and stood, just to crumple over again as a cramp—holy hell—twisted in her lower back.
At least she thought it was her lower back. She reached around and dug her fingertips into the flesh there, moving lower and lower until the pressure made pain zing through her body.
“Ow, ow, ow,” she muttered. She flexed her glutes, the ache only getting worse. “Great. Aiden takes off and leaves me here with a broken ass.”
Joking about it couldn’t quite mask the emptiness, but dammit, it was a start. Maybe she’d been wrong to regard him so highly just because of his “Hidden Heart” comment because really, wouldn’t a guy who seemed so into her, and not just her fame, take the time to say goodbye?
Everything about him led her to believe that he would have at least stuck around until morning out of politeness, if nothing else. She wasn’t looking for a promise of forever, but a “I had a great time, maybe next time you’re in town we can get together” might have been nice.
Hell, at that point, a playful swat on the ass, a smile, and a “That was great, but I’ve gotta run” would have been better than the faint impression of his body left on the cold sheet as her only reminder.
Couldn’t they have at least parted friends?
Maybe exchanged numbers?
That is what she got for opening up to him, for confessions in the dark about things missing from her life. And that was definitely why it all stung in the light of day. Not because of how he left, but because under the blanket of night where he couldn’t see her face to scrutinize her, she’d admitted to the things she longed for. Something she had never told another soul.
Taking a step, her leg gave out as her muscles spasmed, leaving her grasping for the mattress.
Dammit.
She dropped down to her hands and knees and crawled for her phone. Wasn’t this just a rather spectacular fall from grace?
She unlocked her cell just to have the picture of them come up. Yup, last thing she looked at last night before he’d arrived.
She closed her eyes and swiped, closing the image of them huddled together, that soft smile on her lips like Prince Charming had just ridden in on his white horse to claim her.
At least she was the only one with the picture so no one else ever had to see it.
Sifting through her contact list, she considered each name and promptly discarded them within seconds. With a management team made up of mostly guys, there was no way in hell she planned on explaining any of this to them. Her parents had headed to Florida for the winter, not that she wanted to have any sort of sex talk with either of them.
Her grandmother, well, she was supposed to go see her today. Unfortunately, the woman didn’t belong behind the wheel anymore and would insist on driving into the city to get her.
Bad idea.
She owned a 1980s’ boat of a car, had a booster seat to help her sit up higher, and still all you could see above the steering wheel was her knuckles and gray hair. Even if she managed to avoid ramming into an intersection full of pedestrians, her grandmother would want to know just what position she had been in to cause herself such anguish.
And then she’d never be able to look the woman in the eye again.
She could always lie and say it happened on stage.
Except no one would buy it. She walked out of there a woman on a mission.
Nope...had to go the safe route. Mara. They’d always joked about booty calls, but Nikki couldn’t remember ever confessing about a real one. Usually she listened while Mara chatted about her conquests.
“Hey, Nik, you’re up early. I thought you might sleep the morning away.”
Nikki pressed her cheek against the carpet and tried to block out all the germ-ridden reasons she shouldn’t. “Lovely thought. Take a guess what I’m actually doing?”
“If you’re up this early, hopefully you’re lounging in the tub, soaking away the aches and pains of touring.”
Here goes nothing... “I, my friend, am trapped on the floor, unable to stand without getting the universe’s worst ass cramp.”
Mara’s boisterous laugh was her only answer.
“This is all your fault. I went after one of those much-needed, high-expectation booty calls, and now I’m dying,” Nikki muttered as she tried to arch her back and stretch.
“What??? You got lucky last night? Who’s the guy?” Mara shrieked.
Nikki sighed. “Did you miss the part where I said my ass is broken?”
“Nope, but you might as well fill me in on this mystery guy while you’re...stuck.”
“The who doesn’t matter,” Nikki said.
“Secretive...hmmm. Well, why don’t you have him rub it?” Mara said with a snicker.
Nikki’s eyes shut, and a sigh of humiliation slipped from her lips. Or maybe it was a gasp at the pinch in her heart. “Yeah, that would be great if he’d stuck around.”
“Eeeek! He left?” Mara said with breathless surprise.
“At some point he must have because he isn’t here.”
“He didn’t say goodbye?” Mara asked.
“Look, do you think you could help me instead of hitting me with the twenty questions that will only highlight just how pathetic this whole situation is?”
“You need a doctor,” Mara said.
She’d had one...that’s what got her into this mess. “Come on, it’s a sore muscle. I don’t need pain pills. What about a massage? Think that would work?”
“You’re on the floor. I think you might be past the point of massage. Plus, any good masseuse isn’t going to touch you if you’re having pain like this. You’re too much of a liability.”
“Listen, I’ll take a witch doctor or a damn genie in a bottle at this point. I just need something,” she growled as the patience she had white-knuckled up to this point fled from her grasp.
“Okay, look, I’ll find a place and get you in today. It’s a Saturday so it might be tough. Just hang tight,” Mara said.
“Yeah, not going anywhere,” Nikki said.
“You might want to do some stretches so you can get it loosened up enough to get to the car.”
“And what kind of stretches would those be?” Nikki asked.
“Google it,” Mara said.
“I’m going in the tub,” Nikki said, crawling in that direction.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. What if something goes wrong? You’re alone.”
“I think I can muster the strength to avoid drowning in the bathtub. I mean, if the fire alarms went off right now, I’m pretty sure I could make it out of here. There’s that whole will to live thing I could draw on,” Nikki said, trying not to laugh at the ridiculousness of the moment.
“I’m counting on that. I’d hate to have to spend this downtime from the tour brushing up my resume. Hang tight and I’ll call you right back.”
After executing a few yoga stretches, she managed to get herself up on her feet enough to hobble her way into the bathroom.
She didn’t even wait for the tub to fill; she climbed on in, desperate to see if the warm water would work some magic.
A pang of regret slid through her at the thought that with one hot bath, it was as though she were washing away the night before, which was silly. She’d left the lovesick teen years behind a long time ago. If she didn’t get a grip, she’d find herself doodling hearts with their names in the center or worse, practicing her new signature with his last name.
Except she didn’t even know his last name.
Because he was a boob.
She slathered the entire travel size bottle of body wash on a thick washcloth, all of a sudden anxious to scrub her skin clean. The soothing, hot water assuaged the tight muscle enough that the other aches and pains left over from their hot night came to the forefront.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw him. His smile, the way his mocha eyes darkened with arousal, hot and hungry as he studied her from head to toe.
That sexy bite of his li
p.
The way the muscle in his jaw flexed with every thrust.
The more he tried to satisfy his appetite, the more he seemed to crave.
Each memory linked to the soreness between her legs, the stubble burn along her breasts and neck, and the quiver of exhaustion in her thighs from the way she rode him with wild abandon.
Okay, so she had to admit, the way he slunk out while she slept aside, the sex had been about the best thing ever.
Who didn’t want a guy who could be a wild animal one minute, and then surrender to his woman next?
Sign me up, please!
Until last night, her absolute most favorite thing to do was lying beachside in Belize under a cabana with a strong pair of hands rubbing every bit of tension from her body while intermittently holding up her strawberry daiquiri so she could take a sip.
She’d trade in any chance of her cabana dreams for just one more orgasm like the ones Aiden had delivered.
Her phone buzzed beside her. She ran her hand over a towel and hit the green button, then put Mara on speakerphone.
“I’m still alive,” Nikki said by way of answering.
“Good, and you’re going to feel better. I got you an appointment with a chiropractor. I called right after they had a cancellation. Get dressed, your car will be waiting for you.”
“I owe you big time. Like a vacation wherever you want to go big time,” Nikki said as relief slid through her.
“Yeah, well, we’ll see if you still feel that way after the car ride. It’s in Stamford, but I figured since you were headed to Ridgefield later, it was pretty much on the way.”
“It’s okay. I’ll take it,” Nikki said. Either way, she was going to have a car ride to deal with today. Why not get the agony out of the way before the appointment.
“Okay, great. It’s booked under your real name,” Mara said.
“Perfect. I can’t thank you enough. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t answered.”
“Well, if you want to thank me, let’s have drinks and you can tell me all about this hot night of yours. I want details.”
Nikki laughed. “Done.”
“I’m going. Get your butt out of the tub and get ready!”
TWO HOURS LATER, HER muscles in a knot from the car ride, she fought the urge to whimper as she waited for the doctor.
She narrowed her eyes at the table, pretty sure she didn’t want to get on it. Looking at the head section, she could almost imagine it being like a massage table with a face slot for when a person lay face down.
But it was everything that came after that, multiple sections of smaller cushions and the knobs and buttons along the side of the base that had her wondering what the hell they did to people on that thing.
The cushions moved independently. They had to. Otherwise, what the hell was the point?
But did all those parts of the body, her body, really move that independently when lying down?
Nope.
Definitely a torture device.
The door flew open after a soft knock. “Good morning, I’m Dr. Powell. I hear you’re having a bit of muscle trouble in your lower back?”
She jerked, her mouth falling open. Her blood heated and surged, making her skin tingle.
Aiden.
This couldn’t be happening. A roaring filled her ears. Her cheeks flamed.
How the hell did she face him after he left? And like this, with a cramp in her ass?
She cleared her throat. “Uh, yes.” She forced the words past what felt like concrete sitting on her tongue.
He smiled, that same damn smile from the night before. “Well, Natalie, why don’t you tell me a little bit about what you were doing before this happened?”
Huh?
She blinked at him, unable to say anything past her frozen lips.
Uh, guy, you were there. And why the hell are you acting as though we’ve never seen each other?
Was he really just going to stand there and pretend that he hadn’t been bumping uglies with her in bed the night before? Was she that damn forgettable? Or was he on drugs? Head injury between the hotel and here?
And there was no way she would buy that it was her difference in name. You just didn’t miss the fact that someone you’d been inside was sitting in front of you.
Not even if she told you her name was B.J. Cobbledick.
He pulled up a rolling stool and plopped down with a file and notepad in his lap. He smiled again, a perfectly innocuous smile without a hint of recognition.
Okay, she had entered the Twilight Zone.
Maybe this was a professional thing. It was a big office. She’d spotted some nurses milling about out there. Maybe he was worried one would come in so he was keeping it one hundred percent professional.
That had to be it.
It was the stupidest explanation she could think of.
But the only one that made any sense.
“I was sleeping and woke up in pain,” she said.
“Hmmm, okay. Well, let’s take a look. If you’d lie down face down please,” he said, circling around the back side of the table and dropping his notepad on the counter.
She stepped up and hesitated.
“The table won’t bite,” he said with a laugh.
Yeah, but she might bite him if he didn’t stop acting as though she hadn’t rolled a condom right down his dick last night.
He’d been stone-cold sober. She was positive of that. You didn’t spend that much time with a man’s tongue in your mouth without knowing for sure.
She clutched the vinyl padding and climbed onto the table. With her one knee bent and her other foot still on the floor, the offending muscle chose just that time to lock tight like a charley horse in her ass cheek.
She yelped and hopped onto the table, afraid to lie down, afraid to stand, and instead, froze on her hands and knees like some bitch in heat with her ass in the air.
Okay, a sinkhole can open up right now and suck her in. She was ready to go.
Humiliation complete.
“Whoa, hold on,” he said, taking her arm. “You okay?”
The look of concern on his face dialed her rage level down to a nine. “As long as I don’t move ever again, I’m great.”
“Okay, well, why don’t you show me where the pain is that just hit you?”
She’d rather die, thanks.
“Uh, well. It’s kind of hard to reach back there right now,” she said.
He clapped his hands together and interlocked his fingers. “Okay, how about I probe the area and when I get there, you let me know? Would that be okay?”
“What’s a little more probing after last night,” she muttered.
“I’m sorry?” he said, confusion lacing his tone.
Appearances. Keeping appearances. “Nothing,” she sighed.
“Alright. Let’s get started. How’s this?” He pressed on her lower spine just above the waistband of her leggings.
“Lower.”
“Here?” he asked.
She sighed. “Lower.”
“How about here?”
“Nope. Lower.”
He stared at her as though seemingly deep in thought.
Yeah, she had that effect on all the guys.
“Uh, okay. Is it more on one side than the other?” he asked.
“If I had to guess, I would say more on the left.”
“Okay, so what about here?”
He dug something into her left cheek, the sensation like sticking your tongue on a 9V battery, bumping your funny bone, and a cramp in the arch of the foot all at once reared up, concentrated deep in her ass, like journey to the center of the her ass as though he were on an expedition.
“You got it,” she said, yanking away from him in a huff.
“Okay, so I think I know what the problem is. Sacroiliac joint pain. My guess specifically is the piriformis muscle on the left side.”
“Can you fix it?”
“Well, yes, it won’t be p
erfect today, but with a few return visits and some stretches at home, I’d say so.”
“Thank God.”
He scratched his pen over his notepad, his writing hurried.
Huh, she didn’t know why, but she would have thought he’d have been neater.
“Now, you said this happened while you were sleeping?”
“Well, I would guess,” she said dryly. “I went to bed feeling nice and limber and woke up like this,” she said while giving him a pointed look.
“And you didn’t do anything out of the ordinary last night?” he asked, his focus back to his damn pad.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“I’m not trying to invade your privacy; it’s just these things have a cause and as long as I know how you ended up in pain, I can give you ways to prevent ending up in this position again.”
Okay, this was too weird. Time to just say it so he could acknowledge it, and they could get over the fact that he took off without a goodbye.
“My best guess, this happened when I was laid out on the bed, legs spread wide, holding onto the headboard while a sex-starved crazy man drove into me for a good half hour. Does that explain it?”
Those chocolate eyes she’d loved looking into last night shot wide open. “Whoa, yup, got it.” He cleared his throat and tossed her a grin. “Guess you had a better night than I did,” he said with a laugh.
What the hell kind of statement was that? She had the same night he did. Well, barring the fact that she was the receiver and now stuck on her hands and knees in his office the next morning, but what the hell?
“Okay, so what we’re going to do is get you onto your back and get that muscle stretched out. Here, I’ll give you a hand.”
“Is it going to hurt?” she asked, avoiding his offered hand and rolling onto her hip.
“Well, probably a bit, but you’re already hurting so, really, how bad can it be?”
“Right,” she muttered as she got situated on the table. She raised her knees to relieve the ache. Something about lying flat made that muscle twist like a figure skater spinning in the middle of the rink, coiling until it felt like her ass might snap apart.
“So, just for your knowledge, the contraction of the piriformis muscle helps with mild to moderate external rotation of the foot for things like a natural walking gait or getting into a butterfly leg position. It also prevents being stuck in internal rotation if the muscles on the inside of your legs are contracting.”
