Walking toward the back of the spa she went to the last room on the right where she was getting ready for Sawyer. While part of her was a little giddy at the thought of them doing sensual massages on one another, she could tell earlier by the way he spoke that he was sincerely in pain. She hated to think of him suffering at all and the thought that it was her house, or rather her mother’s house that was causing him pain made her frown. The last thing she wanted was to cause Sawyer pain of any kind.
Dimming the lights and getting the blankets and pillows ready, Regan heated some lavender oil in the diffuser to get the scent just right. In the corner she turned on some soothing music but would leave it up to Sawyer if he would prefer the sound of the ocean instead. For now the music worked to calm her. While she knew that he was coming to her for medicinal purposes, any time Regan thought about running her hands all over Sawyer’s body was enough to get herself worked up. The man was simply magnificent.
Over the last several weeks she had gotten to know Sawyer and the more she learned the more she liked. Was it possible to fall this quickly? While she hadn’t trusted him at first, knowing what she did now, Regan knew that she had simply reacted to the situation rather than the man. She hadn’t wanted to like him but now that she was able to get to know him as Sawyer Bennett the man rather than Sawyer Bennett the contractor, she found that she very much liked what she saw.
Regan knew that the renovation wasn’t going to last much longer and when the house was done, Sawyer would have to move on to the next project thanks to his contract with the network. Where would that leave them? Was Sawyer even thinking about a relationship beyond the job or was this possibly the way that he did relationships? That thought did not sit well with her. From everything that she had learned about him, Sawyer did not seem like the type of guy who simply dated based upon the job he was doing. At least she hoped he wasn’t because otherwise where would that leave her? At the end of the job was she just supposed to thank him for a fabulous home make over and the orgasms and wave goodbye?
Yikes. That was a depressing thought.
But on the other hand, if Sawyer felt for her even a little of what she was feeling for him, how would their relationship work once he moved on? Long distance relationships were never a good thing and rarely worked and would she be able to stand it if he was on another job and met another woman like herself? Not to say that she didn’t trust him but did she know him well enough to spend a large amount of time apart and not question what he was doing in his spare time and who he was spending it with?
She was pathetic. Pushing all thoughts of Sawyer romancing every female homeowner in the Northeast aside, Regan took one last look at the room before stepping out and grabbing a bottle of water for herself. Truth be known she was starving; she hadn’t taken the time to stop and grab any dinner and if Sawyer was on time, they wouldn’t be leaving the spa until after ten. Her stomach growled in protest. She could only hope that she would make it that long.
As if reading her mind, Sawyer appeared at the door of A Touch of Heaven with a smile and a bag of takeout and Regan almost wept at the sight of him. Once he stepped in she locked the front door and smiled at the wicked glint in his eyes.
“Everyone gone?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows.
Regan swatted at his arm. “Yes, everyone has gone home for the night and being that we’ll be in the back it’s for safety purposes that I’m locking the door. I don’t need anyone wandering in here robbing me blind while we’re in the back.”
“Well that’s a whole lot less sexy of a reason than I was going for,” he teased.
Rather than banter with him, Regan’s stomach let out another un-ladylike growl and she simply asked, “What’s in the bag?”
“I figured that you worked until you lost track of the time and so I grabbed us some Chinese food. I wasn’t sure what you liked so I stuck to the basics but I bought a variety.”
Regan leaned in and kissed him thoroughly on the mouth. “My hero.”
She led him back to her office and set up a makeshift dining area for them. Sawyer could tell that she was tired; he saw the shadows beneath her eyes and felt a pang of guilt that he was going to make her keep working tonight for his sake. They sat on opposite sides of her large desk and he reached across for her hand. “We can do this another time if you’d rather call it a day.”
Regan waved him off. “Are you kidding? I’ve been waiting for this all afternoon,” she said with a sexy grin. “It’s not very often that I get to kick off my own shoes and relax while I’m giving a massage.”
“You can kick off anything you want. You don’t have to stop at the shoes.” His tone was playful but his mind began to conjure up all of the possibilities. Before he got too wrapped up in the fantasy, he pushed it aside and decided to ask about the rest of her day.
Regan told him about the preparations for the bridal party and how busy she expected the next morning to be. “They’re scheduled to arrive around ten and there are six of them including the bride and so it will be about a four or five hour event.”
“For manicures and pedicures?” he asked, thoroughly confused at what could possibly take that long.
“Oh, no,” she said, waving a chopstick at him. “By the way, dumplings are my favorite.” Reaching in to the container she took another one out and ate it before continuing. “If it was only a matter of mani/pedi’s, we’d have the girls in and out of here in about two hours. I would have enough staff to make that happen. No, besides the mani/pedi’s, the girls are getting facials and massages. Full service pampering party.”
“Sounds like a lot of work.”
“It is but I’ve got the entire staff coming in tomorrow, including my mother, and so we’ll have a nice rotation going.” Regan sat back and sighed with pleasure as she ate. It was the perfect meal and if he had asked her what she wanted, she would have picked everything that Sawyer had bought. “I really can’t thank you enough for this. I didn’t realize I was so hungry until we opened everything up.”
“So how does your mom feel about the house? Have you talked to her about it? She’s been around the job site more than I thought she would and so I’m curious if she’s doing it because of my dad or because she’s concerned about the work.”
“It’s definitely because of Max. You wouldn’t believe the fuss she put up over having to come in tomorrow. She was going to miss sharing Max’s coffee break.” There was that eye roll again. “It’s like she’s a seventeen-year-old girl.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“No, definitely not a bad thing but it is taking some getting used to. My mom has always been pretty stable and reliable and for the most part, pretty straight laced. Since she’s met Max I’ve heard more about her personal life than I’m comfortable with and she’s starting to change her appearance.”
Sawyer arched a brow. “How?”
“It was small at first; a bolder nail color and some jewelry. Then it moved on to a sassier wardrobe. She was never one to fuss with clothes and now suddenly she’s all spunky and wearing things that are trendy. She showed me a push-up bra that she bought from Victoria’s Secret and I’m not going to lie to you, it was a little racier than what I wear.”
Sawyer contemplated that for a moment. He hadn’t given Regan’s underwear a whole lot of thought because they were normally tossing it aside fairly quick but the thought of her wearing something sexy from Victoria’s Secret suddenly had all kinds of images in his head.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop it,” she said as if reading his mind.
“What? What did I do?” he asked innocently.
“Don’t think about my mother’s underwear. That’s just creepy.”
Sawyer dropped his chopstick and nearly choked on his food. Once he was done coughing he looked at her with disbelief. “Regan, I was not thinking about your mother’s underwear. I was, however, thinking about yours and how I wouldn’t mind us sampling a little something from the lingerie store.”
“You men are way too easy,” she said with a laugh and then called dibs on the last dumpling. “What is the point of spending a fortune on ridiculous scraps of silk and lace when they get tossed aside almost as soon as you see them?”
He couldn’t argue with her logic because it had been exactly what he had been thinking just seconds ago but still, the image of her in those ridiculous scraps of silk and lace had him more aroused than he thought possible.
“As for the house,” Regan said, changing the subject, “she’s very pleased. She’s excited to see all of the potential that you found in it and while it’s been a little more emotional for her than she expected it to be, she keeps commenting on how some lucky family is going to love all of the improvements.” With one final bite of fried rice, Regan pushed the food away and sighed with contentment. “She sings your praises daily if that makes you feel any better.”
“It does,” he teased. “But seriously, I’m glad that she’s enjoying what we’re doing. It really is a great house and I think that other than being a little outdated, you were fortunate that there weren’t any lurking issues with the structure or plumbing or anything. Whoever built that house, built it to last.”
A look of sadness came across Regan’s face and Sawyer cursed himself. He knew the subject of the house normally upset her and now he had gone and ruined the playful mood they had going. “Hey,” he said softly, once again reaching for her hand, “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to upset you. I just normally enjoy talking about the job that I’m working on and it just sucks that this one job has us at odds.”
“You don’t have to be sorry, Sawyer; I need to let it go and move on. If things were different and I was at a different place in my life, I might not feel this way. But it is what it is and I have to deal with it. Hell, who knows? Maybe my mom and Max will move in together and they’ll decide to keep it.”
“That would certainly be interesting. Dad has a great house on the coast near the Outer Banks that he’s been working on for ages. He’s never had enough time off to just spend doing the things there that he wants to. It would be nice for him to finish it and then they could split their time between the two places.”
“Look at us planning our parents’ future!” Regan said with a laugh and then stood and stretched. “If I sit any longer I may fall asleep. Let’s get this cleaned up and get you on the table so that we can work the kinks out of your shoulders.”
Sawyer pulled Regan into his arms and kissed her; slowly, sweetly. When he raised his head his expression was one full of tenderness. “I meant what I said earlier, if you’d rather call it a day I would completely understand. You’re exhausted and I don’t want to be the cause of you not feeling well.”
Standing on tip-toes, Regan placed a kiss on his nose and took him by the hand and led him toward the room she had set up for him. “You go and get yourself ready while I clean up the dinner mess.”
“Regan…” he began.
“Oh, shush,” she said and gave him a push in the direction of the room. “Give me five minutes and I’ll be in there. No arguments.” She didn’t wait to see if he had moved but instead went about cleaning up her office and clearing her mind of any talk of business. She wanted a clear mind when she went into the room and between the full belly, the dim lighting and the lavender oil, Regan knew that it was all creating a perfect storm of seduction…or sleepiness! Giggling, she cleaned up her office and turned off the lights. Walking to the last door on the right, she gently knocked before walking in.
Sawyer was on the table, face down with the blanket draped over his hips. Without asking, Regan switched the music over to the sounds of the ocean and kicked off her shoes. There was no reason to speak, words weren’t necessary. She walked around and got everything that she needed and poured the scented lotion in her hands and began to work on Sawyer’s back. He let out a low moan of approval and she smiled. It would have broken the mood to talk about sex noises as they had the last time so for now she enjoyed listening to the sounds of the waves and Sawyer’s sounds of pleasure.
By the time Regan reached the injured shoulder she could tell that Sawyer was relaxed. The feel of his muscles and the sight of his tanned skin was having the opposite effect on her. She was anything but relaxed. The more she touched him, the more she heard his moans and sighs of pleasure the more Regan wanted to please him.
Silently, she took a step back and rethought her original plan for the night. Just when he was about to lift his head and ask if everything was okay, Regan was back to running her hands over him as professionally as she could. Leaning in close, she worked her hands from his lean hips all the way up to his scalp. Gently, she scraped her nails along his skin and moved back down and started again. She did this several times before returning all of her attention to his shoulder.
“You can roll over now,” she said softly and stepped back to give him room to move. Sawyer’s expression started out sleepy but once his eyes focused on her, it changed. “Is something wrong?” she asked, striking a little pose.
“You seem to have lost some of your clothes,” he said, his throat suddenly dry. There she stood, in all her curvy glory, wearing nothing but deep red lace.
“I’m a woman, Sawyer; of course I shop at Victoria’s Secret.” The words were stated simply and she stepped forward and with a hand on his chest, gently forced him to lay back down on the table. “Now let’s work on the shoulder from this side, shall we?”
He could only nod. Sawyer closed his eyes and did his best to erase the image of her standing there in the sexy lingerie but every time she leaned forward with the massaging motion, her breasts brushed his arm and his hands began to twitch with the need to touch her. “Regan,” he said in a low growl.
“No talking,” she whispered. “Just relax and enjoy the sounds of the ocean and the feel of your muscles relaxing.”
“Darlin’ if you keep this up, nothing on me is going to be relaxed. And that isn’t a threat, that’s a promise.”
His tone was deep and sexy and Regan just wanted to run her hands and her mouth over him from head to toe. “But your time isn’t up yet,” she said sweetly, leaning in even more to put a little more pressure on the offending muscle. Sawyer hissed and she wasn’t sure if it was in pleasure or pain but she continued her work. Her hands slowed slightly as she just relished the feel of him and all but purred when he whispered her name.
“I think I may need to change the angle in order to get where you seem to need it most.” Her words sounded professional enough but before Sawyer could take a breath, Regan was straddling him on the table, her glorious breasts mere inches from his mouth. He said her name again and it came out as a plea. “Is there something you need, Sawyer?” she asked softly, seductively, as she leaned forward and placed her lips a breath away from his.
“You,” he said, reaching up and cupping the back of her head. “Only you.” Playtime was over. Every minute that she’d worked on him had been its own form of torture. He could live ten lifetimes and never get enough of the feel of her hands on him. She both excited and relaxed him and yet in the end, excitement won out. “I don’t know how you do it,” he said breathlessly between kisses, “but you make it impossible for me to have any form of self-control.”
“Good,” she said, licking her way down his throat only to rain a trail of kisses across the expanse of his wonderfully muscled chest. “It’s good to know that I’m not alone in this.” Regan flicked her tongue across one flat nipple and when he hissed she did the same to the other one. “I have done plenty of massages before and this is the first time that I couldn’t keep my clothes on.”
“Good to know,” he said, pulling her back up his body so that he could kiss her again. “I’d hate to have to come in here and kick every guy’s ass that you massage.” Regan chuckled softly but Sawyer was serious. She belonged to him and the thought of her hands on any other man – professionally or otherwise – was enough to piss him off. “The only man you’ll strip for is
me,” he said in a low rumble. “Mine.” It was the last word he could utter before reaching around and grasping Regan’s bottom in both hands and pulling her snugly against his arousal.
The intensity of his words and the feel of his hands holding on to her had Regan ready to lose control. Every time with Sawyer was exciting and yet something about this moment seemed so much more. “We’ll have to be careful,” she whispered. “This isn’t the sturdiest of tables.” Leaning in she kissed him, trying to calm the beast in both of them that was dying to break free.
“Then we’ll have to go slow,” he said, lifting her slightly so that he could kick the blanket that had been covering him from the waist down free.
Regan gasped. “Why Sawyer, you’re naked.” She shook her head. “That’s not how we do things here at A Touch of Heaven.” Unable to help herself, she reached out and stroked the hard length of him. “That’s pretty naughty,” she teased before scooting down a little farther on the table and taking him in her mouth. Sawyer hissed out a breath and ran his fingers through her glorious mane of hair and thought that this was certainly what Heaven felt like.
It didn’t take long for him to put an end to Regan’s actions because he needed to feel her, to touch her, to be inside of her. Now. Roughly he pulled her up the length of his body and reached over the side of the table where he had placed a condom earlier in hopes of the massage turning in this direction. At the sexy smile on Regan’s face, he shrugged. “It pays to be prepared.”
Not far from where he had pulled the condom from, Regan reached out and snagged another foil packet and waved it at him. “Great minds think alike.” While Sawyer sheathed himself, Regan shimmied out of her panties. No sooner had they hit the ground than Sawyer had his hands on her hips positioning her above him. Just when he was about to enter her he stopped and let his hands skim up her body where he unhooked her bra and tossed it to the floor on top of her panties and then finished traveling up to her face.
A Touch of Heaven Page 10
