‘That would be great, thanks,’ Charlie replied.
As Holly decanted some of her neutral-scented base oil into a fresh glass bottle and added several drops of the rosemary and peppermint, she was aware of Charlie watching her hands intently. She’d made up this mixture a hundred times, and with cool efficiency she mixed the oils, filled the bottle to the top and then finished it off with a cork stopper. Then, she grabbed her calligraphy pen, wrote the contents and the date on one of her pre-printed ComIncense labels and handed it over to Charlie.
‘Just massage a bit into your neck and shoulders tonight, or, even better, get someone to do it for you, and you will really feel the benefit.’ Was she imagining things, or was Charlie Thorpe actually starting to blush? ‘Did I say something wrong?’ she asked.
‘No, not at all,’ Charlie laughed nervously. ‘It’s just that I don’t really know anyone well enough in Willowbury yet to ask them to get their hands on me!’ Trying to make a joke of it, his laugh faltered.
There was a pause between them, while Charlie stared fixedly at the bottle Holly had just given him and Holly debated within herself.
Eventually, she smiled. ‘I’ll do it for you if you like.’
Charlie’s head snapped back up. ‘Oh, it’s all right, that wasn’t a hint. I’m sure I can see to myself. Oh, Christ…’ At the clearly unintentional innuendo, Charlie really did laugh.
Holly, tickled, joined in. ‘Honestly, I don’t mind. I’ll just close the shop and then we won’t get interrupted. It’s closing time anyway.’ She gestured to the room off the back of the shop. ‘That’s my treatment room. Don’t worry, it’s not as clinical as it sounds. Why don’t you go in and get yourself comfortable and I’ll be with you in a sec. Just slip the top half of your clothes and your shoes off and lie down on the massage bed.’
‘If you’re sure you don’t mind,’ Charlie replied. ‘I thought you needed to take bookings for these sorts of things.’
‘Usually, yes, but for you I’ll make an exception,’ Holly smiled. ‘I’d only be worrying about you if I let you go home with that sore neck.’ She did wonder why she was making a sudden exception and letting Charlie onto her massage table without an appointment, but, she figured, she’d dissect her own reasoning later. She was nothing if not spontaneous.
Charlie smiled. ‘OK, sounds great.’ He ambled towards the small room at the back of the shop while Holly locked the front door.
Turning off the shop floor lights, she went to the counter and scrolled through her phone for some suitably relaxing music to pipe through to the treatment room. Selecting some middle-of-the-road Celtic relaxation music, not wanting to totally freak Charlie out with something more out there, she lit a lavender incense stick and slotted it into the holder just inset into the doorway of the treatment room.
Opening the door, she couldn’t help a sharp intake of breath as she saw Charlie stretched out on her massage table. Naked to the waist, his white shirt, waistcoat and tie slung over the chair in the corner of the room, his dark, slightly dishevelled hair contrasted with the pale skin of his back. Legs encased in his suit trousers stretched tantalisingly down the table, and his muscular arms were stretched out at his sides. He was turned away from the door, but as she came in, he turned his head and just for a moment, his deep, brown eyes looked sleepily in her direction before he remembered 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.’