Page 33 of Bitter Secrets

“Relax.”

“Relax? How can I when you’re…?” She sucked in a breath as he used the heel of his palm on her shoulder. “Roth, I’m fine.”

“You’ll feel better in a minute.”

“I don’t want your help!”

“Yes, you do.”

She didn’t have the strength to fight him off. All she could do was grit her teeth as his strong fingers dug in. She fidgeted and cursed as he worked on her. It wasn’t until he flipped her on her stomach and massaged her lower back that she noticed the cramp in her shoulders had lessened to a dull ache.

“Where’d you learn this?” she muttered into the sheets.

“It’s something I picked up.”

Her antennae pricked. “From other women?”

His rotating thumbs paused. “Other women?”

“Your prostitutes or whatever.” She tried to keep her voice light, nonchalant. “Did you have to give them a rubdown if you went overboard?”

“If I got out of hand, they were compensated for it.”

What an ambiguous answer. He wasn’t confirming or denying that he had other women or if he ever lost control with them.

She tensed as he climbed onto the bed. He straddled her ass and leaned down, tucking his lips against her ear.

“There was no need to restrain any woman I fucked. They were all too willing.”

He jerked away before she could slam the back of her head against his mouth. He gripped her hair and forced her head to the side.

“You don’t know when to stop, do you?” he chided, but he didn’t sound upset. His voice was warm with approval. “You please me, princess.”

“I want you miserable,” she hissed.

“You’re doing a terrible job.”

“So if I’m nice and submissive, you’ll get bored like the last time?”

“Try it and see.”

Before she could singe his ears with some sailor talk, he bore down on her back, flattening her beneath him.

“Are you trying to suffocate me?” she wheezed.

“You’ll thank me later.”

She doubted it, but had no choice but to let his warm, calloused hands glide over her taut muscles. His weight had a drugging effect, suppressing her heightened senses. Her eyelids drooped. She tried to stay awake as he moved onto her legs. She mumbled under her breath as he parted her thighs. Was he going to do some fucked up shit? She jerked as she felt a warm, damp cloth. She wasn’t going to thank him for that, since it was his fault anyway. She pounded the mattress with her fist as his thumbs dug into her calves. She really hoped he knew what he was doing and wasn’t making things worse. If she was incapacitated after this “rubdown,” she was going to spike his drink with diarrhea medicine.

* * *

“Jasmine.”

Jasmine opened one eye. She was facedown on the bed and there was a dark shadow looming over her. She didn’t need a light to know who it was. She didn’t know anyone else that big. Before she could do more than blink at him, he flipped her over and sat her upright on the side of the bed.

She groaned and slumped against him. “What do you have against sleep?”

“You had a couple of hours.”

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