“Let me tell you why you’re wrong.” I released her and picked up my fork. “During that meeting in the conference room in Vegas, you could have said a lot of things to the team. You couldhave fucking shredded us. Morale would have nose-dived, and we would have gone into the New Jersey game feeling like total shit—even worse than we already did. But you didn’t do that.”
She finished chewing a piece of steak before she said, “Are you kidding? I wanted to look at Kirk and tell him he was the biggest moron and ask him how he could do that in publicannndhow he could do that without a condom. Hello? Gross. You don’t even know that woman.” She picked up a mushroom with her fingers and popped it into her mouth. “But we’re always the toughest on ourselves. If he felt bad about the situation, I didn’t need to make him feel worse. And if he had no regret at all, then nothing I said would have changed his mind, and I didn’t want the team to be verbally punished for his mistake.”
“Which is funny because I tore his fucking face off before you and your crew walked in.”
She smiled. “We’ll call that balance.”
I laughed. “I need you to eat up.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because there’s a surprise waiting for you in the bedroom.”
“Daaamn,” Jolie moaned. “I had no idea you were so good at this.”
I chuckled. “You think eating pussy and playing hockey are the only talents I have?”
She leaned up a little to look at me over her shoulder; the view of her profile and nakedness of her back was a sight even an author couldn’t describe. “I certainly never thought that.”
“I’m playing with you.”
She smiled before she turned back around and lay flat on the massage table.
I added more oil to my hands and ran them down her bare thighs, concentrating on the muscles, rubbing into them, away from them, kneading their center.
This was the other part of the surprise—set up in the bedroom, lit with more candles and rose petals. I didn’t know how my assistant had arranged to get a massage table into my suite, nor did I care. Once Jolie and I had finished dinner, I’d had her strip and get on top of it, face down, doing everything I could to ease that mind of hers.
“It’s really this simple: I know your body, and I know what you want.”
“Sexually, you do, yes.” She groaned as I slid up her spine, gently thumbing each groove and disc. “But usually only professionals are this skilled with their hands.”
“I get massaged at least once a week. Sometimes more if I’m home. I know what I like, and I know the techniques that are used. Plus, I can feel what you like—the same way I can when I’m fucking you.”
“How?”
I moved behind her head and focused on her neck. “I listen to you. I read your body, your reactions. Your breathing. The noises you make. If you tense or tighten up. If you completely relax into my hands.” A grin moved over my lips. “Like you’re doing right now.”
“This is the best night I’ve had in a really long time. Honestly, like the top three ever.”
“Impossible.”
“I’m serious. I hope you know how much all of this has meant to me, everything you’ve done tonight, it’s been perfect.”
“I’m glad.” I pulled my hands back, eyeing her ass and how sexy and slick it looked. “Flip over for me.”
She slowly rolled onto her back, and I walked toward the foot of the table, wrapping my hand around one of her feet. Therewas a spot right at the bridge of my foot’s arch that made me fucking groan every time my masseuse grazed it. Once I found Jolie’s, I carefully swiped my thumb across it.
“Yesss.”
I laughed.
“What are you?” she asked. “Because, for real, this is next-level wildness right now.”
“Listen, there are a lot of things I could do, but the most important is showing you just how far I’d go to take care of you.”
She leaned up on her elbows while I got to work on her ankle. “I’m feeling all the feels right now.”
“I bet you are.”