Under Pressure (Body Armor #1)(56)
Being truthful, she admitted, “Not as much. It’s easing up.” She no longer felt like Frankenstein when she walked.
“You should have taken an ice bath right afterward.”
Appalled at the idea, she gasped. “Not happening, ever.”
A devilish light entered his green eyes. “So you’re not only an exercise virgin, you’re a wuss?”
“When it comes to ice?” She shuddered. “Absolutely. I don’t do cold. I did lounge in a hot whirlpool though.”
“Wrong. That should’ve been after the ice.”
Pointing her Coke at him, Cat said, “I don’t want to hear that word again.”
He twisted toward her and gave her legs a quick survey. “Massage helps too. Want to stretch out?”
“Um...” Nervous tingles ran up her spine. “No?”
He took the drink and bowl from her hands and set them on the coffee table. “I’m not going to make a move, promise. But there’s no reason for you to sit there and be uncomfortable when I can help.”
“But...” He was Leese’s friend, not hers, and while Leese might trust him, she didn’t know him. Sure, he seemed okay, as harmless as Justice, but he was still a stranger and anything was possible. He could be working for Webb, he could—
Miles caught her ankles and, ignoring her yelp, pulled her flat on the couch. Before she could totally shift in the usual fight-or-flight mode, he flipped her over so that her face was in the sofa cushions.
“Now just relax. This’ll ache a little at first, but it’ll feel better quick.”
Eyes wide, hands flattened at either side of her head and her body light-years away from relaxed, Cat prepared to launch away.
Then she felt his large hands begin kneading her calves.
Oh, heaven.
She drew a shaky breath, but couldn’t think of anything to say.
“Okay?” Miles asked, still working on her muscles through the flannel pajama pants.
“Mmm,” she replied, going all squishy inside. She’d had massages before, but none had ever felt this good.
With a grin in his voice, he murmured, “I have no idea why Leese didn’t already do this.”
She sighed. “He’s resisting me.”
“Yeah?” Miles’s fingers went higher, to the backs of her thighs, but remained impersonal as he worked her muscles. “How come?”
She felt too lax to reply.
“Did you fall asleep, Catalina?”
“No.” Another deep breath, and she managed to put some words together. “He doesn’t want to take advantage of me.”
“Ha!”
Well, that sounded rude. When she started to turn to him he stilled her by holding down her legs.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to laugh.” He dug deeper into her muscles, making her groan. “You just don’t strike me as the timid type who can’t speak her mind.”
“No,” she murmured, “I’m not.” She was just the type who got in over her head with ruthless murderers.
“Seems to me that if Leese is saying no, you haven’t presented your case very well. I mean, it could be a firing offense for him, right? You’d need to make it worth his while.”
A firing offense? She twisted to frown at him. “Why would he get fired if I was willing?”
“He’s your bodyguard. Pretty sure sex with a client is a no-no.”
Grumbling, she relaxed again. “Maybe bodyguards should worry more about pleasing the client instead of protocol.”
She could hear the grin in Miles’s voice when he said, “And maybe you need to spell it out.”
She considered that. “I could promise to explain to his boss for him.”
Miles outright laughed. “Probably not a good idea. Leese wouldn’t like that. But you could explain that your interest isn’t about you being grateful just because he’s protecting you. I assume that’s his biggest conflict, the reason he thinks he’d be taking advantage of you.”
It wasn’t easy to think while Miles turned her muscles to mush. “I suppose.” Apparently Leese thought she was fragile and weak and didn’t know her own mind.
Perhaps Miles was right. She needed to state her case a little differently.
When the tap sounded on the door, her heart shot into her throat.
A second later, a key sounded in the lock and the door swung open.
Leese stood there, his gaze locked on them both. Slowly he stepped in and set a large pizza box on the foyer table, then dragged in a suitcase, a few bags and...
Oh. Dear. God. He had her lockbox.
Miles stood from the couch. “Is that pizza I smell?”
Leese’s gaze never left Cat. “I promised you dinner.” He pushed the door closed and folded his arms. “So. What did I miss?”
CHAPTER TEN
IT WASN’T EASY to keep his attention off Catalina, especially when she looked miserable, guilty and mortified all at the same time.
From the second he’d stepped in, she’d been blushing.
Not because Miles had been rubbing her legs either. He swallowed back the growl that automatically came each time that particular image crawled back into his brain.
Miles’s casual “muscle massage” explanation had covered the scenario. Neither of them had looked involved beyond that, so despite his surge of possessive jealousy, Leese let it go.