I felt Ax pull my panties down my legs and expected to feel his fingers between my legs. Instead, his fingers reached beneath me to grip my hips and massage the fronts and sides of them. I hadn’t realized how stiff the muscles were until his big, brawny hands persuaded the tautness away. When he started on my bare buttocks, I expected him to make a sexual advance, but once again, I was surprised.

I realized this was truly just a massage, just for me, and I was floored. Normally, if I were totally naked and Ax had his hands on me, some sexy, dirty shit was about to go down. But the farthest he went tonight was a soft brush of his lips across each butt cheek as his hands kneaded my hamstrings. Then my calves.

When Axel bent my knee and held my foot in his hand, I muttered, “I’m just warning you. If you’re planning to give me a foot massage right now, you’ve better be damned sure you want me forever. Because I will follow you around like a lovesick puppy for the rest of my days on this earth.”

I heard a low chuckle before I felt a kiss on the ball of my foot. “That was my evil plan all along,” he said just before his thumb dragged hard against my instep.

“Holy shit, Ax. You have no idea how much I needed this,” I mumbled sleepily. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt this relaxed. “Please don’t stop, and I’ll do anything you want.”

“Hmmm, that sounds intriguing. Like what exactly would you do for me?” he asked as he squeezed and rubbed each toe.

“Anything. I’ll clean your toilets. I’ll write poetry about you. I’ll have your baby… oops, heh heh . . . I guess I already did that,” I rambled.

“I guess you’ll just have to have all my babies now,” he said coaxingly as he added more lotion and went to work on my heel and ankle.

“How many are we talking here?” I asked, smiling at the mattress.

“Lots. Enough to make our own football team,” he teased.

“Mmmkay,” I agreed. “Just keep doing that with your magical fingers, and I’ll bear you an entire team.”

By the time Axel got to work on my other foot, I was dead to the world.

When I woke up, I squinted at the red numbers on the clock. I had slept uninterrupted for six hours, something I hadn’t done in years. It was hours before dawn, and I was still lying on my stomach. Axel had somehow gotten the sheet and blanket over me after I fell asleep, and I stretched, enjoying the slick drag of his soft sheets against my bare skin.