“Faith, did you know that a lot of what we call pain is about expectation? When you expect something to hurt a lot, and you tense all your muscles, it hurts more. If you can relax and flow with it, it hurts less. Think of yourself like a stream flowing softly over rocks. The jagged edges of the rocks don’t hurt the water, it just flows.” He allowed his voice to drop an octave as he spoke, becoming softer and less harsh, lulling her into a sense of safety.

The music he’d selected fit well with the imagery he fed into her mind. He spoke quietly about water and flow and relaxing while he let his hands trail over her back, still wrapped in the warm cocoon of the blanket.

He continued to speak as he went to the thermostat to raise it a couple of degrees. As the room warmed, he took the blanket away. She tensed, but not as much as before, so he poured some oil onto his hands to allow his skin to slide more easily against hers.

He started at her neck, then worked down her back and her arms and hands, then her waist, and over her bottom, and legs and feet. He tenderly massaged until each muscle group unclenched in turn, until her body became limp and receptive.

17

Faith hadn’t thought it would be possible to relax. After what she’d heard with the other women, and after the first night the way he’d lost control and taken her in such a cold, heartless way… this was different.

He was right about relaxation and pain, and yet, she’d been determined to stay tense, as if it could magically protect her from him. Or maybe she didn’t want him to see the signs of her trusting him again, not after how he’d misused that trust the first time and she’d sworn to herself she wouldn’t give it again. To relax under his touch when he promised pain was shameful.

The blanket caught her off guard, and then the music changed to something more soothing, and… his hands and the massage. She fell into the illusion he’d created. His voice wrapped around her as the blanket had and the music moving through her like the energy that sustained her. His hot breath was on her ear when he leaned in and spoke again.

“Remember you are water.”

His voice was hypnotic velvet. It had the same power as when it was darker and more demonic. She thought back to Catholic school where the nuns had told her the devil came disguised as an angel of light. It was enough to make anybody paranoid because you didn’t just have to worry about the things that were overtly evil and scary, but about the things that appeared innocent and warm and loving.

Like Leo right now. She’d already seen the beast underneath this mask, and yet the spell he cast with his words and touch made her forget.