An involuntary moan escaped her as Daniel’s hands continued to rhythmically glide up and down her back. She clenched her jaw together to avoid any more audible signs of pleasure. That was all she needed, letting him know that she was putty in his hands.

“Relax, baby,” he whispered. “You’re so tense.”

Did he know everything that was going on inside her? “Why are you doing this?”

“You mean the massage?” he asked softly.

The sound of his voice alone made her want to melt. Combined with the gentle kneading motions of his hands, it proved to be a toxic cocktail for her already tortured heart.

“Everything, this weekend, the massage.”

Daniel paused before he replied as if he didn’t have an answer. “I like you, Holly.”

She had to stop him from saying things like that. It couldn’t lead to anything. It would just make things harder when they parted ways.

“Daniel, I’m an escort. You seem to keep forgetting that,” she lied, hoping he could be brought back to the reality of their situation. Even though she wasn’t an escort, he’d hired her as one, so for all intents and purposes she was his escort.

Sabrina heard him suck in his breath, and seconds ticked away in silence as he ran his hands down her spine, his thumbs putting just enough pressure on it to make her shiver with pleasure.

“I don’t care what you are.” His voice was unusually tense as if he was angry. “I can see what’s underneath,” he added, his voice a little softer than before.

Daniel was saying all the right things. If she’d met him under other circumstances, he’d be the perfect man. Kind and considerate, passionate and experienced, hot-blooded and strong. But the circumstances hadn’t been right. He’d hired an escort because he’d just broken up with his girlfriend. He was on the rebound, and it was obvious that he didn’t want to have another relationship. Why else hire an escort? It guaranteed sex without the strings attached.

Sabrina didn’t comment but instead concentrated on his hands. Every time his hands stroked down to her waist, his fingertips reached lower, gently caressing the top of her ass. And every time, she wished he’d go lower.

As if Daniel could tell what she wanted, his hands finally left her back altogether and slid underneath the towel to stroke her round cheeks. Instantly, another guttural moan escaped her lips. His movements turned into a caress and had nothing to do with the massaging strokes he’d lavished on her back and shoulders.

His fingers blazed trails of fire over her cheeks, then rode down to her thighs before reversing and travelling back up again.

Sabrina felt heat shoot through her belly, and within seconds moisture pooled at the juncture of her thighs. The way this man could arouse her should be illegal. She had to stop herself from allowing her body to arch toward his hands.

If he continued a few minutes longer, she knew she’d come without him ever touching her any more intimately. Her body trembled lightly at the thought of it, and she tensed trying to control herself as not to scream and ask him to take her.

“I’m sorry,” Daniel suddenly said and pulled his hands away from her.

Disappointment swept through her. He covered her back and shoulders with the towel before pulling it back from one of her legs. The soft late afternoon breeze cooled her hot leg but not for long.

After pouring more oil on his hands, Daniel placed them on her leg and slowly moved down from the top of her thigh to the tip of her toes. Did he really think those strokes would keep her from getting aroused again? He surely had to have noticed what he’d done by caressing her ass.

With every stroke, her skin turned hotter. As he ran his hands from the back of her knee up her thigh again, she held her breath. Would the hand which ran along the inside of her thigh reach high enough to notice how wet she was? Would he let his finger slide high enough to feel her moist flesh or even penetrate her?

To her dismay, Daniel stopped before he even got close and then reversed his stroke and moved back down. His hands felt like sizzling irons on her skin, just hotter and softer. She knew she kept a lot of tension in her body, but she felt how he worked through the knots in her muscles.

Sabrina just wanted to let go and not think of anything, and the more she concentrated on his hands and forgot about everything else, the more she felt her muscles relax.

She’d deal with everything else later. For now, she only wanted to bathe in the warmth of his hands and the tenderness of his strokes. She didn’t want to read anything else into it.

“You have wonderful hands.”