Masseur and the MILF

I waited for Jessica to make her call to see if he was open to the change, which he seemed to be thankful for since he was running late anyways.

"So you dated Daisy Cargill, huh?" Jessica asked me.

"Three and a half years," I said. "Loved her to death, and she paid me back by hopping into bed with one of my best friends after she decided I wasn't going to a good enough University program."

"Well, I'll make sure I don't schedule her with you," Jessica smirked.

"She's around?" I asked, wincing just a little.

"Not often," Jessica said. "I think I overheard her talking with someone about having an internship up in New York, so she's only back on some weekends this summer."

"Well, thanks," I said. "I'm off for lunch."

"You've got about twenty minutes," Jessica said. "If you go to the kitchen, ask the fry cook Davey for a Jessica Special. He'll get you a couple chicken strips and a little salad in like 5 minutes."

I grinned. "Good to know. Thanks for the tip, Jess."

"No problem," she smiled back. "Can't let our newest celebrity masseuse go hungry."

"I'm not a celebrity," I frowned and chuckled.

"Are you kidding?" Jessica smirked again. "As soon as I found out you were the new massage therapist I put it in a couple of group chats and you're half-booked into the end of next week already. And I bet Eden Giardinu is going to let all her friends know too, and you'll be booked into the week after."

"Oi vey," I sighed.

I did what Jessica suggested and found my way up to the sprawling kitchen and asked for Davey. I was pointed over to one side and around a corner where I found a guy in his early twenties sporting a thick black moustache and a backwards baseball cap as he worked a bank of six deep fryers. I asked him for a 'Jessica Special' and he laughed, telling me to go wait over at the staff entrance to the kitchen.

In almost exactly five minutes Davey came over to me with a takeout container that was steamed up from the heat of the freshly fried chicken strips, cut up and topping a small garden salad with a little sealed container of ranch dressing. I thanked him, but he was already waving me off and heading back to his station.

The staff room was busy, almost three-quarters full of workers from all over the club. I spotted Marissa at a table in the corner, eating by herself as she read something on her phone, and immediately went to her table.

"Well, the good news is that I haven't quit yet," I said, sitting down next to her at the table.

She looked up from her phone. "What's the bad news then?"

"Apparently I'm a minor celebrity with all the old folks and I need a dose of someone our age," I said. She gave me a confused look. "Uh, I'm Trevor?" I continued. "We met earlier today?"

"No, I remember," she said. "I'm just confused about why you're coming to sit with me of all people."

"Because I thought you were funny, and pretty, and you mentioned you were in grad school so you must be intelligent as well, and I could use all three of those things in my friends," I said.

"Look, Trevor," she said. "I'm just going to throw it out there now - I don't date. Not 'I don't date coworkers,' I mean I literally do not do dating."

"Well, let me ask you this; Do you want to go out with me?"

"No," she said. "I just told you I don't date."

"Then we won't date," I said. "That doesn't change that I think you might be a cool person to be friends with."

"And you're fine with that?" she asked.

"Why shouldn't I be?" I asked. "You have every right to say no, and why should I hold it against you?"

"Because you're a guy, and a lot of guys get butthurt over stupid shit," she said.

"I don't know who you've been hanging out with," I said. "But that's called 'being an asshole.' I try to limit myself to being slightly dickish at worst on any given day."

"That's fair," she said, snorting out a little chuckle. "Alright, massage boy. You can sit with me at lunch."

I tutted and shook my head. "Izzie, I'm already sitting," I said.

She rolled her eyes, her smile growing a little bit. "Izzie? Really?"

"I figured everyone else must shorten your name to Mari, so I thought I'd change it up for you."

"You know you're kind of a weird guy, right?" she chuckled.

"Oh, I know," I said. "It's part of my boyish charm."

Over that lunch Marissa and I chatted quickly. It turned out her job at the Club, which was actually more like three different jobs she was working between the snack cart, the waitressing and bartending, and working as event staff, wasn't even her only employer. She also worked the breakfast rush at a diner in town three days a week and volunteered her time at a women's shelter when she didn't have afternoon shifts at the Club. She kept herself extremely busy during the regular school year, and even during the summer she tended to prefer working to free time.

For my part, I told her about growing up as a Club kid, and struggling with dyslexia - I'd gotten over my embarrassment of it later in high school and was happy to talk about it. That was really the only way I'd even gotten through my Massage Therapy program; being open about it with the school helped me get through all the written tests without completely bombing.

Marissa was out of there first, giving me another smile as she said she'd see me tomorrow. I finished right after her and was out the door, back in the Spa with two minutes to spare on my break. I met my next client and escorted him back to my room and ran him through the routine. He was a portly guy, early sixties, and was yet another 'I'm just here for a massage, kid' kind of man. I spent most of the time chatting with him, using little tidbits of info I'd picked up from other clients earlier in the day to keep up with economy talk and the local teams.

Afterwards, I escorted him back out and he headed for the sauna, and I looked at Jessica.

"She's already changing," she said.

"I'm already changed," Eden corrected, coming out from the women's changing hall bundled up in the white robe and slippers just like everyone else did, except she managed to look halfway stylish instead of just comfy.

"I'll need one moment to turn over the room," I said. "My last client just got out of there. Would you like to stay here, or come back with me?"

"Oh, Trev. Like I would mind spending an extra minute or two catching up," Eden smiled. She hooked her arm in mine and looked over at Jessica. "Thanks again for switching me over, hon."

"No problem, Miss Giardinu," Jessica said.

"Now, Trev, start from the beginning," Eden said as I started walking her back down the Alley to my room. "After my idiot stepdaughter broke up with you, the girls must have been fawning all over you at college."

I chuckled and shook my head. "Not exactly. There were a couple of... encounters, but nothing that ever developed into a real relationship."

"Oh, to be young again," Eden laughed. "Flings and fuckbuddies, huh? Sometimes I feel like I miss that time of my life, but then I go home to my little Oscar and I know I couldn't juggle trying to find a proper guy to date, and working, and him."

"Honestly, Eden," I said. "I think you probably had a lot more happen in the last three years than I did, it sounds like. I went to college for three years, got my degree and certificate, and now I'm back here. How areyou?"

"See, that's why I always liked you, Trev," she said. We'd entered the room and she watched me with a soft smile and a critical eye as I quickly stripped the sheet off the bed and then sprayed the soft leather down with disinfectant before putting another one on tightly. "You are more interested in the people around you than talking about yourself. It's a disarming skill, and very flattering."

"Well, I got a lot of practice listening instead of speaking when I dated Daisy," I chuckled with a little smirk.

"That is a truth I can understand," Eden laughed. I liked the way she did it, with a big smile that flashed her pearly teeth. Unreserved.

With the new sheet on, I grabbed my clipboard and pen and gestured for Eden to sit on the table while I took the stool out from beside one of the cupboards. "Alright, Eden. We can keep catching up once we've started your massage," I said.

"You mean once you get me naked," she grinned and winked.

"That's not how I like to think about it," I rolled my eyes.

"I know, kiddo. It's just fun to be able to tease you again."

"You were always good at that," I said. "Do you remember that dress you wore the night I came to pick Daisy up for our senior prom?"

"The green one," she said. "I may have done that on purpose. Daisy was being a brat all week beforehand, and a real bitch that afternoon, and I still love her like she's my own but she continues to act like that. I figured I'd flirt with you just a little so she'd get jealous and want to be sweet to you."

"Well, it worked," I said. "But I still couldn't get the vision of you in that dress out of my head for three months afterwards."

"Just three?" Eden teased again.

"Yeah, it went from every day to every other day after three months," I teased her right back. "Anyways. This is just a quick survey so I can get the facts I need on file. Could you spell your new last name for me?"

"G-i-a-r-d-i-n-u," she spelt for me.

"Where's it from?" I asked.

"My grandfather was originally for Corsica, it's Corsican for 'garden.'"

"It's pretty," I said. "But I'm guessing your first name is a bit of a family joke, then."

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes. "Yes, and no. I'm named after my Grandmother."

"That's sweet," I said. "Now, I know it's rude but I need to ask you just so I can keep any medical issues in mind. How old are you?"

Eden smiled with some pert lips and a raised eyebrow, giving me a look like I was being impertinent. "I'm thirty-four," she said.

"And you don't look a day over twenty-eight," I said. "Seriously, Eden. You really do look fantastic."

"I try," she smiled, blushing a little.

"Any medical issues going on that I should know about?" I asked.

"Not unless you count my pain in the ass ex-husband," she said.

"Mmm, I don't think that's medical but I'll keep it in mind," I said. "Any problem areas you're hoping for me to check on?"

"Yes, actually. My back feels a little tight, especially up near my shoulders and neck," she said. "I thought it was just from carrying my little boy around all the time, but then I realized my tits never went back to normal after my pregnancy so I'm carrying around more weight than I used to."

"That's not uncommon," I said. "We'll do a full work through on your back, and I can probably show you some stretches that should help. Anything else?"

"If we're getting really minuscule, my right hip? I think I have a tendency to favour my left leg when I'm standing, and I rest Oscar on my right hip when I'm holding onto him sometimes."

"We'll check it out, though I'd bet if we figure out what's going on with your back you'll self-correct and you'll start evening out your stance again."

"Any other deeply personal questions you want to ask me?" Eden asked.

"Nothing massage-related," I said, shaking my head lightly and grinning. I hadn't realized how much I liked and missed talking with Eden. She'd been Daisy's stepmom the entire time I had dated Daisy, and even before when she and I had just been classmates. Eden's relative youth compared to our parents had always made her the 'cool mom,' though it had always been because Eden was good at sitting on the fence between 'just a friend' and 'mom.'

I stood up and went to the switch on the wall, flipping it so that the glass wall and door turned opaque. "I'll just step out for a minute so you can disrobe and get under the sheet."

"Thanks, kiddo," she said.

I did as I said, waiting in the hallway. Violet, one of the female masseuses, passed me with one of her clients. She was somewhere in her forties, blonde and built like the epitome of a 'Swedish masseuse' that could bend you into a pretzel. She just gave me a nod as she led her female client down to her own room. After a thirty count, I knocked and opened the door just a crack. "Good to go?"

"I am," Eden sang out.

I walked in and she was lying face down on the massage table with the sheet over her and her head propped up on her arms.

"Howdy, cowboy," she smiled up at me.

I got to work, turning down the lights in the room a touch and pulling the sheet down her back to her waist, keeping her butt covered though I did notice the strings of a thong. Her bare back was nicely formed, not muscled but still fit, and she turned to look at me as I stood beside her and started oiling up my hands from the bottle I kept in a cloth holster hanging off the back of my belt.

We started talking about Daisy first as I began with her outer shoulders near the rotator cuffs and began prodding and nudging her smooth, lightly tanned skin to find her tense areas and stress knots. Apparently, my ex had gone off to university as planned and made her way through a slew of boyfriends in the first two years. She'd lived on campus for a year, and then her father had gotten her a condo in the city close to campus. Daisy had always been a good student, so I wasn't surprised to hear that she'd kept up her grades and was now going to be heading into her final year while also serving as her sorority vice president.

"It's too bad she didn't take a program that's actually going to lead to a job," Eden was saying. "Not that I have any right to judge her, my English degree didn't exactly serve me well in the career marketplace. But I keep asking her what she's going to do with an Anthropology degree and she keeps putting off an answer. I think she's going to end up milking her father for- aoooow, holy shit, what is that?"

I smirked a little, my thumb pressing slowly along the knot of muscle just over her shoulder blade. "That's the first big knot, Eden," I said. "Sorry if it hurts, but I promise it'll feel a whole lot better in a minute."

"Yeah, that's what my high school boyfriend said," she muttered, making me snicker.

"I didn't know you had a mind like a teenage boy," I said.

"You don't know a lot of things, mister," she said.

I kept working on her, pinpointing her tough spots and slowly working them out, moving down her back. There was a moment when I let my professionalism drop for a moment, seeing the side of her boob pressed against the table, but I snapped myself out of it and kept working. And as I worked, we kept talking. She told me about her pregnancy, and how she'd loved it and how Daisy had acted sweeter than usual, but how her husband had started getting a little more distant the bigger Eden got. By the time she had the baby, they were sleeping in different rooms, and six months after the birth they hadn't reconciled and Eden found out he was dating a woman a decade younger than her.

"Apparently he'd forgotten about the prenup he'd asked me to sign before we got married," Eden said. "He was worried about me cheating and put a clause in there that would have fucked me over if I did, but he'd never considered that it went the other way as well. Or maybe he just thought I was an idiot and wouldn't remember myself. Anyways, I took him to the cleaners. Daisy was furious at him too, which felt pretty good."

I had worked my way down to her lower back and paused for a moment, resting my hands on her bare waist. "Well, I'm glad that you did. You were always one of my favourite adults."

"You're making me feel old again, Trev," she grinned, looking back at me.

"You shouldn't," I said, slowly starting to slide my hands back up her sides and to her shoulders.

"Mmm, that feels nice," she said, closing her eyes, then smiling playfully. "Especially after you beat me up like that."

"Next time I'll get really rough and do the elbow technique, and break out my toys," I teased.

"Don't threaten me with a good time," she chuckled.

"Unfortunately we're running out of time here," I said, glancing at the clock.

"That was thirty minutes already?" she asked in surprise.

"Almost," I said. "Next time we'll get started a little faster because I won't need to do the questionnaire."

"Fuck that," she said. "Next time I'm booking an hour. You have great hands, Trev."

"Happy to put them to use," I smiled. "Any last-minute thing you want me to take a look at? We've got a couple minutes."

"My feet," she said. "My thighs. Hell, my ass. It's tough to keep this figure at my age, and between picking up my little guy and my trainer putting me through CrossFit workouts I ache."

I laughed and moved to the foot of the bench. "Well, I can do something for your feet, and next time we'll do leg day."

"Ugh, I hate those words," she said, crinkling her nose.

I pulled the sheet up from her feet to her knees and quickly started working the soles of her feet with my thumbs. "Cute toe ring," I said.

"Thanks," she said. "It was a gift from Daisy, actually."

"Well, she always did have a good eye for jewellery," I said.

"So did you, if I remember correctly. She still wears that pendant you bought her sometimes."

"Oh, wow," I said. "I'd completely forgotten about that. I saved three weeks' pay to buy her that for her birthday."

"And she went and broke up with you," Eden sighed with a heavy dose of exasperation.

"Alright, my dear," I said, setting down Eden's feet as they glistened a little from the oil that had still been on my hands. "That is unfortunately the very last bit of massage I can offer you right now."

"Mmmmmm," she groaned, stretching out. "Trevor, I think you might be my new favourite person. After my son, of course."

"Of course," I said. "I'll just step outside again so you can get your robe-"

"Oh, it's fine," Eden said, rolling over and sitting up, the sheet remaining near her waist. "I'm sure you've seen it all by now."

"I... have," I said, my eyes going a little wide as she bared her chest to me. Her breasts were wonderfully full and plump, hanging heavily without sagging overly much, though they hung slightly towards the outside of her chest. Her areolas were perfect, soft pink circles and her nipples were standing up, the left one just a little with a slight crinkle through the centre and the right one completely upright because it was studded with a little golden barbell piercing. "Though it's not exactly professional for me to do this."

"If you can handle it, so can I," she shrugged, and the tiniest smile on her lips told me that she was teasing me again. She stood up, letting the sheet reveal the red thong hugging her mound.

I quickly reached for her robe, which was hanging on a hook from the wall, and held it open for her.

"Such a gentleman," she grinned and stepped into it, letting me help her get it on and cinching it closed.

"I'm not feeling much like a gentleman after that," I said.

"Hon, you just gave me the best experience I've had with a guy since I was pregnant," she said, turning and fiddling with the collar of my shirt, and then patting my cheek. "Hell, maybe for years before that too. Don't begrudge a lonely, single mom a bit of fun."

"More like a MILF, Eden," I said. "Seriously, if you're going to keep teasing me like that, you're going to get me into trouble."

"Well, we can't have that," she laughed. "I promise to behave myself. Mostly."

"I guess that's the best I can ask for," playing up my wistfulness.

She was smiling warmly as I escorted her back out to the lobby, her arm looped in mine again, and then gave me a little peck on the cheek as she said goodbye and headed into the women's changing area.

I tried not to blush, or even grin widely, in front of Jessica who I knew was watching us.

* * * * * * *

I worked for another few hours, stretching all the way to when the Spa closed at 5pm. Jessica went out of her way to let me know Eden had booked an hour late on Friday with me.