Matt
I sat in the waiting room and read a magazine while I waited for my masseur. Oriel. Debs had said she was one of the best. I felt nervous and wished I’d asked for a bloke but then, didn’t want to seem like a prude. It was a long time since I’d taken my clothes off in front of anyone apart from Cait and a male masseur in Egypt when we were on holiday about ten years ago. We’d had one of those treatments for two in the same room. Cait paid for the treatments as a birthday present to me. Her therapist was a young woman and my chap looked like a professional wrestler. Not the most relaxing hour I’ve spent, but hearing me groan in agony made Cait, and her masseuse, laugh. ‘Try not to kill customer,’ Cait’s woman called to my man, a phrase Cait adopted for the rest of the holiday.
An inner door opened and Debs came out to greet me. ‘All ready for you,’ she said, ‘come this way.’
I got up and followed her into the room named Nirvana. It had been painted in shades of pink; with the low lighting and candle burning it had a womb-like quality. In the centre was a massage couch and towels.
‘Strip off and lie on the couch, face down,’ said Debs.
‘What? Everything?’
‘Whatever makes you feel most comfortable. Keep your boxers on if you like.’ She left me alone so I stripped down to my underwear, lay down as instructed and waited for Oriel. A minute later, there was a gentle tap on the door. ‘Ready?’
‘Yes,’ I said. I turned my head ready to greet Oriel, but it was Debs who’d come back in.
She opened a bottle of oil and began to put it on her hands.
‘But I … I thought Oriel was going to do it?’
‘She’s got a bug. I offered to step in. It’s not a problem is it? Don’t worry. I’ve had all the training she had and more.’
‘No. No problem,’ I said. Yes, yes, a problem, I thought as I lay back down. I didn’t feel at all comfortable.
‘Good. Now relax and put all thoughts out of your mind.’
I immediately tensed up. Shit, I thought. If Cait ever gets to hear about this, I … Debs began to run her hands along my back. I tensed even further. ‘How’s the pressure? I can go deeper or softer, whichever you prefer.’
‘Fine. It’s good. Er … so how are you, Debs?’
‘I’m fine, Matt, but there’s no need to talk. You’ll get more out of the session if you just lie there and surrender.’ She continued to move her hands up my back and began to knead a knot in my shoulder blade. ‘God, you are very tense.’
I know, I thought, because you’re my wife’s best friend and this feels really weird.
‘Take some deep breaths,’ urged Debs. ‘In … out … In … out … That’s it. Let it all go.’
For ten minutes, I felt myself resisting and couldn’t relax, then the scent of the room and the warmth of Debs’s touch began to work its magic. She had good hands and seemed to go right to the spots that needed it and I felt myself letting go. After fifteen minutes, it felt fantastic and I was drifting, feeling months of anxiety start to ease away. After half an hour, I was floating with the fairies.
‘Turn on to your back,’ said Debs, bringing me back into the room. She held the towel so I could turn over discreetly, though I still felt the need to pull in my stomach muscles. Once on my back, she re-laid the towels, I closed my eyes again and Debs began to massage my feet. Once again, I felt the floating sensation. Why don’t I do this more often? I asked myself. In fact, it would probably do both Cait and me good to have regular sessions. I felt Debs’s hands move up from my feet onto my legs. Her palms felt warm, healing. The combination of the scent, the warmth and the touch was working its sensuous magic. I opened my eyes briefly and Debs looked down on me and smiled. ‘Nice?’
I nodded and closed my eyes again. It had been a long time since I’d been touched by anyone other than Cait and it felt good, really good; helped, I had to admit, by the fact that Debs was an attractive woman. Her hands went up my inner thigh and I felt myself melting, melting … Then there was a stirring and I felt myself tense. No, oh shit no, I’m going to get an erection, oh Christ I have got an erection. Down, boy, down. Oh bugger and blast. I lifted my head to see the towel around my groin resembled a mini tent with a very stiff pole.
Debs smiled over at me. ‘Well hello sailor.’
‘Oh god, I’m so sorry,’ I blustered.
‘No need. Lie back. It happens all the time.’
But it was too late. Sailor boy was standing to attention whether I liked it or not. I thought of gas bills, mortgage payments, my overdraft, and the tent pole did finally subside, but I couldn’t relax back into that lovely state I’d been in ten minutes earlier. I felt guilty. For months, sex with Cait hadn’t been on the agenda, and now, half an hour with her friend, and it was hey ho and away we go. Willies really do have minds of their own. I remembered agonizing times as a young adolescent when mine would arise to salute the world at the most inappropriate times, especially on the bus when the warm interior and rhythmic motion would set me off. Other lads confessed that a girl in a tight T-shirt, a glimpse of thigh or cleavage would arouse them. For me, it was the back seat on a red double-decker bus and I worried I was some kind of pervert. As teenage boys, Duncan and I had been obsessed with our penises and how big they were. He’d come back one day having heard somewhere that if you use toothpaste, it enlarges the appendage. We’d both dutifully tried it that night but overlooked the fact that our toothpaste was menthol. It had stung like hell and neither of us could sit down for a few hours.
‘What are you thinking about?’ asked Debs.
I laughed. ‘Toothpaste.’
‘OK. Fair enough, but you’ve tensed up, Matt. Take a few deep breaths and try and relax again.’
I did as I was told but I knew there was no way I would let go again. I just wanted to get up and get out of there. Although Debs tried to do her best to get me to relax again, it wasn’t going to happen.
Finally the hour was up and Debs finished then left me to get dressed. I was up, in my clothes in a shot and went out to find her.
‘That was quick, Matt.’
‘I remembered that I have a few things to do.’
‘OK, but try and relax when you get home and drink plenty of water.’
‘Will do and … er, Debs, about before …’ I held a finger up.
Debs laughed. She had a great laugh, a throaty chuckle. ‘Hey, it’s forgotten. As I said, happens all the time. It was a good sign you were relaxed.’
‘I … would you mind not mentioning it to Cait?’ I was aware that this was the second time I’d said this when with her.
Debs smiled and put her hand on my arm. ‘Our secret. Besides, there’s client confidentiality. I never talk about what goes on in these rooms.’
Liar, I thought as I left. Cait had often reported back on hilarious clients Debs had talked about. I just prayed I wouldn’t be one of them.