The next morning Dan slept in. He’d had a little too much to drink. By the time he made it downstairs, Mark had already left for the day. Alana was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking a cup of coffee. When she saw Dan, she gave him a big smile and got up to pour him a cup.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, “you had quite a bit last night.”
“Not great, actually. I think I’m getting old. I can’t hold my liquor any more.”
She smiled again, “I’m sorry we kept giving you drinks. But I think you needed it.”
She was right. Last night was the closest Dan had felt to ‘normal’ in a long time. It was absolutely what he’d needed.
“I tell you what,” she continued, “I think I know what’ll make you feel better. Let me give you a massage today. I don’t have to work until this afternoon.”
“I don’t know know, Alana. I appreciate the offer, but…”
“Oh come on, Dan. Don’t overthink this. I’m good at what I do. You’ll feel better afterward.”
Dan felt a little awkward about having his best friend’s wife give him a massage. But she was a professional and he was just another client. And he didn’t really feel like arguing with her.
“Okay, why not,” he finally said.
…
A half hour later, Dan walked into the living room, where Alanna had set up her massage table. As instructed, he was wearing just a towel wrapped around his waist. And he felt very awkward about it. He’d never had a professional massage before and had no idea what was normal. Alana smiled as he entered the room. She was wearing a white one-piece cover up that tied around her neck, the kind of thing women wore over their bathing suits at the beach, but he wasn’t sure what (if anything) she had on underneath it. It fit her snuggly, accentuating her curves, and it ended mid-thigh. Dan felt a stirring in his groin and was suddenly aware of how little material he had covering his penis. He looked away, hoping to eliminate the source of the stimulation.
“Hop on the table, Dan, and lie on your stomach. You can let the towel drape down.”
Dan did what he was told, thankful to be on his stomach. He undid the knot in the towel and let it drape down over the table, his balls and semi-erect penis making direct contact with the cool vinyl surface of the table.
Alanna squirted some oil onto her hands and walked over to him. The second she touched his shoulders it felt like a jolt of electricity shooting through him. God, how he’d missed human touch, real skin-on-skin contact. Just that little bit of contact was enough to make him erect. He shifted his position a little to give his cock some space.
“Did that hurt?” she asked, probably noticing his squirming.
“Oh god no. It feels great. I’m just… well… it’s been a while since anyone’s touched me like that.”
As soon as the words came out, Dan wished he could take them back. The way he said it made it sound sexual, which is not what he had intended. But Alana was the kind of person who seemed immune to awkward moments, the kind of person who took everything in stride. And this was no exception.
“I completely understand, Dan.” Her tone was immediately reassuring, calm, unfazed. “Human touch is a basic need, like food or water or shelter. You can only go so long without it.”
As her hands moved from his shoulders to his back and sides, Dan had to acknowledge the truth of her words. He needed this in the worst way. After massaging his lower back, she moved all the way down to the end of the table and began massaging his toes and feet.
She slowly worked her way up his legs, eventually reaching his hamstrings. She hadn’t said much up until that point, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. Dan felt completely relaxed. As she began working his hamstrings, she began to talk again.
“You know, Dan, I think we owe you an apology. We’re not used to having guests here and we forget how sound travels in this place.”
Dan froze. She was talking about the sex last night, wasn’t she? With anyone else, Dan would have been mortified and tried to end the conversation as soon as possible. But something about Alana was disarming; he never seemed to fear where a conversation might go.
She continued, “We had a good time with you last night, and more to drink than we normally do, and, well, we weren’t really thinking. I hope we didn’t make things awkward for you.”
For a moment, Dan considered playing dumb, acting like he didn’t know what she was talking about. But what was the point? Plus, he suspected his own climax had been audible as well, in which case, she’d know he was lying. So he decided to just be honest.
“You don’t have to be sorry. It’s your house, and I’d hate to think that I was cramping your style by being here. And … well … if I’ve learned anything over the last couple years, it’s that life is short. Too short to pass up moments like that.” Tears welled up in Dan’s eyes and he barely got those last words out.
A moment later, he felt Alana’s lips press against his cheek. “You’re a wonderful person, Dan.”
She resumed the massage, getting progressively higher up his leg. His erection, which had disappeared for a while, was soon back with full force. Then the moment he dreaded happened; she asked him to turn over on his back.
As she turned around to get more oil, he slowly turned over, careful to let the towel stay draped over his mid-section. He had hoped that, with the towel over him, his raging erection might not be obvious. He was very wrong. Though he tried to adjust himself, there was just no hiding the pitched tent.
When Alana turned back around, there was no question she noticed. He saw her eyes track down to his mid-section and saw the flicker of recognition. But she betrayed no discomfort or surprise and soon she was massaging his chest and shoulders, her warm smile unchanged. She continued to work through every knot in his body, eventually making her way down to his legs and then slowly working back upward. Eventually she broke the silence again.
“Dan, I’m going to ask you something very personal. You don’t have to answer it, and I apologize ahead of time if it makes you uncomfortable.”
“Um. Okay.” Dan wasn’t sure where she was going with this and didn’t know what else to say.
“When was the last time you were… intimate with someone?”
Wow. Dan had really not been expecting that. How long had it been? A year? Maybe longer?
After a substantial pause, Dan finally said “probably at least a year.”
“That’s what I thought,” she said. Her expression was kind, but with a measure of pity mixed in. “I want to do something for you, Dan, and I hope you’ll let me.”
Dan’s mind was a whirlwind. What was she talking about? Where was this going? Before he could get much beyond that, Alana’s hand was on top of the towel, pressed against his cock. If her touch to his shoulders had been a jolt of electricity, this was a lightning strike. The sensation was so powerful that his hand shot up reflexively to grab her arm.
“What are you…”
“Relax, Dan,” she interrupted him, her tone still so calm and reassuring. “It’s okay.”
“But… but…” Dan sputtered, “what about Mark?”