The woman who opened the door saw me standing on her front porch, carrying what must have looked to her like a toolbox, and said, "Can I help you?"
I smiled at her. "Actually, ma'am, I'm here to help you. My name is Steve, and I'm a masseur. Your name is Ann, right?" She nodded. "Your husband has paid for a full Modified Esalen massage for your birthday."
"Did you say a massage?"
"I sure did. This is part of a birthday gift."
"It's certainly something I didn't expect. Well, come on in." She stepped back, and I walked through the doorway into the living room. "Do you need help for the rest of your stuff?"
I smiled at her once again. "No, this is everything I need."
"I thought that people who do massages usually have one of those padded tables for their clients. You know, the ones with a hole for their face and all that."
"Not with this kind of massage," I said. "The purpose of this style of massage therapy is relaxation, and it's hard to relax lying on a padded table, to be honest. I've found that the best way to relieve tension properly, it's best to do it in the client's home, using their own furniture and in familiar, comfortable surroundings."
I have to admit that this woman affected me at a very deep level. She was a short redhead, somewhat stocky, but on her it looked good. She had that classic redhead complexion, with a light dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose, and had the kind of face that is attractive with or without makeup. I knew which birthday this massage was for, and she could pass for ten years younger than her calendar age.
She gave me a skeptical look. "Really? Well, I don't think the couch will do, will it?" I shook my head. "I didn't think so. The only real place with enough space that would be comfortable would be my bedroom."
"Believe it or not," I said, "that's customarily where I wind up doing these massages. It's the most comfortable place in the house, and offers the best opportunity for total relaxation."
"Total relaxation, hunh? Well, come on back. I don't want to waste his money."
I followed her, carrying my case, and I enjoyed the view as we went down the hall. We turned into the bedroom, which was dominated by a king-size water bed. And dominating the water bed was a sleeping cat that looked up sleepily as we walked into the room and began purring loudly. As she stretched, I picked it up in my arms.
"You don't want to do that," Ann said. "She sheds like crazy. You're going to have white hair all over your shirt."
"Don't worry about it," I said. "It's not a big deal. Let me put her in the living room." I walked into the other room, deposited the cat onto the sofa, and returned to the bedroom and closed the door. "That should keep out any visitors."
I set my case on the bed and opened it up and got to work setting up the room. I pulled out half a dozen lilac-scented candles and placed them on dressers and tables around the room, and lit them. Next was a CD of soothing music. I spotted a clock-radio with a CD player and put it in and started it playing low. I took a bottle of oil out of the case, closed the case, and set it on the floor out of the way. The last step was to peel back the covers of the waterbed.
"Ann, if you'd please disrobe and lay face down on the bed so we can get started."
'You want me to take off all of my clothes?" she said in a surprised tone.
"Please. This is a full body massage, and it makes things easier."
"Easier? I suppose." She began to remove her clothes. Then her eyes got real wide as I proceeded to do the same. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Ann, I've found that my female clients don't really relax properly if they're nude and I'm not. I think it's a power or dominance thing. There's some sort of subliminal message there, that they're at my mercy or something. If we're both in the same state of undress, it's an even playing field, if you will. It all works better."
"And my husband knows all about this?"
"I fully explained the methods and reasoning to him."
"If you say so," she said, shrugging.
"Ann, I'm a professional. Relax."
It was hard to remain professional as she took off the last of her clothes. Her revealed body might not have been classically beautiful, but in totality it was sexy as hell. Her breasts were the right size, large without being too large, and just the way she carried herself said volumes. For the right guy, she would be all he could handle and maybe just a little bit more.
It took all I had not to react in an obvious way to my attraction to her. I had claimed professionalism, and it was my job to maintain that attitude, and that was hard. If my concentration on that attitude slipped, hard would still be the word of the day. After all, I had no clothing to camouflage any stirring of the gallant reflex.
So, she lay down on the bed as I'd instructed, and I began the massage. The Esalen technique involves using the classical Swedish flowing strokes, strong but not too strong and in the direction of the heart to stimulate the blood flow. Combined with the music and scented candles to create the proper atmosphere, the idea is to bring harmony and balance to the client through muscular stimulation.
I knelt on the bed and began from the bottom, working on her feet and calves as I explained to her the purpose of the massage was to relax her and bring her total body into rapport with her spirit. It was obvious that her feet pained her, so I spent a good deal of time working on the tendons and muscles on the top of the feet. Her sighs of pleasure told me that I was on the right track, so I kept on going.
I felt her muscles loosen as I worked up her legs, going from the calves to the backs of the thighs. Part of the technique is to hold the same state as you're trying to get the client to attain -- being serene and relaxed with calm breathing patterns. That became more difficult as I worked the hand strokes to her inner thighs.
That had to do with her reaction to my touch. As I worked higher, she spread her legs ever so slightly and her breathing increased in intensity rather than becoming more stable and relaxed. There was a mirror along the wall opposite the bed, which was a big help since it aided me in helped me in gauging her reaction to my work.
And she reacted all right -- reacted very subtly, but response was noticeable. As I reached higher and higher, I could feel the heat emanating from deep within her, and there was a definite moistness as I brushed her cleft. I steered away from there, but she let out a small gasp when I made contact. I looked up briefly, and caught her gazing at me, checking me out.
I mentioned that would have quite the effect on the right guy. I couldn't help it, and reacted in a predictable way. I did my best to divert my thoughts and fight off the obvious answer to her slowly arousing state, and was only partially successful. I did my best not to brush her with it when I moved up to work on her lower back, but grazed her once or twice.
