"Rumplestiltskin, are you in pain?"
He gave an involuntary jump, grasping the spinning wheel to keep himself tethered to the bench. She had done it again, damn her! His maid was always sneaking up on him, creeping in from behind with her storybooks and her sunburst smiles. Inch by inch, she'd wormed her way into his cold, hard heart.
He rotated his aching shoulders and winced. Curse her perception, how had she known about the pain?
"Did I frighten you?" Belle asked, her tone amused.
He turned his head to give her a sharp, warning look. Did she dare to laugh at the Dark One?
But she only smiled at him, her azure eyes clear in the sunlight that now streamed through the open curtains.
He snapped his head forward again when small hands ghosted over his elbows and slid up his arms to where his shoulders throbbed. The warmth of her palms was so intense it burned through his thick dragon hide coat, branding his skin with her presence. He would never be the same again.
"No!" He barked, shrugging his shoulders to dislodge her hands. But to no avail. She was standing so close that her warm breath fanned the scales on his neck and he shivered. "Now what is it you want, dearie?" he managed, his breath embarrassingly short. It was the exertion of turning the spinning wheel, no doubt. "I've no patience for your idle prattle."
"Nothing."
Ha! He gritted his rotting teeth. It was clear from the tone of her voice that nothing was the furthest thing from her mind.
"Do you…well…I mean…" Belle trailed off and he could practically hear the gears turning in her busy little brain.
"Out with it, dearie!" Agitated, he tapped his foot and began to turn the wheel faster.
"I could give you a massage?" Her hands were now lightly cupping his shoulders. Without waiting for a response, she began to knead the flesh and he nearly groaned aloud at the marvelous way her fingers worked the knots out of his weary body.
He managed to keep turning the wheel, but it fought against him, yanking the spun fiber from his shaking claws. Baffled, he glanced down at the bobbin, where the thread had bunched and split.
"Does that feel good?" she asked huskily, and he nodded, unable to stifle his moan of pleasure as she inched closer, the crush of her soft breasts like heaven against his stiff back.
Mortified by his uncouth response, his face burned, but he was too enthralled by her magical hands and the exquisite feel of her body against his to care. He had suffered an exhausting audience with Regina about the dark curse today, and his shoulders screamed with the burden of tearing one world apart to make his way to another. He could have soothed the pain himself, but all magic came with a price, and he would need all his power to survive the coming storm.
"Should I continue?" she asked, pulling back to trace light circular patterns across his shoulder blades.
"If you insist." He sniffed imperiously, as though it made no difference to him either way.
Belle began to massage his shoulders once more.
"Hmmm." He coughed. "A bit closer to my spine, dearie, if you please."
He heard the smile in her voice as she said, "Yes, Rumplestiltskin."