Seal was face down staring at the floor on the portable massage table. He groaned, grimaced and tried to relax into the pain instead of tensing back up again. After he had come back downstairs from getting Zia settled, so to speak, in the upstairs bedroom with Collins and Jacobs, he had met Ken back in the library. He had moved towards the bar cart, but his boss stopped him, tossing him a bottle of water from the nearby mini fridge instead.

"Nope. Absolutely not," he admonished. "You know Olga's going to tell you to drink to flush everything out once she works on you and she doesn't mean alcohol. Take that, go shower, she'll be in here in twenty, half hour tops."

"I was just going to have one," he complained. "You know, take the edge off."

"Olga will have both our heads. No. Later, and after you've rested, and I get somewhere further with Zia. I'll pull out the extra good stuff and have Phil join us."

"Alright, boss. I'm going," he consented with a short sigh.

"Shelly was a bit worried about you, but I assured her it was just some muscle bruising. I'm sending her with Miranda into town to do some shopping for Zia. I'm sure they'll be several hours but I told her you're probably going to sleep after anyway. You might catch her in your rooms, she's likely getting dressed."

He had managed to catch his wife long enough to give her a goodbye kiss and assure her that's he was fine, just a little beat up. Nothing one large and skilled Russian masseuse couldn't fix. Shelly had looked beautiful as always, dressed to the nines to go out with the boss's wife. She could have been wearing a paper bag for all he cared. He saw her, not her clothes. But he also knew that looking her best was important to her. He didn't envy Ken's credit card. Miranda and Shelly may have been going for the purpose of clothes for Zia, but he knew there was no way they wouldn't be returning with some sort of designer finds of their own.

He was brought back from his thoughts by Olga tapping his hip, encouraging him to flip over. His back and shoulder were starting to loosen, and he knew she wasn't done, just giving him a break to work on his front. He laughed inwardly at the flimsy towel laid over his genitals, he knew it was more symbolic than anything. The amount of times Olga had worked on him she had seen every inch at one point or another. The strength in the woman's hands and forearms was indeed impressive. He relished a good deep tissue massage. One that was so good that it bordered on painful, and Olga was the best.

Forty minutes later, he was back on his stomach, and she had finally finished. He felt boneless. She gave his ass a little affectionate smack and spoke with her heavy accent. "Two bottles on the side table. Drink them. I'll drop the A/C to the meat locker setting I know you like. Ken can send the table back tomorrow. Rest a minute, but don't fall asleep there. You need to get in bed and under the covers."

"Thanks, as usual, Olga. You're a lifesaver."

He almost fell asleep on the table despite her instructions but the cold air on his ass stirred him. He dragged himself up, downed a bottle, and most of a second, not because he wanted to but because he knew he should, and dropped his spent body naked under the duvet. He was out in seconds.

It was six hours later when he came to. Not that he knew how much time had passed. At first, he thought he was just having a dream, a really damn good dream, until awareness set in and he realized that his wife had climbed under the covers and had his mostly erect cock in her lovely mouth. Mostly did not last long. Nor did he. The woman knew how to give head. As she enthusiastically sucked him down, he thrust up to her, spilling into her with a groan of ecstasy. Coming back to himself with a several pants, he let out a low chuckle. "Shopping must have been good."

Shelly smiled and climbed her way up her husband's tall build to tuck herself on a pillow next to him. "I had to turn the heat on," she stated. "It was freezing in here. You'd die from hypothermia and wouldn't even know it."

"Naw," he answered. "Slept great. Woke up even better." He kissed the top of her head. "Thank you."

He lifted his head and neck enough to glance down at a small army of shopping bags on the floor by the foot of the bed. He smirked.

As if reading his mind, Shelly stated, "Before you start, they're not all for me. There are a few things to bring as gifts to Maryland for your parents and an engagement present for Ethan and his fiancé."

"I didn't say anything," he pleaded innocently.

"Uh-huh."

"So, what about Zia?" he asked.

"We got plenty for her, don't worry."

"Zackquarius came with us for his combined normal protection detail and fashion insight."

"Don't forget pack mule," he added.

"Yeah," she laughed. "That too."

"I'm very glad that we have someone on the team that doesn't mind being on shopping duty, otherwise I think most of the rest of us might have blown our brains out by now."

"Please don't even joke about that."

Seal shrugged.

"So, is this thing with your brother and Zia really going to work?" she asked. "I mean I've only met her once, or maybe twice, when Owen took me up to see the raptors. She's cute and all, and obviously smart if she's a doctor, but she didn't seem very happy about anyone being around the dinosaurs. Some of the wives have never met her and a couple others thought she was really unhappy about them being there 'to just gawk'."

"She was probably just being protective of what's important to her," he answered. "You and the rest of the girls wouldn't know a thing about that, would you?" he teased while trying to make his point.

"Ok, I guess," she admitted. "But do you know what else is going on? I mean I know Ken and Miranda can get a little insane. There's talk that Ken practically had Owen rape Claire when they got brought on board. I mean your brother and Zia have never met before today and now he's got her under lock and key? Is she ok?"

"Ok, I was there for Owen and Claire. I'm not saying it wasn't on the edge of hard core but as crazy as Ken can be, he is very cognizant of people's limits and breaking points. In the end they were fine, and as you know, still happily married with two kids. He wasn't planning on grabbing Zia, but he had to do something when she freaked out like she did."

"So, do you think it's going to work?" she asked again.

"No idea. Match making is fortunately above my pay grade, but Miranda, and to a certain extent Ken, have been very successful with it in the past. Could I see Phil with her? Yeah, I definitely could. I like Zia. Ken has a soft spot for her, has since she came on board years ago. He's been kind of keeping an eye out for a prospect for her, then Phil finally gets here and with no girl in sight. Maybe that was for a reason."

"Well, if this all works out, I hope my new sister-in-law lets me get to know her better."

"Give her time." He kissed the top of head again. "I think she's probably normally more comfortable with being friendly with guys. I know you girls are actually not catty in general and supportive of each other, but she may need to see that in order to get comfortable enough."

"How did I get blessed with such a smart, sexy, specimen of man?" his wife asked affectionately as she landed a peck on his closest pec.

"Just lucky I guess."