Chapter 52

"Well, you are already dressed for it," she said lightly, pulling away a little, and he chuckled.

"Now is good," he agreed, starting towards the bed, and she placed the flowers on the desk before she followed, feeling nervous.

"Just remember, I've never done this before," she warned, and he laughed.

"We'll get it figured out, sweetie. Worst comes to worst, I can use that oil for something else." He turned enough to shoot her a quick wink, and she smiled in spite of herself.

"Ever the optimist," she teased, and he laughed as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"I don't think I have ever been described as optimistic," he said drily, and she grinned at him.

"But you're so positive!" He shook his head at that, and after a beat, she asked, "So, how do we want to go about this?"

"Ah, if you give me a second to move the pillows, I could lay on my stomach. Do you think you could work with that?"

"Have at it, honey." She waited as the big man adjusted things, trying to push down her nerves.

"Ready when you are," he murmured as he finished getting settled, and she climbed onto the bed, bag still in hand, opting to straddle his lower back so that her knees were on either side of his waist.

"Give me a second," she muttered as she dug out the box of weighted fingertip coverings. She fumbled with the container for a moment before getting it open, the metallic pieces popping out easily. Once she had them on all the fingers of her right hand, she looked down at the carapace beneath her. "So, where should I start?"

"Ah, about three quarters of the way up?" he suggested. "A little off center. You don't want to put direct pressure on the spine, even on plates. It would be right around where you'd expect...shoulder blades? I think?"

"Okay, I think I can do that. How hard should I be doing this?"

"I prefer more pressure to less, but I'm not going to complain either way, sweetie. You aren't going to hurt me unless you literally throw all of your body weight into it."

"Alright. So...here? Give or take?" She drummed her fingers firmly in the spot she thought he meant, the metal clinking quietly against his plating.

"Mmm, up a bit?" She complied, smiling when he seemed to arch into the careful motion. "Right there."

She did it again, and he let out a content noise.

"Kind of high for shoulder blades," she teased, and he chuckled as she started up a steady rhythm, the soft sounds of her fingertips on his back almost sounding musical.

"Lucky for us I'm not the ship's doctor."

"You're smart enough that you could be if you wanted to pursue it."

"Maybe. People aren't so much my forte. I would rather fix the thanix cannons than nurse somebody back to health." After a beat, he continued, "Unless it's you, of course. I'll play doctor with you anytime."

She snorted. "Hopefully you'll never have to, but that's good to know."

"Oh, I understand the difference between having to and wanting to, don't worry."

"Not what I meant."

"Exactly what I meant, though. Jokes aside, if anything ever happened and you got hurt, I'd rather be actively involved in helping you heal, as long as you were comfortable with it."

"It's a bit late for me to be getting uncomfortable, honey." She started to relax, putting a little more force into the motion of her fingertips on his back, and he groaned, one hand gripping the pillow.

"Oh, spirits, don't stop," he huffed, and she grinned.

"I like the sound of that," she teased, and he laughed, the sound still a little strained.

"I can't help it, it just feels really good right now. Nobody has done this for me in...literal years."

"What does this even feel like for you?" she asked, curious.

"It's...I don't even know where to start. Okay, so...every time you make contact, the impact sends a little...vibration, sort of? You're hitting me hard enough to stimulate the muscle groups located under my carapace, so this is...honestly really helpful for getting my back to feel less tight."

"I didn't even realize your back gave you trouble. I wish I would have known sooner, then I could have been doing this for longer."

"I wouldn't call it trouble, just my body throwing a hissy fit when I've done too much in one day," he murmured soothingly.

"Did the florist make you dig up the rose bushes yourself?" she joked, and she thought she felt him tense underneath her for a beat.

"Thankfully, no," he answered. "One of my other errands got me. The florist was incredible, honestly. I'm probably going there the next time I get you a bouquet."

"You don't have to get me flowers anytime soon, honey," she murmured.

"You held those flowers like they were a brand new shotgun."

"That is an exaggeration." She suddenly switched to the same spot on the other side of his back and he groaned.

"It is, but I do not regret it right now," he managed, and she laughed.

"Me, either. Is it weird that I'm loving making you squirm?"

"Well, I love making you squirm, so I don't think I'm in any position to judge."

"Maybe after this it can be my turn," she said playfully.

"This day just keeps getting better," he said agreeably, and Anya snorted.

"Anything for you, big guy."

"You're an incredible woman, Anya."

"I haven't done anything crazy," she reminded him. "This is only a...what would you call this? I don't think 'back rub' applies so far."

"Percussive massage," he said helpfully. "So far, though?"

"Well, yeah. I was going to offer to do your lower back, too. What did you think the oil was for?"

"Is that...the best idea? I'm already getting riled up as it is."

"I can handle you being excited, honey," she said gently, and she felt him take a deep breath.

"Okay. I'm good with it as long as you are. Do your worst." She reached for the bottle of oil poking out of the bag, snagging it and quickly going through the motions to get some into her hand. She put the bottle down, rubbing the thick fluid between her palms to warm it. Once she was satisfied, she gently dragged her nails down the unarmored portion of his back on either side of the plates that followed his spine, and he took a deep breath.

"Am I making you nervous, honey?"

"You're making me something, alright," he muttered, and she felt the corner of her mouth twitch upward.

"Just breathe."

She pressed her palms firmly into his lower back, beginning the process of kneading the tight muscles under his skin. He moaned, and she bit her lip as she tried to ignore the sounds he was making as she touched him. By the time her hands and forearms started to tire, Garrus was all but panting beneath her.

"I don't know how much more teasing I can handle," he said raggedly, and she cocked her head to the side.

"What?"

"You coy little…" She let out a surprised noise when he twisted, one arm snaking out and wrapping halfway around her waist. He yanked her down and shifted so that she was all but trapped beneath him, his hand immediately sliding upward and fisting in her hair, tugging her head to expose the side of her throat. His mouth was there in an instant, his teeth and tongue roughly teasing the sensitive skin.

"I don't want this to sound like I don't like what you're doing, but I have no idea how we transitioned into this," she managed, her voice breathy. He stopped, lifting his head up and looking at her, disbelief clear on his face.

"So...you didn't realize that you've been teasing me for the better part of the last twenty minutes?"

"I...realize it now. Wait, is your back like one of your spots or something?" He laughed at that and shook his head.

"It's not my whole back, it's just...everywhere that doesn't have plating. The shell doesn't have a whole lot of nerve endings. That means that everywhere that's just skin seems very sensitive by comparison," he explained.

"That...actually makes a lot of sense."

"Yeah. Look, I'm sorry, I didn't realize we were doing two different things there, and I'm sure I came on way too strong just now. I hope I didn't make you too uncomfortable. I just...it seemed like whenever I gave you a massage, it seemed to make you pretty receptive to other forms of physical affection, so I didn't realize that I needed to warn you about that being a thing for me. I won't make that mistake again."

"I mean...have I ever not been receptive to physical affection, even before you started giving me backrubs?" she asked, her brow furrowed.

"No, you've almost always been onboard," he admitted. "I can never claim we don't have an active sex life. I apologize for assuming."

"It's fine, honey. I'm not mad. This was just a silly misunderstanding. We're good." She pulled him down for a quick kiss, and when he raised up again, she was glad to see one of his mandibles quirk upward.

"I think we should probably move soon, my towel is about to fall right off."

"Oh, no, that didn't matter two minutes ago," she argued playfully, and he chuckled.

"Two minutes ago, I thought you wanted me so turned on I could barely stand it."

"Just because I was a little confused doesn't mean it wasn't sexy. You know I like you being aggressive."

"Yeah, but...are you sure that you want to fool around? You don't have to do anything just because you got me going. It's not like it's going to kill me not to get off."

"I'm aware, and the offer stands. I do love how you fuck me," she reminded him. He still seemed uncertain, so she added, "I think it'll be fun. You could always get me back."

"Oh?"

"I teased the hell out of you. Maybe you could tease me for a little while?"

"I...can definitely do that," he said, slowly, clearly thinking now.

"So, what do you have in mind?"

"I think...you should strip and lay on your stomach."

"Oh, yeah?" she asked as he pushed himself up and off of her, sitting back on his heels, and she raised up herself.

"Yeah. Think about it, this started with a massage, we can restart it with another one," he reasoned, and she snorted.

"Alright, whatever you want, honey."

"Which lotion do you want me to use?"

"Ah, probably the cinnamon," she answered after a beat, starting the process of tugging her clothes off.

"Red lid?"

"One of the red ones, yeah."

"Not the dark red, that one is...some kind of fruit. What was it?" he asked absently.

"Pomegranate."

"That's it. Ah, here we go." He pulled out the container, and she hurried to finish getting undressed. He waited while she got comfortable, and once she was settled, he joined her on the bed. Once he was next to her, he said, "Are you ready?"

She could almost feel the words, rough and low, and her hands tightened.

"Do your worst."