by L E May
‘Better than the cybersex?’ She teased.
‘I was scared nothing would be like he described, but it was, and all the better for being Steven, someone I know and trust,’ I blushed, ‘and love.’ I added.
‘Olly loves Steven, Olly loves Steven.’ Ruth sang at me. I threw a cushion at her, laughing.
‘Of course it’s also entirely possible he will find the whole thing quite a turn on.’ I suggested blushing.
‘Now that sounds like Chris talking.’ Ruth admonished me, ‘so what’s happening tonight?’
‘We are going on our first date.’ I grinned.
‘What are you going to wear?’
I glanced at Ruth’s shoes – she was wearing reassuringly uncomfortable high heels and I breathed a sigh of relief that I wasn’t about to be dragged off to buy a first date outfit.
‘I hadn’t thought about it – care to check out my wardrobe?’ I invited. She was already halfway to the door before I finished speaking.
I was ready and watching out for his arrival by 7 p.m. It had taken a while but Ruth had eventually found something she was happy with letting me leave the flat in. I was wearing a knee length, black pencil skirt, one of my few smart items that I occasionally wore to work meetings, which she had matched up with a black chiffon blouse over a red satin vest. The red shimmered through the chiffon. She had glared at me, hands on hips, when I tried to pull on my knee-high flat boots.
‘I know you have dressy shoes, Olly, you haven’t thrown any clothes away since 2001 so I know you still have the ones from your May Ball.’
I’d sighed theatrically and scrambled under the bed to find them. My feet were killing me already and I’d had to practice walking for an hour before I felt confident I wouldn’t fall over. But they looked good, they made my boring work skirt look sexy.
‘You know, we will have to do some serious shopping if you guys are going to keep going on dates, I thought you two were all about staying in playing video games.’
‘I certainly hope we will be, I don’t think my feet could take too many nights out.’ I complained, wincing as the shoes pinched my toes.
I hadn’t yet told Ruth about Thornton Manor, I was going to wait until Steven sent me their social diary so I could present Ruth with the gift of shopping. She would know exactly what to wear for these engagements. For a moment I envied her the natural ability to dress well.
Out of the window I saw Steven’s car pull up in front of the building, I checked my make-up one last time in the hall mirror and waited for the chime of the doorbell.
He smiled at me when I opened the door, his eyes twinkling with pleasure as he took in my appearance. He leant forward to kiss me, a brief touch of his lips against mine as he walked past me into the flat and made his way upstairs.
‘What time is the table booked for?’ I asked, I suddenly felt shy and nervous at the idea of us going on a date. Ridiculous considering everything else we had already done together in the last twenty-four hours.
‘Whenever we want. Callum has reserved us a table for the evening, said to just turn up.’
His eyes met mine, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He looked effortlessly handsome in his fitted jeans, white shirt, and waistcoat. My stomach did a somersault as I realised how much I wanted him.
‘Do you want to head straight off or do you want a drink or something before we go?’
He closed the gap between us, his hands reaching out for my face.
‘Maybe something before we go,’ he whispered, his mouth covering mine.
My entire body flushed with desire, my legs wobbled, and I wrapped my arms around him, holding onto him. His hands were in my hair, his thumbs tracing the sides of my face as his tongue danced with mine, his teeth grazing at my lip and his eyes staring into mine.
I felt him smile against my mouth as we pulled apart.
‘Shall we make a move then?’ He asked pulling open the door. I was breathless with wanting and frustration. He grinned at my surprise, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll pick this up again later.’
‘Is this some clever plan to make me think about nothing else all evening so you can bring me home and have your wicked way with me?’ I asked irritably.
‘Not at all, I’m just hungry.’ He grinned at me again, ‘Why? Are you thinking about it now, Ols?’ He teased.
I gazed steadily into his eyes, a small smile playing across my lips. ‘I’ve been thinking about it all day.’
Chapter Thirty-seven
Callum’s was crowded. Every table as far as I could see was filled with couples enjoying a post-Christmas meal. Perhaps they had been separated for the big day and wanted to share a special evening together. I felt a fizz of excitement in my belly as I thought about Christmas Day. I had relived the moment when he told me his feelings hadn’t changed over and over again. His glances throughout the day, his hands idly resting on my knee. But besides the joy of finally being together, Christmas had been a magical day. I had become accustomed to spending it alone, no longer caring about the day itself. Steven had given me the gift of Christmas again. A family Christmas. The realisation that I would be expected to spend Christmas at Thornton Manor every year was a welcome obligation. Already I was picturing our children running around playing hide and seek.
Callum was approaching us, his arms open wide, a big grin on his face.
‘Wow, Steven, why didn’t you tell me who your date was?’ He exclaimed, kissing me on the cheek, ‘Olivia, how are you?’
‘I’m good thank you, Callum. How was your Christmas?’ I asked, smiling back at him.
‘It was so nice to have a day off, but ironically, there’s no rest in the restaurant business. Come, I saved you the best table in the house.’ He wound his way through the tables towards the back corner of the restaurant and indicated a booth. It was circular, large enough to fit ten people, with a cushioned bench running around the entire thing.
We slid onto the seat across from each other and grinned up at Callum, who was opening a bottle of champagne. A waiter placed three wine flutes on our table and Callum poured the bubbling liquid.
‘A toast,’ he announced holding up his glass, ‘Olivia, when Steven told me he needed a table because he had a date I thought, good, he’s finally getting over Olivia, but when you walked in I was even happier. I’m so glad you finally put him out of his misery, he’s been propping up my bar for far too long.’
I expected Steven to be irritated or embarrassed but he just smiled at his friend, I flushed at the realisation that it didn’t matter to him, he was content enough for me to know that he had been hurting as much as I had, more even. I raised my glass.
‘Well I hope his happiness doesn’t affect your profit margin.’ I grinned.
‘I hope it will improve my profit margin, romantic meals are more expensive than shots of tequila.’
‘Well I’m not much of a cook so eating here will get my vote.’ I whispered conspiratorially.
Callum handed us both a menu and left us alone to decide.
I was aware of him watching me as I looked through the menu and for a moment I felt self-conscious until I remembered it was Steven, he wasn’t judging me. It felt strange to be so assured of his feelings for me. My thoughts drifted to Chris. What would Steven think about that? I was dreading that conversation. Would he be shocked? Disgusted? Betrayed? He might be turned on. I wondered briefly whether Steven and I would ever have cybersex. I couldn’t imagine doing that, performing for Steven, but then I never imagined I’d do that at all a few months ago. Was it the anonymity of Chris that made it OK? The fact that I couldn’t see him made it seem as though he wasn’t really there. Could I behave like that if I could see someone watching me?
I continued to read the menu, aware of his eyes on me, idly raising my left hand to my face, my fingers caressing my right cheek and my thumb across my left. As I scrutinised the menu I slowly moved my thumb across my lips, drawing the lower lip down and slowly licking my thumb with the ti
p of my tongue. I heard Steven slowly exhale and fidget in his seat I sensed him moving towards me across the table. He likes to watch.
I wrapped my lips halfway around my thumb and slowly pulled it out, tracing a damp line across my chin and allowing my hand to brush across my breast on its way to the table. I drummed my finger loudly on the menu.
‘I know what I want.’ I said innocently, glancing up at him. His was face inches away from mine, his dark eyes filled with lust.
‘So do I,’ he whispered. Leaning over the table, his mouth covered mine, sucking gently on my bottom lip, his tongue darting into my mouth, dancing with mine. His hands were in my hair, his thumbs caressing my face.
‘Do you guys want to eat anything from the menu tonight or just each other?’ Callum teased, causing us to jump apart suddenly. An embarrassed flush crept across my cheeks but Steven just grinned at him.
‘Jealous?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, obviously.’ Callum grinned. ‘The girl of my dreams never wants to kiss me back.’
I glanced at Steven, who was watching me, his eyes sparkling with amusement. I really wanted to kiss him again. I wanted Callum to go away so we could get back to kissing. I felt frustrated and slightly appalled at my desire to behave like a teenager in such a public place. Perhaps this is why Callum put us in the far corner of the restaurant!
He topped up our champagne glasses and took our orders and finally, after what felt like hours but realistically was only a matter of minutes, he walked away.
We watched each other, a small smile tugging at the corners of Steven’s mouth, his eyes boring into me. I slid around the bench towards him as he watched me, amusement evident in his face.
‘So, first date, what are we supposed to talk about?’ I asked curiously.
‘I believe we are supposed to get to know each other a little,’ he explained.
‘Right. And if we already know each other a lot?’ I asked, placing my hand on his leg and leaning into him as he put his arm around me.
‘Then I guess we can just kiss,’ he whispered into my ear, his tongue tracing a path from my earlobe to my jawline, across my cheek, and finding my mouth. I reached up to touch his face, my hand weaving into his hair as we kissed. My desire for him was overwhelming, blocking out all sense of our location, the people around us, nothing mattered except us.
We were interrupted by the sound of plates being placed on the table.
‘Don’t mind me, you two just carry on.’ Callum teased before walking away. Steven’s arm stayed across my shoulder, pulling me into him, his fingers playing with my hair.
Reluctantly I pulled away and moved back to my place; picking up my cutlery I tried to concentrate on my food. He was watching me when I glanced up at him, smiling.
‘You know we may need to hire more staff,’ I said suddenly, ‘because I don’t know how much work either one of us will get done if we’re in the same office together every day.’
‘Well then it’s a good job you have your own office, isn’t it?’
‘God, I thought you were distracting enough as it was, strutting around in your cool clothes with your handsome face and your sideburns and your toned, slim body, making me want to kiss you. Now that I can kiss you, how am I supposed to ever do anything else?’
‘I guess you’ll be sending me to more conferences then?’
‘Oh I don’t know if that’s a good idea, you’ll bring in more work that I haven’t got time to do because I’m too busy thinking about kissing you.’
‘Well it’ll give you a sense of how frustrated I’ve felt since I joined Inspired,’ he said, smiling. ‘All that nonsense about being my boss, not trusting me. I wish I had just told you everything, I knew you were the one for me, I should’ve realised that my background wouldn’t matter.’
‘That day when you kissed me.’ I shook my head remembering it, ‘I replayed that over and over so many times, just thinking about it was enough to turn me on.’ I blushed as I admitted that, but I felt comfortable telling him, it was Steven after all.
‘I’m so glad all that confusion is behind us.’ He grinned.
‘Me too.’
We decided to skip dessert. We said our goodbyes to Callum, hailed a cab outside the restaurant, and made our way back to my flat.
I checked the fridge for drinks. ‘Do you want a beer?’ I called towards the hallway where Steven was hanging up our coats.
Suddenly I was aware of him behind me, his hands on my shoulders, his lips brushing against my neck. I cocked my head to one side, giving him more room, and moaned as his tongue began to trace circular patterns across my neck and bare shoulder. I felt him growing hard as he pressed himself into the small of my back. His hands moved across my body, cupping my breasts, his thumbs rubbing circles across my nipples. I turned my body to face him, searching out his mouth with mine and tracing the contours of his body with my hands. He picked me up and sat me on the edge of the counter.
A moment of déjà vu hit me as I remembered the story I described to Chris, I pictured it in my mind and smiled to myself as I opened my eyes and looked at Steven, the embodiment of the man I’d described. I had never been certain how Chris looked at all, but when pushed to describe how I imagined him I’d simply described how I wanted him to look. And here was that man right in front me. My perfect man, everything I’d ever wanted, had been right there all along and now he was right here in my arms. Happiness washed over me along with desire and longing. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pulling him to me as my hands moved to the fastening on his jeans. His erection sprung forward from the heavy material and his face relaxed as he opened his eyes to look at me, his lips brushing against mine as he encased his length inside a condom. Still kissing me he pushed my skirt up, his hands running up my thigh beneath the material to catch my thong and pull it down.
He wrapped my legs back around his waist and pulled me to the very edge of the counter before pushing himself inside me. I gasped, still tender but so ready for him, he filled me, stretching me, the feeling was exquisite. Slowly he pulled away from me before slamming back in, he rolled his hips as he pulled away and quickly slammed in, again and again, hammering away at my pleasure, pushing me to the edge and holding me there ready to break. I tensed my thighs around him, bucking my hips to meet his thrusts, driving him further and further into me as my orgasm built up until finally I crashed, riding the crest of the wave until my climax subsided. He moaned out loud as his orgasm rushed into me, squeezing every drop of his climax out of his spent body.
I wrapped my arms around him, cradling his head against my chest and kissing his forehead. His lips found mine and we kissed slowly, long exploratory kisses as our heartbeats slowed and our breath returned to normal.
He looked into my eyes as he pulled out of me.
‘So, did you want a beer?’ I asked smiling.
‘Oh, no, have you got any wine?’ I shook my head, ‘OK, I’ll run the shop and get a bottle, any preference?’
‘Something pink.’ I said smiling as he fastened up his jeans. I jumped down and straightened my skirt. No one would ever know by looking at us that we had just had sex on the kitchen counter. I followed him to the hall and watched him shrug on his coat.
He reached out to caress my face and planted a soft kiss on my lips.
‘I think I’m giving you a bad impression, my love,’ he frowned, ‘I promise you tonight, I am going to make tantalisingly slow love to you.’ He grinned, kissing me again. I felt my body flush with anticipation. It didn’t matter how fast or slow it was, I was enjoying every second of it, the arousal, the kissing, just being in such close proximity to Steven, his scent, the feel of his skin, it was all intoxicating.
I ran to my bedroom after he left and straightened up the room. I rummaged through my underwear drawer and found the new underwear Ruth and I had chosen a few weeks earlier. Only one set was still unworn, I didn’t want to wear something that Chris had seen, I wanted something that only Steven would see.
/> I quickly removed my skirt and top and wriggled into the underwear. The bodice was made from maroon satin with a black lace covering, the satin shimmering beneath the lace. Ribbon was woven throughout the edges of the cups and along the hem. The thong was black lace with the same maroon ribbon edging.
I studied my reflection in the mirror and wondered if Steven would like it. Well, I’d do me! I grinned at myself and grabbed my silk dressing gown, pulling it on as I made my way back to the living room.
I curled up on the sofa and eyed the laptop. I felt the skin on my neck prickle with discomfort. It was stupid, but I felt guilty. I couldn’t decide whether I felt guilty about what I’d done and how Steven would feel if he knew about it, or if I felt guilty about Chris. Should I give him a heads up about me and Steven?
I glanced at the clock. Steven would be back soon, but I decided I had time to make a quick call to Chris and let him know what had happened. I opened up FaceTime and created a connection to Chris. I saw the connection icon and heard a faint ringing. I waited for the screen to change but nothing happened. The ringing noise sounded louder suddenly until I realised it wasn’t the computer. The ringing noise was coming from the hallway, drowning out the sound from the laptop. I followed the sound and found Steven’s phone on the hall table.
Idiot, who goes out without his phone? Curiosity got the better of me, there was so much about Steven I still didn’t know and I wondered who was ringing him at this time of night. I picked up his phone and checked the caller ID:
Olivia Jones wants to FaceTime with you.
Chapter Thirty-eight
I was still staring at his phone when he pushed open the door to my flat, clutching a bottle of wine.
‘Oh I wondered where I’d left it,’ he laughed with relief when he saw me holding it. He frowned when he saw my expression.
‘Get out,’ I hissed.
