by L E May
‘Then I wanted to help you, you had all these ridiculous insecurities and I saw them as barriers to you giving us a chance. So I used my conversations with you as Chris to try and help you.’
‘And the sex?’
‘Well in my defence, I never suggested you take your clothes off, I just told you what I would be doing if I’d been there with you, slow dancing.’ His eyes moved to my face again and registered the look of anger at his words. ‘It got out of hand, Liv, and I am sorry. But when Melissa came between us, I guess I was clinging on to the only way I could be with you. When I realised you were falling for Chris, I knew I had to end it, especially when the Melissa problem was resolved and there was nothing else standing in our way except for Chris. I was actually a bit jealous.’ He laughed slightly at the irony of being jealous of himself.
I was silent for a moment, replaying his words, the way he described it didn’t seem too bad. It wasn’t as though he had concocted some elaborate scheme to trick me – he’d just wanted to help. ‘I suppose this is where you tell me that you’re sorry and if you could go back and change it you would, that you wish you hadn’t done it?’ I asked scornfully. Steven frowned and shook his head.
‘No. I don’t regret it. You wouldn’t have had any of those conversations with me because I’m your employee and you liked me, even though it was against your better judgement and you didn’t want me to know your insecurities. But you wanted to feel good about yourself and I wanted to help you do that. Pretending to be someone else was the only way I could get close enough to help you,’ he paused and caught my eye, ‘it did help you, didn’t it?’
I admired his honesty, there was no apology there, just statement of fact. How dare he blame the sex on me, but realistically it was true, he hadn’t suggested I do anything, I’d been caught up in the moment and he just carried it on. I felt mortified that I had been so, what’s the word? Liberated. Slutty. He was right too, I had changed, my self-esteem was much better than it ever had been and I felt more independent and free from my repression. I nodded, sighing in defeat.
‘Yes, you did help me.’
‘I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you, OK? I didn’t set out to do that, I just wanted to be closer to you somehow.’
I turned to face him, matching his position on the sofa, our knees lightly touching, my head fell against the back, and I felt his hand move slightly to touch my hair. I closed my eyes as little tingles started running from my scalp down my neck and along my spine.
‘It’s nearly midnight, Liv,’ he whispered gently, ‘I don’t expect you to forgive and forget but what if we start again?’
I opened my eyes slowly and smiled. ‘For the sake of Auld Lang Syne?’
I was aware suddenly of the music going off and the TV was switched on, the chimes of Big Ben were counting down the stroke of midnight as the party goers all started shouting, ‘Ten!’
I glanced at Steven and felt my heart soften, he looked less miserable and more hopeful, the change in him made me feel happier.
‘Nine!’
He held my gaze as he leant closer towards me.
‘Eight!’
His fingers brushed against my shoulder, sending currents of pleasure coursing down my spine, I felt a giggle threaten as the tingles reached my lower back.
‘Seven!’
My hand touched his knee lightly.
‘Six!’
He reached up to touch my face.
‘Five!’
My hand slid up his thigh as we moved closer to each other.
‘Four!’
His fingers weaved into my hair as his thumb stroked my cheek.
‘Three!’
My hand snaked around his waist.
‘Two!’
I felt his breath on my face as I closed my eyes.
‘One!’
His nose brushed against mine.
‘Happy New Year!’
Our lips pressed together tentatively, my defences crumbled, and I let him invade. His tongue found mine and slowly they danced together like old lovers, comfortable with each other’s routine. His thumb caressed my cheek as my hand moved to his face, weaving my fingers into his hair as I tugged at his top lip. He tasted of beer and peanuts and Steven, his lips were warm and soft and gentle. I opened my eyes to look at him and found him watching me, his eyes were smiling, that spark of light had returned. He pulled away and gazed at me, contently.
‘Happy New Year, Liv.’
‘To fresh starts.’ I agreed.
‘You must have questions?’
‘I thought you wanted a fresh start, brush it under the carpet and forget about it?’
Steven shook his head, ‘I want no secrets between us, I want you to be able talk about anything and everything with me. You have questions, ask them.’
I nodded. ‘OK. Where did the American accent come from?’
‘It’s the only accent I can do, I needed to disguise my voice somehow.’
‘And all those girls you used to take home every weekend at uni.’ I said frowning.
He laughed. ‘A slight exaggeration. Wanted you to think I was more desirable than I am so you’d want to snap me up.’
‘Why do you call me Liv now, instead of Olly?’
‘I told you, Olly is a horrible name,’ he smiled.
‘I quite like you calling me Ols, makes me feel young, but I like Liv too, it makes me feel feminine and grown up.’
‘Well then I’ll be sure to use both with equal measure,’ his eyes were smiling and the familiar twitch was apparent at the corner of his mouth.
‘How much did Ignition offer you to leave us?’ My eyes narrowed as I recalled the phone call from the previous day. His eyes widened and he smiled.
‘Not enough, I can assure you.’
‘But there is a price?’ I was stunned, I hadn’t thought money would be of concern to him.
‘No,’ he shook his head smiling, ‘I’m not going anywhere, Ols, but it’s very nice to see you’re worried about it.’
‘Worried? Who’s worried? I could replace you like that,’ I snapped my fingers together and made a loud popping noise.
He laughed, ‘What about in your bed? Would you replace me there just as quickly?’
‘Well I haven’t so far,’ I grinned. I wanted to change the subject, this had descended too quickly into familiar territory, ‘Who are you? Steven or Chris?’
‘Both, the perfect combination of nerd and perv.’ He winked at me lasciviously.
I shrugged. ‘OK, but you’re not a fitness instructor.’
‘No, but I have one, he made up your diet plan for me and provided me with lots of his sexploits – he likes to kiss and tell.’
‘So those all really happened?’ I asked, wide-eyed.
Steven nodded. ‘Oh yes.’ He leant closer to whisper conspiratorially. ‘And that Jacuzzi is a five-minute walk from your flat, just so you know.’
Something inside me snapped, and I felt desire gathering in the pit of my stomach. Easy now, I told myself, don’t rush it. ‘Interesting, I have been quite keen to sink into that Jacuzzi.’ I grinned. Or I could rush it – either way is fine.
‘Well, not that you need it, but if you want me to continue to help you with your fitness I could take you to the gym with me. That unisex changing room is always empty.’
I felt a warm glow spread through me. The accent had gone but that teasing, suggestive voice was evident in his words. I’d thought it would feel strange to talk with Steven the way I’d talked with Chris but it was just the same. My mind wandered back to Boxing Day, in the car on the driveway, our date, I’d already been more open about sex with Steven than I had imagined, perhaps that was his doing, or perhaps it was me. I gave in, there was no point in pretending otherwise, I wanted Steven and Chris and lucky for me they were both here rolled up in one very handsome package. Besides which, I had lost entire days dreaming about that Jacuzzi.
‘When can we go?’ I asked, and just like that, our romance was
back on track.
The Suited To You Trilogy
by
Demelza Hart
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Published by Xcite Books Ltd – 2014
ISBN 9781783752751
Copyright © L.E. May 2014
The right of L.E. May to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The story contained within this book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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