by S M Mala
‘Hello,’ he said. ‘I’m Finlay.’
‘I know.’
‘And you’re going out with Stephen,’ he said, trying not to sound very insincere.
‘On and off. Is she leading him on?’ The girl flashed a disgusted look over at Sylvie and he copied, when he realised Andy was moving too close to her. ‘And Stephen thinks he has to protect the woman!’
‘She doesn’t need protecting and Stephen has his own issues. Don’t you feel odd knowing he might be lusting over someone else?’ he quietly asked as she looked at him ashen face.
‘The problem with Stephen is that he’s caring and kind. Some people take advantage of it.’
‘Sylvie doesn’t,’ Finlay replied, seeing Stephen literally drool when looking at Sylvie before he gave Andy a challenging stare. ‘He just seems a little obsessed and that’s quite scary. You know he declared his love to her not so long ago.’
‘He did what!’ the woman snapped.
‘She let him down gently saying she didn’t feel the same way so it’s not her that’s delusional and-.’
‘Are you calling my boyfriend delusional?’ she said really loudly and he noticed Sylvie look over as Stephen narrowed his eyes.
‘I’m just saying it’s not her fault and-.’
‘Finlay, I just got a text to say Toby thinks Daisy might be getting a temperature so I need to get home and he wants a lift back,’ Sylvie announced, quickly walking towards them with her phone in her hand.
‘You should be ashamed of leading him on!’ the woman said to Sylvie.
‘Who?’
‘Stephen,’ she replied as Finlay noticed Sylvie start to smile. ‘What’s so funny?’
‘I’m certainly not leading him on and he’s very close to getting the sack if he thinks that trying to land me in shit a few weeks ago makes me want him more!’
Finlay felt her grab his arm and lead him out, then realised Krista was walking towards them so he sprinted to the cloakroom, ahead of Sylvie, got their coats and headed straight on to the street. As he turned, he noticed Sylvie kiss his friend Frank on the cheek before walking off deck.
‘What were you doing?’ he asked surprised on what he’d witnessed. ‘Are you coming on to my friend now?’
‘I’m coming on to everyone by the sound of it and I need to get away from this place,’ she said anxiously, managing to hail a cab before he could wrap her coat around her shoulders.
They jumped in and fastened the seatbelts.
‘Back to yours, I presume?’ she grinned.
Thirty five
As soon as they got through the door, he threw her up against the wall and was pulling down her tights and knickers. Sylvie couldn’t breathe as she was being pressed so hard but she managed to push off his jacket and start to unbutton his shirt, all the while kissing him.
‘I have to go to the loo,’ she said, as he let out a frustrated moan. ‘I’ll wet myself if I don’t.’
He dragged her to a door, put the light on and pushed her through as she smiled, closing it behind her. Quickly she glanced around the pristine clean bathroom and noticed some tissues which she dampened. After taking a wee, she douched herself as much as possible. Just as she was walking out, Sylvie got the shock of her life as she was grabbed and pushed up against the wall again.
This time he wasn’t holding back.
Finlay pulled down her dress and she realised the tights were coming off then her toes would be exposed. She kicked them off and twisted her foot so he wouldn’t notice her feet, then stuck her hand down his trousers to pull at his very hard dick.
‘Bed,’ she said, as he walked backwards into a room, pulling her onto the bed and removed all her clothes as his hand went to her crotch.
He started to massage her with great speed.
Finlay was licking her neck as she ran her fingers through his hair, knowing she wanted him so badly and looking at the top of his head, noticing his mouth cover her nipples and the hard sucking was making her fanny pulsate.
He wasn’t fully naked and she wanted him in her mouth as he started to make her grind, so she turned to open up his trousers and placed his cock between her lips, sucking hard as he continued to rub her. Then she felt his mouth and suddenly an orgasm, as his tongue licked her hardened clitoris before he nibbled her in between rubbing and slow finger fucking. She couldn’t stop sucking him off and knew she was going to come as she pulled away and groaned, sensing the feeling of being deliciously ripped apart, as her heart pounded fast with the explosion happening in her pulsating hole.
Finlay turned her around and took her from behind, kissing her, their tongues touching and she could taste herself on his lips. He fucked her hard as she held on to his smooth buttocks, trying to scratch them but he pulled her hips up as he slammed himself inside until she eventually came followed by him.
Both of them lay on the bed, sweating and panting hard as he groaned into her ear before turning her around, kissing her on the lips. Finlay pulled away kicking off his trousers and underpants as he lay next to her, his slim naked torso wrapped around hers.
‘Welcome to my home. I’ll give you a tour later,’ he said and she felt his fingers stroke her face before moving down to cradle her breast. ‘Great evening.’ She smiled at his deadpan expression. ‘No, seriously it couldn’t have gone better.’
Sylvie pushed him back and glided on top of him, holding down his arms above his head as she laughed.
‘Stalked by Stephen and his snappy woman, running into someone who I’d rather avoid, seeing that man Andy literally combust in his pants when he set eyes on you plus running into old friends who kept mentioning the wife. God Sylvie, I hope your Christmas party is better.’
She watched how he smiled, before kissing her nose. Something stirred in her and she wanted it to go away, knowing she liked the man too much and realising it was a losing game.
‘Why’d you do that?’ he said frowning.
‘Do what?’
‘That pissed off sigh,’ Finlay said accusingly.
‘It’s supposed to be a happy sigh but I was pissed off Stephen was there and his bitch kept looking at me as if I’m leading the shit on. And Andy… he’s nice but you can tell he’s porking half the women at that party, probably your mate Krista. How comes she was there?’
‘Her company does the PR for him,’ he said unimpressed. ‘And then you hit on a school friend of mine to boot.’
Sylvie remembered what she was told by Frank and stared for a moment.
‘I met him many years ago over a fund raising thing. He remembered.’ Sylvie gulped hard and was met with the Finlay stare. ‘People do remember me you know. I’m not that insignificant.’
‘I’m starving.’
‘Thought you went to find food?’
‘I didn’t. Fancy a sausage sandwich,’ he smiled sheepishly as she nodded.
Sylvie walked around his apartment and realised it was large, pristine and beautiful, not at all like her cosy little hovel. He had fresh cut flowers and his fridge was stocked, probably courtesy of a housekeeper, before she noticed some pictures and went to look.
There was his beautiful wife, many of Finlay and some of Toby. She smiled at seeing he was family orientated and felt sad knowing she’d probably never get the chance to really get to know him. Sylvie smelt the burning from the kitchen to see he was fanning the smoke detector as she opened the window and helped.
‘You’re going to gas me?’ she said as he coughed and started to swear when he touched the sausages.
Taking the tray out of his hand with a tea cloth, she pushed the sausages onto a plate and then cut them in half, lengthways, as he stood watching her.
‘You’re not going to stay the night then?’ she heard him ask and shook her head, wishing she could but knowing it was impossible.
From the corner of her eye, she watched him butter the bread at a snail’s pace before noticing it was after ten and she’d have to go in half an hour. Sylvie examined his profile and c
ould see he wasn’t looking at the bread but focussed on something else. She touched his hand, took the plate and put the sandwiches together as she jumped up on a bar stool.
‘Mustard, ketchup or brown sauce?’ she asked seeing his bottles.
‘All three,’ he replied and she made him a sandwich and handed it over. ‘Is this the first and last meal we’ll ever prepare together?’
‘Maybe,’ she sighed, wondering why he was getting all serious. ‘I like mustard and ketchup in mine but I am partial to brown sauce though I never mix.’
‘I don’t know what the future holds,’ he began as she didn’t want to listen. ‘The past few weeks have been really wonderful for me and I hope you think so too. I’m not playing with you, you know that. We’re adults, we know the score.’
‘We’re fine and this is complicated but very private. I will never tell, other than Nalini and you’ll probably never meet her, another living soul as I know there’ll be repercussions for you. Business, I will try and shaft your arse but personally I’ll protect your heart.’
She smiled as he looked at her before taking a bite of his sandwich.
‘I don’t want to break your heart,’ he said quietly.
‘How can you break something that’s been totally decimated? I think that’s impossible.’ Sylvie shook her head for one moment then started to eat before stopping. ‘Only you Finlay Chambers could decide you are going to do the dirty and I’ll end up being the victim.’ She laughed seeing him smirk for a moment. ‘You don’t know me really well at all.’
‘I’m getting to know you.’
‘But you’ll never know everything,’ she said, twisting her foot, in his sock, to hide her toe. ‘And really, what’s the point?’
Childish as he knew it was he was put out about her not staying the night and her comment on what was the point of him getting to know her. Finlay had never experienced ambivalence from someone and never in a relationship. He didn’t bother to go into work and missed their appointed meet time at the hotel, feeling upset as he sat in his apartment, sulking.
And to make matters worse, she hadn’t called which only fuelled his annoyance.
By Thursday evening he’d wound himself up and rang Sylvie after ten in the evening to be met with a sleepy voice.
‘Hello,’ she said, sweetly and Finlay realised he missed not speaking to her for the day, sickened on experiencing the feeling of yearning. ‘Did you have a busy day?’
‘Well,’ he said not knowing how to explain.
‘I got to the room and you weren’t there so after half an hour I realised you weren’t coming. I’d have phoned but you might have been in a meeting with your mother,’ she said gently. ‘I had a lovely bath to soothe my aches and pains because my wonderful lover was amazing last night.’
‘Even though you don’t think we’ll ever get to know each other better?’ he said, feeling his heart pound in his chest. ‘Is that because you don’t care?’ There was silence on the other end and he could hear her breathing. ‘You can tell me, I’m an adult.’
‘Thing is when you like someone at the beginning, you don’t behave like adults, you behave like love struck teenagers. Speaking as one love struck teenager to an adult, it’s hard to explain that you want to be with that person all the time and you know you can’t. You experience these overwhelming pangs you know are wrong but it’s pretty involuntary and you wonder while going through all this, if you’ll come out safely the other end. That’s why the more you get to know someone, the harder it is.’
Finlay held his breath for a moment, knowing what she was saying without stating the fact.
‘And all you want is to hold them in your arms and for them to hold you. Anything else is just a bonus,’ Sylvie said, before yawning. ‘I have to sleep. We have the party tomorrow and I need to sort things out.’
‘You said your heart was decimated. Does that mean you can’t love anyone?’ he asked. ‘Are you that broken?’
‘You’re putting back the pieces together, probably only to knock it down but I don’t mind. It needs to be done occasionally to remind me that you can meet someone and be happy, even if it’s for a short while and totally, totally unsuitable.’
‘Not that unsuitable.’
‘You’re funny!’
‘Seriously!’
‘If your wife hadn’t been an idiot and screwed around, got herself pregnant with possibly another man’s child, would you be talking to me on the other end of the phone or even sleeping with me?’
‘Well of course not!’ he replied as if that was a stupid question before realising how it came out.
‘There you go! Unsuitable! And you still love her Finlay, you’re just doing things to hope you don’t, but you do. I know you’ll be back with her in a matter of months. You’re only with us until the end of the year.’ She let out another yawn. ‘I have to sleep. See you tomorrow at the party.’
‘Don’t you want to meet up and-.’
‘I have a lunch date with Piers.’
Not seeing Finlay on Thursday had put Sylvie out of kilter but she knew he would eventually start to let her down. Their days were numbered due to his imminent return to France. It had taken him twenty one days to start behaving like a man who didn’t really care by giving blunt and honest observations.
She shrugged as she got off at West Hampstead train station and walked towards the bistro Piers wanted to meet at, knowing she would cry an awful lot of tears over her new and very short term lover.
All through the night, after speaking to him, she realised he was playing his ego game and she was letting him do it. The fact he kept saying he wasn’t using her only made her realise he was, but didn’t want to make it so obvious.
‘Hello!’ Piers said, getting to his feet as she smiled while walking into the restaurant. ‘Long time no see!’
‘You look really well,’ she said, kissing his cheeks and sitting down. ‘And I still don’t accept you not coming to the party tonight.’
‘Alice is still a little bit put out with me about giving you those shares so I thought I’d take her out to dinner,’ he half laughed. ‘Plus both her sons are going so I didn’t want it to look like a family mutiny. How long have you got?’
‘Until two then I have to pick Daisy up from school. And Toby said you can’t have wine,’ she added taking the list away. ‘No red meat, fried food or anything unhealthy.’
‘Seriously Sylvie, that’s not fair and I’ve been stuck at home for weeks.’ Piers let out a disgruntled sigh and sat back in his chair for a moment. ‘Stepson been any good?’ he grumbled sipping his water and pulling a face.
‘He’s been told not to help you or me by instruction from the wife. Finlay says he wants to work from our offices as it takes his mind off things.’ Sylvie examined the menu before discreetly glancing at Piers who seemed agitated. ‘He’s no trouble at all… sometimes.’
‘Tried to get you arrested though?’
‘Stephen was part of that and you know what? I don’t trust that shifty accountant. Not only did he turn up at the Simmonds Product party, coincidentally with invites for us that went missing, Samina said he’s still sheepish about that company who fiddled us.’
‘They didn’t fiddle us, we got our sums wrong.’
‘By nearly forty thousand pounds?’ she said, shaking her head from side to side. ‘I still don’t understand the whole thing.’
‘Stephen is a nice man. I grant you he is slightly obsessive and-.’
‘Slightly?’
‘His mother had passed away and he then got made redundant. The poor chap was at a loss on what to do. He’s Oxford, you know.’
‘I don’t care if he’s ‘Oxford Street’ he’s still a deceitful wanker! And hubby came from that same shopping centre, let’s not forget,’ she said as Piers smiled. ‘Since Finlay started Stephen’s getting odder by the second.’
‘Finlay has other issues to deal with,’ Piers said quietly. ‘His mother said he’s not concentrating on
the business at the moment and I put it down to that spoilt little tart he married.’ Sylvie bit her lip for a moment feeling disloyal towards Piers considering what she was doing with Finlay. ‘Or he doesn’t want to delve too deep into his woman’s finances.’
‘I think it’s your wife just being mean.’
‘I don’t think Juliette has ever been faithful to Finlay and he can’t see it. He was completely head over heels when they met, she ticked all his boxes and more so. That boy had lots of girlfriends and really far nicer ones. When he met her, well it was hook line and sinker for him.’ Piers shook his head solemnly. ‘He’s a lovely boy but she changed him. Toby and I can see it. Alice well, she’d strangle Juliette given half a chance but this baby nonsense. That woman is intent on breaking that man and I won’t let it happen.’
‘It might be his.’
‘It might not.’
‘He’s still in love with her,’ she huffed before seeing Piers stare for a moment. ‘They’ve had a hiccup, he’s making a stand and he’s going to go back to her, so your family have to get your heads around it.’ Sylvie half smiled. ‘I know what it’s like when a family don’t approve.’
‘Why are you being nice about him?’
‘We have something in common, people who disapprove. I think I should tell you something. He’s got the other key card to the room. He says he needs time out or something,’ she lied. ‘I left them in the top drawer and he found them.’
‘You don’t mind sharing?’ asked Piers peering at her and for a second.
She wondered what he meant, seeing the twinkle in his eye.
‘I don’t mind sharing,’ she replied, realising she was literally ‘sharing’ Finlay with his love for his wife.
Not wanting to say anything else, she examined the menu and realised Piers staring at her again with an anxious expression.
‘Are you alright?’ she asked moving closer.
‘I’m not doing this to upset you, you know that don’t you?’
‘What have you done?’
‘I’ve told Alice I’d like Finlay to stay for a few more months, maybe until Spring, when we’ll find out who’s the father.’
