by S M Mala
‘Sylvie, you can’t give up,’ Rosalind said quietly, sitting on the other side of her. ‘Alice seems to be taking a stand when it comes to the business. Finlay might think he’s running that company but he isn’t, bless him.’ She moved closer. ‘Have you made up?’
‘What?’ Sylvie said and sat back, knowing she had to think on her feet. ‘Why do you say that?’
‘He put his winky in you after he went back with wife and baby!’ exclaimed Samina as Sylvie put her hand over the woman’s mouth, which was quickly extracted. ‘He get your love juices to make you mad and lose company!’
‘He’s not and keep your voice down!’ Sylvie hissed. ‘Seriously, don’t go saying things like that.’
‘You have sex with traitor and send us up the fanny, that what you do,’ said Samina, looking angrily at her.
‘‘Swanny’,’ added Rosalind with a smirk. ‘Are you together?’
‘We made a promise not to speak about it,’ she said sheepishly, knowing she was going red and bent her head down which was sharply pulled up as Samina glared into her face. ‘Leave me alone!’
‘You in love big time and we in big time trouble all because he give you fanny action. Sylvie, he married and got baby. He break your heart again.’
‘What’s going on?’ Finlay said, walking in and making the three of them jump.
‘You use Sylvie to sell company for cheap,’ hissed Samina glancing over her shoulder. ‘And you bring Stephen big teeth in to make sure she get cheated! And why you give her pleasure now when you break her heart before?’
‘Oh,’ he said and Sylvie watched him close the door and sit down at the other end of the table. ‘What made you say that?’
‘Oh Finlay James Chambers you’re just like your father. It’s written all over your face. Any fool can see it, even an old fool like me. You can’t go hurting people because your life isn’t going the way it should be,’ Rosalind said gravely. ‘Surely you can see how complicated things are.’
There was a heavy silence as Sylvie let out a deep breath and hoped Stephen wasn’t going to walk in, which would make things instantly more difficult.
‘Okay I’ll tell you what my heinous plan is, as you’re asking,’ he began as Sylvie did a double take and realised he was staring hard at all three of them.
‘See, tell you he use your fanny juices for own good!’ said Samina, putting her nose in the air.
‘That’s true,’ he smirked and leaned forward. ‘You see I’m in love with Sylvie, I just didn’t tell her and my plan is to make sure we’re together. Yes, I know I’m married with a baby but when you’re in love, you’re in love. What can I say? It’s not the perfect time and this isn’t the perfect situation but what can you do? You’ve rumbled me.’
Another heavy silence hit the room as Sylvie noticed the two older ladies look at the pair of them then at each other. Then she glanced at him as he shrugged, her heart beating fast at his impromptu confession.
‘You have sex with him? Again?’ Samina said in a loud whisper. ‘If he see ugly face when you cry, he only want to take you from behind!’ huffed the woman. ‘And you Finlay Chambers, you use people and hurt them. You not hurt Sylvie. She need a good man, a man who love her. You say you love her but you still went back to French tart.’
‘It’s his wife and they have a baby so he was doing the right thing,’ said Rosalind who stroked Sylvie’s arm. ‘Oh darling, are you sure about him?’
‘Pardon me?’ said Finlay as Sylvie could see Rosalind was playing. ‘What do you mean by that?’
‘He has his moments,’ Sylvie replied quietly.
‘And you love he?’ questioned Samina, unimpressed by her own comment, while pointing a hand in his direction. ‘This man?’
‘Yes,’ she replied, before looking back at him and smiling. ‘I love him very much and we know it’s not going to be easy, plus he said our relationship and business isn’t to be mixed, so we have to play it by ear.’
‘You not tell him anything,’ whispered Samina loudly with a fixed grin. ‘He spy for his mother!’
‘I do not!’ snapped Finlay.
‘You make Sylvie not do work properly. I see you potting in head.’
‘The only plotting I’m doing is trying to figure out when we can spend time together, alone,’ he said, totally exasperated as Sylvie tried not to smile. ‘I know how much this business means to her and I’d never do anything to sabotage that.’
‘Sabotage,’ Sylvie repeated to herself before glancing over her shoulder to look at Stephen. ‘I wonder if that’s what he’s up to?’
‘I don’t trust him,’ muttered Rosalind.
‘I need samosa,’ said Samina, standing up. ‘And good cup of strong tea. You want tea?’
‘Yes please,’ smiled Sylvie standing up as she glanced at Finlay, who was staring into space. ‘And he needs one too from the look of it.’
They all walked out and she noticed he was still sitting in the meeting room for a few moments. Samina was grinning at her.
‘I told you he stupid in love with you or stupid,’ she said gleefully. ‘And you stop cry now. Your ugly face gave me nightmare!’
‘How are you?’ Sylvie said, gently grabbing her arm. ‘Are you sure you’re feeling okay after the wedding and all that.’
‘Not wedding, just men in dress,’ she huffed. ‘Lots of men look like girl and girl look like men. If eunuch I understand but men still have penis. I want proper Indian wedding but my son say they both want to wear red sari.’ Samina shook her head for a moment in dismay. ‘They both will need thick make-up to look like girl.’
‘But you’re fine as I kept hearing things were getting to you,’ she said quietly, seeing Rosalind looking sympathetically at Samina. ‘You know you can take time off if you need it and-.’
‘How company run without me!’ she said with an alarmed look in her eyes. ‘No, no, no! We all going together if this is a sinking shit.’
‘Don’t you mean-.’
‘I know what I mean,’ huffed Samina who then walked off as Rosalind started to laugh.
‘She’s a funny old dear,’ the older woman said and turned to look at Sylvie. ‘God, what does Piers say about all this?’
‘He wants to keep his wife happy and is resolved that the company needs to leave ‘Chambers Caplin’.’
As she said it, Sylvie looked at one of the namesakes.
‘Personally speaking, I think Alice is making it a whole lot worse than it is. She could easily float both the companies but one of them she finds distasteful and the other one is run by a woman who hurt her son. She’s also showing them who the boss is. When she finds out about you and Finlay, I don’t know what she’ll do.’
‘We haven’t got a hope in hell chance of surviving this, have we?’
‘Not really darling.’
He hadn’t said much since they got to the hotel room and Sylvie just wanted to melt into his arms but something was bugging her as they kissed, sitting at the end of the bed.
‘Fin,’ she said, trying to extract her mouth from his as she felt a hand riding up her dress. ‘Can I talk to you for a moment?’
‘No,’ he replied, before covering her mouth with his as she felt his tongue, then pushed him away. ‘Can we make love then talk? You look so gorgeous, do you know that?’
‘You’re on heat,’ she sighed and kept her hands firmly on his chest. ‘You know when Stephen said he made a mistake because your wife is gorgeous. It’s just-.’
‘No,’ he said firmly and she knew that look so well, the one she’d receive every five minutes when they first met. ‘There’s no comparison and, frankly, he’s being a prick.’
‘He can’t be much of a prick if he managed to trace the money going to the cafe from your wife?’
‘It’s a five star restaurant.’
‘So it’s money well spent.’
‘I knew as soon as he said it you were going to say something. Look Sly, I can’t keep telling you not to worry about the
ex when you don’t believe me, but that was then and this is now.’
‘She’s fourteen years younger than me and looks like a super fucking model!’ Sylvie snapped and noticed his eyes widen for a moment. ‘It’s only in fairy tales the man picks the peasant over the princess. In real life the man wants the hottest bitch he can lay his hands on not an old dog.’
‘Really? You’d know about what men want would you?’ he replied with a smack of sarcasm.
Sylvie pulled away before looking at her shoes then her shoulders slumped. He put an arm around her as she turned to examine his high cheek bone face and realised he was deep in thought.
‘Have you found a house for your family yet?’ she mumbled, knowing there was a chance he might get pissed off sooner than later. ‘You’ve not said anything for a few weeks.’
‘Yes,’ he said, before turning to look at her. ‘I’ve found a place for them to stay while we sort this mess out.’
‘And she doesn’t mind moving?’
‘She does.’
‘And why is she moving if she minds?’
‘Because she thinks there’s a chance we might be together and last night on the phone she asked for us to see a marriage guidance counsellor.’
That was it.
Sylvie felt everything plummet to the bottom of her gut as numbness sat heavily in place. He was so close to her face she couldn’t even pretend to smile.
‘You look scared,’ Finlay said, moving closer. ‘You have no faith in me.’
She couldn’t talk as she bit her lip and stared into his eyes for a moment.
‘Don’t hurt me, please,’ she said, knowing it was a plea from her heart. ‘Let’s stop now before it’s too late.’
‘Sylviana, how many times do I have to tell you?’ he whispered, moving closer. ‘I’m in love with my peasant old dog and I’m not going to lose her.’ Finlay kissed her forehead. ‘And for the first time I can see you are totally and utterly in love with me, which is good.’
‘How do figure that one out?’
‘Firstly I called you a peasant old dog and you didn’t hit me and secondly I called you ‘Sylviana’ and you didn’t bark, pardon the pun, either.’
‘I’ll bite you Finlay very hard if you break my heart.’
‘Bite me there,’ he said, pointing to his crotch. ‘I won’t mind.’
‘Is that a hint?’
‘Down bitch,’ he laughed as she pushed him back on the bad before straddling him.
‘Finlay?’ she said gently as he rested his hand on his heart, the other one was pulling down her straps. ‘Don’t you know of anyone that’s willing to buy the company? Surely you know someone!’
He smiled, before reaching out to pull her down and undid her bra throwing it to the side, as his mouth traced down her throat, then she felt him gently bite her nipple before sucking reasonably hard. Sylvie closed her eyes as his other hand was squeezing her arse.
Then he turned her on her back and kissed all the way down her body, pulling off her dress then yanking her knickers. Sylvie looked down and noticed she only had her shoes on as Finlay stood up, pulled off his shirt and quickly removed his jeans, taking his underpants off at the same time. To her surprise, he grabbed her calves and pulled her down the end of the bed before Finlay sank to the floor and started kissing her inner thighs.
‘Are you sure you don’t know of anyone?’ she whispered, before feeling his tongue touch her clitoris and looked down at him, looking back up at her, the green eyes focused. ‘I’ll shut up then.’
He licked, sucked and pulled on her, until her legs were so far bent and apart, she knew the orgasm was going to make her scream. And scream she did when his lips and mouth were building up such a wild friction as his finger slowly slid in and out of her clenching hole.
‘Oh my god!’ she yelled out, her fingers running through his hair as she felt like everything in her body was being pushed and pulled in a beautiful way.
Being turned over quickly, he took her from behind, her face pushed against the duvet as she heard the slap of his thighs against hers and his hands firmly grasping each breast. His mouth was against her neck and his breath was making her skin tingle as she felt him move with quick thrusts inside her.
‘Sylvie,’ she heard him groan and felt his lips kiss her back. ‘Oh shit, I’m going to come.’
His body felt taut against her back as she heard the beautiful sound come from his mouth and waited for him to stop. Slowly he pulled her onto her side and they lay there, spooning, as she managed to look out of the window into the clear blue sky and smiled.
For the first time in ages she felt truly happy.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked as she realised he was looking at her.
‘I’m wonderful, thanks.’
‘I don’t like it,’ Juliette said, walking around the beautiful three bedroom house off Hampstead High Street. ‘It’s far too small.’
‘It’s for a few months before you sort yourself out and get a permanent place,’ he sighed, seeing the look of disgust.
Finlay glanced down at his gorgeous little son, sound asleep in his very expensive buggy. His heart felt full of warmth and love as he examined James’s glowing pink cheeks and little nose.
‘We can stay at the hotel until you find us something more suitable,’ she grumbled before walking up to him. ‘You can’t seriously expect us to live here, can you? Why can’t we move into your apartment? That’s got plenty of room.’
He examined her exquisite face and perfect makeup before admiring her expensively clad body. She was still devastatingly stunning, nothing had changed there, but Finlay was aware she was doing her best to reel him back in. Juliette was standing very close. He could smell her and feel her breath against his face.
‘Why are you doing this? You know I made a mistake. What life is it going to be for our son if we live separately? Surely Finlay you can see this is wrong. I love you, you know I do. We can start again.’ She gulped hard as her eyes filled with tears. ‘Don’t throw us away. I know you’re still angry with me, I feel it, but I was wrong and I am so, so sorry.’
It wrenched at his heart and he knew what she was doing, the power she still had over him. Now she was in London, standing inches away from him and their son sleeping in his buggy, he knew he wasn’t thinking straight.
He still loved his wife and it was only the three of them, alone, in an empty house. She touched is hand and wrapped her fingers around his.
‘If you say you don’t love me anymore I’ll understand.’
‘You know I still love you,’ he honestly replied and looked at her slim hands then glanced at her perfectly manicured feet.
Then he thought of Sylvie wearing his large socks to hide her, yet to be seen, feet and smiled. Finlay knew if she could see him right now, with his beautiful wife, she’d be so unsure and scared.
‘Why are you smiling?’ Juliette asked as he couldn’t shake Sylvie out of his head.
An inner strength started to develop as he looked at Juliette for a moment, leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips before saying,
‘You’re so perfect, do you know that?’
An hour later he was strolling towards his mother’s office and wasn’t quite sure how he felt. He kissed his wife and didn’t know what to think.
It wasn’t wonderful, it wasn’t repulsive.
Finlay felt nothing at all, which surprised him and he wondered if this was because he was forcing himself to feel like that. The sun was beating down and the pavements felt warm for the beginning of July. London’s smell was intoxicating as were the pubs he was walking passed.
Just as he entered the building and towards his office, he realised his mother was with someone then stopped.
Andy Simmonds was sitting in a chair with his back to him as his mother smiled, rather flirtatiously, at the man. Finlay did a double take before quickly walking to the door and knocking. He did his best to put on a happy face and was surprised that Andy’s expression se
emed more genuine than his own.
‘Hello,’ Finlay said, forcing the brightness in his voice as Andy got to his feet. ‘I thought it was you.’ He pushed out his hand as Andy shook it. ‘Good to see you again.’
‘Good to see you too. It’s been a while. I hear congratulations are in order at becoming a new dad,’ Andy replied.
Finlay examined the man and was hit with the reality he was very attractive. He felt a massive surge of jealousy wondering if Sylvie did seek solace in this man’s arms but wasn’t going to ask.
‘You look well,’ Finlay continued and knew his mother was staring at him. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I’ve been given a wonderful opportunity to meet your gorgeous mother,’ Andy laughed and turned to Alice.
From the corner of his eye, Finlay could see his mother blush and this aggravated him, knowing Andy was incredibly charming.
Then he clicked.
‘You know we’re looking to sell our share in ‘Good Vibration’?’ he said and noticed Andy was nodding. ‘Are you interested?’
Finlay let out a nervous little laugh realising who ever took over the majority of the percentage, would have to work closely with Sylvie. He was hit with the certainty, whoever it was, was going to play a daily part of her life.
It could be Andy.
The jealousy was overwhelming.
He had to sit down.
‘Are you alright?’ his mother asked as he nodded. ‘Finlay, you’ve lost the colour from your cheeks.’
‘I’m fine,’ he said, letting out a deep breath. ‘I’ve been running around for most of the morning.’
He looked up and noticed Andy was eyeing him with a smile and suspicion before sitting down.
‘This heat,’ Finlay said, grabbing a magazine and fanning himself quickly. ‘Like I said, we’re looking to sell our share. Do you know any interested parties?’
‘I was just saying to your mother it’s an interesting business, doing very well. Obviously I’m biased because Sylvie distributes quite a few of our items. I’m not sure I want to take on another e-commerce business on our own but that doesn’t mean to say I can’t find people who are willing to buy the share along with Simmonds Products.’
