“You don’t have to.” His protest was half-hearted.
“I want to.” She unpopped the button at the top of his chinos and undid the zipper. “More than anything.”
“Wouldn’t want to disappoint a lady,” he said faintly, sliding down in the seat.
She grinned and moved her hand along the silky boxers, stroking the iron-hard length that strained toward her. “Good boy.” Pulling the elastic carefully down, she revealed his glorious erection. “Wow.”
He gave a half laugh that rapidly turned into a groan as she explored the ridges and veins of the underside with her tongue. When she revealed the plump tip and then covered it with her mouth, he exhaled in a rush. “Esther! Fuck.” Luckily Bourne crashed through a window at that point, covering his words.
“Mm.” She sucked and took as much of him in as she could manage, tasting him on the back of her throat, enjoying the hiss of approval that escaped his lips. He threaded his hand into her hair, and as she continued to arouse him, he appeared unable to stop his hips thrusting gently, forcing himself deeper into her mouth. She welcomed it, however, loving being able to do this for him. Even though her cheeks grew warm when he pulled the hair back from her face so he could watch her, she looked up at him coyly, licking her lips before sliding them back down his length.
Before long, he tightened his fingers and his breathing grew erratic, and she moaned with pleasure when he went still before erupting into her mouth. She swallowed him down, milking him with her tongue, until he gasped and tugged her hair, too sensitive to bear any more of her administrations.
Wiping from the corners of her mouth to the centre, she pushed herself up and into her seat. He tucked himself back into his pants, casting her an amused, exasperated look.
“What?” she asked innocently as she turned her attention back to the movie. “Didn’t you see that on the menu beneath the popcorn?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
After the movie finished, Toby drove them back to the inlet and bought them a drink and a plate of fries in the nearby bar. They sat outside on the grassy bank overlooking the water and watched the ducks paddling amongst the rocks and tourists wandering in the gardens around Kemp House. He felt surprisingly content as they sat and talked, warm in the afternoon sunshine, Esther relaxed and blushing every time he looked at her.
It amused him that she was still so naïve, in spite of the fact that three years had passed since their holiday, and she’d had a child in the meantime. But then again maybe it wasn’t so shocking considering she’d not dated anyone else since. Even though he didn’t like to think of her being lonely, he was glad he’d been her last partner. His reason for being glad puzzled him. Best not to analyse that too hard when they were only supposed to be having sex.
“So, what are we up to tomorrow?” Her green eyes lit with fun.
He put on an innocent look. “My brothers want to meet you. They’ve invited us around for tea.”
Her lips curved. “I meant with the Naughty Nights.”
“Ah.” He’d guessed, but he liked to tease her. “So you want to give it another go?”
“If you do.”
“Absolutely.” He finished off his beer. “You ready to go? The box is in the car—we can choose our next scenario.”
“Ooh yes.” She knocked back the rest of her glass of wine and stood up hurriedly. He laughed, pleased at her eagerness, and they walked out to the car.
Once inside, he took the lid off the box and offered it to her. She rummaged through the cards, eyes sparkling. “Randomly?”
“Up to you.”
“Can I veto?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Why would you? There can’t be a lot left we haven’t done.”
Her fingers stopped going through the cards and a blush lit her cheeks. Clearly she was thinking about the things they’d done back in Fiji too.
“You love to embarrass me,” she whispered. “Don’t you? Why?”
He studied her, amused. “Because I love the light in your eyes when I shock you.” He tipped his head, dropping his gaze to her mouth. “Because I know you like being shocked.”
“I do not.” She moistened her lips, and his erection sprang miraculously to life.
He moved closer to her, slipped a hand to the back of her head and pulled her closer. Letting his lips hover over hers, he said, “Liar.”
She gave a tiny shake of her head. “I don’t. You…you corrupt me. You lead me astray.”
He chuckled and brushed her lips with his. “And you love it.”
“You’re an old-fashioned knave. A rogue. You’ve practically stepped out of a Regency romance.”
He bit her bottom lip gently and sucked. “Maybe. But you’re no angel, Esther. Deep down, you’re as wicked as I am.”
She stiffened with indignation and went to move away from him, but he tightened his grip on her and refused to let her go. Placing her hands on his chest, she pushed, but he clamped his mouth on hers and kissed her deeply, sweeping his tongue into her mouth. She gave in almost immediately, melting against him and sliding her arms around his neck, and let him press her back into the seat.
He sat back after a few moments, breathless and uncomfortable as his erection strained against his pants. “Jeez,” he said, adjusting himself. “Thirty seconds more of that and we’d be in the back like a pair of teenagers.”
She grinned and picked out one of the cards. “Let’s see if I can make it worse.” She read the card. “Oh… Yes. I like this one.” Her eyes danced.
Wariness flooded him. “Uh-oh.”
She read it out. “‘You are the princess in a faraway Arabian city. You have a harem of slaves at your beck and call, ready to service you.’ I like the sound of that.” She giggled at his expression. “It’s okay, it’s not directing me to invite someone else into the bedroom.”
He shivered at the thought. In reality, he’d kill any guy who came near her. But the fantasy was another matter. “Jeez, Esther.”
She dropped her gaze to the card. “‘Choose one slave to do your bidding. He is yours for the day, and must do whatever you bid. And when you’re ready, take him into the bedroom and instruct him to pleasure you in whatever way you choose.’” She looked up at him.
“Does this mean you’re going to ask me to do the dishes and make you cups of coffee all day?” he said.
She smiled. “Absolutely.”
He kissed her forehead. “Then I think it’s more than you deserve. Come on, I bet our boy is wondering where you are. Let’s go and find out if my parents have got him wired on ice cream and burnt to a crisp in the sun.”
They hadn’t, of course. They had smothered the poor lad in about two inches of suncream, a T-shirt, and a hat and sat him under an umbrella most of the day. But Charlie proudly showed them the photos of the sandcastle he’d helped to build, and when they went to leave, he gave his grandmother a big hug, which brought tears to her eyes.
“Glad you had a nice day,” Toby said with a smile. He picked Charlie up. “And now bath for you, boyo. You’re slippery as an eel.”
“Yuck!” Charlie said.
“Yes, uber-yuck. We need paint stripper to get that suncream off.”
“Better than burning,” Martha said as they walked out.
“Thank you for looking after him.” Esther hovered awkwardly.
“You’re very welcome, dear.” Martha grabbed her and kissed her on the cheek. “You’ve done a wonderful job bringing him up, love. He’s a delightful boy—polite, charming and funny. Like his dad.”
“Yes.” Esther’s gaze flicked to Toby, but he couldn’t read what she was thinking.
He drove them back to Faith’s house and carried Charlie in. For a moment, he considered asking Esther to dinner, but she looked tired, and he’d seen from his sister-in-law how tiring the bathtime/bedtime routine could get. Faith went off to run the bath, and Esther accepted his kiss on the cheek and followed her. Soon the happy sounds of splashes and squeals echoed from the bat
hroom.
Toby and Rusty exchanged wry grins.
“Thanks for this, mate,” Toby said as Rusty accompanied him out to his car. “I appreciate you having Esther here—it can’t be easy.”
Rusty waved a hand. “The boy’s lovely. And Faith’s in seventh heaven. She’s treating it like a dry run of the real thing.”
“How’s the pregnancy going?”
“Better now she’s stopped feeling sick, I think.” Rusty looked off into the distance. “Weird process, isn’t it? Someone’s growing inside her. I can’t quite get my head around that.”
“I know what you mean. I still have trouble comprehending the fact that Esther and I made Charlie.”
Rusty smiled. His gaze came back to Toby. “Yeah, interesting that.”
“What do you mean?”
“You and Esther. She’s not your usual type.”
Toby scuffed the gravel with his toe. “Maybe.”
“I hate to ask this, mate, but are you sure Charlie’s yours?”
Toby’s gaze snapped back up to Rusty’s. “What do you mean?”
Rusty’s green eyes were firm. “Are you sure she’s not using you? She’s single, no family, nobody to lean on. She saw you in the supermarket and it must have been like a lifeline. Can you be a hundred percent certain you’re the father?”
Indignation made him bristle, but he kept his voice calm. “Are you a hundred percent certain Faith’s carrying your baby?”
Rusty’s lips twisted. “That’s a bit different.”
“A bit. But it’s the same premise.”
“Well, we didn’t use any protection. I’m assuming you did?”
Toby gritted his teeth, uncomfortable at the fact that he’d also wondered how she’d got pregnant when they’d used a condom. “No method is foolproof.”
“Even so. Don’t you want to be certain? You could have a DNA test carried out.”
Toby’s stomach churned. “That would imply I don’t trust her.”
“Do you trust her?”
“Yes,” he said without pausing.
“Why? You’ve been apart for three years. You knew her for a fortnight. How do you know she didn’t sleep with a dozen other guys when she got back from Fiji?”
“I think you should stop there.” He had to fight to keep the nausea down.
Rusty frowned. “I’m only thinking of you, mate. You’re soft-hearted and the nicest guy I know. I wouldn’t want you to have the wool pulled over your eyes.”
“I’m not. Charlie’s mine. Everyone says we look alike.”
“They would say that, wouldn’t they? It’s the sort of thing you say. ‘Wow, he looks just like you.’”
Toby clenched his fists, and kept control over his voice with difficulty. “I trust Esther. I may not have seen her for a long time, but I know her, and I believe her. She’s the most honest person I know. She wouldn’t do something like that. You don’t understand.” It felt as if someone had tied his trachea in a knot, and he stopped, almost close to tears, which was really embarrassing.
Rusty held up his hands. “Easy, tiger.” He studied his friend thoughtfully. “I didn’t realise you…” His voice trailed off.
“What?”
Rusty didn’t finish the sentence. He put his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Just be careful. Do you remember when we first jumped off the waterfall in Whangarei when we were sixteen?”
Toby frowned. What the hell did that have to do with anything? “Yes, why?”
“We all stood there for ages trying to pluck up the guts to leap off, but you jumped straight in.”
“Yeah, so what?”
Rusty smiled then. “Doesn’t matter.”
Huffing a sigh, Toby opened the car door. “I know what you’re saying, and I don’t want to hear it. I like her. I don’t see why that’s such a problem.”
“The problem is that she lives in Christchurch and you live here.”
“It’s only sex,” Toby stated firmly.
“Yeah, that’s what I said.” Rusty gestured with his head toward the house. “Look where it got me.”
“I hurt her too badly after Fiji.” Toby spoke softly. The regret that tinged his voice surprised him. “She likes me, but there’s no future in it. She doesn’t want anything more.”
But you do. Rusty didn’t say it, but Toby heard the words in his head.
He cleared his throat. “I’m off. The rugby’s on in ten.”
Rusty nodded, as if accepting that was the end of the matter. “Dan Carter’s injured, you know.”
“Yeah, I heard.” That made Toby think of Charlie, which in turn made him first smile, then feel sad. He sighed. “See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah.” Rusty walked inside.
Toby drove off. He tried to think about the match, but his mind kept returning to Esther and Charlie. He imagined them snuggled up in bed, Charlie smelling of baby shampoo and warm milk, Esther’s face filled with the tender look that appeared after the madness of the day had settled and they were curled up together. A sharp pang cut through him, and he took a deep breath to get rid of it.
How had he gotten himself into this ridiculous situation? He pounded the steering wheel to vent his frustration, glad the country road was quiet when the car almost veered into the ditch. He hadn’t wanted a child, and it wasn’t as if he’d been irresponsible and forgotten about contraception. “Fucking condoms!” he yelled. Knowing they could fail had put him off sex for life.
Okay, maybe not entirely put him off, but he’d never be able to have sex using one again without worrying it wouldn’t work. Frustration filled him. He liked sex. He didn’t want to think about children popping up all over the place every time he got his end away. Damn Esther. Why did she have to go and have a baby?
His hands tightened on the steering wheel. It wasn’t her fault. And yet it was, partly. If he’d known he’d got her pregnant, they could have talked about whether they wanted the baby or not. He might have been able to convince her not to have it.
He went cold, stopped the car in the middle of the road and put his forehead on the steering wheel. Shit. He didn’t mean that. Charlie was quite possibly the best thing that had ever happened to him. The way the kid looked at him, as if he was Indiana Jones, James Bond and Dan Carter all rolled into one… Every man should have a son to look at him like that. There was nothing like it. He wouldn’t want to be without the boy.
But he did wish he could have seen him as a baby. Been there at the birth and held her hand, and seen him emerge from her, squawking and red-faced. Held him in his arms and watched Esther breastfeed him late at night. Painted the nursery yellow and bought Pooh Bear stickers to put on the walls. He’d missed out on all that. It made him ache.
But it wasn’t her fault. He lifted his head and started the car moving again, relieved at the lack of traffic. She’d tried to contact him—what more could he have expected from her? He was the one who’d walked away. She’d wanted to see him again, and he’d turned her down. He deserved everything he’d got.
Putting her to the back of his mind, he drove home and watched the rugby, had a couple of beers and finished off with a few whiskies until his mind quieted and sleep overcame him.
But the knot in his stomach refused to go away.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Esther had most of Tuesday to herself. Toby was out with the building firm he worked for discussing jobs for the following week, Faith had another meeting in Whangarei and Rusty was at school. Toby was going to pick her up around four o’clock to take her and Charlie to meet his brothers for tea, but until then her time was her own.
She spent most of the morning on the telephone with her landlord and the insurance company, trying to work out if any of her belongings were salvageable and whether there would be a place for her to stay when she went back. There wouldn’t, it seemed—her block of apartments was going to be completely demolished, so she spent another hour or so ringing around trying to find another rental. Everywhere wa
s full of re-housed people or builders and such who’d moved into the area to help out with the earthquake damage. In the end she found a small apartment that was a bit out of town and more than she’d been paying, but at least they’d have somewhere to stay.
Slightly despondent, she played with Charlie for an hour, making Lego and watching children’s programs on TV. All the while she mused on returning to Christchurch. How long would it be before the university opened again?
Maybe it was time to move on from the city. Although she loved it there, she had no family, no ties. It would probably mean she’d have to return to teaching in a high school, but she wasn’t overly bothered about that.
Leaving Charlie playing with the Thomas train Toby had bought him, she went over to Faith’s computer. Faith had told her to go on whenever she wanted, so she switched it on and started up the Internet browser. Pulling up the Education Gazette, she typed in her parameters and clicked search.
There were a handful of jobs around the country teaching English and literature. It wasn’t a particularly good time to be looking for a position. There were a few secondary schools advertising for English teachers—a couple in Auckland, one in Wellington, one on the west coast of the south island in a tiny school, which she didn’t fancy much.
Then her gaze fell on an advert for an English professor in Otago University in Dunedin, a city at the bottom of the south island. She scanned the details, then went onto the Otago University site and checked out the department. Their syllabus was very similar to that which she’d been teaching at Canterbury Uni, and she’d have no trouble with the other texts they were currently studying. Most importantly, Dunedin wasn’t on the fault line. No more earthquakes.
Her heart lifting for the first time in weeks, she rang the university and spoke to the secretary of the head of the department. Closing date was Friday, but the secretary said they were desperate to find a replacement for the professor who was retiring, and they’d be happy to accept a CV and letter from her rather than the traditional application form.
Six Naughty Nights: Love in Reverse, Book 2 Page 15
