‘Hot dog and soda?’ He questioned. ‘Come on you know you want to? You can’t be out here in New York and not have one.’ I nodded my response, smiling at his boyish behaviour.
Alex quickly paid for four and brought them over to me. I was useless at eating and walking at the same time and had to stand still in order to try not to get the ketchup all over me. It was delicious; the wonderful crap in my mouth was just like I imagined eating expensive caviar to be, the tastes exploding all over my tongue. I heard Alex groan and immediately my eyes shot up to his. He closed the gap in between us now. I couldn’t believe he had already eaten three hotdogs and I still had some left. I watched as he bent his legs so he could look me in the eyes. His tongue flicked out over his lips.
‘Even eating a fucking hotdog you nearly had me making a mess in my jeans.’ His voice was low so no one else could hear, he spoke into my ear. I felt myself being walked backwards and pressed into a building behind me. ‘Holy hell, with your eyes closed guiding the fucking thing in between your lips like it was my cock, and the noises you made... seriously fucking killing me here.’ He pushed his erection into me now and I smiled at him. Bending down slightly further, he started to lick up my exposed throat with one continuous sweep of his skilful tongue. I inhaled sharply. Finally he flicked over my open mouth and broke away.
‘Just cleaning you up, baby... just cleaning you up and making you dirty, all at the same time.’ He stepped back and lifted my hand and the last remnants of my hotdog up to his mouth. He consumed it with a wicked gleam in his eye and proceeded to suck all of my fingers clean, one by one. He moved suddenly away from me as I was raising my other hand to slap him. We ran for a short distance, with me chasing him through the crowds, laughing. I loved the playful side of Alex as much as I loved the dominant one.
Dodging through the thickening crowds was getting to be a nightmare. The decorations had only really been unveiled a couple of days ago and the people of NYC were out in force with the tourists, just soaking up the happy atmosphere. Alex had held me close to his side at all times, sometimes using his body as a plough to almost push through the people. Once again I was grateful for his rugby skills.
We had stopped for quite a while to look at the Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Centre, and to absorb the atmosphere from the people around it. We had even managed to snap a few selfies and a couple of them weren’t that bad. I had taken one with the tree behind us and Alex holding me tightly to him, he hadn’t looked at the camera, but was staring at me. That one was my favourite and as we walked away I changed it to my screensaver. I had a few others of him that I had snapped previously, mostly when he wasn’t aware and even when he was asleep.
God, I had it bad!
‘OK... so I just want to look in a store with you on the way to Central Park... and the last thing we are doing today is ice skating.’
‘You’re bloody joking, aren’t you?’ I stopped dead in my tracks and restrained myself from saying more, but knew that he had taken in the horror that had quite obviously attached itself to every part of my face.
‘Ermm... No, I wasn’t... I thought it would be a great way to round off our day out.’ His face took on a rather hurt expression. One of the few times I had seen an unsure Alex. His hand had come up to run through his hair.
Shit, Shit, Shit... Note to self... think before you open your bloody trap!
‘Sorry... I feel terrified at the thought of ice skating... I mean if we were meant to glide around on a thin, sharp edge of nothing but possible throat slitting metal... I’d have them on my feet now, wouldn’t I?’ We both glanced down at my feet. I was wearing Dr Martens. Really comfortable and extremely flat and the emphasis was on flat! My nerves had overtaken me and had been joined by my galloping speech. My face was bright red.
‘Sorry, you’ve taken time to plan today and I’ve just panicked over nothing and bloody ruined it.’
‘It’s OK, Frankie... let’s just go up and look then shall we... it’s nice up there now. Lights in the trees and stuff... the kind of things you women like.’ He lifted his hands up in the air either side of his head, gesticulating an air quote movement with his fingers.
‘It’s pretty,’ he mimicked sarcastically.
I made to slap him again but missed. ‘You obviously enjoy me hitting you... don’t you? As you just keep on giving me the ammunition to work with, don’t you?’
‘I just like you touching me, baby... anyway I can get you.’ He pulled me into a quick hug and then we continued on our way. My panic had been momentarily diverted by holding on to Alex. We walked on for a while.
‘This is the shop.’ We found ourselves outside of a large regal looking stone built building. Looking up I could see it was Tiffany & Co.
He caught the look of shock on my face and grabbed me by the elbow to lead me in. Probably my mouth falling open like I was catching flies was a dead giveaway.
‘We need to have a look at some diamond engagement rings... Please,’ Alex spoke to very smart man in front of the counters.
‘This way, Sir, Madam.’ We were led further into the beautiful glass case filled, sparkling cavern, following the lead of the man in front of us. My brain was on repeat.
Engagement ring? Engagement ring?
Finally we stood over a large tray of diamonds. I don’t think I had ever seen so many beautiful pieces of jewellery. Square cut, circles, tear drop looking ones. I knew they had proper names but as my life had never involved having much money before, the proper names certainly didn’t trip off my tongue.
‘Which ones do you like, Frankie?’
‘If I said all of them, is that too indecisive?’
He laughed slightly standing next to me, still holding my elbow. He was shuffling his feet, obviously a little nervous.
‘Ermm......yep just a bit... come on help a guy out here... OK, just maybe you could give me a little help, say narrow the field.’ I still hadn’t taken my eyes away from the sparkling tray in front of me.
OMG, OMG....he is going to ask me to marry him!
‘If I really had to pick... I don’t know the proper names for them, but I really like the square ones and that one there that looks like a tear drop.’
‘You have great taste.’ He stopped fidgeting and pulled me closer to him, ‘Come on then, let’s go look at the “pretty lights” ... that’s given me something to work with.’
He thanked the shop assistant for his time and we had made our way back out into the chilly evening.
After watching for a while at the skating rink, we had made our way home. We had decided that Bella had been on her own for long enough and instead of eating out we would order a takeaway and make sure she had some food in her, that didn’t consist of ice cream, chocolate or wine.
My excitement was hard to contain as I sat cuddled up with Bella, watching another one of the movies she had on her list for the day. There was no way I could share what had happened to me today; normally I would have shared that sort of thing with her. But it would have been cruel to this evening.
Alex was still in the apartment with us. He was on his phone dealing with some business calls. My eyes never left him as he wandered around from room to room; he had changed into grey sweat pants and a fitted black T-shirt. More than once I found my eyes ogling him as he had a habit, when concentrating, of tucking one hand just inside the low waistband of his sweatpants. This moved the bloody things down further; knowing he was commando underneath was doing my head in.
When did I ever get so lucky?
Thirty-Nine
‘Are you sure about this?’ I questioned Bella as Alex removed her case from the bac
k of the car. ‘I mean really sure?’
‘I am... I just need to get home for a few days. I am going to have a chat with Yasmin, my mum and dad. They need to know before this thing blows up.
’ She shook her head from side to side, ‘I can’t believe we only got a few weeks together.’ She hugged me to her now.
‘Me neither... but we’ll get together soon... Yes?’
‘Of course we will... enjoy yourself with Alex and live a little... eh?’ She stared into my eyes.
‘I’ll try,’ I smiled back at her.
Alex opened the door.
‘Ok?’ He questioned, manipulating his huge frame to fit in the doorway.
Neither of us answered, but I offered him a grimace. We slowly walked Bella into the departures at JFK airport, made sure she got to the right check in desk and then we left. I couldn’t hug her again otherwise I knew she would break down. I hated the thought of her flying all the way home by herself. It was one thing doing it when you have something to look forward to, but the thought of explaining her story to her parents must have been terrifying. They weren’t bad parents, but I knew just how upset they were going to be.
With an audible sigh I clambered back into the car and proceeded to buckle up my belt. Just as I clicked it into position, Alex’s hand came over mine and squeezed gently, offering his support.
‘She’ll be OK... You know that... right?’
‘Yeah... my bestie... she’s strong. I just hope she’s strong enough... Have you spoken to Nathan again?’
‘Today?’ He questioned.
‘Uh huh.’
‘No, but I will... he asked me to keep him updated on how Bella was. I’ll phone him and let him know she’s gone home for a while.’
We settled back into the comfy seats and I watched as Alex masterfully weaved his way in and out of the airport traffic. Apparently it didn’t matter what time of day, day of the week, or week of the year, this airport was always congested.
Reaching down I turned up the music playing, it was one of my favourites. Stay-Sam Smith.
Obviously feeling the atmosphere and listening to the poignant words as Sam sung his heart out, Alex reached across and took hold of my hand again, pulling it over and onto his leg. As he drove he caressed my fingers and sung along with the words. The feeling that had been in the car earlier lifted and my heart began to soar once more.
Alex stayed for a couple of hours with me. But as always business called and he had to pop out to the office. There was no way I was going to start to become the needy girlfriend, well anymore than I had already been. The life of a busy CEO, I assumed.
To keep my mind occupied I went across to his apartment, after all I had thought to myself, it wasn’t really that I wanted to sniff his cologne again, no it was all really about using his gym.
Who the hell was I kidding?
After I had run for about five miles, done several sets of sit ups and leg raises, and even used the exercise bike for about thirty minutes, a level of boredom and tiredness was beginning to creep in. The TV was on and I had music playing but I couldn’t shift the feeling of tedium. I had no physio to do and no one to have a laugh with, the apartments were eerily quiet. I had never really spent too much time in Alex’s apartment before and after a quick nose around I had decided to go back to my own. I could at least cook him a decent dinner to come home to. He had said he would only be gone a few hours at the most. That certainly seemed like an excellent plan and it would give me something to do. Making my way through the apartment, I was suddenly aware of voices in the hallway. The soundproofing was such that I couldn’t make out if they were male or female. Being ever the nosy cow, I quickened my step towards the door and pulled it open fast.
I met the gaze of two women about to enter the apartment to the left of Alex’s. One of them was an older lady, in her early fifties I would perceive and the other was a lot younger, probably just older than me. The younger woman had her back to me as she was attempting to gain entry to the apartment. They were beautifully dressed in long winter coats and boots, all very fashionable; it was very evident they came from money. I took in quickly that they had a small suitcase each with them and that they were obviously going to be staying a couple of nights. My face broke out into a wide welcoming smile. Although I wasn’t particularly good about meeting new people, it was quite clear that these ladies had to be Alex’s family; otherwise they wouldn’t have been here in the first place. Rubbing my sweaty, work-out hands down the front of my leggings, I stepped my running shoes forward in haste, they squeaked on the polished marble. I wanted to make a good impression; I knew most of Alex’s family meant a lot to him.
‘Hello, I’m Frankie,’ I offered my now non-sweaty hand towards the younger lady, she looked the less intimidating and it seemed the best place to start.
‘Hi,’ she smiled back, although her face had a curious struggle occurring on it. She was trying to work out who I was. She did at least shake my hand briefly. I wasn’t left with it hanging in the air.
‘Good afternoon,’ I heard from the woman next to her. I made my gaze leave the younger lady and focus on the face of the older woman. ‘I am Margaret Blackmore and this is my stepdaughter Ruby.’
Of course! It had to be Alex’s Mum. She had the same eye colouring as Nathan. Still, Blackmore?
‘And you are?’ She questioned, her look sweeping over me in the space of a second. I could see that she was less than impressed with what she had found lacking.
This already didn’t feel like it was going well. I found my insides switching into panic mode; I was starting to regret my hastiness.
Oh God, not now...please don’t let me.. Not now.
It was too late, no sooner had that thought left my brain, I felt myself intake a huge breath, just gearing my body up towards my oncoming spout of nonsensical words, which I was going to release due to my embarrassment.
‘I’m Frankie.’ Stupidly I offered the older woman my hand to shake. She just looked at it intently. This had made my face boiling hot with a level of blush that threatened to engulf the whole of my upper body.
‘Yes, I believe you have already offered that small snippet of information... But who are you and why were you leaving my son’s apartment?’
‘Oh, I’m over from England. I’m Nathan’s physio... I was just using the gym in Alex’s apartment...as you can see by my state of dress.’ I could see they had no idea Alex had a girlfriend. There was no way I was going to drop it in to the already stilted conversation. I had enough experience with my own family to know it wouldn’t be a good idea. I knew he wasn’t close to his mother, but I really felt he would have told Ruby about me?
‘Oh Yes,’ Ruby’s face broke into a smile now. I started to feel a sense of relief coming over me, ‘Yes, Nathan has told me all about you and the wonders you’ve done with his leg... You must be excellent at your job? He’s not normally known for appreciating doctors or anything along those lines, is he, Margaret?’
‘No, none of my children, especially James, generally appreciate any of those things.’ She had manipulated her face in a frown now.
‘I’m sorry Alex is at work at the moment. He did say he would be back in a few hours. Was he expecting you?’ I felt nerves creeping over me now. His mother was obviously a hard woman to gauge, but being good at reading faces, probably because my own always showed everything I felt, I could see that she thought I was probably sleeping with one of her sons. She was giving me a look of total condescension.
‘He didn’t know we were coming down to the city. I know he is always so busy. We thought we would surprise him and do a bit of shopping while we were here, didn’t we, Margaret?’ Ruby seemed friendlier, now I had given an explanation for my presence.
‘Yes, we have come down to do some shopping... we have a lot to buy.’ I watched as Alex’s mother’s hand had dramatically appeared in front of me, by the removal of one of her leather gloves. I watched as she gently skirted over the top of the small but very apparent baby bump Ruby happened to be wearing along with her designer cloth
es. It had been previously hidden by her long coat
‘Oh how lovely! Congratulations... how exciting for you.’
I watched as Ruby ran her hand lovingly over and over her bump. ‘Yes, we’re really happy, thank you for your congratulations.’
Alex’s mother laughed now, she had relaxed slightly. Probably the most a woman like her would ever relax. In the background I had just made out the start of machinery whirring. It signalled the penthouse lift, starting to make its way up. I knew it was Alex; my whole body was on edge. It was the sort of edge that only his physical presence created within me.
‘We have so much to buy, it’s so very exciting. Ruby we must make sure he puts a diamond on that finger of yours this weekend... now mustn’t we?’
I smiled at Ruby, she looked a little hesitant at this request, and I could imagine it must be bloody hard living with such a strong dominant character like her stepmother. I had known it well, all be it for a short time.
‘We’ll see, Margaret, he may be too busy this weekend to get an engagement ring. You know how busy his work keeps him.’ I watched her silently raise her eyebrows and then quickly put her face back together.
‘You have been engaged a week now, Ruby and some things need to be done in the correct way, even if others haven’t been.’ I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable now, perhaps it was the whole over sharing of Mrs. Blackmore’s really still Blackmore? very evident disgust that Ruby was pregnant before being married.
Oh dear!
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