Faithful

by Bay, Louise

  He kept alternating between sensations, each time his teeth sunk slightly deeper, until the pleasure was too much and I pulled his mouth up to mine. Breaking free of my mouth, he replaced his teeth with his thumb and forefinger on the breast he just finished pleasuring and dove toward my other breast, his tongue and teeth starting the same routine as before.

  My rhythm pushing him in and out of me faltered at the sensation of his attention on both my breasts. With both hands he reached behind me and lifted up my hips and then pulled me into him, forcing me down as hard as he could. I felt a sensation leave my throat that I’d never felt before, like a feral animal I let out my cry and let him take over. I was too consumed with the rumbling building from deep within me to try and maintain control.

  I enjoyed him moving my body so it served him in the best way possible, like I was just there for his sexual fulfilment. That thought pushed me over the edge and my body spasmed against him, my muscles pulling him further into me. He growled and I felt him release himself into me and I squeezed tighter and tighter, desperate for every drop of him.

  “Baby, I love it when you are so loud like that. I’m going to start getting complaints from my neighbors.”

  I pushed my burning face into his neck.

  “Don’t be embarrassed. It totally turns me on. I love that you can’t hold back.”

  “That’s what you do to me. Only you,” I said.

  I had never felt the need to, in his words ‘be loud’ with Charlie, let alone verbalize what I wanted or what felt good. In fact it had been the same with Matt, my only other lover besides Charlie.

  With Daniel I just couldn’t hold back, it was like a dam burst inside me each time we made love.

  “It’s different with you. I’ve never felt it like I do with you. I can’t explain it, it feels new.”

  He pulled me close and inhaled deeply.

  “That makes me so happy, Leah.”

  My hands threaded into his hair and I pulled his lips to mine kissing him passionately, trying to communicate to him how happy he made me, how alive I felt with him.

  ***

  It was great to catch up with Anna at lunchtime. So much had happened since I had last spoken to her properly. It had been before my date with Daniel on Saturday. I wanted to know about her Saturday night and why she had had such a hangover on Sunday.

  “So, you must have had a good night on Saturday to have had such a terrible hangover on Sunday?” I asked as we found a table and dumped ourselves down.

  “Hmm, well not exactly. Greg and I are over. Well, we never really began, but we are definitely over.”

  “I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you call?”

  “Oh it’s nothing, we went out like six times, so it’s not like he broke my heart or anything. I just thought that, because he wasn’t a Cityboy, there was a hope he wasn’t going to be a complete dick. But apparently dicks aren’t limited to the City.”

  “What happened?”

  She sighed. “Oh god, it’s humiliating. In the restaurant I came back to the table from going to the bathroom to find him getting the waitress’ number.”

  “Wow, that’s nasty.” I felt embarrassed for her.

  “Yup.”

  “So what did you do?” Knowing Anna, he would have come to understand the phrase ‘a woman scorned’ before she left.

  “You know, I really couldn’t be bothered to even react. I just picked up my bag and left. I felt like I was kind of expecting it. Do you know what I mean? I was just waiting for it to happen. Like waiting for a bus: it arrives, you get on, and it’s no big deal.”

  “Anna, that’s horrible.”

  “It is, but it’s made me realize something. Guys are dicks, rich or poor, so I’m only going to fuck the rich ones only from now on. I might as well not have to pay for dinner if I’m going to get messed about.”

  “That’s a profound life choice, Anna.” And we giggled.

  “Talking about dicks, Fran is back in the office this week.” Apparently she’d been off sick the week we’d come back from Mexico.

  “Oh,” was all I could manage.

  Part of me wanted to see her for myself, to confront her and ask her why she would want to betray me like that, why she thought it was OK to sleep with my fiancé. But I knew that no confrontation would bring me a satisfactory answer and I truly knew that I wasn’t meant to be with Charlie. She was welcome to him. They would probably be a good match.

  “I have seen her in corridors but I’ve not spoken to her. I just wanted you to know. She’s not showing but it’s all around the office that she’s knocked up and the father is her friend’s fiancé. She’s not winning any popularity contests.”

  I sighed. I didn’t know what to feel.

  “Do you want to know this stuff or are you still boating down that river in Egypt?”

  “Both, really. I don’t want to not know, but I just wish she’d disappear off the face of the planet. I wish they both would.”

  “I get that. What about you and Daniel? You seem good together.”

  I grinned, unable to stop myself. Just hearing his name felt great.

  “Well, obviously I completely freaked out after we slept together and I am constantly living on the edge of pushing him away with my neurosis, but he’s really good to me and I want to be really good to him—it seems like the right start.”

  I knew what was coming next.

  “And …? Come on … what about the sex? I bet his got a tiny penis. He’s rich and gorgeous and good to you. There’s got to be a catch. He’s terrible in bed isn’t he? Tell me he is?” She looked at me pleadingly.

  I grinned again, and then sighed; she made a good point, what was the catch?

  “Leah?” Anna jolted me back to her question.

  “He’s all in proportion and he’s not terrible at anything and that’s all you’re getting from me, so stop.”

  “So why did your face just drop before you answered me?”

  I couldn’t get a single thing past this girl. It was exhausting.

  “Just because you’re probably right, there’s probably a catch. I’ve just not found it yet. I suppose, like you with Greg, I’m waiting for the shoe to drop. No one is perfect.”

  “Well, in the bastardized words of Kit De Luca, the best friend of the most famous romantic heroine of modern times, it worked out for Cinder-fucking-ella, so why not you.” We hooted with laughter.

  The afternoon was productive, apart from the time spent on Brendan’s iPad going through his online dating profile. Wow, online dating, that was a scary prospect. Gay online dating, that was simply horrifying.

  It was also fascinating, a little too fascinating, going through Brendan’s profile. He talked me through some of the code embedded in his stated preferences. Apparently he needed to be clear, using these accepted codes, that he wasn’t into S&M but didn’t mind threesomes or foursomes and didn’t expect monogamy—none of which I needed or wanted to know about Brendan.

  Thankfully our hushed voices probably had people thinking we were working on a big, super-confidential project that would generate loads of fees, and I suppose they would be half-right—getting Brendan a boyfriend wasn’t confidential, but it would substantially improve his work output and therefore we’d all get more done and earn more money for the firm.

  David interrupted our review and called me into his office. Brendan and I quickly agreed to go through it in more detail tomorrow at lunchtime.

  “Great news, Leah.” David’s eyes were dancing about as I went into his office and sat down. “We just found out that we were successful in both pitches. The Phoenix and the Palmerston deals have both come to the firm.”

  “Wow, that’s such great news David! Congratulations.”

  “This was a joint effort, Leah. You deserve part of the credit here.”

  “Thanks, David. I’m just so happy we got them!”

  “We need to talk about resourcing these jobs. They are both going to be big, high-profile deals,
and we want to make a great impression.” I nodded, excited. “So, because of your sector experience I definitely want you on the Palmerston deal, and actually, Jim specifically asked you be lead associate, but we need to talk about the Phoenix deal. Do you think that you will be able to do them both?”

  So Jim had specifically asked for me to be lead associate. Was that Daniel asking?

  Daniel and I hadn’t discussed the presentation at all. I hadn’t thought about it before but that did seem pretty odd. I had sort of divorced the two people in my head. Mr. Armitage or Work Daniel, and then My Daniel.

  But they were the same person. I wondered if Daniel thought I hadn’t mentioned it deliberately. And was he consciously not saying anything? I had to bring it up with him—probably at our next headcase debrief. Maybe he didn’t want me working on the project. Maybe it wouldn’t be good for our … could I call it a relationship? The anxiety was really starting to kick in now and I mentally kicked myself and brought my attention back to David’s excitement.

  “Well, I’d like to try. I feel like I know Phoenix so well, and I think I had good rapport with the MD.” I didn’t mention Palmerston.

  “I agree. Well, it’s going to depend on the timetable of the two transactions and we don’t know that yet, so let’s assume you are on both and see how we go. You’ll need to liaise with Brendan around my schedule, but Jim wants an all-day kickoff meeting at some point this week over at his office. But I’m not sure about Phoenix. Can you sort all that?”

  I nodded, desperate to get out of his office to organize my thoughts, personal and professional.

  Back at my desk I started to list out my tasks and put together a draft team sheet for each transaction. I’d asked Brendan to organize the meeting this week with Palmerston; he came back and confirmed that it would be all day Wednesday.

  Then it struck me. Should I tell David about my personal connection to Daniel? Was there some kind of conduct rule about having seen your client naked? I couldn’t exactly say we were together—officially we had only been dating a few days—but perhaps I could say something about him being an old school friend. Would he ask me why I hadn’t mentioned it before?

  I fished out my phone from my bag. Daniel and I hadn’t said anything about when we would next see each other. Maybe I should ask to meet up to discuss all this. I had a missed call on my phone and I smiled when I realized it was from Daniel.

  Daniel listened patiently when I explained that I needed to keep a clear head during the day and that we should limit our email and phone contact during office hours so I wasn’t thinking about him all the time—I needed to keep my mind on the job. He agreed, somewhat reluctantly.

  The missed call was from 5:31 p.m. He was keeping to a strict interpretation of the working day. There were also three texts: 5:31, 5:40, and 5:55 p.m. The first telling me he missed me and asking me to call him. The next telling me he missed me and asking me to dinner, and the final one telling me he missed me and was coming around to my office to see if I was still alive.

  It was almost six now, so I quickly returned his call, hoping to catch him. The last thing I needed was him showing up here when I’d not told David anything and everyone was already gossiping about my personal life.

  “Hey, stranger,” he answered.

  “Hey stranger, yourself. Tell me you haven’t left your office yet?”

  “No, just about. Are you ready to go? Can I pick you up?”

  “I have about an hour left here. Can I meet you somewhere?”

  “No, that’s fine. I have plenty to do here. I’d just rather be with you.” My heart melted a little.

  “Me too, but I need my job, so give me an hour. But you don’t need to pick me up—let me meet you somewhere.”

  “Are you ashamed to be seen with me?” Daniel was chuckling at his own question. Well, of course he knew he was far too beautiful for any woman to be ashamed to be seen with him.

  “Very funny. I just don’t want it to be difficult at work. I’ll explain when I see you.”

  “OK, headcase, if I have my driver stop at the curb and I wait in the car, will that be acceptable?”

  “Perfect, see you in an hour.”

  Really I needed about a day and a half, not an hour, but I was desperate to see Daniel. Just thinking about him waiting in his car for me in his expensive suit got me thinking about things I shouldn’t be—I needed to focus if I was going to get out of work in an hour.

  ***

  I bounced out of the elevator excited to see Daniel, and as I pushed through the turnstiles I saw the black Mercedes by the curb, right where he said it would be. I broke out into a smile and hurried out. Phil, Daniel’s driver, opened the door and I peered in and found Daniel smiling back at me a little uneasily.

  “Hey, are you OK?” I asked concerned.

  “I was about to ask you the same thing. A whole 11 hours have passed since I last saw you. Plenty of time for you to freak out on me. Anything you want to talk about?”

  “Is that what you’re worried about?” I had really unnerved him on Sunday. I needed to learn to be completely honest with him.

  “Not worried, I just want you to make sure you talk to me.”

  “So, let’s talk. But can we do other stuff, too?” I leaned in and kissed him and he snaked his hands around my waist pulling me toward him and pushed his tongue through my lips. I sighed, he tasted so good.

  I repositioned myself so I was closer to him and he ran a hand up my leg and inside my skirt, skimming my stocking top, I squirmed slightly, knowing that Phil was two feet away and when Daniel’s hands moved further toward my panties I pushed him away and moved away from him so far my back grazed the passenger door. Daniel just laughed at my reaction and grabbed my hand in his and squeezed.

  “Dinner? Do you want to stay in or go out?” he asked.

  Dinner was the last thing on my agenda. His hot body and the growling desire dampening my panties was front and center. At some point I had to talk to him about the Palmerston deal and then maybe I could think about dinner.

  “Hmm, don’t mind.” I reached across to him and stroked his muscular thigh and inhaled deeply.

  “I think we’ll stay in.” He grinned at me, understanding my desire. “Do you need to swing by Anna’s to pick up some stuff?”

  “You want me to stay tonight?”

  “Leah, if I had my way, you’d be with me every night. Can we collect all your stuff and move you in with me right now?”

  I laughed and poked him in the ribs. “Very funny. It would be good to have some clean underwear, though, so yes, please, can we swing by Anna’s?”

  “I wasn’t joking.” Daniel looked at me intensely. His voice changed slightly when he said, “Phil, can we stop off at the Hatton Street address before going home?”

  Phil simply nodded and I tore my gaze away and looked at the darkening London streets: people rushing home to the comfort of their families. Daniel pulled me toward him and kissed the top of my head.

  “I’m not freaking out. I’m just enjoying being romanced by this beautiful city of mine.”

  I was telling the truth. I believed Daniel wasn’t joking when he said he wanted me with him every night, but it didn’t scare me because I felt the same way. That’s not to say I was about to move in with him—there was no way that was going to happen so soon—but it was nice to know that’s how he felt and to feel it was genuine.

  The journey to Anna’s only took a few minutes and while Daniel took a call, I went upstairs and packed an overnight bag. He was still on the phone when I returned. Phil put my luggage in the trunk and I snuggled back into Daniel’s embrace while he continued his call. It felt so easy and natural to have his arms around me while he talked into his Blackberry about financial results and their impact on the next quarter.

  When we arrived at Daniel’s, Phil took my case into the hallway and left. Daniel continued listening intently to whoever was on the end of the line. His brow furrowed and I shrugged off my sho
es and jacket and made my way over to the refrigerator pointing as if asking him permission. He smiled and nodded and followed me into the living space, heading toward to sofas. I took a bottle of Sauvignon blanc and found some glasses.

  Daniel stood with his Blackberry clamped to his ear in the living area so I slipped his jacket off. Switching his phone between his hands, I freed him from his jacket and I placed it on the back of one of the dining room chairs. Then I went back to him and slid off his tie. He bent to untie his shoe but I stopped him, knelt on the carpet in front of him, and untied them for him, slipping them off followed by his socks.

  He sat down on the sofa with me on the floor at his knee and I handed him his glass of wine. I took a sip of my wine and placed my head on his thigh, breathing him in, feeling relaxed.

  I must have dozed off for a few minutes, because the next thing I knew my bottom felt a bit numb. The change in Daniel’s tone of voice must have woken me up. He was clearly getting stressed and the phone call had started to get a little more heated. I could sense Daniel trying to keep his temper, his free hand clenching and releasing, his head thrown back in frustration as he tried to keep his voice level.

  I climbed up on the sofa next to him and stroked his muscular chest to calm him. I could almost taste the testosterone flowing from his pores; he was hot when he was angry. I started to undo his shirt buttons, very gently and between my continued stroking of his chest. I hoped he wouldn’t notice.

  When I reached the bottom button I found his belt and unbuckled it. The act of undressing him had started in a very non-sexual way, me wanting to make him more comfortable. It was now less about his comfort and more about my desire for him.

  Daniel looked at me for the first time since he sat down as I undid the top button on his trousers and brought down his zip. The realization of what was happening appeared on Daniel’s face and he tried to bring the conversation to a close, but there was clearly more to talk about and he continued to listen.

  I shifted off the sofa so I was kneeling between his legs bringing my hands each side of his waist and I tugged on his trousers and boxer briefs. He briefly pushed his bottom from the sofa allowing me to pull them off him.