by Ann Corbett
“Amazing!” he had muttered. “So beautiful... stunning!”
She had smiled with pleasure, and Nick had pulled her into his arms to kiss her passionately.
Things would have gone further – had Sadie’s stomach not suddenly decided to voice it needs for food, with a loud grumbling noise.
Nick looked at her in shock for a moment, and the colour flooded her cheeks as a sense of mortification swept over her.
“I am so sorry!” she stuttered feeling appalled at her own body. “I am so sorry for killing the mood like that!”
Nick tipped back his head and laughed.
“My darling girl, don't you ever apologise again, for being hungry!”
*
The meal was probably delicious, but for the two people eating it, it might as well have been bread and water.
Sadie couldn't remember later what she had eaten, or even if she had eaten. She was vaguely aware of the moment that Nick asked for the bill, because she suddenly had a sense of anticipation. And then after he had paid, they left the restaurant without so much as a backward glance.
All that she was aware of now, was Nick, and the way that his hand was resting lightly on her arm.
They stepped into the elevator and she drew in a quiet little breath, taking in the scent of him as she did so.
He smelled so good.
Of soap, and aftershave, and the muskier smell of his own personal scent, just underlying the other two.
And she knew that he was aroused, as aroused as she was, because of the shine in his eyes, and the way that he stood over her, in that little metal box that carried them up to their room.
He stood close, but not enough for them to touch, and oh how Sadie wanted him to touch her.
She ached for him to take her in his arms again, to kiss and caress her.
“Stop it Sadie,” his voice was like a bucket of ice thrown over her, as her bewildered grey eyes flew to his tortured brown. “If I touch you now, then I don't think we will make it out of this elevator... and we need to get out, we need to get back to the room, so that I can...”
The elevator jolted them as it came to a halt and the door slid open, to reveal an elderly man and woman, who looked in at them suspiciously.
“Good evening,” Nicked smiled coolly, as the two of them stepped back to make room for the older couple.
They stepped in with a polite nod, and the doors closed again to carry them up to their floor.
As the doors slid open again, the older couple shuffled around a little to allow Sadie and Nick to get out.
He walked just a little behind Sadie, almost as though he was ushering her along, and he already had his key card in his hand when they reached their room.
He kept her just in front of him, and as the door swung open, Sadie almost fell inside the room.
She would have, had it not been for Nick's arm around her waist, pulling her against him as they stepped inside and the door closed behind them.
Sadie tried to turn around, but Nick stopped her, by holding her tighter, as he bent to nuzzle at her neck, kissing and tasting her with his tongue.
His hand came up in front to caress her breast over her clothes, and Sadie groaned as she felt the brush of his hand against her nipple.
Her legs buckled but he held on tight to her – refusing to let her move away even by a millimetre.
He continued to nuzzle at her neck as his hand slowly slipped between the buttons of her silky blouse.
Sadie heard one or two of the buttons pop, and something went flying across the room, but she really did not care, she wanted to get out of her clothes.
She needed to get out of them, and to have Nick get out of his, so that their naked flesh could once more touch.
“I'm addicted,” she muttered under her breath. “I am addicted to him, and I don't think I will ever get enough!”
Chapter Ten
They had retired early in the evening to their room, and they stayed there for the entire night, but not sleeping, well not very much anyway.
And that became their routine for the next few days, leaving their room only for long enough to have something to eat, and let one of the cleaners go in there to freshen the room up a bit.
Sadie and Nick, and all of the other travellers were stranded in the hotel for three days – and Sadie thought that they were the happiest days of her life.
But on the fourth, a policeman arrived to tell them all that the snow had stopped – something that they had all seen through the windows, and the snow ploughs had been along all the main roads, which were now open again.
“So folks, you can all leave when you are ready,” the slightly overweight policeman told them jovially.
Sadie cast a quick regretful glance at Nick, who smiled at her in return.
“If we leave in the next half an hour, we should be back home for lunch.”
She nodded sadly. “Yes, I will just go and get my things together,” she said calmly.
“You do that, and I will sort out the bill, and join you presently.
“Is there anything I can sort out for you?” she asked suddenly, and Nick thought how delightfully married that sounded, with his beautiful wife going off to pack his case for him.
“No, thank you; it won’t take me five minutes to do it myself.”
*
By the time he had paid the bill and a chatted to the receptionist for a few moments, he got back to the room, to find Sadie was all packed and sitting neatly on the edge of her bed, with her little holdall sitting beside her on the floor.
For a moment Nick thought that she could not wait to get going, until he saw the slightly dejected droop to her usually happy mouth.
“All ready?” he asked rubbing his hands enthusiastically, and when she nodded. “Great, just give me two seconds and we can get started.”
He swept through the room like a mini tornado, scooping up his toiletries bag and bits of clothing as he went.
He dumped it all into his overnight bag, zipped it up with a flourish, and turned to her with a grin.
“All ready?” he asked again.
“Yes, of course,” Sadie almost snapped as she stood up and picked up her own bag – honestly did he have to keep on asking her that?
“Well I am not quite,” Nick murmured as he took her bag from her, and then bent to kiss her lingeringly on the mouth.
“There now, that will have to do – for now.”
He glanced around the room, as though memorising the place, and then looked down at Sadie with a dark enigmatic gaze.
“Shall we?” he asked opening the door, and indicating that she should go first.
Sadie nodded again and walked out to the elevator.
The reception was a hive of activity as people bustled around preparing to leave.
“You wait here, Sadie; I will bring the car round to the front entrance once it has thawed out a bit.” Nick pointed to a chair just next to a window facing out to the front car parking area. “You keep a watch out for me there, and then I won't have to come in to fetch you – and you won't have to stand outside freezing to death while you wait for me.”
Sadie nodded again and stood watching as Nick strolled outside, carrying both of their overnight bags with him.
He shivered as the cold air first hit him, and she saw how he pulled his thick coat tighter around him.
He looked so tall and handsome, and she stood dreaming of the next time they might be together.
She knew for the moment that their personal developing relationship would have to be put on hold.
That at work they had to retain their employer – employee relationship, and so she just did not quite know where they would go from here.
She gave a little sigh, and determinedly swallowed back the tears that she had been fighting down, ever since that policeman had come along and told them all that they could leave now.
*
Sadie gave a little shiver as she walked quickly out of the hotel and
across to where Nick was sitting with his car engine running.
He had taken quite a while to show up, and she had begun to wonder if there was a problem with the car... oh if only!
But as she slipped into the passenger seat and slammed the door, she felt the warmth taking away the chill from her brief time outside.
He had deliberating taken his time, to give the car a chance to warm up thoroughly.
“Okay?” he asked glancing across at her.
She smiled at him brightly. “Yes, it is perfect in here.”
He grinned back. “Good.”
He set the car in motion and for the first twenty minutes or so he kept his attention firmly on the still snowy and icy roads in front of him.
But eventually he was able to get onto the motorway, where the road had been thoroughly cleared, and the traffic was moving freely.
Nick gave a satisfied little sigh, and set his speed to sixty.
“We should be home in no time at all now,” he said giving her a quick sidelong glance.
“Yes, I suppose we will,” Sadie could not keep the regret out of her voice, and Nick had clearly seen the unhappy tilt to her mouth.
“Did I ever tell you, how absolutely floored I was, when you first walked into my offices looking for a job?” he laughed lightly under his breath, as he tried to start up a light conversation.
Sadie shook her head. “I was never quite sure why you actually gave me that job... I mean you looked at me as if I had just crawled out from under a rock – or something worse.”
He could clearly hear the remembered hurt in her voice, and he felt a rush of anger towards himself for causing that.
“I am sorry if I gave you that impression,” he said gruffly. “But I never thought that – never at all!”
“No,” she challenged sharply. “Not even when you thought me to be a callous bitch who had told my husband to go and kill himself – rather than keep bothering me?”
He sighed. “I never really knew what to think, I mean I was there and had seen him and how you looked at him, and spoke to him... and I had reached that exact conclusion – I will admit that... but deep down inside I always questioned that conclusion, I just knew that there was more to what I had seen really, but I could not find a way to ask you for the truth of it.”
“So why did you not just send me on my way, you had real doubts about me as a person, so why on earth would you employ someone like that?”
He was silent for a moment, and as the time and miles slid by, Sadie began to wonder if he would even answer her.
“I gave you that job, Sadie,” he finally began slowly, “because your qualifications were out of this world, your job experience previously was high class, and when I rang some of your former employers they all said the same thing, that they had been sorry to lose such a valued member of their staff.”
“But I am certain that there were other equally qualified applicants?” she persisted.
He shrugged. “There were a couple, yes, but neither of them were quite as good as you... and to tell the truth... I had lost you once, and I was damned if I was going to risk you losing you again.”
There he had said it!
He heard her suck in a breath of surprise, but it seemed that she had nothing further to say, other than a slightly breathless. “Oh!”
He gave rather rueful chuckle as he shifted gear, and increased his speed to seventy.
He glanced at his petrol gage.
“I think that I will need to stop off for petrol before long... shall I try and find somewhere that has services as well, and then we could stop for an early lunch?”
She hesitated for a moment, but when she spoke; her voice was liquid warm with pleasure. “Yes, I would really like that.”
Nick gave a silent little sigh of relief that their almost argument had not materialised. He really wanted their relationship to stay a happy one; he wanted her to go home from this trip with only happy thoughts and memories.
*
They travelled on for about another hour, before they came to signs indicating fuel and services just up ahead.
“That looks like a pub just on the corner,” Nick said as he signalled to leave the motorway. “If they serve all day food, then I think that that would be nicer than some of the fast food alternatives.”
“I agree,” Sadie nodded.
He stopped off at the petrol station first, and Sadie sat watching him as he walked around the car to the pump.
He was just so good looking, that she could not seem to keep her eyes off him, and her imagination would go into overdrive as she remembered that last three days – and nights.
She had once said to Nick that she had never been able to look at a person and tell what they were really like, but with Nick she realised that she already knew what he was like, that what you saw with him, was exactly what you got.
He would never have a hidden agenda, he would always be upfront and honest with her; and she knew that he would never to anything to hurt her... at least not consciously.
*
Nick helped her out of the car and then taking her hand in his, they walked into the pub, which seemed to embrace them with a blanket of warmth, after the chill outside.
“Good morning, folks – what can I do for you,” the young man behind the bar greeted them cheerfully.
“Good morning, we were hoping to get an early lunch?” Nick returned the greeting, with a friendly smile.
“If you would like to pick a table – I'll sort you out some menus.”
They ordered a couple of soft drinks, and as Sadie studied the menu she found that she was quite hungry. Maybe it was the cold weather, and her body was doing its best to keep itself warm?
She ordered a jacket potato with a side salad, and brown bread and butter, and sipped at her drink while Nick ordered his food.
The place was quiet with only a couple of other patrons and as Sadie felt herself relaxing she gazed idly out of the window.
The snow blanketed the ground, giving everywhere a clean fairytale look, she could see one or two people moving around and as she watched one man walking towards this place, her attention became rigid on him.
His walk, and the way that he held himself, she knew him, she recognised him.
But her mind was shying away from the identity of him. She so did not want it to be him, to have him intruding into her life once more, especially not now – not at this moment.
But as he looked up suddenly and seemed to look straight at her – she could not hide away from it any more – she could not deny her eyes any longer.
The man heading straight towards her was her ex-husband – Rick.
Chapter Eleven
Nick was watching Sadie with a half smile and a look of tenderness, when he saw the change come over her.
He had a horrible moment of déjà vu, and a sickly feeling settled in his stomach.
Something was distressing her, and this time he was not going to sit and wait to find out what it was.
He moved around the table so that he was sitting beside her and took her hand to turn her away from the snowy landscape outside.
“Whatever it is,” he murmured huskily, as he tilted her chin gently. “Don’t let it in.
He put his lips to hers, as the doors opened and a cold air gusted in.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and deepened the kiss as a man’s voice could be heard.
“My car has broken down – is there a phone that I can use?”
“Aye there is a payphone just round the side of the bar... help yourself.”
“Thanks very much.”
Nick continued to kiss her for a moment longer, but then he moved back ever so slightly and looked deep into her eyes. “Don't let it in,” he murmured again, and for a moment he thought that he had lost her, but then she smiled at him, a quick reassuring smile that faded as quickly as it had appeared.
A shadow fell over them, and Sadie looked past Nick and her eyes stayed s
teady.
“Rick,” she nodded coolly.
“I thought that it was you, Sadie,” a man's voice said in shock.
Nick did not turn to acknowledge him in any way; he merely kept his steady gaze on Sadie – willing her to be strong.
“Are you keeping well, Rick?”
“Yes... yes I am doing okay – what about you?”
She smiled a little smile. “I am good, Rick... I am really good – now.”
“I am happy to hear that... look I have to go – there is an appointment that I am already running late for... but can I give you my number – maybe we can catch up at some point?” Nick could clearly hear his awkwardness; he did not need to see the other man to know that he was all but wringing his hands with eagerness.
Sadie just shook her head. “No, Rick.”
There was a moment of silence and then the man spoke. “No,” he agreed sadly, “Oh well, what's past is past I suppose... keep well, Sadie, and goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Rick.”
The shadow moved away, and Sadie looked at Nick with a real sense of freedom.
“I love you so very much, Nick,” she whispered softly.
**
The journey home was accomplished without much further conversation. They were so relaxed and happy in each other's company now, and though they spoke a little – about the passing scenery, the other vehicles around them; they even talked a little bit about Christmas, but most of it had an almost dreamlike quality to it.
Nick had walked back out to the car park with her, and he had kissed her tenderly on the mouth. “We will take things nice and slow – you and me, but I just wanted you to know that I love you too, I always have, from the very first time that I saw you.” She gasped in surprise and her grey eyes lit up; and Nick simply smiled as he helped her into the car.
They had time, lots of time for her to be sure of him, to be confident in accepting his marriage proposal – when he made it.
*
He pulled the car to a halt outside her house, and turned to her.
“I don’t want you to come into work tomorrow, Thursday will be soon enough; but when we are both back at work ...” he began a little uncertainly.
