No Strings (Broken Strings)

by Briggs, Jo

  She must have been having the same thoughts as him because as soon as Pepe had been called away by one of his staff leaving them quite alone in this part of the cellar, her hands were running themselves underneath his t-shirt and over his stomach in just the way she knew he liked and then down south. “I don’t think I can wait any longer to be inside you, baby.” He groaned as he turned her to face away him and manoeuvred her over one of the large barrels in the darkest corner his eyes had sought out at such short notice.

  He lifted the flared skirt material of the dress and ran his hands over her exposed butt cheeks, kneading the flesh tenderly before slapping each cheek. Running a finger along the cleft of her sex where her thong material rested, he could feel her arousal wet against his fingertips. “Oh Indi, forever ready for me to have my wicked way with you.” He murmured as he leaned against her back and pressed his mouth to her ear gently before eagerly unzipping his shorts and pulling his erection free.

  He knew they would not have long before someone would come to find them, so brushing the thong material off to one side he slipped inside her in one powerful thrust and began pounding fully into her core. He normally liked to savour his moments buried within her, but his need for her at this moment, drove him into a fast rhythm from the very start. He closed his eyes and gave himself up to the building rippling of ecstasy shuddering from his head to toes. He blocked out everything except her ragged pants of breath and quietened murmurs of pleasure.

  Every nerve ending was alive with feeling. Faster, harder, deeper he plunged as his bare cock was consumed by her quivering inner muscles as they tightened around him causing his pleasure to intensify, pulling him over the edge of height of orgasm as he spurted his seed in her. “Baby, fuck, baby.” He groaned, muffled the sound at the small of her back as he collapsed against her utterly spent of energy.

  Fucking her with the danger of being caught thoroughly turned him on, especially the bonus of not having to wear the condom that sometimes hindered his sensitivity. He had never gone bare with any other woman before, and he loved it. He loved the idea of sharing new experiences with only her. He didn’t care if they had made a kid either.

  That certainly would stuff up his father’s plan to pass off his child as Grey’s rather than his own so he could avoid yet another expensive divorce. When he had first reluctantly agreed to the engagement to Caitlin he had done it out of some strange sense of family loyalty even though his father didn’t show any to him. But he had soon discovered the real reason for wanting to marry Caitlin into the Bailey family. But Grey had suspected something wasn’t quite right and had arranged for his security to do surveillance on them. His father obviously thought with Grey away travelling that Caitlin could remain in close proximity to continue her affair with him, under the guise of her being his daughter in law. That was where the pictures came in.

  “I can’t believe we just did that.” Indi whispered her eyes still glazed over. She looked like she had just had a good seeing to. Grey felt a surge of an unfamiliar emotion that he knew it was him that had made her look that way.

  “Woman, you are far too sexy in this kind of dress. They drive me crazy, and when I get you back to the villa I am gonna spend all night long showing you repeatedly how much.” Grey promised huskily as he had given her one last lingering kiss before they both pulled their disarrayed clothing back into a semblance of order.

  “Do I look okay?” Indi checked as they walked back into the more lit side of the cellar where they had been left by Pepe and his assistant

  “You are asking the wrong guy baby. I think you look perfect all the time.” He ran a hand over her arse and laughed. He couldn’t believe he felt this happy and unhindered. Just being around her vibrancy brought out a more relaxed side to him. He’d gladly marry her today regardless of knowing hardly next to anything about her or her family.

  “Grey!” She slapped him gently on his chest playfully just as the vineyard’s owner came back into view.

  “Apologies I am sorry to have been gone for so long. Let’s adjourn to the house to go through the finer details of the price.”

  At the invitation of Pepe’s assistant, Indi had left them to negotiate in private while she was shown around the vines that stretched along the property for as far as the eye could see.

  With an agreement reached, Grey declined Pepe’s offer to stay to dinner, as he wanted to head back to the Villa to go over some business before continuing his bedroom entertainment with Indi. He just couldn’t get enough of her.

  “Are you staying at your own place tonight?” She enquired as they drew up into the driveway.

  “No, why would you think that honey?” Grey frowned at her question. He thought she understood he wanted to spend every possible moment in her company.

  “You mentioned you had some business you needed to catch up with.”

  “I just need to grab my laptop, and then I can do whatever needs doing at your place, unless of course you want some peace and quiet without me?” He gazed at her trying to gauge her facial expression. Was she bored of spending all their time together? His heart constricted in pain at such an idea.

  “No, I like having you around.” She admitted quietly as she glanced over at Adam and Hayden who stood by the front of the car, reddening from her confession.

  “Good because I like being around you too.” He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss of reassurance before manoeuvre out of the back seat of the car. Adam meanwhile had opened the door on Indi’s side of the vehicle. Once the vehicle was unloaded of luggage, the three men headed into their own villa leaving Indi to make her own way into hers.

  When he arrived into her villa a few minutes later, she was already busy folding up the clothing from her luggage.

  “I shouldn’t have to make more than a couple of calls then I am all yours for the evening,” he explained setting up his laptop on the dining room table.

  “Of course, I’m going to do some washing and start dinner anyhow.”

  A while later, he paced up and down outside on the terrace as he chatted on the mobile, discussing the vineyard details with Olivia. It was a pet project that he had helped her to fund initially. All the wines from the vineyards had exclusivity into the Bailey hotels’ wine cellars and had become a lucrative sideline for them both.

  “Have you been purposefully ignoring Caitlin’s messages while you’ve been there?” Olivia asked once their business discussion concluded.

  “Yes, why do you ask?” Grey frowned down the phone at his sister, not wanting to discuss her.

  “She tried to grill me about your whereabouts. She seems to be getting close to guessing your locality, and I think you not replying to her messages has irritated her to the point that she might consider flying out to confront you,” Olivia warned.

  “She hadn’t better not!” Grey clenched his fist. Could that woman not leave him alone for even a couple of weeks? “What makes her even think I’m here unless someone has opened their big mouth and told her?”

  “I’m not sure, I told her nothing. Do you think Father would be cunning enough to divulge it?”

  “Maybe, he knows her showing up unannounced would get under my skin,” Grey considered. “Well, if she comes she comes, but I am getting to the point that they will push me into pulling the plug on their scheme publicly and to hell with the consequences.” His original plan was to turn the tables on his father’s dirty tactics but to do it discreetly to save the embarrassment of being associated with his dealings, but now he was thinking total public humiliation was the only way to stop him once and for all.

  “I wish you would do that anyway. I cannot bear knowing you are tying yourself to that woman just to stop him pressurising Freya and me instead.”

  “Don’t worry whichever way I decide to handle this will not reflect back to you or Freya. The documents you sent me have made compelling reading. I have almost enough information on his coercion cover-ups to back him into the corner so that he never has the uppe
r hand ever again either way.”

  “Is it really as bad as I thought?”

  “Yes, he has clearly been getting away with it for years. Once I get back we can discuss it with the guys, but I will recommend we push for a vote of no confidence with the Trust's board and put you in his place.”

  The board of trustees were made up of the five siblings, their Uncle and Aunt, and several other distant relatives. None of whom overly trusted John Bailey and there had already been recent suggestive undertones before this about someone else taking over the reins.

  “Me?”

  “Yes you are the only one qualified to lead. Noah, Ethan and I are tied up in record company obligations to run such a massive organisation full time. But you are the one with the business degree and experience, so what is a few more companies on the side of the hotel!”

  When the Bailey Family Trust Constitution had been updated by their grandfather, only the direct descendants or their siblings of the current President could take over.

  “I know that I could do it, but I am scared.”

  “Scary is good, it keeps the heart pumping and makes you feel alive. It will keep you in good stead for thorough decision making because if you get too cocky that is when you are likely to make costly off the cuff mistakes.”

  “Wow that was kind of deep, who are you, and what have you done with my brother?” Olivia joked.

  “Hey, I can be deep occasionally. Why do you think I write award winning lyrics.”

  Olivia laughed. “Of course, how silly of me not to realise.”

  Noticing Indi standing by the patio doors trying to get his attention, he put his hand over the phone. “Sorry, finishing off now.”

  “Look I have to go, but one more thing -” He explained continuing into the phone as he double-checked that Indi was not in listening distance. “I will be uncontactable for a few days as I’m heading off to Florence tomorrow evening.”

  “Are you taking this mystery woman I’ve heard about?”

  Grey rolled his eyes down the phone, “I guess David has been opening his mouth?” David was head of the band’s security and Olivia’s closest friend.

  Olivia chuckled. “You know you can keep nothing secret from David for long. So what is she like?”

  “Beautiful, intelligent, caring …” Everything Caitlin is not

  “Just be careful, or if Caitlin gets a whiff of this before you can shut the agreement down she will make your life hell before you are ready.”

  “Liv, she makes me so happy. It has never been like this with anyone, ever.”

  He’d kept his emotions under a tight reserve for the past twenty years, but just being with Indi for this short period had been like the opening of a dam when it came to feelings he’d never felt so strongly. She made him feel alive, she was quickly become the mere air that helped him breathe.

  “Just don’t rush into anything.”

  When he moved back in from the terrace, he found Indi had poured him a large glass of the reserve-blend wine they had both liked from the vineyard, and left it by his laptop. “You read my mind,” he said taking a sip as Indi disappeared into the kitchen.

  “I opened it for purely selfish reasons,” she laughed from the other room. “Is everything ok back home? You seemed to be on the phone much longer than usual.”

  Grey pulled a face. “Just some family issues that I was going through with Liv,” he said after a moment of hesitation, swallowing a distaste in the back of his throat at not being able to tell her the truth about Caitlin and all the drama surrounding it.

  “Liv as in Olivia your sister right?” Indi said bringing in two plates of food and putting them on the table.

  “Yes she is the only one sibling that isn’t involved with the band. She works with my father hence the issues.”

  “I know we have danced around the subject of your animosity to your father a lot, but if you want to talk about it properly I am a good listener as my own parents are extremely dysfunctional as well.”

  Grey smiled, taking a bite of food. “I will share if you will.”

  Indi tilted her head slightly as her brows furrowed at this request. “What do you want to know?” She took a sip of her own wine.

  “When I first approached you that day over the wall you seemed so….edgy. What happened?”

  Indi looked uncomfortable. “You mean you don’t already know.”

  “How would I know if you never told me before?”

  “It was all over the papers for months, so I just presumed you already knew since you had never mentioned it.”

  Grey grimaced, wondering if his instinct about that day had been right after all. “I haven’t been in the country for months to read any papers.” He pushed his plate to the side and reached for her hand across the table as he looked into her eyes, trying his damnedest to reassure her that it was safe to tell him.

  “My grandfather is an Earl, he did not approve of my mother social climbing ways, so he cut off my father when he married her anyway. Trusts were set up to pay for my sisters and my education and other things as we grew that my parents could not have access to. When not away at school we lived with either our grandparents or uncle and aunt rather than our parents. Last year after my eighteenth birthday I gained access to more of my trust, so they hired some low life to harass them until I would give into their blackmail.”`

  Grey could feel his eyes growing more and more larger each time she progressed on with the narrative of her past.

  “Then everything started to spiral, the police became involved, endless CPS paperwork and a court case. They found the lowlife guilty of harassment, but they couldn’t prove enough guilt onto my parents about hiring him although I managed to get a non-contact order for the next five years.”

  “So they are still roaming free and all that is protecting you from them giving it another try is some flimsy court order! People break them every day; I should know I have had to bring enough of them against crazy fans over the years. Please let me give you a name of someone who can make sure you are safe.”

  Indi gave him a look of horror. “You mean like a bodyguard, I seriously don’t need one of those. I can go back to leading a perfectly quiet life once the dust settles.”

  Grey sighed, he knew he had no right to push his wishes onto her but seeing how traumatised Freya had been from her own case of harassment he wanted to protect her from it ever having again, despite Indi already appearing to be more resilient in her recovery than Freya ever was. Standing up, he pulled one of the other chairs on her side of the table closer to where she remained seated. Clutching at her hand again, he gave her a begging look that he hoped would work. “Please, Indi just talk to the guy. There are plenty of less invasive options than a constant bodyguard, but I really want to stress how much I would feel more at ease if you had some like of layer of protection.”

  Indi pouted, her eyes looking back into Grey’s as he could see a varying flicker of emotions flash through the greenness. “Okay, I’m willing to talk to the guy once.”

  “Thank you.” Grey blew out a breath of relief; he knew after their holiday was over he wouldn’t be able to see her until he and his siblings could sort through the trust board mess.

  With only a week remaining until Indi flew back to England, Grey had decided to surprise her by arranging a first class cabin on a night train into Florence, leaving that evening. He thought she would enjoy viewing the sculptures and paintings in the Accademia and Uffizi Gallery given her interest in art, as well as the summer music festival in Scandicci

  His bodyguards would accompany them and have a neighbouring cabin.

  He’d simply told Indi just to pack a bag with enough items to clothe her for the next five days, and some comfortable shoes, but nothing more than that. They were being picked up in an hour by a taxi that would drop them at the Siracusa train station.

  He was just leaving the villa to collect Indi to head off to train station when David, his head of security’ face appea
red on his mobile screen.

  He had been avoiding speaking to him directly since he met Indi nearly two weeks earlier, he knew he would go on about the security risk of having a holiday fling with someone he hardly knew and he was not willing to confess his deeper dreams to be with Indi long term to anyone but her.

  Her light unassuming manner had drawn out more secrets of his life than he’d thought he would have dared tell her. He told her about his private thoughts that he never shared with anyone else, silly stories from his childhood and carefree days with his friends before the band made it.

  She treated him as simply Grey the person, rather than Grey Bailey the rock star, allowing her to break through the walls he’d surrounded himself with for years.

  He couldn’t get enough of her, and even in front of his security team, he wouldn’t hold back from the occasional handholding or kiss. This behaviour from a guy who didn’t believe in public displays of affection, combined with his other out of character behaviour, was what had gotten back to David.

  “Are you sure you should be getting involved with a woman who might turn around and sell her story of your holiday romance to the tabloids as soon as it is over?” David judged harshly, after having to deal with too many kiss and tell stories in Grey’s past. Grey had earned himself the reputation for being a cold-hearted when it came to women, the revelations of his mother’s affairs had truly scarred him. Yes, he would wine and dine them, even romance them with flowers and chocolates, but once the sexual act had been fulfilled, he would just move onto the next. He couldn’t bear to let anyone come too close emotionally, in case he ended up being hurt by them as deeply as his mother had.