by Jo Iles
Jack’s mind wandered back to his years in China, and he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about Sonia. Sonia Shum was a supremely intelligent woman who spoke five languages fluently and was heiress to a Hong Kong billionaire’s fortune. Despite her privileged background, she’d worked hard for her achievements in life and was an astute and respected businesswoman in her own right. She was also a good friend of Jack’s. There was nothing romantic in the traditional sense between them, but there was a shared-bond life experience between them which counted for a huge amount. Sonia had been somewhat of a surrogate sister during his time in Asia, and he couldn’t help wondering what she would think of Jessie.
Jessie opened her eyes while he was lost in thought, thinking of people and places that seemed like a lifetime ago.
‘So serious,’ she said, smiling at him and pushing her forefinger softly over the slight frown line between his eyes.
‘Can I have my shower now?’ she added, rousing him properly back into the here and now.
‘I suppose you may,’ Jack replied, sitting up and putting a pillow across his lap, suddenly aware of his complete nakedness.
With his permission granted, Jessie seemed to spring to life. She jumped out of bed, obviously rejuvenated from her nap. She ran off to her ensuite and started running the shower and generally clattering around in there before returning to stand suggestively in the doorway.
‘Forget something?’ Jack asked, drinking her in.
‘Yes… you,’ she said as suggestively as her stance.
‘Well, you’re going to have to try harder than that. I already showered today,’ he replied casually, his attention suddenly wholly focused on massaging his elbow.
‘Okay, have it your way,’ Jessie said, sounding resigned. Still standing in the doorway to her bathroom, she wiggled her tight dress up past her hips, over her waist, past her shoulders and over her head before she tossed it in the general direction of the laundry basket in the corner of the room. She stood there, looking at him in all her underwear glory, obviously waiting for a favourable response. She was wearing a black lace bra to match her G-string, and her tits were literally spilling out over the top. He could even see the slightly darker pink poking out of the top of the cups, denoting where her nipples began.
Jack lay there with his mouth slightly ajar, transfixed by the beauty of her body. He could already feel himself starting to get hard again, and she hadn’t even touched him yet.
‘This lace is really chafing me. Better take it off,’ she said, reaching behind her to unclasp her bra. She removed it slowly to reveal her full breasts. They looked heavy, which made Jack ache to hold them and suck on her already-hard nipples. Next, she took of her thong, smelled it, and threw it at him. He automatically followed her lead and sniffed, inhaling her scent deeply.
‘Still wet?’ he asked as he got up and followed her into the bathroom.
Chapter 34
Jessie felt good. Great in fact when she actually came to think about it properly. The mood enhancers—that be powerful orgasms—had given her that extra spring in her step that her morning latte was unable to do. She’d had every intention of kicking Jack out by Saturday afternoon at the latest. But Saturday afternoon had turned into a late pub lunch and a few drinks, which had morphed into an evening takeaway and a late-night film at her place. Before she’d realised where the time had vanished to, it was dark outside on Sunday evening as she had finally managed to push him out the door.
‘What a lovely weekend,’ she sighed happily to herself as she trotted into work on Monday morning in a dreamy haze.
‘Morning, Jessie,’ Charlie said loudly, grinning widely as he marched past her desk.
‘Morning,’ she replied as she nearly spewed her precious coffee over her not-so-precious keyboard. She’d practically forgotten all about Charlie over the weekend, seeing as she’d been somewhat preoccupied with other things with another someone whose last name also happened to be Davenport.
‘Oh Jessie,’ Charlie called across the office floor.
‘Yes,’ she replied, this time not in danger of any coffee spillage. She stood up so she could see him better over the partitions.
‘You still on for tomorrow?’ Charlie said in an assumptive tone rather than a genuinely enquiring one.
‘Yes, sure,’ she replied, attempting a cool and casual tone.
‘Good. Only lets make it a lunch thing instead,’ he declared, turning and heading off to his office. He hadn’t even waited for a reply or deigned to ask her if lunchtime was convenient for her. She was free. Of course she was free, but it would have been nice to have been asked properly. She couldn’t help but compare him to his brother. She was almost certain Jack would have asked if she was available rather than just assuming so.
Then she felt a wave of guilt wash over her. Although she knew it was silly, she suddenly felt like she had spent the entire weekend being unfaithful to Charlie. She tried to reconcile herself with the fact that she was a free agent, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d been two-timing him. To try and make herself feel better, she vowed not to think about Jack until after her lunch date with Charlie. She felt she owed that much to Charlie at least, and he deserved to not be continually compared to his brother. The thought that Charlie most likely went home with Nadia on Friday night never even entered her mind, such was her feeling of romantic inferiority whenever it came to matters involving Charlie Davenport.
That Monday lunchtime she called Tom for a serial update. She’d been dodging his calls all weekend, and calling him back with a gossip fill was the least she could do after all his help choosing her date outfit. It had turned out to be a great outfit choice, in the end. Tom belly laughed when she told him she’d completely misunderstood Charlie’s intentions and that it had turned out to be a double date. Then Tom sounded quietly subdued when she told him that Jack was also part of the double date and that she’d seen him a bit over the weekend. In fact, he didn’t say much at all when she mentioned Jack’s name. So much so that Jessie had to check he was still there, that they hadn’t been cut off. Still, he seemed to perk up when she told him about her impending real date with Charlie the next day. In fact, Jessie thought that Tom seemed surprisingly cheery whilst she’d been talking about Charlie.
Chapter 35
Tuesday lunchtime came and Jessie couldn’t help but notice that she was feeling a distinct lack of butterflies in the tummy department with regard to her upcoming one-on-one time with Charlie. She’d had a massive dose of the aforesaid butterflies before their supposed date the previous Friday; so what had changed since then? she asked herself. Well, she knew the answer to that—but she wasn’t supposed to be thinking about him.
For her official date with Charlie, Jessie had opted for one of her usual black pencil skirts and a mint-coloured fitted shirt, which she’d tucked in in a bid to accentuate the smallness of her waist. She still had to work, so she’d deliberately kept the look demure and professional. She just made sure she’d chosen to wear her especially tight pencil skirt, her highest work heels, and, taking a leaf out of Nadia’s book, she’d unbuttoned her shirt an extra button to give a hint of cleavage and an even smaller hint of lace bra if viewed from a certain angle.
Charlie took her to the popular Italian place around the corner from the office. It was okay, but it wasn’t a patch on Friday night’s restaurant and not exactly what Jessie considered to be a suitable first-date venue. It was just too noisy with the lunchtime work crowd, and the food was pretty average. Everyone knew it was where you took your clients if you didn’t want to spend much money on them. Oh well, it was close to the office, so Charlie had probably chosen it for its practical proximity.
‘You know I’ve been keen to take you out, just the two of us, since Nick and Natalie’s wedding,’ Charlie said by way of starting off the conversation.
‘What stopped you then?’ Jessie responded good-naturedly, feeling uncharacteristically assertive around him as opposed
to her usual state of jelly.
‘Don’t give me a hard time, Jessie. You know how work has been lately, and I’ve had a few loose ends to see to,’ he replied somewhat defensively.
‘Is that what Nadia was? A loose end?’ Jessie asked cheekily, sipping her water.
‘Maybe,’ he said, smiling his way out of trouble. Jessie believed she could forgive all when he smiled at her like that. Like she was the only girl in the room.
‘What about you and Jack?’ he asked.
Jessie felt her face stiffen. She couldn’t be certain if he was serious or just teasing her.
‘Don’t be silly, Charlie,’ she said, trying to make light of the accusation as she took another sip.
‘You know, I did think there was something going on between you and Jack for a while. Well, for a bit at dinner the other night anyway. There seemed to be a few torches being carried, at least by him anyway. Jack’s a nice guy—we are related after all—but he’s a terrible womaniser. But if you say there’s nothing between you, then I believe you. You’re quite a difficult cat to read, you know.’
Jessie was annoyed. How could he say that? She’d been following him around like a lost puppy for the best part of two years now. How clueless and utterly unobservant could the man be? And why did he continually say ‘you know’? It wasn’t something she’d ever noticed before, but she suddenly found his lack of vocabulary irritating.
‘Am I really?’ Jessie replied, playing along.
‘You know, I wasn’t even sure you’d agree to go out with me.’
Jessie concentrated on the waiting staff to avoid having to say anything nice to him. He obviously wanted her to stroke his ego and say how she’d been dying to go out with him for ages. Even though it was the truth, Jessie had some modicum of self-respect and refused to let herself get on an unequal footing. In the office, with him as her boss, he could pull superiority; but as friends or dates or whatever it is they were here, things had to be equal-ish.
Charlie seemed to give up waiting for her to respond to him and changed the subject to one of his much-loved pastimes. Hockey. Jessie had been dreading this. She bloody hated hockey. He began by asking her what sport she liked. When it turned out she liked tennis, which was obviously the wrong answer, it gave him the opportunity to start prattling on about his beloved hockey.
‘You should come to one of my hockey matches sometime,’ he suggested brightly.
‘Yeah, sure. That’d be nice,’ she fibbed. ‘To be honest though, I’m not the biggest hockey fan in the world, and I fear it might all be wasted on me.’
‘You don’t know what you’re missing. It’s one of the best team sports out there. A terrific combination of speed, agility, skill, teamwork, and aggression,’ he said passionately. ‘You really must come now. I insist. You obviously need educating in the finer points of sport. Hockey is much more of a spectacle than tennis.’
Jessie smiled tightly, deciding it better not to argue the point or tell him that she was entitled to her own likes and dislikes.
The date was not going well. Despite everything Jessie knew about Charlie, they seemed to have very little in common other than work. Their interests were worlds apart and they seemed to think differently on everything they discussed, from what was in the news to what was on at the cinema. Jessie couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Two years of lusting after this guy, and for what? A complete and utter waste of time. Even Charlie seemed to notice that he didn’t exactly have Jessie eating out of the palm of his hand like most women did. Like Nadia had.
Speaking of Nadia, Jessie deliberately placed her arms so that they squeezed her tits together, hopefully giving him an eyeful. He took the bait and seemed mesmerised by her bazookas, the same way he had been over Nadia’s prized assets. Jessie carefully analysed how she felt about him looking at her like he wanted to unwrap her. Was she turned on? Was she excited by the thought of him perving on her? Crass as it was, she even asked herself if her underwear was growing damp. The answer to all of her questions was a resounding ‘no’. She was unmoved, unemotional and very much wanted to remain untouched.
Charlie eventually managed to tear his eyes away from her chest and make eye contact with her for the first time in well over two minutes.
‘There is something I’ve been meaning to run past you for some time now,’ Charlie announced, leaning in closer conspiratorially, although Jessie suspected it was to cop another eyeful. Jessie played ball, and flashed him a bit more boob, trying to make herself feel excited by him looking at her. The thought that maybe he was going to ask her to be his fuck buddy ran through her mind before she silenced herself. One weekend full of sex and her mind was in the gutter.
‘It’s a work-related matter with an element of the personal about it as well,’ Charlie continued, flicking his eyes from her mouth to her décolletage.
‘Oh yes?’ said Jessie, encouraging him to go on.
‘I have a trip planned for the bank to see some potential investors and I’d like you to come along and assist me. We’d be working during the days of course, in the Hong Kong office, but there would be the evenings and maybe a free weekend as well.’
‘Wait, a trip to Hong Kong? Are you serious?’ Jessie asked incredulously. This was the last thing she’d expected to pop out of his mouth. Hong Kong was seriously exotic-sounding to her. The most she ever got offered was a day down in Brighton for IT training.
‘Yes, Hong Kong. I take it you’re interested in coming then?’ Charlie said, seeming pleased with her response.
‘Yes please, sign me up. I’d absolutely love to go,’ Jessie gushed. She performed a mental slap on the wrist and told herself to rein it in a bit. She’d misunderstood Charlie about last Friday’s date debacle; maybe she was once again hearing something totally different from what he was actually saying, and had grabbed the wrong end of the stick with both hands again. Where Charlie was concerned, it was entirely possible.
She really didn’t think she had totally misconstrued what he’d said this time, but she thought it safe to clarify a few of the key points.
‘So, it’s a business trip with a little bit of leisure time tagged on?’ she asked, regaining a bit of composure.
‘Correct.’
‘You and me and who else?’ Jessie asked carefully.
‘No one, Jessie. I thought it would be a great opportunity for us to get to know each other better. If you don’t want to come, then I’ll understand.’
‘No, no I do,’ Jessie said quickly, feeling her chance for overseas travel and adventure with the gorgeous Charlie Davenport slipping away. ‘I just wanted to be sure we were reading from the same page,’ she added, a little embarrassed.
‘Whatever do you mean?’ Charlie asked, clearly perplexed.
Jessie had an internal debate over whether to tell him the truth or not. Sod it, what did she have to lose?
‘Well, last Friday…’ she began, then stalled, not knowing how to continue.
‘Yes?’ he prompted, his face looking expectant.
‘Well… I kind of thought it was just going to be you and me then as well,’ she finally managed.
‘I see,’ was all he said. Jessie was stumped. It was she, not he, who should have felt humiliated.
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.’
‘Forget about it,’ he answered eventually. ‘Anyway, so you’ll come to Hong Kong?’
‘Is the Pope Catholic?’ she said, beaming at him, glad he’d dismissed her admission and had gotten back on track with the Hong Kong topic.
‘Great! We leave tomorrow evening, and let’s keep it on the down low. We don’t want the others back in the office to act all jealous. There are of course several people whose noses would be put out of joint by me asking you when I would really be expected to invite them ahead of yourself.’ Jessie chose not to dwell too much on his slight against her. She was off to Hong Kong, and soon. Very soon. Not a complete waste of a date outfit after all.
&nb
sp; Jessie couldn’t sleep for toffee that night. Yes, she was excited about this impromptu trip, but she had some niggles in her mind about the whole thing. For one, why was this the first time she had heard about a Hong Kong trip? She knew Charlie’s agenda and project work like the back of her hand, and this had been a complete bolt out of the blue to her. Second, the secrecy thing. People would find out soon enough. What were people going to say and think when they both disappeared from the office for the best part of a week? Her colleagues were an unobservant bunch at the best of times, but someone would surely notice their simultaneous absence eventually. Also, they were on business, so she couldn’t see the need for the deception. It’s not like they would be doing anything wrong.
Chapter 36
Jack was vegetating on the sofa, watching—but not really watching—the news on the telly. He was in thought mode, contemplating the meaning of his life and why he was back in England. He tried to focus on business and career reasons for being here, but his mind kept deviating to the people in his life instead. His brother; his mother; Regina, his most recent girlfriend in China; Sonia Shum, his intelligent and beautiful friend. And Jessie. He kept thinking about Jessie Slaymaker as well. Jessie and her lovely underwear. Jessie and her warm and affable personality. Jessie and her soft and milky skin and hair that smelled faintly of lavender and vanilla. Jessie and her quick mind and fun sense of humour. Jack’s contemplation session was ruined by the less-than-subtle arrival home of his brother.
‘Hey,’ Charlie announced as he barged through the door of his flat and headed straight for his bedroom, laden down with several folders in one hand and his overstuffed laptop bag in the other.
‘Hey,’ replied Jack, following his brother to his room, where he hovered on the threshold.
‘Any plans for dinner?’ Jack ventured, suddenly feeling the need for some guy time and maybe the chance to talk a few things through with his brother.
