Rose Blood

by Jessica Miles

  Harry swept her off her feet and into his room. He had finally got the message.

  Chapter 22

  Rose sat in her flat with two suitcases of possessions. She could come back and get some more later. She sat poking her finger in a hole in her well worn faded jeans. She’d made sure she didn’t look too great when she turned up at Marcus’s place by dressing way down today.

  She was feeling very low… she’d had to wrench herself from Harry’s arms last night. It had been so dreadful she couldn’t think about it without feeling sick or welling up.

  Jeff would be here soon, it was almost 10am.

  Jeff finally arrived and helped her downstairs with her cases. He loaded them into the back of the car.

  “Alrighty Rose me dear. Got everythin’?” Jeff asked her in his strong east end accent.

  “Yes thanks. Err Jeff… have you known Marcus long?” She examined his burly form properly for the first time. She’d put him at about forty, give or take… He looked a little brutish to her mind, but seemed pleasant enough.

  “About 7 years love. I was a semi pro boxer before this.”

  “What’s he like to work for?”

  “He’s nice enough Rose. Real generous like. Helped me out with family problems a couple of times, he has”

  “Really?”

  “Yep. I’m not saying he ‘aint got his faults… like we all have, but I wouldn’t wanna work for anyone else. And I’ll tell yer one last thing an’ all, before I seal me lips up tight… He ‘aint ever had anyone live with him before, not like this… yer must be special to him girl!”

  “Well thank you for telling me this Jeff. It’s helped me a lot. I was a bit worried he might be difficult and err odd… I don’t know him at all really”

  “Odd? In what way do yer mean?”

  “Well I shouldn’t be asking you this really Jeff, but bedroomy odd mainly … but perhaps I’ve just got the wrong impression, you said he’s been nice and kind to you, so I’m probably worrying about nothing”

  “I don’t know about that Rose. Not my business what goes on in there… haven’t heard any complaints from his ladies so far though.” Well, what could he say? Marc was definitely more than a little odd in the bedroom side, in fact he was more than a little odd full stop. But Jeff had grown so used to him it was almost normal now. But she’d have to find out about that all on her own. “Oh, there’s a phone for yer… it’s inside the car there. It’s all set up an’ ready to go love”

  She had been asked to give up her company phone yesterday afternoon at work. She had been told she’d be getting a new one from Marcus, why this was necessary she didn’t quite understand, but apparently he had insisted. She sat fiddling with the new iPhone whilst they made their journey to his apartment… She put in the few contacts she could remember off the top of her head and sent a simple text to Harry

  “Love you”

  Chapter 23

  They arrived in the secured underground car park and Jeff told her to go on up to his apartment. He said he’d take her things to her room. She got in the lift and pressed the third floor button. The lift opened and there he was waiting for her. His eyes swept up and down her dressed down tatty jeans, white vest top and silver pumps and he smiled an obviously ‘pleased to see her’ smile.

  “That’s a very sexy outfit Rose…”

  “Really? I just threw it on” She’d better throw things on more carefully in future. They stared at each other for a while. The lift door started to close and she put her finger on the open button.

  “Are you leaving the lift at all, or staying in there for a ride?”

  “Depends what you have in mind. I can make a quick getaway from here”

  “I can see we are going to have a lot of prickly fun today”

  “My prickles are gonna be out for a whole three months. In fact I’m growing a whole hedge full of them, you’ll need a very sharp sword to get through”

  “I don’t intend to hack through your hedge Rose… you are going to do that all by yourself”

  “I like my prickles… they’re staying put”

  “We’ll see about that. Can I call a short truce for a moment. I’d like to offer you a welcome drink.”

  “Oh, plying me with alcohol already to loosen my tongue and break down my resistance are you?”

  “Not at all… what’s it to be… orange squash, cherryade, diet coke, a cup of tea?”

  “Well I would quite like a G & T actually… just a single… to calm my nerves”

  “Follow me… I’ll show you where everything is kept and you can treat this place as your own from now on. Benet will help you get settled in and Jeff too, if he’s around.” He took her to the bar area to make her drink.

  “Thank you Marcus… if I feel the need to come out of my cell, it may be useful to know about things”

  “You aren’t a prisoner in here. You can go out whenever you like. You’ll get your pass keys for all the doors today… come and go as you please. And Rose… it would be nice if you’d call me Marc. That is what my closest friends call me.”

  “When and if I become your close friend I’ll think about it. So, show me where I’ll be banking more billions for you. May as well look at that today…”

  “No, I am giving you the day off. But I will show you your rooms first, and then I thought we could swim in the pool. It’s very warm up there. You’ll like it.”

  “Sounds good… but I haven’t any swimwear here yet, didn’t think about that. Maybe another time”

  “There’s some new things in your room Rose. One of them is bound to fit”

  They went down to the second floor and Marcus pointed out Benet’s rooms at the far end. Jeff was on the first floor. He opened her door for her and she went in and looked around. Marcus stood in the doorway watching her. It was a good sized suite. Far bigger than her own modest flat in Highgate in fact. The main room was partitioned into two. There was a sleeping area and a working area. From the bedroom a set of double doors opened to a large dressing room, with many wardrobes lining the walls, a well lit dressing table and a full bathroom were on one side. She took her time walking around it, opening the doors and inner drawers curiously, turning the shower on and off and working out all the light switches. It was cream coloured all the way through, had very soft rugs on the floor and was feminine and pretty. She was actually rather pleased and impressed but didn’t want to show it.

  “It’s nice Marcus, very nice… thank you.” She said finally.

  “The swimwear is in the box on the dressing table. Benet chose them, so blame him if you think they’re awful. There’s a few sizes in there. A wrap as well. I have towels upstairs. Shall I see you in fifteen minutes by the pool then?”

  “Okay… I don’t see why not.” What was the harm in a quick dip. She hadn’t had a swim in ages.

  He left her to try on her swimwear. She hurried over to the box, more than curious to see what a French butler might consider to be hot swimwear style. She put them all on the bed. They were all rather lovely, she had to admit, but one stood out from the rest. It was really her. A black halterneck swimsuit with high cut legs, white contast edging and a large gold starfish clip at the bustline. This was the one. If it fit. And of course it did. She would thank Benet for his lovely choices later. She put on the bright blue wrap and went barefoot upstairs to the roof. Marcus was already in the water as she walked up. She dipped her toe in it. It was like a bath.

  “Wow, that’s so warm. I’m going to love this. Haven’t been swimming for a long time.” She stood on the side looking into the sapphire blue depths. “Shall I jump or is it deep enough to dive?”

  “It’s eight feet. You can dive.”

  She walked back a few feet and dropped her wrap. Then she set off on her rather wonderful running jump of a dive straight over his head and down to the bottom. She could hold her breath for ages… this was going to be fun! She hovered on the bottom waiting for Marcus to show. It didn’t take too long for hi
m to come down and make sure his new fund manager and on demand guest wasn’t in fact drowning.

  He was captivated by the underwater vision in front of him. She was facing him, semi lying on the bottom of the pool with a calm and serene expression, her hair floated about her in a massive swirl of dark tendrils. She was a real life mysterious water siren, all that was missing was a tail… But the vision ended abruptly as he reached out to her. She poked her tongue out at him and swam off underwater to the other side.

  She surfaced spluttering with laughter at the top on the other side and he swam up after her.

  “So you’re a joker too are you? I’ll have to remember that. Impressive set of lungs you have there”

  “I like a joke now and then and oh yes, my lungs are very impressive. I can do one and a half minutes under water. Bit out of practice though!”

  They swam around for a while in the warm water enjoying the brilliant blue tinted light filtering through the glass above them.

  “Marcus, is the glass covered with something, it looks hazy… blue coloured?”

  “It’s completely UV screened. So you won’t ever get sunburn or a tan either. Your beautiful pale skin is quite safe in here. Fancy a session in the spa?”

  “I just love air bubbles… let me in there!”

  They made their way into the much warmer bubbling Jacuzzi. It was blissful. She closed her eyes as the jets of bubbles pummelled her body from all angles. She shifted around a little getting just so… She was floating off into a bubbling wonder world…

  “You look like you’re enjoying this quite a lot Rose”

  “If I get the bubbles exactly right I can enjoy it a lot more… but I won’t do that whilst you’re here.”

  “Please don’t mind me… feel free”

  “That would be far too intimate Marcus. Can I get out now, dry off?” She stood up in front of him.

  “Do as you please, it’s your home now. The towels are over there on the chairs.”

  He watched as she got out and dried herself and put on her wrap. She sat on the chair in the enclosed warmth of the roof and towel dried her hair. They both sat and looked at each other for a while. He was starting to want her badly. But it must be her idea. He knew something that might make her warm to him a little more.

  “I don’t want to overwhelm you today, but would you like to go out in my car, my other car that is…?”

  “You mean you actually drive that on the road…? Your black beauty hiding in the basement?”

  “Now and then. It’s a lovely mover. Would you like to drive it?”

  “I’m getting dressed right now… see you down there in ten” Rose rushed off to get ready for her Ferrari test drive. She could hear him laughing to himself as she went down the stairs… was she really that amusing?

  She put on her so called sexy outfit and brushed her damp hair, fixing her pool ruined mascara. She was down in the parking area in ten leaning against the black goddess of the road when he arrived. He raised his eyebrows at her as he got out of the lift. She was obviously very keen.

  “I’ll just get going for a bit and you can drive after. It’s rather busy round here.”

  They sunk into the white leather interior. She was positively hyper with excitement. How much did she love fast cars…? Wasn’t Formula 1 racing her most favourite way to pass an afternoon…? Oh yes! … and this particular fast car was her dream come true.

  Marcus pulled up after ten minutes of floating along through Mayfair and out towards the west. He stopped and got out and they swapped seats.

  “You really, really trust me to drive this do you….? I can’t imagine any other man would”

  “I’m happy with it. You have more expensive items of mine to play with Rose, this is tiny compared with that.”

  “That’s true when you put it into context like that…” She moved off having the drive of her life. He let her drive all the way back too…

  They sat in the basement after returning home.

  “You’re a good driver Miss Porter. I’m impressed. Is there anything you don’t do extremely well…?”

  “I’m rubbish at sex… don’t try me out there.”

  “That I don’t believe for one second”

  Chapter 24

  On the third day she woke up to find a gift on her desk. Well, there it was… a large bottle of her favourite expensive perfume… as promised. She didn’t like to admit it but it touched her. He hadn’t bought her anything yet, apart from the swimwear when she arrived. Not that she wanted him to shower her with gifts, that could be seen as bribing her affection somehow… but she appreciated this. It was thoughtful. He had remembered.

  She had slipped into a nice routine pretty quickly. Work for three hours, which was ample for looking after his fund, some swimming, an occasional trip to the shops for something to do, usually accompanied by Jeff, a little bit of Marcus’s company in between and of an evening. She could get used to this kind of ‘on demand’. Because there wasn’t any demand at all, as far as she could see. He hadn’t laid so much as a finger on her yet.

  They were watching TV together on the fifth evening. Sitting side by side on the sofa.

  “Marcus… why don’t we eat together?” The arrangement was rather strange. Her meals were delivered to her in the dining room and he left to go to his room.

  “I have an eating phobia… I like to take my meals in my room. I’ll tell you more about it one day”

  “Really? How strange. But I saw you eat steak in front of me.” Other than that she’d never seen him eat anything. He did drink in front of her though.

  “It comes and goes… I’m in relapse just now.”

  “You’re very odd at times Marcus”

  “Thank you”

  “You’re welcome”

  He tickled her a little and pushed her over on the sofa, both of them laughing a little. He couldn’t stop himself from leaning over and giving her a quick kiss. She looked much too cute in those black shorts and pink Hello Kitty t-shirt.

  “Oh kissing! – I remember that”

  “So do I. Would you like some more?”

  “No Marcus… I don’t think it’s a good idea.” That short kiss had whet her appetite for him… she knew exactly what would happen if they kissed again.

  “Why not? You seemed to enjoy it before”

  “That was then… this is now… ” She was trying to keep focused on Harry, but it was getting difficult to do that, considering…

  “Well I’m not going to force you, please yourself…” He got up to leave, none too pleased… she was being very difficult to approach. “If you change your mind, I’ll be lying on my bed waiting for you.”

  “’Night then… See you tomorrow.” She sat on her own in front of the TV for another half an hour mulling things over. This was the first time he had touched her and she wanted him like crazy.

  Her mind was suffering from inner turmoil. She hadn’t heard anything from Harry at all since she had left his that night. He hadn’t returned her two ‘love you’ texts or the three emails she had sent him. She had tried to call him too but his phone was permanently switched off. She’d even put “Harry call me please” on her Facebook page but as he never bothered with Facebook anyway, he was unlikely to see it or even care if he did apparently. She was feeling more than rejected and incredibly anxious and upset that he couldn’t get in touch once… Not even to say ‘how are you?’ It was as if he’d cut her out of his life, she couldn’t believe he would act this way… She started to think back to what he had said before she had arrived here. He had been quite sure she wasn’t going to come back to him… perhaps this was his way of dealing with it.

  Whether her swift change in mind was caused by thinking of Harry’s lack of contact or not she wasn’t sure, but she actually wouldn’t mind more than a kiss with Marcus right now. The thought was very appealing. She made her way to his room and knocked on the door.

  “Yes Rose, come in”

  “How did
you know it was me?” She came in and walked up to his bed, he was reading a flying magazine.

  “A pure guess, based on the fact we are the only two in here tonight… so what is it that you want?”

  “Is it too late to change my mind?”

  “No of course not… that would make me very happy… come here then.”

  “Can we stand up?”

  “If you like”

  He got up and pulled her to him. He smiled at her… she was so very sexy and too cute tonight. She was burning him up.

  “What about a short heated one Marc, but away from your bed a bit more?” She took his hands and led them into the middle of the room, to safer bed free territory, just in case they fell on it straight away. She didn’t want to give up the goods too fast….

  “Rose, you called me Marc!… Are we close friends now?” He was feeling very hopeful about this evening, she seemed different suddenly. No prickles at all.

  “After this I’m sure we will be, Marc” She was feeling more than close friendly just now. He had finally got under her skin. His eyes drew her in somehow and his voice was shouting out loudly in her mind. She was quite into him in fact. His laid back undemanding approach to her had made her feel good about being with him. He was very nice to her too. She was definitely looking forward to a heated kiss with him. He was just too dreamy…

  “Want to start us off Rose?”

  “Why’s that?”

  “I really love the way you do it… ”

  “Alright then… don’t faint on me now”

  She started the slow and gentle teaser, building up to the hot and harder version… Marcus was joining in, following her lead. Her insides were melting fast… there was definitely heat coming up from somewhere… a lot of heat in fact, most of it from her.

  He pulled away for a moment a little breathless, holding her face in his hands.