She pushed herself away from the table, out of the circle of his arm and got to her feet angrily.
“Go away, James,” she said in a low, dangerous voice. “Go back south. Get away from me.”
Matterson lowered his eyes very slowly over her body with such intimate deliberate insolence that Renee folded her arms again and took another step back from the table. Just the way the man looked at her made her skin crawl.
“That’s no way to speak to your old boyfriend,” he smiled, and then lowered his voice like a conspirator. “Surely you still remember all those hot and sweaty nights we spent together.”
She nodded. “I do. And I still can’t wash your stench off me,” Renee hissed. “Do you remember spending a week in hospital while your ribs healed? Do you remember how Stefan beat you to a pulp?”
He didn’t like that. His mood suddenly darkened and the thin-lipped smile slid off his face. He shook his head, sorrowful and disappointed. “Such a shame,” he frowned. “We were so good together, Renee. We could be again… if you wanted to give us another chance.” He reached out for her but she backed away.
She laughed, but it was a bitter, angry sound that jammed in the back of her throat. “Go to hell!”
Matterson got up from the chair slowly. “Fine,” he shrugged. “But if you change your mind…” He took a sip of her soft drink and then turned on his heel and strode away down the street without another backward glance. Renee waited until he had rounded the corner before she sat back down. She was trembling with anger and outrage.
“Nice guy,” Tink said sarcastically.
“He’s an asshole,” Renee snapped. She tipped the remainder of her soft drink into a nearby pot-plant.
“How long did you two…?”
“Till I met Stefan, and until I found out about his wife and daughter.”
Tink sat back in her chair nodding sagely, and puffing out her cheeks. “Men,” she sighed, as though she were revealing an age-old secret gem of wisdom. “You can’t live with them – and you can’t just shoot the bastards.”
Ten.
It was late afternoon when Renee and Tink arrived home. They came up the steps with their arms full of shopping bags, and were greeted at the door by Stefan.
Renee dropped her parcels on the living room floor with a melodramatic exhausted sigh, and threw her arms around Stefan with enough enthusiasm to startle him.
It was as if she were trying to burrow deeper and deeper into his embrace, as though they had been separated for weeks instead of hours. She kissed him hotly, amazed at the softness and warmth of his mouth and then the hard rasp of new beard on his cheeks. She kissed him for a long time, oblivious to Tink’s presence, and she made soft small mewing sounds deep in her throat as she clung to him.
“Wow,” Stefan said. “What did I do to deserve that?”
“You’re you,” Renee nuzzled against his chest. “And I missed you today.”
“Missed me? Renee you’ve only been gone for the afternoon.”
She looked up at him with big sad eyes. “Didn’t you miss me?”
“Yes,” he indulged her.
“How much? How much did you miss me?” she demanded.
He spread his arms wide and smirked. “This much.”
That was enough for Renee to throw herself back into his embrace, and the heated, desperate kissing began all over again.
“We’ll continue this after dinner,” Renee promised, kissing and nibbling Stefan’s lip with small wet sucking sounds. “As soon as we get in the bedroom. That’s a promise, mister.”
Around Stefan’s legs, Jeffrey panted and whimpered for attention. His little tail wagged like a fan, and when Renee would not pick him up, he began climbing onto the shopping bags.
Tink came out of the kitchen holding an enormous silver dog bowl filled with food. She set it on the floor and Jeffrey abandoned exploration in favor of eating.
Stefan took a pace back, put his hands on his hips, and surveyed the wreckage that was strewn across the living room floor. He shook his head, mystified.
“Was all this stuff necessary?”
Renee pouted at him. “It’s not stuff, Stefan,” she said defensively. She knelt on the floor beside Jeffrey and fondled the pup’s head each time it appeared above the rim of the huge food bowl. “These are necessary comforts.”
Amongst the discarded handbags, shoes and jumpers, were half a dozen large brown paper bags. Renee reached into the first one and produced a cane wicker basket. “He needs a bed.”
Stefan nodded.
“And bedding. So we bought some blankets.”
He nodded again, this time less convinced. “And what about the rest of these parcels?”
When everything was unwrapped and opened Stefan’s expression bordered on horrified.
There was a plaid dog coat, rubber bones and a rubber ball, tins of dog food and bags of dry dog biscuits. There was a collar, a leash, a brush, and several tins and jars of powders. Stefan looked around the room and sighed. “It looks like you’ve spent enough to keep the pet store open through the winter,” he said grimly.
“I only bought the essentials,” Renee smiled primly. “I was very restrained.”
She folded a blanket and tucked it into the bottom of the cane basket, then placed it beside the food bowl. She picked up Jeffrey and set him down on the bedding.
“See,” Renee clapped her hands. “He loves his new bed.”
Jeffrey looked up at her, his expression dismayed. He grumbled and licked his lips – and then padded back to the food dish and scrambled inside the bowl. He sat on the small mountain of dry biscuits and barked a rebuke at her, then lowered his head and resumed eating.
Stefan rolled his eyes. Tink turned away and covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud.
“Traitor,” Renee whispered at the pup.
Stefan went to the bar and poured himself a drink. “How did your meeting go with Chrisy Golfin?” he asked.
Renee jumped to her feet and reached for his hand. Her eyes shone brightly. “She’s wonderful, Stefan. She’s so calm and poised. Nothing rattles her. She’s been such a big help already.”
“Good,” he said. “So you made progress?”
“Yes. We talked about a lot of ideas, and she’s coming here tomorrow afternoon while you and Tink are visiting at Master Peter’s. We’re going to look at wedding gowns, and you’re not allowed to see.”
“That sounds exciting.”
“Oh, it is,” Renee assured him happily. “So far everything is going exactly to plan. I couldn’t be happier!”
* *
There was a desperation in Renee’s lovemaking that night that Stefan sensed, but did not understand. Her kisses were hotter and more passionate, her hunger for him insatiable.
They rolled together on the bed, arms and legs entwined, and Renee’s need was like a physical ache.
“Please,” she panted, “I need you inside me.”
She tried to roll onto her back and pull Stefan over her, but he was too strong and too big so all she could do was writhe helplessly against him as his mouth explored the burning flesh of her breasts.
“Please,” she pleaded again. Her hands were all over him, reaching for his hardness, desperate to have him fill her.
Stefan lifted his head, looking down into Renee’s upturned face. He gazed at her. Her eyes were alive with a hunger and passion that startled him. She licked her lips as if she were dying of thirst, and pleaded to him with her eyes.
He traced the shape of her lips with his finger and then trailed his touch down towards her abdomen, marveling at the honey-colored softness of her skin that pressed against the dark sun-bronzed muscles of his chest and torso.
He moved on top of her then, still slow and deliberate, understanding her need, but not wanting to hurt her.
He felt himself press against the simmering heat at her center and she was wet. Her legs came around him, locking around his thighs and her hand was betwee
n their bodies, urgent and insistent.
“Are you sure?” Stefan whispered.
“Oh, yes!” Renee gasped. “I need you inside me.”
He took the weight of his body on his braced arms and gently rocked his hips. Renee went rigid. Her head lolled to the side and her eyes flew wide. He was so hard!
She stayed like that, frozen for a single heartbeat – as her body adjusted to the pressure, and then she turned her head back to look into his eyes.
“More,” she whispered. “Don’t hold back. I want all of you.”
She threw her arms tightly around his neck and pulled his mouth down onto hers. They kissed, a crushing merge of lips, and when she broke the kiss it was only to gasp as Stefan thrust his hips and he filled her with a single breathtaking lunge.
“Oh, God!” she cried out. “Yes, my darling. Yes!”
They clung together and it was like the relentless dash of waves against rocks. Time and time again, Stefan thrust into her, driving himself deeper and Renee moaned and whimpered at the size and strength of him. Time and time again she took the full impact of his loving, burying her face in his neck and biting the hard suntanned skin of his shoulders to stifle her cries.
Her fingers clawed at his back as the tension in her body blurred between pleasure and pain. Yet still she urged him on – wanting more, needing even more.
Stefan shifted his weight and wrapped his hand around Renee’s throat. His touch was careful, but the sudden thrill of this new pressure tripped an explosive need deep within Renee.
There was no time to understand; all she knew was that the weight of Stefan’s body pressing down on her and the feel of his hand around her throat made her feel trapped and pinned – unable to move – unable to do anything other than receive the thrust of him and to meet each lunge with equal hunger.
Perhaps it was something deep within her soul – an erotic memory of her submission. Perhaps it was her need to feel Stefan’s passion match her own.
Something deep within her, long forgotten, suddenly set her body heaving in an endless thrill of sensations until white flashes of light exploded behind her eyes and she fell, fell into the depths of deep satisfaction that can only be experienced after reaching heights never scaled before.
Afterwards when she lay pressed against his chest, safe within the circle of his arms, Stefan stroked the hair at her temples and felt the irregular race if her heartbeat slowly settle and return to its rhythm.
“Thank you,” Renee murmured, her voice soft and awed. “You touched my soul.”
She drifted in and out of sleep, soothed by Stefan’s touch until much later when she woke and felt him stir against her. She came awake quickly, kissing his chest and inhaling the man smell of him. She looked up into his eyes and recognized the look in his eyes.
“Again?” she asked hopefully.
“Yes,” he said, his voice thick. “As soon as we shower.”
* *
The hot water was like a salve to Renee’s aching muscles and she lifted her face up to the spray. Steam billowed, filling the en suite, and when she stepped out of the stall her skin was pink and glowing.
She heard her phone buzz and she frowned and then scowled.
“Can you get that message, Stefan?” she slid the en suite door open. “It will be Chrisy Golfin. She said she would message me if she had to change plans for tomorrow.”
He glanced at his watch on the bedside table. “Do you want me to call her back and re-schedule?”
Stefan rolled across the bed and reached into her handbag. He found her phone and scrolled down to receive the unopened message.
Renee turned to the en suite mirror and quickly brushed her hair. When she came back into the bedroom she saw Stefan’s face and froze.
He was still holding her phone.
He was staring at the screen.
His face was a mask of pure rage.
Wordlessly he got up from the bed and began to pull on a t-shirt and shorts. He didn’t look at her. Renee felt her entire world tilt off its axis, and she didn’t know why.
She reached for the phone and thumbed the message display. The color drained from her face and it seemed as though her blood chilled with ice.
Hey, sexy! It was great to see you today.
Hope you take me up on my offer.
Can’t stop thinking about you!
James.
Renee stared down at the message and her eyes swam with tears. She staggered, her legs suddenly weak beneath her, and like a physical thing she felt her youth fall away from her like a skin being shed. She felt an unaccountable sadness; a misery that was so heavy that it crushed the breath from her. But more than anything else, she felt the despair of her own guilt, and like a mortal wound she felt her life ebbing away.
Stefan slammed the door behind him and Renee was left alone in the bedroom, staring at her phone, desperately alone and ashamed, and she knew that it was over.
It was all over.
* *
Stefan went behind the bar and poured himself a double whisky. He swallowed the contents in a single angry gulp, and then re-filled the tumbler. His hands were shaking. He balled them into hammer-like fists and punched the polished timber surface of the counter without even feeling the smash of his knuckles.
He took the drink with him and sprawled on the sofa, threw back his head and screwed shut his eyes. The pain felt like a knife plunged into his heart.
He became aware of her perfume first, the fresh scent of soap and shampoo, and he felt the blood in his veins quicken and the tumbler shook in his hands.
Slowly he opened his eyes.
Renee had come from the bedroom in silence. She was wearing just a white terry bathrobe and her hair was wet against her head. She looked very young to Stefan then; young and innocent and vulnerable – and to him that seemed to make the enormity of her betrayal even greater.
She moved slowly towards the sofa, tremulous and uncertain, and there was a haunted hollow emptiness in her eyes and when Stefan rose from the sofa to face her she stopped suddenly and one hand flew to her throat.
“Stefan,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry, and so stupid.” She took a single step closer but then she saw his eyes narrow and the grim line of his mouth harden in anger, and she froze.
“Please,” she begged softly, “at least give me the chance to explain. At least allow me to do that – please.”
He stared at her and behind the red mist of his anger was a maelstrom of emotions that surged to the surface and then sank again before he could recognize and understand them. His heart was thumping in his chest and the blood simmered and roared in his ears. But through it all – overwhelming everything else – was the gut-wrenching despair of her betrayal.
She took another step closer. Now she could reach out and touch his arm, but she knew that such a gesture would be a mistake. He was still standing stiffly, still resisting. She could see the terrible conflict behind his eyes brewing like storm clouds.
She sat on the arm of the sofa and looked down at the ground for a long time, trying to find the words, knowing that everything hinged on what she said – and how she said it.
“Oh, Stefan, please – just give me the chance to explain,” she asked again. “At least hear me out before…. before…”
Stefan folded his arms and looked down at her. He said nothing. Renee was trembling. She took a deep breath, but when she finally began to speak her voice was little more than a whisper.
“After Tink and I left Chrisy Golfin’s house we went into Bishop’s Bridge for lunch,” she said. She didn’t look at him; she couldn’t meet the terrible hurt in his eyes, so instead she stared at the wall and spoke as if in a trance, recalling every detail, telling him everything that she should have told him when she had come home. “James Matterson appeared from nowhere. He put his hand on my shoulder and introduced himself to Tink. He told me he was back in town to visit his daughter. He said he and his wife had separated.”
Renee chanced a look up into Stefan’s face. His expression seemed to be carved in stone. There was no feeling, no emotion – just a flinty hard stare.
She paused for a moment, intimidated, and the guilt came upon her again like a bursting wave. She felt tears sting her eyes.
“Matterson asked me if I was interested in getting back together with him. He wanted me to move south. Then he leered at me and I told him to go away,” she said. “At first he didn’t. I got out of my chair to get away from him and told him to leave. He did.”
Renee’s hands fluttered in a gesture of helplessness. “That’s what happened,” she said. “Nothing else. I had never seen him before today and I’ve never spoken to him since you and I met.”
Stefan’s eyes blazed. “His message seemed to suggest a lot more than you’re telling me, Renee. How do you explain that?”
“I can’t,” she said softly. “Except to say that he’s being malicious. Stefan you have to trust me!”
As soon as she uttered the words, Renee gasped and covered her mouth as if to snatch them back.
Too late.
“Trust you?” Stefan roared, and there was a fearful fury in the sting of his voice. “How do you expect me to trust you ever again?”
His words stung like a lash and she began to cry.
“I’m not threatened by Matterson, Renee. If I was worried about him I would simply find him and beat the living hell out of him again. He’s no threat. He’s of no consequence. And I don’t doubt what you’ve told me is the truth–”
“It is!” She seized on his words, thinking for a moment that his anger was melting. “I swear it is!” her voice rose in a low wail of despair. She came off the arm of the sofa then, reaching out for him, wanting him to forgive her.
“But that’s not the point!” he snapped and shrugged her arm away. “The issue here is trust. Trust!”
He stormed back to the bar. He needed a barrier between them. He needed to be away from her and out of her reach. “How can I marry a woman I can’t trust? And how can I trust you when you keep secrets from me?”
Her Master's Kiss 3 (Erotic Romance) Page 5
