Sweet Reflection (Truth)

by Henderson, Grace

  I won’t ever get enough of her, now I’ve actually had another taste, I’m sunk.

  The afternoon goes by slowly, which is just fine by me. Laurel and I make ourselves comfortable stretched out on the sofa with tea, and chocolate and popcorn and watch some movies. She falls asleep in my arms for a while and I catch myself just watching her like a lovesick teenager. Then I fall asleep and I get woken up by her doing rude things to me under the blanket. Just as I’m about to return the favour, she gets a text message from her mum.

  “She wants to meet you.”

  “You told her you were here? Does she know you spent the night?” Oh God, her mum knows I’ve had sex with her daughter. I was hoping I’d be able to make a good first impression, now she’ll hate me.

  “Yeah, she’s fine with stuff like that. Don’t worry. She’s actually been your biggest supporter lately.”

  Now that’s what I want to hear.

  “Oh, and why is that?”

  “Because I’ve had the biggest grin on my face for over a week. Plus she thinks that your plans for the store were amazing and you were great to do them for nothing.”

  “Brownie points with mum. Woo hoo!” I punch the air and she laughs as I cover her mouth with mine guiding her back so she’s lying flat on the sofa. Then I carry on with what I had planned to do a few minutes ago.

  Chapter Thirteen

  James

  I’m pacing the hallway still trying to work out how I got so lucky. I’ve had an amazing twenty four hours. Tonight we’re going to meet our friends and I get to tell everyone that we’re together. And now I actually have the right to punch any fucker who even dares to look at her the wrong way and the thought fills me with relief.

  The taxi beeps its horn outside, because apparently the driver’s too damn lazy to come to the door like he should.

  “Babe, taxi’s here.” I shout upstairs. She’s been here all afternoon, and we stopped by her house earlier to get her a change of clothes for tonight on the way to pick up some more junk food supplies.

  “Coming,” she shouts back and I have a hard time getting it out my head how her being here with me feels so right. Just seeing her make a cup of coffee in my kitchen, or plump the cushions on my sofa, or putting her make-up on in my bathroom makes me want to keep her here all the time. It’s too soon for that, I think, but then I remind myself that we’ve known each other for the past nine months. And that definitely helps me feel more relaxed.

  “Have you seen my phone?” She asks as she walks down the stairs but I’m not seeing anything else but her. She’s wearing a tight black lace dress which shows off her incredible figure and emphasises her long tanned legs and blonde hair. She flashes a smile as she passes and not only does her perfume have me drooling, the back of the dress is cut out and her tanned skin is like a beacon just calling out to me. I can feel my trousers tighten and I know we have to get out of here so that I have some distraction.

  “James? Phone?” She repeats, and I shake myself out of my daze to answer her.

  “Kitchen counter.”

  “Thanks,” she smiles sweetly and heads into the kitchen to pick it up.

  “Let’s go,” she wanders back out and I open the door and gesture for her to walk out.

  The taxi ride feels like an eternity. I’m extremely aware of her presence next to me, and that damn sexy body I just want on top of me. She rests her hand on my thigh and I jerk slightly under her touch which I don’t mean to do, and she takes the wrong way.

  “Are you okay?” She asks softly.

  She bites her lip and looks worried as hell but I’m so uncomfortable I just nod and look out the window. She’s silent the rest of the way and I know there must be all sorts going through her mind and I have to give myself a mental slap for not being clear with her. We arrive at the bar and stop on the opposite side of the road because it’s so busy. She gets out warily, shocked when I grab her hand as we cross the road. There’s too many people laughing and chatting outside for us to have this conversation so I tug on her hand and pull her into the alleyway next to the bar.

  “What are you doing?” She asks, startled when we head into the darkness.

  My hands push on her hips until she’s back against the brick wall and I bring them up to lean either side of her head.

  “I didn’t mean to give you the wrong impression.” I blow out a breath and rest my forehead against hers, “But that dress is seriously wicked. I don’t know how I’m going to spend the whole night watching you in it, and knowing what’s underneath. You are way too sexy, I think you should just stay at home from now on.”

  She laughs and the relief lights up her whole face.

  “Yeah but what’s underneath is all yours.” She says huskily. “Doesn’t that make you feel better?” She reaches out to pull my shirt out my trousers and her soft warm hands find their way to my abs.

  “It would if we were alone, but I can’t even touch you. It’s hard babe.”

  She moves a hand down and strokes my cock through my jeans.

  “Yeah it is,” she agrees with a wink and I’m growling in frustration.

  “You are such a tease.”

  “Come on. You’ll forget all about this once we get in there.” She takes my hand and starts to pull me away.

  “Don’t count on it,” I mumble as I watch her hips sway in the tight dress that only just covers her butt.

  I let her lead me inside and by the time we get to the bar I’ve memorised five guy’s faces I’ll be keeping an eye on tonight.

  “What do you want to drink?” I ask, leaning down to her ear so she hears me over the music.

  “You know what I like,” she says, surprised I’ve even asked her.

  “What can I say, I’ve learnt my lesson.” I shrug and smile down at her.

  “Impressive,” she nods approvingly, “Chardonnay please.”

  I kiss her and pull away quickly before I get the chance to take it any further.

  I order our drinks and when she takes hers off the girl behind the bar she turns back round to me.

  “So, I was thinking again, I haven’t told Cassie about what’s gone on today, or last night. She text

  me asking what we did after the party and I just told her there was nothing more going on.”

  “Right, where you going with this?” I ask, because she’s got a playful glimmer in her eye which I’ve come to learn means she’s up to no good.

  “Well…Maybe we could have some fun with it. Cassie and Blake have been trying to set us up for ages, but they don’t know we’re together now.” She shrugs and I like her thought process. It would be a lot of fun to mess with them.

  “Okay babe, I get it. I’ll go over first then you follow in a minute. We can’t let them know we came together.”

  She reaches up and crashes her lips against mine, briefly sucking on my top lip and then pulls away panting.

  “Just in case I don’t get to do it for a while.”

  The whole gang’s at a table by the dance-floor, and they all look up at me smiling. “James,” Cassie says excitedly, “how have you been?”

  “Good, babe.” She gets up to give me a quick hug and I kiss her forehead then turn to Blake and ruffle his hair, “Hey watch it, don’t mess with it, took me ages.”

  “Pansy,” I reply and reach round the other side to give Jen and Emma a brief hug.

  “No Adam tonight?” I ask Cassie, because she’s always the organiser of these things so we don’t let our lives get in the way and lose touch with each other.

  “No he was busy. We’re just waiting on Laurel. She text me saying she’ll be a few minutes.”

  Good thinking. I nod and pick up my drink trying to decide how I’m going to play this. But when I see her walking through the crowd, all eyes on her, I know exactly how I have to act because I’m not going to be able to treat her any other way.

  She grins as her eyes land on everyone and as she looks at mine I see her eyebrow raise slightly but no-one el
se catches it. Cassie and Jen are both watching my reaction so I try to play it as cool as I can.

  “Hey, everyone.” She says brightly and I mumble a hello along with everyone else.

  “Laurel, your party was so much fun the other night. Did it go well?”

  “You could say that,” she smirks and runs her finger round the rim of her glass, stealing a look at me. Then she realises that Jen would want more of answer than that, “I made a lot of contacts and a few potential clients so we’ll see. But it’s looking good.”

  “Oh that’s so exciting. There were quite a few hot guys there. I met one who’s the manager of a country house not far from here. He was so dreamy.”

  “Oh Scott, yeah he’s a real sweetheart.” I know she’s only playing the role but I instantly tighten at her words.

  “I met him. He’s a cock.” I mutter into my glass but it was a bit too loud to go unnoticed.

  “No he wasn’t,” Jen says, frowning at me. “You’re obviously just jealous.”

  I can’t help laugh at that one. “Why would I be jealous of cock-face Scott?”

  She rolls her eyes and pauses, and I can tell there’s something she wants to say but is trying to figure out whether to say it or not. With a frown from Cassie she keeps quiet and inside I’m chuckling to myself, they’ve been wanting us to get together for ages. I take a swig of my beer and look around the bar.

  “Shit, Shannon’s here.” I say loud enough for everyone to hear. They all turn to look as she walks through the door with some of her friends. She scans the room and when she sees me, her eyes burn into mine and she smiles slyly, wiggling her hips as she walks.

  I text Laurel because everyone will hear if I actually speak to her.

  Me: She’s gonna be all over me like a rash, I know it. You gotta help me.

  Laurel: I’m on it ;-)

  I breathe a sigh of relief. I watch Laurel get up from her chair at the opposite end of the table and finish off her drink. Shannon’s making her way over and I’m silently begging Laurel to do what she’s going to do now before she reaches us. Just as Shannon’s about to throw herself onto my lap, Laurel slips in before her and settles herself against me, “Sorry, this seat’s taken,” She smiles sweetly at Shannon who’s now scowling, with her hand on her hip. She looks at me for some kind of explanation or for me to tell Laurel where to go, but hell if I’m doing that. I’ve finally got a reason to be touching her, so I wrap my arm around her side and pull her close to me.

  “James?” Shannon is still looking at me to explain but I just shake my head.

  “Sorry Shan, I’m not available anymore.”

  Her eyes flick between us and she lets out a big huff as she walks away. She must be pissed; I’ve never said no to her before.

  Everyone’s staring at us and giving awkward looks to each other and I know Laurel should get up now, but I just want her near me. Maybe we should just forget messing with them and tell them the truth.

  “I don’t want to move.” Laurel whispers in my ear. “But they’re so confused it’s hilarious. We have to carry on.” She gets up and walks back to her seat and the girls move their chairs to have a private conversation, probably trying to figure out why she did that. The last time we all went out as a group, we ignored each other and now she’s sitting in my lap.

  Blake nudges me with his elbow and leans in, “Dude, what was all that about?”

  “I just need a break from Shannon and Laurel was willing to help me out. No big deal.” I shrug casually and see his eyes narrow.

  “I thought you were going to tell her? You can’t just act like that and not tell her how you actually feel.”

  I shrug again and sip my drink, “Why the hell not, she’s flirting with me. She came and sat in my lap. So why can’t I flirt back? I know she’s Cassie’s best friend but don’t worry about it, alright? I’m just having some fun.”

  He mutters something about me being an idiot into his glass and shakes his head.

  Conversation turns to the rest of the weekend and what everyone’s up to, but I hardly join in because I’m way too distracted. I can’t drag my eyes away from the finger that’s running over her lip. She glances at me and lowers her eyelids when the finger slips inside her mouth. I let out a quiet groan and knock back my drink to try and dampen the feelings inside. I have to play her at her own game so I replay our conversations throughout the day to try and come up with something. Then it hits me, I’m sure she mentioned something about how dancing always turned her on and that was one of the best parts of our first night together. So before I think it through, I’m standing and addressing the whole table.

  “Who wants to dance?”

  Blake’s shooting daggers at me because he knows Cassie will jump at the chance.

  “Yes we will, won’t we baby?”

  “Of course sweetheart.” He replies and curses at me as he passes. Two down, three to go.

  “Ladies?” I look to Emma and Jen and they’re nodding and grabbing their bags.

  “Are you coming?” I turn to Laurel and I can tell she’s unsure.

  “What’s wrong babe?”

  She sighs and starts walking towards me, “I don’t know how much longer I can keep my hands off you. You seem to be finding it so easy, but I want to be able to kiss you.” She pouts her lips and I run my hand over her butt while no-one’s around. “Well after that little show you just put on, I think I want do to one of my own. Come on.”

  She follows behind reluctantly and the beat of the music is fast so we all dance together in a group at first. The girls start grinding on each other and shaking their hips until Jen and Emma grab the attention of a couple of guys and dance with them. Blake’s got a hold of Cassie and it’s just me and Laurel on our own. Everyone’s still near and I see them exchange a few glances as we continue to dance separately. If this had been a few weeks ago I probably would have walked off because of how my body’s reacting to her but now I know I can have her whenever I want, I’m staying.

  Imagine Dragon’s Radioactive starts throbbing out the speakers, and I’d never have thought that song was sexy until I see Laurel dancing to it. She brings her arms up above her head and sways her whole body seductively to the music. Within seconds I close the gap between us and pull her back against me. Laurel’s butt rubbing against my crotch and the feel of her hips underneath my hands brings out a fierce, possessive side I didn’t know I had. My grinds against her ass get harder; I was supposed to be the one teasing her but she has completely turned it round on me. When she turns in my arms, grabs hold of them and moves her legs either side of my thigh, my body stiffens, in more ways than one. She whips her hair back and snakes her body to each side in long, fluid motions and brings her arms up to cling round my neck, still shaking her hips. I’m all too aware that we’re putting on one hell of a show for our friends, I can feel their eyes on us. But as she moves back and drops down low to the floor, I can’t see anyone, or anything else but her eyes looking at me with that damn sexy twinkle. She has hold of my hips and she slowly crawls back up my body, biting her lip and sliding her tits across my chest. She turns again, and sinks her butt back against my cock.

  “What the hell was that?” I rasp out into her ear. We’re facing away from the others so I pull her hair away and kiss the side of her neck, our hips still moving together slowly. She leans back against me and tilts her head all the way to the side. I lick and kiss all the way down to her shoulder. Running my hands down her arms I can feel the goose bumps raised on her skin.

  “I love this song. Just having a little fun. I can find someone else that will like me dancing against them if you don’t.”

  “I don’t think so, babe. You’re mine.” My mouth reaches forward to her neck again and I bite down lightly on her skin, “And I fucking loved it. Too much. Surely you can feel that.”

  She looks over her shoulder slyly, and wiggles her backside against me again, “I can.” Her giggle brings me back from to where we are and what we said we
were going to do, hide it from people. I think we’ve done a rubbish job, but I pull away anyway. I’ve been shocked at how simple the transition was to go from a relationship filled with tension, to perfectly at ease in each other’s company but I guess that was the honesty doing its work. We’ve had too many misunderstandings for there to be anything less than truth from now on. I get a dark voice scolding me in the back of my mind as thoughts of Alex make their way forward but this moment is too perfect to let her ruin it. I’ll have to think about what I’m going to do but that’s a job for tomorrow.

  “I have a finale in mind. Come on, let’s go back to the table.” She says quickly.

  Thank fuck for that, I don’t know whose idea this was in the first place but I’m regretting every second of it now. The lights get brighter as we head to the dining area where the tables are. Jen and Emma are already there with another round of drinks for everyone and as the song ends Cassie and Blake come back too.

  “All that dancing has got me so hungry. Anyone wanna get some food?” Jen asks and Laurel raises her eyebrows at me.

  “Perfect. I’m starving.” She replies and gets up slowly to make her way round the table with her drink in hand.

  “Excuse me,” she says way too pleasantly, fluttering her eyelashes at me and all eyes are watching her, including mine, as she stretches over me to get the menu and waggles her butt in my face. I swallow hard and look at Blake who’s grinning like an idiot. She pulls back after she’s let me take in the view and I find myself running my hand up her leg towards her thigh, not even caring now if anyone can see. It’s been over an hour and I’m not in the mood anymore. I hear a sharp intake of breath from Cassie’s direction so I think she can, and I smile to myself at her surprise.

  Laurel sends a flirty look in my direction in full view of everyone but when she straightens up she tips her drink slightly and spills it on my shirt. I shoot out the chair and look down in shock at the wine that’s covering me.