Among a Thousand Stars

by Jo Bartlett

  ‘I want you…’ She couldn’t help saying it; in a thousand years she wouldn’t have said it out loud if she could have stopped herself. What he was doing wasn’t unchartered territory, but what it was doing to her was. Ashleigh wanted to feel the weight of his body on hers. It was crying out for him.

  He stopped and looked at her, drawing upwards until their heads were level again. ‘That’s good to know, because I’ve been feeling that way about you for a very long time now - much longer than I wanted to wait.’ Tom’s eyes seemed darker than ever as he smiled, the anticipation created by their near misses heightening the moment. ‘Please tell me you haven’t just thought of some emergency that means we’ve got to stop? I’m not sure I could take it again.’ He raised an eyebrow and, without replying, she began to slide down his body. – it was her turn to satisfy him. This was always how it had been before, you got a little bit and you gave a little bit. Only Tom was stopping her, his hands on her face, gently guiding her upwards until they were level again. ‘Not this time. It’s your turn tonight.’ He pressed his body against hers so that she was left in no doubt and smiled again. ‘Just promise me you’ll relax and let me show you how good this can be… for both of us.’

  She nodded. She’d already decided to go along with it, pretend it was the best sex ever if she had to; she’d done it before. Liam did sex by numbers, as though he’d been programmed to repeat the same routine every time. His fingers prodding at her or moving in circular motions quicker and quicker, as if he just wanted to get that bit over and get on with the bit he really enjoyed. She’d faked enough orgasms to be pretty convincing. Although she’d be frustrated as hell, since Tom’s touch was proving to be like nothing she’d ever experienced.

  His mouth was moving away from hers again, travelling slowly back down her neck and finding the other nipple, bringing back that sensation that made her want to beg him, her body arching for what it wanted. This time, when Tom stopped, he didn’t work his way back up her body. His lips brushed the skin across her abdomen, his tongue dancing across her hip bone and then kissing her outer thigh, moving about half way down before shifting his head slightly so that his tongue was travelling up her inner thigh. The anticipation and teasing of his mouth against her skin so intense it was almost painful.

  ‘Tom…’ He didn’t stop at the sound of his name, it was clear he didn’t want to and finally she let herself believe it, his hands moving upwards until they were holding down her arms. It wasn’t that she couldn’t have escaped if she’d wanted to, but she didn’t want him to stop either – not for anything.

  Finally he was at the point where those million sensations she was experiencing met and as the tip of his tongue swept across she almost screamed. He’d released his grip on her arms, and she found herself scrunching handfuls of the sofa cushions, as her body arched towards him again. Each sweep and circle of his tongue built the intensity. If he stopped now, she might actually die. But he didn’t and at last her body took over from her mind, giving itself up to pure pleasure, leaving no room for anything else. She must have made a noise, but she didn’t hear it. Everything was centred on that one point and the rest of the world slipped away. It wasn’t that she hadn’t done that before, but it had never felt this good, not even a tenth as good.

  Tom moved backwards, until he was sitting further down the sofa. Taking her hand in his, he pulled her towards him, and she moved so that she was straddling his legs.

  ‘If you want me to stop, tell me now. Because the way I’m feeling at the moment, if I touch you again there’ll be no going back.’ Tom kept his eyes on hers as he spoke, even as he reached across to the coffee table and slid a foil packet out from its hiding place.

  ‘I don’t want you to stop.’ She just managed to stop herself adding the word “ever”. Waves of sensation were still pulsing through her body, but she wanted to feel that intimacy that only the next step could bring. She took the condom out of his hand, her earlier clumsiness replaced by newfound confidence. Sliding it on, she kept watching him, his eyes closing as her fingers moved up and down.

  ‘It’s not that what you’re doing doesn’t feel great, but I’m so ready for you that I don’t know how much longer I can hold out.’ His words rushed out with gasps of breath, as he ran his hands up and down her back, and she knelt up, moving forward slightly before lowering herself down again. The feel of him was another sensation all together, as powerful as she’d known it would be. His lips found her nipple again as she moved on top of him and he moaned in response. This bit was supposed to be about him, but the places he touched made her lose control and within minutes she was shivering again, with new intensity, as those million sensations once more found themselves exploding together. She couldn’t have stopped for anything. Even as she wanted to pull away, as the pleasure and pain of such feelings began to merge, she found herself moving with him once more and for a third time she gasped throwing her head back as he finally let go and joined her, almost lifting her off the sofa with the intensity of the moment.

  For a second neither of them spoke, and she didn’t move. Not wanting to break the connection she felt of him being part of her.

  ‘Okay?’ Tom cupped her chin, so that she had to look at him again.

  ‘More than okay. You?’ He smiled at her words, so that Ashleigh knew exactly what his answer was going to be.

  ‘Oh, definitely. A very good start.’ He was teasing again, but the rise and fall of his chest and the catching of his breath told the real story. Putting his hands around her waist, he drew her gently upwards. ‘I’m going to grab a shower,’ he paused for a second, grinning again, ‘Interested?’

  ‘Very.’ In that moment, she didn’t even pause to grab a cushion or something else to try and cover up her nakedness. Taking his hand she followed him to the bathroom, knowing that something in her had changed forever.

  ****

  Ashleigh was having one of those weird experiences where you wake up and don’t know where you are. She looked down and saw her own smooth white leg curled around Tom’s browner, much hairier one. Despite the reassuring manliness of his legs, Ashleigh had been thrilled to discover that Tom’s back was delightfully hair free and he had quite the most magnificent buttocks she had ever seen in real life. She gingerly lifted the covers to have another sneaky peek.

  ‘I hope you’re not looking at my bum.’ Tom turned on to his back in a vain attempt to protect his modesty, only the manoeuvre back fired slightly, as he was clearly more than ready for a repeat performance.

  ‘Come here.’ He didn’t seem able to stop touching her and she wasn’t complaining. ‘You really don’t know how beautiful you are?’ He smoothed a tendril of hair behind her ear, as she shook her head. ‘I wish you could see what I see.’

  ‘Thanks. You’ll do for now too. Until we both get bored of course.’ It was what he wanted to hear, so she said it, and he pulled her towards him again. Conversation, it seemed, was the last thing on his mind.

  ****

  ‘Oh no, is that the time?’ Ashleigh sat bolt upright, two hours later. After having sex again, she’d fallen sleep in his arms and now it was almost eleven o’clock.

  ‘Are you worried you’ve missed breakfast?’ Tracing the curve of her breast with his finger, Tom gave her a lazy smile.

  ‘It’s not that.’ She darted under his arm to escape as he tried to kiss her again. If she let him, she knew she’d have to write off the rest of the day. ‘Although I am absolutely starving.’ Her stomach decided to echo the sentiment by giving a rumble worthy of an approaching thunderstorm. ‘It’s just if I miss Joseph singing his solo love song to Mary my life won’t be worth living.’

  ‘Okay, I definitely have to get you something to eat.’ He placed a hand on her forehead and pretended to take her temperature, giving her a look of mock concern. ‘You appear to be delirious.’

  ‘It’s my brother’s solo, in church this afterno
on, he’s playing Joseph in a musical version of the Nativity.’ She frantically tried to stay wrapped in the bed sheets, whose hospital corners appeared to have been welded to the bed and didn’t want to move with her, as she searched around in a fruitless attempt to locate her underwear.

  ‘Do you want me to come with you?’ Tom unhooked her bra from its resting place on one of the bedposts and handed it to her. ‘I could drive you down. Maybe we could meet up afterwards or I might even be willing to come to church if you made it worth my while.’

  ‘God no!’ Ashleigh shuddered and then, seeing the look on his face, shook her head again. ‘If I turn up with you, my mother will go into hyper drive that I’ve got a sex life at last. It wouldn’t be pretty, trust me.’ She’d finally found her knickers, which shimmered like a small satin puddle under one side of the bed. ‘Stevie’s coming with me. He’s known the family for years, so the fact that they really are all bonkers, especially my mother, won’t faze him.’ She desperately tried to cover her modesty, even though they’d hungrily explored one another’s bodies just hours before.

  ‘Ah, mothers, always best to keep them out of things.’ He grinned and she wasn’t sure if it was the sentiment, or her struggle to get dressed without him seeing, that was amusing him so much.

  ‘Definitely one of the upsides of keeping it casual.’ Having wrestled back into her underwear whilst still half-wrapped in the sheet, Ashleigh allowed him to pull her back into his arms. ‘It’s nearly Christmas and that makes it my crazy mother’s maddest time of the year and if I don’t turn up, Jamie will get it all.’ She could feel herself weaken as he began kissing her neck and she had to stand up before she changed her mind. ‘Sorry Tom, it’s not that I don’t want to stay.’ Her words were muffled as she slithered back into the soft suede dress that she’d abandoned with such pleasure the night before. ‘But I can‘t leave the poor little sod to cope with my mother all by himself.’

  ‘Okay, okay, I concede.’ Tom pulled her to him for one last kiss. ‘But I want to see you again soon. Are you back in town before Christmas? Or can I come to your place?’ He wasn’t a man to play games. Somehow she knew if he said he was going to call that he would. After someone like Liam, it made Tom even more attractive. Was she mad to leave him to go to a Christmas service in a draughty church battered by freezing December winds?

  ‘Call me tonight?’ Ashleigh smiled, she could guarantee there’d be plenty to tell him about her mum’s behaviour in church. She could only hope Carol wouldn’t be dressed as the Virgin Mary.

  ‘Only if I can see you tomorrow.’ It might have sounded needy from a different man, but coming from him it made her feel incredible to be so wanted.

  ‘We’ll see.’ Trying and failing to sound casual, she grinned and scooped up the huge box of chocolates that she’d admired the night before. ‘I’ll just take these in lieu of breakfast.’

  ****

  Tom had a hot shower and ordered some food from room service. He’d wanted Ashleigh to stay, but was glad that she had her own life to live. Maybe they’d be together for six months, like he and Carly had been, or even a bit longer. The photos Ashleigh had taken of Chloe had been the game changer. She didn’t need Tom to raise her profile, her talent was enough. So there was no reason why they couldn’t stay friends and, even more importantly, work together once the rest was over.

  Tom finally switched his phone back on twenty minutes after Ashleigh had left and it immediately rang, the number on the caller display all too familiar. ‘What’s up, Francine?’

  ‘It’s Ryan Murray, he was drunk and high on a chat show and used the word “fuck” three times before the watershed.’ Tom could just imagine Francine’s pained expression as she spoke, it was a bit like hearing your Nan utter the F-word.

  ‘Is he okay?’ Tom sighed. The rumours about Ryan’s alleged drug taking were probably true and they’d had a few problems with him before, but he’d been dealt a rough hand in life, from his troubled childhood in and out of foster care.

  ‘I expect he’s got a sore head this morning, but it serves him right.’ Francine knew about Ryan’s past too, but it clearly hadn’t touched the block of ice that passed for her heart. ‘I think we should drop him from our representation. It’s not like he’s a big earner.’

  ‘No way!’ Tom was adamant. Ryan needed help instead of being unceremoniously dropped; everyone deserved a second chance in life. In any case, Tom was in a good mood, better than he’d been for a long time, which made him much more forgiving. ‘Get him booked into The Priory and issue a press release on his behalf, apologising for his behaviour and confirming that our medical team suspect it’s the result of a reaction to some prescription medication.’

  ‘I don’t think we should make excuses for him. I don’t like it.’ Francine sounded sulky; Ryan’s fame, as a reality TV star, was the type of celebrity that she loathed most of all.

  ‘Well that’s our job, like it or not.’ Tom’s knuckles tightened around the mobile phone; he wasn’t in the mood for Francine’s histrionics.

  ‘You know best.’ Her tone belied the statement. ‘When will you be back?’

  ‘I’ll give you a call, but I might go and see Mum.’ Before she could reply he ended the call. There was nothing like a conversation with Francine to bring your mood down.

  ****

  Creeping in through the front door of the Bed and Breakfast, Ashleigh was mortified to see the landlady, Janice, smiling merrily at her from behind the reception desk.

  ‘Looks like you had a good time luvvie.’ The old lady gave her a wink, making her acutely aware she was wearing the same clothes as she had been the day before.

  ‘Er, yes I did thanks.’ She needed a hot shower. Stevie darn well better not have hogged all the water.

  ‘Christ, you look even worse than I do.’ She was shocked to see Stevie still lying in bed. The shadows under his eyes made him look like a vampire from the Twilight movies. A crop of angry purple bruises spanned much of his neck on one side, the remnants of a night of snogging, the like of which Ashleigh hadn’t seen since her teenage years. Did people really still give each other love bites?

  ‘Which of us looks worse is a matter of opinion.’ Stevie grinned. ‘Although I might have to borrow a bit of foundation to cover these up.’ He touched his neck, wincing as his fingers made contact with the bruises.

  ‘Who the hell did that, Henry the Hoover?’ She dropped her bag onto the bed and kicked off her shoes. The shower could wait five minutes; she had to know who had given Stevie love bites requiring that level of suction.

  ‘That’s the worse part.’ It was completely out of character for him to look embarrassed, if she hadn’t known better she would have sworn he was blushing. ‘I honestly can’t remember.’

  ‘You tart!’ She was teasing him, but she just hoped he’d been careful. She’d known him to get drunk before and take risks that in the cold light of day hadn’t seemed like quite such a good idea.

  ‘Hey you can talk!’ He pulled her on to the bed and she rested her head on his shoulder. ‘At least I ended up in my own bed.’

  ‘Yes, but who with?’ Had he seriously woken up with some bloke and not even bothered to ask his name.

  ‘I came back here in the early hours… alone.’ His tone was somewhere between righteous indignation and disappointment. ‘I take it that you and Tom finally got it together?’

  ‘Uh ha.’ Ashleigh slid towards the edge of the bed and stood up. ‘I’ve got to grab a shower and head down to Jamie’s show.’ Keen to change the subject, she didn’t want to cheapen the time she’d spent with Tom by sharing every lurid detail – not even with Stevie. ‘Are you still coming?’

  ‘Yeah, yeah.’ He stretched and gave an excruciatingly long yawn. ‘I’ll jump in the shower after you. But don’t think you’re getting out of it that easily. You can give me the gory details on the way down there’.

&n
bsp; Chapter Eighteen

  Janice had come to their rescue and given them a lift to the station in time to catch the one p.m. bullet train to Kent. By the time they reached the church, groups of parents were already jostling for position to see their little darlings perform in the show. It was the week before Christmas, but festive spirit went out of the window when it came to bagging the best seat in church. Predictably, Carol had ensured that she wouldn’t be outdone. She was lying on the second pew from the front, stretched from edge to edge to make sure that no-one even thought about trying to take one of the seats she was working so hard to save. Not that anyone in their right mind would choose to sit next to her. She looked like one of those wild eyed weirdos who manage to keep the four seats surrounding them free on public transport, by virtue of the fact that no-one wants to sit within a ten foot radius of them.

  ‘My darling girl, at last!’ As Carol rose from her seat, a wave of her homemade perfume rose with her and Ashleigh coughed slightly as it hit the back of her throat. Carol was wearing a red sequinned dress at least two sizes too small and her hair had been dyed an alarmingly lurid shade of magenta. ‘And Stevie, sweetheart, you look divine!’ She enveloped them both in a vigorous hug and her eye-popping cleavage threatened to escape as a result of her enthusiasm.

  ‘Love the matching roll necks, so 1960s!’ She stepped back to get a proper look at them. Stevie had borrowed one of Ashleigh’s jumpers, to hide the crop of love bites that Carol would have been far too excited about.

  ‘Hello Mum, Geoffrey.’ She kissed them both on the cheek, her mild mannered stepfather colouring at the show of affection. ‘How’s Jamie bearing up? Is he nervous?’ They shuffled up the aisle, leaving one seat spare at the end.

  ‘Only about whether I’ll show him up!’ Carol broke into noisy peals of laughter, drawing yet more attention to herself.