“Try a marshmallow,” Redmond said, deflecting her praise almost as if it embarrassed him, though he wasn’t usually shy about such things.
She speared a marshmallow and coated it thoroughly, but instead of taking it herself, she held it to his lips.
“Your turn,” she insisted, and he leaned forward and took the sticky sweet in his mouth.
Then Lisa tried one, and was fascinated by the contrast between the fluffy centre and thick, smooth coating. Considering she had been full five minutes earlier, she seemed to have very little trouble fitting in the sweet fruit, but eventually she decided she’d had enough.
“One more,” Redmond insisted, waving a chocolate-coated strawberry in her direction.
“No more,” Lisa demurred, pressing her lips tightly together as he thrust the sweet towards them. She could feel the warm sauce smearing around her mouth, but was determined not to give in.
“Go on.”
“No!” Foolishly, she opened her mouth to spit the word, and Redmond took advantage of the opportunity to press the fork between her lips. “Mmmmf,” she found herself protesting, biting down sharply. Half the strawberry was in her mouth by this time, flooding her taste buds with sweetness. The other half disintegrated and dropped into her lap.
Redmond quickly removed the fallen fruit, but the chocolate had already made its mark on the light fabric.
“Oh no,” Lisa wailed. “I should have known better than to eat dinner in a dress like this!”
“Don’t worry,” Redmond said, “if you soak it in cold water straight away the stain will probably come out. Besides, it’s a dancing dress. Who’s going to look that closely?”
“I’ll know.”
“Well, let’s get it in some water. Have you got an old washing up bowl or something?”
Redmond put out the fondue burner and bustled her into the kitchen, where he filled the bowl with cold water and set it on the worktop.
She noticed in passing how tidy the place was compared to the previous occasion when she’d cooked — but then, she supposed, he’d had most of the afternoon to get it sorted out, whereas she’d only had half an hour.
Redmond swept her hair to one side and untied the halter neck of her dress. Lisa felt awkward. It wasn’t the kind of dress you wore much underneath, and when Redmond slipped it over her head, she was left standing in just flimsy lace briefs and high heels. Redmond didn’t make it any easier by keeping his eyes fixed on her as he plunged the dress into the cold water and swished it around.
Lisa tried not to squirm under his gaze. She was a dancer, for goodness sake! She wasn’t supposed to be self-conscious about her body. Although she suspected that her discomfort was less to do with being looked at, than with the unaccustomed reaction it was eliciting. Her nipples were tightening, and in the heat of the kitchen she could hardly blame that on the temperature. It was entirely a response to Redmond, and to the way he looked at her, with a sensuous smile creeping across his face.
For a long moment they both just stood there, unmoving, and then, very slowly, he reached out and traced the curve of her breast. His finger, still damp from rinsing the dress, left a chilly trail behind it, so that his touch lingered even when his hand moved on. The water traced a cool path towards her nipple until she could no longer resist pressing harder against his hand and turning her face towards him to invite a kiss.
Redmond pressed his lips to hers, beginning a trail of kisses across her face, neck, and breasts until his tongue could take over where his fingers left off. Then his hands were free to roam all over her, stroking her back and pressing her still more closely against his body. Finally he settled with one hand in the small of her back, while he slid the fingers of his other hand inside her skimpy briefs, where they played gently and teasingly until she moaned with pleasure.
Lisa’s hands were resting on the edge of the work surface, anchoring her as she stretched towards Redmond, pressing her mouth against his and playing her tongue over his lips and teeth, as his fingers played against her. Finally Redmond took a step away. Lisa looked up at him with a small whimper of disappointment, but before she could say anything he hooked his fingers through the elastic at her waist and slid her underwear gently to the floor.
“Now I feel silly wearing shoes,” she remarked shakily, but Redmond made no move to remove them.
“But they make you the perfect height for this,” Redmond explained, standing up and pressing the full length of his body against her, his lips seeking hers again. He was right. Their bodies matched perfectly; his hips locked against hers and the hardness of his erection pressed into her through the rough fabric of his trousers. His hands ran up and down her back, teasing her spine with little, fluttery strokes, then digging deeper into the muscles to release tensions she hadn’t known were there.
Lisa had been leaning on both hands, but now she transferred her weight just to one, so that the other could reciprocate, tugging Redmond’s shirt out of his trousers and playing across his back. Then Redmond pulled back again, so that her hands slid around his body to caress his waist and chest, while he kissed her neck and slid his hand back between her legs. This time, with nothing in the way, he was able to give her even more pleasure than before, and as she unbuttoned his shirt she looked down and saw his fingers sliding easily into her.
His touch was firmer now, and she found her body moving in response, so that she had to brace herself harder against the work surface with one hand, while the other tightened on his shoulder, guiding his head downwards until his lips reached her breast again.
“Ah,” she gave a gasp of mixed pleasure and pain as his mouth tightened on her breast and his fingers thrust into her. Without meaning to, she found she’d echoed her words of the previous night: “I want you.” This time there was no shyness attached, and she kept her eyes fixed on his face, seeing how he turned his face up towards her, his lips parted with an answering desire as he slowly withdrew his fingers, stood up, and lifted her effortlessly. She linked her arms around his neck, enjoying the feel of his bare chest against her skin where his shirt had caught open.
He negotiated the kitchen table carefully and took her out to the living room, where his eyes lit on the sofa. He set her along its length and then knelt at the end and unfastened her sandals. For some reason this amused Lisa.
“Oh, I am allowed to take them off, then,” she said. “I was beginning to think you had some kind of shoe fetish.”
“Well, now you mention it,” Redmond teased, but he chucked the sandals to one side and concentrated instead on kissing the hollow by her ankle bone. She was astonished how good it felt and how sensitive the skin was there. However, Redmond soon moved on, kissing up her calves and the insides of her thighs, and licking gently at the hollows of her hips. Again she found herself arching her back in pleasure and running her fingers through his hair and across his shoulders. She kept catching on his collar, however, and she soon pushed him upright and tugged off his shirt.
“Don’t feel you have to stop there.” He smiled, so she ran her hand shyly downwards and unfastened his trousers. He helped her out by pulling off his socks and stepping out of his trousers, but waited for her to take the final step and help him out of his shorts. Now that she could see his whole body, she marvelled still more at his hard leanness. He perched on the edge of the sofa, running his hands over her body and letting her hands play all over him.
Redmond cleared his throat awkwardly. Lisa raised her eyebrows. That wasn’t like him at all.
“Sorry to be boringly practical,” he said, sounding embarrassed, “but I have to ask. Are you on the pill or anything?”
Lisa shook her head. She’d never needed to worry about pills, because Brandon the control freak hadn’t trusted her with their protection – that probably should have told her something about their ‘relationship’. Since then, she hadn’t even thought
about having condoms in the house. Lisa presumed Redmond would have thought further ahead than her. It seemed, from his rummaging in a trouser pocket and digging into his wallet, that she was right.
He sat with his back to her as he slipped on the condom. She ran her hands hungrily over his back and tried not to think too hard about the fact that finally all her wildest dreams were coming true, or the equally strange fact that in just hours he would once again be disappearing from her life.
Then Redmond kissed her once, deeply, and lowered himself gently between her legs, and there was no chance to think about anything at all.
Redmond was, as she’d come to expect, a gentle, considerate lover, and their lovemaking was everything she’d hoped — but hardly dared to expect — that it would be.
Afterwards, Lisa curled up sleepily, her head in his lap, until Redmond asked curiously, “Aren’t you cold?”
“No.” Lisa smiled up at him, a wide, satisfied smile. “I’m still pretty warm. How about you?”
“I’m cooling off a bit,” he admitted.
“Warmer in bed,” she said drowsily, so Redmond picked her up again and deposited her amongst the covers before sliding in beside her and giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead.
Lisa barely noticed him setting the alarm. She woke up just enough to smile at the thought that it was supposed to be men who turned over afterwards and fell asleep, but before she could get around to explaining the joke to Redmond, drowsiness had overtaken her again.
Chapter 11
When Lisa woke, the window was just beginning to lighten with the dawn, and Redmond was once again sleeping peacefully beside her. She didn’t seem to want to sleep anymore. Instead, her mind replayed the evening over and over again, revelling in the strange new sensation of Redmond here beside her. He seemed to fit as nobody else ever had, perhaps because she’d always been somehow comparing everyone else with the dream she’d had of a future with Redmond, before he’d disappeared. Nobody else had ever lived up to it. Perhaps he wouldn’t either, but at least she’d know. And if this ended, perhaps she’d find herself finally free of him. She didn’t relish the thought.
Was there something wrong with her, to be thinking like this after the passion they’d shared the night before? She cast her mind back. Doubts like this certainly hadn’t been in her mind then.
As she remembered Redmond moving inside her, she found her body responding again, and Redmond, as if aware of this, turned over in his sleep and pressed closer to her. Lisa tentatively laid a hand on his hip, and he arched against it. She snuggled closer to him again and settled back on the pillow to await sleep, but instead she found herself lying awake, noticing the warm weight of Redmond’s arm draped over her. She opened her eyes to find him leaning over her watchfully, and when he saw her awake he reached down and kissed her.
“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” she asked.
“Shouldn’t you?”
“I don’t need to be up so early.”
“I can sleep on the plane.”
Lisa shrugged. She wasn’t going to argue when she could be enjoying his closeness.
All in all, it was a perfect night, only spoiled when the alarm eventually shrilled, startling Lisa so that, to Redmond’s amusement, she jumped dramatically.
“Do you really have to go?” Lisa asked pitifully, in a reversal of the previous day’s parting scene.
“Afraid so. I’ll make sure I’m back in plenty of time for filming, though.”
“How much time?” Lisa didn’t trust plane schedules. She’d once been held up for twenty-four hours just getting back from Ireland.
“Plenty,” Redmond said firmly. “The flight gets in at lunchtime, and I’ll go straight to the studio. I’ll be there hours early. Probably before you.”
“As long as your flight’s on time.”
“If it isn’t, there’s another one two hours later. They’re like buses, these planes.”
Strangely, the thought didn’t inspire Lisa with confidence, but she knew when to call it quits. Redmond was downplaying the risk, and she just had to hope he was right. Panicking wouldn’t change anything, anyway.
“Shall I come with you to the airport?” she suggested instead.
“No point. I need to pop back to the flat first to pick up my bags and the car, and it’ll hardly take me any time to drive down.”
“Do you want anything before you go? Breakfast? Tea?”
“I’ll get something at the airport.”
“Sure there’s nothing I can do?”
“Give me a kiss?”
So she did. A long, slow, langurous, teasing kiss that made her wish doubly that he wasn’t leaving.
Walking to work, Lisa was lifted by the memory of that kiss. Despite the autumn chill, she floated happily down the street to the bus stop. The sun, low in the sky, illuminated her breath in front of her face, and made the frosty pavement sparkle like glittery stage makeup. It was as if the world was putting on its party clothes ready for Christmas. Even the discarded cuddly dog sitting on a neighbour’s wall looked cheeky and alert rather than bedraggled. And the final touch was the display of bright tropical flowers blooming on one of the flats’ balconies, which puzzled Lisa until she realised that the flamboyant orange and blue blossoms were plastic.
Everybody just seemed to have decided to have fun that day, and although Lisa was sad to lose Redmond for days, so early in their real relationship, a small practical part of her mind had already observed that five days without extra dancing meant five days in which to catch up at work and get herself out of trouble.
If only it had worked like that.
In Redmond’s absence, he suddenly became ten times more absorbing than when he was actually there. He texted occasionally, but the messages were sweet without giving anything away, and when she plucked up the courage to risk transatlantic mobile charges and call him, his mobile was switched off. In the absence of a phone call, she found herself reading the texts over and over again, looking for hidden meanings, although it was tough to derive much from, “Keep smiling! Looking forward to dancing – and other things – at the weekend. x, Red”
At her desk, she’d sit twiddling her pen and thinking about his kisses. In meetings, a word or phrase would trigger the memory of one of his jokes, and then she’d find the corners of her mouth twitching at inappropriate moments. Just to make matters worse, “Ghastly Gary” — as the girls in the office had taken to calling him behind Alan’s back — didn’t like any of the three designs because they failed to reflect an aspect of the original brief that Lisa couldn’t remember ever being discussed. She was pretty sure he’d made it up after the event, but without proof, she didn’t dare imply that he was lying or mistaken. So it was back to the drawing board.
The next set of designs took most of the week, and it was late on Friday when Lisa fired off the final pictures to Gary. She followed them up with a disgusted email to Marian commenting on how long the designs had taken and what the chances were of Ghastly Gary actually approving them this time, and then headed home to her empty flat.
After assembling an easy tea from the random left-overs in the fridge, Lisa found herself noticing the silence as she ate. She turned on the radio and discovered it was still tuned to Radio Two from when she’d last had workmen in. Being too lazy to retune it, she hummed along to some cheesy disco hit, and pondered why the silence had suddenly started disturbing her. Normally, with her hectic schedule of work, teaching, and practice, she was grateful for some quiet time, but now she didn’t like being alone with her thoughts. She’d come to enjoy sharing easy banter with Red over dinner, but in his absence all the doubts came flooding back. Sure, his texts sounded cheery enough, and he still said he was looking forward to seeing her, but what if absence didn’t make his heart grow fonder? Would he rediscover the joys of America now that he’d spent
some time away, and regret having to come back to her?
She could do with someone to talk to, and although Red had warned her that he’d be in meetings most of the day, she was still frustrated to find his phone off again. After hanging up from the fourth attempt, she dumped the mobile back in her handbag and went for the landline instead, but when she thought about the other people she could call, she realised how badly she’d been ignoring all her friends since the show started. Well, she’d had some excuse, and they were too nice to start hating her for it, but now that she had a free evening, it was a good time to try catching up.
Her first thought was to call Terri, but she’d finally trained herself to recall that dinnertime in her world was bedtime in baby world, and she didn’t want to risk disturbing the household routine, so she made a mental note to call in the morning instead. In the meantime, she could try Jerry, though she didn’t rate her chances of catching him at home. It was, after all, Friday night, and Friday night was party time.
As she’d expected the phone rang and rang, but if she waited the answerphone would kick in and she could at least leave a message to say she’d thought of him. But when a slight click eventually signalled the connection being made, she was greeted with a breathless “Hello.”
“Oh, hi,” she said, flustered by finding herself talking to the real thing instead of a recorded voice.
“Hi. You sound surprised. Who did you think you were ringing?”
“I thought you’d be out. Are you feeling OK?”
“Well, the crutches do cramp my style a bit down at the Cav. Though I have to admit, they’re handy for defence if anyone seems to be thinking about indulging in a bit of gay-bashing.”
Lisa laughed.
“I didn’t expect to hear from you tonight, either,” Jerry observed. “Where’s lover boy?”
“America.” Lisa couldn’t help sounding doleful.
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