“But you won’t,” James took the wheelchair. “Get in Miss Kavanagh.”
Again she reluctantly complied but she was growing tired of his audacity. She had no idea why she was still so cautious of him. He had never enacted on his threat of physical discipline and she was annoyed that she had ever believed he would. He certainly wasn’t going to try anything now that she was an adult.
Mairead showed no interest when the nurse explained her aftercare. All she heard was that alcohol was off the menu for a while. James was more attentive.
There was another delay at the nurses’ station where she was asked to sign some papers. A clipboard was placed in her lap and she was about to test its prowess as a Frisbee when James took hold of it.
“Would you like me to fill those out Miss Kavanagh?”
She nodded sulkily. Her mood was rapidly descending and she stared at the lifts across from her. The doors of one remained open beckoning to her. Her wheelchair was facing it and she pondered if it was possible to get inside without being noticed.
She glanced up at James whose back was towards her and a smile crept across her face. Mairead casually got up and quietly walked the few steps until she was inside.
The doors were closing when she saw James turn around. She got a glimpse of his angry face as he failed to reach her. It was hardly an act of revenge but she felt immensely satisfied. She planned to go no further than the front doors and allow him to catch up. His annoyance would be spectacular and she could hardly wait to see his face.
When the doors opened again she was startled by the amount of people. Those that weren’t sitting down, looking sick or injured, were rushing about. Everything was unfamiliar and her need to escape was becoming desperate. She looked about hoping to see an exit.
She had barely moved when part of the crowd began to surround her. As first she thought her imagination had got out of hand until the bombardment of questions began. Microphones were shoved into her face.
“Miss Kavanagh is it true that you were on the balcony from which Joshua Mason fell.”
“What was your relationship with Joshua Mason?”
“Why did the police want to question you?”
Mairead stood trembling under the assault of the media. She couldn’t see past them and had no idea where the exit was. Her heartbeat and breathing had accelerated and the fog was swirling through her head.
Her legs were about to give out when she was suddenly caught firmly around her waist and pressed into a hard body. The smell of his cologne was enough to recognise James. The media backed off a little as he half walked, half carried her out of their reach.
She was content to bury her face into his chest and not look at him until he had put her in the backseat of a car. Even then she was reluctant, but he turned her chin towards him.
His fury was evident. “Don’t you ever do that again, do you understand?”
She nodded timidly.
He said nothing more and Mairead curled up in her seat, grinning to herself. He still scared the crap out of her but in no one else’s presence did she feel so safe and cared for.
CHAPTER THREE
Mairead lay stretched out on a comfortable sofa surveying her hotel room. It was spacious and quiet, with its own kitchenette and two bedrooms coming off the lounge. There was a door leading out to a small balcony which overlooked the busy city street below. It was a relief to know her father still cared enough to provide her with decent accommodation.
James had remained quiet even through a long ride in the lift to the twelfth floor. The young cheerful porter would have been a welcome companion but James dismissed his services, opting to carry the bags himself.
He came out of a bedroom and went straight to the bar fridge where he began to remove the small bottles of alcohol.
Mairead sat up. “This is my room. Go and raid your own fridge.”
James ignored her and dumped them into a plastic bag. He took it out of the room and returned locking the door behind him.
“You can go to your own room now James.” Mairead dismissed him. “I’ll send for you if you’re needed.”
He smirked, “My apologies Miss Kavanagh, but your father has requested that I stay close by you at all times. Hence I have acquired a room with two bedrooms.”
Mairead’s mouth fell open and her anger erupted. “This is not acceptable. I am not a child and I do not need a babysitter.”
James went to speak but Mairead jumped to her feet to continue her tirade. “All this is his fault. I didn’t live up to his expectations as some champion gymnast. I’m a huge disappointment or as Daddy called me ‘A fucking little bitch,’ his words, not mine.”
Tears began to sting her eyes. “If I had been anyone else’s daughter, no one would have given a shit. But no, our entire lives under the gaze of the media, who are just waiting for us to fuck up. So I gave them something they could write about: Newsflash. Mairead Kavanagh would rather get smashed and have a good time than become an Olympic champion. I’ve abused all the privileges that have been bestowed upon me because I’m a spoilt brat, but I don’t care. I don’t fucking care! I didn’t hurt anyone, did I?” Her face was pleading for confirmation. “Well... did I?”
James’ gaze softened and he shook his head, “Just yourself.”
Mairead nodded as tears streamed down her face. “There was this boy. His name was Josh and he was really nice to me. I think I hurt him but I thought I’d fixed it but now he’s dead and I’ll never know.”
Her tears were beyond control. James went to her and pulled her against him. His embrace only made her cry harder. Gathering her up into his arms, he carried her into her bedroom.
Mairead still managed to protest, “I don’t want to go to bed.”
James smiled. “Maybe not but that’s where you’re going, no arguments.”
She had no energy left to argue, even when he started removing her clothes. Sitting on the bed in just her underwear, she watched as he opened a case and took out her silky nightie. After draping it over her head, he reached behind her and undid her bra.
“I’m not looking,” He assured her. “Take it off.”
She slipped the straps down and tossed it onto the floor, before slipping her arms through the straps of the nightie.
Once she was covered James bent down to smile at her. He held her chin while he used his handkerchief to wipe her face.
He tucked it into her hand. “Blow your nose and then get into bed.”
She wanted to point out how much he was treating her like a child but she couldn’t. Rather than being ashamed of his attentions, she found them incredibly comforting.
In bed, Mairead rolled over and curled up away from him, hugging the pillow. James covered her up and sat on the bed next to her. Without looking she reached behind her. In her despair she was able to smile as she felt him take her hand. Within a minute she was asleep.
When her eyes opened again, she stared at the clock in disbelief. She had been asleep for fifteen hours. Glorious sunshine was illuminating the closed curtains, beckoning her to enjoy the new day.
Physically she felt wonderful and the pleasant memory of James holding her hand was keeping darker ones subdued. He really did have a heart buried under all that muscle. She blushed and grinned as she remembered him undressing her.
Her stomach was growling noisily and she rejoiced at having an appetite. Leaping from the bed, she donned her robe and opened her door.
The sight that greeted her stopped her in the doorway. James had just come out of the bathroom wearing only a towel around his waist. She had never seen his body before and the view took her breath away. She quietly shut her door enough to allow her to watch him undetected.
He hurried to the coffee table and picked up a watch and strapped it to his wrist, before going to his room. It was enough time to learn that there certainly was a lot of muscle under his clothes. His biceps and chest were incredibly contoured compared to his flat stomach. The only hair she could
see was the dark trail leading down from his navel to underneath the towel.
His exit revealed a more startling sight. The skin on his back was mottled with white and pink and yellow scars. There was a large Celtic design taking up most of his right shoulder blade but part of it was missing. Mairead wondered what terrible event could have caused such damage.
She shut the door and sat on her bed. It occurred to her that she knew so little about James and yet he had been part of her life for so long. She knew that he had been in the British Army and fought in Afghanistan, but overseas conflicts had interested her little, until now.
She had always thought of him as invincible but it was now obvious that he had known suffering. His very sober and sometimes boring demeanour probably stemmed from an experience of a world she knew nothing of. No wonder he treated her like a child.
It made her smile than even his presence in her mind could chase away all her bad feelings. The more she thought of him, of what she had seen, the less childish her thoughts became.
Remembering how he had sat on her bed, she closed her eyes and imagined him there again, and his hands undoing her robe and tucking the sides away, not her own. When her fingers found her hardened nipples through the silk of her nightie, she gasped at the stirring between her legs.
It had been weeks since she had indulged her desire and even longer since she had employed her favourite fantasy. There were many scenarios that she had created for herself but only one that affected her so powerfully and bothered her the most.
Her mind carried her back five years and she was once again in the backseat of the car with James. She was no longer a spiteful teenager but rather the fully mature woman that she was now. Instead of a gym outfit, she wore a short dress, under which were her white lacy French cut knickers.
His dark eyes were staring into hers, “You’ve been a naughty girl Mairead and I am afraid I’m going to have to punish you.”
Back in the bedroom, Mairead lay back against her pillows and closed her eyes. She opened her legs and her hand wandered down to inside her briefs. Her breathing deepened as she found her swollen clitoris.
James took hold of her and hauled her across his lap. She tried to fight him but one arm was trapped against him and the other was quickly caught in his tight grip and held down at the small of her back. When she tried to kick he responded by placing his leg over hers leaving her totally vulnerable.
Mairead’s breathing grew heavier as she imagined him slowly pulling her dress up and taking his time to tuck it about her waist. He adjusted his knee to raise her bottom so that her knickers were stretched tightly, revealing the lower portions of her cheeks.
Turning slightly on her side, she continued to rub her clitoris and used her other hand to caress one cheek of her buttocks, just as James was doing in her head. She whispered the scolding he was administering just to hear out loud the word that seemed to drive her insane with desire.
“I am going to give you a spanking you will never forget.”
His hand snapped down on her left cheek and then on her right, before caressing her once again. “This is for your own good Mairead.” He repeated the action but this time he didn’t stop.
She tried to imagine how it would feel having never experienced any type of physical punishment. Pain was something she was familiar with from her gruelling workouts of gymnastics. Having had her fair share of falls and accidents, she knew her tolerance was high and one of the reasons that she was so good at what she did. Only when every muscle was aching did she ever feel satisfied that she had worked enough.
James was spanking her harder and faster. She could almost imagine the burning in her cheeks. He only stopped long enough for his fingers to grasp the waistband of her knickers. He tugged them down slowly to her thighs until her bottom was completely exposed.
This was the part of her fantasy that excited her the most and she felt the first contractions of her vagina. James’ total focus would be on her buttocks and even privy to a glimpse of her sex. It scared and excited her that she longed for this type of humiliation and vulnerability.
When the spanking resumed, every inch of her cheeks felt the wrath of his hand. Every few smacks, the tips of his fingers would strike her vagina, causing her to groan just as the powerful spasms were doing.
Soon he confined the punishment to the base of her cheeks where the spanking became harder and faster again until Mairead cried out with her erupting orgasm. For a few minutes euphoria filled her brain and her vagina continued to contract. When her body finally calmed Mairead laughed quietly with pleasure.
“Are you alright Miss Kavanagh?” James was knocking on the door.
“Oh crap!” Mairead had forgotten that he was barely a room away. She had certainly never masturbated with him so close. It made her giggle.
“I’m fine James, just... stubbed my toe.” Mairead laughed into her hand and it felt wonderful. Now she was really hungry. She sprung from her bed donned her robe and grabbed a towel.
James stood in the lounge, dressed in a dark grey suit, immaculate as ever. She took a moment to really look at him and felt sad that she had never realised how very handsome he was.
He frowned at her scrutiny, “Good morning Miss Kavanagh. Would you like me to order your breakfast?”
“No thank you James.” Mairead did a twirl and danced into the bathroom. “I’m having a shower and then you are going to take me out to breakfast.”
She knew he was about to protest but she was too quick into the bathroom and closing a door between them.
Mairead grinned at her silent companion brooding behind his dark sunglasses. She had won several arguments to be finally sitting across from him, awaiting their breakfast.
The cafe was filled with people but no one gave them a second glance. She was thankful that there were businessmen amongst the patrons so that James wasn’t the odd man out. Like Mairead, most were dressed in shorts and t-shirts.
“Isn’t this lovely?” Mairead had chosen them an outdoor table with its little vase of flowers upon a plastic chequered tablecloth.
“I would have preferred for you to have dined at the hotel Miss Kavanagh.” James still sounded irritated. “You are a drawcard to the media.”
Mairead flicked the brim of her baseball cap. “And that’s why I’m wearing this silly hat and sunglasses. Look around James. No one is interested in us.”
When James didn’t answer, Mairead pushed for a little more conversation. “So I hope you like what I ordered for you. You seem like a big breakfast kind of man.”
He sighed, “Coffee would have been sufficient.”
“We’ve never had a meal together in the five years I’ve known you or even a coffee for that matter,” She wanted this badly. “Let’s pretend that we are two ordinary people having breakfast together. You might enjoy it.”
A waitress approached their table and placed their meals before them. Mairead had to cover her mouth to hide her laughter as she looked at the massive plate set before James, filled with eggs, sausages, bacon, hash browns, mushrooms, tomato, baked beans and toast. Her own plate of pancakes and strawberries was barely half the size.
James looked at the meal in horror. Mairead giggled as she picked up her knife and fork, “Bon appetite.”
James grunted and shook his head but to her delight, he took up his utensils and began to slice away at a sausage.
She studied him, “So James, why did you come to New Zealand?”
“Mainly for the lifestyle, Miss Kavanagh,” He patted his mouth with a napkin. “New Zealand has pursuits not readily available in England.”
She waited, “Such as?”
James set his utensils down before replying, “Fishing, hiking, four wheel driving.”
This was exciting, “You like the outdoors.”
James nodded. “New Zealand is beautiful. I like exploring it.”
“So what did you do back in England?”
“I was in the army for three years. After
that... I just worked.”
“You must have been fairly young to be in the army,” She hoped flattery would work to extract the answer to a question she had posed many times before. “How old are you James?”
He sighed. “I’ll be twenty-nine later this year.”
She tried to hide her delight and said, “Daddy told me that you had been to Afghanistan.”
James resumed eating and Mairead growled at herself that she had not phrased it as a question. “What was it like over there?”
“Unpleasant.” James cut away at a mushroom and did not offer any more information. Mairead sensed to move on.
“So what work did you do after the army?” Mairead imagined that he had become a government agent or a bodyguard to some high profile celebrity.
The Finest Line Page 3