Mrs R (Mrs R & Mr V #1)

by Jessie Courts

“Did you feel guilty?”

  “At the beginning, yes. But I couldn’t resist him. He was there, willing and patient and understanding. And oh my god so sexy. It was like he was heaven sent to help me heal.” Rachel had the good grace to be blushing. “I know that sounds silly, but it’s what it felt like.”

  Karen’s expression turned dreamy. “Don’t let me stop you with the details – no such thing as tmi here love!”

  Rachel laughed. “You really don’t want to hear how this old lady got her groove on with a 22 year old man boy god, now do you Karen?”

  “I need to live vicariously through you my friend!”

  Rachel slapped her hands on the kitchen table. “This from a woman whose husband has a standing order with Agent Provocateur. I don’t think so sweetie. Just let me leave you with this thought; there is a lot to be said for youth, stamina and agility! Oh, and imagination and dexterity.”

  The two women talked long into the night like the best friends they were, until Rachel chucked Karen out with the promise of calling tomorrow evening with an update on how her pitch went.

  **********

  CHAPTER 16

  Rachel was back in the steam room but this time she knew she wasn’t alone. She could see silhouettes of three men sitting across the way lined up next to each other. They each had a towel draped around their midsection. They weren’t speaking with each other; in fact they looked to be rigid in posture and not relaxed at all even in the sweltering heat. Moisture coated their delicious bodies and Rachel studied them one by one.

  The first was a slightly older man who obviously kept fit. He had fairish coloured hair styled neat and short that matched the curls over his chest. There were a few grey ones scattered about but he was lean and muscular with a trim waist. He had a handsome lived in face with kind eyes and a full mouth. Rachel was struck with the familiarity of the man and how comfortable he made her feel.

  “Hello beautiful,” he cooed at her, “I miss you baby.”

  “Nate!” she sobbed wanting to go to him but finding her limbs to heavy to move. “I miss you too.”

  “I can’t stay here with these two” he gestured towards his companions, “but I know you’ll be ok with them Rach. I love you, baby.” He blew her a kiss.

  Rachel reached for her husband as his image faded into the steamy recesses. A whimper escaped her lips at his parting.

  “Mrs R?”

  “Luc; oh Luc – what are you doing here?” Rachel’s body hummed in appreciation of him being so close.

  “Just checking in on you love? That’s what I do isn’t it?”

  Rachel sighed at his raspy tones through the mist. She was never going to tire of the way his voice did wonderful things to her insides and got her all hot and needy.

  “I’m sorry if I hurt you baby boy. You’ll never know how much you helped me.”

  “Rach, I think I helped myself just fine. And I have to say you look fucking hot in that towel love!”

  Rachel laughed at the typical Luc comment that took all the awkwardness out of a potentially difficult conversation. She caught a sexy wink from him as he too faded out of focus.

  “That just leaves me then.” A gruff American accent stated through the haze.

  “Seems that way Joe.” Rachel sighed adding an ‘harrumph’ for effect.

  “Best until last darlin’.”

  “Oh my fucking god – you really are a prick.”

  “Talking of which, I’d say we had unfinished business in this room, eh Rachel? And has anyone ever told you your language is just plain rude?”

  “It’s been mentioned, yes. I think you should prepare yourself, I’ve a feeling you’re going to hear a lot worse.”

  Joe got up from the marble coated bench and slowly moved towards her like a predator towards its prey. “Remember, Rachel, no means no. Anytime you want to end this…”

  He loomed over her, gloriously naked except for the scrap of white cloth precariously wrapped around his waist. His huge body glistened with sweat and his smell was intoxicating. The mix of his gorgeous cologne and male scent was heady and mouth watering. Joe’s torso was a sumptuous landscape of dips and ridges she wanted to trace with her fingers and tongue. She let her eyes wander down the dark happy trail leading invitingly down to where the towel hung loosely around his waist. The v of his hips was beautifully shaped by those enticingly defined muscles that she had no idea what they were called, but desperately wanted to lick.

  “You want me Rachel.” It was a statement she vehemently tried to refute but she couldn’t formulate a single sound. Her eye level now matched his crotch where he was obviously sporting a huge erection. She wasn’t surprised; everything about the man was big. Her nipples hardened and her clit throbbed in anticipation. With one hand Joe dramatically whipped the towel away from his body and….

  “Motherfucker!” Rachel screamed at her alarm clock rudely disturbing one of the most erotic dreams she’d ever had.

  Panting like she’s just run a marathon, Rachel slammed back in to her pillows closing her eyes desperately trying to get back to Joe, but he was gone along with the previous two men in her life. “Blimey that was intense” she thought, and it had left her extremely frustrated. Thinking back over her dream, she didn’t need to be a genius to decipher it’s meaning; it was blindingly obvious. Karen was right, but Rachel had known it all along – Joe Mason was indeed her current object of lust.

  **********

  Donning her Armani dress and jacket like it was armour; Rachel’s commute to work gave her a chance to prepare for the battle ahead. Her challenge was three fold. Firstly, she had to get over the fact that Joe had taken up residency in Nate’s old office. The room had been totally transformed from Nate’s traditional mahogany furniture and panelled wall décor into a much airier glass and black leather environment. It was very classy and modern but essentially cold and uninviting, “much like the man who works there,” she thought.

  Secondly; ‘Genesis’ itself. Joe was opposed to the project because he primarily worked on the reasonable basis that if something wasn’t financially viable then it had no worth to the business. She had to persuade him that there was another concept to consider that would work in his favour; goodwill and humility. “Exactly, the opposite of the man” Rachel reminded her self.

  And last but by no means least, as he had deftly indicated in her dream earlier this morning – Joseph William Mason the third. Rachel was suffering her greatest dilemma with him. He was undeniably the most attractive man she had ever laid eyes on and she was infuriatingly infatuated with his physical self. However, she despised his character; arguably she didn’t know him that well and by reputation he was a fair man; a very successful one, and a good father. That must mean he had a human side he kept hidden at work and it would be a lie to say that she wasn’t mildly intrigued to see that side of him. In fact, Angela had told her that this was the main reason for the Welcome Cocktail Party, so that people could meet Joe in a social setting without the formal constraints of the business day. Rachel was really looking forward to it – it would be a good excuse to dress up and at last somewhere to go on a Saturday night where she didn’t feel like the spare part or odd one out. But first she had to get through today’s meeting without letting on to Joe his very presence had her thong drenched and her blood humming.

  **********

  The Power Point presentation was all set up and ready. Rachel had saved it to the shared drive on the Gyles Bishop network so that she could access it from Joe’s PC. She didn’t need additional notes as she had committed the details to memory. Apparently, Joe was known for his formidable recall skills and she wanted to impress him with her own ability to cope without referring to notes unnecessarily. Admittedly, she just wanted to impress him – he may be an arrogant arse but he held her future in the palm of his hand and she was willing to do pretty much anything to gain his favour.

  Arriving to the meeting dead on 1pm, the time Angela had set up, Rachel was kept waitin
g while Joe carried on with his telephone conversation. He gestured for her to have a seat in front of his desk and Rachel took the time to study the new layout of the room. It was an entirely masculine space. Joe’s desk was glass topped with a cherry wood base edged in shiny chrome. His chair was some complicated ergonomic structure in soft black leather and his PC a state of the art, slim line Mac she’d never seen before. Ironically, Nate would have loved it. The desk top was covered in legal files and papers and where Nate’s had been littered with knick knacks and family photos, Joe had only one picture frame. Rachel was itching to turn it around so she could see who was in it, but of course she couldn’t.

  The walls were plain save for several certificates denoting Joe’s various different qualifications. Rachel was suitably impressed. In the corner there was a seating area consisting of two black leather sofas and a glass coffee table and a small wet bar. A door led off to what she presumed was Joe’s own private bathroom, and the last remaining wall was completely glass like hers. Due to his office being the opposite side of the building the view looked out over the River Thames rather than the City streets. It was an incredible sight made all the more pleasing to her eye as Joe was standing in front of it. His back was to her. He wasn’t wearing his suit jacket but he had a waistcoat on that fitted him perfectly doing amazing things to his shoulders and waist. It sat just on the waistband of his trousers that hugged his arse in the most divine way highlighting buns of steel. His thick legs tested the seams of his suit pants, but the elegant fabric stretched and relaxed with his movements. Rachel had no idea what designer had bespoked Joe’s expensive looking suit but she imagined it cost a great deal. He was no off the rack body type that was for sure.

  Rachel had one leg crossed over the other and was trying to remain patient, but Joe didn’t seem to be in a hurry to end his call. She couldn’t really hear his conversation and was well mannered enough not to overtly eavesdrop, but his tone seemed anxious. Not something she would normally associate with what she’d learned of his personality so far. Suddenly, as if he was remembering Rachel was still sitting there, he turned towards her making eye contact.

  “Sure baby girl.” She heard him say to the person on the phone. “I miss you too.”

  “Well that’s rich,” huffed Rachel in her head, “chatting up some bird on the phone while she was sitting there like an idiot. She tried to wipe the scowl from her face.

  “Uh huh” he went on. “Me too princess……no…….I have someone with me angel.”

  Rachel smiled tightly at him as he turned away from her. “Ok, ok. Daddy loves you. Bye.”

  “Euwww, that’s nasty and creepy talk” thought Rachel. He obviously liked them young.

  “Apologies” he barked at her not sounding sorry at all, “my teenage daughter apparently has no concept of the time difference between New York & London and thought I’d be having breakfast.”

  Rachel was momentarily floored. She’d thought the worst of him when he was in fact talking to his actual daughter and he’d told her something personal by way of apology. Was Joe trying to be nice?

  “Right then you’d better skip to it as time is short now.”

  Apparently not.

  “Can you click on to the shared network and open up my Power Point?” Joe coughed slightly and raised an eyebrow.

  “Umm, sure. Bring your chair around her so you can see the screen.” He fixed his attention to searching for her presentation; Rachel liked the way the muscles moved under the skin of his right arm as he clicked away at the mouse.

  Seated next to Joe, she was concentrating very hard not to let the smell of him distract her. She had no clue what cologne he wore but suspected it was a madly expensive brand she’d probably never heard of. It was a clean and fresh smell; musky with hints of citrus, and very masculine. He radiated heat and being so close was making her feel warm when she needed to be cool. His shirt sleeves had been rolled up to expose his powerful forearms but the rest of him was formal with his tie knotted at the hollow of his throat and his waistcoat fully done up.

  “Presumably it’s the folder called Genesis?”

  “Yes; here let me…” Rachel stretched her left arm across his right arm to take control of the mouse, but he didn’t let go of it quick enough and she ended up placing her hand on top of his. The feel of his warm skin made her own prickle in response and she drew her hand back abruptly. “Sorry,” she mumbled fearing she had gotten off to a bad start already.

  Joe did not respond with words. Instead he dropped the mouse and leaned back in his chair. Actually, he didn’t trust himself to speak. Since the minute Rachel had entered his office it had taken every last drop of will power not to lock the door and throw her on to one of his couches and rip her clothes off. She was driving him fucking crazy. On the phone to Olivia he had purposefully turned to the window in order to maintain full focus on his daughter rather than be distracted by the creamy skin of Rachel’s legs. Her shapely arse wiggling around in her chair did nothing to dampen his arousal as memories of that spectacular piece of her anatomy encased in lycra jiggling around in his face on the treadmill, came flooding back.

  She had decided to wear her hair pulled back in a neat ponytail today just to torment him with clear and unobstructed access to her throat and neck. An inviting expanse of skin just begging to be nuzzled and licked and inhaled and nipped at. And oh god, what was she doing now? Shrugging out of her jacket Rachel clearly had no idea the material of her dress pulled agonisingly tight over her incredible tits. Joe was dying, and being so close to the edge of his control was making him antsy. He wondered how old she was; certainly a decade plus on the women he had been fucking recently. Ben had mentioned Nate had kids older than his but she looked fantastic.

  “How old are you?” he asked her.

  “I beg your pardon? How is that relevant to anything?” she shot him a bewildered look.

  “It’s not – I’m just curious.”

  “I’m sure you can look it up in my personnel records if you’re really that interested. Can we please just focus on my project, I thought you were short on time.” She sounded irritated.

  Joe buzzed reception. “Angela; cancel my 2 o’clock, I’m running late.” Rachel’s jaw dropped. May be he was going to take her seriously after all, but why ask her age? She couldn’t figure him out.

  “So, now you have my undivided attention for the next couple of hours convince me why you have such a hard on for these pro bono cases.”

  Rachel cleared her throat and clicked on to her presentation. Nervous to begin with she soon shook them off as her passion and drive for Genesis kicked in. Joe sat stoically focused on her narrative with his thick arms crossed over his chest. Once or twice she was momentarily side lined by his fiddling with his beard – she wasn’t sure why she found that wildly sexy but she did but was inordinately pleased to notice his grey eyes were neither dark or sparkly but a nice steady shade of graphite.

  “And your first case?” his only enquiry as the last slide disappeared from his screen.

  Rachel launched into the case history of the Women’s Home Free Shelter she was determined to save from the council’s plan to close them down.

  “Do you have a specific reason for choosing this case first?”

  Rachel looked at Joe quizzically, cocking her head at him. “Oh not from personal experience thank god. No, please don’t get the wrong idea. I just hate the injustice of the whole situation. The thought that these women and children won’t have a place to go because some jobs worth thinks pounds are more important than basic human rights. It’s nonsense and so indicative of today’s money driven society. I just can’t stand the thought of it.”

  Joe placed his palms flat on his massive thighs. “Whilst I commend your sentiment; we are not a charity Rachel.”

  Rachel stopped breathing. This was it; he was shutting her down. She was so disappointed in him she felt like beating her fists against his chest in protest. A futile gesture she knew but the tho
ught of it was tempting. Instead she used her words to hit out at him.

  “Wait a fucking minute Joe.” His eyes turned dark, but she soldiered on. “I’m not suggesting you fund this project because you think this is some little hobby I’ve latched on to. And nor am I on some crusade to glorify Nate’s memory. I am trying to carve myself a career; a future. But I have always been motivated by cause and not profit – not everyone has the means to afford the best legal representation but that’s doesn’t mean they don’t deserve it.”

  “Says she clad head to toe in Armani” he drawled at her pointing at her dress.

  “What the fuck!” she snarled at him through gritted teeth. “All those fucking qualifications from Harvard, Yale or some other pretentious Ivy League school and that’s what you come out with? I’ve had it with you – you don’t seem to have any respect for anything other than the bottom line. You may be sitting in my husband’s office but you are not half the man he was. You don’t deserve to be here.” She tore her jacket off the back of the chair and stormed towards the door.