‘Of course people will know. There will be a lot of guests and—’
‘I meant no one except Mehrdad’s friends.’
‘Of course not. He isn’t planning on TV coverage. I doubt if your contribution could be broadcast even if he were!’
‘I just don’t want people at work to know,’ she explained. ‘How could I face them again if they knew the kind of things that you make me do?’
‘I don’t make you do anything, Chloe,’ he reminded her. ‘You choose to do these things, because they give you pleasure. As for people at work finding out, how could they?’
‘They don’t all give me pleasure,’ she muttered.
Carlos quickly tweaked her left nipple, which was still red from where he’d been pinching it earlier. It immediately grew hard, and he laughed. ‘In the end, it all gives you pleasure. There’s no point in denying it. Why be ashamed?’
‘I can’t help it. I feel as though it’s wrong. Normal people don’t do the things that you do to me.’
‘How do you know? And what is a normal person anyway? Answer me that, Chloe. Can I tell Mehrdad that you’re willing to entertain his guests as I promised?’
Chloe nodded.
‘I want to hear you say it,’ insisted Carlos.
‘Yes,’ she whispered, and the fact that she was clearly ashamed re-aroused Carlos, who felt himself start to harden again.
‘You’d better get dressed and go down to dinner,’ he said abruptly. ‘I’m eating out with Mehrdad tonight. I’ll give him the good news then. Now please return to your own room.’
He saw how confused she was by his sudden change of mood, but that didn’t matter. It would keep her on edge, and in any case it was far better that she was confused than realise quite how powerfully she was beginning to affect him.
CHAPTER
17
By Thursday, all that Chloe could think about was Mehrdad’s garden party. As each day passed, it drew inexorably nearer, and her dreams were filled with frightening yet arousing sexual images that made her wake up sweating with fear, although the details were infuriatingly elusive.
‘You’re late,’ said Lizzie the moment Chloe walked into the office.
‘Sorry, I overslept.’
Lizzie glanced at her. ‘You still look tired.’
‘I’m not sleeping well at the moment.’
‘I hope you can lay your hands on all the lists I gave you to type up for the dinner; the names of people coming, the seating plan, menu, arrangements for flowers and so on.’
‘Of course I can.’
‘Good, then you can keep me company when the hotel’s restaurant manager arrives this morning. I’ve lost track of all that information, too many other things to do, I’m afraid. You don’t mind sitting in on the meeting with me, do you?’
Chloe was pleased that she’d have something to distract her from the prospect of Saturday. ‘I’d like that,’ she said with perfect honesty.
‘In that case, would you collect him from the front office and take him through into the small back room? I’ll be with you in about five minutes. Offer him coffee or something while you’re waiting.’
Out in the front office, a tall young man in his early thirties was standing waiting. He had short dark-brown hair, a pale complexion and very dark eyes. When Chloe walked towards him he smiled at her, and she noticed that his mouth was full and sensual. He looked more like a classical actor than a restaurant manager, and for a brief moment she pictured him naked, lying next to her in the middle of Carlos’s bed.
Horrified by her wanton thoughts, she put on her most businesslike expression and held out her hand in greeting. ‘Hi, I’m Chloe Reynolds, Lizzie’s assistant. Sorry we’ve kept you waiting. If you’d like to come through into the back room, I’ll get you a coffee. Lizzie won’t be five minutes.’
He smiled at her and his handshake was firm. ‘Hi, I’m Rob. Don’t worry about it. Today’s my day off, there’s no rush.’
‘You have to work on your day off?’ asked Chloe, leading him into the tiny room that immediately he seemed to fill.
‘Not usually, but I was told this was going to take quite some time. As it’s for charity, I want to make sure my team get everything right, so I thought I’d come when time didn’t matter. When I’m working, I’m looking at my watch every five minutes.’
‘You mean your team doesn’t always get everything right?’ asked Chloe teasingly.
‘Not always,’ he said with a wry smile. ‘We try, but it’s amazing how many things can go wrong in a restaurant, however carefully you plan every detail. Don’t worry, if anything should go wrong, you can ask for a large refund, but don’t tell the hotel management that I suggested it!’
‘I won’t. By the way, the coffee’s awful,’ she added, handing him a mug.
He took a sip and grimaced. ‘You’re not kidding!’
‘Sorry,’ apologised Chloe.
‘You’ve nothing to be sorry about,’ said Rob, looking at her admiringly.
Chloe felt herself starting to respond to his admiration. He was very good-looking, and the expression in his dark eyes suggested to her that there was probably more to him than met the eye. To her embarrassment she felt her nipples growing hard, and felt certain he must know what was happening.
‘Hi, guys!’ said Lizzie, breezing into the room and shattering the atmosphere. ‘Okay, I’m here now, so let’s get down to it. Chloe, you’d better introduce me to this handsome young man.’
Within half an hour, Lizzie was busy flirting with Rob as the two of them talked about the arrangements, and finally Chloe decided to leave. ‘Do you still need me?’ she asked. Lizzie shook her head, and carried on chatting in an animated fashion with Rob, so Chloe returned to her office.
She didn’t see Rob go, but for the rest of the day she had to listen to Lizzie enthusing about the young man’s charm, good looks and apparent fervent interest in their charity. Deciding that he was the kind of man who made every woman feel special, Chloe put Rob out of her mind. She certainly didn’t need any more complications in her life at the moment; the forthcoming weekend was more than enough for her.
It was six-thirty before she left work. Feeling restless, she decided to go to the nearest wine bar and have a drink before returning to Carlos’s house. She found a quiet table in a corner of the room, and sat there nursing her glass of Pinot Grigio and trying to calm her mind.
‘Hello again,’ said a familiar voice, suddenly interrupting her reverie. ‘Do you mind if I join you?’
‘Rob, how nice! I didn’t see you come in.’
‘I was already here,’ he explained. ‘I hoped I’d see you again before the dinner. How long have you been working for Lizzie?’ Chloe opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment he touched her gently on the wrist. ‘Let me get you another glass of wine first.’
‘I’ve hardly started this one!’
‘It will save me getting up once we’re chatting.’
Chloe watched him make his way to the bar. He was well over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and slender hips. She noticed that most of the other women in the wine bar were watching him too, but he seemed unaware of their interest.
Once he returned to their table, the pair of them started to talk about their jobs. All the time they were talking, Rob kept touching her lightly on the arm, his gaze never leaving her. She wondered if he had some kind of sixth sense that was telling him her sexual secrets, because she couldn’t think of any other reason why he’d be quite so interested.
As they laughed, talked and flirted mildly, Chloe suddenly knew that she wanted him. She was tired of always being told who she was to sleep with, and how she had to do it. She wanted Rob, and on her own terms. Leaning forward, she cut straight through what he was saying. ‘It’s stuffy in here,’ she murmured. ‘Why don’t we drive out of London and go for a walk somewhere?’
Rob stopped what he was saying in mid-sentence and stared at her. For a dreadful moment, Chloe thought th
at she’d misjudged him, and that his interest in her wasn’t sexual at all. Although shaken by her own behaviour, she managed to keep looking directly at him, and saw his eyes darken with desire and excitement.
‘Good idea,’ he said hastily, and without even finishing their drinks they hurried outside.
Luckily his car was parked nearby, and soon they were driving through London, only suddenly there was no conversation between them. Chloe was reminded of her drive with Mike, and this increased her sexual excitement.
‘Have you any ideas about where we could go?’ she asked.
‘I thought Richmond Park. It’s a nice place to walk, very relaxing.’ She could hear the irony in his voice, and felt relieved. Clearly he understood what she wanted of him, and was anxious to respond. ‘Do you have a partner?’ he continued.
‘No, before I came back to London a few weeks ago, I was living in Brazil, training to be a nun,’ she explained.
‘A nun? You’re joking!’
‘I’m not joking. I was very upset when I left. It was something I’d always wanted to do.’
Rob glanced sideways at her. ‘Why?’
‘Because I was attracted by their disciplined way of life.’
‘Really? I can’t imagine anything worse myself. I take it you’re not, well, you know …’ He tailed off awkwardly.
‘No, I’m not at all like a nun now,’ Chloe assured him.
Rob laughed. ‘I didn’t think you were. It was a bit of a shock hearing you say it, that’s all. It’s a turn-on though.’
‘Is it?’
‘Of course it is. At first I thought that was why you were saying it, but it’s true, isn’t it? You really were a nun once?’
‘A novice nun,’ she explained, and he rested his left hand on her knee for a moment, his fingers stroking her bare skin. She shivered. ‘Are we nearly there?’
‘Yes, I turn off here. We’ll have to hurry. Once it starts to get dark they lock the gates.’
Hastily he parked the car and then, hand in hand, they began to walk along the footpath that led towards the trees and dense bushes on the far side of the park. As they walked, his thumb stroked the sensitive skin on the inside of her wrist and she felt herself start to tremble with excitement.
It was a warm summer’s evening, and there were a lot of people in the park. Looking around, Rob made a sound of irritation. ‘Doesn’t look as though we’ll be able to get any privacy,’ he muttered.
‘Don’t worry about it,’ replied Chloe, trying not to sound too disappointed, but even as she spoke her mind was racing as she tried to work out what they could do. She wanted Rob urgently, tonight, and for once she was going to have what she wanted.
Soon they reached an area of ferns and bushes that was a little off the beaten track. Quickly she pulled on Rob’s arm, taking him so much by surprise that he nearly fell. With a laugh, Chloe plunged deeper into the ferns and then lay down, dragging him down after her.
Once they were on the ground, the lush ferns closed over their heads, and they were lost in their own world. Quickly, without giving Rob time to make a move, Chloe unfastened the top buttons of her blouse and removed her panties, then rolled on top of Rob, so that she was crouching astride his thighs.
With an excited moan, Rob reached up and pushed her bra up over her breasts, so that he could fondle her nipples. The moment his hands touched her excited flesh, Chloe began to moan with delight, wriggling around frantically on Rob so that her aching clitoris could be stimulated.
Releasing her breasts, Rob fumbled with his trousers, but Chloe slapped his hands away. This time she was going to stay in control. Quickly she unzipped his flies and then slid a hand inside the opening of his boxer shorts until his swollen purple-headed cock sprang free.
Putting her hands on each side of his head, she leant forward, raising her hips up and then slowly lowering herself on to him, while Rob continued to play with her breasts, straining to draw a nipple into his mouth.
He sighed as the velvet tip of his erection slid inside her, but Chloe only tightened around him for a brief moment before raising herself off him again. ‘What are you doing?’ he asked, trying to pull her back down on top of him.
‘Stop talking, leave it all to me,’ she said sharply. For a moment his eyes were puzzled, but then he obeyed her, and she saw that his erection had grown even harder. Carefully she lowered herself on to him once more, and this time she contracted her internal muscles around him several times, until she felt the first tingles of an impending climax start to spread through her.
As soon as that happened, she raised herself off him again, and when he made a sound of protest, she flicked at his straining cock with her fingers, giving him a light but stinging blow.
‘Ouch!’ yelped Rob, and Chloe quickly put a hand over his mouth as she heard the voices of people on the path close by. For several seconds the two of them remained in frozen silence, hardly daring to breathe, but as the voices died away, Rob reached desperately for Chloe’s hips.
‘Don’t touch me,’ she warned him. ‘If you do, I shall get up and go.’
‘For God’s sake, stop tormenting me like this,’ he muttered.
With a soft laugh, Chloe sank down on him for a third time, but it was all too much for Rob. Grabbing hold of her hips, he flipped her over on to her back, while remaining firmly inside her, and then began to move rhythmically in and out of her, sliding up and down her sweat-soaked body.
Chloe was close to coming now; she could feel the wonderful hot warmth waiting to flood through her, but she knew that her aching clitoris needed to be touched before she could climax.
‘Touch me there,’ she begged Rob, moving her hips to show him what she meant.
‘You’re meant to be in charge, you do it,’ he gasped, his own climax clearly very near.
Quickly Chloe slid her hand down between their bodies, and when her fingers caressed the side of the stem of the swollen little nub, her whole body jerked as an electric current seemed to streak through her.
Rob was still thrusting deeply into her, while his hands squeezed her breasts and his fingers teased her straining nipples. Lightly, delicately, she allowed her fingers to continue stroking her frantic clitoris. Within seconds she felt the muscles behind her pubic mound gathering together, and then her orgasm rushed through her in a hot, liquid flood of ecstasy.
As her body spasmed, she tightened around Rob and with a loud cry of triumph he came too, shuddering violently as his hands gripped her aching breasts convulsively.
Only when both their bodies were finally still did Chloe become aware of the broken ferns beneath her back, and the sounds of people walking near by. Breathing heavily, she stared up at Rob, and he gazed back at her in approval. ‘I think you were right to leave the nunnery,’ he said at last as he rolled off her.
‘So do I,’ agreed Chloe, realising that one of the buttons on the front of her blouse had come off during her rush to get partially undressed. ‘This kind of behaviour would definitely have been frowned upon!’
At that moment, they heard a voice over a loud hailer warning them that the park gates would be closed in fifteen minutes. Laughing, they got to their feet and started to brush each other down, removing bits of fern and dead leaves from their clothes.
‘That was incredible,’ said Rob. ‘When can I see you again?’
His question brought Chloe rapidly back down to earth. ‘I don’t know,’ she muttered, remembering the forthcoming garden party.
‘What do you mean? Didn’t you enjoy it too? I thought you did; it certainly sounded as though—’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Chloe quickly. ‘It isn’t anything to do with you. I wasn’t completely honest with you earlier.’
Rob’s eyes darkened. ‘In what way?’
‘There’s this man I’m seeing …’
‘You said there wasn’t anyone, that you used to be a nun.’
‘I was a nun, and my relationship with this man is, well, complicated. He isn
’t exactly a boyfriend, but I’m not sure where the whole thing’s leading.’
‘I suppose he’s married.’ Rob was clearly very annoyed, and Chloe couldn’t blame him. She’d got so carried away that she’d forgotten all about Carlos, and his hold over her.
There was no need for her to stay with Carlos, no need for her to go to Mehrdad’s party, but she knew with absolute certainty that this was what she wanted to do.
‘No, he isn’t married, Rob. Look, I’m sorry, but I can’t see you again until I’ve sorted out this other relationship.’
Rob shrugged. ‘I can’t complain. We only met today. The sex was great, and you never made me any promises. It’s just that I thought we were good together.’
‘We were, and we are,’ said Chloe. ‘Please, Rob, give me your phone number and then I can call you when I’ve got my life in order.’
‘You aren’t going to call, are you?’ he said quietly. ‘Be honest with me, Chloe, I’d like to know. What did I do wrong?’
‘Nothing,’ Chloe assured him. ‘It was great, the whole evening has been fantastic, but I’m not free at the moment. I will call you, really I will. I want to see you again, but it just isn’t possible right now.’
They were soon back at the car, and when she got into the passenger seat, Rob scribbled on one of his company cards and then handed it to her. ‘Here you are. I’ll be waiting for your call, however long it takes.’
‘Will you really?’
Rob nodded. ‘Yes. My work involves long, unsociable hours. I don’t want to get tied down at the moment, so I’ll be around. Just ring when you’re free.’
‘Do you mean that literally, or figuratively?’ queried Chloe.
Rob frowned. ‘Mean what?’
‘That you don’t want to be tied down.’
He hesitated for a moment, and then smiled. ‘I meant it figuratively. Literally, well, it might be fun to try.’
Neither of them said any more on the drive back into London, but when Chloe got Rob to let her out of the car a short distance from Carlos’s house, he leant over and kissed her passionately on the mouth. ‘That was a hell of an evening. I won’t forget you for a long, long time, Chloe. Thanks.’
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