He continued to ride in and out of her. She could sense that he was building to a climax but his pleasure was only a secondary consideration compared to her own accelerating rush of excitement. When the orgasm struck her it came with a rippling force that had her screaming with release.
Distantly she was aware of his climax occurring at the same time. She suspected the strength of her own release had torn the explosion from him. But most of her thoughts were tied up with the knowledge that she was basking in the pleasure of being completely satisfied by the man she loved.
As eddies of satisfaction rushed through her, Trudy did her best not to sob.
Bill untied her hands and gave her his shirt.
She smiled thinly at him as she pushed her arms into the sleeves. The shirt was comfortably too large and smelled reassuringly of his cologne. He kissed her on the mouth and the exchange lingered. When their lips eventually moved apart he smiled.
‘I need to be doing this with you on a daily basis,’ he said.
‘How do you propose we do that?’
‘You could start back working here,’ he suggested. ‘I still haven’t found a good sous to replace you.’
‘You still haven’t found a good sous?’ Trudy said quietly. ‘Perhaps your wife could help you look for one.’
She didn’t care if the comment upset him.
He pulled away from her and went to the closet where he kept a double-breasted chef’s jacket. Punching his arms into the sleeves he graced her with a humourless smile and said, ‘I guess I deserved that. I’m sorry.’
She blushed and looked away.
‘You spent your evening at the cinema?’ He laughed softly. ‘I never thought you were the sort who would go to the pictures on your own.’
‘I didn’t go on my own,’ she said.
He glanced curiously at her. There was something in his smile that looked vulnerable and she hesitated before speaking. The sex had been more than pleasurable and she already felt as though she’d hurt him with the suggestion that he should ask his wife to help him find a replacement sous. She didn’t want to upset him further but she didn’t want to insult him with a lie.
She knew she could have pretended that she’d gone to the cinema with Daryl or Charlotte and she felt sure he would never know that she had lied.
But lies had caused too many of her current problems and she was determined not to make the situation worse by manufacturing any more. Regardless of whether or not the truth hurting his feelings, she could not bring herself to lie. Taking a deep breath, releasing the words on a heavy sigh, she said, ‘I went to the cinema on a date with this doctor I’ve been seeing.’
14
The summons to attend Charlotte’s wedding meeting was not an appointment that Trudy dared to avoid. Even after her evening with Bill had come to an abrupt and stilted conclusion, and even though she felt no desire to discuss such an elusive concept as matrimonial bliss, Trudy knew she couldn’t miss Charlotte’s wedding meeting.
Bill graced her with a charming smile as he entered the Sweet Temptation premises but Trudy fixed him with an expression of cool disdain. After the fuss he had caused the previous evening at Boui-Boui, she wasn’t going to allow him to grin at her. He had made her feel as though she was doing something immoral by going on an innocent date with Mark. She liked Mark but she knew she had done nothing immoral.
They were using Charlotte’s office at Sweet Temptation. Harvey and Bill sat on one side of the table that was usually reserved for the company’s more important board meetings and the occasional pastry sampling. Trudy sat facing both men whilst Charlotte pointed at the display on the wall. She had taken the trouble to get a projector fitted and now she was explaining, with a slide-show presentation, her masterplan for the wedding. There was an itinerary of the events from the arrival of the guests through to the conclusion of the evening buffet. When Trudy had marvelled at the completeness of this schedule, Charlotte had explained that there was also an equally comprehensive breakdown of what she expected to happen at her hen party and throughout her bridal breakfast shower. It all seemed so complete that Trudy realised there was nothing for her to do except sit back and try to annoy Bill.
‘We’ll be using Boui-Boui for the wedding ceremony,’ Charlotte explained.
‘Have you confirmed the date with Aliceon?’ Bill asked.
‘Aliceon is Bill’s wife,’ Trudy said helpfully.
Bill and Charlotte glared at her. Trudy returned their expressions of fury with the most convincing wide-eyed innocence she could muster.
‘I’ve confirmed the date with Aliceon,’ Charlotte said stiffly. ‘But what I’m really worried about is you two working together in a kitchen.’
‘We can work fine together in a kitchen,’ Trudy said.
Bill said, ‘The last time we were in a kitchen together I believe we both found it very satisfactory.’
Trudy glared at him. Had he just made a joke about the fact that they’d had sex in Boui-Boui’s kitchen the previous night? She didn’t know if her cheeks were colouring with a blush but she did know that his comment was completely unacceptable. She refused to let herself be drawn into an argument.
‘Bill and I have always been fine together in the kitchen,’ Trudy said. ‘However, if you ask him to make a commitment to me anywhere else, it’s likely to be a different story.’
‘If the prospect of you two working together is going to be a problem I want you to say something now,’ Charlotte insisted.
Trudy drew a deep breath and regretted that she had tried to score a cheap point against Bill. ‘It won’t be a problem,’ she promised. ‘I’m sure we’ll be able to work together without incident.’
‘I want a cake made by you,’ Charlotte told Trudy. She spoke as though Trudy hadn’t responded. ‘I can’t imagine having a cake made by anyone else on my wedding day. You’re my best friend and a wonderful baker and I know the wedding cake you’ll make for us will be divine.’
Trudy smiled bashfully, touched by the compliment.
‘But I’m not going to ask you to do it if it’s going to mean you’re constantly arguing with Bill and threatening the mood of the day.’
Chagrined, Trudy stared at the desk before her and mumbled an apology. ‘It won’t be a problem,’ she repeated. This time she meant the words.
‘I could say the same thing to Bill,’ Harvey concurred.
Bill scowled at him.
‘You’re my best friend. It’s because of you that I met Charlotte and I’m indebted to you for that. I can’t imagine a more prestigious and appropriate location for my wedding than Boui-Boui. But if you insist on acting like a prick towards Trudy then I’ll dump you and your restaurant. Is that clear?’
‘I haven’t been acting like a prick,’ Bill grumbled. ‘It was Trudy who started it.’
Harvey raised an eyebrow. ‘Do I make myself clear?’
Bill’s shoulders slumped. ‘Crystal clear,’ he growled.
He shot a warning glare at Trudy. She could tell from the menace in his eyes that he was going to make her backside blossom into the most divine red colour when they next got a chance to play together. The thought made her press her thighs tightly together in eager anticipation.
‘Very well,’ Charlotte decided. ‘If you’re agreed that we can work together –’
‘We can.’ Trudy and Bill said the words in unison.
‘– then we can get on with discussing the arrangements and talk about how the day is planned to progress.’
It was two hours later and Trudy and Bill had both taken a break from the office. Trudy had intended to visit Daryl on the reception desk and discover if her friend had managed to make things up with Beatrice. She saw the blonde on the desk, laughing easily in a telephone call that was too relaxed and enjoyable to be business-related. However, when she approached the desk, Daryl saw her, frowned and gestured for her to turn around and go away.
‘She’s chatting someone up,’ Bill explained.
Trudy hadn’t even realised he was standing so close by.
‘What makes you think that?’
‘It’s obvious from her body language. Look at the way she’s playing with her hair while she speaks. That’s a definite act of flirting.’
Trudy watched. Daryl held the phone in her left hand whilst her right hand combed through the blonde tresses above her right ear. Her smile was broad and stretched wider each time she either licked her lips or gave an encouraging chuckle.
‘I thought body language only applied when two people were face to face,’ said Trudy.
‘No. Body language is subconscious. It’s not something any of us consciously bring to a conversation. It’s something that’s there with telephone conversations even though it’s completely useless in that context.’
‘I had no idea you were such an expert in body language.’
He shook his head. ‘I’m not an expert in anything. I’m clearly not an expert where you’re concerned.’
She could have agreed wholeheartedly but she knew that would make her sound rude and confrontational and she was determined she would remain civil while she was working with Bill on Charlotte and Harvey’s wedding preparations.
She wondered if Daryl was now talking to Beatrice and making the reparations that the couple needed to get their relationship back on track. The thought made her briefly hopeful and she caught herself smiling. Glancing slyly at Bill she said, ‘Who do you think she’s flirting with?’
Bill shrugged.
‘I don’t know. But, whoever it is, I hope the pair of them have better fortunes together than have been dealt to you and me.’
She was quiet for a moment.
‘I’m sorry I was such a bitch in there,’ she muttered.
‘I’m sorry I’ve given you cause to be a bitch.’
She met his gaze and suddenly resolved to ask if there was any chance of a future for them or if her secret hopes were all in vain. She had to know if Bill expected his relationship with Aliceon to continue indefinitely, or if one day they could be together without having to pretend that there was nothing between them.
As she opened her mouth to ask the question Charlotte appeared behind him.
‘Bill.’ She smiled sweetly. ‘May Harvey and I have a word in the office?’
He nodded and excused himself, and Trudy found herself alone in the reception corridor a few yards away from Daryl. To her annoyance, Daryl chose that moment to glance at her and made the shooing gesture again, as though she wanted more privacy for her telephone conversation.
If nothing else, the gesture seemed to confirm Bill’s suggestion that Daryl was flirting with someone. Trudy took the hint and walked away. She checked that everything was running smoothly in the bakery and then headed back to her own office. It seemed as though production had already started on the mini carrot cakes. The fragrances of cinnamon and nutmeg, made intoxicating with the added sweetness of carrots, pecans, sugars and orange zest, filled her nostrils. She drank in the scents, quietly congratulated herself on the achievement of adding another prestige dessert to the Sweet Temptation product range, and then settled herself back behind her old desk and the rickety old laptop from which she worked.
The elderly computer was playing up again. Whenever Charlotte came in the office and heard its grumbling she would complain that Trudy should be investing in new technology. Her decrepit laptop wasn’t up to working with a network of modern machines.
Now, watching it struggle to load an operating system, and then having to wait another ten minutes for it to open a word-processing document, Trudy began to suspect her friend was right.
But she couldn’t entertain the idea of getting rid of her old machine. The laptop was not new. But it was loved and trusted and she could see no reason to replace it just because it had a few more years’ experience than its contemporaries. Some days it seemed everyone was pressing her to get rid of something that she cherished because of its age.
When the word processor finally loaded, Trudy made up for lost time by spending an industrious half-hour working on an article for her newspaper column. To tie in with the forthcoming theme of desserts on the Master Baker semi-finals, she had written a piece on her personal approach to the mechanics of baking gingerbread men. She had finished the first draft and was searching through her mobile for a photo that would illustrate the piece when a text message made her mobile emit a small musical alert.
She quickly thumbed through to the text screen and read the words.
Can’t wait to see you on the set of Master Baker tonight.
She started to smile, touched that Bill could be so thoughtful as to send her such a considerate message. Her smile froze and tightened into a frown when she saw the message hadn’t come from Bill. It had come from Donny.
15
‘Take off your panties.’
‘Excuse me?’
Bill’s instruction seemed to come from nowhere.
Trudy stared at him in disbelief, not sure she had heard correctly.
While Bill had spent the afternoon with Harvey in Charlotte’s office, Charlotte had called into Trudy’s. She made some scathing comments about the noises coming from Trudy’s laptop, and then explained the detailed agenda of the hen party she wanted. There were pictures on the thumb drive she’d brought with her. There was also a database of locations and a series of notes relating to the planned evening. But Charlotte’s main worry about the party was that Daryl would organise a stripper. Even saying the word made her look uncomfortable. She wanted Trudy to promise that the embarrassment of a male stripper wouldn’t happen and that she would do everything in her power to stop Daryl employing one.
Trudy said she would do what she could to dissuade her, but silently she suspected that she was already too late. In any case, Trudy really didn’t think Daryl would heed such a warning.
After sitting through a further explanation of how the wedding would be organised, Trudy had been relieved when Bill knocked on her office door and told her that he was heading down to the studio. He asked if she wanted to ride with him and Trudy accepted the invitation – partly to escape the meticulous detail of the wedding talk but mainly to show Charlotte and Harvey that she was able to work past the animosity that was supposed to remain between her and Bill.
As she climbed into the passenger seat, Trudy told herself she hadn’t eagerly accepted the invitation because she wanted to spend time with the man she loved. But it was difficult to hold that thought and believe it.
‘Take off your panties,’ Bill said.
His words surprised her by breaking through the silence that had been lingering between them. She had been trying to remain quiet while they drove, fearful that she might inadvertently say the wrong thing. Trudy knew that if she spent too long with Bill she might say something about the message that had come from Donny. If that occurred, she knew, Bill would tell her that she needed to involve the authorities to put an end to Donny’s threats and intimidating tactics once and for all. Under those circumstances, she thought, there would be publicity. And with publicity would come the embarrassment of an inevitable exposé of Bill’s faux-marriage to Aliceon and the revelation of the unconventional booty-call relationship Trudy now had with him.
If Bill started raging about Donny now, Trudy knew she would also need to mention the lewd pictures of Imogen that Donny had uploaded to the internet. She could imagine the series of revelations leading to distress, discord and a series of embarrassing banner headlines that demanded Aliceon’s deportation and ended Bill’s celebrity career. That would mean that the sacrifice she’d made in letting Bill and Aliceon marry, just so Bill’s ex-wife and Imogen’s mother could remain in the country, had been pointless.
‘Your panties,’ Bill prompted.
‘Excuse me?’
‘I want you to take them off,’ Bill said carefully.
‘We don’t have time for this.’ A blush was colouring her cheeks. Her excitement was rising each time she th
ought of the word ‘panties’ on his lips. She swallowed and said, ‘We’ve both got to get home and get changed. We’re on the set of Master Baker tonight.’
‘No,’ he said quietly. ‘I’m not taking you back to your house-share. I’m driving you straight to the studio.’
She pulled a face to contain her impatience. It took all her effort not to groan.
‘When we get to the studio you’ll be getting changed,’ he argued. His voice was reasonable enough to make her exasperated. ‘You’ll probably be taking off your panties when you get changed. I’m just helping you to get ready that little bit more swiftly.’
She tightened her lips around a reluctant smile and shook her head.
There were other arguments she could have made. She could have told him that the studio costume department had never once asked her to take off her panties. She could have told him that Master Baker didn’t like to film things quite so intimately. But she kept her mouth closed. Going against the common-sense response to his instruction, she reached beneath the hem of her skirt and pulled down her panties.
It felt strange to be undressing while sitting in his Jaguar. Admittedly the high sides of the vehicle and her posture, low in the passenger seat, afforded her the utmost discretion. No one outside the vehicle would have had any clue that she was removing undergarments and acting on instructions that were lewdly exciting. But because she could see the passing world through the windscreen, and see it all with such clarity, she was able to watch other motorists and the occasional pedestrian, and she felt as though she was undressing before an audience.
The idea swirled a delicious and exciting disturbance in the pit of her stomach.
‘Very well, Mr Hart.’ She had the still-warm cotton bundled in her fist. The words felt too large for the car. ‘I’ve done as you asked.’
Her cheeks coloured brightly as she became aware of the risk of exposure she was courting. Her heartbeat quickened and the muscles inside her sex clenched with a hungry anticipation. She wondered what he planned to do now that she had obeyed this first instruction, and then she wanted to squirm against the seat, confident that his next command would be equally depraved.
Just Desserts (Sweet Temptation, Book 3) Page 11