‘We could,’ agreed Gill.
‘Or we could go back to mine,’ offered Liam.
‘We could do that, too. Do you have any food in?’
‘Yep, I could rustle us up an omelette, pasta, or even some cheese toasties.’
Gill laughed, ‘Do you know, I haven’t had a cheese toastie for ages. You’ve just put me in the mood for it. C’mon.’
They headed over to the car park diagonally opposite the cinema and retrieved Liam’s car.
Back in Maryhill, Liam busied himself making them cheese & tomato toasties. ‘Do you want Marmite on yours?’
‘Ugh, no! Marmite’s evil,’ Gill pulled a face.
‘I love it, it’s delicious,’ Liam dipped a teaspoon in the Marmite jar and then licked it clean.
‘That is disgusting. I hope you’re not going to double dip!’
‘Not at all,’ he replied, rinsing the teaspoon under the tap. ‘I suppose you either love Marmite or you hate it. C’mere, give me a kiss.’
‘No way!’ Gill pushed him away gently, but forcibly. ‘I can’t stand the smell of it, never mind the taste. I’ll kiss you once you’ve got rid of the Marmite taste.’
Laughing, Liam said, ‘You could be waiting some time.’
‘Well,’ said Gill wickedly, ‘we’ll just have to see who caves in first.’
They took their toasties and mugs of tea through to the living room, where they sat on the floor, side by side.
Liam flicked on the TV and said, ‘What do you want to watch?’
‘I don’t mind – another film perhaps?’
‘Let’s see what we’ve got then.’ He channel-hopped for a few minutes, before leaving it on a romcom.
After they had finished their tea and toasties, Liam paused the film and fetched them some wine. They lay on the couch intertwined, laughing at some of the heroine’s more hilarious escapades.
At eleven thirty, when the film was over, Gill said, ‘I better go. Can you call me a taxi?’
Liam looked at her seriously, took her hand and said, ‘Gill, I don’t want you to go. I’d like you to stay.’
Gill hesitated. They still hadn’t slept together and she wasn’t sure she was mentally ready for that yet. As if reading her mind, Liam said hurriedly, ‘We don’t need to, you know. I just want you to sleep beside me and be there in the morning when I wake up.’
Gill was torn. She wanted to stay, but she didn’t know if her willpower would hold out if Liam did try to make love to her. She liked him a lot, but she had been very hurt by both Anton and Charlie, and she was being very cautious. Weighing everything up, she eventually said, ‘OK, but no funny business,’ and she smacked him playfully on the arm.
‘None whatsoever,’ said Liam, as he tackled her and they rolled on the floor, where they kissed and kissed and kissed.
Eventually Liam led her by the hand into his bedroom and, after an inordinate amount of kissing, touching and stroking each other, they fell asleep in each other’s arms.
‘Morning, sleepy,’ Liam shook Gill gently.
Gill struggled to open her eyes. She’d had the best sleep in ages and not even in her own bed. Although they hadn’t had sex, perhaps the overall feeling of well-being had made her go into a deep sleep. Gill often thought foreplay without sex could be just as stimulating, and in many cases better than the final act. Having to hold herself back, wanting to do more, but psychologically knowing she wasn’t ready, proved quite a turn-on. Sleepily she raised herself up on one elbow until she drew level with Liam, sitting on the bed beside her.
‘Hope you’re hungry. I’ve made quite a spread,’ he gestured to the breakfast tray on the bedside cabinet.
‘You’re not kidding!’ Gill surveyed the contents which would have fed a family of five. She didn’t like to tell him she didn’t usually eat much first thing in the morning, preferring to wait until a few hours after waking. Her eyes fell upon the muesli with side order of fresh raspberries and blueberries. Hot buttered toast, pancakes, orange juice, and freshly brewed coffee completed her sumptuous breakfast.
‘And if you’re still hungry after that, I can do you a full cooked.’
‘I don’t think that’ll be necessary,’ Gill looked at him in alarm. ‘What are you having?’
‘Well, I’ve had some toast, but I’m going to make myself a bacon roll in a minute. I just wanted to bring you breakfast in bed and steal one of your raspberries,’ he said, nicking one before Gill’s hand could swat him away.
‘Paws off! People have died for less,’ joked Gill.
‘OK, lesson learned. Right, I’m off for a shower and then I’m making bacon rolls. Enjoy!’
Gill surveyed the laden tray in front of her. She felt a tear forming in her eye. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had done something so nice for her. No one had ever brought her breakfast in bed. At thirty-seven, this was the first time someone had been kind enough to spoil her in this way. Wasn’t that rather sad?
By the time Liam returned, barefoot and wearing only a pair of Levis, Gill had demolished a good portion of her breakfast.
Freshly shaved, his skin felt baby soft as he kissed her. Soon he removed the tray and climbed on the bed, reaching for her.
Retrieving his discarded Levis from the floor, Liam said, ‘Bacon roll?’
‘No, I’m good, thanks.’
‘Well, how about I make two and you eat half of one? I always find one is never enough, but two is too much.’
Gill reflected upon this and then said, ‘You’ve convinced me. I’m going to take a shower, if that’s OK?’
‘Yep, just don’t be too long. Bacon roll will be on the table in ten minutes.’
As Gill stood under the jets of Liam’s power shower, she realised she felt happy – very happy. When was the last time she had felt this happy? Unexpectedly her thoughts turned to Anton. She did not want to go there. She wouldn’t let him spoil this moment. He was the main reason she still hadn’t slept with Liam.
After brunch, Liam drove Gill home for a change of clothes. Then they headed back to the west end and the Botanic Gardens. Gill had never been and Liam said she absolutely had to go.
Liam was surprisingly knowledgeable about a lot of the flowers found in the Botanic Gardens and could even tell Gill a little of the gardens’ history. Once they had examined the contents of the famous glasshouses, they walked alongside the nature trails which flanked the River Kelvin, chatting and laughing together. Onlookers smiled, noticing the couple, so clearly in love and enjoying their Saturday stroll. As they visited the arboretum on the return from their walk, Gill glanced over at Liam and couldn’t believe how lucky she was.
Chapter Forty-Four
November
‘Do you want a Mai-Tai or a glass of wine?’ Gill called through from the kitchen.
‘Mai-Tai,’ said Angela.
‘Wine for me,’ shouted Debbie.
‘Mai-Tai for me,’ Lisa yelled.
As Gill whisked up three Mai-Tais and poured a glass of wine for Debbie, she smiled and thought how great this was. Her life felt so right – balanced. Work was going really well. The conversion rate since Angus started had gone through the roof. He just seemed to have the Midas touch. Amanda was enjoying her new role; she and Janice got on famously and complemented each other well. Gill found herself with so much time to do things that she had wanted to do for years; plan for the future and revise her five year business plan among other things. It wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that she would be able to take on another recruitment consultant in the spring, if business continued to go so well. But then she’d need to start thinking about getting larger premises.
It was Angela’s birthday and they had arranged to have a girl’s night in at Gill’s house. They would go out at the weekend for dinner, but for now, they were having cocktails, wine, eighties music, a bit of chat and perhaps a romantic comedy.
‘Thirty-eight, Angela, how does it feel?’ asked Lisa.
‘Er, exactly
the same as thirty-seven.’
‘But you’re sooo much older now,’ Lisa loved to wind Angela up. Just because it was Angela’s birthday, it didn’t mean Lisa would go easy on her. Angela, knowing her friend well, chose to ignore her. Instead she related to them the hilarious escapades at her school. The headmaster was besotted with a new teaching assistant in her early twenties, who had a gorgeous boyfriend, and who was completely unaware of her charms. Angela, herself, was apparently the object of a nerdy fourteen-year-old’s crush, and it pained her to see the teenager go through the whole unrequited love process.
A once chubby girl had turned into a bit of a fox, in the space of a few months, and the very same boys who had been teasing her last term, were now ogling her and angling for a date. To her credit, she was having none of it and politely, but firmly declined them all.
‘That’s what we need from our youth; more strong, independent women. Good for her,’ said Lisa, munching on a breadstick. ‘Gill, how long did you say this Chinese would be?’
‘They said forty minutes,’ Gill glanced at the clock. ‘That was about twenty minutes ago. I have some olives if you’ve eaten all the breadsticks,’ she gestured pointedly at the empty breadstick box.
‘You didn’t want any, did you, Debbie, Angela?’ said Lisa, trying to justify her greediness.
‘Well, we didn’t get much of a chance. I think we should just call you The Bin,’ said Debbie.
‘Fine by me,’ said Lisa sweetly, ‘but I never put on any weight, so I can eat what I like.’
‘And you do,’ muttered Angela. ‘And here was me wanting a birthday breadstick,’ she joked.
‘Ah, you know, once you hit forty it’s so much more difficult to lose weight.’
‘I’m thirty-eight,’ Angela reminded Lisa through gritted teeth.
‘Right, you two, ding ding,’ Debbie rang an imaginary bell. ‘Time out.’
Angela took the opportunity to change the subject. ‘So, Gill, tell us more about Luscious Liam?’
Gill sat cross-legged, sipping her Mai-Tai, and told the girls what she and Liam had been up to, or most of what they had been up to, since she last saw them.
‘So have you slept with him yet?’ Lisa asked straight out.
‘Lisa!’ Debbie chastised her. ‘That’s up to Gill to tell us if she wants. You shouldn’t ask.’
‘We’re all wondering. I’m just verbalising.’
‘Something you should do less often,’ said Angela under her breath.
‘Ahem, I am here you know,’ Gill gave them both a look, which resulted in a ‘Sorry,’ from Debbie and a ‘Well?’ from Lisa.
‘If you must know, no, I haven’t slept with him yet. Or rather, I have slept with him, in his bed, several times, but we haven’t had sex.’
Lisa snorted, ‘How is that even possible?’
‘It’s called self-control,’ said Gill, ‘and self-preservation.’
‘But you’ve been seeing him for how long now, a month, a little more than that?’ Lisa asked, ‘and you’ve seen each other at least two or three times a week. Don’t you want to?’
‘Lisa, leave it,’ snapped Debbie, uncharacteristically.
They waited for Gill to say something. Finally after a long pause, she said, ‘I do want to make love to him and to be honest, we already have, loads of foreplay, and it’s all amazing, but something’s holding me back from taking that final step.’
Lisa, realising she’d overstepped the mark, said a bit more diplomatically, ‘and he’s been OK about it? About you not…’
‘He’s been great. I think he may have had a rough time in the past, too.’
‘When it’s the right time, you’ll know,’ Debbie rubbed her friend’s back and gave her a hug.
‘I know. I’ll feel it.’
Angela threw Lisa a warning glance, as she knew it was on the tip of her tongue to make a smutty remark.
The buzzer rang, signalling the arrival of their Chinese. The girls busied themselves arranging the food onto plates to be heated up in the microwave, and the subject was forgotten.
They had a fantastic evening; bitching about men, drooling over the lead in the romcom, and reliving all their yesterdays via the medium of music.
Around one, the girls left as they all had work in the morning. Just as she was going to bed, Gill noticed a light flashing on her phone, signalling a new text message. Liam. ‘Hope you had a great night with the girls. I missed you tonight and can’t wait to see you tomorrow, Liam, x.’
Smiling, Gill prepared for bed, thinking of the question Lisa had asked her. She felt the answer was soon. The right moment would be very soon.
The rest of the week flew by and soon Friday night arrived. Gill was due to meet Liam’s friends properly for the first time. They were going for drinks in Merchant City. It was one of the group’s birthdays and apparently they always celebrated in style. Gill deliberated at length over what to wear, even though Liam had told her not to fuss, she looked great in anything. But she could tell that he was secretly pleased at her extra effort.
The evening went well. The birthday drinks event was pretty raucous. They were a very sociable crowd and two of the girls, Kirstin and Petra, took Gill under their wing, keen that she shouldn’t feel intimidated by some of the louder components in their party. Liam stayed by her side most of the evening, apart from when called upon to sing karaoke as a forfeit. The girls tried to quiz Gill on her feelings for Liam, but Gill shrugged noncommittally, and just said things were going well. A look exchanged between the two made Gill think she was missing something, but she let it go. She was having too good a time to stop and analyse anything.
Liam and Gill had decided in advance that they would stay at Gill’s that night. It would be the first time Liam had slept over at hers. But it made sense since they were out in the Merchant City and they planned to visit Pollok House, on the south side of the city on Sunday morning. Then Gill would head up to Balloch for Sunday lunch with Christopher and Sarah.
They said their goodbyes to Liam’s motley crew of friends, all in various states of drunkenness, and flagged down a taxi. They crossed the River Clyde around midnight and by quarter past were already back at Gill’s flat.
‘I’ve had enough to drink,’ said Liam.
‘Me too. I think I’m going to have a hot chocolate.’
‘Hot chocolate! I haven’t had that in years. Can I have some, too?’ he asked, wrapping his arms around Gill’s waist and laying his head on her shoulder.
‘I feel quite tired, actually.’
‘Me too. Your friends must have taken it out of us,’ Gill smiled at him.
‘They are a bit mad, but their hearts are in the right place.’
Gill handed Liam a steaming mug of hot chocolate and took a sip of hers.
‘What do you fancy?’ She was just about to say film or music, when she saw the familiar gleam in his eye. ‘OK, on second thoughts, why don’t we just go through to the living room and see?’
Liam followed her and they sat on the sofa, mugs perched beside them. Something was brewing. Something irrevocable had changed – for Gill at least. She was ready. When Liam kissed her, she let him know something was out of the ordinary, by responding even more ardently than usual. Untucking his shirt, her hands pressed against the firm contours of his chest and stomach, before sliding up his back. Suddenly their movements became more urgent. Gill knew, beyond doubt, that she wanted Liam, all of him, tonight. As they discarded layer after layer of clothing, Liam kissed Gill’s throat, then her eyelids, then finally her lips. As they reached the point of no return, Gill gasped, ‘Liam, I want you.’
‘I want you, too,’ Liam groaned.
‘No, Liam, I want you inside me.’
Exhaling sharply, Liam scrabbled for his trousers, withdrew his wallet and took out a condom, which he deftly put on.
Kissing Gill gently on the lips, he asked, ‘Are you sure?’
‘Yeees,’ Gill could barely contain herself. Needing no more
invitation, as they were both already very aroused, Liam entered her and suddenly Gill wondered why she had waited so long.
They had to slow down a few times. Liam was afraid he might come, and he wanted Gill to enjoy the experience as much as he was.
They made love three times, before deciding they really did need some sleep.
As Gill lay in Liam’s embrace, she felt content and glad that she had met this wonderful man who was starting to mean so much to her.
The following week
Gill’s parents would be arriving any minute. They hadn’t visited her for over a year. They hadn’t exactly given her a great deal of notice either. Just the week before, her mother rang to say they were coming up to Scotland to spend a few days with Christopher and their grandchildren, and then on the return leg they would spend the weekend in Glasgow with Gill. Perhaps they could go to a show, have some dinner? Normally Gill would have been delighted to spend some time and go to the Kings’ with her parents, but she was in the first flush of love, and eager to spend every minute with Liam. Even the girls had said they didn’t mind, as long as they saw her in a few weeks’ time. They all remembered how it felt, even if for some, it had been too long since they had last experienced it.
Plus Gill’s parents didn’t know about Liam. She hadn’t met his brother yet and his parents were dead. She supposed she had met his friends, whereas he hadn’t met hers. But it was still a bit of a stressful situation. It meant something – meeting your girlfriend’s parents. Was that what she was – Liam’s girlfriend? Did he view her as such? How did you know? Was there a deadline that you observed, after which you were termed as being exclusive to each other? Gill had debated for a few days whether to fob Liam off that weekend, but in the end, she decided to tell him about her parents’ visit, invite him to dinner, and if he fancied going to see a show, then she’d get him a ticket, too.
Liam had been surprisingly relaxed about it all and said he would love to meet her parents. Gill definitely felt more nervous than he did. She’d spoken to Christopher to ensure he didn’t fill his mother in on Gill’s love-life. He had agreed, as long as he and Sarah were next on the list to meet Liam. After all, Christopher pointed out; they did only live in Balloch.
The Dating Game Page 31