Some Girls Do

by Murphy, Clodagh

  He smiled. ‘Actually, I’m relieved you said that because I seem to remember giving you a money-back guarantee.’

  ‘So you did.’

  ‘We can get back to it right now, if you like,’ he said, taking her hand.

  ‘Good. Because there’s something I want to try.’

  ‘Ow! Claire, what are you doing?’

  ‘Don’t you like it?’ she puffed, frowning in concentration as she alternated twisting her hands in opposite directions on his shaft and slapping it back and forth vigorously. They were both naked, Claire kneeling up beside him, while Luca lay prone on the bed.

  ‘No, it hurts!’

  ‘Really?’ she asked uncertainly, reducing the slaps to light flicks.

  ‘Ouch! Yes, get off me!’ He pushed her hands away, shunting away from her in the bed. He collapsed back against the pillows, his breathing ragged.

  ‘Sorry.’ She caught her lip between her teeth.

  ‘Was that revenge for last night? You’re still pissed off with me, aren’t you?’

  ‘No! It was supposed to be a treat. I must be doing it wrong.’

  ‘I don’t think there’s a right way to do that. What the hell were you trying to do?’

  ‘I saw it in a magazine. I wanted to surprise you.’ It was number one of the ‘Five Ways to Drive Him Wild in Bed’ in the article she’d read. She had studied it diligently and thought she’d grasped it. She’d thought she could make faster progress if she used her initiative and learned things for herself as well as what Luca taught her. She’d hoped he’d be pleased.

  ‘Well, you surprised me all right,’ he said, his breathing calming.

  ‘Sorry. It was meant to be a turn-on.’

  ‘Jesus! Where do they come up with this stuff?’

  ‘Sorry.’ She winced. ‘Does it still hurt?’

  ‘I’ll be okay.’

  ‘I probably wasn’t doing it right. It’s quite complicated – like trying to rub your head and pat your stomach at the same time. But I thought I’d got the hang of it.’

  ‘Don’t tell me you practised on a banana?’

  ‘Well …’ Claire gave him a guilty smile.

  ‘Claire,’ he said patiently, ‘you do know the crucial difference between a banana and a dick that’s attached to an actual live human being?’

  ‘Um,’ she twisted her mouth, as if trying to come up with the answer, ‘you can’t eat the dick?’

  Luca grinned. ‘Well … okay, you’re right – there’s no difference.’

  ‘So, was there anything you liked about it? The banana had no complaints.’

  ‘I liked you taking the initiative. And you looked cute with your little frown, you were concentrating so hard,’ he said, touching the space between her eyebrows. ‘And I liked the way your tits jiggled while you were doing it.’

  ‘Like this?’ She shimmied her chest so that her breasts wobbled.

  ‘Yeah.’ He grinned appreciatively. ‘But seriously, Claire, you don’t have to do these outlandish things to get a guy excited. You can pretty much just sit there, like that,’ he said, waving at her naked body. ‘That’ll do it every time. We’re about as complicated as doorknobs.’

  She flopped down on the pillows beside him and he put an arm around her. ‘I just thought maybe I should have some sexy tricks up my sleeve, to seem more sophisticated.’

  ‘Forget about having tricks up your sleeve. Just don’t wear sleeves – or anything else. That’s as sophisticated as it needs to get, honestly.’

  Claire laughed.

  ‘But it’s good that you’re being proactive, coming up with new ideas,’ he said. ‘Maybe just run them by me first, okay?’

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘So, was there anything else you wanted to try?’

  ‘Well, I read loads of sex tips, but most of them sounded a bit tricky – like that one. And a lot of them were just weird – like hiding in the bathroom, jumping out at you when you come out of the shower and swatting your legs with a hairbrush.’

  ‘Jesus, are these sex tips from the Spanish Inquisition?’

  ‘I think they could be, actually. There was one about dripping hot candle wax on you.’

  ‘Let’s not do that.’

  ‘Or putting a doughnut on your willy and eating it off.’

  ‘Gives a whole new meaning to “put a ring on it”,’ Luca said, and Claire laughed.

  ‘And rubbing food on you, then licking it off – that one cropped up again and again, just with different food.’

  ‘A classic. We could try that, if you like.’

  Claire nodded eagerly. She didn’t want all her hours of study to go to waste. ‘They usually suggest whipped cream or chocolate sauce.’

  ‘I don’t have any chocolate sauce or whipped cream,’ Luca said apologetically.

  ‘How about ice-cream, then? It’s good because the cold stimulates the senses too.’

  ‘Sorry, I don’t have any ice-cream either.’

  ‘Well, what do you have?’

  Luca thought. ‘How about cornflakes?’

  ‘But I couldn’t pour milk on you. It wouldn’t stick.’

  ‘No, you’d have to eat them dry.’

  Claire thought about shaking cornflakes onto his naked body and eating them off it. ‘Cornflakes aren’t very sexy, are they?’ she said.

  ‘No. Frosties, now – that’s a sexy cereal.’

  ‘It needs to be something you can lick. Foods that melt at body temperature are sexy – like chocolate or ice-cream.’

  ‘How about butter? That melts at body temperature.’

  ‘Eew, no. I couldn’t eat butter on its own. I’d be sick.’

  ‘Maybe you could make yourself a few sandwiches. Have a buffet off me.’

  Claire laughed. ‘Okay, let’s forget the whole eating-food-off-you scenario.’

  ‘Oh! I might have some Nutella.’

  ‘I hate Nutella.’

  ‘You could go out to the shops and get something,’ Luca suggested.

  ‘Nah. The moment has passed.’

  ‘Well, if you want to try it some other time, let me know and I’ll have something in.’

  ‘Okay.’ She nuzzled into his neck. ‘All that talk of food has made me hungry.’

  ‘Do you want to get up and have breakfast?’

  ‘Not yet. Let’s stay here for a while.’ She was very aware that this was the last chance she’d have this weekend to spend time with Luca, and she wanted to make the most of every minute.

  ‘When’s your mother getting out?’

  ‘She’s being “released”, as she calls it, tomorrow morning.’

  ‘Well, you can stay here tonight, then.’

  ‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘I really need to go home and get the house ready – clean up a bit, do some shopping. I haven’t spent much time there the past few weeks. I’ll have to leave around lunchtime. Why don’t we hang on and go out for a big brunch later? My treat.’

  ‘Sounds good.’

  ‘And in the meantime I’ll just have to find something else to nibble on.’ She raised herself up on an elbow and started kissing his neck and shoulder.

  ‘Hey, that was pretty good sexy-talk.’ He pushed his hand into her hair.

  ‘Thanks. How’s your dick now?’

  ‘It’ll live.’

  ‘Aw, poor thing.’ She began kissing her way down his chest. ‘Would it help if I kissed it better?’

  ‘It couldn’t hurt.’

  She was just swirling her tongue around the tip when they were interrupted by the door buzzer. They ignored it at first, but it just got more and more insistent.

  ‘Bloody hell!’ Luca grumbled, gently extricating himself from Claire and getting out of bed. ‘This had better be good.’

  He stormed into the living room naked and Claire heard him speaking into the intercom.

  ‘It’s my sister,’ he told her, as he came back into the bedroom and pulled on his jeans and a T-shirt. ‘You’d better get dressed. She won’t g
o away – she’s kind of an unstoppable force.’

  As he stalked off to let her in, Claire got out of bed and scrabbled for her clothes. She was just buttoning her shirt when she heard Luca letting himself back into the flat. She froze, not sure if he would want her to meet his sister or if she should hide in the bedroom until she was gone.

  ‘Claire!’ he called from the other room, resolving her dilemma. She smoothed her hair and went into the living room where Luca was standing with the petite, dark-haired girl she had bumped into the other morning. She was dressed casually, but expensively, and she was immaculately groomed.

  ‘This is my sister, Ali,’ Luca said. ‘Ali, this is Claire.’

  ‘Hi, Claire. We sort of met before.’ Ali smiled wryly. She gave Claire the once-over as they shook hands, and threw Luca a jaundiced look that spoke volumes. It obviously wasn’t the first time she’d encountered a strange half-dressed woman in his flat.

  ‘Yes, well … sorry I had to run off that time,’ Claire said. ‘It’s nice to meet you properly.’

  ‘Well, I’d ask what you two are up to, but I’m afraid you’d tell me,’ Ali said. ‘I was going to see if you wanted feeding,’ she said to Luca, ‘but I can see you’re busy.’

  ‘Oh, we’d fin— I mean, I was just leaving anyway,’ Claire said hastily. She was gutted that her last day with Luca would be cut short, but she didn’t want to get in the way.

  ‘No, you weren’t,’ Luca said shortly. ‘We were going to go out for brunch,’ he said to Ali.

  ‘We?’ Ali’s eyebrows shot up and she turned to her brother.

  ‘Yes, we.’ He shot her a warning look. ‘You’re welcome to join us, if you promise not to be a brat. If that’s okay with you, Claire?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes, come!’ Part of her didn’t want to share Luca with anyone for her last precious hours, but it was better than nothing. Besides, she was intrigued to learn more about his family.

  ‘Oh, this is brilliant!’ Ali said, looking from one of them to the other. She turned the full beam of her dazzling smile on her brother. ‘You have a girlfriend! I knew it!’

  ‘Oh, I – we’re not—’ Claire began.

  ‘I’m so glad!’ Ali interrupted. ‘You must come to my birthday party,’ she said to Claire.

  ‘That’s very kind of you but—’

  ‘You have to bring her,’ Ali said to Luca, cutting off Claire for a second time. ‘I’m sure Mum and Dad would love to meet her.’ Claire was almost afraid to look at Luca, convinced he would be freaking out, but he just smiled at his sister helplessly.

  ‘We’ll have a proper chat then, get to know each other properly,’ Ali said to Claire. ‘It’s next month – did he tell you? The fifteenth of June. We’ll use the sunroom, but if the weather’s good we can be out in the garden. Anyway, I’ve got to go, but I’ll see you then.’

  ‘Aren’t you going to come to brunch with us?’ Claire asked.

  ‘No,’ she said, aiming a sly smile at her brother. ‘I know where I’m not wanted.’

  ‘Oh, of course you—’

  ‘It was really nice to meet you again, Claire. Don’t forget – fifteenth of June,’ she babbled, as she made her way to the door. ‘Dressy, but not too dressy,’ she said, turning in the doorway. ‘You don’t want to upstage the birthday girl. And don’t worry about a present. Just get me something small and very expensive. Only kidding!’ She giggled. ‘Well, bye.’ And then she was gone.

  ‘So that was your sister,’ Claire said to Luca.

  ‘Yeah.’ He sighed. ‘That was Ali.’

  ‘I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to say that I couldn’t go to her party. I couldn’t really get a word in.’

  Luca gave her a wary look. ‘You don’t want to come to her party?’

  ‘Oh, it’s not that I don’t want to – I mean she seems lovely, and I’m sure it’ll be fun, but—’

  ‘She is lovely. It will be fun.’

  ‘But she only wants me to come because she thinks I’m your girlfriend. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to set her straight about that but …’ She waved her hand helplessly in the direction of the door.

  ‘She invited you. You should come.’

  ‘But she thinks we’re … together. And I’m sure you have someone else you’d rather bring.’ She had no desire to be subjected to an evening playing the fifth wheel, watching Luca with some other girl while she stood on the sidelines. Just thinking about it made her want to cry.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘No, I don’t have anyone else I’d rather bring.’ Luca looked right into her eyes then and her breath hitched.

  ‘But … everyone will think we’re together.’

  Luca shrugged. ‘So? We know what we are to each other. What does it matter what anyone else thinks?’

  Did she know what they were to each other? Did Luca really know what he was to her? Despite what she had said to him that morning, she wasn’t at all sure she knew herself.

  ‘Look, you know you’re not my girlfriend. I don’t give a toss if anyone else thinks you are.’

  ‘But your mum and dad—’

  ‘Will be very impressed. Come on, you can make me look good for once.’

  She smiled. ‘You really want me to come?’

  ‘Yes, I really do. What do you want – a gilt-edged invitation? Actually, there probably is a gilt-edged invitation somewhere. So …’

  ‘So …’ She hesitated.

  ‘Please, I really want you to come. If you agree, I’ll do whatever you want in there for the rest of the morning,’ he said, waving to the bedroom.

  ‘You don’t have to.’

  ‘Come on, I want to. It’s not like it isn’t one of my favourite things too.’

  ‘Wait – you don’t even know what I’ll pick yet.’

  ‘Yeah, I do.’ He smiled. ‘I know all your favourite things.’

  ‘Yes, you do,’ she whispered. Their eyes met and for a moment they just stared at each other. ‘Okay, I’ll come,’ she said finally.

  ‘Oh yes you will – I’ll make sure of that.’

  Chapter Twenty

  Claire returned home later that afternoon, feeling wonderfully relaxed and refreshed. After a glorious morning in bed with Luca, she had taken him out for a massive brunch. She had worked up a hell of an appetite, and she didn’t know if it was the sharpness of her hunger or because all her senses were heightened after sex but food had never tasted so good. Luca had surprised her by sitting beside her on the cushioned banquette instead of taking the seat opposite, and she had spent a large part of the meal eating one-handed as he held her other under the table. It confused her that he would do something that felt so romantic and lover-like when he had warned her not to think of him in that way. But then she reminded herself that he was just a very tactile person and it didn’t mean anything. He had gone back to his sexy, easy-going self when she had convinced him that she wasn’t going to read anything into it. So she just relaxed and enjoyed it for what it was, taking pleasure in the warmth of his hand on her leg, allowing herself to lay her head on his shoulder and indulge in the closeness for a little while. It felt like the end of a lovely holiday, and she was sad that she wouldn’t be spending the night with him. He had become such a permanent fixture in her life over the past couple of weeks, and even though she knew she would see him again in a few days, she couldn’t help feeling a bit wobbly when it came time for her to leave.

  ‘What are you going to do for the rest of the weekend?’ she asked, as they stood outside the restaurant.

  ‘I won’t know what to do with myself without you coming round, taking your clothes off and luring me into bed all the time.’

  ‘I’m sure you’ll think of something.’

  ‘I suppose I could do some work.’

  ‘Well, have fun, whatever you do.’

  ‘You too. Thanks for brunch,’ he said, before giving her a lingering goodbye kiss. And then he was gone, disappearing into the crowd.
/>   Claire spent the rest of the day shopping, cleaning and cooking, and went to bed alone that night, missing Luca dreadfully and trying not to fret about what he might be doing – or who with.

  The next morning she went to collect her mother, laden with boxes of chocolates, cards and flowers for the staff, on Espie’s instructions. When they had distributed the gifts and said their goodbyes, Claire wheeled her mother out to the car and helped her in.

  ‘I thought we might invite everyone over for dinner this evening,’ Espie said, as Claire pulled out of the car park.

  Claire’s heart sank. She had been looking forward to a quiet few days with nothing to do, no visits to make and just the two of them for dinner. ‘Everyone?’ she asked.

  ‘The whole family,’ Espie said eagerly. ‘You don’t mind, do you?’

  ‘No, of course not. It’d be nice.’ She knew her mother was probably dying to have a get-together and let her hair down after being at the mercy of institutional regimes. She had been forced to relinquish control of so much lately. It had been heartbreaking to watch her power and autonomy being steadily eroded, her vivacious spirit constantly thwarted by a body that wouldn’t cooperate. When she and her brothers were children, their house had been the one where everyone congregated, and their friends had always been welcome to stay for dinner at a moment’s notice. Espie was a brilliant and enthusiastic cook, and no one had ever left their house hungry. Having the family over for dinner wasn’t a lot to ask, and at least it was within Claire’s power to make it happen.

  ‘So, what’ll we have?’ Espie said. ‘I could murder a nice roast with all the trimmings. I haven’t had a proper roast in ages.’

  ‘I’ll do one, if that’s what you fancy,’ Claire said, suppressing a weary sigh. The whole family coming for a roast dinner – that would mean she’d have to go shopping again as soon as she had her mother settled in at home, then spend the rest of the day peeling, chopping and cooking. Still, she couldn’t begrudge her mother a welcome-home dinner. It seemed the least she could do.