As we arrive on the first floor, James gives Anna her key. “Your room’s just down there, your mum will be in here.”
“I’ll come back and check on you in a minute, is that okay?” Anna looks so worried, so concerned.
“Okay, darling. Anna, can you go out and get some toiletries for tomorrow? Wait a minute.” I get my purse out. “Here’s some cash, can you pick up a toothbrush and paste, shampoo, shower gel and a bit of makeup? Oh and you’d better call Katie and firm up the arrangements for tomorrow.” Even though I’m in pieces I’m trying my best to stay in control, my coping mechanism, what I’ve always done – carry on.
“Alex, stop worrying!” James huffs at me. “You need to rest, and anyway, your rooms are full of toiletries.”
“But I like my stuff, the coconut one, please get the brand that I like.” I know I’m flapping now.
James walks me to the room. He holds me around the waist as we walk just a little further down the corridor to the plush new suite. Supporting me, he opens the door and we move through to the darkened room, the drapes nearly closed, just a slit of light creeping through.
We move to the centre of the room, to the huge bed, and he gestures for me to sit. Then, kneeling, he removes my shoes and asks me to stand. He deftly undoes the button of my jeans and the zip, pushing the denim over my hips and down to my knees. “Sit,” he says. I do, and he pulls the jeans from around my calves and ankles and folds them neatly, draping them over the back of a chair. He undoes the buttons of my shirt, slowly, and the cuffs. Pushing back each shoulder, he helps as I move my arms out of the sleeves.
Going to the wardrobe, he takes out a hanger and hangs my shirt neatly. As he returns he gestures towards me to stand. I do and he takes me in his arms, hugging me, a proper hug – not a lover’s hug, but the sort you receive from a parent, the sort of hug that says that everything is going to be okay. He pulls the duvet back and helps me into the huge, fabulously comfy bed. All he ever seems to do is put me to bed!
“I want you to sleep,” he says firmly. “Just an hour or two. I’ve asked Roger to check around the hotel, make sure that Lewis is off the premises.”
“Will you stay?” I ask.
“I’ll need to go and cancel or rearrange the meeting I’d planned. Anna’s popped out, like you asked her to, so I’ll get one of the girls in the office to deal with the guy that’s coming in if I’m too late to cancel and I’ll ask Michelle to come and sit with you while I go back to my office. You’ll be okay with Michelle.”
“Michelle? I haven’t met her!” I must look surprised.
“The Housekeeping Manager. She was very close to Maggie. You can talk to her, she’s lovely, you’ll like her,” he assures me.
“Oh, you won’t tell her anything, will you?” I panic.
“No, I’ll just say that you felt unwell, is that okay? Now rest, please.
“Umm,” I murmur as he covers me and I rest my head on the soft pillows. “All you ever seem to do is put me to bed,” I mutter, smiling at him.
His mouth turns up into a gorgeous grin and he places the most tender kiss to my forehead. “It’s my pleasure – honestly.”
He tucks me up into the huge four poster and starts to leave. “Won’t be too long.” I hear the door close.
I must find sleep very quickly as I am woken by a tap at the door. I don’t know how long I’ve been sleeping but I feel refreshed, well, a bit anyway. Through the door I hear, “Hello… Mrs Drake…? Hello!”
Stirring, I pull myself up. Swinging my legs out of the bed I head towards the door. There’s a spy hole. Checking, I see a smart-looking lady with a Reid’s badge, must be Michelle. I open the door carefully, standing behind it as I’m only dressed in bra and knickers.
“Hello, Michelle?” I ask.
“Yes, Mrs Drake. Mr Aconi asked me to come and see you, he said you’ve not been well.” She looks concerned.
I wave my arm into the room. “Thanks, come on in. I feel a little better now, amazing what sleep, just a quick nap, can do!”
“I know. Shall I make us a cuppa?” She walks right on into my room and heads directly for the tea and coffee.
I pluck the white waffle robe from a coat hanger, drape it around myself and loosely tie the cord. “That would be great, I’ll just grab a robe.”
“Tea or coffee?” she asks.
“Tea, please – strong, dash of milk and one sugar.”
“Very precise!” She smiles.
“Umm. I’m funny about my tea, has to be just so.”
She laughs, I’m warming to her already. Michelle must be fifty, and she’s wearing the standard hotel issue uniform black skirt, white blouse and black jacket. She has her Reid’s hotel badge on her left lapel with her name and her title. Her blonde hair is pulled back into a neat chignon and her blue eyes sparkle, she’s very little makeup, and as I would expect for her position, she wears very sensible black flat shoes.
She passes me the cup of tea, it looks perfect.
“Thank you.” I take the tea and sit on the edge of the bed. She really can make the most excellent tea. “So, how long have you been here?” I ask.
Her mouth twitches to one side as she thinks about her answer. “Oh, it must be, what… fourteen or fifteen years now, I suppose, a long time.”
I smile. “You like working here, then?”
“Would I have stayed all this time if I didn’t?”
“I suppose not. James said you were friendly with Maggie.” I need to find someone who knew her, knew her better than I did.
She takes a deep breath, I’m sure I spot a tear in her eyes. “Yes, Maggie and I were very good friends, really close, for a long time.” She pauses, taking a drink. “Maggie hired me all those years ago as an assistant manager but when my boss, the old Housekeeping Manager left, Maggie offered me the job. I suppose I’d been here about four years at that point. Soon after we became friends, I think because we just got along well with each other,” she explains.
I look up from my drink, looking directly at her. “I didn’t know her that well. You do know she was my aunt?”
“Yes, I did know, she told me a little about you.” She hesitates when she answers.
I take a drink of my hot tea and look over at this woman who claims to have been a good friend of Maggie’s. “Whenever she’d visit it would be when I was at school, she’d always gone when I came home. I mean, I know what my mum used to say about Maggie and I thought I knew her quite well from the things my mum said. I knew she was professional, a career woman, and I knew she did well for herself, but other than that I knew very little. Still, I’m certainly learning a lot more about her now that she’s not here!”
Michelle laughs, wiping the stray tear away from her cheek. “She was great… I know all about you.” She looks down at her drink. “I probably shouldn’t have said that. Sorry,” she apologises, clearly knowing more about me than she’s letting on.
I shuffle, maybe a little uncomfortable. Michelle quite obviously knows a lot more than anyone else. “Don’t worry.” I laugh a little. “It seems that lots of people know stuff about me that I don’t know. What do you know?” I laugh again. “Come on, I’ve had several shocks over the last few months, one more won’t hurt!”
“I don’t know if I should, it’s all very personal, family business.” She frowns at me and then looks down at her drink.
“I need to know, Michelle, please tell me… There are so many gaps!” I ask, hoping that this woman will tell me about “me”.
She stirs her drink again, although I’m sure it’s already been stirred sufficiently well. She pauses. “I don’t want to say anything that may cause more distress.” She sighs.
“Well, shall I start the ball rolling?” I look directly at her. “I know that Maggie was my birth mother,” I blurt out.
Michelle looks at me. She nods and smiles. “I know exactly who you are, I know you’re Maggie’s girl. She told me all about you just before she died. I visited her in the hospice, she was so
very frail at the end, it was almost… almost like, I don’t know, some sort of deathbed confession. She said that she’d had a baby girl forty-two years ago but her career was going places and she didn’t think she had the room for a child in her life.” Michelle’s tone is even, there’s no judgment there at all.
“Oh,” I whisper, “what else did she say?”
“I asked her what she did with the baby and she said that her sister had adopted her. She still had regular contact but rarely saw the child, said that it was too painful.”
“I bet it was!” I hiss.
“She loved you, Alexandra. She told me that… that you were set to inherit the lot, everything, and that you would be coming along to meet me when she passed, hey! She was right, wasn’t she, ‘cause here you are.” She laughs.
I smile. Yes, I like this woman, she seems so genuine.
“I don’t have any friends, Maggie was lucky. Well, I say I don’t have any friends, I suppose I’ve made friends with James, he’s been really helpful and kind, but no – there’s just me and Anna.” I must sound so sad – no friends!
She places her cup on the table. “Maggie said that your life wasn’t the best, she said your mum knew what your husband was like. She didn’t say how she knew, but that you wouldn’t or couldn’t leave him and had never discussed leaving him, that you were a silly girl!” Michelle speaks quietly, as if she doesn’t feel comfortable relaying this information, her focus elsewhere in the room, looking at anything rather than me.
“Umm, well, if she’d showed me her hand before all this happened, told me who I really was, maybe, just maybe, she could have helped me before,” I snipe.
I look at Michelle. She’s clearly distressed, still upset by Maggie’s passing. “I don’t know, Alexandra. I don’t know the ins and outs, only what she told me.” She does her best to defend Maggie, her friend.
I feel I need to apologise to Michelle for snapping at her, it’s not her fault. “I’m sorry, Michelle, I shouldn’t have said that, it’s not your fault.”
She smiles, her blue eyes twinkling, and she nods at me as she sips her drink.
I stand and walk to get my shirt from the hanger, and without thinking, possibly because I’m still half asleep or because of what I’ve just heard about my birth mother, I drop the robe to put my shirt on.
“Oh Good Lord!” Michelle draws a sharp breath. “Your back!”
“Shit!” I quickly grab my shirt and shove my arms into the sleeves, pulling it up over my back as quickly as possible.
“Sorry, Michelle, you shouldn’t have seen that.” I fumble with the buttons.
I look at her, she looks horrified. “She said he was a monster… but, did he do that?” She points at my back.
“Umm.” I look away, avoiding eye contact.
“Alexandra, did he do that?” she asks again.
“He did,” I say flatly hoping that she’ll drop the subject.
“Maggie will turn in her grave – she will, I know for sure if she knew about this she wouldn’t have left you, definitely. You poor, poor girl!” She’s clearly shocked and maybe a little upset, although she doesn’t know me, well, not really.
I look at her. She looks horrified, her blue eyes no longer sparkling, they look dull and sad. This is the very reason I don’t like people to know, so that I don’t have their pity, I don’t need their pity. “Does anyone else know?” she asks.
“Only James and Anna.” I look down, tying the belt of the robe.
“James?” she questions, her head slightly to one side. Clearly she’s questioning the reasons for James having seen my back, then she smiles, there’s a twinkle in her eye.
“Yes, I had an… an episode before. James was there, he helped and when I went home he helped me into bed. He saw, then Anna found out. Up until then, no, nobody else knew.”
She looks at me, just looks. “You poor love!”
I can see why Maggie had Michelle as a friend – she’s lovely, so kind and caring. She stands to leave.
“I’ll go now, Alexandra, leave you to rest, but my office is next but one to James if you need anything, or just want to talk. Come and find me, please?” She smiles as she goes, she’s such a kind face.
“I will do. But before you go, Michelle, tell me about James,” I ask.
“What do you want to know? About his love life?” She laughs. “That’s what everyone else asks.”
“Yes, I do. Because, well… because. Please tell me, do I need to worry about anything?” I ask, because she clearly knows that something must have gone on for him to have seen my back.
“You’ve nothing to worry about. They chase him a lot, I mean, who wouldn’t? He goes out clubbing, I think, perhaps gets involved in a bit of smooching from what I can gather, they think it’s the big “come on” but he’s a gentleman, you do know that, don’t you?” She looks at me, smiling.
“I think so, and yes, he is a gentleman. But what about the girls that visit him here?” I ask, frowning.
“Ah, I see.” She places a hand on my shoulder. “You’ve listened to the receptionists. Ignore them, it’s wishful thinking on their behalf. Whoever you’ve seen or heard about leaving the place, well, they’ve just tried their luck, that’s all. Ask Roger, he must escort out two or three a week. Nothing happens, Alexandra, nothing, you have my word.” She smiles and moves towards the door.
“One thing, Michelle,” I say quietly.
“Yes.”
“Please don’t tell anyone about… about this, my back. I really don’t want anyone else to know, it’s very private!” I sound like I’m begging.
“I promise I won’t say a word, nobody will hear it from me, love. But if you want to talk to anyone, count me in on your friends list!” she says reassuringly.
I smile at her. “Thank you, that’s all I need, and I will meet up with you again.” I pause and smile. “A friends list? I haven’t got one of those yet. You can be the first on it, apart from James.” I laugh.
Michelle leaves with the biggest, brightest smile. I sit in the chair, finishing my tea and thinking about what she said about Maggie, particularly the bit about Maggie knowing what Lewis was like.
I’m contemplating putting my jeans back on when there’s another tap at the door and it opens.
“Only me!” James announces as he walks into the room. He’s carrying a small bowl covered in silver foil which he places on the cabinet at the side of the bed.
“You’re up!” He’s very observant.
I look at him and at the bowl. “Umm, don’t know how long I slept for, Michelle woke me. We’ve had a chat and a drink. Isn’t she lovely?”
“Yeah, one of the best.” He nods in agreement.
“Did you manage to reschedule the meeting?”
He shakes his head. “No, too late. The guy was here when I went downstairs, I couldn’t wriggle out of it. It only took an hour, though, so job done!”
He walks over to me, to where I am sitting, watching me intently with those dark eyes of his. “Put the tea down and stand up.” His tone’s commanding.
I comply, as usual.
“Are you ready to forget everything, if only for the rest of the day? This treatment will be so much more effective than any talking therapy that doctor guy was muttering about. This is the treatment prescribed by Doctor James, his very own remedy.” He grins, his voice now very low and husky.
“Oh…” I smile, I think I may like this.
He presses a soft kiss to my temple, then eases his way down to my neck. Sucking on my collarbone whilst deftly undoing the buttons of my shirt, one by one.
His mouth follows the path he has created by the undoing of the buttons, down between my breasts, across my stomach, until he pulls the shirt completely apart. His mouth then works its way back up again as he pulls my shirt over my shoulders and down my arms. This is bliss, I desperately need him, need this, need to be touched, to be loved.
He pulls me close. We’re standing together and I can feel
his hard cock against my stomach through his trousers. I place my hands on his hips and slide them down, back over his firm backside. He kisses me, his tongue exploring my mouth; the feelings set my core alight, I’m inwardly quivering. His hands move towards my back and he unclips my bra, his hands gently sliding under the sides until he’s cupping my breasts. He breaks the kiss and pulls my bra away, pushing it up and out of the way, leaving it hooked around my shoulders.
“Tell me that you trust me, Alex,” he whispers.
I gasp. “I think I do.”
“Only think?” he questions, one eyebrow raised.
“Umm… You’re not using me, James, are you? Taking advantage?” I ask in all seriousness.
“No, I would never do that, never. Tell me that you want this.” He speaks so softly.
I think, pausing. “I do, I really do.”
“I’m going to make you feel so good. I’m going to shatter you,” he growls. “Bed!”
He lets me go and I move towards the bed, sitting on the edge.
“Move on up, lie down on your back,” he demands, and I do nothing else but comply with his directive and he watches me.
He stands above me and slowly takes off his shirt. I’m sopping wet, my knickers must be drenched. He slips his shoes and socks off and then he slowly undoes his black trousers and lets them fall. Oh! He’s wearing boxers today! He climbs on the bed, the mattress moving as he does, and lies beside me. Little flicks of his tongue travel down my neck, I moan aloud and arch my back.
“Easy, Alex, there’s plenty more to come,” he growls.
He pinches my nipple hard and I groan again. He trails a feather-light touch between by breasts and down my stomach until he finds my mound. Slipping his hand under my knickers, he toys with the fine mass of curls. “We need to do something about this, use the spa,” he whispers.
He shifts to the end of the bed and reaches up to my hips, pulling my knickers away and tossing them aside, his fingers returning to my private place. “Jesus, you’re so fucking wet,” his deep voice rumbles. “Spread your legs!” he orders, but his tone is sensual, not harsh.
He moves his hand away, down towards my feet. Using light touches, he works his way from my ankles to the inside of my thighs, very slowly, until he reaches my sex. “Bend your knees.” I’m moaning, writhing, I’ve never ever been so turned on, complying with every instruction, every command.
Freeing Alex (The Alexandra Drake Series) Page 12