by M J Rutter
“Why not?” he asked.
“Because it will give the likes of Gerald more ammo to use against me. I have you, that’s all I want. Gems and money mean nothing to me.”
“I know that, but I bought it for you because I thought it was as beautiful as you are,” he smiled.
“I appreciate the gesture, believe me, I do, but I know that I am not beautiful and that is all right.”
“You are though, Grace. Why can’t you see that?”
“If I am so beautiful, why did…? Oh, forget it, I am trying to forget him and all he did to me.”
“I told you, he was a moron. Look, I don’t profess to be perfect, but I promise you, I am in your life for as long as you want me to be and I will never treat you like that.” My eyes filled with tears once more, “I didn’t want to upset you, Grace.” He shut the box, “I’ll take it back, okay?”
I sniffed and brushed away an escaped tear. “You haven’t upset me, your words just moved me. Tell you what, why don’t you hold on to it for a little while, and if in a few months we are lucky enough to prove them all wrong, I will gladly accept it, how does that sound?”
“Sounds okay to me.” He pecked my lips and put the box back into his pocket. “So, what are we going to do this afternoon?” he asked taking my hand in his and pecking my fingers.
“Well,” I smiled standing from the sofa, “I seem to remember making you a promise this other night.”
“That’s right, you did.” He grinned. I held out my hand to him, he smiled taking it as he stood, “I didn’t sleep all night because of what you did to me, seriously, I thought I was going to explode.”
“I did tell you to play with yourself, you could have.”
“No way, I have been saving up for this moment. I just hope you are wearing those sexy knickers.” He added.
“Ew, no, they need washing.” I frowned, “but I might be wearing some new ones I bought with Elisa,” I shrugged and led him to the bedroom. I dropped his hand so that I could remove my shirt, pulling it over my head instead of unbuttoning it. The oyster shell pick bra with small hot pink bows looked better on than I thought it would. I turned around to face him, watching as he unbuckled his belt on his trousers, he smiled as his eyes danced with excitement.
“It has been a long couple of days.” He admitted.
“Tell me about it,” I agreed and pushed my jeans down my legs, the matching bottom part to the set wasn’t exactly a thong, more like little hot pants trimmed in shell pink lace that curved around my backside.
“Oh my God, I want you so badly it almost hurts.” He said as he stood in nothing but his tight fitting boxers. “Are we using condoms or?”
“I told you, I have an implant, I am good until July, that’s when it needs to be replaced.” I went to remove my bra,
“Don’t, leave it on for a moment,” he smiled, “let me savour you for a little while longer. Grace Matthews you are so damn sexy, what am I going to do with you?”
“I have an idea.” I smiled and took his hand, leading him to the bed. “Lie down.” I told him.
He lay back on the bed and I crawled up his body, slowly and seductively, leaving little kisses on his torso and chest. I hovered over his erection straining against his boxers. Stroking his hands down my back, I lowered onto his erection, rubbing myself over him. His hands held my hips as he hooked his fingers under the lace and pushed them over the cheeks of my backside, where he squeezed. He lifted his hips and moved me under him, sliding his fingers inside of me. A satisfied moaned escaped my lips as he began moving his hand, pressing his mouth to mine, nipping at my lips and pushing his tongue inside.
Just as I felt that wave of warmth begin to smother me, he stopped, leaving me dangling on that fragile edge, I opened my eyes and frowned slightly,
“I told you I would make you pay,” he smiled.
“Well,” I swallowed hard on my dry throat, “if that is how you want to play. I’ll go, I still have quite a lot of my book to finish.”
“You are not going anywhere.” He stated and kissed me again. “You know, I um, I have this thing that drives me crazy, it really turns me on.”
“Hey, you are not into kinky stuff, are you? Because I read those paint-swatch books and I am telling you now, no way, not ever. Forget it.”
He smiled bemused, “What are you talking about?”
“Millionaire businessman, seducing a naive virgin, don’t tell me you haven’t heard about them.”
“I have actually, you never said you were a virgin.”
“And you never said you were a millionaire, in fact, I asked you and you denied it.”
“If I recall it right, you asked if I was a billionaire and I am not, so I didn’t lie.” He
countered.
I pushed my fingers to his lips, “It’s not important anyway, I don’t care if you have
gazillions in the bank, all I want is you.” I kissed him tenderly. “Okay, so what’s this thing you are into?” I asked pulling
back from his lips.
“Promise you won’t laugh?” he checked, I nodded. “What I like is high heeled shoes,
you know, like stilettos. A beautiful pair of legs are perfected by the shoes she wears, the shape, the extra height, yeah, that’s what I like.”
“I see, you are telling me you are not in to socks with sandals,” I smiled.
“No and there should be a law against it unless you are under five years old.” I sat up, the passion was fizzling out and I began to feel a little foolish led there in only my underwear. “Where are you going?”
“To get my book,” I shrugged.
“Oh no you are not,” he frowned. “I thought you were going to get some heels for me.”
“Not unless you want me to fall over flat on my face.”
“But I have seen you in heels,” he said kissing my shoulder and cupping my breast in his hand, “And you looked so sexy, I could hardly take my eyes off you.”
“I wear them occasionally, but really, they are not that high.”
“If I got you some, would you wear them for me?”
I shook my head, “Alec, I will never allow you to buy my shoes, my Nan said that if you let a man buy you shoes, you will walk away from him.”
“That’s where I have been going wrong all of this time then.” I turned to look at him, “I’m joking,” he smiled hooking a finger under my bra strap. I pushed his hand away and stood from the bed. “Grace?”
“If you want to chat, we can talk in the lounge.”
“I thought we were making love?”
“So did I, but now I am not in the mood.” I lifted my clothes from the floor and hurried out of the room.
“Grace,” he chased after me, “Grace, wait.” I stopped and turned to face him. “What just happened?”
“You bought shoes for your ex’s and they left you, now you want to buy me shoes too and you don’t see the problem here?”
“I think you got the wrong end of the stick, I just wanted to have a bit of fun, that’s all.” He smiled slightly, was I not being serious enough or something? “Come back to bed, I have waited three days to make love to you again, don’t make me wait any longer.” I hated upsetting him, but I had really lost my mojo and sex was the last thing I wanted.
“I don’t want to argue with you, Alec, so, I think it would be better if I went to my room and got some rest.” I explained.
He sighed loudly, “You can get some rest here, have the bed. I’ll go for a swim and then a shower. Please don’t go to your room alone, you are clearly upset and after what he did to you, I am not surprised.”
“Well,” I frowned, feeling instantly worse, “maybe you can lay with me for little while, perhaps when I have rested, well, if you still want me.”
“I need to swim, Grace,” he muttered. “Go to bed, I’ll take a shower and join you then, okay?” I nodded and reluctantly left him standing in his boxers with a hard on big enough to poke my eye out.
I cli
mbed into bed still wearing my underwear, but after a few moments, I decided to remove my bra. I have never been able to sleep in one. Feeling the cool, cotton sheets against my skin did help me to relax and before I could allow my guilt for upsetting Alec worry me too much, I drifted off to sleep.
We were running hand in hand throw a meadow of wild flowers. Yellow buttercups, white daisies and blue forget-me-nots. The sun shone down from a turquoise sky and the warm summer breeze lifted the scent of the flowers that swayed. Butterflies dances on their petals as we walked and birds sang in the trees all around us. It felt like my own personal piece of Heaven.
As I blinked at the sun, I found myself lying on the grass, his hand slowly moved up my leg and over my knee as he kissed me deeply. As his hand slid slowly up my leg, my insides warmed. His kiss deepened, his breath felt hot against my neck, but has his hand slipped under the lace of my underwear, they became rough and his kisses felt sloppy. I tried to pull away from him, he didn’t taste the same. Rough, spiky stubble scratched at the skin around my mouth. He pulled away, leaving my lips sore and stinging, I opened my eyes, Gerald smirked at me.
I tried to pull away, but he pinned me to the ground, ripped open my shirt and grabbed my breasts roughly. I tried to scream, but nothing came out.
“You’re mine now,” he snarled.
“Get off of me, now,” I ordered and tried to fight him. His knee jammed between my legs as I struggled to fight him off my body, kicking and punching until I sat upright in bed. Alec was sat on the bed in nothing but a towel, frowning at me.
“Are you alright?” he asked me.
I nodded quickly, but couldn’t stop shaking, “He um, he was trying to…”
“Who, Gerald?”
“Yes,” I nodded again. “I’m sorry,” I frowned as tears filled my eyes.
“No, Grace, I am sorry.” He said softly taking me in to his arms. “I am sorry I employed such a malevolent, narcissistic turd. I should have gone with my gut when I interviewed him, but his numbers were excellent and if I’m honest, I let him dazzle me with his CV, when all along I thought that this man is an arsehole. I am so sorry I got sucked in. if I hadn’t, then he wouldn’t have met you and hurt you.”
“You weren’t to know,” I sniffed, feeling foolish and pathetic, “and I did break his nose. I will always have that on him.” I tried to smile, Alec moved closer and pushed my hair out of my face. I leaned in closer and kissed him. He wrapped strong his arms around me and pulled me into his warm body as we kissed. I could taste chlorine on his lips and pulled back.
“I was just getting some clean underwear to put on after my shower, you were fighting in your sleep, the last person I woke while fighting in their sleep, punched me in the face and cracked a tooth, I was not going to risk it again.” He explained. “Aside from the nightmare, do you feel better for getting some rest?” he asked.
“A bit,” I nodded, “I’d feel lot better if you were in this bed with me,” I added coyly and stroked my index finger down his chest and rubbed it along the line of his towel.
“I have been swimming, I need to wash this chlorine off,” he smiled.
“I need something to take my mind off that nightmare, I think my needs are slightly more urgent than yours.”
“Well, in that case,” he smiled, stood from the bed and dropped the towel on the floor, revealing that he was in deed naked and oh so ready for me, it made my insides shake.
I woke sometime later that afternoon, draped over Alec’s body as he slept soundly. I gazed up at him, not quite believing that after only ten days, I was completely in love with this amazing man and that he claimed to be just as much in love with me. I didn’t know how long we would last, or if I was just something for while he was in the States, but I was deliriously happy with him and I honestly would have followed him to the ends of the earth if he had asked me. Gerald didn’t invade my dreams this time, thankfully, after all, I felt I handled him quite well.
I turned on my side so that I could just look at him, his perfect eyebrows and square jaw, his long sandy coloured eyelashes resting on his stubble speckled cheeks. His dark blond hair was stuck up a bit at the front, it made me smile and I almost tried to flatten his hair.
“I know you are watching me,” he grinned.
“Sorry, I didn’t want to wake you.”
“I wasn’t sleeping; I was just enjoying holding you in my arms.”
“I could stay here forever,” I agreed.
“I love you, Grace Matthews, I uh, I want…” his mobile phone rang on the cabinet beside the bed. He sat up a little and answered the phone, “Hello?”
“It’s Jake, did I wake you?” Jake asked. I could hear it clearly.
“No, so, what did you find out?”
“He is here, he wants to talk to you,” he replied, Alec looked at me. “Shall we come up?”
I sat up and shook my head, “No,” I whispered.
“No, Grace is with me. Take him into the bar and get him a soft drink. I’ll be down in about ten minutes, alright?”
“Okay,” Jake answered and ended the call.
“I’ll go back to my room,” I said.
“No, run a bath, this won’t take long and I will be back, okay?”
“I don’t mind,” I shrugged.
“Trust me, Grace, you will want to hear what I have to tell you when I get back.” He kissed my lips and pushed the sheet off his body. He pulled on some boxers and a t-shirt, then his jeans and slipped his bare feet into some trainers.
“Alec,” I frowned.
“I can handle him, Grace, don’t worry.”
“No, um, your hair is stuck up,” he spun around and looked in the mirror.
“Well, at least, it will have him guessing about what I have been up to.” He shrugged. “I won’t be long, I promise.” He kissed me again and left.
I ran hot water into the huge bath tub with one of the hotel robes covering my body. I added some of the bubble bath and inhaled the amazing fruity aroma as the bathroom filled with steam. I tried very hard not to think about Alec speaking with Gerald, I also didn’t want to be in his shoes. I imagined them talking about what happened and Gerald lying his arse off to drop me in it with Alec. I suppose this would be a test of trust, would he trust me over his employee whom had worked for him for years?
Stepping into the water, the warmth relaxed me almost immediately as I sunk into the bubbles allowing them to smother me. I rested my head back and closed my eyes, I still felt tired, but knew if I had fallen asleep again, I would not sleep that night. So I made myself sit forward and wait for Alec to return.
The door opened after a while and I turned my head. He looked so angry, his brown eyes almost looked black they were so riled.
“What happened?” I asked.
“He had to gall to deny it all, even after Jake told me in front of him what he had been saying about us and about you. How Ben…”
“Ben?” I frowned.
“Ben, he was with them the other night, I believe he referred to you as my bit of fluff, is that right?” I nodded. “Well, even he said that Gerald had talked about nothing else than upsetting you and getting rid of you.”
“How?”
“By chasing you off.” He answered. “He was going to lie to me and tell me that you two had got together while I was out of town. Only he needed a bit more Dutch courage to actually make a move on you. His plan was to take pictures of you with him and then send them to me so that I would break up with you.” He explained and began undressing. “The bloody idiot thought that all I would need was his word with a picture.”
“So, what is going to happen now?” I asked.
“I don’t know and I don’t care.” He replied pushing off his boxers and stepping into the water opposite me. “He is not my problem anymore.”
“How so?”
“Because he no longer works for me, I have just fired him and it’s not a moment too soon either.” I frowned, I was responsible for him losing his
job. “Don’t do that, Grace,” he said and lifted my hand out of the water, “it was a long time coming and he is lucky he lasted this long.”
“Does he have a family to support?”
“Who’d want him?” he smiled. “He is single as far as I know, again, and like I said, no longer my problem.” He turned around and leaned back against me, “So, how are you at back rubs? Because my shoulders are killing me.”
“It just so happens, that apparently, I give the best massages ever.” I boasted and began squeezing his tight shoulders.
Twelve
Over the next few days we were inseparable. We went on day trips out of the city, making good use of my hire car. We drove up to the lakes and made love under the stars one night. The sound of crickets and rippling water were all around us as we laid naked under the moon and had some of the best sex either of us had ever had. I would never have been so reckless before, but Alec made me feel like I could do anything I wanted to and the more sex we had, the more I wanted. It honestly got better every time.
We talked a lot of the time, about everything and as the week wound down, I felt I really and truthfully knew everything about him. One evening, while in his bed, he finally opened up about some of his ex’s. I didn’t want to ask, but I had to know if there was anything lurking around the corner. He just seemed too good to be true and it left me wondering if there was a flaw, because up to that point, he hadn’t showed me one.
We dined at sunset on his balcony, overlooking his private pool and would skinny dip at all hours of the night. It was becoming my idea of heaven and I wondered if this would last as long as the memories would.
The day of departure from the hotel, Alec had arranged for Enterprise to collect the car from me, as we were heading straight to Vegas. My flight home should have left at five in the morning, I had purposely picked an early flight so that I would be home that same day to help with jet lag. But now I was heading to Vegas and with both nerves and excitement in my tummy, I checked out of my suite and settle my room service bill while Daniel loaded my luggage into the car. Once Alec and I were in the car, he took my hand and kissed it. Daniel started the engine and drove us towards a smaller airport the other side of the city.