by KA Hobbs
“You really did look stunning in that dress, Sophie.” he kisses my forehead and clasps my hand.
“I adored it, but it isn’t coming home with me.”
After our shopping trip we drive back to Doug’s apartment, ready to unpack our purchases and get ready for the evening. I am setting out all the things I bought, just looking, when Doug comes into the bedroom.
“These are for you.” he grins, handing me four bags.
“If I look inside these bags, am I going to find what I hope not to?” I scowl.
“Well, why don’t you look and see.”
He laughs lying on the bed and propping his head on his hand. Cautiously, I peek into one of the bags, spotting a cardboard box and the name Christian Louboutin on it; I hastily cover my eyes groaning.
“What have you done..?” I groan sinking to the floor, the plush carpet feeling like a carpet of cotton wool balls beneath me.
“You haven’t even looked yet, look.” Doug laughs tapping my head.
I reach up and take one of the bags, inside is a satin pouch. I carefully remove it and look inside; it contains a stunning black velvet clutch with a silver clasp. It is beyond beautiful and I fall in love with it, right there and then, sitting on the floor.
“Do you like it?” Doug is leaning over the bed smiling.
“I love it, thank you,” I lean up kissing him softly “But I can’t accept it, it must have cost a fortune, Doug.” I frown.
“Nothing I can’t afford, and certainly nothing you don’t deserve, here,” he says passing me the other three bags, “Look in these too.”
Curiosity gets the better of me and I open all three bags. One contains a pair of the sexiest heels known to man and women for that matter. It’s a black sling back pair of Christian Louboutin’s, red soles and all. They are gorgeous and if I had to keep one thing, I would have kept these. In the remaining two bags were an elegant, yet sexy black satin corset and stockings - which I knew, would drive Doug crazy.
The third bag was a bit of a surprise, based on the theme of the items in the bag, I was certain; this was going to contain the dress. I was wrong. Inside was the most beautiful purple silk and black lace chemise. It was stunning; there was no other way to describe it.
“Do you like them?” Doug leans down, planting a kiss on my shoulder, turning my head to capture his lips.
“I adore them all, thank you. You spoil me.” I kiss him again and feel the deep dark need building.
“You deserve them, Sophie, you make me so happy, I have no idea how to express that to you, but I want to try and show you.”
“Doug...” I kneel up; cradling is face in my palms. “You do show me, all the time, I don’t need all this.” I wave at the bags around me.
“I know that, it’s one of the things I love about you, which makes me want to buy you more things.” He grins up at me, looking so playful.
“Well, thank you, but no more. For at least another 10 years! This lot must have cost you a fortune.” I frown.
“Don’t worry about it, trust me,”
He leans up and captures my lips; I fall back, pulling him on top of me, needing to feel him. Reaching around, my hands dart under his shirt, roaming up and down his hard, muscled back, feeling his warmth, needing to feel more.
“Doug, I need you…” I gasp, when he kisses that sweet spot just below my ear. “I need you.” I whisper again.
“You have me.” he grins against my neck. We’re all mouths and hands and it’s delicious.
“I forgot one thing.” He whispers, removing himself from my clutches. He walks into the bathroom and brings back with him, yep, you guessed it, the dress.
“Douuuuug.” I groan covering my eyes.
Really, I don’t want to appear ungrateful, and I’m not, but he has a spending addiction when it comes to me clearly, I know the price of the dress and I can make a pretty good guess how much the other stuff cost him.
“What?” he grins innocently, “You said you liked it, but that you couldn’t afford it, well, I can...” He holds the dress out to me like he is awarding me a prize, and with the price of it, he kind of is.
“I know what I said. You clearly weren’t listening earlier when I told you, it’s too much, and that was before this.” I gesture to the dress.
“Nothing is too much, now take this and hang it up somewhere so we can finish what we started.” he husks slowly unbuttoning his shirt…
I’m snapped out of my reminiscing by my phone ringing.
“Hi mum” I say answering the phone and turning the volume down on my iPod.
“Sweetheart, how are you?” she asks happily.
“I’m good mum, how are you?”
“Yes, we are good sweetheart, are you looking forward tonight?” she asks.
“Yes I am, it will be a good night.” I reply, trying to convince myself.
“It will. I’ll let you go, I just wanted to wish you a happy night.” she says. I can hear my dads voice, muffled in the background.
“Sophie, your dad says make sure you take a jacket, its cold tonight.”
“Yes mum.” seriously, what am I? A two year old?
I hang up the phone and slip into my stockings, the silk and slinky material instantly makes me think of sex, attaching the suspenders I think how much Doug loves it when I wear these, he will be running his hand up my leg to check for the telltale bumps within the hour. I look forward to his reaction. No, no I don’t, he won’t be checking for bumps, I’m not planning on being close enough to him for that. I frown; realising tonight will be more difficult than I thought. We sent our RSVP back together, the host of the event knows we are together, we will be sitting together, I can’t avoid him. I’ll deal with that later, I really do need to get ready or I will be late.
Removing the rollers, I decide to leave my hair down, it’s wavy and full and I don’t have time to do anything with it now anyway. Slipping into my dress and heels I can’t help but sway to the sensual voice that is Michael Bublé singing about feeling good. Grabbing my clutch and putting my phone, lip gloss, keys, money, the necklace Doug bought me back from New York into it, I switch off the lights and make my way out just the buzzer goes, alerting me to the taxi waiting for me outside.
The journey to the Dorchester seems to whizz by and before I know it, my cab driver is telling me we are here. I pay him and thank him. Stepping out into the cold evening, I am welcomed by the doorman.
“Good evening Miss Bennett, how are you this evening?”
“Evening George, I’m very well, I trust you are too?” I smile.
“Very well, thank you. Mr Roberts is already inside.” he smiles opening the door.
“Thank you.”
I step into the warmth and spot Doug instantly, my body knows him, and it reacts without prompting. Doug looks up at the sound of my heels clicking on the tile floor.
“Sophie…” He breathes in relief. He makes his way over to me, excusing himself from the couple he was talking to, “I thought you weren’t coming.” He whispers, leaning in to kiss me.
I subtly move my head to the side, avoiding his mouth; he kisses my cheek, looking a little surprised at my reaction.
“I said I was coming, I wouldn’t miss this, you know that.” I remind him.
“I know I’m sorry.” he looks a little embarrassed and reaches down to take my hand.
“I need to visit the ladies.”
Removing my hand from his I walk to the ladies, relief washes over me as soon as I am out of his sight. Placing my clutch by the sink, I take a deep breath looking at myself in the mirror. You can do this Sophie I remind myself. I take a few moments; reapply my lip gloss and go to join everyone else. I spot Miley and Jonathan and walk over to them.
“Sophie.” Miley smiles and embraces me. “Where have you been?”
“Just to the ladies” I reply, taking a glass of champagne from the waiter.
“You look sensational tonight,” she grins squeezing my arm, “Doesn’
t she Doug?” I look up into his piercing blue eyes, not realising he had joined our group.
“She does, but then she is always breathtaking.” he smiles at me.
“Ladies and gentlemen. If you would like to make your way to the banquet room, more refreshments and canapés will be served.”
Looking up I see Doug gazing at me, trying to work out how best to deal with the situation perhaps? I’m not sure, but I put a stop to it by taking Miley by the elbow and steering her along with everyone else. The room is breathtaking, light and golden, each table set for ten, the centre pieces a huge display of red roses and candles twinkling at me. The sounds of I’ve got you under my skin playing.
“You dressed to match I see.” Miley laughs, pointing to the red roses in the centre of the tables.
“I dressed to impress.” I smile taking a fresh glass of champagne from a passing waiter.
“Do you think we are sitting together?” she asks trying to look for a seating plan.
“I have no doubt that we are.”
A smooth, sexy voice, I would recognise anywhere replies. Warm hands slip around my waist making me tense. It’s almost like he has to touch me.
“We are on table six, just over there.”
His long fingered hand points to the direction of our table. He leans down, inhaling my hair, making goose bumps appear over my entire body. It seems to soothe him and I feel his body instantly relax. I wish I could say it didn’t soothe me too, but I would be lying. Doug has a wonderful ability to calm me, whatever is going on and I feel relaxed for the first time since this afternoon. One night Sophie, enjoy tonight, face the battle tomorrow.
The evening as I originally thought it would be, is delightful. There is lots of laughing, fabulous food and company. I find myself even forgetting about this afternoon as I sit next to Doug, his hand in mine, laughing with our friends. As the evening progresses, and more champagne is consumed, I forget altogether why I’m supposed to be mad at Doug. When the band starts playing and Doug, pulls me from my seat and leads me to the dance floor. Pulling me into his arms, we begin to dance. I am lost in the wonderful feelings and the beautiful song, it seems, almost perfect.
“Sophie...” Doug’s voice is like silk wrapped around me.
“Yes...” I look up into his eyes, smouldering and filled with emotion.
“I...” he stops, taking a breath, like he can’t find the words.
“Not tonight Doug, not now, can we just enjoy this? We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?” I whisper, desperately trying to stop the tears filling my eyes from falling. One tear escapes, rolling down my cheek. Reaching up, Doug wipes it away with his thumb.
“Yes, not tonight.” he smiles weakly. “Nothing can spoil tonight.”
We stay, joined together, dancing for what seems like hours, I can’t tell you what songs we dance to, or who else joins us, because to me, it’s just Doug and I. I rest my head on his chest, feeling the warmth from him and the beat of his heart. He pulls me closer, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.
“Come home with me?” he breathes. Hopeful.
“Yes.” he raises my chin to meet his eyes.
“I love you Miss Bennett, with all I am. “ He leans in and presses his lips to mine, softly, lovingly.
“I love you too Mr. Roberts.” I whisper against his lips.
And I do, it is the truth, no matter what else I am feeling right now, I love Doug. Pretty soon, all the dancing and the heels are taking their toll on my feet and I need to sit down.
“Can we sit?” I wince “My feet are killing me.”
Doug leads me back to our table and I sit down grateful to be able to get off my feet.
“Do you want a drink?” Doug asks, leaning down to speak in my ear, shivers run down my spine.
“Just water will be great.” I reply, shaking my head to clear my brain a little. What that man does to me. I watch as he makes his way to the bar, stopping to chat to a couple of people.
“You’re such a lightweight Soph, honestly!” Miley laughs, plopping down into a chair.
“What?”
“You’re feet are hurting aren’t they?” she smiles at me. “You can’t dance anymore can you..?”
“Oh shut up, you’re just as bad.” I grin.
“Actually, I only came over here because I saw you come over, I’m fine.”
“Only because your shoes are already off!” I look down.
“You’ve had them off all night haven’t you?”
“Maybe...” she smirks
“So who is the lightweight?” We are laughing together when Doug comes back with my water.
“Do you want to dance some more?”
“I think I’m done actually, I’m ready for bed.”
“I bet you are.” Miley cackles, raising her eyebrows.
“To sleep.” I pout “Why is everything dirty to you.” I roll my eyes. She winks at me before kissing my cheek.
“Brunch, tomorrow? Jonathan isn’t due into work till late?”
“I’ll let you know.” I kiss her cheek and watch her dance her way back to Jonathan who is standing chatting with a guy I don’t know.
“Are you ready?” Doug asks, holding his hand out.
“Yes,” taking his hand we make our way out of the room and to the front desk.
“Mr. Roberts, I shall get your car bought round for you, Sir.”
“Thank you.” he smiles polite as ever.
As we step out into the dark London night, I shiver, my dad was right, it is cold. Rubbing my arms to try to warm up a bit, I hop from foot to foot.
“You’re cold, where is your jacket?” Doug asks, looking around as if he expects to see it, magically hanging in front of us.
“I didn’t bring one.”
Doug’s Bentley Continental GT appears then and I run around and hop in. The cold leather makes me jump and squeal, jeez, its freezing in here. I turn the heater up and put the heated seat on to warm up. Doug jumps in and passes me his jacket.
“Thank you.” I shrug it on quickly, absorbing his body heat and inhaling his sent.
“You really should have bought a jacket with you.” he scolds me.
“I don’t have a jacket that goes with this dress, Doug.” I roll my eyes, men understand nothing.
“You could have taken it off as soon as you got in there.” he is baffled.
“People still would have seen, it would have spoilt the whole impact of the dress.” I grin, gesturing to my outfit.
He presses a button and John Legends soulful voice fills the car, humming along, placing his hand on my thigh. It isn’t long before his hand has found what he is looking for; I see his grin out of the corner of my eyes and smile to myself. Bingo.
Doug drives us to his apartment listening to his choice of songs from his iPod. He is in a soppy mood, his choice of songs feel like he is trying to tell me something. James Morrison’s You give me something fills the car and Doug takes my hand, bringing it to his mouth, placing the sweetest kiss on my hand. I look out of the window, unable to look at him, not wanting him to see the tears that are swimming in my eyes.
As we get closer to Doug’s apartment, Jason Mraz starts to sing, Well, I won't give up on us. Even if the skies get rough, I'm giving you all my love I'm still looking up... I know Doug. I know. I hope I can too.
Chapter Thirteen
Doug parks the car and switches off the engine. All of a sudden, the silence and the fact I’m here overwhelm me. I shouldn’t be here, what am I doing? We can’t just spend the night together like everything is okay when it isn’t. I’m so totally confused. The sound of our breathing is the only sound, it’s almost dark inside the car and neither of us has said anything since we got here.
“Sophie, look at me.” Doug’s voice pulls me from my thoughts. I turn my head, meeting is cautious stare, “Come upstairs with me, just stay the night, let me hold you, I need to hold you.”
His voice is pleading, his eyes full of emotion. I don’t say anything; I
clasp the handle of the door and get out. If I think about this, I’ll end up leaving, and I need him to hold me too. We walk in silence to the lift and press the call button, thankfully, the lift is already there and we step in, Doug pressing the button for the top floors. I look at my feet, feeling unsure for the first time ever since being with Doug, nothing about us has ever been unsure. I sneak a peek at him from under my eyelashes and he is looking straight ahead. He looks unsure too. The lift pings and the doors open. Doug holds his hand out, asking me silently, to go first.