by Miranda Lee
But she didn’t like to make a fuss in front of these nice people. She would wait till they were back at the car.
‘Do you have to go so soon?’ Yvonne complained. ‘I was so enjoying your company.’
Everyone concurred with that.
Elliot remained adamant, however, and soon, he was urging an increasingly resentful Audrey through the crowd and out into the car park. She had to clamp her hat tightly on to her head with her free hand or it would have flown away, so fast were they going. Truly, what did he think he was going to do, have her in the car park? Heavens, but he must think she had no mind of her own! Or did he imagine he was so devastatingly attractive that she would go along with whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it? In love with him she might be, but a wishy-washy ninny she was no longer. Russell had cured her of that!
They reached the Saab and as Elliot bent to open the passenger door with his key she spoke up. ‘You shouldn’t have done that, Elliot,’ she started shakily, but with inner conviction. ‘You...you should have asked me first.’
He straightened, his expression both taken aback and irritated. It was the expression of a man who liked his own way and who didn’t expect a girl like Audrey to thwart him. Her whole chest contracted as she waited for him to answer.
You should have kept your big mouth shut, you fool! she told herself. He’ll probably take you straight home now, drop you off and sail off into the sunset, never to be seen again!
When he nodded slowly, a wry smile coming to his face, her relief was cataclysmic.
‘You’re right,’ he agreed. ‘I should have. It was presumptuous and arrogant of me. I’m sorry.’
‘That’s all right,’ she said, and felt a satisfaction she had never known before. She had stood up for her principles and won a concession.
He looked deep into her eyes, taking her hat off and placing it on the hood of the car before gathering her into his arms. ‘Will you come with me, Audrey?’ he murmured, and bent to brush her lips with his. ‘Right now...’ His lips parted slightly with the next brief kiss. ‘And stay with me all weekend?’
His lips descended once more and Audrey thought of nothing for the next minute or two. In truth, even when his mouth lifted from hers she was still incapable of putting two sensible thoughts together.
‘You haven’t answered me yet,’ he said softly.
‘I’m...I’m not on the Pill, you know,’ she blurted out.
‘Meaning?’
‘You...you’ll have to...to...’
He smiled gently and hugged her. ‘Of course.’
She expelled a trembling sigh against his chest. ‘I’m going to be horribly nervous, Elliot.’
He started stroking her hair. ‘That’s nothing to be ashamed of, darling.’
She quivered under the endearment and the soothing touch of his fingers gliding over her hair.
‘People are looking at us,’ she rasped.
‘Let them.’
‘Oh, I do so want you, Elliot.’
She actually felt him tremble and it was the most marvellous moment for Audrey, to think she could make him respond so.
‘Shall I find a motel for us nearby?’ he asked in a thickened tone.
She was tempted. But only for a moment. A motel conjured up images of grotty one-night stands and adulterous rendezvous. She wanted her first time with Elliot to be somewhere extra private and very, very special. It was worth waiting a few hours to have the right setting.
But she understood that men didn’t always want to wait. Elliot’s own words came floating back, when he’d said that when it came to sex frustrated men could be like animals, wanting what they wanted when they wanted it. Her mind cringed away from his added words that they didn’t always care whom they had it with.
She hated the thought that she might only be a female body to him, only a means of satisfying his physical needs. Suddenly, it was important to her that he wait those few hours. Maybe it wouldn’t prove a thing, but she refused to relinquish the idea once it had taken hold.
Slowly she eased herself out of his arms and looked up. ‘I...I’d rather go down to the snow,’ she said nervously. ‘Do you mind?’
His laugh was rueful. ‘Of course I mind. But if it’s what you prefer...’
She nodded.
‘Then so be it. But I must warn you—’
‘Y...yes?’
‘We’re going to break the record from here to the Snowy Mountains.’
She stiffened, frightened by the thought of them hurtling off some ice-slick road at a madcap speed.
‘Damn, I forgot,’ he groaned, seeing her instant alarm. ‘OK, we’ll break the record for getting from here to Jindabyne while not exceeding the speed-limit. Fair enough?’
‘Fair enough,’ she smiled, sighing.
He was as good as his word. But he kept the needle hovering on the limit right from the start, and soon they had passed the city limits and were on the expressway, heading south.
‘Can I put some music on?’ she asked after half an hour. Elliot didn’t seem in the mood to talk and the scenery had a sameness about it that was hypnotically boring. Audrey had never been on this particular highway before, and it seemed to bypass the towns.
‘Sure. Pick what you like. There’s a wide selection in the dash.’
She selected the score to the Tom Cruise movie, Top Gun, and slipped it into the player, leaning back and closing her eyes as the pulsing beat of the music throbbed into the car.
‘Try to have a sleep,’ Elliot suggested.
She couldn’t, of course. Who could? She did, however, pretend to, turning her face away from him and staring blindly through the passenger window. Eventually they did move on to a more interesting piece of road that skirted a lot of low-lying ponds or dams. A sign said it was called Lake George.
Funny sort of lake, she thought. They flashed past the turn-off to Canberra and were soon high-tailing it to Cooma. There was no stopping, no slowing down, no chit-chat.
Eventually, the sun sank low in the sky, casting a yellow-gold glow over the far hills before dropping suddenly behind, plunging the countryside into a cool grey dusk. A full moon appeared in the charcoal sky. The darkening scenery began to blur, and, finally, Audrey did fall asleep.
A hand gently shook her shoulder. ‘Audrey... We’re here.’
She sat bolt upright, and glanced around. They were in a cavern-like garage that had obviously been carved out of a hillside, solid rock forming all the walls bar the one they’d driven through, even though the roller-door was already shutting behind them.
A shiver ran through her.
‘Come on,’ Elliot said, rolling stiff shoulders and reaching for the door-handle. ‘We need to get upstairs and turn the heating on.’
Audrey climbed out of the car in a type of numbed state. Here... They were here... Oh, God...
‘Up this way,’ Elliot called and walked across the cement floor to where an internal staircase ended in a trapdoor in the ceiling of the garage. Elliot went up first to attend the deadlock. ‘Can’t be too security-conscious around here,’ he explained as he inserted a key. ‘Empty holiday homes are a real target for break-ins.’
The trapdoor led into the most enormous living area Audrey had ever seen. It too must have been partly underground, though only the back wall was hewn rock this time. The side-walls of the room were windowless and white, but the wall she found herself facing was completely glass. Clouds must have formed to cover the moon, for it was too dark to see any real view, just the hint of tree-tops and a few spots of lights shimmering down in the distance. Obviously they were high up, possibly on the side of a mountain or a hill. Audrey could also tell from the silence that they weren’t on a main road or near other houses.
She glanced around, taking in the luxurious furnishings from the thick grey carpet to the black television and video unit to the dark red leather sofas and chairs. A huge black circular combustion heater rested majestically in the centre of the room, its black fun
nel disappearing into the white ceiling.
Audrey swung her gaze to the well-appointed kitchen which was starkly white and sectioned off from the rest of the room by a breakfast bar attended by three black leather stools. To its left, partially in front of the plate-glass window, sat a glass dining table with six red leather chairs marking out the circumference of its circular shape.
Everything in the room was either grey, white, black or red. The effect was very dramatic and very male, leading Audrey to believe that this had always been Elliot’s place, never Moira’s. It made her feel better, somehow.
‘Make yourself at home,’ Elliot suggested. ‘I’ll just turn on the heating and then I’ll get us something hot to eat and drink.’ He walked over and turned on some switches on the far wall. ‘Damn, but it’s freezing in here! I think I’ll light the fire as well.’
Audrey watched him attend efficiently to the fire, all the while aware that she was becoming more tense with each passing second. Any confidence she had acquired recently also went down the drain. She felt awkward and plain again. She just knew she was going to be a failure at lovemaking, that Elliot would end up thinking her as big a bore as Russell had.
She bit her lip and walked over to pretend to look at the view, and could just make out what she thought was a large body of water. Jindabyne Lake, she supposed.
‘Pull the curtains, will you?’ he asked. ‘It’ll help keep the warmth in.’
The curtains were heavy black silk. Audrey yanked the cord and they shot across, shutting out the world. Without knowing why, she glanced up at the ceiling.
‘Yes, there’s another floor above,’ Elliot confirmed. ‘Two bedrooms with en suites. Hopefully getting warmer by the minute. One of those far doors leads to the stairs. The other’s a powder-room. I imagine you want to use it. I know I do. You first, though. When you come back sit down over here near the fire,’ he suggested, nodding towards one of the large red sofas that flanked the heater. ‘I’ll leave the glass door open so that you can get some heat straight away. I’ll get us some food as soon as this is going. Will lasagne and coffee do? I’ll microwave it.’
‘Sounds great,’ she said, and moved hurriedly towards the powder-room. All of a sudden she wanted to use it very, very badly.
It wasn’t long, however, before they were both sitting in front of a crackling fire, eating and drinking and looking like they didn’t have a care in the world.
How appearances could be deceiving, she was thinking as she forked the last of the lasagne into her mouth. She was literally scared to death. She hadn’t tasted a single mouthful of her food, neither could she remember a word she’d said in answer to Elliot’s innocuous remarks. She placed the plate down on the side-table next to her and picked up her coffee. It too seemed tasteless, but she drank it down in deep gulps, sighing deeply when it was all gone.
Perhaps Elliot sensed her apprehension, for suddenly he put his own food aside and slid along the sofa. He took the empty coffee-mug out of her hands, leaning across her to put it down as well.
‘Enough of this procrastinating,’ he rasped, and pulled her down on to the sofa with him.
CHAPTER NINE
ELLIOT was kissing Audrey before she could say a word, rolling her under him, pressing her down into the soft red leather with the weight of his body. His hands lifted to hold her face, keeping her mouth a firm prisoner for his increasingly passionate kisses. He groaned, parting his legs to fall on either side of her own, bringing his lower body in forceful contact with hers.
Audrey felt a momentary panic at the stark evidence of his desire, pressing so urgently between her thighs. He felt so much bigger than Russell. Nerves fluttered once again in her stomach. Would she disappoint him? Yet at the same time her body leapt in automatic response to his awe-inspiring need, and she arched up against him.
He gasped away from her mouth, rolling to one side and almost falling off the sofa. ‘God, Audrey!’
She cringed at the reproach in his voice. Feelings of utter inadequacy and failure crowded in. She was hopeless, useless, stupid!
‘No, no,’ he said gently, and cupped her fallen face to kiss it softly all over. ‘I’m not annoyed with you. It’s just... I’m very, very excited, love.’ His hand stroked her forehead, her cheeks, her mouth. ‘You’re so lovely and I’ve been wanting you so much. Do you understand what I’m saying?’
She blinked up at him, her heart pounding, her mind dazzled. Yes, she thought in a whirl of wonder. ‘I’ve been wanting you too,’ she murmured, and gave a little shiver.
‘You can’t possibly be cold,’ he teased.
She shook her head.
He drew in then expelled a ragged sigh.
‘I want to take your clothes off, Audrey. I want to see you, touch you... Right here. But if you’d rather, we could go up to the bedroom...’
Her mouth went dry, her heart-rate going up a notch. ‘Here would be fine,’ she rasped.
He bent to kiss her again, distracting her quite successfully with his mouth while his fingers smoothly tackled the buttons on her dress. Soon a number of them were undone, as was the front clasp of her bra, and his hands began doing marvellous things to her breasts.
Too marvellous. The blood roared around in her head, her heart going so fast she thought it must disintegrate. But when he slid her skirt up around her hips and starting divesting her of all her clothes from the waist down, she gasped away from his mouth.
‘It’s all right,’ he soothed, and sat up to complete what he had started till she was naked underneath from the waist down. And while Audrey was not ashamed of her body—it was adequate enough—she still felt shy under Elliot’s direct gaze. She would never have let Russell look at her so boldly. Never!
But then, she loved Elliot. Really loved him. And he was looking at her so admiringly, and with such genuine desire.
‘You have a beautiful body, Audrey,’ he said, and bent to kiss one taut pink tip, then the other.
Audrey thought she would die from pleasure. ‘Oh, Elliot,’ she quivered.
He lifted his head to stare down at her, a slightly bemused look on his face. ‘The man must have been mad,’ he muttered. ‘Didn’t he know what he had in you? Couldn’t he see?’ He took her mouth again quite fiercely, lying her back, his hands moving underneath the gaping dress to her naked body, searching for and finding her most intimate places and showing her that Russell had known as much about a woman’s body as the Dark Ages had about classical music.
When she started moaning Elliot sat up abruptly, pulling her with him into a sitting position where he took off her dress and threw it aside before returning to similarly dispose of her already dysfunctioning bra. For a long moment he just stared down at her totally nude body, grey eyes like molten steel, then he was reefing his tie from his throat and yanking it over his head. ‘Help me, Audrey,’ he commanded huskily, eyes darkening.
She did so, all their hands trembling as they stripped him with little finesse and no regard for what his clothes might have cost. Jacket, shirt, belt, socks, shoes. When it came to his trousers they had to stand up, Audrey’s heart racing as he finally stood before her in all his naked male glory. She stared up at him, revelling in the lean, well-honed muscles that had carried his superbly proportioned frame at break-neck speed down snow-covered mountainsides.
Her eyes dropped nervously to his manhood, which was proudly erect, and as formidable as she had suspected. She swallowed convulsively.
‘I must attend to certain matters, Audrey,’ he rasped, ‘before I forget.’
A moment later he turned round, and she stepped forward and pressed her naked, aroused body against him. He groaned in reply, and, scooping her arms up around his neck, captured her mouth in a fevered kiss. His hands roved over her bare back, then dropped to the soft womanly flesh of her buttocks. He began pressing her closer and closer, moving his aroused flesh against her. She could feel the building frustration in his hands and his mouth, though it was no greater than her own.
She wanted him and she wanted him now!
When one hand slid down to grasp her left leg, lifting it high and giving his hardness access to the soft moist flesh between her thighs, she moaned with relief. The feel of it rubbing against her was incredibly exciting. But soon it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. At the point when she was about to beg him to take her, he lifted her whole body slightly off the carpet and entered her with a single forceful thrust.
Audrey gasped away from his mouth, eyes wide with astonishment and pleasure. He groaned then smiled at her through heavy-lidded eyes. ‘I hope that feels as good for you as it does for me.’
‘Yes,’ she shuddered. ‘Oh, yes...’
Hands curved securely around her buttocks, both her feet now off the floor, he turned and lowered himself into a sitting position in the middle of the sofa, settling her firmly astride him. As her bent knees sank further into the soft leather, so did his flesh sink further into her. She closed her eyes and shuddered again with emotional and physical ecstasy...
Elliot...her love...her lover.
‘Make love to me, Audrey,’ he exhorted thickly.
Her eyes flew open, her heart fluttering wildly. Her, make love to him? But...but how exactly? This was a new experience for her, a new position, a new...
‘Like this?’ he urged, and, grasping her hips, moved them in a voluptuous circle, then slowly up and down.
‘Oh, God,’ he exhaled raggedly.
‘Oh, God’ was right, she thought, amazed by the sensations that had rocketed through her.
Yet she felt unable to do it on her own. It seemed too...wanton. Elliot repeated his urgings, not once, but many times, and soon Audrey was caught up in a wild world of escalating pleasure and tension that knew no such thing as inhibition. She gradually forgot her shyness, or fear of being thought wanton. Everything became frantic inside her. She had to move faster, and faster, her head tipping back, her lips parting in panting readiness for the end of this crazily erotic journey. For it wasn’t far off, she knew. It couldn’t be!