by Jo Bartlett
Chapter Sixteen
‘Where the hell have you been?’ Stevie looked genuinely irritated when she arrived at the table where they’d been seated for the wedding breakfast. ‘I’ve had to make conversation with these two and I’ve already agreed to go to the polo with them and hook up in Marbella in May.’ He gestured towards two predatory looking women in their early thirties, who were making their way back to the table with another bottle of champagne.
‘More bubbly lovely? Couldn’t wait for that blasted waiter to get his finger out and serve us. A person could actually die of thirst in this place!’ The taller of the two women, who had poker straight hair and an alarmingly horsey appearance, sloshed champagne into Stevie’s glass and across most of the table. No wonder the poor waiter had been unable to keep up, it looked as though she’d knocked back several bottles already.
‘Oh no. Who are you?’ Horsey’s friend was staring pointedly at Ashleigh, clearly horrified to see that another woman had moved in on her territory. She had a sulky mouth, which might have rivalled Angelina Jolie’s had it been turned up at the corners, instead of turned down like a semi-deflated tyre. ‘You didn’t say you had a girlfriend!’ The lips deflated some more.
‘Girlfriend?’ Ashleigh laughed and Stevie gave her a quick kick under the table. ‘Oh no, we’re just friends. Stevie hasn’t got a girlfriend.’ The kicking was growing more vigorous. ‘Hasn’t had one for as long as I can remember.’
‘Oh goody!’ The taller woman thrust out her hand towards Ashleigh, bon vivre fully restored. ‘I’m Hortense, pleased to meet you.’ For a moment, Ashleigh genuinely thought she’d said her name was ‘horse sense’.
‘Lovely to meet you Hortense.’ She turned the word over carefully as she spoke, knowing just how easy it would have been to make the slip of tongue that was screaming inside her head.
‘And I’m Mandy.’ Tyre lips thrust out a bony hand. ‘We’re friends of Carly’s. We meet up with her every New Year in Barbados, that’s how we first met. We can’t bear to see her in January surrounded by grey weather and miserable, over-weight people.’
‘Great to meet you, I’m Ashleigh. I expect Stevie has already told you how we know Carly and I’m sure he’s also revealed how single he is?’ She kept the smile on her face even as Stevie whispered in her ear that he was going to kill her.
‘Don’t you just love weddings?’ Hortense, having happily discerned that Ashleigh was no threat after all, sloshed champagne into her glass with the same sense of abandon that she seemed to be applying to her hunt for a man. ‘Such a fabulous way to meet people I always think.’ She winked at Stevie, who visibly shuddered.
‘Sorry, someone just walked over my grave. Probably a traitorous friend.’ He was grinning though.
‘Ooh, I hate it when that happens. I can think of much nicer things to make the body shudder.’ Hortense laughed and Ashleigh felt strangely disappointed that it wasn’t more of a bray. Although, the large floppy straw hat she was sporting did make her look scarily like one of those donkeys on a seaside postcard.
‘Sex?’ Ashleigh couldn’t fight the bubble of laughter any longer. ‘Oh yes, that could definitely make Stevie shudder all over again!’
‘Yippee!’ Hortense giggled, seeming to accept that as a confirmed invitation. ‘We’ve been watching Four Weddings and a Funeral by way of preparation for today, haven’t we Mandy?’ Hortense was obviously the talker of the twosome; Mandy just gave a small nod and a twitch of the resolutely down turned mouth. Ashleigh wondered if she ever smiled. It was going to be a long afternoon.
****
After the meal and what felt like hours of uncomfortable silence from Mandy and inane conversation from Hortense, the dancing finally started. The newly weds took to the dance floor first, but that was where tradition started and ended. Carly had changed into a gold two-piece outfit, which Ashleigh could have sworn she’d last seen in a Shakira video. The top of it was a crystal-encrusted bikini top and the bottom half was a mini skirt with a row of tassels made from strings of gold beads, which flicked around in all directions whenever Carly moved, and boy was she moving. Duane was positioned on a chair in the middle of the dance floor and, to all intents and purposes, his new wife was performing a less than private lap dance for her husband.
No doubt every straight guy in the room would happily have changed places with him at that point. Although it did creep Ashleigh out when Carly’s uncle, who was also seated at their table, was as enthusiastic about it as the rest of them.
As the dance routine reached an end, other people started to move towards the dance floor. Predictably, Zac Starr was one of the first up and soon had his arms around the waists of two of Carly’s bridesmaids.
‘God, that man’s a dick.’ Stevie had a rare curl of the lip as he spoke.
‘Looks like he’s got fiancées eight and nine both lined up together!’ Ashleigh grinned. Zac had finally firmed up the plans for her to shoot his album cover later in the week, so he could do no wrong as far as she was concerned.
‘Shall we hit the dance floor then?’ Stevie tugged at his waistband again. ‘I’ve got to do something, I must have consumed about ten thousand calories today.’
‘About eight hours of solid dancing should take care of that then.’ She smiled and held out her hand. Sometimes knowing how many calories it took to work off one chocolate cheesecake wasn’t a good thing. ‘Come on, let’s show them how it’s done.’
They took their position near the edge of the dance floor and it wasn’t long before Zac had dumped the bridesmaids and edged his way across to join them. If there’d been such a thing as a brush-off dance, Stevie was doing it. The more Zac tried to dance next to Ashleigh, the more Stevie positioned himself to block Zac’s attempt.
‘Mind if I cut in?’ Tom was suddenly standing next to them. The thought that he’d been watching her dance moves was mortifying.
‘Yeah, go for it Tom, I need a drink anyway.’ Zac gave him an amiable dig in the ribs. ‘Watch out though, she’s hot stuff tonight.’
‘I’d noticed.’ Tom’s expression was unreadable and Ashleigh thanked God that the Latin beat of the band’s second song had subsided and been replaced by their version of Have I told you lately? by Van Morrison.
‘I’ll let you two tackle this one on your own.’ Stevie winked. ‘Just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’
‘This is my favourite song.’ She breathed in the subtle scent of Tom’s aftershave as he pulled her towards him. ‘I know you don’t believe in it, but I think this song is exactly what love should be all about.’ He was a less flamboyant dancer than Zac or Stevie, but he could move and there was an intensity in the way that he held her that was a thousand times more intimate than all Zac’s hip thrusting could ever be. She could easily have been lost in the moment, if she’d let herself. The dance floor had cleared a little and conversation was more possible, so she tried to concentrate on that instead.
‘Still enjoying yourself?’ He pulled away from her for a moment, looking at her so intently that she had to glance away.
‘The best bits of the day have had you in them.’ She buried her face in his shoulder, so that eye contact was impossible.
‘You seemed to be really enjoying yourself with Zac.’ It was a statement rather than a question.
‘You know Zac and Stevie, we were just having a laugh.’ His body relaxed a little as she spoke and he pulled slightly away again.
‘Is this a laugh too?’ His face was unreadable. ‘Only as far as I knew we had firm plans for tonight and I’d rather know now if you want to back out.’
‘Do you want me to sign a contract?’ She tried to make light of it, suddenly struck by the thought that there might be a first reserve already waiting in the wings, and she didn’t want to think about that. It was like contemplating the flight home from your holiday when you were only just packing your case to go.
****
As they made their way out into the main stairwell of the hotel, they bumped into Stevie, charging past the huge Christmas tree in the other direction, with the perfect outline of a hand print, in stinging red, emblazoned across his cheek.
‘What happened to you? Are you alright?’ Ashleigh was full of concern as Stevie gingerly touched the area of his face where he’d been slapped.
‘Yes, I’m fine.’ He gave her a sheepish smile. ‘I was just kissing someone and they were kissing me back. I think it took us both a bit by surprise though and they obviously felt like I’d taken advantage.’
‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ He wouldn’t want to say too much in front of Tom, so she didn’t press him about the mystery recipient of the kiss.
‘Yeah I’m fine, just a bit shocked about both the kiss and the slap!’ He grinned, reassuring her he was okay. Either way, Tom might have given Stevie more than a slap if she’d disappeared to sort out his problems. ‘I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. Let’s just say that if I sang I kissed a girl and I liked it, you wouldn’t be any more surprised.’ He leant forward, giving her a quick kiss of her own. ‘Now go and have fun for God’s sake!’
Chapter Seventeen
The staircase sweeping up towards the first floor of the hotel was straight out of ‘Gone With The Wind’. Tom took her hand and began to lead her up the first few steps.
‘What are you doing?’ Ashleigh stopped on the third step and refused to move any further. The whole point of booking the bed and breakfast had been to ensure discretion and a little bit of privacy away from the wedding party. ‘What if someone sees us?’
‘Frankly my dear, I couldn’t give a damn.’ There was that easy wink again. ‘Look, desperate as I am to get you into bed, I was planning to take the time to shut the door.’
‘I meant in the morning.’ He was teasing her, but what if she’d got the etiquette wrong and he wasn’t planning on her spending the whole night with him? It was all so complicated, like a game of chess she didn’t really understand. It was no wonder Stevie had been the only man in her life for so long.
‘Are you ashamed of me then?’ When he smiled, there was no way to resist. He pressed himself against her, until her back was up against the balustrade of the banisters. His lips brushed against her mouth and a jolt of desire shot down her spine.
‘Not ashamed no.’ She smiled and would have attempted a wink herself, if it didn’t end up making her look like a stroke victim. ‘Only my mother wouldn’t approve of us kissing in public like this.’ It was a lie of course. Had her mother been in Ashleigh’s shoes, she’d probably have taken half her clothes off by now and left them on each stair on the way up, like some kind of gingerbread trail announcing to the world that she was on her way to this gorgeous guy’s room to have sex.
‘Good, because I couldn’t care less who sees us.’ He paused for a second to kiss her again.
At least she’d had the foresight to get a bikini wax, she couldn’t risk Tom bursting out laughing the moment she whipped off her pants. Or he did. Panic rose in her throat again, her mind was a blank; she’d completely forgotten how these things worked, just who was it that did the knickers removal?
With each step, she was more tempted to make a bolt for it. What if she really was boring in bed, as Liam had suggested? Her mind was whirring. Would Tom be waxed in anticipation of their night too or was he the hairy natural type? She was all for a bit of chest hair, but she wasn’t quite sure how she would react if he had hair from his shoulders to his buttocks like a silver-back gorilla.
By the time they reached Tom’s room, she was shaking. Had she been in a different state of mind, she might have appreciated her surroundings more. The suite was dominated by the mandatory four-poster bed set in the middle of the circular room, positioned in Brewley Manor’s turreted wing. There was also a huge, squashy sofa, a table laden with fruit, a bottle of chilled champagne and one of the biggest boxes of chocolates that Ashleigh had ever seen. Tom hadn’t touched them, not a single one. If she and Stevie had been given the room, the chocolates would have been devoured within minutes, with only the Turkish delights and rock hard toffee centres left. That must be the difference when you had money and were used to this sort of thing all of the time. It wouldn’t be nearly as much of a treat for Tom.
‘What are you thinking about?’ He cupped her chin gently until her gaze finally met his. Probably best not to tell him that she was thinking about chocolate.
‘You.’ Well it wasn’t a lie, she was thinking about him, at least about how he’d been able to resist the chocolates. Her brain seemed to be trying to distract her, albeit temporarily, from panicking.
‘That’s good, because I’ve been thinking about you far too much from the day you first walked into my office and began ridiculing my choice of fiancée!’ He was grinning though and the dimples were back. God, he was sexy.
‘I’m sorry about that.’ She couldn’t suppress a grin either. ‘Well, okay, I’m not sorry. It’s just she didn’t seem like your type.’
‘But you are.’ It wasn’t a question. ‘You have no idea how gorgeous you are, do you?’
She dropped her gaze again, she couldn’t look at him when he was saying things like that to her. A sudden sound, like hundreds of fire crackers outside the bedroom window made her jump.
‘It’s the fireworks. Carly said they’d be having them at nine o’clock, it’s when they first met. She told me she doesn’t even remember it, but Duane never forgot.’
Tom’s arm circled her waist and he led her to the window, as thousands of pounds worth of fireworks exploded into the night sky. ‘When we first met, I wondered whether you and Stevie were a couple. I suspected he was gay, but then the way you looked at each other made me think I might be wrong.’
‘And I thought you hated me.’
‘I think I tried to convince us both of that, it would have been a hell of a lot easier than what I was really thinking.’ He gave her a rueful smile. ‘There I was with my pregnant fiancée, wondering what the photographer taking our engagement photo looked like without her clothes on.’
‘So… do you want to find out?’ A familiar blush swept across her skin, but for once she didn’t care.
‘Right now, there’s absolutely nothing else I’d rather be doing.’
Tom moved towards her, the fireworks still crackling outside. This was it. It was really going to happen. Just like the first time they’d kissed, as his lips pressed against hers again, Ashleigh found herself rooted to the spot. She wanted this, and him, but part of her wanted to run too, before it really was too late to turn away from the risk she was about to take.
His hands moved up from her waist, finding the zip on her dress without hesitation, the silkiness of her new underwear helping it slide to the floor with ease. Finally able to move, as he drew away, she undid a couple of buttons on his shirt – her hands so clumsy it was almost like they belonged to someone else. She was aware of his eyes on her body and she tried not to wonder what he was thinking; she was supposed to be sexy and confident, not blushing like a first-timer. The decision she’d made to keep a clear head and stay sober suddenly felt like the wrong one. All of this would have been much easier with her inhibitions dulled.
At last his shirt was undone and she knew she’d risk anything to sleep with him. Seeing him half-naked, she couldn’t have backed out even if she’d wanted to. The smell of sandalwood clung just delicately enough to his skin. Subtle notes of the distinctive aftershave that always made her think of him, were left too; a heady combination which, with the sight of his bare chest, left her unable to resist running her hands down it towards his waist. Fumbling with his belt buckle, she dropped her gaze.
‘Are you sure you want to do t
his?’ Tom’s voice was gentle, his hands over hers – he must have been able to feel her shaking.
‘You know I do, I’m just a bit worried that I’ll…’ He raised a finger to her lips before she could finish.
‘Trust me. There’s nothing to worry about. This is all about having fun, so you can leave your angst at the door. There’s no rush either.’ She finally looked at his face; the intensity in those dark blue eyes said as much as his words. It might be casual and it might be fun, but this didn’t feel like a one-night stand any more. He slid off his unbuttoned shirt and removed the rest of his clothes as she watched him, until only his boxer shorts were left. Thank God he wasn’t the sort to keep his socks on.
Leading her towards the sofa, they sank down together and his hands moved expertly across her body as they kissed again, discarding her underwear with considerable skill. She wasn’t going to think about just how many times he’d done this before, though. His mouth moved to her ear and down her neck, his breathing deepening. She could hear how much he wanted her, her more than anyone at that moment. She slid her hand inside the waistband of his shorts and the physical confirmation that she’d wanted was obvious.
The warmth of his skin against hers felt natural, her nipples grazing his chest as his mouth moved slowly towards the base of her neck.
‘Have you got something?’ She was panicking again, aware she was being swept away by his touch. But, if he was like Liam, there’d be expectations within minutes – things she was supposed to do; things she didn’t want to do without knowing they were both protected.
‘Stop worrying, it’s sorted. Just relax.’ Tom’s breath on her neck made her shiver. Easy for him to say. As his lips found her collar bone, and continued their journey down, her whole body stood to attention. Okay, the sex might not turn out to be fabulous, but so far it was… An involuntary gasp escaped her, as his tongue slowly circled her nipple. Parts of her she hadn’t known had any connection to that area of her body rushed with blood; even the soles of her feet began to tingle as he closed his mouth around her and she responded – a million sensations flooding through her.