Salt

by David Chambers

  ‘The doors are red because it’s our company’s name.’ Dan said touching his wallet to another black box.

  ‘What’s your company’s name?’ Emma asked watching the light turn to green. A kaleidoscope of butterflies took off in her tummy when she realised that the green light confirmed she’d be spending the night with this man. She panicked, then remembered she’d waxed last week. She’d have hated to miss out on the perfect end to the evening because of prickly thighs.

  ‘Red Door Consulting. That’s what we’re called.’ Dan said pushing the door open for Emma. ‘We were stuck for a name, we didn’t want anything cheesy and we were all out of ideas and then when we next met up for a meeting we met outside a pub. It was summer so we sat outside while we waited for everyone to arrive. Then when we went to walk in the place had these bright red doors and we all just stopped and knew that was the name.’

  ‘Have you got a website and stuff?’ Emma asked.

  ‘Yeah, red door consulting dot co dot UK. Easy to remember. Dan smiled and closed the door behind them leaving them in darkness until he clicked the light switch.

  Emma gasped as the room lit. The ceilings looked even higher than in the hall, the walls segued into the ceiling with a deep architrave, the walls were the same shade of white used throughout the building but this hadn’t been due to a job lot of cheap paint. Whoever had decorated this building had understood that the interior needed no colours, they had allowed the intricacy of the woodwork to define the room and highlight the herringbone patterned parquet flooring.

  ‘We looked into the meaning of red doors just to make sure that we weren’t choosing a name that would harm us in anyway and we learned that historically red doors meant everything from good luck to safety for travellers so we stuck with it. Now we just make sure all the buildings we own have red doors. I don’t know if anyone understands at first but it’s kind of like having a sign outside that’s secret until we tell people and then they get it. Sorry, I’m rambling. Would you like a drink?’ Dan said.

  ‘Err sorry what?’ Emma said realising that she had only been half listening to Dan while she looked at the room.

  ‘Would you like a drink? We’ve got some wine and beer and pretty much any kind of soft drink imaginable.’

  ‘No, I’m fine thank you, if I drink much more I’ll pop.’ Emma said still admiring the décor. She flinched from her daydream when she felt a hand brush her hip, but relaxed when she remembered it was Dan. He brushed her hair aside, she tilted her head instinctively closing her eyes as she did. Emma felt a light gasp leave her lips when she felt his lips touch her neck, starting at her ear and moving down to her shoulder. Her arms fell limp as he continued to kiss the taut muscle connecting her brain to her heart. She softened against him, her legs lost their strength, she felt like they had turned to marshmallow. A rush of goose pimples exploded across her arms in a tingle of excitement, her head felt heavy as the pleasure spreading through her body became almost painful. He pulled her closer. Both hands on her hips now, she could feel the warmth of his body against her. Emma didn’t notice as her bag slipped to the floor, the jury was still out on whether she would have noticed an earthquake. Her neck was her one weakness and he’d found it immediately. Usually guys took a few weeks to understand it about her, if at all, but he had found it with his first touch. If he hadn’t been holding her tight her legs would have buckled completely and left her a contented puddle of quivering goose pimpled flesh on the floor.

  Dan slid his hand from her hip slowly to her breast, his hand gently squeezing from underneath. He held her like this, his hand a living bra, feeling the weight and softness of her breast. She groaned again, her mind freed of conscious thought as her body reacted to this stranger’s touch. His fingers massaged her though her blouse, stroking the lacy pattern of her bra and finding her stiffening nipple.

  He turned her to face him so their mouths could meet, they kissed. Their first kiss wasn’t a tender, gentle brush of lips, they’d moved past that point. Their first kiss was a need filled tangle of lips and tongues which didn’t stop when he lifted her off the ground.

  The brown leather Chesterfield creaked as Dan lay her down, he reached down to push off his boots. Emma didn’t know when he unlaced them, she joined him and kicked off her heels.

  His fingers flicked open the buttons of her blouse, parting the fabric as he slowly worked lower. He felt the soft warmth of her skin and stopped kissing her, kneeling upright between her thighs he paused to take in the view. The lace of her bra encased her breasts, they stood firm and pert, her flawless skin gave her the appearance of a model after several hours of Photoshop.

  Her eyes widened as he looked at her and he realised he had paused longer than expected, time stopped as he looked down on the girl before him. He smiled, his eyes narrowed then he pounced on her. His mouth on her neck quicker than any Bram Stoker creation. Her back arched, lifting her body closer to his as he kissed from her throat to her chest. Her hands pulled at his shirt, untucking it, her fingers slid up his back, nails trailing raised skin as she urged him closer.

  His tongue danced across her chest as he pulled her jeans open. He pushed down the cup of her bra and found her nipple. She groaned as he took it into his mouth.

  Emma reached down and pushed off her jeans. Dan’s jeans followed moments later, he kissed her mouth leaving her nipple taut and ready. He supported his bodyweight with one hand, his other pushed her white thong aside. She was ready for him and he was ready for her.

  He pushed inside her and stayed that way until morning.

  CHAPTER TWO

  ‘How long do we have before the flights?’ Emma asked.

  ‘A couple of hours before we need to get a taxi, I just want to show you something first. It won’t take long honestly.’ Dan said.

  ‘Ok. I just don’t want to miss another flight is all. I’m a nervous Nelly I know.’

  ‘I know but we won’t miss it, I promise, but if we do we still have the apartment.’ Dan smiled

  Emma blushed lightly. She hated blushing and had spent years trying to control it, a good foundation usually helped but her makeup was packed in the hold of some plane at Charles De Gaulle so her blushing was without camouflage. ‘It is a nice apartment.’ She said the first thing that came into her mind to try to diffuse the memories of the night before.

  ‘I know but we best get going so we don’t end up without clean clothes for another night.’ Dan said opening the apartment door.

  ‘True, I could do with some fresh undies. What is it we are going to see?’ Emma asked glad Dan seemed to have missed her flushed face.

  ‘It’s a bridge.’ Dan said.

  ‘A bridge?’ Emma paused. ‘Ok.’

  ‘Yeah a bridge but it’s a nice bridge. Trust me you’ll like it.’ Dan said closing the door behind them as they stepped into the cold, bright morning.

  They walked together, the snow had stopped but the streets were still white giving Paris a silence it never normally achieved in daytime. They walked close, but not touching. The night had been spent naked together but oddly Dan was unsure if Emma would be comfortable with him touching her in public. The morning had started late for them, the warmth of the bed had been difficult to leave but eventually they managed.

  Dan reached down and took Emma’s hand in his, he squeezed it gently. She smiled, her worries that he would be awkward with her this morning were slowly melting away like a sugar cube in a hot coffee. This wasn’t her first one-night stand but usually afterwards there was a shared desire to part company as quickly as was politely possible. More than once she had woken up early and gone to her kitchen to make a cup of coffee, sometimes she was showered and dressed before they woke up. Sometimes they stopped for a coffee which usually turned out to be a difficult few minutes as they each pretended to have not been drunk the night before and to have not seen each other naked. She preferred it when they just left as soon as they could and there was no discussion over whether she would see him a
gain or if he would call. If she slept with them on the first night then usually she wasn’t interested in seeing them again, Emma didn’t consider herself old fashioned but she didn’t believe the best way to start a relationship was with a drunken disappointing romp. Dan was the first person she had been happy to wake up with after a one-night stand. Her main worry had been him pushing her out of the apartment. She worried that he would do whatever was necessary to pacify her until the plane touched down and then he vanished from her life with nothing more than an awkward peck on the cheek at the luggage carousal.

  ‘Not far now at all.’ Dan said.’ It’s just around this corner.’

  ‘Oh wow, what are those?’ Emma stopped as they turned the corner stunned by the view.

  ‘They’re museums. That ones the Petit Palais and that ones the Grand Palais.’ Dan said, he had forgotten they would pass them.

  ‘They’re gorgeous is what they are. I’ve not heard of them before.’ Emma started walking again but faster now she wanted to be closer to the buildings.

  ‘I know but they aren’t what I wanted to show you. Paris is full of beautiful buildings and everything sounds pretty in French. If someone had built some museums in London and called them Big Palace and Little Palace people would have just laughed.’

  ‘That’s true. It’s like Petit Pois. Don’t laugh but when I was a kid I always thought they were something special, then I found out they were just little peas and I was kind of disappointed.’ Emma said smiling.

  Dan laughed. ‘Sorry but that’s really cute. For years I thought that having an inny or an outy belly button depended on how far the midwife pushed it back in after she tied a knot it the umbilical cord.’

  Emma laughed and stopped walking. ‘That’s not true, is it?’

  ‘Yeah. I honestly thought it until I watched a programme about births and then I was confused so I had to Google it a few times.’

  ‘That’s brilliant, I love it.’ Emma said still giggling as she walked.

  Dan smiled and leaned over to kiss her forehead. She leaned her head into him and smiled. He didn’t think he had ever kissed a girl’s forehead, it had never even occurred to him to do it before but here it felt natural and he had done it without thinking. A spur of the moment kiss that can sometimes end terribly but with her nothing felt odd or uncomfortable. She hadn’t been the first girl he had taken to that flat but she was the first one he wished for longer with, he knew it was unlikely she would want to see him much more once they were back in the UK but for now he just wanted to enjoy the limited time he had with her. If she ended up being a holiday romance then that was fine but he knew now that he wanted her even more than when he had first seen her.

  They continued walking, the snow crunching with each step. The occasional vehicle drove past but the usual tourists were nowhere to be seen. They almost had the streets to themselves with nobody cutting in front of them or stopping to take pictures of the buildings. The stillness of the streets and the glittering whiteness made the walk even more magical. The locals were mostly inside in the warm, drinking hot chocolate or reading. The days shopping or other tasks had been pushed back until it warmed up. The streets belonged to them, two lovers who had known each other only hours walking in a Parisian Narnia while the tortured artists laboured inside dreaming of the Louvre or writing the next classic novel. Many were probably watching a recording of the French X Factor or playing Playstation’s but that wasn’t nearly as romantic as a modern Monet painting his Camille. It seemed almost sacrilegious to play Call of Duty in a city like Paris, although people were people and Sony sold in France.

  They passed under lines of naked trees, their summer coats having long since turned to street litter to be swept up by street cleaners. Now the bare branches held the weight of last night’s snow, their usual brown now white. The pavement changed to wet cobbles as they crossed the road, they had been cleared of snow and were laid in an arched pattern spreading out in front of them like the scales of a giant reptile stretching towards Pont Alexandre.

  ‘That’s it there’ Dan said pointing ahead of them.

  Emma stopped as she looked up. The entrance to the bridge was flanked by two tall square columns, each capped with a golden sculpture glinting in the winter sun. The columns looked like nothing but Gallic flair but acted as a counter balance to support the weight of the bridge. Pont Alexandre, like most of the worlds beautiful architecture came from a period before computers had replaced geniuses, a time when form and function worked together and before buildings were bolted together and covered with a painted façade.

  ‘Is that the bridge?’ Emma said.

  ‘Yeah, that’s it. Its famous.’ Dan said.

  ‘Why is it famous? It’s lovely but why famous?’

  ‘It just the fanciest bridge in Paris and people come to see it. It’s flat so it doesn’t ruin any views.’ Dan said.

  ‘Oh yeah, I’d not noticed its flat, that’s cool.’

  The wind picked up as they walked out further onto the bridge, Dan put his arm around her shoulder to protect her from the cold wind blowing along the Seine.

  ‘This is what I wanted to show you.’ Dan said pointing along the river.

  ‘Oh wow.’ Emma said as she saw the Eiffel Tower in the distance. It stood over every other building in view but from this distance it looked like someone was holding up one of the millions of cheap tourist models sold every year. ‘It’s beautiful isn’t it?’

  ‘It is but its better at night. We’ve missed the light show though.’ Dan said.

  ‘That’s a shame, I’d have loved to see that. I saw it on YouTube but didn’t get to see it this week.’

  ‘I’m sure you can come back again soon though.’ Dan said leaning to kiss her again. Her hair smelled clean and he couldn’t help breathing it in as her held her close.

  Emma moaned slightly as he kissed her. ’It’s lovely here.’ Emma said.

  ‘It is. I really like Paris. Did you know there was a guy who ate breakfast in the restaurant there every morning because he hated it and inside the tower was the only place in Paris where he couldn’t see it?’

  She laughed. ‘I didn’t know that, why would you not like it though?’

  ‘I really don’t know but a load of artists at the time hated it and protested. It’s funny because it’s now what everyone associates with Paris and back then they all hated it.’

  ‘That’s crazy, it’s gorgeous.’ Emma said, she hadn’t taken her eyes off the tower all the time they spoke.

  ‘I know, nobody can remember them and that’s gone on to be the symbol for Paris, France even.’

  Dan pulled her closer to him, she felt tiny and fragile in his arms. She turned her head, looking up at him. Dan didn’t know how it was possible but he was sure her eyes had become an even brighter shade of blue, he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her. She closed her eyes, Dan closed his too and they turned to each other, standing in an embrace oblivious to the icy wind.

  Their mouths parted, Dan opened his eyes and noticed that Emma’s stayed closed as her tongue brushed between her lips. She opened her eyes and smiled, lowering her eyes as if caught in an embarrassing day dream.

  ‘How about we go and get a drink before we call a taxi, there will be a little coffee place somewhere’

  ‘Yes, that’d be lovely.’ Emma said.

  They walked back across the bridge, Dan reached down and took her hand in his. It felt delicate and cold as if it might shatter.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Dan lay on the hotel bed in only his boxers, it was how he spent most of his time in hotel rooms after work. Usually there was no issue but once he dialled into a video conference forgetting he was almost naked, luckily the camera had been pointing high enough to avoid major embarrassment and everyone had believed his quickly thought up lie about a mystery waiter spilling a curry on him without pushing for more information. Today had been another long day, his eyes ached from moving Excel numbers into PowerPoint charts. The only
thoughts that managed to ease the monotony were those about the way Emma smiled shyly and blushed when she got embarrassed at something even slightly rude.

  She wasn’t the first girl he had dated and she wasn’t the first girl he had developed feelings for but she was the first girl he found himself missing after one night, together. He was usually happy to forget to call a girl back after a one-night stand, it was kind of an understandable code shared between two people. If there was no call then it just ended there, he never broke the code by seeing a girl a couple of times if he knew there was nothing in it. Dan missed her and realised shortly after lunch that he missed spending time walking around and drinking coffee as much as being in bed with her. He didn’t know what they talked about but they spoke almost continuously in Paris, it had been like they were old friends catching up after a long break rather than strangers who had just met.

  They had exchanged numbers and he promised he would text her and he would. He knew he wanted to speak to her again but for the first time in a long time he was worried she wouldn’t return his messages. As a teenager he had always been nervous about being rejected by girls until he realised that not trying was a guarantee of failing and he had grown a thick enough skin to just take the rejection and move onto the next girl. Emma made him feel like he was fourteen again. He was scared and excited by the feelings but he knew couldn’t go on not knowing if she would still be into him.

  Dan picked up his iPhone from the bedside table and opened it, no messages. He hoped she might message him despite agreeing that he would message her this week. Maybe it was too soon, he put the phone back down, he would text her later or maybe not. He really didn’t feel like hearing how she needed to wash her hair this weekend. The devil and angel on his shoulders had changed into two nagging voices, one saying she wouldn’t return his message and the other saying she would.