by S M Mala
She looked at the designs for mirrors and picture frames before smiling.
Flinging off her dirty clothes and putting them in a bundle, she jumped happily into the water and swam while washing her dust covered body.
Then she saw Jake walking down and let out a little sad sigh.
She’d forgotten about him for a moment and wondered if he’d had sex with Gina and needed to wash her stench off him. This only made her growl internally as she ignored him and carried on swimming.
Jake didn’t say a thing as he stripped off and walked in, going to the furthest and deepest part, diving under. Hatty wasn’t quite sure what he was up to, so went to the side of the stream of water and watched him pretend to be a fish. Jake stopped and looked at her. She couldn’t fathom out what he was thinking as she sunk into the water staring at him, before he swam right up to her and his nose was a few inches away from hers.
‘What’s the sign for? Are you trying to tell me something?’ he said quietly.
‘What?’
‘‘Do not touch’?’
‘I’m going to build a new work room so the house is dust free,’ she said quietly, wondering why he was looking at her with so much gentleness and thought he was up to something or had sunstroke. ‘How was your afternoon?’
‘No more games,’ Jake said quietly.
‘I’m not playing games.’
‘I came back for you,’ he said and kissed her on the lips. Hatty was stunned for a second. ‘I think you should know I’m prepared to wait until you’re ready to tell me everything and show some commitment.’
‘Commitment?’ Her heart was beating so fast she wasn’t sure what to do.
‘Not marriage,’ he laughed.
‘Thank god for that,’ she said, slightly panicking. ‘Because I’m never getting married and you’d probably be ready for that sort of commitment when you’re sixty.’
‘I mean when you’re ready for me to make love to you without being scared or upset. But you need to know, when I finish the contract here at the beginning of February, I have to go back to New York regardless of what happens between us.’
‘I think that’ll be long enough,’ she smiled, not sure how to react. ‘Did you really come back for me? Do you actually like me? Because if you do, then I’m surprised.’
‘I like you a hell of a lot,’ Jake said and he pulled her closer, placing a long, lingering kiss on her lips.
It made her heart feel like it was going to leap out of her chest.
Hatty kissed him back and when their tongues met, she felt an electric shock go through her body, as he grabbed her legs and wrapped them around his waist, holding her gently in his arms. She noticed he wasn’t getting as fresh as usual and didn’t make any moves. Then she remembered something and immediately pushed him away as she stood back.
‘What?’ he asked confused.
‘You have a girlfriend and Gina Glory Glory, so I can’t play,’ she said, walking back to the edge realising nothing had changed with him.
he pulled her back and wrapped his arms around her body so she couldn’t move.
‘I don’t want Gina and I broke up with Serena before I came here. I knew you wouldn’t want me to be with someone else. I would’ve let this cat and mouse thing go on for weeks but I wasted too much time when I was here last. I don’t want to make the same mistake again.’
‘I’m not having sex with you now, if that’s what you’re after,’ she said, hoping they would one day.
‘I want to know how to turn you on, make you see I want to please you and it’s not all for me.’
‘That’s rubbish!’ she said and turned around to look up at him grinning. ‘You don’t even find me attractive!’
‘Who said that?’
‘You said that!’
‘Look down there,’ he said, his head bent and she saw he was standing up to attention. ‘If that doesn’t say anything, what does?’
‘You’re a dog on heat,’ she laughed and continued to walk out of the water.
‘It does change things between us,’ he said following.
‘Like what?’
‘You need to dump Gabriel.’ Hatty stopped dead in her tracks and didn’t know what to say. ‘And I need to know if you’re in love with him and not using me while you bide your time.’
She smiled to herself and shook her head from side to side, turning around.
‘Gabriel’s my friend, first and foremost. I won’t touch him in an intimate way.’
‘What do you mean by ‘intimate’?’ he said, walking closer.
‘You don’t have to worry about Gabriel because-.’
‘You said, on the way to the market, it was love at first sight,’ Jake gulped and Hatty realised she had said those words.
That was why he was in a mood.
She grinned.
‘For him, so he says, not for me,’ she replied honestly, stepping closer and resting her chin on his chest then smiled up as he looked down. ‘Is this why you’re getting fresh with me now because you think I love someone else?’
Hatty laughed, turned around, picking up her clothes before walking to the house as Jake followed. She washed her feet by the water pipe and dried her legs on the towel by the door.
‘Don’t look at my bottom,’ she said, putting her hand over it as they walked up the stairs.
She went into her room, put the clothes down and turned to face him. It was Hatty who rushed up, pulling his head down and kissed him passionately. He moved her backwards towards the bed, pulling up the net and pushing her down.
They kissed for a long time and she realised his hands were carefully moving up and down her back. She longed for him to touch her breasts but realised he was doing everything slowly. Hatty squeezed his bottom as he then squeezed her breast in return. She felt his hands move all around her body, so taking the initiative and wanting to know what she was dealing with, Hatty gently touched him between the legs as he looked at her.
‘Don’t do that,’ he gently whispered into her ear.
She used her thumb and middle finger to measure his girth properly and realised her fingers weren’t touching.
Hatty gulped and gently moved up and down, removing her hand and holding it behind his back, seeing the gap. She knew she wasn’t ready for it to go inside her then noticed Jake’s eyes were open as he moved his head to see what she was doing. Hatty kissed him deeply, wrapping her legs behind his back.
Jake felt her thighs touch his sides and her hands pull at his back. He knew he had to stop sometime but she wasn’t actually fighting him off. He glided his tongue down her throat until his mouth captured her cool nipple, gently biting and sucking each one as she groaned.
‘Tell me when to stop,’ he said, turned on by her sounds.
Hatty then gently grabbed his hand and put it between her legs. He hesitated for a moment, remembering to be gentle. Jake felt the hair and rubbed her pelvic bone but to his surprise, Hatty’s hips were moving to the same rhythm.
This was a hint.
He glided his finger gently between her lips and she was wet. Slowly, he found her little mound and gently rubbed her as she moaned. His mouth searched for hers as he moved faster, feeling it get harder under his fingertips, her lips starting to swell.
‘Oh god,’ she said as he kissed her harder. ‘Don’t stop. Please don’t stop!’
Hatty’s face started to get hot and her fanny felt like it was on fire as Jake gently rubbed her in quick circular movements. Her thighs were taut as she spread them wider, until an orgasm rocketed through her body and she groaned into his mouth, then he did the same thing. That’s when she realised he’d got a little bit too excited.
‘Oh shit,’ he said into her neck as Hatty felt something wet on her leg and tried not to smile.
‘Everything okay?’ she asked. He looked at her and smiled. ‘Do you usually ejaculate when you make a woman have an orgasm?’ He did a double take and realised she was being deadly serious. ‘Is it a problem?�
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‘It’s not a problem and it’s a compliment that you turn me on. You were very hot down there. Was it better this time?’
‘What do you think?’ she smiled as he started kissing her breasts again.
‘When we eventually make love I think it might be pretty amazing,’ he mumbled between mouthfuls of flesh.
‘It better be.’
Sixteen
Delores watched her lover get out of bed and noticed the thickening of his waist. His buttocks were still firm. He was just as beautiful as the first day she saw him.
‘Murray, why do you have to go out?’ she asked, propping herself up on an elbow. ‘Why can’t you stay in on a Sunday night? The house is empty and it can be just us.’
‘Because honey, I promised to meet people for dinner. You can come if you want?’ he replied, walking into the en-suite. ‘But it’ll be business talk.’
‘And they’ll only look down on your housekeeper turning up,’ she said, trying to hide her building resentment.
‘You know how it is,’ he said, turning on the shower as she flung herself back on the bed, hoping everything would now change.
Murray returned ten minutes later, a towel wrapped under his small paunch and hair wet. Delores watched him walk into the closet and take out shorts and a shirt before she sat up.
‘Have you seen Hatty or Jake?’ she asked, knowing how to attract his attention.
‘I got a phone call from Philip telling me he’d received instructions from Hatty about building a work room or something. Then before that, Jake called to say he wanted me to ask the Manager at Crosby’s to let him use the pool.’ Murray laughed and shook his head. Delores’s jealousy crept in when she realised how his face lit up. ‘Apparently, Hatty woke him up at six and he wanted to chill out before he could face her again. You don’t think it was a bad idea telling him to stay with her? I do worry she’s alone in that house.’
‘I hate that place because it’s cursed.’
‘Delores!’ he said anxiously. ‘Don’t say that.’
‘But if that’s where she feels safe then it’s up to her. You can’t give her that house Murray it’ll only bring back bad memories in time.’ She noticed the way he looked at her, as if disappointed and confused. ‘You should’ve knocked it down when you had the chance.’
‘Why? What good would that have done? She never wanted to live on the estate and her accident was an accident.’
‘Hatty tried to kill herself!’ she barked. ‘That was not an accident.’
‘That’s not true!’ he snapped back. ‘The child can’t remember and it’s people who keep telling her she did that makes her think-.’
‘Why can’t you face it? What’s stopping you from realising she tried to do it?’
‘My wife committed suicide! How the hell do you think that makes me feel?’ he said angrily. Delores knew she was pushing him. ‘The child of the woman I love, who gave me the loaded task of looking after her flesh and blood, also wanted to die!’ Murray stood there for a moment as his comment hit hard in Delores’s gut. ‘What does that say about me?’
‘Sometimes,’ she said angrily, throwing back the covers and quickly putting on her clothes. ‘You don’t think of how I feel! You say ‘I love’ about Eloise and I’m here. What about me, Murray? I’ve showed how much I love you and you still don’t put me first!’
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, letting out a quiet sigh. ‘You know I care for-.’
‘What about love?’ she said, trying not to cry. ‘What about returning the love I feel for you? I’ve waited over twenty five years for some drop of affection from you. Never mind we were sleeping together when you were trying to make Eloise fall in love with you.’
‘Don’t say that.’
He turned his back to her and put his clothes on.
‘You never told her you were sleeping with me, did you? While you were waiting for her, you were in my bed.’
‘Not now Delores!’ he said angrily and this only riled her more.
‘And while you were with your wife, you were sleeping with her when she was carrying another man’s child! Does your son know this?’
‘Don’t you dare try and turn this on me!’ he snapped and Delores felt scared for a second. ‘It’s nothing to do with Jake and even less to do with Hatty.’
‘She wants to know about her mother and now her father. What are you going to say about him?’
‘There’s nothing to say. You know what happened so stop flinging it in my face when you want ammunition to hurt me!’
‘That’s not fair! I wouldn’t hurt anyone I love.’
‘I haven’t forgiven you for hitting her, you know!’
‘Hatty again?’ she snapped.
‘What came over you? What’s coming over you know?’
‘Love!’ she screamed shaking her head angrily. ‘You show her so much love and you give me the crumbs. Don’t you realise the way you look at her, it’s more than maternal love Murray. I know that.’
‘You’re deranged,’ he said, storming out of the bedroom and walking down the corridor. ‘I love that child as if she was my own. It’s you that has a problem and your insecurities, let alone jealousy. No wonder she’s afraid of everything around her. You’ve not helped!’
‘And I’ll tell you what you’ve not done, is make it official between us, instead of this sneaking about. Everyone knows we’re together,’ she said, storming behind him. ‘I want people to know that we are together for good.’
‘Delores,’ he said, stopping mid-flight down the stairs. ‘We are together. I don’t care who knows so what’s the problem?’
‘I want to get married.’
They were in the local supermarket as Jake stood by the counter paying for the food. Hatty eyed him up and down, trying not to let out a lustful sigh. She turned to the cucumbers on the stall and discreetly put her fingers into the shape of how wide she thought his penis was, while trying to find a match. When she thought she did, Hatty stepped back in surprise, realising having sex with Jake might be a little bit more painful than anticipated. Very tempted to put it in her mouth to make sure of his size, she picked it up.
‘What are you doing?’ he said, making her jump as she flung back the cucumber onto the stack and turned to him. Hatty looked up into his eyes and, for a moment, she thought the world stopped. ‘I want to kiss you.’
‘You can’t,’ she said quietly, not diverting her stare. ‘People will talk.’ Hatty smiled. ‘I want to kiss you too, all over your body.’ He closed his eyes when she said that. ‘But we’re taking things slowly.’
‘Except when I was little quick,’ he grinned and blushed which Hatty thought was very sweet. ‘Too excited you see.’
‘Or lack of sex,’ she said, taking one of the carrier bags out of his hand and seeing he had bought eggs, cheese, bread and beer. ‘I didn’t have lunch, did you?’
‘I had a burger. Do you want something to eat?’ he said, checking the bags. ‘I can take you out for dinner, if you like? What about ‘Mercy’s Shack’?’
‘No,’ she said, knowing on a Sunday night it would be busy and Gina Glory Glory would be there. ‘Let’s go somewhere else.’
‘I thought you liked it there.’
‘I do.’
‘Then let’s go!’
‘I don’t want to see Gina Glory Glory. Once today is enough,’ she replied, not wanting to betray she was pissed off seeing her with him.
‘I’m not going to sleep with her or anyone else,’ he said, putting his arm across her shoulders as they walked down the road.
‘Why not?’
Hatty was happy with his comment but not trusting of the reason.
‘Because I want to kiss you all over and concentrate on making you happy,’ Jake whispered into her ear. ‘And I’d rather do it sooner than later but we have to be clear on something.’
‘What’s that?’
‘I am going back to New York to live and work, so don’t go expecting anything
else from this.’ Hatty laughed out loudly and threw his arm off his shoulder as she marched off down the road. ‘What’s so funny?’
‘What makes you think I want anything else?’ she turned around and laughed. ‘And it’s pretty conceited of you to already pre-plan that I’d be begging you to stay. This is what it is Jake, nothing more or less.’
‘What is it?’
‘Us.’
Hatty pleased with her answer turned around and carried on walking as he ran up behind her.
‘‘Us’?’
‘You and me getting to know each other better, experimenting with our bodies and hopefully not getting into a fight. I won’t declare my love for you and I certainly know you won’t do that for me. But you can help me build my new work room near the house and to me, that’s proof enough we shared something together after you’ve gone.’ She smiled brightly only to see he wasn’t smiling back. ‘I’m not saying I want you to do any manual labour if you don’t want to.’
‘Stop,’ he said, holding her elbow so she’d slow down. ‘You’re not in love with me?’
‘Would it matter if I was because you’re only going to break my heart, aren’t you?’
He watched her pace around the area she intended to build as he tried to pinch himself, realising twenty four hours ago everything was different. Jake’s second night with Hatty and he was effectively getting down and nearly very dirty.
‘What do you think?’ she said, stretching her arms out. ‘Then I can clear the dining room out and knock down the wall through to the kitchen.’
‘One step at a time,’ he sighed, looking at the beautiful woman standing with her hands on her hips.
Even Jake knew what he felt for her was something far deeper than he was ready to admit to himself. They both jumped when they heard a car horn at the gate, turning to see the gates open.
‘Mister Murray!’ she said, shaking her head. ‘You have to buzz like everyone else.’