Quids In: Covent Garden Series

by Mary B. Moore

  This time, the door to the building was locked, but just as I went to press the buzzer, someone came out and held the door open for us. This was just ridiculous! Doors lock for a reason. Buzzers were there for a reason. Both reasons involved security and safety for fuck’s sake!

  Deciding to fight that battle another day, I took the stairs two at a time and walked quickly down the hall to her front door. I’d only knocked twice when it opened, and I took in a sleep mussed Mina. Her hair was slightly crazy, and she was blinking up at me like she couldn’t figure out what she was seeing.

  “You lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky bastard,” Digby muttered behind me.

  I was about to agree when I took in what she was wearing – an oversized t-shirt and rainbow striped socks that came up to mid-thigh. She was a walking wet dream!

  “Jesus,” I hissed, trying to block their view of her. “Look away,” I snapped at them over my shoulder, trying to push her back into the flat.

  “What’s going on?” India asked, walking up behind her. She was wearing something similar to Mina, except she had socks with the Chelsea football team emblem on them.

  Before any of us could blink, Guy had pushed around us and had India over his shoulder as he walked down Mina’s hallway as he lectured her.

  “You can’t wear socks with that on, your feet will go up in flames,” he growled. “And why would you come to the door wearing this?”

  “Put me down, tosser,” she yelled as she smacked his arse. The noise of a hand smacking back sounded, and her gasp made the three of us wince. “Oh, you are dead. Dead I tell you.”

  “No, I’m not. Now listen, these socks should be burned so we’ll do that later. I have some Tottenham ones that…” the sound of ripping interrupted him, followed by a yelp.

  At the same time, all three of us leaned slightly to the side so we could see what was going on. India was now a little further down his front because all we could see was her hand holding onto the elastic waistband of his boxers – which was still attached slightly to the material.

  “You did not say you were going to burn my socks and replace them with…” she spluttered, “with…with…oh, I can’t even say that name. It’s like saying the c word.”

  “I think you ripped my balls in twain,” Guy groaned as he bent forward and let go of her to cup his crotch.

  “Good,” she snapped as she stomped around him. “Did you hear that?” she asked us as she reached us. “He hit me, insulted my socks and then committed the worst crime known to man by saying he’d give me a pair of his…his…his…” she really was struggling with the name of the football club. This wasn’t unheard of – British football teams were serious things to their supporters, and the rival teams were usually a sore point for them.

  When she continued to splutter and look like she’s swallowed lemon juice, Digby cocked up, albeit with good intentions. “Tottenham?” he supplied, then quickly jumped behind me when her head snapped in his direction with a look of disgust on her face.

  “Tottenham are a great team,” Guy croaked, slowly making his way out of Mina’s hallway. “It’s those bastards that you should struggle to say the name of,” he pointed at her socks.

  Before a fight could break out, again, I got hold of Mina and India and nudged them in the direction of the bedroom.

  “You two get dressed and ready, and we’ll go out for brunch or something,” I moved Mina gently toward the door as I said it. Really, I just wanted her to not look the way she did right now in front of anyone apart from me. The t-shirt came to just above the socks on her thighs, and it wasn’t clear if she had sleep shorts on under it.

  Yup, time to get changed!

  Wilhelmina

  “We can’t,” I tried pushing back against Will’s insistent hand, but I was still moving slowly toward my bedroom door.

  “Can’t what?” he asked, looking back over his shoulder at Guy and Digby who were now making themselves coffee in my kitchen. Thankfully, they seemed to know how to use my Dolce Gusto machine, or I’d have to hurt them if they broke it. That machine saved lives every morning by providing me with the perfect cup of coffee.

  “Can’t go for brunch.” I tried digging my heels in, but these damn socks on the wooden floors were like skates on ice.

  “What?” he stopped pushing and turned me to face him. “Why?”

  “Well,” India interrupted, walking up behind me. “Last night, we were having some Margarita’s, right? You can’t watch Bridget Jones without a drink, it’s girl code.” I tried to lean against the wall because this was obviously going to be one of India’s lengthy explanations, but Will put his arm around me and moved me, so I was leaning against him with his body blocking my view of the boys. “So, on Margarita number…” she paused and thought about it. Looking over at me for help, I just shrugged because I didn’t have a clue. I’d had five of those Margarita mix pouches in my freezer and a full bottle of tequila. I now had no pouches and one-third of a bottle of tequila. How much that equated to, I had no idea. “So, after a lot of Margarita’s and tequila, we realised that we’d never done high tea before, and we’re British so really we should have at some point.”

  “High tea?” Will sounded incredulous as he asked.

  “You know – tiny crustless cucumber sandwiches. Teeny cakes. Tea?”

  “I know what high tea is,” he replied dryly.

  “Great! Anyway, we decided to go to Fortnum and Mason to do it.”

  After a lengthy silence where Will looked between us the whole time, he stopped and looked at me. “High tea is this important to you?”

  “I love Fortum’s biscuits,” I whispered, fidgeting. “And their jam.” I really loved their jam. “And their chocolates.”

  “Basically, if you’re ever in the doghouse or want to spoil her – get her a Fortnum’s hamper,” India snorted. Spinning to glare at her, she shrugged. “What? It’s true! I thought you were going to give me sex gratitude when I got you one to celebrate the break up with Doctor Wanker!”

  Rolling my eyes, I turned back to Will who was looking up at the ceiling while the sounds of the boys laughing from the kitchen hit us.

  “Doctor Wanker,” Digby chuckled.

  “We’re also hitting Oxford Street to do some Christmas shopping,” I added, hoping that we could move this along. Now that we’d rehashed the plan, I really wanted high tea. I also wanted to hit their food court to buy some biscuits and Fortnum’s yummies.

  “We’re going to fit some locks,” he gestured over his shoulder with his thumb at my front door. The relief I felt at this news was overwhelming. I’d thought about packing to stay at India’s for a couple of days until I could get a locksmith out, so this worked better for me. “Then, we’ll meet you in Covent Garden and go for dinner.”

  “Are you sure?” I didn’t want to be a burden, that’s why I’d moved out of my parent’s home when I did. From a very young age, I hadn’t asked for one thing because every time I did, they’d snap and sneer at me for doing it. God forbid I was hungry for dinner because I hadn’t eaten all day, or that I needed a uniform that actually fit for school.

  His face softened as he looked at me and I heard India walking away from us and into the bedroom. “Princess, I’m happy, no, I’m relieved to do it. I didn’t sleep well last night worrying about him coming back or someone else breaking in. I need for you to be safe.” He’d moved to cup my cheek as he said the last bit, and I couldn’t stop myself from pressing into it that bit more.

  “I don’t want to put you out or monopolise all of your time,” I whispered.

  “Princess,” he whispered against my lips, “I want you to monopolise my time because I want to monopolise yours. This is not a chore, it’s my pleasure to make you safe. It’s my pleasure to look after you. Do you understand?” He didn’t move back throughout all of this, and I finally got to see all the colours of his eyes. A dark blue with light blue and almost hazel striations. They were beautiful.

  Blinking,
I nodded and ended up giving him an Eskimo kiss with my nose, making him chuckle.

  “Okay.”

  Giving me a quick peck again, he gave me a gentle push toward my bedroom door. “Okay, go and get dressed and shout me when you’re ready.”

  If it came down to Fortnum’s food court and high tea or spending time with Will, I’d forego the food heaven and opt for the man heaven instead.

  “Portia is going to cack her pants when she hears about all of this,” India snorted as she tied her hair back, making me freeze.

  I’d forgotten about her. Oh shit, she was going to kill me! My sister was not a nice person. She was merciless and only cared about herself.

  How was I going to make this work?

  William

  I tried to behave, I really did, but as she walked away the socks proved too much. Putting my arms around Wilhelmina’s waist, I walked us into her room and past India who was standing gaping at us.

  “India, give us a minute, will you?”

  My face must have shown everything because she snorted and skipped past us and down the hallway to where Digby and Guy were talking loudly.

  “What are you doing?” I heard Guy growl. “You can’t walk around like that. Put some clothes on.”

  I didn’t hear what she replied because I was already closing the door.

  “What are you doing?” Mina whispered as we reached the middle of the room. I’d purposely not gone too close to the bed, not wanting to put too much temptation in front of me but needing to do what I was about to more than I needed to breathe at that moment. Maybe that was a tad melodramatic, but that’s how it felt.

  I didn’t say a word, instead, I turned her round to face me and slid my hands up her ribs, skimming the outside of her breasts until they were either side of her neck and gently tilted her head backward.

  I could have rushed into it and just kissed her, but I needed a moment to gather my wits. I never felt out of control, ever, but right now I had never felt so unbalanced in my life. I’d had time to plan this and to come to terms with how I felt about her, but I wasn’t sure where her emotions and head were at. She had an ex, something that still stung, that was bonkers, and her sister and family were vile. How did she feel about me?

  “I want you to listen to what I’m about to say, okay?” I watched as she took a deep breath in and then nodded before continuing. “A lot has happened to you with Rory, I know that…”

  “We weren’t really together,” she interrupted, making me lose my train of thought for a second.

  “What?”

  “I didn’t even consider us together,” she bit down on her lip as she thought through what she was going to say. Giving her neck a slight squeeze to get her to continue, I needed to know what the hell she was talking about and her pausing was killing me. “My parents held a dinner and insisted that I go. They always did that,” she whispered, looking off to the side. “Halfway through it, Rory said that we were going out for dinner a couple nights later. I didn’t want to go, but my parents insisted,” she grimaced. “Right after that one comment, they started to refer to him as my boyfriend. It was really cringe worthy because I didn’t really even know the guy, you know?” Oh, I knew. They’d done the same thing with her sister and me. “I really didn’t like him,” she trailed off again and her eyes lost focus for a second. “He tried kissing me each time, but I’d dodge it and turn away.”

  “So, you weren’t even interested in him?” I needed the confirmation.

  “God no,” she shuddered. “He’s rank! I was so relieved when I went in to tell him I couldn’t meet him that night and found him shagging that student nurse. I had an excuse ready and was planning to ask him to meet the following day, so I could tell him to bugger off for good. Then I saw that and…” she shrugged with a grin on her face.

  Pulling her closer, I tucked her head under my chin and held her for a moment just enjoying the feeling of relief. That’s when I looked over her shoulder and saw the reflection of the back of her in her mirror on the wall and the reaction they’d had from my dick from the second she’d opened her door happened again. I needed to tell her what I’d been about to earlier and then I could give them some attention.

  Moving back slightly, I brought my hands back to where they’d been before either side of her neck.

  “Princess, listen to me a second. I need to tell you this,” I put my thumb over her lips in case she got a case of the shares again. “A couple of months ago, I was in Covent Garden with the boys and we saw you walking past where we were.” She frowned, no doubt trying to recall the event. “You didn’t see us, but we saw you. I’d always had a soft spot for you, always,” I stressed the last bit. “You were laughing as you walked and speaking on the phone, and I knew that I had to make this, us, happen. Your parents trying to set me up with Portia was a pain in the arse, but it also helped me get with my plan.”

  “Plan?” it came out mumbled because my thumb was still over her lips. Moving it away, I gently traced her bottom lip with it, watching closely as I skimmed the soft surface.

  Taking a deep breath, I groaned as I got a lungful of the scent of Wilhelmina Campbell.

  “I knew that I had to make us happen, so we came up with a plan.”

  Her head jerked slightly as I said this. Admittedly it sounded a bit bizarre, but I couldn’t figure out any other way to word it.

  “And what if I hadn’t been interested?”

  Replying to this using words would have made me look and sound an arrogant arse, so I just kept my face blank and looked back at her. Her cheeks went a light pink as it hit home.

  “The party for the Dubai hotel was a legitimate one, but we made sure that your parents had you attend it, so I could speak to you. If I’d just called out of the blue, it would have seemed strange and I didn’t want to scare you. The rest, as you’ll be able to figure out, is obvious,” I shrugged, referring to her working with me at Renton’s.

  “What do you mean us, though?” I could see that this truly confused her and what exactly the ‘us’ entailed.

  “It means,” I bent down so that my face was right near hers, “that you are mine.”

  She still looked confused, and I had to hold myself back from laying it all out. Instalove was a myth, and this had been nowhere along those lines. We’d known each other for years and whilst we hadn’t been close the whole time, I was aware of her and she was aware of me. I was almost certain that she felt the same way about me, so this us had been building the whole time. The more I’d thought about it, the more it became clear that what we were going to have would be strong and real. I was afraid though that if I laid it out in blunt terms, I’d either scare her off or come across as an arse, so I needed her to figure it out from what I’d already said so she saw it herself.

  “Okay.” I saw her mouth form the word, but she whispered it so quietly that I could hardly hear it. It was enough for me though and the relief was almost crippling. “And you’re mine?” It was asked hesitantly like she was afraid of the answer. I understood why she was asking it though, her family had made her feel unworthy her whole life, so she needed the reassurance. What she would soon find out was – that was something she would never have to doubt.

  “All of me is yours, just yours.”

  Her lips twitched into a small smile, but the look of relief and happiness on her face was obvious.

  I watched as her tongue flicked out to lick her lower lip, and I couldn’t hold back anymore. She only came up to my collarbone, so I had to bend down to kiss her. She must have felt the same way though because she rolled up onto her tiptoes and met me halfway.

  Her mouth opened slightly allowing me to flick my tongue in and stroke hers gently. I felt it as her hands bunched the sides of my jumper and she leaned into me. The feeling of her body against mine and the way she opened her mouth wider allowing to deepen the kiss made me groan. That was when things got out of hand. I’d only intended to kiss her, but the next thing I knew, I had both che
eks of her arse in my hands and had lifted her up. Her legs wound around my waist and she held on tightly to me.

  Moving carefully toward her bed, I almost breathed a sigh of relief when my shins touched the side of it and I was able to lie her down on top of the duvet. With my hands free now, I caught the bottom of her top and pulled it up slowly, not wanting to scare her. When it was bunched around her ribs, I leaned back and caught her left leg, bending it so that her knee was almost touching her side.

  “I love these socks.” My voice was deep as I ran my hand from her ankle, up the socks to where they ended on her thigh. “I actually hate them too.”

  She was watching my hand as it traced along the edge of the sock. “Why do you hate them?”

  “Because I want to see you wearing nothing but these socks,” I tugged on the elastic edging as I explained.

  She moved on the bed drawing my attention away from what my hand was doing. Never would I have expected her to pull her top off and throw it to the side leaving her wearing a pair of knickers and just her socks as she stared back up at me. The blush that she’d had on her cheeks earlier had spread down her chest slightly – it was beautiful.

  Slowly bending down, I took her nipple into my mouth and gently sucked. Her moan and the way she twitched was enough to tell me that I’d got it just right. Keeping my lips tight around the bud, I used my tongue to flick it and then sucked again.

  Moving over to the other nipple, I gave it the same attention as my hands moved down her body. The Harry Potter knickers that she had on weren’t a turnoff, far from it. They were perfect for her and her rainbow socks, and the effect that they had on my dick was almost embarrassing.

  Reluctantly, I moved away from her tits and licked slowly down her stomach, stopping to circle around her belly button. I could feel her trembling slightly the further down I went and knew I had to be careful how I did this.

  Tugging at the elastic of her underwear, she took the hint and lifted her hips slightly off the bed allowing me to move them down her thighs and then over her feet. Some guys like hardcore porn, some like women wearing lacy lingerie or crotchless panties. Me? All it took for me was Mina lying naked with rainbow thigh high socks in bright almost neon colours.