Inspired by Night: - a sexy new age romance (14 page)

It was a strange experience because somehow his description of my rather lacklustre sex life was absolutely spot on, and yet it aroused me, because he was describing it. I imagined that if it were Chris Knight, those two-and-a-half minutes would be much more erotic than my paltry experience. Of course, I was as much to blame for the lack of spice in the bedroom, perhaps if I’d actually been interested in sex I’d have been more forthcoming.

Olivia Jones:
Like I said, not many calories getting burned off there.

Chris Knight:
Oh Liv, what I wouldn’t give to show you how it could be.

Olivia Jones:
Even in two minutes? Because apparently I get bored easily.

Chris Knight:
You wouldn’t get bored if you were enjoying it. Sex doesn’t have to be a race, Liv, the aim isn’t just to come as quickly as possible then go to sleep.

Olivia Jones:
OK, so what would you do that would be so great?

I waited ages for a response. I could see he was writing something but no message came through. I went to the toilet, I grabbed another beer from the fridge and watched the screen. Finally, the message bar flashed and I had an answer. It was well worth the wait.

Chris Knight:
You wouldn’t be wearing flannel pyjamas, you would want to look nice for me, you’d be wearing a short, silky nightie with spaghetti straps. Let’s assume you got changed while I was in the bathroom or something, because if you changed in front of me you wouldn’t get as far as wearing the nightie. I would kiss you, gently at first, trailing kisses along your jawline up to your ear. I’d slide a strap off your shoulder and trail kisses down you neck and across your shoulder. I’d slide the other strap down and then gently pull the nightie to the floor. I’d walk you backwards towards the bed till you were sitting and I’d kneel before you, exploring your body with my hands and mouth. I’d feel your nipples harden against my tongue and trail kisses down past your belly button. My hands would move slowly up your thighs trailing across your panties, already damp with arousal. I’d slide them down your thighs and explore with my tongue, teasing your clitoris with little kisses and licks. I would insert a finger inside you and explore you inside and out moving gently and picking up pace until you are almost ready to explode, then I would pull you off the bed onto me so I can enter you while continuing to explore your body, teasing your nipples with my tongue and my teeth until we both explode.

I was glad he had logged off after sending, I was flushed, aroused, and slightly embarrassed, unsure what I would even say in response. I felt excited and frustrated at the same time. I still couldn’t imagine being so naked and on display in front of someone, the thought of being so exposed was horrifying and thrilling at the same time. I knew I would be desperate to drag the covers over me and hide. Maybe when I lost some weight I’d feel less vulnerable. And oral sex? The thought grossed me out completely but he made it sound so erotic. I wondered what it would feel like to have someone lick me down there. The thought sent a shiver down my spine and I squirmed again in my seat. I could do with another shower! I stared at the screen for a long time willing him to come back online but he didn’t. I felt tightly wound like I wanted to explode and went to bed feeling frustrated and disappointed.

Chapter Sixteen

Steven was quiet the following Monday. It had been a few weeks since that kiss, since he promised to stop flirting with me and to stop talking about us being together. I wondered when he would ask me out on a date for the first time. It still hadn’t happened and I was beginning to worry it might not happen, perhaps he had, as I expected, changed his mind, met someone else, or just lost interest. I spent most of my day responding to phone calls about the jobs I had advertised. I was still undecided about all the roles so I had only advertised four vacancies. I had also called James to find out if he was still interested in working with me and he was. He was really pleased, still unemployed and willing to start straight away. I told him he could start the following week. I wanted to decide what to do with Steven before anyone else started.

The fact was that Steven was an excellent worker, he had a lot of potential, and would be snapped up by any of the major games developers and I wanted to keep him, not just because of my attraction to him but because I could see him being a major part of the expansion of Inspired. I was worried that the new staff might not respect him if he was an intern, but as I had grown to trust him a lot I imagined he would be the first person I would approach with new projects, and to discuss new ideas. Would that seem odd to other staff? It certainly put him in a much more vital position than an intern.

Besides which, I was sick of writing monitoring reports for his internship coordinators. I thought if I could give him a promotion, it would relieve me of that added annoyance. There was also the fact that he was good with people and would be a great poster boy for the company, representing us at conferences. I tried not to think too much about a poster of Steven on my wall, smiling down at me while I slept.

He’d shown great initiative so far with the project he had taken over from me, his time management was fantastic, always exceeding his goals, the current app was well ahead of schedule, and the client was very pleased with what he had seen so far. I realised that it was going to be my job to bring in the work and to make decisions about the in-house games and apps we worked on. I needed to make sure that I had someone I could trust to oversee production and someone I could trust with my own ideas. Was Steven too young, too inexperienced to be given such responsibility? Could I really trust him or was my judgement clouded by my attraction too him? I’ve never been very good at sharing my work, getting the opinion of others, I’m always worried it will be dismissed as not good enough. I found it easy to talk to Steven about my ideas. He understood where I was coming from, recognised my vision, and suggested ideas that complemented and developed my original concept. We worked well together, and as this was a huge step for me, taking on staff, handing over my work and my ideas for others to make reality, I needed someone I trusted to work with first. But that almost suggested a management position and I wondered if his age was a problem. But then, I was hardly experienced in management. I had my position purely because I owned the business.

I wondered how other companies operated. They probably had all kinds of departments, lots of different specialists working on their own area. Or they were small like me, working on small apps on their own. I was trying to move us into a larger arena but I still wanted to retain my small-scale operation.

It was an exciting time, I had several ideas in various stages of development that I was keen to work on but client commissions came first. With more staff, I could delegate that work out and concentrate on both bringing in more clients and developing my own apps and games.

My mind wandered to Chris Knight. I hadn’t heard from him since Friday night but I’d certainly thought about him. He was a mystery, I wasn’t even sure what he looked like, although I felt fairly sure he was the guy in the photo with Steven, but I felt an attraction towards him. I knew it was unlikely we would ever meet but I had lost several hours imagining us meeting, falling into each other’s arms and making love, slowly, passionately. I knew he was fit, I assumed as a fitness instructor working in a gym he had to be and I imagined him being tall, muscular like an Olympic swimmer or gymnast.

A commotion outside my office roused me from my thoughts. I heard the door burst open and I recognised Dave’s voice apologising to Steven. I heard a frantic, angry female voice shouting and heard Steven’s voice rising, sounding frustrated. I marched to the door and flung it open. ‘What the fuck is going on?’ I shouted loud enough to drown out all the other raised voices, silencing them, all three faces turned towards me. I surveyed the scene before me, Dave was looking uncomfortable, stood in the doorway of the office. Steven looked tired, his short-sleeved shirt was crumpled and the top buttons were undone revealing a small smattering of chest hair. His hair, normally carefully styled, was flopped across one side of his head obscuring his left eye. His shoulders sagged and he looked deflated and ashamed, his face was already red, angry, but now he was calming and he just seemed embarrassed. Dave looked relieved that someone was taking control of the situation, he was such a nice guy, always supporting everyone, but he found it hard to be assertive and stand up to people. Finally, my eyes fell on the girl – slim, attractive, well dressed. She looked rich, well groomed. She was wearing tight-fitting jeans, high-heeled shoes, and a silk vest. She wore a camel coloured, soft leather jacket and her hair was scooped over on one side and secured with a band, cascading across her right shoulder in a soft curl. Dave had hold of her upper arm, apparently trying to hold her back. Her expression was hard to read. She looked at me and a look of triumph flashed across her eyes. Melissa.

‘Well?’ I demanded. ‘What do you want?’

Her eyes narrowed and she watched me, a small smirk tugging at one corner of her mouth, then her eyes flickered across to Steven and she nodded her head towards him.

‘I came to tell him that I’m pregnant.’ She announced, her eyes flashed with a challenge to me, daring me to argue with her. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, she didn’t look upset, she looked victorious. Was this a trick? Had this been her plan all along; to tie him to her? Was she really so desperate to be with him that she would resort to such measures? I felt sickened by her actions, but I also felt sorry for her, being content to trick a man into being with her, a man who clearly didn’t want her. I forced myself to look at Steven. His face was ashen, drained of his earlier rage and numb with shock. He was staring at her, defeated, confused, and sad. He glanced at me, and seeing me looking at him, his face flushed. I gestured to Dave and he nodded, releasing his grip on Melissa and backing out of the room. I followed him, closing the door behind me without a backward glance.

I was drained by the time I got home, and decided to treat myself to a takeaway. I convinced myself it wouldn’t hurt for one night and I needed cheering up with comfort food. I didn’t care how many calories pizza cost – I was getting one anyway!

I opened up the laptop and saw Chris Knight was online. Good, I needed distracting after the bombshell Melissa had dropped earlier that day. I still couldn’t believe it. Dave had been really kind; he knew how I felt and I was kicking myself for not heeding Steven’s words about snapping him up before someone else did. I’d missed my chance like an idiot. Dave had said, ‘if someone else is able to snap him up then he wasn’t meant to be yours after all and it’s best to know now before you’re too involved.’ I knew he was right but it felt so disappointing. It was just so frustrating. There was no question of him not doing the right thing, he was too good a guy not to, old fashioned to an extent, but how galling to be forced into a marriage with someone he doesn’t even like. He had been right when he’d said she would never leave him alone. Now she had exactly what she wanted. It wouldn’t have made any difference if I’d snapped him up when he told me to, the damage had already been done. I wondered if he’d have left me to do the right thing by her then and knew deep down he would have to. I wanted him to be that sort of a man, but I didn’t want him to be that sort of a man for her. Dave was right, at least I’d saved myself that heartache.

Olivia Jones:
So, you’re pretty frustrating yourself. Leaving me dangling like that, I couldn’t get to sleep at all last night.

Chris Knight:
Is that all it takes to excite you Liv? Goodness, you’re in for a treat.

Olivia Jones:
I am? But not all men have your prowess surely? I mean wouldn’t I have had some satisfaction by now if it was more common?

Chris Knight:
Good point, but maybe you’ve just been unlucky.

Olivia Jones:
Or maybe it’s my fault for being a little prudish.

Chris Knight:
Well we’ll get you over your fears and then you can enjoy some good sex. ;-)

Olivia Jones:
When was the last time you spoke to Steven?

It occurred to me suddenly that Steven might need a friend. It had been difficult when I returned to the office. I watched Melissa leave, looking triumphant in her conquest, happy to be ruining Steven’s life, denying him a life filled with love.

Steven was slumped on the sofa in my office, his arm across his eyes. I’d perched on the edge of the sofa and touched his arm to let him know I was there. He didn’t say anything for a long time until he eventually asked if he could take the rest of the week off. He said he needed some time to think. I flushed with a warm glow when he said;

‘She’s turned me into the type of man I never wanted to be; I’m not the sort of guy that has sex in public toilets, and I’m not the sort of man that doesn’t face up to my responsibilities and do the right thing. She somehow made me do the first point and right now she’s making me want to walk away. I mean fuck her, I hate her. But I don’t know if my conscience will let me just abandon her. But I look at you and I want to, I want to just tell her to go to hell. You know how I feel about you, Ols, but I have to work out what to do for the best, what’s the right thing to do, and I can’t do that around you.’

I had been unsure how he felt, whether he still wanted me and now I knew, now it was too late. I had just nodded and made my way back to my desk, leaving him free to head home.

Chris Knight:
Yeah, he emailed me earlier. Fucking Melissa!

Olivia Jones:
Did you know her at uni?

Chris Knight:
Yeah, she made herself known. She was always hanging around the bar when Steven was working. She had something of an obsession with him. But she’s not to be trusted. There’s more to Melissa than meets the eye. I thought it then and I still think it now.