Inspired by Night: - a sexy new age romance (18 page)

‘Erm, I call it Saturday morning.’ Ruth was not usually known for her love of mornings, I guessed it was quite late if she was up before me, ‘some of us didn’t go to sleep during their night out!’

She giggled.

‘Sorry, I fell asleep in the car.’

‘In the car? You fell asleep standing up at the bar!’ I cried.

She laughed again.

‘So why are you in bed so late anyway?’ A note of suspicion crept into her voice. I frowned, it hadn’t all come back to me yet. I glanced around the room and spotted the empty pizza box on the floor by the sofa.

‘Well I got pizza on the way home, and,’ I trailed off noticing the bra on the arm of the sofa. I glanced down at myself and realised I was in the sheer nightwear Brian had bought me, ‘I think I was chatting to Chris.’ I whispered.
Oh no.
The memory of the night before came flooding back, slapping me in the face. Ruth heard the change in my voice.

‘You did it, didn’t you? I knew you would, how was it?’ Her voice was excited. I frowned.

‘Seeing right through me is one thing but how do you hear through me too? I couldn’t ever keep anything from you, could I?’ I asked in disbelief.

‘Nope.’ her voice was smug, ‘So? How did it happen?’

‘He asked me to dance.’ I gave her an abridged version of the night before, pausing to cringe as I tried to describe it without going into too much detail. She laughed at my awkward account and obvious discomfort. Sex wasn’t something that embarrassed Ruth; she’d probably get on well with Chris.

It was good talking to her about it though, it helped keep the shame at bay. I hadn’t imagined I would ever admit to what I’d done last night but Ruth wasn’t the slightest bit fazed, she was encouraging and helped me see the fun side to it. I waited for guilt to rear its ugly head, but it didn’t. My devil was sitting on my struggling angel, grinning widely.

I ended our call and filled the kettle to make a cup of tea. I popped some bread into the toaster and idly opened up the laptop. Chris wasn’t online but he had sent me a message, just one line simply saying,

‘Hope you’re feeling OK about last night.’

I smiled and hugged myself. He wasn’t just some old perv after all, he actually cared how I felt too.

I was dozing on the sofa that evening, ignoring whichever mindless talent show was on TV, when my laptop started ringing. I jumped up quickly, smoothed the wrinkles out of my sweater, and ran my fingers through my hair before accepting the video call.

‘Hey there,’ he said.

His voice had that warm teasing sound but it was mixed with a tinge of uncertainty. I remembered suddenly that I hadn’t replied to his message.

‘Hi,’ I replied, brightly, ‘I was hoping you would call.’

He chuckled, relieved.

‘So you’re not mad at me for taking advantage of you while under the influence?’

I felt a warmth spread through me, tingling the back of my neck and face.

‘No, I sort of felt a bit ashamed, but only because I enjoyed it.’

‘Oh, Liv no, you shouldn’t ever feel ashamed about enjoying the pleasure your body can experience.’

His voice was soft and gentle. I smiled.

‘Well I guess the more I do it the less it’ll bother me.’ I raised one eyebrow and smiled slowly, looking straight into the camera. I hoped I was coming across as seductive but feared I may have just looked slightly menacing. He laughed.

‘Not quite so innocent any more, huh, Liv?’

‘No, you’re a terrible influence!’ I grinned. I sat back into the sofa and curled my legs under me.

‘So what have you done today, after sleeping off your hangover and overcoming your shame?’

The hint of teasing returned to his voice. I sighed.

‘Work. I’ve been drawing up contracts for new staff and working out what to do about Steven.’

‘What’s the problem with Steven?’

I realised he must be concerned for his friend and perhaps talking about him wasn’t such a good idea.

‘Oh nothing,’ I assured him, ‘he’s brilliant, but with bringing in new staff I’ve been reconsidering his role. He’s so much more than an intern, I don’t want the other staff to undervalue him.’

‘I’m sure he’d be over the moon to hear you think that. Can’t you just give him a permanent job and cancel the internship?’

‘Oh absolutely, that’s the plan. But I’m new to this employer role, handing over parts of my business to other people to manage, it’s scary and I need to know there’s someone there I can trust, someone who understands my vision, the way I want Inspired to be perceived. Steven gets that. His work has been fantastic and his ideas are brilliant. I’ve never felt comfortable telling people my ideas before because I’m just too scared of negative feedback. But for some reason I shared them with Steven and I didn’t even flinch at his criticism, just recognised his suggestions were constructive and made sense. Made my ideas stronger. So how do I sum that up as a job title?’

‘Sounds like he’d be your right-hand man, your go-to guy.’

‘Is he too young to have a management position? He’s straight out of uni, only a few months into an internship? I’m worried I’m a bit biased too.’ I admitted.

‘You have feelings for him?’ Chris sounded surprised, I didn’t blame him after my behaviour last night. I wasn’t entirely sure what I felt at the moment but I knew I still had a fondness for Steven. I was just more realistic about our chances as a couple since Melissa’s revelation.

‘It’s funny but I found him really irritating when he first started.’

Chris laughed.

‘Yeah I get that, he’s so charming and likeable, there has to be something wrong with him right?’

‘Right, too confident and cocky for one so young.’ I smiled remembering the way I’d described him to Ruth that first night, ‘I didn’t want to go to work on his second day!’ I laughed.

‘Surely you had already seen that from his interview?’

‘Well it was between him and James, James is starting with us on Monday. James is much more like me, quiet, methodical, unsociable, I knew James would come in do his work and go home, I’d barely know he was there and he was my choice. But something nagged at me, I wanted to expand Inspired, I wanted to get new business, I wanted to move into new developments. Something told me I had to go with Steven, he was confident, his skills were completely up to date, and he would be great at representing us at conferences and events, having that easy ability to talk to people and sell himself.’

‘Does he know any of this?’

‘God no! I’m not going to tell a staff member I didn’t really want to hire him! Especially when it turned out to be the best decision I made.’

‘So what changed?’ Chris sounded amused, maybe he was proud of his friend for changing my opinion of him.

‘I realised I was just jealous of his easy confidence. And once I got to know him a bit, I realised he was more similar to me than I’d first thought. Then there was his work, it just blew me away. I found it quite arousing actually.’ I giggled.

‘Hey whatever turns you on, babe,’ his teasing voice had returned and it made me blush.

‘When he first told me he liked me, I immediately went on the defensive, thought it was a joke. Then I became suspicious that it was some kind of ruse to ruin me.’

‘How? Like sexual harassment or something?’

‘Yes, that’s exactly what I thought. I just couldn’t see why he would like me. But I realised that I did like him so it was really distracting in the office, so much so I had to get my own office to put some distance between us.’ I heard Chris chuckling and I grinned at the ridiculousness of the situation.

‘It doesn’t surprise me that you like him, Steven sort of reminds me of The Doctor in way, not to look at, but he’s like an undercover nerd. Looks all normal and trendy, but beneath the cool threads and big hair he’s hiding this humungous brain.’

‘Yeah well, the thing I realised is that my attraction to The Doctor isn’t actually about David Tennant, I didn’t fancy him at all in
Casanova
or
Secret Smile
or even
Blackpool
.’

‘Sideburns.’

‘What?’ I asked puzzled.

‘He has sideburns in
Doctor Who
.’ I thought about that for a moment and realised he might be on to something.

‘I only fancy Colin Firth as Mr Darcy too. Wow, that’s a revelation. I’ve got a thing for sideburns.’

‘So it would seem.’

‘But that’s beside the point. I realised that while I was trying to get to know Steven to be sure I could trust him, I was trusting him already. I was booking places for him to represent Inspired at conferences and I was running all my ideas past him. I was just worried about the moral question over dating my young intern.’

‘He knows his own mind, Liv. He’s a nerd but he’s also a romantic. He’s always been quite certain about finding The One. He’s stayed single because he believed he would know when he met The One and he would only be with her, no wasted time, no heartbreak. I’m not saying he didn’t break some hearts along the way. He worked behind the bar in the student union; he brought a different girl home every weekend. I stopped asking their names in the end, he never saw them twice.’

Part of me didn’t want to believe that, it didn’t fit with my impression of Steven, the good guy I trusted. But then, I reminded myself, he did fuck Melissa in a public toilet and get her pregnant, there was a side to him I didn’t know.

‘But now it’s all irrelevant. He’s going to be a dad. Melissa won. Maybe it’s a good thing, no distractions. Just a good working relationship.’ I concluded.

‘Such a shame that after five years being single you finally find someone you could be with just as it’s too late.’

His voice sounded full of regret and sympathy.

‘But on the other hand it awakened something in me that had been missing for five years. And he also led me to you.’ I added.

Chris had done more for my sexual awakening than anyone had. I heard him sigh.

‘Well I sure am glad about that last part and if he’s with Melissa I can feel less guilty about seeing you naked.’

I felt a flush creep across my face and hugged my arms around my body, hiding it. He chuckled, his teasing laugh and I decided it was time to change the subject. Talking about Steven was making me sad, but I felt as though this last conversation had finally closed the door on that chapter of our relationship and I could move forward next week with a good working relationship.

‘So it’s Saturday night, aren’t you taking one of your clients out?’ I asked innocently.

‘I don’t take my clients out, Liv, I fuck them once when they throw themselves at me.’

His voice was warm, chiding almost, I could hear amusement there. I thought he was laughing at me, perhaps he thought I was jealous. Am I jealous? I shook my head mentally, how could I be jealous of them fucking a man I’d never met?

‘How does that even happen? I couldn’t imagine doing that.’

‘That’s because you fear rejection Liv, which you shouldn’t, you’re very, very fuckable, who could say no to you?’

I blushed but inside I was singing.

Chapter Twenty-two

‘So tell me how it happens.’ I was genuinely interested in how women made the first move and wondered if they were always successful or if it was just because Chris had this desire to make them feel good about themselves. Did he ever regret it? Did he even fancy them?

‘OK, well, usually I’ve been working with them a few months and we will agree mutually that they no longer need one to one training sessions and we will book in for a final session.

‘Generally they turn up to that session in the skimpiest gym outfit they have, no longer in sweat pants and a T-shirt, they arrive in tight leggings or short shorts like your skimpy things, they wear a sports bra with no padding so their nipples are visibly straining against the material of their tight, figure-hugging vest. Instead of facing me while they exercise they turn away to make sure I get a full view of their ass as they bend and squat. They look back at me batting their eyelashes as they do their push-ups so I can get an idea of how they’ll look if I’m fucking them from behind. You get the idea. They find excuses to giggle girlishly and touch me on the arm or shoulder. They admire my muscles, lingering a little too long as they trail their fingers along the length of my biceps. They press up against me as they squeeze past me. And I know what they’re doing, I know even before the session starts how it’ll be and I comply, I stand in the way so they can touch me, I look at their ass, I make eye contact with them in the mirror, and I pretend to be surprised and excited by their attention.’ He paused and I heard a laugh snorting through his nose. I was on the edge of my seat, the way he described things, building up this picture, was so hot. I remembered how it felt knowing he was checking out my shorts yesterday and I felt a rush of warmth pooling in my stomach. I waited for him to continue, biting my lip in anticipation.

‘So picture the scene: the session comes to an end and we make our way to the changing rooms. Our gym has three sets of changing rooms; male, female, and a unisex one. They all have a spa area, showers, and changing cubicles. Hardly anyone uses the unisex one, usually just couples who come to work out together but it’s nearly always empty.

‘We wander in to the room, the first time she’s ever used the unisex changing room, but then she’s already planned this out in advance and I’m just innocently going along with it. She starts removing her clothes in front of her locker and then she’ll step out wearing a towel and tell me she’s using the spa. She’ll take me by the hand and lead me towards the Jacuzzi. She asks me something about how she should relax her muscles after working out and whether I recommend massage. I’ll demonstrate, massaging her shoulders and arms and she’ll drop her towel pressing herself against me before moving into the Jacuzzi. She’ll tell me to join her and I’ll remove my clothes and follow her in to the warm bubbly water.’

My breath caught as I tried to picture what Chris might look like naked. Probably not my usual type, all bulging muscles, I preferred a skinny body but still I found myself feeling aroused by his story.