Masked Desires (7 page)

‘Well, I got dressed as quick as I could, and went down to the lobby, hoping against hope that you might not have left. There was no sign of you, but that’s when I bumped into Heather.’

‘Oh yes, Heather.’ I bit back what I really wanted to say about her as Eddie went on.

‘Yeah, she told me she’d just seen you. Said she’d finally found out the truth about us. Of course, I thought you’d come clean about the fact we weren’t dating, and I was preparing myself for whatever shit storm she was going to throw at me – and then she said she knew you didn’t work on the
Reporter
, and that if you were lying about that, who knew what else you were lying about? Started telling me about the reputation you had on the
Reporter
, though where all that came from I don’t know.’

‘I’m sorry, Eddie. I didn’t realise it, but my old boss was at the ball last night. She’s a friend of Heather’s, and she gave her all the ammunition she needed.’

‘Believe me –’ Eddie spread his hands in an expansive gesture ‘– when it comes to my girlfriends, Heather doesn’t need help in conducting a character assassination. She makes her mind up about them before she ever meets them. And that’s why I told her I already knew you didn’t work at the
Reporter
, since I’d been employing you at the bar for the best part of two months. And the reason I hadn’t told her you were my barmaid was because I knew exactly how she’d tear you down for your choice of job and me for my choice of girlfriend.’ Passion blazed in his eyes; he punched the sofa cushion with his fist.

‘I bet she didn’t take too kindly to that.’ I could all too easily picture him and Heather, trading verbal blows with each other in the plush lobby of the Mallory Hotel. Had Phillip stepped in to back up his wife, like he had when she’d been chewing me out, or had he deferred to the younger man’s strength and obvious self-assurance?

‘To be honest, I was past caring by then,’ he admitted. ‘I told her it didn’t matter what she thought. I loved you, I wanted to be with you more than any other woman I’d ever known, and nothing she said was going to make any difference to that.’

I didn’t hear anything he said for a good few seconds after that, too busy digesting those last words. He’d told Heather he loved me. No “might be”, no “think I’m falling” about it. When I tuned back in again, he was saying, ‘There’s something I ought to tell you about my stepsister. Maybe it’ll help explain why she’s got such a downer on everyone I date. I take it you met Phillip?’

‘Uh-huh.’ Not quite sure what the man had to do with all this, I listened, picking at the terry fabric of my robe, as Eddie continued.

‘Heather started working for Phillip’s firm straight out of business school, on one of these fast-track graduate programmes. She was always going to work her way to the top, whichever company took her on, but she caught Phillip’s attention on a personal level too. And Heather was one of those girls who didn’t have time for a relationship in school; she always claimed it would get in the way of her studies.’

I nodded. I’d been at college with girls like that. ‘So Phillip was her first serious boyfriend?’

‘Yeah, they were married less than a year after she started working for him. And don’t get me wrong, he’s a decent guy. But he’s safe, conservative. I mean, I can’t ever see him doing anything like fucking her up against a window with the drapes open.’

I blushed, the memory flooding back of how it had felt to have my breasts pressed against the cold glass as Eddie’s cock pistoned into me hard from behind. Eddie was right; Phillip didn’t strike me as the type to initiate any kind of wild monkey sex.

‘And I think there’s a part of Heather that sees me having all this fun, never thinking about settling down, and realises what she’s missed out on – and she resents me for it. That’s why she likes to make trouble for me, whether she’s aware of it or not. You know, it’s not all been bad, because I think she may have driven away a couple of chicks who might have spelled trouble for me down the line in one way or another.’ Eddie’s voice dropped, and he stared at his hands, as though not quite sure how to phrase his next statement. ‘But I’m really, really hoping her bitterness hasn’t driven you away from me, because I look at you, and I start to think that settling down, and getting to know another person just as well as I know myself, might not be such a bad thing after all.’

‘Eddie, I don’t know what to say.’ Everything was beginning to make more sense, but I still wasn’t convinced I hadn’t ruined everything by leaving his room at the Mallory the way I had.

He took my hand, clutched it to his chest, close to his heart. ‘Say you feel the same way I do. Say you could see yourself spending more than one night with me.’

I couldn’t speak, could only nod. I’d feared that Eddie had been swept away by the excitement of the situation, and that in the cold light of morning he’d remember he’d only wanted me to play a temporary part. Now I knew he wanted more than that, I could give myself to him without reservation.

His mouth came down on mine, and the way he smiled made me wonder if he could taste frosting on my lips. We kissed for long moments, growing short of breath as our tongues battled and explored. Eddie’s hands reached into the front of my robe, moving over the contours of my breasts, my nipples stiffening at his touch as I moaned into his mouth. I let him push the robe off my shoulders completely, unbelting it so it fell open. He didn’t even bother to remove his jacket, just got down before me on the floor, spreading my legs wide to give him access to my pussy. Being so naked and open before him filled me with a strange mixture of vulnerability and power, and I couldn’t resist stroking a lazy finger along my crease, hearing Eddie’s tortured groan as I touched where he so clearly wanted to. He grabbed my hand, putting it to his lips and licking it clean, then bent to run his tongue over my sex lips, tasting the dewy moisture that had gathered there. His hot breath sighed at the entrance to my cunt, and I could only moan and clutch fistfuls of his hair, holding him in place as he lapped away.

When he briefly darted his tongue inside me, wreaking glorious havoc with the sensitive places there, I gripped at the edges of my robe and squealed in pleasure. If he never stopped licking me out, it would be too soon. Heather might be a royal pain in the ass, driven by her own selfish agenda, but by insisting that Eddie attend the Masquerade Ball and take a partner with him, she had inadvertently brought us together.

Marvelling at the bizarre way things worked out sometimes, I surrendered to the power of Eddie’s tongue work, lost in an orgasm that made colours dance behind my tightly shut eyelids. When I opened my eyes again, it was to see Eddie stripping out of his tux.

‘You taste so good,’ he said, ‘but I really need to be inside you.’ As he spoke, he was kicking off his shoes, easing down his underwear. Again, once he was naked he went hunting for a condom in the folds of his wallet, coming up triumphant for a second time.

‘Let me,’ I said, pushing him back on to the sofa. With fingers that trembled despite myself, I smoothed the cool latex down over his hot, hard cock. I straddled him, poising myself over his shaft and waiting a moment, letting the anticipation build, before slowly sinking down on to that thick, fleshy rod. My cunt welcomed him, settled round him like a glove, holding him tight. As I began to ride him, he reached up to cup my breasts in his hands, rubbing my nipples with his thumbs. No words were spoken as I shifted up and down on his cock; our eyes were locked together as I demonstrated my need for him. Being on top gave me the chance to set the pace, moving in a rhythm designed to suit us both.

Faster and faster I ground myself down on him, feeling the friction, the heat between us rising as we fucked. Waves of pleasure rolled through my belly, and at last Eddie’s hips rose to meet my thrusts. With a long drawn out groan, he shuddered and came.

‘God, Summer, I love you,’ he murmured, when he was able to speak again.

‘And I love you too,’ I just about managed to reply, before a second orgasm, stronger than my first, caught me up and swept me away.

When it was all over, we just held each other tight, whispering soft words that indicated how deeply we’d come to feel about each other, even in the few short weeks I’d been working for Eddie. I nestled in the crook of his arm, thinking just how close I’d come to losing this wonderful man and wondering how I could have been quite so stupid as to let fears of things that might never happen stop us from being together.

Somewhere close by, my cell phone trilled. It took me a moment to locate it, still in the pocket of my coat, which I’d thrown over the back of the sofa. I caught the call just before my voicemail kicked in.

‘Hello?’ I sounded more than a little blissed-out.

‘Summer,’ Delia said, worry in her tone. ‘I got your call, honey. You sounded upset. Is everything OK?’

I glanced at Eddie where he was slumped beside me, his shaggy hair falling over his face and his chest rising and falling in the slow, shallow motions that indicated impending sleep. ‘Oh yes,’ I assured her. ‘Everything’s way better than OK.’

Epilogue

Eddie was in the shower, singing off-key as he soaped himself down. I lay curled in the bedsheets, wondering whether to go join him and see if he needed any help scrubbing his back. Or maybe I’d just roll over and sleep a little longer; after all, it wasn’t like I had to get up and go back to my own place.

After he’d poured his heart out the morning after the Masquerade Ball, telling me exactly how he felt about me, I knew I couldn’t walk out on my job at his bar – or him – the way I’d planned to. He was right; it wasn’t important what Heather, or anyone else, thought about us. We weren’t pretending to be crazy about each other; we really were, and that was the only thing that mattered.

That night, we’d announced to the other staff that we were dating; Penny squealed in delight and hugged us both, while Rudy’s reaction was a simple, ‘What took you so long?’

And now, six months later, I’d at last taken the plunge and moved in with Eddie. It still didn’t quite seem real; even Delia couldn’t believe I’d made such a grown-up decision, though the fact my landlord had been making noises about getting the builders in to start remodelling the property might have forced my hand a little.

Looking at him as he emerged from the bathroom, towel wrapped round his waist and his hair tousled and shower-damp, I couldn’t doubt I’d done the right thing. He smiled down at me. ‘Hey, sleepyhead, rise and shine. I was thinking we could go get breakfast at the diner on the corner of Hudson. I’m in the mood for blueberry pancakes with plenty of butter and maple syrup. What do you say?’

‘Sounds like a great idea.’

He bent and kissed me, a kiss that lingered, threatening to turn into something deeper. As it still did every time we kissed, lust for him threatened to overwhelm me. In Eddie, I’d found a man who was as straightforward as they came, who saw no need to mask his feelings, or his desires, and who loved me as completely as I loved him. And what more could a girl want?

Apart from blueberry pancakes, of course …

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