The Finest Line (4 page)

She shut the door and sat on her
bed. It occurred to her that she knew so little about James and yet
he had been part of her life for so long. She knew that he had been
in the British Army and fought in Afghanistan, but overseas
conflicts had interested her little, until now.

She had always thought of him as
invincible but it was now obvious that he had known suffering. His
very sober and sometimes boring demeanour probably stemmed from an
experience of a world she knew nothing of. No wonder he treated her
like a child.

It made her smile than even his
presence in her mind could chase away all her bad feelings. The
more she thought of him, of what she had seen, the less childish
her thoughts became.

Remembering how he had sat on
her bed, she closed her eyes and imagined him there again, and his
hands undoing her robe and tucking the sides away, not her own.
When her fingers found her hardened nipples through the silk of her
nightie, she gasped at the stirring between her legs.

It had been weeks since she had
indulged her desire and even longer since she had employed her
favourite fantasy. There were many scenarios that she had created
for herself but only one that affected her so powerfully and
bothered her the most.

Her mind carried her back five
years and she was once again in the backseat of the car with James.
She was no longer a spiteful teenager but rather the fully mature
woman that she was now. Instead of a gym outfit, she wore a short
dress, under which were her white lacy French cut knickers.

His dark eyes were staring into
hers, “You’ve been a naughty girl Mairead and I am afraid I’m going
to have to punish you.”

Back in the bedroom, Mairead lay
back against her pillows and closed her eyes. She opened her legs
and her hand wandered down to inside her briefs. Her breathing
deepened as she found her swollen clitoris.

James took hold of her and
hauled her across his lap. She tried to fight him but one arm was
trapped against him and the other was quickly caught in his tight
grip and held down at the small of her back. When she tried to kick
he responded by placing his leg over hers leaving her totally
vulnerable.

Mairead’s breathing grew heavier
as she imagined him slowly pulling her dress up and taking his time
to tuck it about her waist. He adjusted his knee to raise her
bottom so that her knickers were stretched tightly, revealing the
lower portions of her cheeks.

Turning slightly on her side,
she continued to rub her clitoris and used her other hand to caress
one cheek of her buttocks, just as James was doing in her head. She
whispered the scolding he was administering just to hear out loud
the word that seemed to drive her insane with desire.

“I am going to give you a
spanking you will never forget.”

His hand snapped down on her
left cheek and then on her right, before caressing her once again.
“This is for your own good Mairead.” He repeated the action but
this time he didn’t stop.

She tried to imagine how it
would feel having never experienced any type of physical
punishment. Pain was something she was familiar with from her
gruelling workouts of gymnastics. Having had her fair share of
falls and accidents, she knew her tolerance was high and one of the
reasons that she was so good at what she did. Only when every
muscle was aching did she ever feel satisfied that she had worked
enough.

James was spanking her harder
and faster. She could almost imagine the burning in her cheeks. He
only stopped long enough for his fingers to grasp the waistband of
her knickers. He tugged them down slowly to her thighs until her
bottom was completely exposed.

This was the part of her fantasy
that excited her the most and she felt the first contractions of
her vagina. James’ total focus would be on her buttocks and even
privy to a glimpse of her sex. It scared and excited her that she
longed for this type of humiliation and vulnerability.

When the spanking resumed, every
inch of her cheeks felt the wrath of his hand. Every few smacks,
the tips of his fingers would strike her vagina, causing her to
groan just as the powerful spasms were doing.

Soon he confined the punishment
to the base of her cheeks where the spanking became harder and
faster again until Mairead cried out with her erupting orgasm. For
a few minutes euphoria filled her brain and her vagina continued to
contract. When her body finally calmed Mairead laughed quietly with
pleasure.

“Are you alright Miss Kavanagh?”
James was knocking on the door.

“Oh crap!” Mairead had forgotten
that he was barely a room away. She had certainly never masturbated
with him so close. It made her giggle.

“I’m fine James, just... stubbed
my toe.” Mairead laughed into her hand and it felt wonderful. Now
she was really hungry. She sprung from her bed donned her robe and
grabbed a towel.

James stood in the lounge,
dressed in a dark grey suit, immaculate as ever. She took a moment
to really look at him and felt sad that she had never realised how
very handsome he was.

He frowned at her scrutiny,
“Good morning Miss Kavanagh. Would you like me to order your
breakfast?”

“No thank you James.” Mairead
did a twirl and danced into the bathroom. “I’m having a shower and
then
you
are going to take
me
out to breakfast.”

She knew he was about to protest
but she was too quick into the bathroom and closing a door between
them.

Mairead grinned at her silent
companion brooding behind his dark sunglasses. She had won several
arguments to be finally sitting across from him, awaiting their
breakfast.

The cafe was filled with people
but no one gave them a second glance. She was thankful that there
were businessmen amongst the patrons so that James wasn’t the odd
man out. Like Mairead, most were dressed in shorts and
t-shirts.

“Isn’t this lovely?” Mairead had
chosen them an outdoor table with its little vase of flowers upon a
plastic chequered tablecloth.

“I would have preferred for you
to have dined at the hotel Miss Kavanagh.” James still sounded
irritated. “You are a drawcard to the media.”

Mairead flicked the brim of her
baseball cap. “And that’s why I’m wearing this silly hat and
sunglasses. Look around James. No one is interested in us.”

When James didn’t answer,
Mairead pushed for a little more conversation. “So I hope you like
what I ordered for you. You seem like a big breakfast kind of
man.”

He sighed, “Coffee would have
been sufficient.”

“We’ve never had a meal together
in the five years I’ve known you or even a coffee for that matter,”
She wanted this badly. “Let’s pretend that we are two ordinary
people having breakfast together. You might enjoy it.”

A waitress approached their
table and placed their meals before them. Mairead had to cover her
mouth to hide her laughter as she looked at the massive plate set
before James, filled with eggs, sausages, bacon, hash browns,
mushrooms, tomato, baked beans and toast. Her own plate of pancakes
and strawberries was barely half the size.

James looked at the meal in
horror. Mairead giggled as she picked up her knife and fork, “Bon
appetite.”

James grunted and shook his head
but to her delight, he took up his utensils and began to slice away
at a sausage.

She studied him, “So James, why
did you come to New Zealand?”

“Mainly for the lifestyle, Miss
Kavanagh,” He patted his mouth with a napkin. “New Zealand has
pursuits not readily available in England.”

She waited, “Such as?”

James set his utensils down
before replying, “Fishing, hiking, four wheel driving.”

This was exciting, “You like the
outdoors.”

James nodded. “New Zealand is
beautiful. I like exploring it.”

“So what did you do back in
England?”

“I was in the army for three
years. After that... I just worked.”

“You must have been fairly young
to be in the army,” She hoped flattery would work to extract the
answer to a question she had posed many times before. “How old are
you James?”

He sighed. “I’ll be twenty-nine
later this year.”

She tried to hide her delight
and said, “Daddy told me that you had been to Afghanistan.”

James resumed eating and Mairead
growled at herself that she had not phrased it as a question. “What
was it like over there?”

“Unpleasant.” James cut away at
a mushroom and did not offer any more information. Mairead sensed
to move on.

“So what work did you do after
the army?” Mairead imagined that he had become a government agent
or a bodyguard to some high profile celebrity.

“I did driving and security
for... an organisation and I worked in a nightclub.”

Mairead was surprised, “As a
security guard or something?”

“Something,” James shrugged.

Mairead wanted him to elaborate
but was interrupted by the vibrating buzz of James’ cell phone.
Setting his utensils down, James answered the call.

“Yes?” He listened silently for
a long time and then added, “I will inform Miss Kavanagh.” He set
his phone down. “Mr. Sanders will be at the hotel in an hour. The
police wish to ask you some more questions.”

Reality had made its unwelcome
return. This time it was her turn to fall silent as she picked away
at her food.

She kept her head bowed as she
asked, “Are they going to arrest me?”

“I believe it is just routine
questions.”

“I don’t want to talk to them.
Can we just go home?” Her voice had become small and
frightened.

James took off his glasses and
looked at her. “Mairead, you will not be arrested. You will answer
their questions to the best of your ability and the matter will be
put to rest and then I can take you home.”

Hearing him call her by her
first name, she looked up at him, “Will you be there with me?”

“James smiled, “Try stopping
me.” The smile was quickly replaced with a frown, “Eat your
breakfast Miss Kavanagh.”

She complied happily.

When her meal was finished,
Mairead sat back to ease her well fed stomach. She gasped when she
saw James’ empty plate. “You ate it all, every last mouthful.”

“You bought me breakfast Miss
Kavanagh. It would have been terribly impolite not to have eaten
it.” He stood up, putting his glasses in place and smiled at her.
“It was most enjoyable. Thank you.”

Mairead couldn’t be happier if
she had cooked the meal herself.

CHAPTER FOUR

On returning to the hotel,
Mairead’s mood had dampened considerably. She sat on her bed
clutching her knees, going over the events of that terrible day.
What had happened to Josh? How had he gone over that balcony?

She could still see him grinning
at her and tears welled up in her eyes. She squeezed them shut and
whispered, “Please forgive me Josh. Somehow I just know you are
dead because of me and I’m so sorry. If you were here right now I
would gladly be your girlfriend if you’d have me, but I know that I
don’t deserve anyone like you.”

Now was not the time to cry. Her
visitors were due in half an hour and Mairead had to be prepared
the only way she knew how. Jumping from the bed, she rifled through
the many suitcases that had been sent from her home apartment.

“Yes!” Mairead drew out a halter
neck dress and held it up for inspection. It was perfect. Throwing
it on the bed, she quickly undressed and changed into her new
outfit. Turning to the mirror she knew she had chosen well.

The swirls of white and lilac,
lime and aqua were brought together with a thin black silk belt
that accentuated her tiny waist. The hem was shorter in front
allowing a good view of her shapely legs and the black silk lining
of the dress. The bodice held her breasts firmly, cupping them to
define some cleavage.

She selected open toe satin high
heels with a diamante strap, which gave her a good two inches on
her five foot five height and made her legs look even longer.

Plugging in her straighteners,
Mairead removed the band which held back her long brunette hair
before beginning on her makeup. Although she would have liked to
start from scratch, there was only time for a touch-up.

When everything was complete,
she studied herself in the mirror. She knew that she was beautiful.
It was at least one self esteem issue that she didn’t suffer from.
For some reason the gods had chosen to endow her with wonderful
features. Her dark brown eyes were large with long thick lashes.
The high cheekbones were emphasised whenever she smiled with lips
that were full and perfectly shaped. Her neck and jaw line were
well defined.

Men were nervous around her and
girls her own age often took an instant dislike to her. Nobody took
time to get to know her and growing up had often proved lonely. Her
only friend, Kylie, lived in Wellington and it had been a long time
since they had seen one another. Too long, and once she was back in
New Zealand, she vowed to change that.

Thinking of home reminded her
that she was missing something important. Mairead looked about. She
had not seen her charm bracelet in the last few days. Her father
had presented it to her just before her departure from New Zealand,
a silver chain with its tiny Kiwi icons to remind her of home.

Panic rose and Mairead began to
toss things from her suitcases before she remembered where she had
last worn it, the night of the party.

In the corner of the room sat a
large brown paper bag. It contained her clothing and belongings
that she had come to the hospital with her.

“Please be in there.” Mairead
ripped the bag open and squealed when she heard a tiny jingle
amongst her belongings. Tossing her clothes aside, she beamed as
she saw the bracelet. There was something else lying next to
it.