The Gift (12 page)

An instant later, with a long sigh, he came inside her.

After all the action, and the grunting and gasping, the silence in the tiny room was like a blanket enclosing them. Sandy could almost hear the sweat drying on her skin, and on Jay’s. When she had energy again, she pressed her head against his hand, like a cat seeking affection, and almost purred like one when his fingers curved against the bare skin of her brow, as if he really were stroking and petting a beloved feline.

‘Oh Christ.’ His voice was ragged, rougher even than normal. ‘That was something else, God Almighty … something else.’

Gently, he raised her up from her collapse, and turned her. His eyes were still stormy in his scarred face, but tender with it. His gaze darted from her eyes to her mouth, searching for something, then he kissed her on the lips in a brief light buss, and smoothed the strands of hair back from her face that were swirling around it. Her plait was so loose it was bordering on non-existent, the carelessly looped scrunchie sliding out and freeing the wavy auburn mass.

He heaved a sigh, not sadly, but out of a well of deep thought. Sandy didn’t know what to say, her own thoughts were deep too, blurred but disquieting. She had a sense of
all safety and security in her life shifting like quicksand, all her expectations and everything she’d assumed and believed, liquefying and sliding sideways.

The door handle rattled once, and the pair of them jumped inches the way you did when you fall in a dream.

‘Bloody hell!’

Sandy dragged up her knickers and jeans, or at least tried to. How could such simple uncomplicated garments get so tangled and unmanageable? With his own jeans still open, and his softened penis still poking out in its latex coat, Jay brushed her hands away and effortlessly smoothed her panties up her thighs and into place, patting her crotch possessively as he did so, and giving her a wink. Then he did the same with her jeans, covering her efficiently but with tenderness, before attending to himself and disposing of the condom in several layers of tissue.

Sandy wrinkled her nostrils. ‘God, this place smells like a knocking shop!’

Jay chuckled. ‘Well, I was going to say a Turkish brothel, but yes, I’m afraid you’re right.’ He reached up and pushed the top light on the small window as wide as it would go, making the lace curtains below it slap and flutter. ‘There that’s better.’ His big chest lifted as he breathed in the cold, fresh air from outside. ‘Not that I don’t love the way you smell,’ he added, turning towards her, looking devilish and hungry all over again, even though presumably he was sated for the time being. ‘And taste.’

‘Don’t do that!’

His tongue … the way he licked his lips. It made her feel devilish and hungry, especially for the feel of his mouth on her, like last night.

‘Look, your coffee will be cold and people will be
wondering why you’re in the loo so long! Get out there, will you?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’ He laughed, his hand on the doorknob. ‘I better had, hadn’t I? I don’t want anybody to pinch my mince pie.’

The expression on his face said he wasn’t really thinking about confectionery, but, before Sandy had time to react, he’d flashed her a wink, then slid out of the little cloakroom.

Oh God, what did I just do?

A sensation of shock combined with total exhilaration swept through her. She’d fucked a lovely man in the cloakroom of the Little Teapot. Had she ever even fantasised about that? It was bizarre. She’d daydreamed about sexy trysts in various locations, but never really on her home turf, the Teapot. It’d mostly been the usual luxe settings she’d imagined. Hotels like the Waverley, holiday scenarios, Club Tropicana, all that. But never in a tiny little loo, inches from the toilet and hanging over the sink.

In the mirror her face was still pink and her eyes were still bright. She didn’t quite look like herself somehow. Maybe she was ‘Princess’? Maybe she’d been transformed into a princess of hotness, brought to life by a kiss between her legs from the horniest and most perverse Prince Charming she could ever have conjured up?

Whatever it was, even though she was still glowing with satisfaction and her pussy was still quietly simmering, there was no doubt she was going to have to change her knickers before she went back into the café.

‘Did I really just do that?’ she muttered to herself as she closed the door, and ran up the stairs towards the flat.

Did I really just do that?

Jay glanced up at the window of the Little Teapot. It wasn’t the one belonging to the little cloakroom. That was around the back, overlooking the yard, but, even so, his imagination took him back there and recreated the feel of Sandy in his arms.

What had she done to him? He’d gone from being a sexually troubled man, unsure of his ability to perform, to being an insatiable unstoppable horn-dog, purely from the sight and touch and even just the thought of her. Right now, simply imagining her lovely round bottom nestling against his groin, and the hot sweet embrace of her sex around his dick, had him shifting uncomfortably on the wooden bench where he waited for her, and hardening yet again.

She wasn’t the woman he’d come to Kissley to meet. She wasn’t his dream. But somehow this different woman was the right woman for the moment, she was the one to make him whole again.

Well, at least put right the temporary inability to get it up that he’d had. Not even a raw, incredible, strangely tender coming together of bodies such as the one he’d just
shared with Sandy could rid him of his ever-present aches and pains. Now that the endorphins of orgasm were dissipating, his sore bones gouged at him, but at least the effects were filtered through a satisfied sensual glow that offset somewhat the sharp December chill.

Stretching on the bench, he monitored each limb, each joint. He was getting better. Had sex really helped? Who knew, but he wasn’t arguing with the therapy.

If only other issues were so pleasantly dealt with. Swivelling around, he glanced towards the old supermarket site. He was going to have to admit to Sandy who he really was sooner or later. If he allowed himself to think about it, deceiving her hurt because, when she discovered it, it would hurt her too, and God knew he didn’t want that, regardless of whether she was his dream woman or even … Well, he hated to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes.

He’d tell her soon, he swore to himself. Very soon. But not just yet.

Let me have just a little while longer to enjoy being a man again. A little while longer just having sweet uncomplicated sex with a sweet and deliciously complicated woman.

Then he’d face the music. The truth. The fact that he might lose her as soon as he’d found her.

The pain in his bones felt strangely muted when set against that prospect.

Sandy stopped at the top of the stairs, just out of Kat’s line of sight. Her heart was pounding. She was afraid, but not quite sure what she was afraid of.

Was it Jay? Or herself? The new, strange, sexually voracious Sandy she’d really only been introduced to for the first time in her life last night.

She’d had to get changed and have what her mum would call a quick ‘strip wash’, standing shivering in front of the sink upstairs this time, in her own bathroom, unable to stop thinking about what had happened in front of a different sink, not so long ago, downstairs. Every time she looked up from the soapy water she’d expected to see Jay reflected behind her, and when she washed between her legs, mopping away the sweat and musk of their coupling, her sensitised flesh had started to rouse again as if he were the one cautiously cleansing her.

There hadn’t been time for much more than the swiftest of ablutions though. He’d said, ‘See you in ten minutes,’ as he’d set off down the stairs. ‘I’ll wait outside.’

Bossy bugger
, she’d thought, trying to feel feisty and rebellious while some soft melting part of her thrilled, imagining all kinds of domination and power at his hands.

At the bottom of the steps there was a mirror, for patrons to check themselves for whipped cream or tomato sauce on their chins before exiting into the precinct.

‘God, woman, you still look like you’ve just been fucked!’ she muttered, tutting at the pink flush in her cheeks and the tell-tale sparks in her eyes. Not to mention her nipples, which seemed to have a life of their own, and were already poking through the lace of her bra and the brushed cotton of her top. She’d changed into a fresh one of each, cream lace beneath and wine-coloured cotton jersey overlaying it, a cosy button-fronted number with applique trim that looked good with the long black swirly velvet skirt she was wearing on her bottom half. It was all a bit hippy-dippy looking, but they were handy and easy to slip into in a hurry. Especially when she’d spent many precious seconds searching for the bra.

It was a push-you-up-and-show-you-off style, and it seemed important that she wear it not only because it made her boobs look great, but also because it fastened in front.

You’ve planned for easy access, you trollop!

Her cheeks flamed all the peachier for articulating the God’s honest truth.

‘Get out there! Don’t keep him waiting!’ called Kat from upstairs, making Sandy jump. ‘You’re wasting valuable shagging time!’

‘We’re going to lunch, Kat!’ Sandy swept her hair off her face, then flicked it back. ‘No shagging!’

Kat laughed. ‘You mean more shagging.’

Sandy laughed too. ‘Have a nice afternoon, Kat. See you later!’

Shrugging her warm jacket concealingly around her, she opened the door, stepped out, and there he was. Waiting just as he’d told her he would. Why did that surprise her?

The thing was, there was still a bit of her that wondered if this whole ‘Jay’ interlude was some kind of figment of her imagination. Just as much the fantasy as her Prince had been, long ago, if she was honest. Her rescuer had just been a lad who’d been kind for a few minutes, not some perfect paragon of chivalry rescuing a fair damsel. But Jay on the other hand was there, sitting on a bench across the way, as large as life and twice as dangerous.

She’d caught him in a split-second moment, unaware of her, looking strangely tense, his face twisted and tight-lipped. He was lounging with his legs stretched out and one arm draped along the back of the seat, with his camera set beside him, but there was nothing relaxed about the way he sat, the lines of his face and his limbs looked hard.

He’s in pain.

It was so obvious. High-speed crashes in Aston Martins weren’t without their lingering aftermaths. His face and body had been put back together again, but beneath the surface the consequences tormented him.

Yet when he turned her way, every single trace of those consequences vanished. The smile he gave her was hot and focused. Whatever discomforts he’d been suffering were apparently forgotten, and in his expression and body language she saw only desire now. And when he rose to his feet, he moved quickly, sleekly and with purpose.

‘You look fabulous,’ he murmured when he reached her, inclining his lips to hers and kissing her as if he hadn’t just fucked her, less than an hour ago, over a sink. He’d obviously freshened up briefly in the Teapot cloakroom while she’d been upstairs, because he smelt as clean and cool as ever, with that hint of expensive cologne that drove her crazy. It was only in her mind that he smelt of semen and raw sex.

‘Thanks,’ she murmured when he released her again, feeling desirable, yes, but already flushed and unsettled in his presence. His dark eyes drifted down her body and she saw him note the fit of her top, when her jacket swung open and revealed it. Her nipples were still standing out through the brushed cotton fabric and the lace beneath. Rats, she really should have worn something a bit baggier and less obvious in public. Admittedly, she wanted to seduce Jay again as soon as possible, but he wasn’t the only man who’d be able to see the shape of her breasts, and the distinct way they revealed her desire. In fact the beast laughed as a guy who looked as if he worked in one of the banks, and was out for lunch, nearly did a double-take and ogled her openly. Frowning, she pulled her jacket tightly around her again.

‘Seems a shame to hide such a pretty top,’ announced
Jay cheerfully, ogling her just as unashamedly. Sandy wondered how he’d react if he knew that she’d left off the tights and the panties that went with her push-up bra, trick December breezes be damned.

He’s turning you into a slut, Sandy. Be careful. If you’re too available, he’ll probably lose interest.

And that was something she couldn’t bear to think about. At least for the moment. When he left, he left, and that was the end of it. But while he was here, she wanted him with her and she wasn’t going to do anything to screw that up. Which included not bombarding him with questions either, because he was clearly a man who didn’t give much away.

‘Thanks, but I think it’s a bit too thin for this weather.’

‘Maybe so,’ he replied, ‘Where to?’

Slinging the strap of his camera over one shoulder, Jay reached for her hand with his free one. It was such a small familiar possessive little gesture, but it made Sandy feel disorientated and panicky. She didn’t know him, and yet her fingers did somehow, recognising his touch on the deepest level, in a way that wasn’t just to do with sex. Her breath felt tight in her chest and she suddenly needed a drink even though she rarely touched alcohol during the day.

‘Let’s try the Fox and Grapes in Bank Street. They do good lunches. This way.’ She began walking and he fell into step beside her, his hold on her light as air, yet as unyielding as superglue.

‘Isn’t it a bit of a busman’s holiday for you, eating somewhere like a pub? Fast food for workers and shoppers, I mean.’

A good point. ‘Well, yes, but the difference is I get waited on for a change, and I rather like that.’

Casting a glance sideways at her, Jay’s eyes danced and
his mouth curved dangerously. ‘Oh, I’d like to wait on you too.’ He did that tongue-tip thing again, the familiar one that made the pit of her belly clench. ‘I’d like to tie you naked to a bed and feed you Champagne truffles while I’ve got my cock inside you.’