The Geary Series Boxed Set (8 page)

“You just told me that your husband hadn’t given you an orgasm in three years, and you have said previously that you have been married three years. I want to know what happened.”

He dropped his hands and walked out of the room. I followed him and walked out of his flat, down the stairs and out into the night.

We walked in silence to where I was staying, not touching or talking. The tension in the air between us was thick and uncomfortable. It was quite different from the first five minutes in the bar yesterday. I couldn’t believe I had only known this man in real life for twenty-four hours, and I cared that we were silently arguing.

Once in the lobby of the hotel I turned to face Jack, and I opened my mouth to speak. He lifted his finger and placed it over my lips.

“Don’t say anything now, because you will only tell me because you think you owe me an explanation. Sleep on it and tell me tomorrow, only what you want me to understand. Just because I want to know, doesn’t mean I deserve to know.” He drew in a deep breath and let it out again. “I’ll meet you here at nine tomorrow morning and take you to Blue’s again. We can make plans for tomorrow evening. Sleep well, beautiful.”

He stroked my cheek with the back of his hand and turned on his heel and strode away into the night, leaving me standing there. He had shared so much with me, and I wasn’t answering any of his questions directly. Guilt washed over me as I walked to my room and let myself in through the door.

I belly flopped onto the bed and cried into my pillow. Even after a night’s sleep I didn’t think I would be ready to tell him. Only Cecily knew what it was like to be married to my husband, I hadn’t shared the torment and pain with anyone else.

Maybe it was time I trusted Jack.

As the dawn light broke through the curtains I sighed. I’d been watching the sun move its way around the room and had given myself until it hit a crack in the curtains to get up. I’d hardly slept, looking at the digital clock every half hour. I cursed myself for revealing so much to him, replaying the conversation and working out what I could have said differently. After the first few hours of regretting having said anything, I moved onto what I was going to say to Jack today. I thought about how much I was prepared to tell him. I wanted to spill all of my secrets and get everything out in the open. Then my mind lurched to a state of embarrassment that I’d revealed as much as I had. I should have said more so that he didn’t think I was a wife who refused to have sex. In short, I was a mess.

I’d no idea if I would see him again after this week. Nine o’clock was fast approaching, and I was nervous as hell meeting Jack again. Dragging myself to the shower, I procrastinated some more.

I took my time getting ready and wandered down to the lobby of the hotel wishing that he wouldn’t be there and at the same time excited that I would see him. I’d made a decision that I would trust him and would find out how he was going to react. I sat down on the comfy high-backed chair in the lobby and waited for Jack to arrive. I mulled over my prepared speech of what I was going to say to him. People came and went but no Jack. I checked my phone when nine thirty came, and there was no message. I didn’t know whether I should call him, maybe this was his way of saying he no longer wanted to spend time with me. I felt like a teenager again, trying to work out how he was feeling without asking him. My levels of insecurity were at an all time high, and I didn’t like it. It had been a long time since I cared what another person thought of me.

The very thought of not seeing Jack again made my heart fall to my stomach, I’d already fallen for him a little bit. I wanted to call him and see where he was and if he was going to arrive. I didn’t really understand why he insisted on picking me up, I could have amused myself for the day. I hadn’t questioned it last night, just accepted that he would pick me up.

I found his number in my phone and stared at the screen and hit dial. I jumped when it rang in stereo, on my phone and right in front of me.

“Did you miss me?” I heard Jack say and saw a brown paper bag drop onto my lap. I assumed it had the same contents as yesterday.

Grabbing hold of the bag I looked at my knees, and I started at the shoes that were toe to toe with mine and worked my way up his glorious body. When I reached his handsome face, I grinned up at him, holy smoke, he was the epitome of suit porn.

“That look in your eyes tells me you’re extremely pleased to see me. Are you having illicit thoughts about me Olivia?”

He held out his hand for mine, and I grasped it so he could help me stand. Picking up my breakfast and bag with the other, we walked out into the sunshine. I was so delighted that he had arrived I hadn’t registered his second question immediately. Turning shy, I suppressed my urge to tell him that I wanted him.

“I didn't have any such thoughts about you Jack, I was starting to get worried. I thought we were meeting at nine. When you weren’t here, I was scared that you had second thoughts of spending time with me. When I saw you, I was pleased to see you.” I said a little too sternly, I sounded like a real bitch, and I didn’t want to. “However, you wear a suit well and I couldn’t help but drink in the sight of you. Oh hell, I was lusting after you, what have you done to me?” I said, giving myself a high five for saying it out loud.

We had navigated our way out of the hotel and had started our journey to Blue’s. He had taken my bag from me and carried it over his shoulder, freeing up my hand to eat my muffin. He tried to grab my hand, but I scowled at him and nodded towards the food in my hand.

“I hope that I’m having an effect on you because you’re having a profound impact on me. Married or not I want you.” He said and paused in the street, turning to face me, “I’m sorry I was late, it’s very unlike me, and I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.  I didn’t sleep well at all last night thinking about you and what you had told me. If you were mine, I wouldn’t leave it three days let alone three years from giving you an orgasm.” Jack touched his forehead to mine and stared at me. He still managed to look fabulous after sleeping badly. “I don’t know what to say to you, I’m afraid if I tell you what is in my heart then I might scare you away.”

I pulled my head away from his, focussing on his mouth. I stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek at the last moment.

“Jack, you won’t scare me away but I’m not ready to hear what your heart is saying.” I said as I avoided eye contact.

That was a complete lie, of course. I did want to hear what he had to say but for all the wrong reasons. If he said he loved me then I would run a mile but I wanted to hear that this man cared for me. He grabbed my now free hand and squeezed it and took off at a brisk pace in the direction of Blue’s. I busied myself with thinking of what to say about my three-year hiatus from sex. The silence between us was not uncomfortable, but it was deafening all the same. Jack had entwined our fingers and was holding onto my hand like his life depended on it. It was comforting, and I liked it, I squeezed his hand back, and he looked sideways at me and smirked. My instinct was to stop in the middle of the street and kiss the life out of him.

I carried on walking keeping my thoughts to myself.

We arrived at Blue’s Bar very quickly due to Jack’s pace, and he brought us to a halt at the door and dropped my hand. He raised his hand to my face and dragged his thumb over my bottom lip, parting it slightly from my top lip. He stared into my eyes and then down to my open lips, my heart was racing, I desperately wanted to know what he was thinking.

“What are you thinking about Jack?” I whispered.

“How much I want to slowly push myself inside you, in one long slow movement. I’m thinking about the further I push into you the more your neck stretches back, and I can grab onto your hair. Then, once I’m fully, deep inside you, I can pull on your hair and fuck you, hard, from behind. I’m thinking about the sound that my body will make as it repeatedly slaps against your arse. I’m imagining the sound of your moans that will come from your delectable mouth as I hit that spot inside you. I’m dreaming of the pale pink hue that your arse cheek will show when I spank it.”

He had my head fixed firmly in his hands, one hand on my chin and the other hand at the nape of my neck. I wasn’t going anywhere. All I could do was to stand there, opened mouthed at the words he just uttered to me.

“Holy fuck, Jack, I think I need to change my underwear. That is the sexiest thing anyone has ever said to me.” I breathed slowly as I spoke. The beginnings of an orgasm had started throbbing in my sex as the visual replay came over and over again in my head.

“If you were mine, you would not be wearing any underwear and then I could slip my hand between your legs and dip into the wetness that I know is there, waiting for me.” Jack murmured to me.

My eyelids dropped closed as he continued to stroke my lower lip, it was hypnotic. I felt his hand drop and warm lips touch my cheek.

“I need to get to work but am hoping you would let me take you to lunch?” Jack asked.

I was lost in a vision of sex and passion and didn’t hear his question.

“Hmmm, what?” I said with my eyes still closed.

“Me, you, lunch” he whispered into my ear, breathing lightly down my neck.

I shivered a little as goose bumps travelled down my spine. His way with words had me hooked and addicted to him, I wanted to hear more.

“I would love that, what time shall I expect you?” I said.

“I’ll pick you up at twelve thirty, we can talk properly then. Don’t think I’m letting you off the hook with your bombshell last night.”

Oh hell, he wanted to talk, the only man in the world that wanted to talk. I kind of knew he wasn’t going to let it drop.

“All right, I’ll see you later on stud.”

I took my bag from his shoulder and stepped to the side and went to walk past him. He playfully slapped my arse as I passed. I looked over my shoulder and smiled shyly at him and walked into the bar.

Elijah spotted me straight away and came striding towards me, enveloping me in a big hug that lifted my toes off the floor. He planted a kiss on each of my cheeks and held my face, looking intently into my eyes.

“Are you ok flower?” He asked me.

“Yeah, I’m good, you give great hugs.”

“I kiss pretty well too.” He said and winked at me and let me go.

“Way too much information for this time of the morning Elijah, I need coffee before I hear comments like that.” I said and giggled while slapping his arm. “I want a story too, I haven’t forgotten.”

“Coffee will be on its way. As for the story, I’ll give it some thought and let you know.” He said and strode off.

I was at a complete loss of what to write that morning, my thoughts were all centred on my big mouth and what I’d revealed last night. Why couldn’t I have just kept my mouth shut? The truth of it was that I wanted him. I knew deep down that he would push his luck with his amorous attempts, but he wouldn’t force the issue. Was it frustration that I saw in his eyes last night or was it wishful thinking?

I knew that I was way past being sexually frustrated. It wasn’t until two nights ago that I remembered the build-up to sex was just as exciting as the actual act. The outrageous flirting and touching was addictive when it came to Jack. His words to me this morning, had me halfway to orgasm. I’d three more nights with him in incredibly sexy situations, and I had to maintain control. This week was for business and not for my pleasure.

I spent the morning answering emails and messages. By the time, Jack came into the bar at twelve thirty, strolling towards me in his three piece pale grey suit, I was ready to put away my laptop. I hadn’t written a word of the new book, I was far too distracted to write.

“Hey, handsome, how was your morning?” I stood as he approached and accepted his kiss on the cheek. He lightly squeezed my arm as he kissed me, he trailed his fingers down my bare arm and took my hand in his. Was everything he did sexual or was it my hyper-awareness of him and everything he did.

“It was productive sweetheart, shall we go? I have lunch waiting.” Jack said.

He pulled me away from the cluster of chairs I was sitting at and took hold of my bag, walking to the bar and Elijah. He handed my bag over the counter to Elijah, and he, in turn, gave him a basket.

“You will not need anything that’s in your purse, I want to talk to you baggage free, visible and invisible. I thought we could have a picnic in the park. Is that ok?”

“That sounds lovely.” I said. I was ready for his barrage of questions.

With my acquiescence we walked hand in hand, he carried the picnic basket in his other hand. The broad cobbled pavements gave us plenty of room to walk, and we didn’t have to dodge around busy crowds. The park he chose was not too far away, and we chose a spot under a large oak tree that looked large enough to have been planted when the first Elizabeth was Queen. This part of the park was secluded, you could hear other people but you couldn’t see them.

The cool breeze allowed a break from the beating sun that was an unusual sight in Scotland at this time of year. Jack flicked out the tartan blanket and kicked off his shoes, kneeling down on the blanket he started to take the items out of the basket. I stood watching him unsure of what to do, my awkwardness had returned. Once he had finished emptying the basket he squinted up at me and shaded his eyes with his hand.

“With the sun behind you, you look like an angel standing there. Get yourself on this blanket so that I can stop being so slushy with my words.”

I laughed, and dropped to the blanket and laid down on my side mirroring his position on the other side of the blanket, the food and wine was sitting between us. The array of food was incredible, everything was miniature. Sandwiches, quiche, pickled onions, chunks of cheddar cheese and some freshly baked bread as well as soft cheeses. It looked divine. The wine was sparkling as demonstrated when he popped off the corks, those too were miniature bottles. Instead of glasses, he produced two straws and fed one into each bottle and handed me one. Raising his bottle to me, we clinked necks and sucked on the straws. The wine was cold and crisp, it was delicious.

“Will you let me feed you while I pepper you with questions?” Jack asked.

“Can I ask you a question first?” I answered taking a bite of the fresh bread smeared with soft cheese from his hand. Flavoured with black pepper it had just the right amount of bite to it.

“You can ask me anything, and I’ll answer you.” Jack confirmed.

“How long have you lived in Scotland? You don’t have a strong accent.”

“You can ask me any question, and that is what you choose to ask? I was expecting something far more personal than that.” He said and popped a cherry tomato into my mouth. “I have lived all over the world, my dad has been in the government for a long time. Moving from one country to the next every three years prevented me from picking up a local accent.”

He had kept feeding me while he talked about his adventures overseas, he was a great storyteller, and some of his tales would make good short stories. I couldn’t imagine how lonely it would be, having to leave good friends behind and instantly make new ones, not knowing how long you were going to stay in one place. School can be hard enough without having to fit in more than once. He talked about his schooling, and he had attended five different schools. Perhaps that is why he can make friends so quickly and engage people instantly. A craft learned many years ago.

I held up my hands to indicate that I was full, and I fell back onto the blanket and raised my arms above my head. Stretching out I closed my eyes and let the rays of sunshine that filtered through the canopy of leaves warm my face. The park was not very busy, and it was a peaceful lunch. I heard Jack putting the empty boxes back into the basket, and he closed the lid.