Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
MABEL
My hands are in his hair and we kiss like our lives depend on it, he slams me up against the wall and lifts my leg.
Ahhhh.
“Madison,” I hear Penny call. “Where did you go?”
“You have to go,” I whisper.
“Not a chance.” His teeth drop to my neck as he ravages me and I nearly combust. “We’re not finished,” he breathes against my skin as he pins me to the wall, I feel his erection through his pants.
“My cousin is here from Germany,” I murmur against his lips, damn it, why is she here?
“What?” He pulls back from me, his eyes are wild. “Who?”
“Madison,” she calls.
“Who’s Madison?” He ties the sash on my gown and neatens me up.
“I’m Madison,” I whisper in a panic as I smooth down my hair. “You have to go.” I turn him and push him toward the door.
“I thought your name was Mabel.” He stumbles forward.
“That’s my fake name.”
“You have a fake name?”
Penny comes around the corner and her eyes widen. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize you had company.”
“This is—” I widen my eyes; I’m so lost in the moment and physically overwhelmed that my brain has completely misfired.
“Andrew.” He cuts me off and gives me the side eye.
“Yes, that’s right.” I fake a laugh, oh my god, I did not just forget his name. “Andrew is my very professional masseur and he was just leaving.” I walk toward the door, “Weren’t you, Andrew?”
Penny frowns as she looks between us. “You had a massage while I was asleep?”
“Uh-huh,” I lie. “I’ll walk you out, Andrew.” Fuck sakes, just leave before she figures this out, this woman is like Sherlock Holmes.
“Yes,” he mutters dryly, clearly unimpressed, he picks up his massage table and throws the strap over his shoulder. “Just leaving.”
“Penny, why don’t you pour us a glass of wine,” I tell her as I gesture toward the door. “It’s in the bar.”
“Okay. Goodbye, Andrew. Nice to meet you, maybe I’ll get a massage too next time you’re here.”
His eyes flick to mine.
“Andrew is booked solid,” I blurt out.
“Solid,” he repeats. “All day long.”
“So solid,” I reply.
Help.
Penny’s eyes hold mine for a beat longer than they should before she leaves the room.
“Oh my god,” I whisper in a panic. “She’s onto us.”
“So what?”
“So she’s got a giant mouth, that’s what.”
He rolls his eyes. “So Mabel, or Madison or whoever the hell you are.”
“I’m Madison.” My eyes flick up the hall toward the living area.
“Madison who?”
“Madison what does it fucking matter. You need to leave.”
“Fine.” He storms toward the elevator. “Don’t call me, I’ll call you.” He gives me attitude.
“You don’t even have my number,” I fire back. “So how are you going to do that?”
“So give it to me.”
“I’m going to Germany tomorrow.”
“What?” he scoffs. “What for?”
“A wedding.”
“Whose wedding?” he demands.
“Keep your voice down,” I whisper.
“You’re pissing me off, woman.” He digs into his pocket and pulls out a business card and passes it over. “Call me from Germany.”
“What for?”
“What do you think? To be inappropriate of course.”
I smirk up at him and he smirks right back.
“Madison,” Penny calls.
“Maybe we could toss her over the balcony or something,” he replies. “Hog-tie her in the wardrobe.”
“I wish.”
He smiles down at me and the air is alive with chemistry, he picks up my hand and kisses the back of it. “Goodbye, Madison. I’ll be dreaming of our kiss.”
Oh…. My stomach flutters at his sweet words.
The swoon of this man…. And he’s onto something, because I know for a fact that I’ll be dreaming of it too, that kiss was everything.
“Goodbye, Andrew.”
He turns and leaves and once the elevator doors close I read the business card in my hand.
Andrew Watson
Well, well, Mr. Watson…. I smile and slide it into my pocket for safe keeping.
“Do you want some cheese?” Penny calls.
“Of course I do,” I call back. “I always want cheese.”
BERLIN, 1 A.M.
I stare at the business card in my hand; this thing has been burning a hole in my hand for two days.
I want to call him, but I already know it’s a bad idea.
What good could ever come from banging your masseur? I mean apart from the obvious orgasm reward and a few hours of fun, this is a PR nightmare waiting to happen.
What if it got leaked to the press?
I don’t know Andrew Watson from a bar of soap, what if he screenshots my messages and sells them to the highest bidder?
No, I can’t message him….
I stare at the card for another half an hour, should I just call him?
ANDREW
I lie in bed; there’s a tiny elbow in my ribs to the left and a tangle of arms and legs around mine to the right. The bedside lamp lights up the darkened room as I scroll through my phone. I was supposed to go out tonight, but what was the point when I already knew that nothing interested me there?
My phone buzzes in my hand and a phone number comes up starting with 30.
Germany.
I flick the blankets back. “Hi,” I whisper.
“Hi.” Her voice is husky and just the sound of it makes my heart somersault in my chest. “Is now a good time?” she asks.
“Now’s a great time.” I try to creep out of bed without waking anyone.
“Dad.” Birdy grabs for me. “Come back.”
Fuck.
“How are you?” I ask, I roll Birdy onto her side away from me to try and pat her back to sleep, her little eyelids begin to close again.
“I’m good,” she replies.
Please do all the talking for two minutes while I get this devil child back to sleep.
“How’s Germany?” I ask softly.
“Great.”
What’s with the one-word answers, for fuck’s sake.
“Where are you?” I ask to try and keep the conversation going.
“Berlin, I’m here for my cousin’s wedding.”
“When is that?” I stop patting Birdy and she keeps sleeping.
Yes.
I creep out of the bedroom.
“It was today,” she replies.
I frown as I listen. “Are you alone?”
“I am.”
“Are you always so guarded when you talk to people on the phone?” I open the fridge and grab a beer.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re giving me one-word answers.”
“I just….”
“You just what?”
“I don’t know you….”
“Yet.” I cut her off as I sit down on the couch.
“I don’t know you…yet,” she replies.
“So, what do you want to know about me?” I readjust myself in my boxer shorts, damn this woman…just the sound of her voice makes me hard.
Silence….
Eventually she replies, “You said you’ve been thinking about me.”
“I have.” I smile softly as I sip my beer.
“About what?”
“The way you kissed me, the way you tasted.”
Silence….
“Have you been thinking about me?”
“Maybe.”
“Just maybe?” I tease.
“Yes.”
“Yes what?”
“Yes, I have been thinking about you, Andrew,” she snaps as if my questions are annoying to her. “I wouldn’t be calling you if I hadn’t, would I?”
A broad smile covers my face, always so sassy.
“That was some first kiss, huh?” I whisper.
“It was.” Her voice softens, and it only makes me want her more.
“So….” I roll my lips as I contemplate my next move; do I ask the question I’ve been dying to know? “Forgive me but I must ask…. Are you with someone?”
“No. Why? Are you?”
“No.”
“Your last relationship was with your wife?”
Why does she want to know that?
“No. I dated someone for a few months a year ago.”
“Oh.” She falls silent as if surprised.
I feel like I need to explain, “It didn’t work out, we weren’t a good fit, and I wasn’t looking for something serious.”
“Right.”
“What about you?” I ask.
“The same.”
“The same meaning what?”
“I’m not looking for something serious either?”
“Ahh,” I tease. “I get it now.” I chuckle. “So, you’re looking for a fuck buddy.”
“Isn’t everyone?”
“Sometimes.” I smile.
“Have you….”
“No,” I reply already knowing what she was going to ask. “I’ve never been with a client before.”
“Never?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve never been attracted to a client before.”
She stays silent as she listens and it’s what she’s not saying that’s giving me answers, if this was her usual jam she would be dirty talking and flirting but instead she’s interviewing me for what feels like an exclusive position. I smile, happy with the realization.
She doesn’t fuck around.
This is new for her…and somehow that makes it feel new for me too.
Shoot your shot.
“Would you like to go out for dinner when you get back?” I ask. “On a date.”
“Oh…I…. I mean….” She trips over her words. “Well, there’s….”
“You can just say no if you don’t want to.” I cut her off.
“It’s not that, it’s just.”
I stay silent as I wait for her reply.
“Why don’t I make us dinner at my place.”
Why doesn’t she want to go out?
“I mean, that’s only if you want to, of course,” she continues.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Okay.” I smirk. “What are you going to make me?”
“What do you want me to make you?” she whispers darkly and by the tone of her voice I know that she wants to play.
“You surprise me and I’ll come.”
“Oh.” She chuckles in surprise. “Well…I’ll see if I can find a recipe for that.”
“You already have that recipe perfected.”
“Are you being inappropriate, Mr. Watson?”
“Trying my hardest.” I smile as I sip my beer. “How am I doing?”
“Quite well.”
“Only quite?”
“At this stage.” She chuckles.
We both hang on the line waiting for the other to say something, I can feel her electric current through the phone.
“When?” I ask.
“I get back on Sunday.”
“Sunday night then?”
“I don’t get in until late.”
“Monday?”
“A school night, Mr. Watson?” she teases.
“Yes. A school night, I can’t wait any longer to see you.”
“Okay. Seven o’clock.”
“It’s a date.”
“Bring your massage table and tell the concierge that you’re here for my massage.”
My body clenches with excitement at merely the thought.
“You want a massage?”
“You know I do.”
Yes….
“Goodbye, Andrew.”
“Goodbye, Mabel.”
“My name is Madison.”
“Why did you introduce yourself to me as Mabel when we met?”
“I didn’t want you to know who I was.”
“Why?” I frown. “Who are you?”
“I’m the woman who’s making you dinner on Monday night.”
I smile, great answer.
“Good night, Mr. Watson.”
“Good night, Mabel.”
She chuckles at me calling her by her fake name. “Madison.”
“Mabel.”
“It’s Madison.”