Chapter 12
Lila
The receptionist at the hotel didn’t bat an eyelid when Lila checked in with no luggage, nor when she paid with the company credit card.
It was a bit naughty, but her organisation had so many employees that she knew they didn’t go through the credit card statements and query the transactions.
It wasn’t like she was charging them for a fortnight in Barbados or a new pair of Jimmy Choos.
These were just little perks of the job.
She could have waited for Ken and let him foot the bill as she’d planned earlier, but she wanted to get in and think about what she was going to do.
And anyway, it was already noon and he clearly wasn’t here yet.
Occupational hazard. Surgeries always ran late.
It was something she’d need to get used to when they were married.
When she got to the room, she realised her heart was still beating a little faster than usual but she wasn’t sure if that was the double espresso she’d picked up from Starbucks on the way here, or the phone calls she’d made.
She paused, did a quick assessment – nope, no regret about making them.
Although, she still wasn’t sure what the hell she’d have said if the wife had picked up.
Bernadette. She preferred to just call her ‘the wife’.
More impersonal. It wasn’t like they were ever going to be friends, although, no doubt their paths would cross at Ken’s family functions in the future.
That was fine. Lila was prepared to be civil and show them all exactly why Ken had moved on and chosen to leave his marriage for her.
Her plans to slip into the bath were shelved when she realised that would be a waste of the black slutty knickers and curve-enhancing bra that he’d asked her to wear.
Actually that wasn’t true – he’d just suggested two outfits and told her to wear one of them.
She loved that he knew what he wanted and didn’t care that he made demands.
It just showed how much he loved her. She’d grown up with her father calling the shots and her mother hanging on his every word and look how happy they were now.
Not that this was anything like her parents. Urgh, she didn’t want to think about them sneaking to hotels in the middle of the day. No, what she and Ken had was incredible, passionate, dangerous.
Instead, she peeled off her clothes, leaving on just her underwear, stockings and stilettos. Ken could take the rest off when he got there and then he could…
A knock at the door.
This had better not be housekeeping or they were going to have a story to tell their pals down the pub tonight.
She opened the door and there he was, her gorgeous doctor. In his suit and with his grey hair swept back, he looked like he’d just walked off the set of Grey’s Anatomy. Strolling in, his sexy grin lit up his face when he saw her outfit.
‘You.’ Kiss. ‘Are.’ Kiss. ‘Bloody.’ Kiss. ‘Irresistible.’
Then another kiss, one that lasted a long time, spread to many parts of her body, until he’d claimed every inch of her. It was his routine, and he rarely veered from it. She wasn’t complaining. He liked things a certain way and the thrill of his commands turned her on like no other guy ever had.
‘Get on top, right now,’ he ordered, and she was happy to oblige. She pushed him back and rode him until they both came, in a shudder of ecstasy that probably contravened the please respect the other guests by keeping the noise down signs in the hall.
Only when they were done, did she realise that he was still fully clothed, only a slightly squinty tie and a lowered zip giving a hint of what had just happened. Not that she cared. It just showed how desperate he’d been to have her that he didn’t even stop to undress.
She slowly dismounted, then kneeled beside him, stroking his face while he played with one of her nipples.
‘You’re amazing,’ he told her. ‘And far too skilled at that for your own good.’
‘It’s a talent,’ she replied, teasing.
‘Do you do that to your other guy?’ His face darkened as he said it and Lila had to stop herself from smiling. He was jealous. Irritated. Good. It was another reason she wouldn’t leave Cammy until Ken was hers – she knew how much he couldn’t stand thinking of her with another man.
She’d told him about Cammy when they met up again after the split and he made it clear that he wasn’t happy about it at all.
He’d told her he wanted her to end it, but, for once, she’d refused him.
There was no way she wanted to be on her own, like a complete sad case, before Ken made his move and they could be together.
At least with Cammy around she went out for nice dinners and had a bit of a life.
The fact that he was leverage that might nudge Kenneth along a tad quicker was just an extra bonus.
Besides, there was one way for him to make sure that she never slept with anyone but him ever again…
‘Ken, I…’
His eye caught the time on his watch and he immediately unhanded her nipple. ‘I need to go. I’ve got another surgery in an hour.’
He registered the disappointment that fell over her beautiful face and stopped, halfway up, to kiss her, his manner softening as it always did when she pouted. ‘I’ll make it up to you, I promise.’
Hadn’t she heard that so many times before? And how many more times was she going to pretend she believed it?
‘Baby,’ she said, in the breathy voice she knew turned him on, ‘I know we said we wouldn’t talk about it again for a while, but I can’t stand this. I can’t stand not being with you when I want to, I can’t stand sharing you with someone else, I can’t…’
His mood changed instantly. ‘Oh, for Christ’s sake, Lila, you know there’s nothing I can bloody do about…
’ He stopped, paused, regrouped. ‘I’m sorry.
’ He leaned over, kissed her again. ‘You know I’m working on it.
You know I want it every bit as much as you do.
But I can’t leave yet. Bernadette… isn’t ready. ’
Lila felt a ferocious urge to argue, but bit it back.
What was the point? He would only get pissed off and besides, he was saying yet again how much he wanted to be with her too.
That’s why he got so frustrated. It was hard for him, living in a house with a woman he didn’t love.
What was Bernadette’s bloody problem? Surely she could see that she wasn’t enough for Ken?
Would she ever be woman enough to have the dignity to let him go?
He wanted Lila. She wanted him. This should be so simple. Seven years, she’d waited and her time for waiting was over. It had to be done.
Removing obstacles. Seeing challenges as opportunities. She was going to do this.
He kissed her slowly, passionately before he left. ‘I’m going to make it happen,’ he told her, ‘it just needs to be the right time.’
‘I think that’s now,’ she said, trying not to sound petulant.
She decided to play the one card that she knew irked him more than any other.
‘I can’t stand lying next to someone every night that isn’t you.
’ It wasn’t strictly true, but she saw the shadow of jealousy cross his face once again. Direct hit.
‘Soon,’ he said, through slightly gritted teeth. ‘When the time is right.’
He kissed her again, then he was gone and it was just Lila, in a faceless hotel, in lingerie that cost more than a week in one of these rooms.
Fucking depressing, she decided. How had her life come to this? If she needed confirmation that action was required, this was it.
Sighing, she pushed herself up, peeled off the underwear and jumped in the shower, only leaving the soothing jets of the water when her phone rang. She stepped out and grabbed it from the vanity unit.
Cammy’s name flashed on the screen. She thought about answering it, then decided to ignore it, then changed her mind again. If it were important, he’d only keep trying until he got her, and if it wasn’t, then she’d get him off the phone quickly.
‘Hi babe,’ she said, doing her very best ‘good girlfriend’ act. No point in stirring things up with him until she had to. She didn’t need two dramas on her hands.
She dried herself off while she spoke.
‘Hey honey, how’s your day going? Busy?’
‘Rushed right off my feet,’ she said, phone under her chin now while she pulled on one of her stockings. ‘I just… finished a really promising call with a cardiac surgeon.’
‘Sounds like you’re killing it out there,’ he said, encouraging as always. She’d miss that about him.
She pulled on a second stocking. ‘Yep, I think good things will come of it.’
‘Great. Listen, I’m just calling to say there’s a change of plan for tonight.’
Lila almost punched the air. Thank God. She didn’t have to pitch up for dinner and pretend to like those bloody women that Cammy was friends with.
What was all that about? A forty-one-year-old guy hanging out with two ancient old dears.
She didn’t get the dynamic at all. And all of that stuff about Josie being a second mother to him went right over her head.
What was up with the mother he had? Apart from the fact that she lived in Perth and he only saw her a few times a year when he went back for a visit.
That seemed more than reasonable to Lila.
But none of that mattered right now because this call had saved her faking illness and calling off later. Result.
‘That’s fine, babe. I quite fancied going to the gym anyway. Maybe a spin class.’ Maybe turning up at my boyfriend’s house and telling his wife it’s time to let him go. She didn’t say that last option out loud.
‘No, dinner’s still on.’
Her heart sank.
‘But your mum and dad are going to join us now instead of Josie and Val.’
Oh. That made it better then. Strange Mum and Dad didn’t mention it at the golf course earlier. Must have slipped their minds, or maybe Cammy had only just invited them. No matter. It was a better option than the original plan. And she could always cancel if events this afternoon got in the way.