Chapter 19
The next morning, Claire stood on the step outside Luca’s house and pressed his bell.
She had tussled with herself about what she should do ever since she’d woken in her own bed, vaguely aware that she wasn’t supposed to be there.
Rage had boiled up inside her as she recalled their fight last night and the way Luca had behaved.
But she felt bad about some of the things she’d said to him.
She wondered if they had burnt their boats.
Were they finished, or should one of them apologise? And if so, should it be her – or him?
Part of her would have been happy never to see Luca again.
He was the very antithesis of Mark, the opposite of what she wanted in a man.
But she still needed him, so regardless of who was most in the wrong, she decided she would be the one to make the first move towards trying to patch things up between them.
She’d come over rather than trying to call him, sure that he would simply ignore her if she tried to contact him by phone.
Only after she had rung the bell did it occur to her that Aisling might be with him, but it was too late to run away.
Luca’s silent scowl when he answered the door wasn’t encouraging, but at least he let her in, and she rehearsed what to say as they climbed the stairs in silence.
‘I’m sorry—’ they said simultaneously, as soon as he had closed the door behind them, which made them laugh, dispelling some of the tension.
‘Okay, I’ll go first,’ Claire said. Luca waved her to the sofa and sat beside her. She was relieved to see there was no sign of Aisling.
‘I’m sorry if I acted like a jealous girlfriend,’ she said.
‘Maybe I have let myself get more attached to you than I should. It’s hard not to when you’re giving me orgasms all the time and making me feel amazing.
But I know it doesn’t mean anything, and you don’t have to worry about me going bunny-boiler on you, honestly.
And I didn’t mean what I said – I think you’re a really decent person, and you’ve been very generous and sweet to me.
So please don’t quit on me, because I still need you. If you want more money—’
‘I don’t,’ Luca interrupted. ‘Look, I’m sorry too. You were right – I acted like a dick, and I’m sorry you felt humiliated. I just – I felt like you were getting possessive and I freaked out. I know I’m supposed to want more, but I just don’t.’
Claire shook her head. ‘I know that, and it’s a pity because you have so much more to give.
But I’m not trying to change you. I meant what I said about wanting more…
’ Luca opened his mouth to say something, but she held up a hand to silence him ‘…but I’m not looking for that from you, honestly,’ she raced on.
‘Mark wants the same things I want, and he’s the reason I’m here in the first place.
’ She took a deep breath. ‘So – do you think we could continue?’
He smiled. ‘Actually, I’m relieved you said that because I seem to remember giving you a money-back guarantee.’
‘So you did.’
‘We can get back to it right now, if you like,’ he said, taking her hand.
‘Good. Because there’s something I want to try.’
‘Ow! Claire, what are you doing?’
‘Don’t you like it?’ she puffed, frowning in concentration as she alternated twisting her hands in opposite directions on his shaft and slapping it back and forth vigorously. They were both naked, Claire kneeling up beside him, while Luca lay prone on the bed.
‘No, it hurts!’
‘Really?’ she asked uncertainly, reducing the slaps to light flicks.
‘Ouch! Yes, get off me!’ He pushed her hands away, shunting away from her in the bed. He collapsed back against the pillows, his breathing ragged.
‘Sorry.’ She caught her lip between her teeth. ‘I must be doing it wrong.’
‘I don’t think there’s a right way to do that. What the hell were you trying to do?’
‘I saw it in a magazine. I wanted to surprise you.’ It was number one of the ‘Five Ways to Drive Him Wild in Bed’ in the article she’d read.
She had studied it diligently and thought she’d grasped it.
She’d thought she could make faster progress if she used her initiative and learnt things for herself as well as what Luca taught her. She’d hoped he’d be pleased.
‘Well, you surprised me all right,’ he said, his breathing calming.
‘Sorry. It was supposed to be a turn-on.’
‘Jesus! Where do they come up with this stuff?’
‘Sorry.’ She winced. ‘Does it still hurt?’
‘I’ll be okay.’
‘I probably wasn’t doing it right. It’s quite complicated – like trying to rub your head and pat your stomach at the same time. But I thought I’d got the hang of it.’
‘Don’t tell me you practised on a banana?’
‘Well…’ Claire gave him a guilty smile.
‘Claire,’ he said patiently, ‘you do know the crucial difference between a banana and a dick that’s attached to an actual live human being?’
‘Um,’ she twisted her mouth, as if trying to come up with the answer, ‘you can’t eat the dick?’
Luca grinned. ‘Well… okay, you’re right – there’s no difference.’
‘So, was there anything you liked about it? The banana had no complaints.’
‘I liked you taking the initiative. And you looked cute with your little frown, you were concentrating so hard,’ he said, touching the space between her eyebrows. ‘And I liked the way your tits jiggled while you were doing it.’
‘Like this?’ She shimmied her chest so that her breasts wobbled.
‘Yeah.’ He grinned appreciatively. ‘But seriously, Claire, you don’t have to do these outlandish things to get a guy excited. You can pretty much just sit there, like that,’ he said, waving at her naked body. ‘That’ll do it every time. We’re about as complicated as door knobs.’
She flopped down on the pillows beside him and he put an arm around her. ‘I just thought maybe I should have some sexy tricks up my sleeve, to seem more sophisticated.’
‘Forget about having tricks up your sleeve. Just don’t wear sleeves – or anything else. That’s as sophisticated as it needs to get, honestly.’
Claire laughed.
‘But it’s good that you’re being proactive, coming up with new ideas,’ he said. ‘Maybe just run them by me first, okay?’
‘Okay.’
‘So, was there anything else you wanted to try?’
‘Well, I read loads of sex tips, but most of them sounded a bit tricky – like that one. And a lot of them were just weird – like hiding in the bathroom, jumping out at you when you come out of the shower and swatting your legs with a hairbrush.’
‘Jesus, are these sex tips from the Spanish Inquisition?’
‘I think they could be, actually. There was one about dripping hot candle wax on you.’
‘Let’s not do that.’
‘Or putting a doughnut on your willy and eating it off.’
‘Gives a whole new meaning to “put a ring on it”,’ Luca said, and Claire laughed.
‘And rubbing food on you, then licking it off – that one cropped up again and again, just with different food.’
‘A classic. We could try that, if you like.’
Claire nodded eagerly. She didn’t want all her hours of study to go to waste. ‘They usually suggest whipped cream or chocolate sauce.’
‘I don’t have any chocolate sauce or whipped cream,’ Luca said apologetically.
‘How about ice-cream, then? It’s good because the cold stimulates the senses too.’
‘Sorry, I don’t have any ice-cream either.’
‘Well, what do you have?’
Luca thought. ‘How about cornflakes?’
‘But I couldn’t pour milk on you. It wouldn’t stick.’
‘No, you’d have to eat them dry.’
Claire thought about shaking cornflakes onto his naked body and eating them off it. ‘Cornflakes aren’t very sexy, are they?’ she said.
‘No. Frosties, now – that’s a sexy cereal.’
‘It needs to be something you can lick. Foods that melt at body temperature are sexy – like chocolate or ice-cream.’
‘How about butter? That melts at body temperature.’
‘Eew, no. I couldn’t eat butter on its own. I’d be sick.’
‘Maybe you could make yourself a few sandwiches. Have a buffet off me.’
Claire laughed. ‘Okay, let’s forget the whole eating-food-off-you scenario.’
‘Oh! I might have some Nutella.’
‘I hate Nutella.’
‘You could go out to the shops and get something,’ Luca suggested.
‘Nah. The moment has passed.’
‘Well, if you want to try it some other time, let me know and I’ll have something in.’
‘Okay.’ She nuzzled into his neck. ‘All that talk of food has made me hungry.’
‘Do you want to get up and have breakfast?’
‘Not yet. Let’s stay here for a while.’ She was very aware that this was the last chance she’d have this weekend to spend time with Luca, and she wanted to make the most of every minute.
‘When’s your mother getting out?’
‘She’s being “released”, as she calls it, tomorrow morning.’
‘Well, you can stay here tonight, then.’
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘I really need to go home and get the house ready – clean up a bit, do some shopping. I haven’t spent much time there the past few weeks. I’ll have to leave around lunchtime. Why don’t we hang on and go out for a big brunch later? My treat.’
‘Sounds good.’
‘And in the meantime I’ll just have to find something else to nibble on.’ She raised herself up on an elbow and started kissing his neck and shoulder.
‘Hey, that was pretty good sexy-talk.’ He pushed his hand into her hair.
‘Thanks. How’s your dick now?’
‘It’ll live.’
‘Aw, poor thing.’ She began kissing her way down his chest. ‘Would it help if I kissed it better?’
‘It couldn’t hurt.’
She was just swirling her tongue around the tip when they were interrupted by the door buzzer. They ignored it at first, but it just got more and more insistent.
‘Bloody hell!’ Luca grumbled, gently extricating himself from Claire and getting out of bed. ‘This had better be good.’
He stormed into the living room naked and Claire heard him speaking into the intercom.
‘It’s my sister,’ he told her, as he came back into the bedroom and pulled on his jeans and a T-shirt. ‘You’d better get dressed. She won’t go away – she’s kind of an unstoppable force.’