Chapter 9
Nine
J on opened the door to his flat and Steph followed, watching as he took her bag through to the bedroom where he hung her suit up. A small wave of nerves washed over her as she wondered if this would have been better if the spontaneity of their kissing and touching on the sofa had been allowed to continue. For things to have developed naturally.
The feel of his arms wrapping around her waist and his lips gently kissing the back of her neck reassured her slightly, enough that she was arching and stretching to receive his kisses.
With a small mewl of appreciation from her, he was pulling her tighter against his body. “I really can’t wait to see you and touch you,” he whispered as he began to unzip her dress.
He pushed her dress down over her arms until it fell to the floor and she kicked off her shoes. She breathed deeply as he ran his hands over her soft, round bottom that was exposed courtesy of the white, lace thong she was wearing.
“That is a mighty fine arse you have there, Miss Pryor, now turn around and let me see the rest of you, darling.”
Steph laughed at his lack of tact and dry delivery of his word. Turning, she was slightly surprised at just how impressed he seemed by her standing there in her thong and matching plunge bra.
“You are very beautiful, Stephanie.” He breathed deeply, taking her hand and allowing her to step out of the dress which pooled at her feet.
Lifting her chin, Jon bent down to kiss her again, slow and gentle at first, but then more forcefully. Accepting the invitation of her open mouth, he slid his tongue inside to caress her lips and tongue, her own tongue reciprocating immediately.
She felt his arms around her, moving up her back with featherlike touches across her skin before he settled on the clasp to her bra that was suddenly flapping open.
“Is that your party trick?” she teased with a quick quirk of her lips at the speed and ease with which he had just released the fastening of her bra.
“One of them.” He grinned, but the grin quickly disappeared and was replaced with something darker and more intense as he watched her discard the bra across the room.
Standing there, almost naked allowed him to simply drink her in, to appreciate her.
“So very beautiful, Stephanie.” His hand found her aching breasts and her already firm, erect nipples.
The continuing touches to her breasts, gentle strokes and firm pinching of her nipples caused her to moan loudly, filling the silence around them. Her sounds, combined with the heat and desire in her eyes only served to make Jon smile before lowering his lips, taking her nipple between his teeth and then further into the wet heat of his mouth.
She could feel a deep clenching low in her body and began to writhe beneath his touch and moaned even louder as his other hand dropped down her body until his fingers were inside her now wet, lacy thong. She moved her legs apart slightly to allow him greater access to her which he accepted and inserted first one, and then a second finger making her cry out loudly and hoarsely.
“Now I believe I made an offer to strip you bare, spread your legs and touch you everywhere, and I am almost there with you being bare.” He stared down into her eyes as he hooked his fingers into the top of her thong and began to slide it down her legs.
She allowed it to fall to the floor and stepped out of it.
“Lie on the bed, darling,” he ordered.
She sat on the bed and paused briefly before lying back, her eyes fixed on his as he kicked off his shoes. Steph smiled as his naked body was revealed, first he discarded his t-shirt, then his jeans and socks. He stared at her as he lowered his tight, black underwear making her smile at him. She was very pleased with what she saw before her.
“You like what you see?” he asked, obviously amused by her, but also confident that there was nothing for her not to like.
“Yes, a lot,” she exclaimed and added, “I feel a little inferior now.”
Lying down beside her he told her, “You have nothing to feel inferior about, darling. You are absolutely perfect.”
Leaning in to kiss her again he grinned as she impatiently pulled him down to meet her lips. His lips began to trace a path down her face, neck and chest. As he reached her breasts he blew across them smiling as she groaned.
Jon continued his descent until he was on the floor with one of Steph’s knees in each hand, ready to be spread. “I have a feeling that this, us, we might be far better than either of us could have dared dream.”
“I hope so.” Despite her earlier thought of wanting this to be a disaster, she had never really doubted that their mutual attraction was a tiny indicator of how things could be between them. She grinned down expectantly as he pushed her knees apart and in one deft movement licked along her whole length with a flat tongue, almost from her bottom, not stopping until his tongue had moved into a point that he flicked around her clitoris until she was grabbing and fisting at the sheets beneath her.
As the sensations began to rise, Steph instinctively tried to close her legs, something Jon prevented by his position between her splayed thighs and his hands that he used to spread her open even more when he needed to.
“Oh God!” she cried as he began to probe her with his tongue before licking her length again, then lapped her clitoris once more.
When she thought she couldn’t take much more before she came apart at the seams, Jon somehow managed to cover the whole of her sex with his mouth and proceeded to suck against her tender and intimate skin, causing a series of violent shudders and spasms that tore her apart in a sea of cries and screams that echoed around them both.
Slowly and a little smugly Jon crawled up and over Steph’s body until he blanketed her, gazing into her eyes that were glazed with arousal and satisfaction. He smiled down at her. “Like you were ever going to be anything other than amazing.”
“Well, you were anything but crap yourself.” She laughed loudly whilst adjusting her position until she could feel him poised at her entrance. “Contraception,” Steph suddenly remembered.
“What do you normally use?” Jon asked, already thinking that this was probably a conversation they should have had before they got this far.
“It’s been a while, but I used condoms for a long time and then the pill with Simon, but as I say we didn’t for a while and when I found out what he’d done I got checked out. I’m clean. What about you?”
“Condoms for the last seven years and I am clean too. I have condoms,” he said and was already preparing to move, to grab a condom.
“Or we could not bother with anything else . . . we’re both clean and the pill works for me.” Steph tensed as she saw the expression on Jon’s face change, something in his eyes seemed to register, something she didn’t quite recognise. “Or,” she began, thinking that maybe she was coming across as slutty Steph or even worse that it might look like she was attempting to entrap him.
“Ssh,” he interrupted, already leaning in to kiss her at the same time that he gently edged inside her, unsure why he was so willing to do this, to take this risk with her so soon and although he had some reservations about it, some nerves, his overriding feeling was one of excitement.
With his lips on hers, he began to move, caressing her, causing her insides to quake with every stroke. Steph’s hands were already reaching for Jon’s head where her fingers began to run and tangle in his hair. With his lips already moving along her jaw, nipping at the skin there, he quickly found her ear that he was breathing and whispering into.
“Fuck! You feel so good, darling. This is going to be amazing. We’re going to be amazing, together.”
His words combined with his movements were pushing her forward towards another release, one that felt like it might be even more intense and mind blowing than her first. The joints in Steph’s fingers were beginning to tense in time with her internal muscles as she began to pull firmly on Jon’s hair as her nails scraped against his scalp.
“Oh God,” she chanted over and over while Jon’s lips were already on the move again, down her neck, briefly probing and biting that soft dip between her neck and chest that pushed her even closer to release. “Shit!” she hissed now, making him laugh against the skin of her chest he was already travelling across, heading for her breast, her nipple.
The heat and moisture of his mouth closing around her nipple that was already drawn into a tight point was the catalyst that saw her soaring. The feeling of a suction forming around her sensitive tip had her nails clawing his head, shoulders and back while her legs wrapped around him, her inner thighs tightening until she thought the muscles there were going to spasm into cramp. Jon’s movements were faster, harder and with the combination of rotating movements that brushed against her over sensitised clit and his thrusts almost punishing her, she was clueless as to what to do to absorb the feelings and sensations that were bombarding her body and mind. Her cries of release were muffled suddenly. Jon’s mouth was over hers again, claiming the sounds of her pleasure as he allowed her to do the same with his groans that left him in a series of hisses and grunts. His body continued to move in an almost violent succession of thrusts and drives, his hands tightening their grip on her hips, most likely bruising her as he came, finally filling her with his release.
After a final, gentle kiss to Steph’s lips, Jon pulled free of her and rolled onto his back. Neither of them spoke for another minute or so, their loud and laboured breathing filling the space around them.
“If all of your ideas are as good as us having sex, I might just need to employ you, Miss Pryor,” Jon finally said, making Steph laugh a full belly laugh, something he joined in with as she rolled onto her side to look at him.
“And if that is what happens when I express an idea I might need to keep you on speed dial.”
“You’d better,” he said with a very serious tone as he reached for her, pulling her closer.
When Steph opened her eyes it took a few seconds for her to gather her thoughts and realise where she was. She smiled at the memory of the previous night, all of it; Jon certainly had stripped her bare and had indeed touched her everywhere, with everything and had made it most memorable. She thought that as fond as she had been of Simon, loved him, for a time, the sex had never been that good. Jon had been something else completely, and although he had first thought of her as being a bit slutty, she never had been, although knowingly sleeping with a married man might just be the sluttiest thing she’d ever done. She’d had several sexual partners, but none had prepared her for last night.
“Good morning,” she heard him say from behind her before he kissed her shoulder.
“Hello.” She rolled over to face him.
“Did you sleep okay?” he asked her with a smug and cheesy grin lighting up the room never mind his face.
“I may have nodded off eventually.” She returned his smile and reached up to run a hand through his hair while he brushed her nose with his.
“I told you we’d need all night.”
“So you did,” she agreed. “What time is it?”
“Quarter past seven.”
“Shit!” she cried and sat bolt upright.
Pulling her back down to him, his mouth against her ear he asked, “What’s the hurry, Miss Pryor?”
“I need to shower and go to work, that’s the hurry.”
“Go in later, or phone in and stay here,” he suggested.
“Mr Brooker, how very inappropriate. I need to go to work because I am a lowly employee, not the CEO.” Pausing, she smiled, enjoying the lack of awkwardness and their easy banter of formal titles.
“Quit then,” he said seriously, making her laugh as his lips continued to assault her ear, neck and shoulder in a series of kisses.
“I have bills to pay and as much as I would love to stay in bed with you all day, I really do have to get ready for work,” she said as she turned the tables, capturing his lips and gently kissing him before getting up. “I am happy to share a shower, if you fancy it, though?”
He leapt from the bed, already following Steph’s naked body into the bathroom. “Oh, Stephanie, I fancy it more than you would believe.”
Standing in a nude coloured satin bra and brief set, Steph was just finishing drying her hair after applying tinted moisturiser, pink lipstick and mascara when Jon reappeared in the bedroom, already dressed in black suit trousers, a white shirt and a slate grey tie.
“I’ve made you some tea, but I wasn’t sure what you ate for breakfast.” Sitting on the edge of the bed he laced up the black leather shoes he’d put on.
“Thanks, I’ll grab some breakfast on the way to work.” She fastened the buttons on her blouse she’d tucked into the trousers she’d now slipped on.
He was smiling at her reflection in the mirror. She smiled back.
“You look very sexy and I may be regretting my decision not to phone in sick.”
“Good.” Laughing he got to his feet, watching her slip her black, heeled ankle boots onto her socked feet and held the jacket out for her.
Lifting the collar of her blouse over the lapels of the jacket he bent down and kissed her cheek gently. “You look very sexy in trousers too, but maybe your male colleagues will be able to keep their eyes off your tits and arse a little easier in this outfit rather than your very clingy dresses and skirts. Now go and drink your tea,” he ordered as he slipped his own jacket on.
As they stood together at the lift, each of them held their own briefcase. Steph reached into her bag and pulled out her phone and switched it on. She looked down and frowned as she saw that she had twelve text messages, twenty-three missed calls and voicemail alerts from Simon. She quickly slipped it into her pocket and retrieved her Oyster card. The lift arrived and she realised that Jon was staring at her.
“Where is the nearest tube station?”
“I can drop you at work,” he said.
“No, thank you. If someone sees us they will put two and two together and?—”
“Make four,” he interrupted. “Let me drop you at the tube station.”
“Okay,” she conceded as the lift arrived in the car park.
Jon pulled in at the station a few minutes later. “Is that the ex-boyfriend who is now making a habit of hassling you that’s put that frown on your face?”
She considered playing dumb, but that seemed pretty futile so nodded, which made Jon frown, so she expanded, “Yes. I have some texts and missed calls and I assume the voice mails are his too.”
“What does he say?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t looked. I will do it on the tube or when I get to work,” she replied, that having been her plan all along.
He nodded, not pushing for her to check them before leaving the car even though he really wanted to know what he wanted. “I’ll call you later, but if he makes contact at work call me because that is unfair of him to bring this to your place of work.”
She made no further reference to Simon or his messages but did nod her agreement. “Thanks for letting me leave my stuff at yours, but I will take it home with me before the weekend. I would hate for your wife to find it.” She felt a very odd sensation wash over her at the thought that she was now having an affair with a married man. Maybe the sensation was simple guilt.
“Very considerate.” He was already leaning over to kiss her gently but as she parted her lips, drawing him in, he pulled back. “You really should go now, or I will be fucking you right here, right now.”
She giggled getting out of the car, then ran across the car park and up the stairs to her platform where her train arrived almost immediately.
She had just found a seat on the tube when her phone pinged again. She pulled it out of her pocket hesitantly, but smiled when she saw her new message was from Jon.
Don’t run! Your arse sways and bounces and looks fantastic, very sexy. You make me very horny. Will call you later. Jon x
She smiled at his message, but also that he had included a kiss at the end of it.
I would have missed my train if I hadn’t run, but will consider your comments for future running. You are also very sexy and in case you hadn’t realised you make me very horny too. I will endeavour to be available when you call. Is that a kiss at the bottom of your message? Steph x (kiss)
I figured that as I have now kissed every inch of your beautiful body I could put an x (kiss), at the end of my message. Now let me go to work. Jon x (kiss) No need to (kiss) after every x
Steph arrived at her office with a bacon sandwich and a very overpriced coffee from the local coffee shop. She put her briefcase down and sat at her desk with her phone and started with the voicemails that were all very similar; I love you, I miss you, who are you seeing? Is it serious? And then as the night had gone on and he became more drunk and a little more unpleasant - you’re a bitch, all I ever wanted was to be with you and you pushed me away, you always chose your career before me and that’s why I ended up shagging the school secretary. She sighed as she hung up and checked the missed calls, the last of which was timed at just after twenty past seven. She smiled as she thought that at that time she was sharing a shower with Jon.
Then she looked at the text messages and sighed as they became more and more desperate and aggressive as they went on, but they reflected the sentiments of the voicemails. Maybe now that he was sleeping off a skin full he would leave her alone as he had done up until the previous night, although Steph was curious to know what had triggered his visit. She threw her phone onto her desk and bit into her bacon sandwich as Rosie appeared in the doorway.
“Morning, Steph, you okay?” she asked warily.
“Kind of. Simon has resurfaced and is being a pain in the neck,” she explained.
“Ah, maybe he has been given his marching orders by the school secretary,” she suggested.
Steph nodded. “I thought that too, but his timing was well off.”
Rosie frowned then nodded as if suddenly understanding. “Were you with someone else?”
“I was waiting to be picked up for a date when Simon turned up drunk and then he was phoning and texting.” She sighed, really hoping he would go away as quickly as he’d reappeared.
“Maybe after he’s sobered up he will go back to where he’s come from and leave you alone, but more importantly, who is your new man?” asked Rosie, intrigued.
“Nobody you know, just a guy and it’s not serious, just a bit of fun for a while.” She felt a sudden feeling of disappointment wash over her at the notion of that, the notion of what she and Jon were, all they could ever be.
“I see. Do you want tea or are you sticking with your designer coffee?” Rosie pointed at Steph’s cardboard cup.
“I’ll stick with this, thanks,” she replied as Rosie returned to her own desk.
Steph was auditing some costings a short time later when her desk phone rang.
“Steph, there’s a delivery of flowers here for you and Steve Cannon from Brookers is on the line,” Rosie told her.
“Put him through and bring the flowers in if you would, please,” she replied before her call was connected. “Hello, Steve, what can I do for you?”
“Morning, Steph. I was wondering if you were definitely in this afternoon?”
“Yes, but not until after one. Is there a problem?” Nerves flooded her mind as she questioned what could have gone wrong so soon in the deal with Brookers.
“Sort of. I had a team meeting this morning and a few of my people are a little nervous that their roles are being limited by the contract with you so I was wondering if you were free to attend an informal gathering to discuss any concerns they have?”
“Yes, of course. In fact, we should probably have seen that coming and pre-empted it. What time?” She pulled her diary out.
“Two o’clock? Give you some time to gather your thoughts,” he suggested.
“Thanks, and I’ll see you later.” She’d just hung up when Rosie appeared with the biggest arrangement of flowers she had ever seen outside of a funeral procession.
Rosie grinned at her. “Oh yes, definitely ‘just a guy and it’s not serious, just a bit of fun for a while’.”
Steph stared at the flowers, pink and cream blooms; lilies, roses, carnations, gerberas and dozens of others she didn’t know the names of.
“They’re beautiful.” Rosie smiled at her, then she ran off as her phone began to ring in the distance.
Steph’s desk phone rang again and as she answered it Rosie’s voice said, “Sorry Steph, but Simon is on the line for you.”
“Shit,” muttered Steph, nervously toying with a pen. She was desperate to tell Rosie to make an excuse for her, but presumed based on the last twenty-four hours, he wouldn’t give up easily, and it would be unfair to put her assistant in the middle of her personal life. With a sigh, she spoke again, “Put him through.”
“Hello,” came Simon’s voice, “Steph?”
“Simon.”
“I wanted to apologise for last night. For getting drunk and turning up at your place and then the messages and calls, sorry.” He sounded sincere, and yet, Steph could hear something else, frustration, irritation, both perhaps.
“Apology accepted, thanks, but I really have to go.” She meant it. She did accept his apology, there was no reason not to, but she had a very busy day.
“Is that it?” His earlier undertone of frustration had gone and all that was left was irritation.
“What else do you want me to say?” She didn’t want to be deliberately antagonistic but she didn’t need this drama or anything else from him and was confused as to what else he did want.
“I don’t know, but at least pretend you give a shit!” He shouted at her now.
“I did care, but we are no longer together and I haven’t seen or heard off you for over six months and now you decide you want to go back to how things were and I am supposed to roll over and accept it. I have no feelings towards you at all, Simon. In fact, I am struggling to realise what I ever saw in you in the first place, so please do not call me, text me or turn up at my home. You moved on and so have I,” she said, then hung up.
Her hands were still trembling from Simon’s call when the phone rang again as she took out the card attached to the flowers.
Good morning, hope you like the flowers.
I decided that pinks and creams matched
your complexion, everywhere! Last night
was amazing. I told you neither of us
would be crap.
Jon x
She laughed at his message as she picked up her phone.
“Steph, Mr Brooker is on the line for you,” said Rosie.
“Thanks, put him through and if Simon calls back please tell him I am unavailable.”
“Hello, Stephanie Pryor,” she announced unnecessarily.
“Hello, Miss Pryor, how are you this fine morning?”
“I am very well, if a little tired,” she replied, laughing.
“I can relate to that, but worth every sleepless moment don’t you think?” He laughed back.
“Without a doubt,” she replied seriously. “Speaking of which, thank you for the flowers, they’re beautiful, but you may need to stop sending me flowers or people will talk.”
“Glad you like them and I will send you flowers whenever I want and if people want to talk, let them,” he said flippantly.
Steph gave a gentle shake of her head but admired his easy confidence. “That may not look too good for either of us but thank you anyway.”
“Has that idiot ex-boyfriend been in touch? Did you check your messages from him?” Jon turned serious suddenly.
“Yeah, he phoned earlier, but I basically told him to sod off.”
“Do you think he’ll get the message now?” Jon didn’t sound convinced that he would.
“I don’t know, but I suppose I’ll find out soon enough and I’ve told Rosie to tell him I am unavailable if he calls again.”
“He called you at your office? At your place of work? What a dickhead. If he keeps calling you there you will need to do something about him because that will soon become office gossip. Although, you were supposed to call me if he contacted you there.” His initial irritation was short lived as it gave way to something that sounded a lot like concern. “Are you okay though?”
“I have literally just hung up from him, but I am fine.” She made her best attempt at sounding sincere in the sentiment but Simon did have a knack for making her nervous, so tried to change the subject. “Steve Cannon called me earlier.”
“Steve? Why?” Jon sounded both surprised and suspicious.
“He wants me to attend an informal gathering to smooth a few ruffled feathers I think. Some of your legal team think they’re being limited by your contract with us,” she explained.
“I see. Keep me posted.” He sounded entirely business-like now.
“Of course. I have a team meeting to prepare for myself so I really need to go now.”
“Anything exciting?” he asked.
“Sustainability of costings within proposed new accounts,” she told him.
“A no would have been fine.” He laughed. “But call me later and if Simon becomes too much of a pain be careful. In fact, call me, okay?”
“Yes. Bye.” With a content smile and a fuzzy feeling inside she hung up.