Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Maurizio
Part of me had cursed the arrival of Bea that morning as she had not only interrupted us, but she’d also shattered the moment we’d been sharing.
I guess the moment had been a hell of a lot more than just a moment because if the charge between us had intensified much more and her heavy breathing and moaning had continued, I might have ended up spinning her around, pinning her against the nearest surface, and kissing her breathless.
And they were just the first thoughts I had when it came to her.
Considering my children were sat at the table, pouring cereal into bowls, it was probably for the best that Bea had arrived at that precise second or Rosie and Craig may have been traumatized forevermore.
After greeting Bea, I made my excuses and with a time agreed to take Flora to collect her car, I headed to my office with a cup of tea in hand.
For an hour or so I busied myself with emails and the final preparations for the case I was due to defend in court starting that afternoon.
Stiff from sitting at the computer, I got up, turned to look out of the window at nothing whilst I stretched.
I arched my back slightly until everything began to loosen with a few cracks here and there.
I might need to make an appointment with the chiropractor, see if he couldn’t get a few decent back cracks out of me.
Or maybe I needed a massage . . . I actually meant a sports massage but somehow my thoughts deserted me and returned to Flora and the potential of her hands on me.
The image of those oiled hands moving across my skin, the feel of her on me.
I needed to lose all thoughts of this nature.
Blowing out a breath with a bend of my neck as I moved it from side to side, I turned back to face my office where Flora stood in the open doorway which caused me to jump.
“Sorry. I was going to knock, but the door was open.”
I watched the colour stain her cheeks. “That’s okay, come in.”
She looked awkward, shifting from one foot to the other as if she was considering crossing the threshold but had decided against it.
I wanted her to come in and join me. To be confident enough to tell me what was going on in her head.
With that intention in my mind, I curled my hand, summoning her in as I retook my seat.
Cautiously putting one foot in front of the other, she entered.
“Close the door.”
Three words.
Innocent words that halted her progress as she came to a dead stop that almost saw her trip the distance between her and my desk.
With a hard swallow, she turned and gently clicked the door closed. I didn’t doubt she was rethinking closing the distance between us, but all I could do while she had her back to me was to drink in the shape of her peachy arse which was encased in tight fitting stone-washed denim.
She spun suddenly, startling me and causing a blush of my own to creep up my cheeks, sure she knew I’d been ogling her behind.
I gestured to a chair, but with a single shake of her head, she declined, but did at least speak now. “I didn’t want to disturb you, but you said you’d be able to take me to collect my car once Bea arrived . . . I mean it’s fine if you can’t. I can grab an Uber if you give me the address.”
“Of course, sorry. I was working and forgot, but we can go now if you’re ready?”
She nodded. I leapt to my feet and followed her towards the door where she came to an abrupt standstill and turned so quickly that my front almost collided with hers.
“Oh.” She gasped that one word as I stood over her, one of my feet coming to rest between hers, our bodies close enough that I was almost pressed against her chest that I swore was heaving.
We froze in that moment, or was it that time stood still, with me, looking down, gazing into her blue eyes that told me everything I needed to know.
This feeling, the pull towards her, might prove to be many things but the one thing it wasn’t was one-sided.
She felt it too. Was that why they said eyes were the window to a person’s soul?
“Flora.” I had no idea what that one slightly breathless word was, what I meant to say or convey in my utterance of her name.
She said nothing. She just nodded.
I leaned in, incapable of doing anything else. I wanted the taste of her on my lips and there was nothing that would stop that. “Say my name.”
“Maurice.”
Her reply was instant and did absolutely nothing but irritate me.
I shook my head and got exactly what I wanted from her.
“Maurizio.”
My heart was ready to leap from my chest at the utterance of my name spoken by her for the first time. There was no denying the curl of my lips that continued until I was flashing my teeth at her.
I leaned in closer. She smelled delightful, vanilla, coconut and something else that begged me to devour her where she stood.
Devourment would have to wait. My lips edged ever closer and that’s when I saw her nervousness and hesitation.
I pulled back slightly, what if this wasn’t the right time?
Although, would there ever be a right time for this?
It was crazy. Of that I had no doubt, and yet, I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do more.
“Tell me to stop,” I implored her, needing her to be one hundred percent on board with this and to suffer no regrets in its aftermath. For fuck’s sake, this needed never to happen regardless of whether she was on board or not!
“Stop,” she managed to whisper.
I stepped back and nodded. “Of course. If you’d rather get an Uber, I understand.”
“It might be best, for us both, to have some distance.”
I felt a strange sense of annoyance at her suggestion but, it was for the best because if we were confined to the small space of a car, then we both knew her whispered stop would be long forgotten.
“Grange Road, that’s where the garage is, and they know you’re collecting it this morning.”
She nodded. “Thank you. Have a good day.”
“You, too. I’ll see you later.”
With a slightly forced smile from us both, I stepped back and allowed her to open the door, leaving me behind with a hammering heart, a raging erection, and head full of conflicting ideas and thoughts.
The journey into work was difficult. Between roadworks, traffic, and some road closures, I was cutting it fine getting in a few minutes before I would need to leave for court.
I still felt rather confused after the altercation this morning and wondered how things had got so heated so soon between me and Flora.
I wanted her so badly, like I might just fucking die if I never got to kiss her.
Yet, with space between us, I could see things more rationally.
Things could go horribly wrong, in fact, they were more likely to go wrong than not, and then I’d be without a nanny and that would be grossly unfair on my children.
Why the hell was I thinking with my cock?
My children deserved better. Flora deserved better.
The logical half of my brain was saying to end it before it got started, but the other half was saying to simply do it because this was inevitable so why fight it?
I had to keep thinking about the consequences of my actions.
That would be the only way to survive this.
The phone on my desk rang and because I was so engrossed in thoughts of Flora, I jumped, startled to realise I was still at work and losing the plot, clearly.
I snatched the phone up and after identifying myself, I sat back and listened as I was told that the case I was due to defend that afternoon had been dropped by the CPS.
This sometimes happened, but even in this instance it was bloody last minute.
With a call to my client made, I realised I would be spending the afternoon in the office which even with my Flora consumed thoughts was a safer place than home.
Lost in work, and actually making a good go at pushing her from my thoughts, my desk phone rang.
Upon answering, Flora marched up front and centre again as I spent the next ten minutes or so, making arrangements for a new car to be ordered for her.
After she’d arrived on the back of a recovery truck, or at least her car had, I’d decided to add a car to her employee benefits, not that she knew that yet.
With a satisfied smirk, I began to pack away for the day, but those actions were thwarted when there was a knock of the door and the appearance of a junior colleague.
“You okay there, Rai?”
She hesitated in the doorway, a frown plaguing her browline. She entered and closed the door behind her.
“Looks like you’d better take a seat.”
Rai explained that she had just taken a call from the representative of a very prominent celebrity who had been arrested and charged with the serious crime of rape.
The evidence looked damning. His representative wanted to arrange a meeting that evening to discuss the case and also wanted me to represent him.
I looked at the clock on the wall, it was almost five so if I didn’t leave soon, I was going to be late home.
“If I can get the nanny to stay on the clock I can do tonight, otherwise, it will have to be tomorrow.”
Rai viewed me with suspicion. Before Sophie and I had split, I wouldn’t have hesitated to stay behind.
If she’d been lucky, my wife might have gotten a quick text, but now, things were different.
I was different. The call to Flora was easy and she was more than happy to stay on and take care of the children.
I smiled as she assured me she would bath them and put them to bed if I wasn’t back, which I was unlikely to be.
In the time since Flora had joined us, she had slotted in seamlessly.
A lot of the credit for that belonged to Bea who had been amazing in her handover and befriending of Flora.
The children had quickly adapted to the changes and were both thriving under the care of both nannies.
Although, I had noticed that Bea was already beginning to take more of a back seat in some of the more mundane duties and I imagined this would only increase and move into more and more areas of my children’s lives.