4. Mary
Mary
Suddenly I was enveloped in his heat and scent. Leather and wood, and something deep and dark. Masculine. ‘Whet my appetite?’ I asked.
He nodded. And then very slowly, so slowly that I knew he was giving me time to resist or pull back, he slid an arm around my waist and tugged me towards him. I went, unresistingly. Tart, a voice chided me.
My gaze was fixed on his mouth, those firm, plump lines. His lower lip. The scruff of his beard. He came towards me and the sounds of the bar faded away as his mouth settled on mine with an unhurried, sexy confidence.
There was something so assured about him and it made me melt almost more than the feel of those firm contours against my lips. He was waiting, testing ... I could still pull back. But I didn’t want to. My first kiss in a long time and it was ... delicious.
I opened up to him and our breaths mingled for a second, and it was as if we were poised before suddenly he pulled me closer and the kiss went from tentative to scorching in point zero of a second.
Holy Mother of the Divine ... of all the divine things.
He tasted of the whiskey he’d been drinking, exactly how I’d imagined.
Sharp and peaty, and heady. His hand was spanning almost my entire lower back and that evidence of his sheer size made me soften into him, my breasts pressing against his chest. Pure steel.
His other hand went to my face, my jaw, and he angled it up so that he could deepen the kiss.
I was drowning in him and could feel myself trying to get even closer, to press my whole body against his.
My heart was pounding out of my chest. His tongue tangling with mine seemed to connect directly to where my clit was beating in time with my heart, throbbing faster, tension winding tighter and tighter ...
And then he moved back. I opened my eyes, blinking; the world came slowly back into focus.
The sounds of the bar. People laughing. Music playing.
I pulled back in shock. Whet my appetite?
I’d practically been serving myself up as the main course right here and now.
And, I hadn’t been far off coming. Between my legs was still throbbing. After just a kiss. Mortifying.
He was looking at me, eyes silver. Concerned. ‘OK?’
I must have looked as shellshocked as I felt. Somehow I managed to nod and say, ‘I really should go to the bathroom now.’
He moved out of the booth and stood up.
I tried to be as graceful as possible on jelly legs as I slid out. He was standing close, so close that I had to brush past him, touching. He was even taller than I’d imagined, at least six foot five. Everything felt unbearably sensitised after that kiss.
He caught my upper arm just as I was almost past him. I looked up. There was a serious look on his face and my insides plummeted. Now he’d kissed me, he no longer fancied me – he’d realised I was too big …
‘Elizabeth, I know this seems to be happening really fast, but trust me, I don’t make a habit of going to bars to pick up random women.
’ His mouth tightened. ‘And I’m not usually a fan of PDA, but you’ve honestly ...
caught me. I’m proposing we go back to my hotel and have a drink, and in spite of that kiss I really don’t expect anything more unless you want it too. There’s no pressure.’
Something inside me eased; he still wanted me. ‘For what it’s worth, this isn’t ... usual for me, either.’
I wasn’t going to divulge my five-year drought, but I didn’t want him thinking I was so easily seduced.
In a gesture that took me completely by surprise, he pushed a piece of hair back from my face and said, ‘I know.’
Oh, God, had my sexual drought been that obvious?
I hurried to the bathroom before I could let him see how much he was getting to me.
In the extremely dimly lit space, I put my bag down on the counter and looked at myself in the mirror.
Eyes wide, cheeks flushed. Mouth swollen.
Lipstick gone. Hair mussed. I groaned when I saw the flush rising up my chest. That always happened when I got over-excited or nervous.
I tried to repair the damage so I didn’t look as if I’d just let a total stranger kiss me and feel me up in a city-centre bar. Dublin was a small place – the chances of bumping into someone you knew were always high.
My couple of last remaining rational brain cells snapped into action. I pulled out my phone and texted Dee.
I met a guy in the bar after you left. He bought me a drink. I think I’m going back to his hotel with him ...
I wasn’t going to tell her I’d let him kiss me. I waited and within a few seconds my phone vibrated. Video call. I answered and Dee’s face appeared. She was lying down and a small head was tucked into her shoulder, eyes closed. One of the twins.
‘Well?’ I said. ‘Should I go?’ I was so going.
‘Is he hot?’
I nodded, ‘Dee, he’s actually unbelievably gorgeous, like, maybe he’s
too—’
‘You’re gorgeous. Go and have headboard-pounding sex immediately. You deserve this. Your vagina deserves this. And I need to live vicariously through you. Leave your phone location on so I can track you if I never hear from you again.’
‘I already asked if he’s a serial killer.’
Dee rolled her eyes. ‘It’s highly unlikely. The worst thing that’ll happen is that he won’t live up to the expectation.’
If that kiss was anything to go by, that was the least of my worries.
The pulse between my legs throbbed in agreement.
‘I don’t think that’ll be a problem. To be honest, it won’t take much to get me off.
’ I’d almost had an orgasm just from a kiss.
If the man so much as grazed my breast with his hand, I’d go off like a firecracker.
‘You deserve a very thorough and comprehensive getting off. Go and have many orgasms.’
‘Mammy?’ asked a sleepy voice. ‘Whas an orgasnum?’
Dee’s face turned away, ‘Sweetie, go back to sleep – I said spasm. Aunty Mary has a spasm. In her leg.’
I had a spasm in my pants. I giggled with a mix of nerves, excitement and adrenalin, and waved to Dee, who rolled her eyes again and stuck her tongue in her cheek to make a lewd gesture before disappearing. Honestly, to think that woman had responsibility for two children ...