Faithful (9 page)

“Daniel, you’ve met Anna.” Anna sat up
and laughed when she saw him.

“So Daniel, did you use up my friend’s vagina?”

“Anna, knock it off, will you?” I said.

“Well that’s a yes if ever I heard one. There’s no need to be so uptight
. You’ll tell me later, anyway, and you know you will.” I couldn’t argue.

Daniel
reached out to shake Anna’s hand. “Nice to meet you again, Anna,” he purred.

“Well
, he’s just lovely. And you’re right, he smells delicious!”

“Anna, are you quite done embarrassing me?”

“Sweetie, it’s not hard, is it? Not about stuff like this. Daniel, you need to sort this girl out. By day she’s a confident, ball-busting super lawyer, but by night, in her personal life, she transforms into a neurotic headcase who puts up with assholes because she doesn’t think she deserves any better. That’s not you, by the way.”

“Yes, thanks, I got that
,” Daniel smiled and put his arms around my waist.

After the events of this morning
, I couldn’t help but muse on the fact that he “got” her interpretation of my double life—not just that she was taking pot shots at Charlie rather than him. It was a nice feeling that he had had first-hand experience of it and hadn’t yet run for the hills.

“Right, before this gets any worse for me, I’m going for a shower
. And Daniel, you’re coming with me.”

“That’s more like it!” Anna
said.

“No, he’s going to sit and watch TV in my room while I shower
. I just don’t trust you not to corrupt him if I leave him in here with you!”

As I pulled Daniel into my bedroom he started unbuttoning my blouse
. I fought him off and pushed him onto my bed and turned on the TV. “Stay here. I need to shower—alone!”

I emerged from my bathroom fully clothed with my
makeup done, hair damp. Daniel pulled me on top of him. In an effort to inject a little of my work self into my personal self, I asked tentatively, “So, do you want to do something together today or do you have plans?”

“I have plans to hang out with you all day.” And he kissed the
base of my throat where the collarbones meet—oh, I loved that.

I threw caution to the wind and told him so
. “I love it when you kiss me there.” I sighed.

“You do?” He pulled back and looked at me as if to check if I was joking.

“I really do.”

He smiled and rolled me to my back where he continued his kissing. Just the bits of me not covered by my clothes
. It felt lovely and intimate and relaxing. I threaded my fingers through his hair, encouraging him every step of the way.

I pulled his lips to mine and
, building on my renewed confidence, ran my tongue across the entrance to his mouth until he parted his lips. He dove in, explored every spot, skimmed the roof my mouth, pushed against my tongue. Our breathing became more urgent; he ground his pelvis into mine and I moaned. He pushed off me and stood up.

“We need to get out of here or we’ll never leave.”

I looked at him and grinned. It was so sexy seeing to see him try to regain control of himself.

“Let’s go to the zoo. There’s nothing remotely sexy about a zoo
. I think that’s the best place for us,” he said.

I laughed and nodded my head
and tried to tame my just-kissed-into-next-week hair.

“But will you bring your toothbrush?”

“To the zoo?”

“Yeah, I’d really like you to stay with me tonight and maybe not freak out tomorrow morning
. I’d like a do-over.” He seemed pleased at the prospect of getting to rerun what had happened this morning and I felt guilty. I had upset him by being so insecure and it made my heart ache a little.

“
OK, but I’ll need a bit more than a toothbrush.”

After putting some stuff together in a bag, including the bits I needed for work tomorrow we left Anna on the sofa ogling Ryan Reynolds. Daniel took my overnight bag in one hand and clasped his other in mine.

***

Daniel didn’t let us lose body contact for one second as we were going
around the zoo. Even as he was struggling to get money out of his wallet or drinking his coffee and trying to read the map to find the peacocks that I requested we visit.

I loved the way that he insisted we plan our route beforehand and not just idly wander about: he liked to do things in an orderly way. I loved the way he made excuses to kiss me (to warm me up, to test whether various animals would be jealous,
to see if my lips still worked).

He was so playful and relaxed and that relaxed me. He wasn’t hiding anything or wanting me to be anything but me.

Finally Daniel announced we’d seen everything and we could finally leave. I was grateful because I was starting to get really cold.

“So where now?” he asked excitedly as he started the car.

“Somewhere warm? That maybe has wine?”

“I know somewhere perfect
,” he replied.

I hoped we would go back to his
place and warm up, but he seemed determined to keep us out in public so we couldn’t get carried away with each other. Damnit! I was desperate to get carried away with him!

We parked up in a familiar street and I realized he driven back to his
house—we were definitely back on the same page now.

He got my bag from the
trunk and grabbed my hand to lead me inside. As soon as he closed the door, he spun me around, grasped my head in his hands and kissed me, long, slow, deep, and never-ending.

When he finally pulled away, without moving his hands
, he looked at me and said so softly, “I’ve been thinking about doing that for hours. The reality was better than the fantasy.” I smiled and pulled him toward me. He took the opportunity to lift me up and I put my legs around him. “Let’s warm you up.” And he took me upstairs as I buried my face in his neck kissing every inch of exposed flesh I could find.

We entered his bedroom and he stood me down and started undressing me like I was five years old. First my jumper, then my shirt. His eyes didn’t leave mine for a second. On the couple of
occasions that I broke eye contact with him, he guided my eyes back to his by just quietly saying my name. I rested my hands on his shoulders as he had me step out of my jeans and then my panties.

Finally he unsnapped my bra and there I was stood there, completely naked in front of him. Just before I started to get embarrassed he began to unbutton his shirt and I reached out to help him, being careful not to pull my eyes from his. I could feel my anticipation pool between my thighs. What I wanted to do was trail my eyes down his magnificent body
, but at the same time I couldn’t pull my eyes from his. When he was done I let out a gasp of anticipation of what was to come.

He guided me backward toward the bed and sat me down and I couldn’t help but drop my eyes to his hardened cock, I reached out but he caught my hand and stopped me.

“You can see how ready I am for you, but I need to feel you. Are you wet for me, baby?”

I groaned at his question. I was unable to control the sounds that came out of me before he even touched me. He knelt by the bed and pushed my legs apart kissing my inner thigh to the outer edge of my sex until I thought I would explode if he didn’t explore further.

“Daniel, please, I need to feel you.” I didn’t have to ask twice, he pushed his tongue into my slit and began that rhythm that I was so desperate for. My lips parted, trying to pull more air into my lungs.

After a few minutes
, he replaced his tongue with his both his thumbs. He looked up at me. “Yes, you are so wet for me, baby, aren’t you? So desperate for my cock inside you.”

I dug my nails into his shoulders and
, looking directly at him, I contracted against him and came screaming his name.

While I was still coming he pushed me back on the bed and flipped me over onto my
stomach. He crawled up the bed behind me and positioned himself between my thighs. He pushed his cock straight into me. It felt almost brutal, but it was just what I craved. His need for me overcame any politeness. I understood that.

Pulling my hips up
toward him, he drove into me again and again until I felt my desire build, quicker this time, as if last time had just been the opening act. I could feel Daniel’s fight for control over his climax in the tension of his touch. I gasped, “I’m going to come again, come with me.” I felt my pussy contract around him and he grunted, calling out my name and forcing his come into me. We slumped forward together, him on top of me, still inside me.

He kissed me on the shoulder. “God you feel so good
, baby.” I literally couldn’t speak, but reached for his hand and brought it up to my lips as an answer.

After we readjusted ourselves
, Daniel said, “You requested somewhere warm with wine. Are you warm enough? Shall we do the wine bit now?”

“I’m plenty warm enough. Wine would be great.” I smiled lazily
, finally regaining the power of speech.

In the kitchen he pulled a bottle of Rioja from his wine fridge and poured two glasses. “Not too much for me
. Red wine makes my head fuzzy and I’ve got work tomorrow.”

The evening was spent sharing stories of our school and
University days and the music we liked and still liked. We ordered takeout and I drank too much wine. When Daniel opened a second bottle, I refused a further top-up. I had to try and keep a clear head, for work and also because I was conscious that our do-over tomorrow morning should go without a hitch.

When I yawned for a second time
, Daniel dragged me by the hand to bed. He lay on his back and pulled my head onto his muscular chest which I couldn’t help but snake my fingers over. I could feel my hunger for him return. I don’t know if it was because the sex was so good or whether I just needed to be as close as possible to him but I wanted him again. It seemed that he wanted to talk.

“So,
headcase, I think we need to have regular debriefs about what’s going on in here so we don’t have a rerun of today.” He was stroking my temple. “I need you tell me if you are feeling a bit insecure, if you’re not sure what I’m thinking. I don’t want to lose you because of a misunderstanding.”

I nodded “So
... you go first. What are you thinking?”

“So you want this to be
quid pro quo
? I told you, I don’t do that.”

“Not the sex
, but the communication bit. Shouldn’t that be both ways?”

“I can tell you’re a lawyer.” He chuckled. “
OK, well for the last half an hour I’ve been thinking about tomorrow.” I knew it, he was worried I’d mess up our do-over. I behaved like such an idiot this morning. I kept quiet to hear what in particular he was concerned about. “I can’t bear the thought of all those men at your work ogling you, getting to spend their day with you.”

I wasn’t expecting that.

“I don’t get ogled at work,” I replied, genuinely trying to set him straight.

“I can guarantee you that you do. You probably just don’t notice it because you don’t know how sexy and beautiful you are.”

I wasn’t expecting that, either
.

“I don’t, but let’s not argue. How can I make it better for you?”

“I don’t think you can. I will just have to learn to live with it I guess. The thing you can do is tell me what’s on your mind.”

“Honestly?”

“Honestly.”

“Well, I was wondering whether I had a medical condition because I was thinking how I’d like to feel you inside me again
.”

“Well, that I can help you with.” And he rolled me to my back and began his quest for my pleasure. I don’t know how much time passed in his exploration of every inch of me
, but as he slid into me my body was completely ready for him. On his first thrust he pushed out my orgasm tearing it from the deepest part of me.

I could barely
breathe from the pleasure of it, but his thrusting didn’t stop. Without breaking his rhythm he kept rocking in and out. “I want you to feel the effects of my cock inside you every time you sit down tomorrow. I want you to smell of me so they won’t go near you. I want you to look like you’ve been fucked all weekend long.” Reaching down to my clit he started to rub and I came undone again. Through the sound of the blood rushing through my ears I heard his climax overtake him.

I arrived at work trying to contain my grin. I made a promise to myself that I would really try and block out what was going on at home from my thoughts while I was working. I’d been clearly distracted before going to Mexico and I didn’t want to undo all the hard work that I’d been putting in for the last six years by bringing my personal life to the office.

Brendan slunk over to my desk when he arrived wearing dark glasses and the most miserable expression I’d ever seen. Brendan found it perfectly acceptable to bring his personal life to the office and positively enjoyed involving the as many people as possible in his drama. The guy who he had met the night he told Anna about Daniel’s roses had dumped him for someone who worked at Burberry and had an employee discount. Apparently in his gay world such a reason was completely understandable and they had parted as friends but had left Brendan feeling a little sorry for himself and a lot hungover. Great, I wouldn’t get any work out of him today.

I managed to get him off my desk by handing him a pile of filing to do and promising to critique his online dating profile later in the day.

When I returned to my desk from getting a bottle of water from the machine, Anna had emailed.

How is your
vajayjay this morning? Wanna meet for lunch? A

If you promise not to say
vajayjay. 1 p.m. at Eat? L

Done.

My mind wandered to Anna’s comment and I smiled to myself. I was still very ... aware of our do-over this morning.

I woke again to an empty bed
, but next to me this morning was a note from Daniel saying he’d been awake since 5 a.m. and didn’t want to wake me, so he’d gone downstairs. He asked me to find him before heading for a shower. I looked at the clock. It was 6:30 a.m., so I had plenty of time. I didn’t have to leave for nearly two hours—hmm, plenty of time for a do-over.

I picked up the
t-shirt Daniel had worn yesterday, slipped it on, brushed my teeth, and headed downstairs.

“Hey
, beautiful girl.” Daniel was sitting at the dining room table hunched over his laptop, dressed in just his jogging bottoms. I sighed, taking in his beautiful chest. He caught me ogling him and he chuckled and reached out his arm for me. I slunk into him and kissed him on the neck. He closed his laptop and pulled me down onto his lap and covered my mouth with his. My lips responded, my senses waking up as his tongue pushed against mine, my body relaxing into him.

We pulled apart and Daniel grinned at me
. “This morning is already going so much better than yesterday.”

“Really? In what way?” I teased
, and slipped off his lap turning toward him and sitting back down facing him, my legs on either side of his. He reached under my borrowed t-shirt and cupped my bare bottom.

I hadn’t slipped on
any panties.

“Hmm
, I think you just answered your own question.”

I moved
my hips slowly, grinding into him, and I felt him quickly harden.

“Yes, you seem pleased to see me, but maybe it’s worth closer inspection
,” I said as I looked down at the gap between our bodies as I pulled the waist of his jogging bottoms out and reached inside grasping his penis.

“Yes
, all the signs are encouraging so far,” I said as I moved my hands up and down his shaft, very slowly milking him. Changing my tone I looked directly at him and whispered, “I want you nice and hard when you slide into me.”

He groaned and his head rolled back
, revealing his beautiful, lickable neck. “Leah, you are so sexy.”

I watch
ed my fingers tighten around him, gradually picking up speed until a drop of moisture pearled on his tip. I rose to my feet and mounted him, pushing him all the way in as I cried out, “You are so hard.” I lifted myself up and crashed back onto him.

He pulled my
t-shirt off in one swift movement and grabbed my breasts with both hands and kneaded them together. He brought his tongue to my nipple and swirled around it several times until it was so hard it felt like it might burst. Then he brought it between his teeth and I cried out, not sure if I was experiencing pleasure or pain. And then he sucked, soothing the feeling. Changing approach again, his teeth nipped again.

He kept alternating between sensations, each time his teeth sunk slightly deeper, until the pleasure was too much and I pulled his mouth up to mine. Breaking free of my mouth, he replaced his teeth with his thumb and forefinger on the breast he just finished pleasuring and d
ove toward my other breast, his tongue and teeth starting the same routine as before.

My rhythm pushing him in and out of me faltered at the sensation of his attention on both my breasts. With both hands he reached behind me and lifted up my hips and then pulled me into him, forcing me down as hard as he could. I felt a sensation leave my throat that I’d never felt before, like a feral animal I let out my cry and let him take over. I was too consumed with the rumbling building from deep within me to try and maintain control.

I enjoyed him moving my body so it served him in the best way possible, like I was just there for his sexual fulfilment. That thought pushed me over the edge and my body spasmed against him, my muscles pulling him further into me. He growled and I felt him release himself into me and I squeezed tighter and tighter, desperate for every drop of him.

“Baby, I love it when you are so loud like that
. I’m going to start getting complaints from my neighbors.”

I pushed my
burning face into his neck.

“Don’t be embarrassed
. It totally turns me on. I love that you can’t hold back.”

“That’s what you do to me
. Only you,” I said.

I had never felt the need to, in his words ‘be loud’ with Charlie, let alone
verbalize what I wanted or what felt good. In fact it had been the same with Matt, my only other lover besides Charlie.

With Daniel I just couldn’t hold back, it was like a dam burst inside me each time we made love.

“It’s different with you. I’ve never felt it like I do with you. I can’t explain it, it feels new.”

He pulled me close and inhaled deeply.

“That makes me so happy, Leah.”

My hands threaded into his hair and I pulled his lips to mine kissing him passionately, trying to communicate to him how happy he made me, how alive I felt with him.

***

It was great to catch up with Anna at lunchtime
. So much had happened since I had last spoken to her properly. It had been before my date with Daniel on Saturday. I wanted to know about her Saturday night and why she had had such a hangover on Sunday.

“So, you must have had a good night on Saturday to have had such a terrible hangover on Sunday?” I asked as we found a table and dumped ourselves down.

“Hmm, well not exactly. Greg and I are over. Well, we never really began, but we are definitely over.”

“I’m so sorry
. Why didn’t you call?”

“Oh it’s nothing, we went out like six times
, so it’s not like he broke my heart or anything. I just thought that, because he wasn’t a Cityboy, there was a hope he wasn’t going to be a complete dick. But apparently dicks aren’t limited to the City.”

“What happened?”

She sighed. “Oh god, it’s humiliating. In the restaurant I came back to the table from going to the bathroom to find him getting the waitress’ number.”

“Wow, that’s nasty.” I felt embarrassed for her.

“Yup.”

“So what did you do?”
Knowing Anna, he would have come to understand the phrase ‘a woman scorned’ before she left.

“
You know, I really couldn’t be bothered to even react. I just picked up my bag and left. I felt like I was kind of expecting it. Do you know what I mean? I was just waiting for it to happen. Like waiting for a bus: it arrives, you get on, and it’s no big deal.”

“Anna, that’s horrible.”

“It is, but it’s made me realize something. Guys are dicks, rich or poor, so I’m only going to fuck the rich ones only from now on. I might as well not have to pay for dinner if I’m going to get messed about.”

“That’s a profound life choice
, Anna.” And we giggled.

“Talking about dicks, Fran is back in the office this week.” Apparently she’d been off sick the week we’d come back from Mexico.

“Oh,” was all I could manage.

Part of me wanted to see her for myself, to confront her and ask her why she would want to betray me like that, why she thought it was
OK to sleep with my fiancé. But I knew that no confrontation would bring me a satisfactory answer and I truly knew that I wasn’t meant to be with Charlie. She was welcome to him. They would probably be a good match.

“I have seen her in corridors but I’ve not spoken to her. I just wanted you to know. She’s not showing but it’s all
around the office that she’s knocked up and the father is her friend’s fiancé. She’s not winning any popularity contests.”

I sighed. I didn’t know what to feel.

“Do you want to know this stuff or are you still boating down that river in Egypt?”

“Both
, really. I don’t want to not know, but I just wish she’d disappear off the face of the planet. I wish they both would.”

“I get that. What about you and Daniel? You seem good together.”

I grinned, unable to stop myself. Just hearing his name felt great.

“Well, obviously I completely freaked out after we slept together and I am constantly living on the edge of pushing him away with my neurosis
, but he’s really good to me and I want to be really good to him—it seems like the right start.”

I knew what was coming next.

“And ...? Come on ... what about the sex? I bet his got a tiny penis. He’s rich and gorgeous and good to you. There’s got to be a catch. He’s terrible in bed isn’t he? Tell me he is?” She looked at me pleadingly.

I grinned again, and then
sighed; she made a good point, what was the catch?

“Leah?” Anna jolted me back to her question.

“He’s all in proportion and he’s not terrible at anything and that’s all you’re getting from me, so stop.”

“So why did your face just drop before you answered me?”

I couldn’t get a single thing past this girl. It was exhausting.

“Just because you’re probably right, there’s probably a catch
. I’ve just not found it yet. I suppose, like you with Greg, I’m waiting for the shoe to drop. No one is perfect.”

“Well, in the bastardi
zed words of Kit De Luca, the best friend of the most famous romantic heroine of modern times, it worked out for Cinder-fucking-ella, so why not you.” We hooted with laughter.

The afternoon was productive, apart from the time spent on Brendan’s iPad going through his online dating profile. Wow, online dating, that was a scary prospect. Gay online dating, that was simply horrifying.

It was also fascinating, a little too fascinating, going through Brendan’s profile. He talked me through some of the code embedded in his stated preferences. Apparently he needed to be clear, using these accepted codes, that he wasn’t into S&M but didn’t mind threesomes or foursomes and didn’t expect monogamy—none of which I needed or wanted to know about Brendan.

Thankfully our hushed voices probably had people thinking we were working on a big
, super-confidential project that would generate loads of fees, and I suppose they would be half-right—getting Brendan a boyfriend wasn’t confidential, but it would substantially improve his work output and therefore we’d all get more done and earn more money for the firm.

David interrupted our review and called me into his office. Brendan and I quickly agreed to go through it in more detail tomorrow at lunchtime.

“Great news, Leah.” David’s eyes were dancing about as I went into his office and sat down. “We just found out that we were successful in both pitches. The Phoenix and the Palmerston deals have both come to the firm.”
“Wow, that’s such great news David! Congratulations.”

“This was a joint effort
, Leah. You deserve part of the credit here.”

“Thanks
, David. I’m just so happy we got them!”

“We need to talk about resourcing these jobs
. They are both going to be big, high-profile deals, and we want to make a great impression.” I nodded, excited. “So, because of your sector experience I definitely want you on the Palmerston deal, and actually, Jim specifically asked you be lead associate, but we need to talk about the Phoenix deal. Do you think that you will be able to do them both?”

So Jim had specifically asked for me to be lead associate. Was that Daniel asking?

Daniel and I hadn’t discussed the presentation at all. I hadn’t thought about it before but that did seem pretty odd. I had sort of divorced the two people in my head. Mr. Armitage or Work Daniel, and then My Daniel.