Keeping Thyme (Thyme Trilogy) (9 page)

“I’ve fallen for you too, Joe.” I look down at my glass of champagne and pray that he doesn’t see through my lie.

His hand reaches out for mine and he gives it a loving squeeze. The plane dips momentarily before it feels weightless in the air. Tench reaches for my chin and holds it up to his face.

“I know I may not be perfect, Miranda, but I want to change for you.”

It’s too late for change, Tench. I will never forgive or forget what you’ve done.
I scull my glass of champagne to hide the burning rage within me.

CHAPTER NINE

“I think I’m
about to fall into a food coma after that.” Tench stretches back into his leather dining-chair opposite to mine. “Shall we retire to the bedroom, gorgeous?” His brow peaks.

“Bedroom? Of course there’s a bedroom on this plane.” I don’t know why I’m so surprised.

Claire sheepishly collects the plates from the table in the dining room. She seems to be increasingly uncomfortable around us as the flight progresses. I can’t help but wonder if it’s Tench’s overt affection towards me that makes her uncomfortable? Tench, on the other hand, seems to revel in the added competition over his ownership. I try to ignore my feelings but they manage to surface, and I find myself becoming the dreaded jealous girlfriend in the presence another woman.

“Although I’m sure you’re already part of the mile-high club, so this flight isn’t really anything special to you.” I fail in hiding my annoyance.

Tench shakes his head and chuckles. “I really need some sleep, gorgeous.”

He holds his hand out for me and I take it and follow him towards the bedroom, leaving Claire behind as nothing but the hired help. I smile at the small victory, but my thoughts are shifted as I worry whether our relationship has now moved on from the amazing sex that you just can’t get enough of at the start of the relationship. Is that a good thing? Is Tench really seeing this as something more? That thought is terrifying. What if he does want more? We pass the shiny timber and stainless steel galley and staff quarters, and my concerns are swept away the moment I step into the opulent bedroom with Tench. The room makes any regular room on the
ground
seem boring. Even Donald Trump would be green with envy over the lavish suite. The large king-size bed takes up the majority of the space, but it doesn’t look cramped. Plump pillows spew out from the top of the navy and gold gilded bedspread. A large flat-screen TV hangs from the wall opposite the bed and an abstract painting of the same size mirrors the TV on the wood-panelled bedhead. A cleverly hidden en suite sits behind the bedhead.

Tench pulls my hand up to his mouth and he trails kisses all the way up to my neck. His soft lips find their way to mine. His kiss is different; it’s soft, and loving Tench again.

“There’s no need to be jealous of Claire. She means nothing to me.” My mild dose of jealousy must be obvious.

“For you, the thought of me being with someone else has fatal consequences, so why should it be any different for me?” I smirk.

Tench chuckles and pulls a strand of hair from my face. “Why do I have the feeling you’re not joking, Miranda? You’re still such a mystery.” He says the last sentence slowly.

I shake my head and change the subject. “I think I’m just really nervous about seeing my old friend again.”

Tench cups my cheek in his palm. “Oh … So who is this friend of yours?”

“Her name’s Kira. She was my roommate when I was at ballet school. She left for the Imperial Russian Ballet and I haven’t seen her since. We were really good friends so it will be nice to see how she is.” I shrug, mainly at the unknown.

What if I can’t find Kira? What if I don’t find answers in Russia? What if I’m locked in this fake relationship for years and years?

Tench slips his polo shirt off and makes his way to the bed. I slide out of my shoes and pull my long dress up and over my head. Tench grins when he sees that I haven’t been wearing any underwear underneath my dress the whole time.

“Cheeky.” He continues undressing and turns down the bed sheets.

His arousal over my lack of underwear is obvious when his erect rod springs out of his pants as he slides them down his legs. I grin in triumph.
Okay, so we haven’t quite hit that part in our relationship yet.

I point to the bed and demand, “Lay down. I can’t have that going to waste.”

Tench smirks back. “Yes ma’am.”

He slides down onto the bed, his long, hard member swinging about as he positions himself. This is the Tench that sparks the sexual excitement in me. This Tench gets me back to a place where we used to be.

I stalk onto the bed towards him and slide up between his legs. I run my tongue along his inner thigh and suck gently on each of his plump balls. They’re soft and fill my mouth. He groans hard into the air. I look up at his face and see he’s overcome with pleasure. I’m pleased I can bring him to this kind of reaction without doing much at all. I lick around the base of his length and slide my lips up his erection. He groans again. I roll my tongue around his bulging knob and plunge his entire length all the way to the back of my mouth. Loosening my throat, I allow him to slide further, deep into my throat.

“Oh God, Miranda. You have no idea what you fucking do to me. It scares me how much …”

“Ssssssssh,” I hiss back.

With his length still held in my mouth, I swing myself around and straddle him backwards across his chest. I don’t want to hear anything he has to say so I push myself down onto his face and let him put his mouth to better use. He instantly obliges and makes quick work of lapping up every fold around my opening. I pause my actions for a brief moment when he hits the right spot at the tip of my clitoris. He sucks on it and until it’s plump. He pulls my clitoris back in his mouth and when it’s stretched he snaps it back, free from his mouth’s vice. I jolt and hold my breath from the spectacular sensation before I force Tench’s length back into my mouth again.

This continues for what feels like hours. Muffled moans escape me every time he reaches the spot where I feel like I’m about to explode, both of us pausing momentarily when we’re consumed by the other’s assault on our pleasure regions. Eventually it’s me who cracks. I swing myself back around to Tench’s glossy face. I smirk and kiss his soaked lips.

“I want you inside me so badly,” I whisper.

“It’s as if you read my mind.” He grins.

I straddle him and our bodies meet each other with ease. He dives deep inside me and I grip onto his bludging chest and involuntarily throw my head backwards in utter bliss as I ride him. Tench’s strong, powerful hands grip harshly around my waist, and he guides me backwards and forwards in the same motion as him.

I’ve completely forgotten where we are until the plane hits a pocket of air and dips, causing us both to raise off the bed and thump back down onto mattress. His length rams into me hard, and this tips me over the edge. I wail as the feeling takes over every inch of me and we both thrash about as ecstasy engulfs us. The plane jerks again and we slam into each other again, and then again. I reach my climax with repetitive force as the plane hits turbulence. Tench lets out a prolonged moan and he pushes himself up into me harshly until his spasms inside me subside. Once we’ve stopped, he reaches up and grips around my neck, pulling me into an emotionally-charged kiss. A tear escapes from the corner of my eye. I wish I didn’t feel this way about Tench when I hate him so much. I’ve never felt more like a whore than I do right now. I breathe harshly and avoid the rising sadness from seeping out further. I open my eyes slowly and find Tench’s coffee-coloured gaze fixed upon me. Our kisses become slow, soft pecks.

“I am so in love with you, Miranda Davis,” he confesses.

I drop my head into the pillow beside him and embrace him as hard as I can so that I don’t burst into tears. I hate being called that name. He wraps his arms tight around my body and I just allow myself to be swept into this moment of love with Tench. There’s very little of the old me left.

I feel Tench eventually slide out from under me. I promptly fall back asleep, exhausted after the rollercoaster of emotions that I just rode in my wild romp with him. I don’t want a think about this anymore. I just want to be in total darkness … for now.

I feel a
hand rest gently across my naked back. I’m ripped from the darkness of sleep and roll over to find a shy Asian woman in a smart dark suit looking down at the ground. The woman has the skin of a porcelain doll with wide cheekbones and her eyes are a harsh and narrow, and arrow down towards her perfect button nose. Her shiny raven bob cut slopes down angularly to frame her face.

“My sincerest apologies in waking you, Miss Miranda.” She bows her head, “You have landed in Beijing and Mr Tench would like you to join him for breakfast in the dining room.” Her eyes do not lift from the ground as she softly speaks.

The room is darkened with the slightest bit of light seeping through the bottom of the drawn shutters. I rub my eyes with the back of my hand. “I’m sorry, who are you?”

She half curtseys. “I’m Mei-Mei, Miss. I’ll be accompanying you for the remainder of the flight up to Pulkovo airport in St Petersburg.”

Her politeness is excruciating at this time of the morning. “What time is it?” I question.

“It’s six-forty AM, Miss.” She still doesn’t look me in the eye.

“You don’t have to be so formal with me, Mei-Mei. You can relax a little.”

“Of course, Miss.” She dips her head once again and leaves the suite without raising her lids to my eye level.

I frown and wonder why we have another stewardess on board. Still, I am more than pleased that Mei-Mei came and woke me rather than that Claire. I quickly jump into the shower and freshen up for breakfast.

As I leave the shower, I hear the engines surge a little loader. Two light taps discreetly knock against the door.

“Miss Miranda, the Captain would prefer you to be in the dining room to achieve the correct weight balance for take off.” I hear Mei-Mei on the other side.

“Coming.” I call out in reply.

I grab one of Tench’s signature
Yves Saint Laurent
white fluffy bathrobes he has hanging in the bathroom and throw it around me, then make my way out of the bedroom and into the dining room. Mei-Mei, walking in front of me, continues past the dining room towards the cockpit. Tench looks up from his newspaper and beams a wide smile as soon as I enter the room.

“Here’s my girl.” He throws the paper down in front of him and stands to welcome me with a loving embrace.

“Who’s the new girl?” I ask. “Where’s Claire?”

“I couldn’t have you committing murder on my plane, so I called for Mei-Mei to join us instead.” Tench sits back down and buckles the belt across his lap, “Mei-Mei is good. She’s worked with me before when I’ve done business in Asia. She’s extremely efficient … and more importantly, she can be trusted.” He winks before he bellows the paper out in front of his face.

“What about Claire?” I can’t help but smile.

“She’ll make her way back home to Sydney within a few hours.” He flaps down the edge of the paper to wink at me.

I bite into a piece of toast as I feel the plane shoot down the runway for the second time in as little as twelve hours. I look out the small oval window to the right of me and watch the ground rush by as we lift into the air. My satisfaction over Tench’s willingness to please me is borderline addictive. Is it really this easy, or am I being fooled, too?

“Anything interesting happening in the news?” I try and sound interested.

“Nothing interesting, unless you think our relationship is news? Everyone in Sydney seems to be weighing in on whether we’re back together or not, by the looks of pages six and seven.”

He turns the paper around to show me pictures of my Mercedes pulling into the mansion’s driveway and three other blurred shots of Tench and I in each other’s arms. Really?
That’s
page six news? Great, so not only do I have Tench’s guys to worry about following me around town, now I’ve got the media wanting a story grab, too.
You can do this, girl. This is why you’re here.
Russia may just be the perfect escape to gather as much intelligence as I can without the added distraction of Sydney’s obsession with headlining Joe Tench in the media.

After breakfast,
I dress into tight black leather pants and pull on my Ralph Lauren handmade leather-riding boots that are my winter pride and joy. I pair the ensemble with a sheer white blouse.

Tench comes into the suite carrying a large white gift box wrapped with a big red bow. Instantly, a vision of the red sash around my neck sends a sudden spike in my temperature. Tench frowns and looks down at the box.

“You can’t go to Russia and not have these.” He holds the box out for me to take.

I take hold of it and stare at the large box within my hands. It
is
the same silk sash that he used on me.
What a sadistic prick
. There is never just a simple gift with Tench. It always has to be loaded with questionable undertones.