The Endgame (6 page)

He was a skilled and clever chess player, and Lisa enjoyed playing with someone who could keep up with her. They were well matched, but Grayson won in the end.

‘Checkmate,’ he said, moving his final pawn into position with a little smile of triumph.

Lisa conceded defeat with a rueful smile. Then she held out her hand for the traditional handshake and he grasped it firmly.

‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘I enjoyed that.’

‘Me too. It was fun.’

‘I haven’t had such a challenging opponent for a long time. You really kept me on my toes.’

Lisa stifled a yawn and glanced at her watch. She was surprised to discover it was one-thirty. The time had flown. She wished she could come over and play with Grayson again – but this wasn’t the sort of ‘play’ he was interested in with her, she reminded herself. He wanted a fuck buddy, not a chess buddy. The poor man was probably bored out of his mind and itching for the evening to be over. He hadn’t planned on spending the night playing chess and making small talk with a boring housewife.

‘I guess we should go and find the others,’ Grayson said, standing up.

Lisa stood, glancing nervously at the door. She took a deep breath. ‘Could you not mention the chess? I promised Mark I’d join in with whatever went down tonight, and I– I don’t want to disappoint him.’ She twisted her hands nervously.

‘You want to give him the impression I brought you in here to have my wicked way with you?’ Grayson asked, with a mischievous grin.

‘Yes,’ she nodded.

‘Sure.’ Grayson said. ‘Your chess-playing secret is safe with me.’

‘Thank you.’ She smiled at him in relief.

‘Well, I guess we should look the part.’ He took off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt, so it fell open, revealing a smooth, golden chest. Then he popped open the top button of his trousers and kicked off his shoes. He bent to remove his socks, then straightened and ran his hands through his hair until it was messy and disheveled.

‘How do I look?’ he asked, holding his arms out to his sides.

He looked edible. Lisa nodded, swallowing hard. ‘Good,’ she choked.

‘Now you,’ he said, nodding at her.

‘What?’ Lisa asked dazedly.

‘You don’t look like you’ve just been ravaged.’

‘Oh!’ she jolted to attention. She hadn’t realised she was just standing there gaping at Grayson.

‘Here, let me help,’ he said, stepping close to her. Gently he removed the pins from her hair, then he teased it out, running it through his fingers until it fell in a wild, tangled mess around her shoulders. His gaze dropped to her mouth and his eyes darkened as he ran a thumb across her lips, smudging her lipstick. Lisa felt her pulse quickening at the touch of his fingers against her skin.

‘There. You look suitably debauched,’ he said, releasing her.

‘Thank you,’ she said, kicking off her shoes. She picked them up, then Grayson took her hand lightly in his and led her out of the room.

They found Mark and Isabel sitting next to each other on the sofa in the living room. Lisa was relieved that they were both dressed again, though looking as mussed up and tousled as she and Grayson were.

‘There you are,’ Mark said, standing as they came into the room. He looked tired, Lisa noted with relief. She hoped Isabel had worn him out and they could go straight to sleep when they got home. She felt depressed suddenly, a sick knot of dread settling in her stomach at the prospect of going home with Mark. Weariness overcame her and all her earlier tension returned.

‘Did you have fun?’ he asked, holding out an arm to her.

She nodded as Grayson released her hand. She went to Mark and he put his arm around her, pulling her into his side and kissing the top of her head. ‘Ready to go?’

‘Yes.’ But she wasn’t. She wished she could stay here. She yearned to go back into the library with Grayson and curl up in that armchair. She had felt safe and warm there. She shivered, and Mark ran a hand up and down her arm. She dropped her shoes on the floor and stepped into them.

‘Come on, let’s get you home,’ Mark said, curling a proprietary hand around her ass. Embarrassed, she dropped her eyes to the floor. Suddenly she looked up and her eyes met Grayson’s and she gasped at the emotion she saw in his face. He looked almost ... hurt. If she didn’t know better, she’d have thought he was jealous. But that wasn’t possible. She was being ridiculous and fanciful. So why did she feel so guilty, as if she were cheating on him? Why did it feel so wrong to let Mark touch her like this in front of him?

She shook off the feeling, but still found herself unable to look Grayson in the eye as he and Isabel saw them to the door.

Lisa was taken aback, but touched when Isabel put her arms around her and enveloped her in a hug. ‘Thank you for coming,’ she said. ‘It was lovely to meet you.’

‘Thank you. I’m sorry I was a bit–‘

‘You were perfect,’ Isabel said, releasing her, and the warmth of her smile almost made Lisa well up. ‘I hope we’ll see you again sometime.’

‘Thank you for a lovely evening,’ Mark said as he shook Grayson’s hand. ‘You must come to us next time. Let’s do this again soon.’

Lisa tensed. Grayson had put up with her tonight, but there was no way he’d want to spend another evening playing chess with her while Mark fucked his gorgeous girlfriend. She expected him to make some vague non-committal response, but to her surprise, he smiled smoothly at Mark and said ‘I’d like that a lot,’ his gaze drifting to her.

‘Great! Give me a ring and we’ll arrange a date,’ Isabel said to Mark.

‘I’ll look forward to it,’ Grayson said, turning to Lisa and tracing a finger lightly down her arm.

She smiled at him, grateful that he was keeping up the charade. ‘Goodbye Lisa,’ he said, eyeballing her as he took her hand and raised it to his lips in a sweetly chivalrous gesture. ‘Until we meet again.’

‘So, how was that for you?’ she asked, shooting him a sympathetic look as they walked back to the living room together.

Grayson let out a long sigh. ‘It was ... interesting.’ He raised an eyebrow wryly.

‘Yeah,’ Isabel laughed softly. ‘Not exactly what I’d promised you.’

Grayson sat down on the sofa.

‘Drink?’ Isabel asked him, going to the cabinet.

‘Yes, please.’ He was tired and he’d already had more than enough to drink, but he needed time to get his head around everything that had happened tonight, and he wanted to discuss it with Isabel.

She handed him a large glass of brandy, then flopped down beside him, laying her head on his shoulder sleepily.

‘So how did it go?’ she asked him. ‘What did you do with Lisa? I take it you didn’t ...’

‘No.’ Grayson turned to her. ‘We played chess,’ he said with a wry smile.

‘Oh, God. Sorry.’

He shook his head. ‘It’s okay. I enjoyed it.’

‘Still ... it’s not how you were expecting tonight to pan out.’ Her fingers stroked his leg lazily. ‘Let me make it up to you.’

‘No, I’m fine,’ he said, putting a hand over hers to still it.

‘I feel responsible. And it would be no trouble.’ She smiled, but her eyes were already drooping. He could see she was exhausted.

‘Really, Issy, I’m fine. I had a good time. Anyway, you look worn out.’ He stroked her hair affectionately as she laid her head back on his shoulder.

‘I am pretty pooped.’

‘Was it okay with Mark?’ he asked, his fingers massaging her scalp lightly.

‘Yeah, it was good. I mean he’s pretty full-on. He’s a takes-no-prisoners kind of guy, you know? He fucks hard and fast. But nothing I couldn’t handle. I enjoyed it.’

Grayson thought of Lisa. She wasn’t as strong and ballsy as Isabel. He wondered if
she
could handle it. She was so fragile and timid. He hated the thought of Mark being rough with her.

‘Was he ... aggressive?’ He frowned.

‘He didn’t hurt me or anything. He was pretty rough, but you know I like that. He didn’t scare me, and I wouldn’t have let him push me further than I wanted. But Lisa ...’ She trailed off and a worried frown creased her brow.

‘Yeah,’ Grayson sighed. ‘I think she’s a bit afraid of him.’

Isabel nodded. ‘Me too. That’s why I didn’t let him know I was calling a halt. I got the feeling she’d have gone through with the whole thing, just to please him.’

‘She as good as told me she would have. Thanks for the heads-up that she wasn’t into it. Christ, if you hadn’t stopped me–‘ He broke off, horrified at the thought of what he might have done to Lisa, not knowing that she didn’t want it. He shuddered.

‘Thank goodness for safe words,’ Isabel said, stroking his leg soothingly. ‘Lisa should have had one tonight, though I suspect she wouldn’t have used it even if she had. But Mark should have seen that it was too much for her. It was her first time playing with another couple – he should have looked after her, made sure she was okay.’

‘It wasn’t just her first time,’ Grayson said. ‘She didn’t even know.’

‘What?’ Isabel frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘He hadn’t told her anything about what would be happening. She thought it was just a normal dinner party.’

‘Jesus!’ Isabel gasped. ‘That’s not cool.’

‘That’s putting it mildly,’ he said crossly. ‘He got her to promise that she’d go along with whatever happened. And then he brought her here for me to fuck.’

‘Oh, my God! That is seriously fucked up. What a manipulative asshole! I knew he was controlling and domineering, but that–‘ Isabel broke off with an indignant sigh.

‘God, when I think of the way I mauled her at the table.’ Grayson leaned forward on his knees and buried his face in his hands. He thought of the way Lisa had jumped when he’d touched her, filled with remorse as he realised now how shocked and frightened she must have been.

‘You weren’t to know,’ Isabel said, rubbing his back soothingly. ‘She wanted us to think she was into it. It’s not your fault her boyfriend’s an abusive ass.’

Grayson turned to her. ‘Do you think–‘ He swallowed hard. ‘Do you think he hurts her?’

‘Maybe not physically,’ Isabel said, her eyes full of concern, ‘though it wouldn’t surprise me. But he’s certainly emotionally abusive. I hated the way he was with her at dinner – putting her down all the time.’

‘I know – it was horrible to watch.’ Grayson flopped back against the sofa.

‘Well, we don’t have to see them again,’ Isabel said, taking his hand and playing with his fingers. ‘When Mark calls, I’ll make some excuse.’

‘Actually ... would you mind if we
did
go to their place?’

Isabel raised her head and looked at him in surprise. ‘Really?’

‘Only if you’re into it, of course. If you don’t want to be with Mark again–‘

‘No, it’s fine with me. Like I said, I had a good time with him – even if he is an asshole to his girlfriend. Besides, I owe you for tonight. But what are you going to do? Play chess again?’

He shrugged. ‘Maybe. I like chess.’

Isabel looked at him thoughtfully. ‘You like
her
, don’t you? Lisa?’

‘Yeah,’ he smiled. ‘I did like her.’

‘She seemed very sweet. But if you’re going to spend another night playing chess with her, you’re going to have to let me take care of you.’ She slid a warm hand onto his thigh.

He shook his head. ‘Really, I’m fine. And you’re exhausted.’ He lifted her hand and kissed the knuckles. ‘Why don’t you stay in the spare room?’

‘You’re sure?’ She stood, yawning, and swayed on her feet.

‘Sure,’ he said. ‘You’re worn out, and if you sleep in my bed you won’t get any rest.’

‘Okay, then. Goodnight.’ She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead, and then she was gone.

Grayson sank back into the sofa and finished the rest of his brandy. He loved the easy friendly relationship he had with Isabel. She would come to bed with him now and make love if he wanted her to, and it would be good between them. They would give each other a lot of pleasure. But equally he could choose to go to bed alone without her feeling rejected or jealous, like he was blowing her off. They could discuss the fact that he liked another woman, she could tell him about being with someone else, and it didn’t change anything between them. Sometimes he thought he would never have a relationship more perfect than what he had with Isabel. But tonight he just wanted be alone and think about a girl with big soft brown eyes and long hair the colour of a newly opened chestnut.

Was it his imagination, or had Lisa tensed up again as they were leaving? He had loved how open and warm she had been in the library once she had loosened up. And then he had brought her back to Mark and watched as all that relaxation drained away. It had made him sad to see her shoulders stiffen, her features becoming pinched and strained.

His fingers tightened around his glass as he thought of how her whole body had become rigid when Mark’s hand curled around her ass, humiliation etched on her face. He hated watching Mark paw her in that crude, possessive way, and he had been shocked at how jealous he had felt. He had badly wanted to punch Mark. And he could murder him for bringing her here and putting them both in such a horrendous situation. He had as good as sexually assaulted her, thanks to that fucker. What must she think of him? She was so sweet and innocent. After tonight she probably thought he was completely depraved. If only he could have met her in different circumstances, maybe ...

He smiled wryly to himself. He was being ridiculous. What did it matter what she thought of him? It wasn’t as if she was free anyway. She was with Mark, and whatever issues they had, they seemed to be committed to each other. The only relationship he could hope for with Lisa was as chess opponents – which was incredibly frustrating, because it was a long time since he’d met a woman who interested him as much, who moved him the way she had.

He thought of her naked body spread out on the table earlier. She was exquisite. He would love to get past her shyness and discover her most intimate desires, to find out what pleased her, to feel her naked skin against his and watch her face when she came. He felt himself stiffen at the thought of making her come.

But it wasn’t just about sex. He wanted to get to know her too. She seemed so aloof and withdrawn, but he’d seen a different side to her in the library. The way she’d played chess had taken him by surprise. He’d expected her strategy to be cautious and controlled, and instead it was reckless, abandoned and completely unpredictable. She’d made startling tactical sacrifices and constantly kept him guessing. It was risky and clever, and exhilarating to watch. She had kept him on his toes and forced him to raise his game, and she had almost defeated him.

He felt he’d caught a glimpse of who she really was when they’d been alone together. Away from the watchful presence of Mark, she’d let her guard down a bit. He smiled as he thought of the way her features had softened when she spoke about her grandparents. She had started to open up to him, and he wanted more of that. He wanted to hear about her childhood, her dreams, her ambitions; he wanted to get to know her likes and dislikes, her opinions and interests. He wanted to know everything about her. He was already looking forward to seeing her again.

He didn’t think he’d ever felt so smitten by a woman before. He enjoyed sex and he liked the company of women. He’d had plenty of casual relationships in the past with women he liked and respected, but he’d never really been in love. He’d finally come to the conclusion that he just didn’t have it in him, and reconciled himself to casual relationships that were friendly, fun and undemanding. He’d thought he simply wasn’t capable of falling in love. Now suddenly he wasn’t so sure.