‘Breathless?’ he asked. ‘But we haven’t even start–’ Then he lost his nerve, dipped his head and pushed into a warm, whitewashed living room, plain but cosy. Two armchairs and a sofa were clustered around a sturdy little table. Playing very quietly was some southern Gothic-y blues she couldn’t identify.
‘There are other rooms.’ He pointed upwards. ‘Stacked on top of us. A kitchen, then an, um, bedroom, and right at the top, a bathroom.’ He pulled off his overcoat. ‘The bath has a view. It’s class. You’ll see. So. Can I take your coat?’ He sounded so polite she almost laughed.
He got to her zip before she did. Holding the tab, he started sliding it down. Too slowly.
Startled she looked at him. Sudden change of mood there. Very sudden. Maybe not so polite after all.
Holding her gaze, he eased her coat zip down its length. The nearer he got to the end, the more leisurely his pace became.
She needed to swallow but her throat wouldn’t work.
When, finally, her coat fell open, something happened to them both: a shaky exhale, a repositioning of their bodies.
Moving his hands beneath the coat, he eased it from her shoulders. His thumbs smoothed their way along her collarbones. The palms of his hands stroked down onto her arms.
He hadn’t done anything remotely unchaste, yet her body was pulsing.
Her coat fell to the floor, he whispered, ‘Nell’, and she went weak.
Lifting a thick strand of her hair, he rubbed it between his thumb and fingers. ‘I love your hair.’ With his other hand he cupped her face.
Their kissing was hot and sweet, romantic and sexy.
‘This wasn’t supposed to happen here,’ he said, hoarsely. ‘Not in this room. Can we …?’
He took her hand and led her up more stone steps. On the next floor there was a circular kitchen; above that a small bedroom, with three huge windows overlooking the grey sea. ‘It’s nicer here,’ he said.
The bed was a simple metal affair, with a plain white duvet. The only colour in the room came from a faded Persian rug and a red angora throw. He made straight for the bed and pulled her down with him. ‘Sorry for assuming,’ he said, his eyes mischievous.
He opened the buckle of the bib of her dungarees and slowly slid the strap over her shoulder. Then the other side, running his hands along her, as if she were made of glass.
She opened one of his shirt buttons, then another, until his chest was bare. His inkings dark against his pale, perfect skin, she remembered how she’d felt that day in Italy – the hunger she’d had for him, the shock of it all. This – right now – was exactly what she’d wanted.
Then his hands were roaming under her top. With a sudden snap, he’d opened her bra. This reminded her of teenage snogging sessions. But she and Ferdia weren’t kids. They didn’t have to stop.
Pulling the shirt from his body, she reached for his zip, but he gently pulled her hands away. ‘It’ll be over too fast …’
He snapped open the row of metal buttons along her hips. Together, they tugged off her dungarees, then her underwear.
His dark head moved between her legs, inflicting a row of gentle bites to the insides of her thighs. Using his tongue and lips, he inched closer to her centre while, from the other direction, his hand pressed down hard.
‘Ferdia. Can you …?’
He looked up. ‘Is it not okay?’
‘But … I need you. Like, now.’
‘Uh. Okay.’
Bumping against each other, he tore off the rest of his clothes, while she ripped open the condom wrapper. Hands trembling, she hurried it on, then slid herself down onto him.
‘Go slow.’ He sounded anxious.
But she couldn’t.
Within seconds, her hair tangled in his fist, he was rearing beneath her, pulling her hip bones against his, saying her name again and again and again.
‘Put your hand on it, Jessie.’
‘I’m going home.’
‘Just for a second. Here under the table. No one will see.’
‘Karl, you’re repulsive. Perplexingly – that’s a hard word to say – you’re still sexy. But the repulsive bit wins. And the thing is, the thing, Karl, that I have just remembered –’
‘Yeah?’
‘Is that I have a very sexy, non-repulsive husband.’
‘Forty minutes ago you could “never forgive him”.’
‘Time is a great healer.’
‘He could have been riding your woman.’
‘I didn’t believe that for long. I was much more upset about the cat gifs and the great fun they’d been