Sharing Nicely (9 page)

“I’ll kiss it all better.” His voice reverberated over my skin as he kept his promise. He continued lower, skipped over the one place I wanted him to stay and linger, and took his time licking and kissing every inch of each leg. I tried so hard to guide his mouth to my clit. I bumped my hips up and down, strained high to get him to give me some relief, but he didn’t. Not until he was ready.

I wasn’t sure how he managed to lie so flat along the bed with the hard-on I knew was crushed inside his trousers. How he controlled himself so long at all I didn’t understand. I was on the brink of losing it and still, apart from the ragged breathing and the soft moans of delight, he seemed to be unmoved.

He sank down between my thighs and I wantonly held myself open for him. I showed him my desire and hoped beyond hope that he’d satisfy my craving.

“You’re so beautiful,” he muttered, stroking my wet lips without touching my clit. “So pink and ripe and juicy. I just want to eat you all up.”

“Please do,” I begged. “Please, oh please…”

When his tongue swept along my pussy I thought I was going to explode with happiness. He held my thighs wide with his hands and licked and swirled his tongue over me until I writhed and screamed out his name.

“Greg, oh fuck, Greg,” I moaned. My hands were still held above my head in surrender as surely as if they’d been tied there. Greg wanted them there so there they stayed. I was laid out for him, a sacrifice to his pleasure.

“Come for me.” He broke contact with me and gasped, “Come for me, Kerry.” Then he concentrated his mouth on my clit. He sucked and licked in rhythm until I couldn’t help but give him what he wanted. A great flooding rush of an orgasm ripped me apart. Tears wetted my cheeks as the pleasure tore through me. I was completely awash with lust and something deeper than that, something that if I acknowledged it would scare me half to death.

“Fuck, I want you.” He cursed and scrambled up between my thighs. I opened my eyes to see him staring down at me. I smiled weakly, too languorous to do anything with any real vigour. He returned the smile but there was something in his gaze that unsettled me—it was the first time I’d seen him truly undone in all the time we’d spent together.

He leant forward and cupped my face in his hand and stroked away the tear that had dampened my cheek. His smile lengthened. I turned my head and kissed his thumb tip then. As I enveloped it with my mouth he closed his eyes and moaned with deep desire.

Pulling his thumb from between my lips with a pop, he set to undoing his pants and pushing them down his legs. He took a foil packet from the pocket and sheathed his hard, long erection before covering me completely with his body and pressing into me.

He was slow and gentle at first. My walls contracted around him as he slid deeper into my wet heat and when he moved I wrapped my legs around him and encouraged him deeper and deeper still with each thrust. From coiled control he turned into hammering desire, falling completely into the thrall of his lust as he sated himself on my body. Finally my bound hands fell down from their position above my neck to link around the back of his neck. I felt completely connected to him as he climbed closer to the brink of climax.

I watched when he came. His face screwed up in concentration and desire then released with the ecstasy that flowed from his body. I craned my neck and kissed him softly in thanks. He smiled in response then relaxed against me, burying his head in my shoulder. I remembered how little he’d smiled when we first met, how I’d been certain he didn’t do it often. Yet he seemed to grin at me all the time when he was with me, now we’d been together a while.

We held there in that position for a long time. I was sexually sated but my spirit was agitated. Something special had just happened. It wasn’t just about lust and passion, something deeper had blossomed between Greg and me. I didn’t know if it was just me, though. Maybe Greg hadn’t noticed it.

I wanted to say something, to explain what I felt, but I was too scared to do so. What if he’d not felt it at all? What if it was all in my imagination?

“Damn it, woman,” Greg growled. “You completely blow my mind.”

He extricated himself from my limbs and unfastened my wrists. He fastened his pants back up and I looked over at my clock.

“Shit, Greg, I’ve had an unbelievably good time but I should have been at Diamonds an hour ago!”

“And I should have rung Japan by now. You distracting minx. Let me ring Chester, he’ll bring the car round and we’ll give you a lift to work.”

I didn’t have any more time to contemplate the weirdness between us. Both of us were absorbed in dressing and getting out and getting to our places of work. Greg kissed me briefly as I left his car at the club.

“Thanks,” he said and I looked at him in puzzlement.

“I should be thanking you, you did so much for me today.”

“And you did so much for me, darling, See you soon.”

I wondered for a moment if maybe he had felt it too, but then I entered the whirlwind of chaos that was my club without me at the helm and I put Greg to the back of my mind as far as I could.

Chapter Six

“So, I have a night off with a bad stomach and you replace me.” Taylor didn’t even say hello as I walked past him.

“What?” I snapped then remembered the temporary barman who had stepped in the night before. “Oh, no, it was just Darren mucking about, really. Saved my arse, though.”

“Says here he’s making it permanent.” Taylor still sounded upset.

“Says where?”

“Here.” He passed a tabloid newspaper to me.

“Fuck,” I cursed. Right there in black and white was the craziest headline I’d ever seen.
Billionaire barman and his future wife?
And underneath a picture of me posing with Darren behind one of the beer pumps.

“So, which is it?” Taylor asked.

“Neither. Jeez, he just offered to help out, we were short-staffed… It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“My job’s safe then?” Taylor asked in an easier tone.

“Sure it is, and everyone else’s. This is just typical bloody tabloid shit. Ignore it.”

“Right, boss, will do. Can I have my paper back now?”

“Yeah, of course. Now let’s get down to work.”

“You’re a slave driver. Maybe I should contact Mr Bennett and see if he’d be less of a tyrant.”

I slapped him and he giggled in a most unmanly manner.

“Joking, joking. You may be a tyrant but you’re Diamonds’ tyrant. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Erm, thanks, I think.”

I put the paper report to the back of my mind. I had to tell a few insistent journos to fuck off throughout the day—okay, so I was more polite than that, just. I had phone calls and questions fired at me in person. I didn’t answer any of them. I knew whatever I said would be twisted to sound like whatever they wanted it to sound like anyway.

I was pissed off, but I supposed it wasn’t Darren’s fault really. He’d just been being nice. I should have realised something like this would have happened, but I’d never really thought of Darren as a celebrity. Obviously the rest of the world did. But it got our name out there and Diamonds certainly was busy for a Sunday, so maybe being on the front page was a good thing. Maybe I should thank Darren for it.

I dismissed that idea sharpish. I was still pissed off at him for using me the night before and being with Greg that morning had certainly made me see things in a different light. I tried not to dwell on all the complicated personal relationship junk and buried myself in the running of my business. I was doing fairly well, I thought, but then it all went to pot.

“There’s a guy in your office, boss,” Taylor casually informed me. “He wants to see you right now.”

“In my office? Now?”

“Yes, boss.”

“How’d he get in there? Who is it?”

“Just go and see. I can handle things out here.” Taylor shooed me away and I shook my head.

“Fine, fine, just don’t break anything while I’m away.”

I ran a mental list of who it could be in the office. No one usually went back there without me, so that list was pretty short. In fact, it basically consisted of two men—two annoying, self-centred, devil-may-care billionaires. My heart raced. I wondered which one it was? I was completely on edge when I opened the door and strode in.

Greg leaned on the edge of my desk, looking down at the tip of his shiny shoe. My heart leapt. My lips suddenly seemed so dry, I had to lick them.

“Oh, hey, did you manage to get hold of Japan then? I imagine it was difficult to get them all in one place at one time.” I shut the door behind me and walked towards him with an expansive smile on my face.

“What the fuck is this?” Greg held his lips in a tight line. There wasn’t a glimmer of affection to be seen. I looked down to his hand and I already knew what I was going to see there. A newspaper.

“Oh, God,” I sighed. “Yeah, Darren helped me out on the bar last night and the pictures got back to the paper. All the rest of the article’s utter crap, though.”

“Really?” he hissed and slammed the paper down onto the table top. “You really expect me to believe that dickhead Darren just helped out in a menial job to give you a hand? You expect me to swallow that? How stupid do you think I am?”

“I expect you to believe it because it’s the truth! He turned up out of the blue, I was short-staffed and he offered to help out, that was it,” I yelled back.

“Come on, Kerry, I’m not stupid. Are you going to marry him? Are you going to sell him this place? Fuck, how could you lead me on like this?”

His shoulders slumped and I stretched out to touch him, then as I saw the blazing anger in his eyes I dropped my hand back to my side.

“I haven’t led you on. I never said we were exclusive. Yes, I’ve been seeing Darren but I sure as hell have no plans to marry him and, believe you me, I would never, ever,
ever
sell Diamonds. It’s mine and it will always be mine.”

“So you slept with Darren last night?” Greg almost whispered the question. He looked to the floor. It was so strange to see him so negative and closed in.

I simply sighed. How could I explain it without making things worse?

“No, don’t say anything else, I know all I need to know.” Greg pushed away from the desk and moved towards the door.

“Don’t leave like this,” I pleaded. “Please let me explain—”

“There’s nothing to explain, Kerry. I can’t do this.”

“But it’s not what you think, really, it isn’t. There’s nothing serious between Darren and me but with us…”

I didn’t think he’d heard. He’d already walked into the corridor. I waited for a moment, hoping he’d come back, but he didn’t. I wanted to chase after him, shout his name and make him come back, but I knew it would be a waste of my time. Greg was gone and I doubted I’d ever see him again.

Back in the bar I continued my shift, numb and unfeeling. I went through the motions. Taylor knew there was something wrong but he didn’t ask. I couldn’t think, I wouldn’t let myself, and on the short Tube trip home I stared at my phone and played stupid games badly just to avoid the inevitable meltdown I knew was on the way. It didn’t work so well since the games were all from Bear Enterprises or Stamford’s and each time I saw their logos I choked back a sob of regret.

Still, I held it off fairly well, but as night changed to dawn and I still hadn’t closed my eyes I finally let the emotions I was holding in check overwhelm me. I cried, but it felt such a useless thing to do that I dashed the tears from my cheeks and berated myself for being so weak and pathetic. I had to take control of things. Clearly, Greg wasn’t happy with me and I wasn’t happy with Darren. I had to do something, so I controlled the part of this crazy situation I knew I could.

Exhaling deeply, I picked up my mobile phone. I sent Darren a brief text.

I can’t do this anymore. Sorry but I’m calling it off. I’ve had a great time but I need something more than just sex. I hope you understand. Kerry x

I ummed and ahhed and tossed and turned but finally I sent Greg a text.

I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you. For the record, I just finished things with Darren. He never made my heart race like you do. Please don’t leave it like this. Kerry x

Finally, I found a little rest. I had done all I possibly could.

* * * *

I received a text from Darren that afternoon, questioning the content of my message. I told him I wasn’t joking and I really didn’t want to hear from him again. I threw myself into work and didn’t give it any more thought until later that evening.

“Delivery for you,” Martha, one of the waitresses, said as she waltzed past. “Matthew’s got it on the door.”

“Thanks,” I called after her and headed off to the front of the club. Why had a delivery arrived there and so late at night?

When I reached the foyer all became clear. A huge bouquet of flowers lay on the counter. They were from Darren—it said so on the card hidden in the midst of the flowers. I took it off and gave them to Martha.

A huge bunch of similar blooms arrived every day from there on in and every day I gave them to another member of staff. Then the posh boxes of chocolates took over. Those were easy to dole out between us, but when a box containing a diamond-encrusted necklace arrived I texted Darren and told him to stop.