“That’s a nice way to greet me, did you like the flowers?”
I shook my head, “You can’t send me flowers we are work colleagues, it needs to stay professional,” I slurred the words out and stumbled a little on my heels as I walked away and into the wall clumsily. He caught my arm as I reached out to steady myself and sent shock waves through my body. Damn he smelt good close up. I looked up into his grey eyes and expected to see a mocking look but what I saw scared me even more, pure animal lust. He was staring straight down at me, determined, driven and obviously intent on getting what he wanted.
“What are you so scared of beautiful?” He whispered insistently into my ear, bringing his handsome stubbly face down towards mine and running one hand around my waist now. I gasped, this was heading in a direction that I wasn’t sure I could handle, especially after four glasses of wine. “You keep fighting me, pushing me away, but I don’t think you want to. I think you’re just scared to let yourself go. So what are you scared of? Maybe I can help you out, make you feel more….relaxed?”
I tried to push him off and walk away but he pulled me closer into him, my back to his front. I could feel his breathe getting heavier as he lent down towards my neck and ran his soft warm lips along the space between my neck and shoulders. Damn that felt hot and was twisting my mind and warping my self-control. With moves like this I wasn’t sure how much longer I could fight him off. Did I want to fight him off? The alcohol in my system was certainly helping me loosen up tonight.
I drew in a long breath to fortify my self-restraint and tried to stay focused on not offering myself up for the biggest heartbreak known to man. He ran his soft lips up to my ear and sucked my earlobe into his hot mouth, seductively biting down on it and gripping me tighter to him, my damn body started working against me as I found myself leaning into him.
“Come on sweetheart, tell me what’s stopping you letting go? I want to see you let go, really let go…..under me, above me, anyway you want me.” He chuckled.
“I don’t want to let go with you!” I said turning towards him and losing any self-control I had the second I looked at his mesmerising face, all full of lust. “Why won’t you leave me alone?” I begged in a half-hearted whisper.
“I can’t Ella, you see it’s out of my hands.” He pretended to look wounded, dropping his hands to his sides in a fake show of regret but his eyes still penetrated me with their silver sparkles. I glowered at him.
“What are you even on about?”
“Fate Ella, Destiny. That’s what I’m on about. Don’t you feel it, that pull between us?” he pointed between the two of us and moved towards me like a predator ready to strike. “Don’t you feel the sparks, the electricity running between us? I can’t even touch you without getting a shock to my system, you consume me Ella.” He smirked, looking down at his feet, then looked back up at me through his luscious eyelashes, “If this is what we do to each other with our clothes on imagine what we can do with them off.” He was full on grinning now and the smug look flipped a switch in my head.
“Bullshit, you just don’t like being told no!” I pointed at him and put some much needed space between us. “I want nothing to do with you, not now and not ever, so go and bother some other girl, I’m sure you have enough falling at your feet.”
He shook his head feigning sadness, “Oh Ella, but I only want you, why do you make it so hard for me,” he winked at me then and I turned to stomp away but he grabbed my arm and spoke in a hushed tone so only I could hear above the growing sounds of the dancefloor music.
“We are gonna fuck there’s no doubt about that beautiful. I can’t wait to be buried deep inside you, and hear you scream my name as I make you come over and over and over again. The sooner you accept that the sooner we can skip your pointless games. My games are much more fun…” he bent closer to my ear and the feel of his breathe on my hair and skin made my nerves tingle as he said “just so you know I like to fuck hard and fast.”
He pulled me back into him again and I could feel his impressively large growing arousal, hard and pressing into my back.
My tummy flipped over, and heat surged between my legs. Oh my God what was I doing, I wanted to let him do what he wanted and yet I wanted to run away as far as I could from Joe Madden. Being held by him like this, felt warm, passionate…right, but my head was still protesting even though my body was giving me away, my nipples straining against the silk of my playsuit and my breathing shallow and erratic. Why did he have this power and control over me? How was it he could say one thing and I was ready for him, willing and losing my reserve with every beat of my fluttering heart? ‘Get it together’ a tiny portion of my brain squealed inside me, and with shaking legs I broke away and walked as fast as I could back to the table to steady myself and get a grip. A familiar growl of manly lust echoed behind me, and I knew I had to get out of this bar before my resolve crumbled and I was another notch on Joe Madden’s bed post.
Chapter Eight
Saturday mornings were all about greasy fry ups to soak up the alcohol from a Friday night, and going out shopping in our great city. Robyn and I loved to peruse the high end boutiques and department stores, as well as the cheaper second hand emporiums full of hidden gems and a slight stench of moth balls hinting at the years gone by; where the outfits would have graced dances and ball rooms with much more innocence to them than today’s scene.
We woke up with slightly woolly heads, but felt much better after a bacon sandwich. Then we donned our skinny jeans, comfy jumpers and flats and headed out to trawl for treasure in the city.
“Harvey Nicks or Second time round bargain basement first?” Robyn asked.
“Let’s start with Harvey Nicks today, I love seeing how the other half live!” I grinned.
One day when I managed to get a promotion I’d promised myself I would take Robyn to Harvey Nicks and buy her anything she wanted. She’d been such a great friend to me, the best and she deserved to be spoilt rotten. My current salary wouldn’t even stretch to a scarf in that place though. The price tags were ridiculous.
As we made our way down the busy city streets through the crowds of tourists and die hard shoppers, my heart started to flutter as I saw the shop’s sign come into view. The windows glowing with sparkling lights making everything inside appear magical. This was my Mecca, it called out to girls like me, begging us to go inside and get lost in the wonders of retail. To worship at the altar of designer dresses, shoes and handbags. I was a sucker for shopping.
We went in and sauntered along the ground floor, past counters manned by stunning, picture perfect Barbie doll assistants, made up to perfection and not a hair out of place. They offered us a spritz of perfume, a sample of their face cream, anything to make a sale. They were wasting their time with us though, we might have held ourselves with an air of confidence but our purses were the opposite. We couldn’t afford the lifestyle choices they were pedalling. We were the same as them, catching the bus home and having a microwave ready meal for our dinner.
We took the lift to the women’s designer clothes and as the doors opened we both stepped out and brea
thed in that divine new clothes smell. No moth balls here, everything was pristine, exclusive and extremely expensive.
Occasionally if we saw an outfit or dress that called out to us we would throw caution to the wind and try it on in the amazing dressing rooms, hoping the assistants wouldn’t sniff us out as the frauds we were.
“I love this top, it would look incredible with my black skinny jeans.” Robyn said holding up a silky emerald green top with some kind of crystals or jewels encrusted around the halter neck. She was right, it would look awesome on her with her red hair.
“That would so suit you Hun.” I nodded, and continued wandering around the dresses on show. No rooting through the rails for what you wanted here, everything was on show like an exhibition or a show room. I turned a corner and audibly gasped as I saw the perfect dress for me. It was a short silver and black embellished creation covered entirely with crystals and looked so classy I had to try it on. It would be a crime not to. I reached for the tag that showed me it was Balmain and worth three times my monthly salary. ‘Dream on Ella’, I thought but Robyn came round that corner just as I released the price tag from my grasp and said, “Now that’s an Ella dress. That looks like it was made for you babe. Are you gonna try it on?”
“No, it’ll only depress me.”
“So? We always try on our favourite stuff when we come in here, otherwise what’s the point in looking? Just pretend you’re out flexing your millionaire hubby’s plastic friend.” She whispered and flounced off to look at the footwear across the store. I didn’t feel like playing today. I felt like a fraud and where most weeks I’d have laughed that off, today it felt different. I didn’t belong here.