‘Oh yes,’ I hear him croon behind me. ‘Oh yes, Sophie, that’s it, you’re taking it well, you’ve taken it so well.’
And then he drills me right into the table, so I swear at the sudden impact against my pelvis and I assume, from the trembling of his loins and the painful grip of his hands, that he isn’t faking anything at all.
‘Oh.’
His head falls on my shoulder. His face is hot and his mouth nuzzles my bitten skin.
‘Sophie,’ he whispers, clasping his arms around my breasts.
I try to wriggle forwards, to get his cock out of me. I don’t do pillow talk.
‘There we go then,’ I say, trying not to yawn or sound at all tired. ‘Fantasy fulfilled. What time’s your flight tomorrow?’
He sighs, sounding pained. ‘Never mind that. Come to bed.’
‘Oh, I don’t think I want to do that.’
He puts his lips to my ear. ‘Shower first?’
‘No, I mean, I should go.’
With a herculean effort, he detaches himself from me and rises to his feet, looking less impressive than usual with his trousers around his ankles and his shirt flapping around his haunches.
‘Go?’ he says, as if the word is in some ancient mystical tongue. ‘You want to go?’
‘Yeah. I do. Grab us that jacket and I’ll call a cab. Actually, could I borrow your shirt?’
‘Aren’t you tired? Don’t you want to stay?’
‘Not really. We’ve done what we came for, haven’t we?’
He looks genuinely devastated. I can’t tell him I faked my orgasm. It would just be too cruel. I know it’s no crueller than he was to me, but I don’t ever want to think of myself as being on the same level as him.
‘Didn’t you … wouldn’t you like to … do it again? In bed? In comfort?’
I give up waiting for him to lend the shirt and grab one from the wardrobe. Beautifully pressed and smelling of something leathery. I put it on, enjoying its smooth, cool feel against my bare skin.
‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ I tell him.
‘You’d find it harder to leave?’
I look away and smile, mainly to myself. ‘Yeah, yeah, that’s it, Chase. I’d find it harder to leave.’
God knows, he doesn’t really deserve the sugar-coating, but perhaps I’m kinder than I realise.
I put on my jacket and shoes, check my pocket for my mobile phone.
‘I understand,’ he says, looking as if he doesn’t.
‘Good.’ I tiptoe up to kiss him on the cheek.
He catches me in a tight hold for a moment. ‘It was, wasn’t it? Good, I mean.’
‘Of course it was. Everything I dreamed it would be. But we don’t live in a dream, Chase. Time to wake up and get on with the day.’
‘You really are every bit as independent as you seem, aren’t you?’
‘Perhaps a little too much so,’ I whisper.