Chapter Five
JENNA COULDN’T QUITE believe what she was doing. She stopped once, twice, three times, to look at herself in the mirror and snort with blushing laughter.
Outside, Jason was hacking away at the undergrowth in the least accessible part of the garden, stripped to the waist and mouth-watering, his strong, tanned back flexing with each swish of the blade. Every glimpse gave Jenna fresh impetus to continue with her operation.
Her idea for the birthday present was to keep it simple. No bells, no whistles – but some pretty extravagant packaging. She was going to give him herself. After the hurly-burly of the private view, and Jason’s wobble of self-doubt once Deano had reappeared on the scene, it seemed absolutely the right thing to do. Something that wouldn’t make him frown over more money spent on him, but would make him see how sincerely and truly she believed in their future.
First of all, she had found his favourite underwear set – the black strappy number they had bought (and tested) in the chic Mayfair sex boutique on their recent London trip. Putting it on brought back a flood of wicked memories. Jason stroking her nipples as they protruded from the quarter-cup bra. Jason with his hand down the shiny black knickers. Jason spanking her over the carefully placed straps that cut across her rear cheeks, creating a canvas of red and black so gorgeous it had to be photographed.
She had gawped at her reflection, then smiled at the thought that, not so long ago, she hadn’t even realised lingerie like this existed. Victoria’s Secret had been as far as she had gone with Deano. Sexy, yes, but nothing that would shock your aunt.
She twirled slowly, examining her curves, her new fuller figure. Jason was right. A little bit more flesh flattered her, gave her an air of sensual abandon she hadn’t had in her days as a hard-bodied gym bunny. Not that she could be accused of being overweight at all. The difference was too subtle for anyone but her and her lover to notice.
And besides, what if she did put on a bit of weight? It wasn’t the apocalyptic disaster she had used to think it. People came in different body types; it was time she accepted it. She cringed at the memory of all the boot-camp fitness regimes she had dictated to her new clients. The memory of one young girl, hospitalised for anorexia after a few months of this, came back and made her heart freeze. Your fault.
But that girl was OK now, although she would never go back into A-list show-business. Working on cruise liners, last she’d heard. Jenna breathed again. All that was over. Never again.
Back to her sinfully decadent silhouette in the mirror. She posed and preened, sticking out her bottom, spreading her legs, cupping her breasts, trying to see herself as Jason saw her. No longer the uptight over-styled icon but a flesh-and-blood woman with strong appetites and exotic desires.
The thought of the exotic desires made her look over to the bed, where she had laid out the leather paddle Jason had designed and made himself at the London warehouse of an expert spanking toy manufacturer. Who would have imagined that she’d enjoy being used like that, only a year ago? And yet now she craved Jason’s dominance, fantasising about it in the hours they were apart, begging for it when they were together. It was a whole new part of herself, unlocked at the age of thirty-five.
‘Take me, I’m yours,’ she muttered, pouting at the mirror, then running hands through her hair until it was sexily mussed.
Speaking of giving herself … She picked up the length of wide red ribbon she had bought in Hobbycraft that morning and began to wrap it, carefully, not too tightly, in a criss-crossing pattern up her legs. She wound it around her lower hips, hiding those parts of her Jason most liked to play with, then crossed her stomach and wrapped her breasts. She tied it neatly around her neck to finish, then stuck on a huge red rosette, just over her bottom cheeks.
It rustled as she moved, and the feeling of being tied in ribbon was so exciting she wanted to throw herself on the bed and put her hand between her legs.
But she held back. This was for Jason, not for her. She was going to have to wait.
She experimented with the feeling, standing in front of the mirror, trying to bend and stretch, enjoying each little restriction when it came.
Now, could she manage to move, slowly, carefully, swishing with each micro-step, over to the big window? Yes.
She brought herself into the centre of the frame and stood, her untied arms resting on the walls either side, imagining what a picture she’d make when Jason eventually turned and looked up.
If he ever did.
He seemed to work on for ages and ages, his attention given over to clearing the tangles and thickets from the far end of the garden, piling the wheelbarrow high.
But eventually, the wheelbarrow was full and he straightened up, passed the back of his hand across his brow and stood for a moment, still with his back to her, catching his breath.
She watched his strong shoulders rise and fall, saw the sheen of sweat glisten on his golden-brown back, looked longingly at the leather belt cinching his rough jeans to his hips, pulling the denim taut over a mouth-watering backside.
Come on.
Finally, he turned.
His gaze was aimed lower, though, at the bonfire he’d been building. Jenna had to wait again, in an agony of nerves and lust, while Jason wheeled the debris over and threw it onto the pyre.
He looked at his watch.
Yes. He’d be thinking it was time for a lunch break.
/> And bingo! His eyes rose to the bedroom window, knowing that Jenna was in there, because she’d told him she would be.
She bit her lip, working hard at not breaking into a broad grin. That expression, dawning on his face, though, was hard to resist.
First a quick upwards glance, then a narrowing of eyes and a hand at his forehead to ward off the sun’s glare. Slowly, wonderfully slowly, his lips twitched upwards, the smile widening to his cheekbones, then revealing his bright teeth in a visible laugh. His eyes flashed through all the stages from unfocused, through amused, to frankly lustful in the space of about a second.