Doubt (The Connected Series Book 1) (3 page)

“I really am pleased to be back you know, I’ve missed this.” with one sweep, he pulls me into him, my back to his front and buries his nose in my hair.

“I’ve missed snuggling, I’ve missed your scent, I’ve missed being able to run my hands up your fabulous legs...” he makes to move his hand. I reach out and grab it, holding it firmly in mine. 

“So have I, but we need to sleep... I’m not sure I can cope with anything else tonight.” I bring his hand to my lips and kiss them. “I love you Mr Roberts, sleep nicely.” 

“You too Miss Bennett” he whispers, squeezing me. I fall asleep in Doug’s arms, my last thoughts of silk scarves and strawberries.

***

I wake early the next morning still wrapped in Doug’s arms. I’m too hot; I am not usually a snuggler while I sleep. I’ve never understood it when people say they fall asleep in each other’s arms and wake up the same way, I can’t cope with being too hot and as lovely as snuggling is, if you snuggle, you overheat. When I overheat, I get crabby and that generally pops the love bubble pretty quick. I slowly begin to move away, I really need the loo, but Doug’s arms are like an iron grip and there is no way I am getting out of them without him waking up. 

“Doug.” I whisper, tapping lightly on his arm “Doug, I really need the loo.” I try again but nothing. 

I lie there for a minute thinking, maybe I can just forget the nagging pain from my bladder, I don’t really need the loo, do I? But of course, once you acknowledge  that you need the loo, there is no ignoring it and from that moment on, the ache gets worse. 

“Doug. Let. Me.
Go
.” I am successful in pushing his arm off of me but in doing so, I push myself off the bed, hitting my head on the bedside table and falling, about as ungracefully as you can get, on to the floor.

“
Shit
!” I rub my head and just lay there, see this sort of thing only happens to me. No one else, could, while trying to get out of bed to go to the loo, manage what I just did. 

“Sophie....?” Doug’s sleepy face appears over the edge of the bed. “What are you doing down there?” he rubs his eyes and yawns. 

“What do you think I’m doing down here? I fell out of bed.” honestly, for such an intelligent man, he really can be very stupid sometimes. 

“You... fell... out of bed?” he looks totally confused. “But we were, like, right over the other side?” he runs his hand through his hair, really trying to work this out.

“Well if your big gorilla man arms hadn’t trapped me, I
wouldn
’
t
have had to try and get out of your iron grip and I
wouldn
’
t
have had to push so hard and I
wouldn
’
t
have fallen out of bed!” I’m grumpy now and I still need to pee. He tries not to laugh, but fails. Miserably. 

“Gorilla man arms?” he lays back down and laughs. Really laughs. 

“Arsehole.” I mutter, dragging my naked arse to the bathroom. I can still hear him laughing about it.

I decide to have a shower seeing as I’m awake now. I turn on the hot water and step under the spray, It instantly soothes me and I lose my grumpiness while I wash my hair. Humming to myself, I feel another pair of hands on me. I continue to hum, not letting him have the satisfaction of knowing his fingers in my hair feels perfect. He leans in and rests his head on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry I laughed, and I’m sorry for the gorilla man grip.” he kisses me shoulder and reaches over for the shower gel. 

“Your gorilla man grip is forgiven.” I continue to rinse my hair and turn to face him.

Doug, wet and standing in front of me has to be one of the most erotic things I have ever seen. The way his hair clings to his forehead and needs to be repeatedly pushed back. The way the soap travels down his body, running into all the dips from his muscles, the thin line of hair that travels down his stomach to his groin and the V,
oh lord help me
,
that V.
It is my weakness. I once spent an entire shower tracing that V with my fingers…. and later my tongue. 

My eyes roam over his wet soapy body greedily, I can’t help but reach out and gather some of the soap so I can wash him. He closes his eyes and braces one hand on the wall. My hand follows the path of the soap, ending at one very stiff, very excited cock. I grasp him in my hand and squeeze, his eyes fly open, blazing. 

“I think you’re clean enough.” I smile, releasing him and turning to switch off the water. Instantly his hands are over mine and his mouth is by my ear. 

“I don’t think so...” I am pulled into his arms and then positioned so my hands are resting on the wall in front of me. 

“I need to get ready for work...” I try and argue, but even to me, my voice isn’t convincing.

“It’s not even six o’clock yet, you have bags of time...” he pulls my hips back and slams into me in one movement. 

“
Oh!
” He begins to move and I can’t help but lose myself, I am meeting him, thrust for thrust, I cannot get enough. Sex in the shower, my favourite place. Doug reaches over and finds my clit, gently stroking it bringing me closer and closer to that glorious place. 

“This is how I want to wake up every day Sophie...” he softly bites my shoulder and I come undone. Groaning as my orgasm rips through me, 

“Oh, Sophie.” Doug pumps once, twice and then he too growls, holding me still as he empties himself into me. 

“Your turn to be washed I think.” Doug grins, grabbing the shower gel once again and lathering up his hands. 

“Good morning!” I kiss his lips lightly.

“Very good morning to you Miss Bennett!” he smiles back.

I’m dressed and ready for the day and it’s only 7am. I put the kettle on, resting my hip on the counter and wait for it to boil. I have a busy day ahead. An all day shoot followed by a meeting with a potential new client. The long day will mean I won’t be in till late and good for nothing by the time

I get in. Doug walks out of the bedroom looking every inch the powerful man he is. Dressed in a charcoal grey three-piece suit and tie with a white shirt. Just looking at him makes my tummy muscles tighten. 

“Shall I come over later? Or did you want to come over to mine?” he bends to tie his shoelaces. 

“I don’t know what state I will be in later, I’ve got a full on day. Can I let you know?” I ask pouring hot water into two cups. 

“Sure you can, I can pick something up for dinner either way.” he smiles and takes the cup I offer him.

“What does your day look like?” I ask, already knowing what the answer will be. 

“Hectic, being away means there are about fifty people who, now I’m back, will want to see me.” he rolls his eyes and takes a sip of his coffee before pulling a face.

“Wrong cup.” he laughs passing it back to me and taking mine.

Doug owns his own advertising company and has offices near Canary Wharf. His company are the brains behind some of the best ads around right now. He has a huge team working for him, but still tries to oversee every project personally. 

“Sorry,” I murmur still a little sleepy. I take my cup, wrapping my hands around it for warmth, “Miley said to remind you about this weekend, her birthday bash at
Coopers
.”

Miley was my best friend, a gorgeous leggy brunette whose legs went on for forever. She could so easily be a model, was she? No. She was a primary school teacher. She was perfect for the job, her motherly nature made all the children instantly adore her and she was, as she liked to remind everyone, the favourite teacher in the school. 

“I remembered. What time does it start?” he pulls out his phone looking at something.

“She has invited us out to dinner first, and then on to
Coopers
, she has the VIP section.” I smile, of course she does,
Coopers
is a very exclusive club. Often frequented by celebrities, you cannot get into the VIP room for love nor money. Miley didn’t need either, her boyfriend owned the club, Jonathan
was
Mr. Cooper.

“Okay. I shall leave Saturday free, I may have work to do on Sunday though.” He frowns at me and gives me an
‘I
’
m sorry
’
face. I walk over and wrap my arms around his waist, resting my head on his chest.

“It’s okay; we don’t have to be together every second of the day.”

“I know that.” he kisses the top of my head “But I will be leaving again on Wednesday and won’t be back until Monday.” 

“We’ll manage, don’t worry. I still need an outfit for the party. I don’t see when I will have time to find something.” I frown. I always leave it till the last minute. 

“We’ll go look for something Saturday okay, we can make a morning of it.” He smiles down and me. Catching a look at the clock he squeezes me.

“I have to go.” he pulls my chin up and kisses me again, “I’ll speak to you later?” 

“Yes. I’ll call you.” We stay together, neither one of us wanting to let the other go for another minute before he coughs.

“I really do need to go. Have a good day. Be safe” he smiles. 

“I will. You too Mr. Roberts.” with a wink and a smile he leaves for the day and I follow shortly after.

Chapter Four

“Don’t be such a diva Nicole, get your butt over here and let me finish this!” I loved my job, but I wanted to go home. It had been a long day and there was no sign of this shoot being over anytime soon. 

“Jeez chill out, every girl needs a bathroom break!” she moans.

“Nicole, we both know you don’t need your mobile for a loo break.” I roll my eyes, she must think I was born yesterday. She laughs and sits down in the chair.

“Busted, right?” she looks up at me winking.

“Yes.” I smile back.

We’ve been shooting an ad for a new range of clothing for the last six hours and so far I’ve had to completely change Nicole’s make-up six times. The stylist insists on different looks for each set of clothes, which is fine, except Nicole has only so far worn
one
set. I start to change Nicole’s look per the stylist’s instruction when my phone rings.

“Two seconds...” I yell, grabbing my phone and walking away from everyone.

“I thought you were going to call me?” Doug sounds irritated. 

“What, no Hello, how are you?” I scold. “I’ve been busy.” 

“Too busy to let me know where we will be tonight?” he asks.

“Maybe it slipped my mind.... You could have called me you know.” I remind him 

“Sophie, what exactly am I doing now?” I can hear the smile in his voice.

“Okay smart arse, I meant earlier, before you got your grumpy on.” 

“Got my grumpy on? Where do you get these saying from?” he laughs.

“I just pick them out of the air, no book or anything.” I smile to myself. 

“Sophie, we need you!” Nicole yells.

“One minute.” I rub my eyes, rolling my neck from side to side. 

“Where shall I meet you?” Doug asks “Mine or yours?” 

“I’ll come over to yours. I really want a soak in your tub.” I groan just thinking about it.

“Mine it is, I’ll grab something for dinner, any requests?” he sounds amused. 

“Right now, I don’t even care, as long as I can soak in that tub of yours and have a foot rub, my feel are killing me today.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” 

“See you later.” I hang up, looking at the clock, 5.15pm already? 

“SOPHIE!”

“I’m coming!”

We are another two hours before we’re okay to leave, and half the photos haven’t been taken.

“We’ll reschedule for next week okay Sophie, I’ll call you.” Lynn the stylist tells me, before grabbing the rack of clothes and leaving.

“Sure!” I shout, pretty sure she didn’t even hear me. 

“I’m going too guys, have a good weekend.” I say kissing Nicole and Joe the photographer on the cheek.

“It’s only Thursday Sophie, we gotta whole day left before the weekend.” Nicole huffs.

“Not for me, I’ve got tomorrow off, my weekend starts now!” I shoot them my Cheshire cat smile and sashay out the door.

Knowing I have tomorrow free made my late work day a little better, Doug had no idea I wasn’t working tomorrow and I planned to keep it that way. Traffic getting to Doug’s was a nightmare and I was knocking on the door just as my watch ticked over to 9.00pm. 

“You’re late.” I’m pulled into the apartment as soon as the door opens, Doug kicks it closed and I’m pushed up against the it. His mouth is on mine, his hands are gripping the backs of my thighs and I’m being lifted up.

“Doug, slow down!” I’m clinging to him to balance myself. He lifts my arms, raising them above my head.

“Keep them up there!” he growls at me, nipping my earlobe. 

“Okay..” I splutter.

His lips travel down my throat while the broad, emotive sweep of
Thom Yorke's
voice fills the room. His hands find the bottom of my top and pull, tugging it out of my jeans. Roughly, he pulls it up and over my head, throwing it over his shoulder. His carnal need awakens something in me and I thrust my hands in front of me, hoping his grip on me is strong enough that I don’t fall, and rip the buttons open from his shirt, sending them scattering over the floor.