Frisky Business (49 page)

Danny’s face softened. ‘Well, just a quick one, then,’ he said, standing back to let Kit in.

‘Great!’ Kit strode into Romy’s living room and planted himself on the sofa.

Danny got a couple of glasses and put them on the coffee table, and Kit poured the wine.

‘Here’s to me,’ he said, handing a glass to Danny and raising his own in salute. ‘I think my interview today went really well.’

‘Oh, good for you!’ Danny said, clinking his glass against Kit’s as he sat down beside him. ‘Does this mean you’re planning to stay in Dublin, then?’

‘Yeah, I think so – for now anyway.’

‘So how’s work going on the house?’

‘It was going okay, but of course it’s all come to a standstill now with this snow.’

‘And now Romy’s snowed in down there with your brother,’ Danny said thoughtfully.

‘Yeah. I feel
really bad about that. I spoke to her earlier, though, and she seems very upbeat about the whole thing. She takes things in her stride, doesn’t she?’

‘She does,’ Danny said, smiling.

‘So, where are you off to?’ Kit asked, refilling his glass. Danny still wasn’t even halfway through his. ‘Hot date?’

‘No. Just a party.’

‘Oh, a party? Sounds like fun.’ Kit gulped down more wine while he waited for Danny to invite him along.

‘I’d ask you to come, but I’m sort of going on someone else’s invite, so …’

‘Oh, no – that’s fine. Will your wanker ex be there?’

‘Paul? No,’ Danny said, narrowing his eyes at Kit.

‘Good. Glad to hear it,’ Kit slurred. ‘So who are you going with? New bloke in your life?’

‘Just some friends,’ Danny said curtly. He glanced at his watch. ‘Well, I’d better go and get ready.’

Kit looked at him unhappily. ‘Do you have to go? Why don’t you stay here and we’ll get drunk together? It’s going to be hell trying to get anywhere tonight anyway with this weather.’

Danny hesitated, looking tempted for a moment. ‘Sorry, but they’ll be expecting me.’ He drained his glass, put it back on the coffee table and got up. ‘You can stay and finish your drink if you like.’

‘Oh, come on,’ Kit wheedled. ‘You don’t want to go out in that cold, do you? Or are you hoping to hook up at this party?’

‘None of your business.’

‘Because if you’re not, you might as well stay here and get shitfaced with me. Or we could go to the local pub.’

Danny sighed. ‘Look, I’m not Romy, okay? I’m not going to throw everything in and prop you up just because you’re feeling a bit sorry for yourself.’

Kit was taken aback. He’d never seen this assertive, almost aggressive
side of Danny before. He rather liked it. ‘I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I’m celebrating.’

‘Doesn’t look like it to me. Anyway, I’ve no time to stand here arguing with you. I’m going to get ready. Stay as long as you want.’ With that, he turned on his heel and stalked off to the bathroom.

When he was gone, Kit poured the remains of the bottle into his glass and continued to drink. He was starting to feel quite mellow. He took off his jacket and stretched out full-length on the sofa. He was still lying there when Danny reappeared, wearing black jeans and a black polo neck jumper, his thick dark hair still damp from the shower.
Holy shit!
He scrubbed up well, Kit thought, sitting up. He watched as Danny moved around the room, picking up keys and wallet and stuffing them into his pockets. The black clothes accentuated his dark colouring, and he looked sleek and elegant as a panther– maybe even a little bit dangerous.

‘Is that what you’re wearing?’ Kit asked, waving his wine glass in Danny’s general direction.

‘Well … yeah. What does it look like?’

It looked mighty fine, Kit thought. But he said, ‘You’ll never pull in that.’

‘What?’ Danny looked at him, aghast. ‘What’s wrong with it?’

‘Nothing if you’re playing a cat burglar in a Hollywood B movie. But if you want to hook up with a hot gay man …’

‘And what the fuck would you know about that?’ Danny said scathingly.

‘Quite a lot, actually,’ Kit said, getting up and walking over to him, backing Danny into the wall until they were standing toe to toe eyeballing each other. ‘For instance,’ he said, taking Danny’s face in his hands and kissing him forcefully, pushing him back into the wall.

For
a moment, Danny was too stunned to respond. He stood there lifelessly, his lips remaining rigid while Kit kissed him. Then he suddenly came to with a jolt and pushed him away. ‘Kit, stop!’ he gasped. ‘We can’t do this.’

‘Sorry,’ Kit said, stepping back. ‘You don’t want to?’

Danny looked away. ‘I can’t do this to Romy.’

‘Romy!’ Kit said, laughing in relief. He had noticed Danny’s evasive answer to his question. ‘That’s not real,’ he said. ‘Romy and me – we’re not really together.’

‘You’re not?’

Kit shook his head. ‘No.’

‘You’ve never been with her?’

‘I’ve never slept with her, no.’

‘With any woman?’

‘Not since I was eighteen.’

‘So you’re … gay?’

‘As I was saying,’ Kit said, bending his head to Danny’s again. This time he kissed him softly, gently, and Danny relaxed, winding his arms around Kit’s back and opening his mouth to his coaxing tongue, and then the kiss became more passionate, their tongues tangling and wrestling with each other.

‘Right,’ Danny said breathlessly as Kit sucked on his neck. ‘I see your point.’

‘There’s more,’ Kit whispered, his hands roaming under Danny’s jumper. ‘You want to hear it?’

‘I’m all ears.’

Kit grabbed the hem of Danny’s top and pulled it off and then he was kissing his chest, licking and sucking his nipples.

‘Shit!’ Danny gasped. ‘You really know what you’re talking about, don’t you?’

‘And you’re such a great listener.’ Kit smiled against Danny’s skin as he kissed his way down his stomach until he was kneeling before him, unbuckling his belt.

‘I’m going
to be late,’ Danny breathed, groaning deep in his throat as Kit unzipped his jeans and his hand moved over the bulge in his boxers.

‘Shut up,’ Kit murmured. ‘You’ve pulled.’

After dinner, Romy lifted Luke into his Moses basket and carried it gently into the living room, careful not to wake him. Then she pulled back the couch while Ethan dragged her mattress in, dropping it in front of the fire. They had set up the two electric heaters at the far corners of the room, so that between them and the fire, it was now quite cosy and warm. While Romy washed up, Ethan piled up her bed with pillows, duvets and blankets. There was something incredibly sexy about a man making a bed for you – even if his intention was simply to prevent Romy dying of hypothermia, and not to spread her out on it and have his wicked way with her. He threw a couple of pillows and a duvet onto the sofa for himself.

‘There – looks cosy,’ he said, standing back to survey his handiwork.

The bed did look cosy – but Romy couldn’t help thinking it would be even cosier if he was in it with her.

‘So, uh … are you ready to go to bed now?’ he asked her.

‘Um … yeah. I’m pretty beat.’ Suddenly, everything felt very stilted and awkward between them.

‘Yeah, me too. Well, I’ll just go and get ready then.’

While he went to his bedroom to get changed, Romy raced to the bathroom to brush her teeth, then went to her bedroom and flung off her clothes, scrambling into her pyjamas so that she could get into bed before he came back. She heard him in the bathroom as she sprinted across the hall and she dove under
the duvet just in time before he came into the room wearing a T-shirt and boxers. He looked surprised to see her already in bed.

‘I’ll just put a few more logs on,’ he said, bending down close to her to stoke up the fire. The fresh logs crackled and sparked as he pushed them into the flames. ‘That should keep it going until morning.’ Then he got up and went over to the light switch. ‘Will I turn the light off?’

Romy looked over at him and nodded. ‘Night,’ she said, closing her eyes and turning away towards the fire.

‘Night.’ She heard him walk back to the couch, and waited for the squeak of the springs as he lay down on it, but it didn’t come.

‘Um, Romy?’ His voice was close and she turned around to find him standing beside her makeshift bed, looking down at her.

‘Yes?’ she whispered, her heart hammering in her ribs.

‘Um … would it be okay if I slept here too?’ he said, indicating her mattress.

‘Oh. Uh … yes. Of course.’ She pulled back the covers on the side nearest him and edged further towards the fire, turning away from him.
Oh God, shoot me now
.

How was she going to survive a night lying beside him in bed, not touching him, him not touching her? But she could hardly refuse. The couch wouldn’t be very comfortable, especially for someone as tall as Ethan, and she had a double bed. Was it too late to opt for hypothermia? She felt the mattress give as he lay down beside her, felt the warmth of his body at her back. ‘Good night,’ she whispered again, scrunching her eyes tight and praying that sleep would overtake her soon. This was just unbearable.

‘Good night,’ he whispered. She was surprised to feel him lean over her, and then she felt the wet warmth of his lips on
her cheek. Little fames of desire curled and leapt in her stomach as his lips lingered on her face, trailing down to her chin. And then they were gone and she felt bereft, her fingers digging into the mattress as she forced herself not to turn around and grab him.

She felt him move closer behind her, and then his fingers were moving lightly through her hair – so lightly she thought she might be imagining it until his other hand moved to her side, edging up underneath her pyjama top and stroking her skin softly.

‘Romy?’ His voice was husky. ‘You’re not really with Kit, are you?’

She realised she’d been holding her breath. ‘No,’ she managed to whisper. God, she’d tell him anything if it meant he’d keep touching her like this. He could get a job with MI5 getting spies to tell him all their secrets.

‘Thank Christ for that!’

His warm hand continued to caress her hip, and as he pulled her gently back into his body, she felt a burst of triumph to discover that he was rock hard. Her inner slut did a happy dance, thrilled that he wanted her too. Or wanted sex, and she happened to be handy – whatever. She didn’t really care. Her libido was already having its very own ticker tape parade in celebration of the victory, and it didn’t much care how it had been achieved.

Then he was leaning over her again, his lips finding hers in the darkness, kissing her softly, sensuously, his tongue tracing along her bottom lip. He pulled back slightly, but she could still feel the warmth of his breath on her cheek. ‘Is this okay?’ he whispered and she nodded, turning to him to grant better access to his roving hands, to show him just how okay it was. He looked more beautiful than ever, his face flushed with desire and warmed by the golden glow of the firelight.

‘Are you
warm enough? Can we take this off?’ he asked huskily, grabbing the hem of her pyjama top. ‘I want to see you.’

She nodded and he pushed back the blankets before pulling off her top and then her bottoms and she was naked. For a while, he just looked at her in the light of the flickering fire, watching his hand as he touched every inch of skin he’d exposed, gently caressing her breasts, stroking the gentle swell of her belly and the curve of her hip, while he told her how gorgeous she was and how much he wanted her, until she thought she would go mad if he didn’t put his mouth on her again.

Finally, he kissed her as his hand moved between her legs and he groaned into her mouth when he felt how wet she was. Then he was kissing her everywhere, nibbling and licking and sucking her belly, her breasts, the soft flesh of her inner thighs, until at last he was at the place where she wanted him most, and the waves of pleasure built and built until they reached the zenith and her body rose off the bed, suspended on an invisible thread like an achingly sweet note held on a string, before the vibrations passed and she crashed back down to earth, still trembling as after-shocks rippled through her.

‘Oh my God, you’re so beautiful,’ he panted, pulling her to him.