Storms Over Africa (15 page)

‘I hope you don't mind.' David felt he was intruding.

‘Not at all, it's boring eating alone.' She smiled up at him. David decided she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. As he sat down he glanced around the crowded room for his father but there was no sign of him. Richard must have taken his date somewhere else. David was relieved.

She had not yet ordered so they discussed the menu. There were a number of dishes on it she had never heard of. ‘What's piri piri?'

‘It's a kind of chilli except I think it tastes better.'

‘Sounds good. I think I'll have some of the piri piri chicken.'

‘Don't you have piri piri in Australia?' David had picked up her accent.

‘Not as far as I know.' She laughed. ‘Steak, egg and chips is the main fare over there.' She reached over the table to shake his hand. ‘My name's Steve,' she said. ‘Steve Hayes.'

There was quite a lot of noise in the dining room and they had to raise their voices.

‘David Dunn,' he said, but a burst of laughter from the next table prevented her from hearing and she cupped her hand over her ear and leaned towards him. ‘David,' he bawled into her ear and she nodded she had heard. The laughter died down and he queried her name.

‘Steve,' she affirmed, nodding.

‘That's not a girl's name.'

‘I know. If I tell you my real name, promise you won't use it?'

‘I promise,' he agreed, smiling.

‘My parents called me Stephanie. I hate it.'

‘Okay, Steve it is.'

He looked at her, liking her. He found it hard to judge her age. She was slim and tanned, with blonde hair tucked up into a knot and wispy bits floating around her face. As far as he could tell, she wore no makeup. Her eyes were startling, aquamarine blue framed with long, thick, dark lashes. She had a wide smile and very white even teeth. He guessed she had to be about Penny's age.

‘How long have you been in Zimbabwe?'

She looked at her watch. ‘Three hours.'

Despite his youth, David had always been relaxed in the company of older women. With girls his own age he was reduced to a blushing, bumbling fool, especially when they giggled at what appeared to be a secret known only to
them. He was not having a problem talking to Steve.

‘Why have you come here?'

‘I'm a photojournalist. One of the big magazines in Oz wants a feature on wildlife. I'm on assignment.'

She was talking his language. They spent ten minutes discussing the subject. Finally she said, ‘I take it you're a local.'

‘Yep.'

‘What are you doing here in the hotel?'

‘I'm off to the UK tomorrow.'

‘For good?'

Something made him hide the fact that he was returning to school. ‘No, couple of months is all.'

She cocked her head sideways. ‘How old are you, David?'

He looked her straight in the eyes. ‘Nineteen,' he lied.

‘Join me in some wine?' she invited.

He did not bat an eyelid. ‘Sounds fine but don't go for the local stuff. Zimbabwe hasn't cracked the art yet. Let's get a bottle of South African wine.' He had heard his father say something similar once.

Over the meal and the wine Steve told him something about herself. She was a freelance photojournalist, based in Sydney, and had always had a hankering to see Africa. ‘I might stay on once the assignment is finished,' she
told him. ‘Australia is always keen on stories about Africa. I could make quite a killing out here.' Steve told him about Sydney. ‘It's a beautiful city, David, sprawling around a harbour. There's water everywhere, traffic everywhere, and people everywhere from all over the world.' She told him about Australia. ‘The distances are so vast. Miles and miles of flat open country. Drought-stricken one year, flooded the next, bushfires the next, it's never the same.' Steve never once told him her age.

David paced his drinking during the meal and Steve had more than half the bottle. Used to drinking in small quantities, alcohol was not new to him. He had been allowed the odd beer since he was sixteen and a small glass of wine on special occasions since he was ten. His father was fond of saying that if children had access to alcohol early on it would not hold the same fascination for them when they were legally at an age where they could drink. His theory was only half right since Penny very often drank too much.

David found Steve fascinating. She had a great sense of humour and was full of amusing stories. She was not loud or flamboyant but others in the room kept looking her way, attracted by her looks and her obvious sense of fun. There was a freedom in her movements which made other women jealous and the men wistful. She was like a sprite.

After their meal she suggested a nightcap but David, knowing he would not be allowed into the bar and wishing to avoid the embarrassment of having his true age revealed, replied, ‘It'll be crowded and noisy in there.'

‘I've got some beers and a bottle of scotch in my room, how about that?'

He was getting out of his depth and he knew it. ‘Great idea.' He was amazed at his own cool.

The maítre d'hótel watched them go with a grin. ‘Like father, like son,' he thought, envious.

Unlike the suite Richard booked for himself and his son, Steve had a basic bedroom with bathroom attached. There being only one chair, David sat on the bed. Steve kicked off her shoes, fetched David a beer from the little bar fridge, poured herself a scotch and water and joined him, sitting cross-legged, which revealed long, slim, tanned legs as she hitched up her dress to make way for her knees. ‘Tell me about yourself,' she invited.

David told her about his life, stretching out the facts to allow for his stated nineteen years. He shut up when she said, ‘You've certainly packed a lot into your life.'

When she asked what he did he told her, ‘I'm a university student.'

‘What are you studying?'

Now he was on steady ground again. ‘Bachelor of Science, majoring in wildlife management.' Well, it would be true next year.

After the wine, the beer was getting to him. He lay back hoping to clear his head. She leaned over and ruffled his hair. ‘Are you feeling okay?'

David was a virgin but he had enough of his father's genes in him to act instinctively. He stared into her eyes, which were 15 centimetres from his own. ‘Perfectly okay,' he said, touching, then stroking her arm. Her skin felt warm and velvety. Some wisps of hair tickled his face. He felt charged up and excited. This was better than any wet dream he had ever had.

‘Don't take this the wrong way,' she said softly, ‘but I'm feeling very alone tonight.'

Very slowly she lowered her lips to his. He tasted the saltiness of her. He explored her mouth with his tongue, he felt her breasts crush into his chest. Then he ran his hand up her skirt.

‘Wait,' she pulled back and sat up.

‘Wha . . .' David's mind had gone. Blood was drumming in his ears, his eyes refused to focus, something had happened to his breathing and his heart was hammering and jumping around in his chest.

‘Sit up.'

He raised himself on his elbows.

‘No, sit up.'

Reluctantly he did as he was told.

She reached out and slowly unbuttoned his shirt. He anticipated her next move and got
up on his knees. She undid his jeans. Then an undignified struggle as he lay back and she pulled them off. There was a moment of feeling ridiculous lying there with his socks on and his erection straining the stitching of his underpants. Before he knew what was happening she had removed his underpants and his erection was engulfed in the moist warmth of her mouth. David came instantly.

He was mortified. ‘It's okay, it's okay,' she shushed him with a kiss. He could taste his own semen. It excited the hell out of him.

‘I'm sorry,' he said, when she pulled away.

‘Ssh, David, it's okay.' She settled next to him, her head on his shoulder. ‘But I'm still feeling very alone.'

He rolled her away from him and sat up. Fumbling a little, he unbuttoned her dress. The buttons went all the way to the skirt hem and, when his shaking fingers had mastered the last button, he peeled the dress away from her. She was wearing a lacy brassiere and panties underneath. The brassiere unhooked at the front and she helped him undo it and, when he parted the cups and gazed at her small pink nipples he immediately felt an erection stir again. Guided by instinct he took one, then the other in his mouth and sucked gently. She moaned a little.

Through the lacy panties he could see a dark thatch of hair. This was forbidden territory.
He had never seen a woman completely undressed before. He pulled her panties down and she parted her legs. He stared at the centre of her, at the secret part which was a mystery to all schoolboys, the ultimate icon. She kicked her panties off her feet. She was trembling and breathing hard. She guided him into her. It felt like heaven. He wanted to thrust in and out like a piston but she breathed, ‘Gently, gently,' and he stroked in and out instead, matching her movements.

She began to moan again. Then she made little gasping noises. When she came, her body stiffened and jerked and she called his name. His own climax was only a second after hers.

They lay together, heaving, trying to catch their breath. David was in turmoil, experiencing elation, pride, fear and a primitive kind of possessiveness. She stroked his arm and said softly, ‘Shit that was good,' which startled him badly, then made him laugh. He wanted to shout aloud. He felt like dancing. He wondered if his father was back in their suite. He wanted to do it again. He couldn't wait to tell his friends.

‘Thank you,' she said.

‘What for?' He could have kicked himself.

She laughed, ‘For making me feel less alone. I needed company tonight. This is my first assignment overseas. It's a strange feeling being in a foreign country on your own.'

Much later, as he left her, he was convinced he was in love. He even contemplated running away with her and not returning to school. But David was, by nature, sensible. Reason prevailed. Besides, he was reasonably certain he could find her next holiday.

It was after two when he quietly let himself into the suite. His stealth was unnecessary, however. His father had not yet returned. David lay in the dark room staring up at the ceiling. He was grinning from ear to ear. Sleep would be impossible.

Richard had to shake him awake at nine the next morning.

During breakfast he kept looking around for her but she did not appear. At the airport he fantasised that she would leap out and throw herself at him and beg him not to leave. Once the aeroplane was in the air he walked the entire length of the aircraft, convinced she had booked herself on it to be with him. At Heathrow he looked around for her. On the train up to Edinburgh, having met up with some others from his school, he finally faced the fact that he had to get through the next ten weeks without her. It was a daunting thought for a seventeen-year-old boy in love.

Richard said goodbye to his son and wondered why the kid seemed so jumpy. Penny arrived to say goodbye just three minutes before David checked through into the departure
lounge. She was in a hurry and she could not see Richard that evening because she was going out with Joseph. ‘I kept last night free for you. Don't expect me to sit around waiting for you to turn up. You'll have to eat alone. Unless you'd care to join us, Daddy.' She was taunting him at the same time as she was letting him know she was cross with him.

‘No thanks,' he declined dryly, wondering how so much of his own mother had managed to get inside his little girl.

‘I might come up and see you in a couple of weeks,' she relented.

‘That'd be nice.'

They said goodbye in the car park. Richard had one or two things to do in town and returned to Meikles around 4.30. He went up in the lift with a stunning blonde girl. He saw her again in the bar around six. She was on her own. He introduced himself and offered to buy her a drink. She declined.

‘Please,' he used all his charm. ‘It's no fun drinking alone.' He smiled his best smile.

He could not have known his words mirrored her feelings exactly. She accepted.

Over drinks she introduced herself. ‘I'm Steve Hayes,' she said.

Richard bought her dinner. As she relaxed in his company he found himself liking her more and more. She had the kind of frankness which appealed to him. He liked her fresh
good looks and her breeziness. She also had a good mind and could discuss a variety of things. On the way out of the dining room the maítre d'hótel raised his eyebrows. He had been at Meikles fifteen years and he'd never seen anything like this before. He wondered if Richard Dunn had any idea what the young lady had been up to the night before.

The maítre d'hótel was wrong, however. Steve said a firm good night as she got out of the lift on the second floor and left Richard alone and surprised to make his way to the fourth floor. Normally he was in his element. This was what he enjoyed best of all, the glorious chase. With this girl, however, he had the feeling that no amount of seduction on his part would work unless she wanted it to. She was in control. And, for whatever reason, seduction was not on her mind tonight.

They had arranged to meet for breakfast. Richard found he was still enjoying her company and he wanted to get to know her better. He delayed going home and spent two more days in the capital, escorting her around. She was intensely interested in everything he showed her. She seemed to have an insatiable appetite for knowledge about Africa. At the end of two full days Richard was still attracted to, and interested in, this beautiful girl from Australia. Remarkable, since she made him wait another night before going to bed with him.

When they finally made love, on the third day, there was no sense of conquest for him. It was more of a mutual agreement, unspoken but for the messages in their eyes and their body language. Their attraction for each other, fired from the moment they met, quickly became absolute. On the morning of the third day, as they viewed an exhibition of paintings of African animals at the Art Gallery, Richard moved so his arm touched hers. Steve shifted her weight slightly and returned the gentle pressure. She turned her head and looked up at him and Richard felt his stomach churn with desire when he saw the commitment in her eyes.