New Leaves, No Strings (27 page)

‘Then I got the shit end of the
deal, you only have sausages and I’ve got beans, toast and butter. I can’t eat
beans on toast without butter.’

‘You can’t eat any bread without
butter. You even have it with your peanut butter.’

‘So?’ I asked opening the beans.

‘Well that’s made of butter and
then you add butter as well. Its peanut butter and butter on toast.’

‘It goes all claggy in your mouth
if you don’t add a layer of butter as well,’ I protested. ‘Right beans are open
where are the bloody saucepans?’

‘No idea, I can’t work out whether I’ve
turned on grill or the oven.’

‘Easy, wait five minutes and touch
the grill to check,’ I smiled.

‘Bitch!’ she laughed. ‘O look, it’s
going red, we have lift off. What do you reckon five minutes?’

‘I would think it would say on the
pack, we don’t want to get food poisoning from undercooked pork.’

‘Let’s see fry blah blah blah, oven
blah blah here we are grill, fifteen minutes. Could have had a delivery and
eaten the sodding pizza by now without all this fuss,’ she moaned.

I got out the plates, knives and
forks and opened us both a bottle of cold beer and padded off to the lounge and
put on some dance tracks to get me feeling a bit more invigorated and awake. I
turned on the fire and closed the curtains, then popped into my bedroom and put
on my bedside lamp and made a mental note that I really needed to change the
sheets in the morning. I sniffed the air, I could smell burning.

‘Lexi?’ I yelled over the music,
but got no reply. I headed to the kitchen but she was nowhere to be seen. The
burning smell was even stronger in here and I could see grey smoke curling out
of the oven door. I ran over and opened it and smoke bellowed out and set of
the alarm over my head. I quickly opened the kitchen window and yelled out up to
my left at the roof terrace.

‘Lexi Clarke, get in here
now
.
You’ve burnt the bloody sausages.’ I grabbed a tea towel and pulled the grill
tray out and rested it on the lowered oven door and waved the kitchen window
backwards and forwards trying to get some fresh air in. Lexi came running back
in looking all sheepish.

‘I was gone for like a minute.’

‘I don’t think you were supposed to
close the oven door, I think you must leave it open a bit.’

‘Are they still salvageable?’

‘I think so, black on one side, but
we can … no scratch that,
you
can turn them and keep an eye on them
while I undo this bloody alarm.’ I pulled a chair under the smoke detector climbed
up and bashed it with my hand sending top and the battery flying across the
room and the ringing stopped.

‘Told you pizza would’ve been
easier,’ she grumbled.

I popped our bread down in the
toaster and turned up the hob under the beans. Shortly after, still choking on
the smoke, we tucked into perfectly cooked beans on nicely buttered toast with
a side of mangled blackened sausages. The bits that didn’t contain burnt
sections were actually quite nice.

‘Right I’m going to go and do some
stretches and you can clear up as penance,’ I announced as I took my beer and
headed to the lounge. I decided to first have a dance around to the music to
loosen up my muscles and then did a combination of gentle stretches and Pilates
moves. As I bent over to do some downward dog push ups I heard a long slow
whistle and groan. I looked behind to see Gabe standing watching me, leaning
against the doorframe.

‘You’re early again,’ I smiled
drinking him in. How the hell had I landed him?

‘Thank god or I may have just
missed that sight. You looked like Catherine Zeta Jones in the laser scene in
Entrapment. You’re very bendy.’

‘I was. I’m going back to Pilates and
the gym this week to try and get back in shape.’

‘At Uni?’

‘Yes, thanks for taking us tonight,’
I said as I leaned on the back of the sofa.

‘You left quickly, I looked for you
after my first few lengths and you’d already gone.’

‘Sorry, I thought it best we went.’

‘Why?’

‘Julie saw me.’

‘She didn’t say anything to you did
she?’ he frowned. ‘I’ll tell her to back off.’

‘No, god no. She just looked so
hurt Gabe, she couldn’t take her eyes off you and I figured me being there was
just rubbing salt in the wounds.’

‘I was hoping it would be you that
couldn’t take your eyes off me. Why do you think I asked you to come?’

‘Well you did look ridiculously
good in those seriously tight little trunks, all rippling wet and muscular with
a semi, but I’ve seen better.’

‘Better?’ he gasped looking all
affronted.

‘Yes, I’ve seen you all rippling wet,
muscular and fully hard without the trunks on and fully intend to do so any
minute now,’ I smiled as I walked over to him and firmly squeezed him between
his legs.

‘O god,’ he moaned as he expanded
rapidly in my palm. He pushed me back against the wall and started to kiss me, before
pulling away a few seconds later wrinkling his nose. ‘God you stink just like
the kitchen. Lexi let me in and told me the sausage saga.’

‘Great, I’d even had a nice shower when
I got in so I’d be all fresh for you, now I’m going to have to go and have
another.’

‘Would you mind if I have a bath when
you’re done? I’m aching.’

‘Not at all, maybe I can help soap
you down.’

‘I’d like that,’ he grinned.

‘Then let me just check it’s free
and you’re on big boy,’ I said and as I squeezed past him and he playfully
slapped me on the bottom.

‘I like that nickname.’

I found Lexi in her room lying on
her bed the wrong way round with her legs vertically up the wall nodding her
head to the music playing through her headphones.

‘What’s up?’

‘Do you mind if we hog the bathroom
for a while. I need to wash my hair again, it stinks of burnt sausages and Gabe
fancies taking a bath to relax.’

‘All yours.’

‘You ok?’

‘Sure why?’

‘You look really pale and tired.’

‘I just feel a bit off colour,
probably those burnt sausages. I’m going to have an early night so lounge is
all yours as well if you’re staying up.’

‘Ok, let me know if you need
anything? Sleep tight.’

‘You too,’ she winked. I pulled my
tongue out at her and found Gabe still in the lounge studying our bookshelves.

‘So we have custody of the bathroom
and lounge and we can discuss your plans for my vagina for the coming week,’ I
teased.

‘It’s going to be
very
busy,’
he grinned. ‘I was thinking as we both have the whole morning free maybe I can
show you how to cook sausages properly as well.’

‘Hey that’s unfair, I wasn’t in
charge of those.’

‘No, but you didn’t even know you
had a can opener on the end of your beer bottle top remover,’ he smiled.

‘I’ll have words with Lexi tomorrow
about over sharing. Did you bring an overnight bag?’

‘Yes, I left it by the front door.’

‘Well why don’t you help yourself
to a drink and take your bag into my room. Bottom draw of my chest of drawers
is empty if you want to put any bits in there and there are some free hangers
in the wardrobe on the right. Put on the TV or the xbox or whatever, I won’t be
long.’

I quickly stripped off and jumped
straight in the shower, I was getting this smell out my hair as quickly as I
could so I could finally get my hands on him again. As I lathered it up for the
first time, I replayed my conversation with Lexi about how to keep Gabe happy
sexually, given my inexperience. She insisted, based on our interactions to
date, that I’d have him eating out of the palm of my hand by going down the
route of being in charge and controlling him. I thought of an outfit that he’d
probably respond to favourably and began to formulate a plan to seduce him as I
lathered up my hair again. Once I was happy that I could pull it off, I rinsed and
began to quickly wash my body.

‘It’s raining man, hallelujah it’s raining
men,’ I sang to myself as I soaped myself up and had a little groove on as I
continued singing. ‘I’m going go out, I’m going to let myself get, absolutely
soaking
wet.
’ I jumped as I heard a noise and spun around mortified to
see Gabe sitting on the edge of the bath laughing and threw my body pouffe at
him.

‘Gabe how could you sneak in like
that. I thought I was alone.’

‘Obviously by the very sexy moves. It’s
raining men? I hope you were only imagining me and not all my other swimming
buddies who you saw in very little earlier.’

‘Trust me you were more than enough
to keep my eyes occupied,’ I replied as I stepped out, squeezing the water from
my hair.

‘
You’re
more than enough to
keep my eyes occupied,’ he said in a low sexy growl.

I looked at him and could see that
familiar darkness come across the blue of his irises, he was getting rigid
again. I grabbed a towel and quickly wrapped it around myself, I had to hold
him off until I was ready. I hadn’t expected him to surprise me by coming in
now.

‘Why so shy?’ he asked as he stood
up from his perch and went to take a step towards me. I took a quick step back.

‘Because tonight’s not going to be
about you fucking me, it is going to be the other way around.’

‘God you’re so hot right now, come
here,’ he ordered as he advanced on me again. I giggled and skipped around him
to my bedroom door.

‘No get back. I’ve decided that you’re
not going to be allowed to touch me until I give you permission.’

His face fell. ‘Where’s the
pleasure in that?’

‘The pleasure will be all yours if you
just relax and let me service you this time,’ I said as I pulled my hair back
and knotted it up loosely.

‘Seriously I’m not allowed to touch
you?’

‘No.’

‘And how exactly do you think I’m
going to be able to stop myself from doing that?’ he asked his face incredulous.

‘Well first, you’re going to have
to exercise an element of self-control Gabe Austin, which is something I think
you know very little about. Go and stand facing the sink, I just want you in
just your jeans when I get back in here. Are we clear?’

‘
Mia,
’ he implored.

‘Are we clear?’ I asked. He looked
at me his faced a combination of turned on and frustrated. ‘Are. we. clear Gabe?’

He nodded as he slowly walked and did
as he was told. Standing at the sink he kicked off his trainers and started to
unbutton his shirt. I stood watching him in awe as he shrugged it off his taut
shoulders and let it slide down his arms and I felt my body responding as I
watched his. I shook my head and exhaled, I needed to move now, before I forgot
all about my plan and leapt on him.

‘No moving, no turning around, just
wait there until I come back,’ I ordered. I let myself into my bedroom and shut
the door behind me and quickly pulled out my secret box from under the bed, the
one that I’d made Lexi promise to destroy in the event of my death. Excellent
they were there, a pair of metal handcuffs. They’d come as part of a vibrator package
I’d ordered and to think I’d nearly thrown them out. I made sure I knew how to close
and open them before I did anything else, then quickly undid my towel and hung
it over the end of the bed and opened my underwear drawer and pulled out some
black and red lace French knickers and quickly pulled them up over my hips.

I took out some lace top hold ups,
which I pulled over each ankle and smoothed all the way up to my thighs and a
black demi bra. I wore it whenever I needed some extra support in my Basque on
a night out, but it was so low that my nipples rested on the lace edging, making
them look even more pert, which would be perfect for my plan. I put on my
highest black heels and tucked the already open handcuffs into the back of my
knickers.

I took a deep breath, I’d been a
bit drunk the last time I tried to play all confident and in control with him. He’d
enjoyed it and I wanted to do that again for him. I caught sight of myself in
the long mirror on the back of my bedroom door. I stood nearly six feet tall in
my heels and had to admit that I looked pretty sexy, I pushed my shoulders back
and pulled in my stomach and giggled to myself as I quietly opened the bathroom
door, imagining how he’d react. He’d done as he was told and hadn’t moved an
inch, but he was staring into the mirror opposite him intently and as he saw me
in the reflection, I saw him gulp and his eyes went wide.

‘Jesus christ what are you wearing?’
he moaned, as he made a move to turn around.

‘No stay as you are,’ I ordered as
I walked up behind him.

In my heels I was nearly as tall as
he was, so as I stood behind his back slightly to his right so all he could see
was my face above the line of his shoulder. He never took his eyes off mine for
a moment, I held the gaze as I reached up to my mouth with my right hand and
sucked on my index finger. His expression said it all, his lips parted as he
licked them and breathed heavily. I removed it from my mouth and traced a wet line
from the back of his neck all the way down his spine to the edge of his jeans. I
heard him gasp and his breathing quicken as his back muscles quivered in
response to my touch. I leaned in and gently bit his shoulder, moving my way
along until I reached his neck, which I nuzzled and licked. He groaned and
tried to turn around again, so I pushed against his back until he was up
against the sink and I and could feel his muscular shoulder blades pressing
against my stiff nipples.