all going out tonight,’ Alex said thoughtfully, distracted from his work by the sight of Rachel’s bottom which he thought very nice indeed, ‘why don’t you come too?’
Rachel swiftly assessed all she had to do, then she nodded. ‘Cool,’ she said, ‘that would be great. Will Cat be there?’
‘Of course,’ Josh said, ‘she’s one of us.’
‘Vasily’s about to start,’ Alex said, twisting his chair to focus on the screens. ‘Watch it here.’
‘Oh God no, I can’t,’ Rachel smiled, shaking her head, ‘I’m far too nervous for him. I’d better go, I’ll see you all later. Tell Cat I stopped by – that I’ll see her later too.’
No one responded and Rachel left a hushed salle de pressé, suddenly loving all the journalists for being so focused on Vasily’s ride.
Why did the sod kiss me? Why am I giving it so much thought? Do I want more? But where the fuck did it come from?
When Luca told Cat that Ben had offered his own hotel room for the interview, Cat had to stop herself from leaping into the air, hugging the rider and saying come on, let’s get it done quickly then.
‘I’m rooming,’ Luca had shrugged. ‘Didier might want to rest. Ben will come back in an hour because then I must rest. But hey! I did well, no?’
‘You,’ Cat had responded, walking alongside Luca down the corridor to the doctor’s room, ‘are a star. It was a great ride – I’d say this is going to be a really fabulous first Tour for you.’
‘You’re a babe, Cat McCabe,’ Luca had said as they entered Ben’s room. ‘Hey! I’m a poet! Let me be your boyfriend,’ he had continued, ‘we can make beautiful babies. Or we can practise anyway.’
‘Work first,’ Ben had cautioned the rider whilst glancing at Cat, ‘play later. No sex during the Tour.’
‘Fuck you,’ Luca had protested.
‘Fuck you,’ Ben had responded, staring at Cat. With a sly smile he had left the room, informing them he would return in an hour. Luca took to Ben’s bed. Cat set her dictaphone on the bedside table and coiled herself into the armchair.
‘So, Luca,’ she had said, ‘let’s talk about you.’
‘Love and sex, Luca?’ Cat asks, glancing at her watch and seeing that the hour is almost up.
‘Sure,’ Luca shrugs, ‘both – sometimes separately, occasionally together. This is off the record, right?’
Cat nods, regards the dictaphone but does not switch it off.
‘I’m a young guy,’ the rider shrugs, ‘and I’m horny. I do a job where you can be superhero to many women. They don’t know you – but they think they do. It’s flattering, you know? If they offer, I’ll take it – but only if I can make it the next day. So, even if there was a chick yesterday with tits out and legs open, I would have refused because the Time Trial was today. Yes? But tonight – tonight is different.’
‘So you’re going on the prowl?’ Cat jests.
‘If I can stay awake,’ Luca responds ruefully, ‘cos you know something? Soon the only humping for me will be going up and down those fucking mountains.’
‘Are you nervous?’
‘That is not a question for me to answer.’
‘Are you?’ Cat asks tenderly, as a friend. Luca regards her. Cat thinks how young he suddenly seems, how his body so lithe and virile in front of her is also one that could be destroyed without notice; a body, a spirit, whose strength is supreme and yet continually on the brink.
‘Are you scared, Luca?’ Cat repeats.
Luca observes her again. She has come to the edge of the bed and laid a hand over his wrist.
He nods, knowing it won’t come out on dictaphone. She strokes his forehead and smiles down on him. He nods again.
Darling boy. Please be careful.
‘Time’s up,’ says Ben. ‘Luca, how’s your pulse?’
‘It’s good,’ the rider replies, unfurling himself from the bed. ‘I’ll go rest and bring it down further.’
‘Thanks, Luca,’ Cat says, her hand on his shoulder.
‘Cat-the-Babe-McCabe,’ says Luca, standing up, suddenly clad in the colourful public persona everybody loves and expects, ‘my pleasure.’ He kisses her three times and then leaves.
‘Was that good?’ Ben asks, going to Cat directly and lifting her T-shirt off.
‘Great,’ Cat replies, unbuttoning his jeans.
‘How long do you have?’ Ben asks, nuzzling his way down from her neck to her right nipple. ‘Because I have about seven inches.’
‘I have to write my report,’ Cat says huskily. She takes his cock in her mouth.
‘Jesus, Cat,’ Ben pants. They gaze glazed at each other. Cat unzips her shorts and lets them fall. Ben cups his hand between her legs and can feel the heat and moistness seep through her panties. He moves his fingers as if he is playing a trumpet and watches as Cat sways with desire. He slips a finger inside the elastic and finds her flesh, burrows in a little and teases her. Her heightened breathing, audible, urgent, turns him on. The sight of his cock, stiff and straining and impatient, turns her on.
‘I want you now,’ he murmurs.
‘You can have me now,’ she replies. They wriggle out of their clothing, intermittently gorging themselves on each other’s mouths. Breathing is deep and desirous, interspersed with a little laughter. The bed is creaky in places. Cat loves the sound of Ben, that he sucks in his breath when she runs her hands over his torso, that he gasps when her fingertips skim his balls. Ben loves the sounds of Cat, the little inadvertent moans she gives when he tweaks her clitoris, he likes the sudden gasp he causes when he treats her nipples to a bite or a suck. She’s a sight to behold as he looks up her body while his mouth is buried in her sex. Her figure is trim and pert. She tastes delicious. He could drink her for hours. She doesn’t have hours.
‘Don’t stop,’ she pleads, moving against his mouth. But he takes his face away and now he is hovering over her, his cock probing at her bush, her stomach, her thigh, teasingly.
‘Later,’ he informs her, dipping down to kiss her.
‘Now!’ Cat remonstrates, smelling her scent on his face.
‘Such matters should not be rushed,’ Ben reasons, closing his eyes and groaning as Cat grasps his cock and starts to masturbate him. He steadies her wrist to his favoured pace and then holds it tight, motionless.
‘Stop,’ he tells her. ‘We both have jobs to do.’
‘But I want you,’ Cat pleads, opening her legs, ‘I do. Now.’
Ben smiles down
