promised that she was and then declined the invitation to share a bottle of wine. It was enough to be in the company of someone who was attractive and attentive. She didn’t want to run the risk of drinking herself into another mistake so soon after the last one.
Once they’d talked about their shared interpretations of university experiences the conversation moved on to tastes in music, books and films. He was a rock aficionado and suggested a handful of tracks she could use to extend the musical accompaniment she had for her morning workout routine. Trudy downloaded the tracks and added them to her playlist whilst they sat in the bistro.
The tears came out of nowhere.
They were walking back to Eldorado through the town centre. They had just passed Melville’s and the radio station, when a wave of sadness rippled through her. It struck her that Mark would be an easy man to fall in love with. He was good, handsome and seemed kind. He was interesting and witty and considerate and…
…and he wasn’t Bill.
‘Shit,’ Mark gasped when he saw she was crying. He had an arm around her waist and a hand on her shoulder. ‘Is this something I’ve said or done? Or are you just overwhelmed by how wonderful I am?’
The words surprised a laugh from her throat. Combined with the tears she figured the noise would be horrific enough to give most people nightmares.
‘Not only am I good-looking and fun to be with but also, did I mention, I’m a doctor?’
She nodded and laughed again. This time her amusement sounded softer.
‘I think you did mention that once or twice.’
When he touched her elbow she thought his concern seemed genuine and sympathetic.
‘Let’s get you home,’ he suggested. ‘You’ve clearly had a long day and you need some rest.’
She wanted to protest but he spoke with commanding authority. He hailed a passing taxi, took her to the front door of Eldorado and then kissed her chastely on the cheek.
‘Will you call me when you feel a little less vulnerable?’
‘I don’t have your number,’ she told him.
‘Daryl has my number,’ he reminded her. ‘Now get yourself off to bed and get rested and call me if you fancy doing something like this again.’
She thanked him and promised him she would call.
Daryl and Beatrice either had gone out or were asleep in their basement room. Trudy took another sullen stab at the article she was writing about carrot cake but her enthusiasm for the subject had declined after the embarrassment of crying in front of Mark. She was in the process of pouring herself a warm milky drink when her mobile received a text message. She could see it came from Donny. She opened it knowing it would not be pleasant.
You’re dating another bloke already? Fuck me, Gertrude. You seem to be collecting more DNA samples than a CSI team.
An hour later she was back in his arms.
There was no sensation to compare with the thrill of naked skin touching naked skin. When she stood in his embrace, she felt the perfect balance of being protected and being vulnerable.
Her breasts were pressed against his chest. The stiffness of her nipples jutted hard against his pectoral muscles. His strong hands, the fingers as sensitive as a surgeon’s, the palms callused and hard, held her tight against him.
Because he was taller she could feel the stirring of his arousal against her belly. He was long to begin with. As excitement flooded through him, the warm flesh pressing on her bare stomach grew longer.
She had wanted him before.
Now, she needed him.
Their kiss was a sweet exchange of exploration and excitement. He made no demands on her flesh. He didn’t tease her lips with his teeth. He didn’t plunder her mouth with his tongue. It was one of those intimacies she had experienced so rarely. It was a kiss of gentle affection.
Her heartbeat raced.
The muscles inside her sex thrilled with a liquid rush of delight. In that moment she knew, whatever he asked of her, she would be happy to endure.
He broke the kiss to guide her on to the bed.
The room was nothing special. It was a fairly anonymous motel close to the motorway. If she had closed her eyes and concentrated, Trudy knew she would have heard the drone of swift traffic. But there were more important things occurring in the room that demanded her attention and no time to listen to sounds outside.
She stared up at a dimly lit ceiling, luxuriated in the firm mattress and savoured the sensation of his kisses at her feet.
He stroked his hands along one leg, whilst his mouth worked slowly up from her foot to her knee on the other. The scratch of his razor stubble was briefly too much when he went higher and neared her inner thigh. But Trudy figured she had suffered much worse in the name of intimacy and she wasn’t going to call a halt to events just because of a scratchy kiss.
When his kisses slipped to the tops of her legs, landing lightly upon the lips of her sex, Trudy did moan. She grabbed fistfuls of the linen on which she lay and wrenched at the sheets.
He laughed between her legs.
She savoured his mirth and heard herself giggling lightheadedly as his lips lingered on the centre of her sex. Her heartbeat was pounding faster. She could hear the throbbing pulse in her temples. The delicious sensations of excitement began to swell in her stomach and she knew he would take her to a peak of satisfaction.
‘You taste divine,’ he told her.
She writhed against the sheets, not sure whether the compliment was embarrassing or enthralling. Before she had a chance to make up her mind his mouth had again returned to her sex and his tongue was parting her inner lips.
She held her breath, fearful that if she made any sound it would be a sob. The slickness of his mouth against her wetness was a wickedly light lubrication. Occasionally the scrub of his beard rasped against her sensitive flesh, and she knew she would likely be left reddened and sore in the morning. But that was a small price to pay for the nirvana of what she was currently enjoying.
He lapped and kissed at her sex until the first rush of orgasm flooded through her body.
It was an intense release. One moment he was suckling hard upon her clitoris, and she felt as though she was teetering on the brink of a powerful eruption. The next moment, he had released his lips from her sex and simply held his tongue against the pulsing bead of her hypersensitive flesh.
It was enough to have her groaning with ecstasy.
She shoved a fist against her mouth to quell the sounds of her satisfaction.
Whilst a part of her wanted to scream with a mixture of gratitude and elation, she was aware that the motel room would not be the most discreet
