Doctor's Orders by Daniella Divine

intrigued
than ever by this complex and mysterious man. He was driven to
succeed, certainly, but there was more to him than a desire for
power and money. As we talked about his career, I realized that he
genuinely cared about people, and wanted to leave his mark on the
world. By comparison, I felt shallow and self-centered. My life had
been primarily driven by my hormones, with not much thought into
making the world a better place. If I left a few guys with smiles
on their faces, that was good enough for me. Or was it?
    Luckily, falling out of an airplane had given me
enough credit to make up for any deficiencies in other areas. We
got along famously, and by the time we left the restaurant, we were
best buddies. During the drive home, I wondered where this might go
from here. Probably nowhere. Surely he had a beautiful wife, or
fiancé – or at least a girlfriend – tucked away somewhere. But if
that was the case, why wasn’t he spending the day with her? Maybe
she wasn’t dumb enough to jump into space at 14,000 feet.
    Eventually, we pulled up outside my apartment just
as darkness fell. I didn’t want the day to end there, but I didn’t
want to do the corny old ‘want to come in for coffee?’ line either.
Then I remembered the DVD of my death plunge. I found it in my bag
and waved it enthusiastically.
    ‘Hey, you want to come in and see how we did?’
    Brad smiled his acceptance, and a few minutes later,
we were sitting on my sofa, drinking coffee, and watching me make a
complete fool of myself. The soundtrack mainly consisted of me
screaming my lungs out during the free fall, then cooing like a
happy pigeon for the rest of the descent. I sounded like a total
idiot, and Brad seemed to find it very amusing. We watched it
several times, then I switched it off. Ellen had gone out for the
evening, so we had the place to ourselves. There was an awkward
silence for a few seconds, and I was busy trying to think of
something to say to fill in the gap when Brad leaned forward and
kissed me. His lips were firm and insistent, and I gasped with
surprise. I certainly wasn’t expecting that.
    This was different from most of my other encounters.
Somehow this was not just sensual, but caring and loving, too. I
felt like a schoolgirl on her first date, enjoying the touch of a
man for the first time. I responded, putting my hands round the
back of his head and pulling his mouth tighter against mine. I felt
stirrings of longing, deep within me. I wanted to feel his flesh
next to mine, and when he pushed me gently back against the sofa, I
didn’t resist.
    We lay back together, kissing softly. Then I felt
his tongue probing into my mouth, like a precursor of sexual
penetration, a gentle reminder of what we could be doing. It felt
good. Brad slipped an arm around me and I felt his fingers tracing
down my back, then caressing my buttocks. I ran my fingers along
his skin, from the hard muscles of his shoulders to the small of
his back. Brad kissed me on the cheeks, then gently worked his way
downwards, kissing my neck, my shoulders, and then moving further
down to kiss my breasts through my clothes. Was parachuting really
better than sex? I had a feeling I was about to find out for sure.
Brad brought his hand up and slipped it under my T-shirt, sliding
up to my breasts and gently stroking them. I couldn’t help but let
a moan slip out. Damn, it felt good. I felt a burning desire to get
naked, to feel his bare muscles next to my soft flesh.
    And then he stopped. In mid boob grope. He pulled
away from me with an apologetic look on his face.
    ‘Angel,’ I apologize. ‘I was getting carried away…I
didn’t mean to take advantage?’
    Take advantage? I thought. He wouldn’t be the first,
not by a long way. But I sensed that would be the wrong thing to
say. I guess he was the kind of guy who expected a little more
sophistication from his ladies.
    Fuck.
    I mean, no fuck.
    I stumbled over my words. ‘Oh…er, me too! That’s not
like me