the door, though it was slightly ajar.
I pushed it open and stepped inside.
Leonard was sitting in a white chair by the window, waiting for me.
‘Close the latch,’ he said. His voice was hoarse. ‘And come here.’
I did as he instructed.
‘Lily,’ he said slowly, as if my name were a benediction. I stood between his knees, facing him, and he leaned forward and traced his finger along my jaw. ‘You’re so beautiful.’
I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing.
‘Are you sure about this?’
‘I’m here, aren’t I?’ I replied.
‘That you are.’
He took me into his arms and lifted me into his lap. I nestled against his chest. Then raised my lips to his and kissed him in the way that I had been longing to since I had first set eyes on him.
His mouth was firm against mine, but his kisses were patient. He didn’t push his tongue straight down my throat in the way that the boys I kissed at university parties and nightclubs did, and neither did he begin to fumble at my bra as though my breasts might evaporate into thin air if he didn’t get a glance at them immediately.
Leonard continued to cradle me in his arms and kiss me softly until I became restless, and I took a handful of his hair in my hand, tipping his head back and biting his lower lip gently.
He pulled me away and laughed.
‘No need to be so feisty,’ he said. ‘I’m not flying out until eight tonight. We have all day.’
‘Fuck me,’ I whispered.
Last night’s climax had barely taken the edge off the deep well of desire that seemed to have been building upinside me for a lifetime. My pussy throbbed and all I wanted was for Leonard to fill me until there wasn’t any room for anything else. I didn’t want a single thought or feeling to cross my mind besides the sensation of him deep inside me. Cock, fingers, I didn’t care.
‘Please,’ I said.
‘Be careful what you wish for. You might regret it.’
‘I won’t regret it,’ I replied firmly.
‘Oh God, Lily, the things you do to a man …’
He stood up with me still in his arms and laid me down gently on the bed.
‘But I’m not going to fuck you yet,’ he said, ‘even if you do want me to. Patience, my darling.’
I tried to sit up to pull him back towards me, but he pressed his hand against my chest and pushed me back down onto the bed. Then he was lifting up my skirt and peeling down my knickers and I forgot where I was and all the things I wanted to say as soon as his tongue flicked lightly against me and his finger slid into my pussy.
‘You’re so tight …’
‘More,’ I begged. ‘Please.’
‘All in good time,’ he replied.
Then he was lifting my T-shirt over my head. ‘Arms up,’ he instructed, as I wriggled to get out of my clothing.
He didn’t bother to unclip my bra at the back. Just pulled the cups down so that my breasts spilled out. He pulled and twisted my nipples in his fingers until I gasped.
‘Too much?’ he asked. He had curled up alongside me and was running his hands over my body, closely observing the way that I tensed or twitched or moaned in response to his caresses.
‘No, not too much, more,’ I said, and he squeezed harder.
No one had ever actually asked me what I liked or what I wanted before, and Leonard’s interest in my pleasure was extraordinarily freeing. It was also the first time that I could recall going to bed with someone in broad daylight and without a drop of alcohol to lubricate my senses and lower my inhibitions. But his obvious desire for me and his confidence must have affected both of us because I couldn’t have cared less how I looked or what Leonard thought of the things that turned me on.
He laughed when he noticed how I responded to his words.
‘You like it when I talk dirty? I never would have guessed.’
‘I love the sound of your voice,’ I replied.
It was true. Leonard could have read the newspaper out loud to me and even each syllable of the money matters section when spoken in
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Author's Note
Leslie Gilbert Elman
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