Текст книги "Wounded Beast"

Автор книги: Georgia Le Carre

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Текущая страница: 5 (всего у книги 13 страниц)

NINE

We’re having sweet grapes and cheese from Hervé Mons on the balcony when Franco comes out to say that he’s leaving.

‘Thank you for a really delicious meal. I’d never tasted Sauternes jelly until tonight,’ I say with a smile.

He bows. ‘I’m glad. Maybe I will cook for you again,’ he says, and then shoots a wary look at Dom.

‘I’ll look forward to that,’ I say.

‘Ciao, bella.’

‘Ciao, Franco,’ I say, surprised at how normal my voice sounds. Quite frankly, I’m more than a little tipsy. From the moment Dom made that statement about us being enemies who find each other sexually irresistible, everything changed for me. Until then, I’d allowed myself to fall into a ridiculous fantasy that I was dating the most gorgeous man on earth. I was actually drifting through my evening in a cloud of naive happiness, dreaming of a life together with him. A slice of heaven with two kids and a demented puppy. How stupid. As if someone like him would end up with someone like me.

I think I might even know the exact moment I got caught up in the fairy tale. When I was lying in bed looking at the red dress he sent me. It was so special, and I’ve never been given anything so splendid by anyone—ever. In fact, no one I know can even afford to buy such expensive items. I guess I got totally sucked into my outlandish piece of fiction when I tried on the dress and it fit me like a dream.

But really, who can blame me? It was such a delicious fantasy.

When I was a girl, I always, always wanted to be Cinderella. I wanted to go to the ball all dressed up in a glittery blue gown and have a handsome prince fall in love with me. At midnight I’d drop my glass slipper and my prince would come looking for me. He would search high and low, and no one else would do. The slipper was mine. The man was mine. Dom is the prince I’ve always dreamed of, and subconsciously I was acting out my childhood dream.

It was the throbbing emptiness inside me that made me forget my good decision to drink carefully, and I became stupidly reckless. I think I’ve consumed more than half a bottle of wine on my own. Again. Dom never comments, just watches, and silently refills my glass. He doesn’t even seem to care that I’ve gone strange and our conversation has become stilted. The harsh comment was designed to keep me at a distance. I guess he didn’t want to lead me up the garden path. He wanted me to have no illusions. We’re having sex and we’re having fun.

Yay! What fun.

Dom uncurls his long frame and walks Franco to the door. Their voices roll through me as they cross the apartment. Feeling restless, I stand up. Whoa. Why is the floor moving? I put a foot in front of me, and another, and another, and I’m leaning on the railing. The city glitters like a bed of lights below. I hear the front door close and then Dom is back on the balcony. I turn around slowly. A wind has risen and it whips my hair into my eyes. I use both my hands to hold it in place.

He doesn’t come closer. He just stands there watching me. I can’t see his expression because the light is behind him, but his body is tense and taut. I think of how he pounced on me yesterday. I think of how shamelessly I responded.

‘I think I’d like another drink,’ I slur to him.

‘Sure. What d’you want?’ His voice is cool and distant. He really doesn’t give a shit about me.

‘I’ll have that thing I saw Franco swigging from the freezer.’

I can’t be sure, but I think he smiles. ‘OK. Do you want to come in? It’s getting a bit cold.’

‘So, what do you care?’

He walks up to me and threads his fingers through mine. ‘To be honest, you look like you’re about to fall over the railing, and I’d feel a lot better if we went in.’

‘Yeah?’

He sighs. ‘Christ, you’re so drunk.’

‘I thought you liked me drunk.’

‘Come on. Let’s get you some grappa.’

We go into his kitchen and I sit on the counter while he opens the freezer.

‘Is that ice cream I see in there?’ I ask interestedly.

He pulls the carton out.

‘Let me see that. Gin and tonic ice cream! Where on earth did you get this from?’ I exclaim enthusiastically.

‘My sister buys it. She loves the stuff, but she’s on this strict organic diet, so she keeps a tub here so the only time she can have it is when she’s here. But I believe there might be a tub at Shane’s, Jake’s, and my mum’s, too.’ His face softens while he’s talking about his sister, and suddenly I feel sad. I want this beautiful, beautiful man for myself, but he doesn’t want me. Yeah, he wants me to have sex with, but not all of me in sickness and in health, till death do us part.

He looks at me with amusement. ‘Would you rather have the ice cream instead of the grappa?’

I have to think this one out. ‘Can I have the grappa poured over the ice cream?’ I ask.

He makes a face. ‘Seriously?’

‘Seriously,’ I insist.

I pop myself on a high chrome stool—and, believe me, that’s some feat when you’re feeling the way I am—and I put my elbows on the gleaming surface of the island and watch him scoop the ice cream out. Gosh, the way he scoops ice cream is so yummy, I want to pour the melted stuff down his body and lick it off him. He picks up the bottle of grappa and looks at me.

‘You sure about this?’

I wave my hand to indicate that he should continue with the task of pouring.

He pours the ice-cold grappa over the ice cream and places it in front of me. He opens a drawer, finds a spoon and lays it beside the bowl. Actually, it looks quite delicious. I might have found a winning combination here.

I take the spoon, dig it into the concoction and put it into my mouth. Ooooh! My eyes widen and my mouth starts moving sideways. Oh!

His reaction is admirable. He shoves the bowl under my chin just as I spit it out.

‘Sorry,’ I apologize.

‘It was a vile combination,’ he concedes, handing me a paper towel.

I wipe my mouth and tongue. ‘Oh dear, that was not very sexy, was it?’ I say weakly. How was I to know that gin and tonic ice cream with grappa poured over it would be so evil?

‘Actually,’ he says, his irises growing, ‘everything you do is sexy, sweet Ella. Can’t you tell? I’ve been wanting to fuck you for hours.’ He tilts his head. ‘My bedroom is that way.’ Slowly, I turn my head in the direction he’s indicated.

‘Get naked and sit on the edge of the bed,’ he commands.

TEN

Her eyes flash with surprise, but she obeys me without a word. Desire is like the burning heat of a midday Sicilian sun on my skin as I watch her take swaying steps toward my bed. She stops at the bedroom door and looks around the room. A sigh escapes her. It is the wistful sigh of poor people the world over. Even though I have only stood at her front door and scanned the interior of her home, I know that my bedroom is bigger than her entire flat.

If she weren’t so proud, I’d take her for my mistress. Set her up in a swanky apartment and shower her with gifts. Then I’d never have to feel guilty about using her.

She goes into the dimly lit room and I wait a few minutes. I have something to do before I follow her. I walk up to the doorway to my bedroom and halt.

The bright light coming in from behind me falls on her naked body. There are two kinds of women: the very slim woman who looks better in clothes, and her more rounded counterpart who looks better, much better, naked. She is the latter.

She’s a waking dream.

Just like those great beauties that my granddad used to perve over. Even their names evoke a lost time—Brigitte Bardot, Marilyn Monroe, Raquel Welch.

Ella Savage is curvy and creamy white. Her breasts are not the perfect silicone planets I’m used to, but they are deliciously full and round. The areolae are sweet pink, barely darker than her skin, upon which her nipples protrude like swollen buds. My gaze moves down to the wasp-waist and the gorgeously rounded hips. Her pubic bush, the same dark blonde as her hair, is neatly trimmed.

I take a deep breath. The moment is surreal with silence and anticipation. It is as if I’m not part of it, but watching it happen on a movie screen.

‘Lean back and rest your weight on your hands,’ I order. Even to my ears my voice sounds harsh. Strange, because I don’t feel harsh at all. Inside, I’m melting like a marshmallow over a flame.

I watch her arch her body back sensuously, her chest pushing out and up. Even so, she’s not flaunting it. She simply sits there and allows me to look at her.

‘Open your legs.’

I watch her spread them, but it’s only a shy-open. There’s more to go. A lot more. Between the intriguing paleness of her thighs, full, luscious lips beg for a tongue to part them open. Taste them. Suck them. Fuck them. The desire to crawl up to her and eat her out fills me.

‘Put your feet up on the bed.’

Another woman would have scooted up the bed for more space, but she doesn’t. She simply obeys the command exactly as it has been given. Her breathing increases as she moves to obey. A graceless, almost vulgar movement, but I actually like that, it’s more real. She plants both her feet on the bed so her knees press up against her breasts.

I walk toward the liquid dripping from her pink seam like a man in a trance. I grab her hips and swipe my tongue along the swollen, succulent flesh. My body shudders. I was right. Honey. She’s pure honey. She throws her head back and moans. With that un-doctored sound of ecstasy, the whole world ceases to exist for me. There is only my tongue and her sweet pussy.

‘I want you to watch me eat you,’ I tell her.

She brings her head forward and we stare at each other in wonder while I eat her until she comes rocking, arching, shrieking, and squirting shamelessly into my mouth.

My breath hasn’t even returned to normal and already his dark shape is hovering above me, his palm gliding over my nipples, fingers trailing on my collarbone. All my senses heighten and my sex aches for his touch. In the shadows that envelop us I can hear his heart pounding hard. Only one side of his face is illuminated, and it is an expression of fierce concentration, as though I’m something so exquisitely fragile that the least wrong move could break me. He raises his eyes and meets mine. His are gleaming pools of hunger.

His mouth swoops down and covers a nipple. It’s hot and rough, as if he’s trying to brand me with his mouth. Shock flares in my veins.

‘Oh!’ I gasp, my whole body trembling with sexual intoxication.

Watching me intently he takes the nipple between his teeth and pulls. I whimper. But the glimmer of momentary pain is a tease from a master seducer. He starts sucking the way you would if you wanted to give someone a hickey. The sensation is electrifying.

It feels as if my intoxicated mind is playing tricks on me. There is no doubt about the expertise of his technique. A burning desire rises within me as every muscle in my body stretches and tightens. I clench my hands helplessly. The hot mouth leaves as his other hand arrives between my legs.

‘Open up,’ he purrs. His breath is sweet as it dances between our lips.

I splay my legs open and he pushes a long finger into me.

‘More,’ I moan.

‘Patience, Ella,’ he whispers and withdraws even that finger.

I look up at him with begging eyes. He cannot know how much I want him, but I’m past caring. I want to stay forever in this world where there’s no one else but us. He slides his hands under my ass cheeks and smiles. There’s something mysterious and wild in that smile. I fix my eyes shut.

‘Look at me,’ he instructs.

I snap them open and watch completely spellbound as his mouth draws closer and closer.

Oh, my sweet baby Jesus! Another! In which dimension does a woman get two face cakes in one go?

His hot, velvety tongue laps at the warm juice dripping from my pussy. He drinks it as if it is the finest nectar. Lost in the exhilarating pull of his technique, I look deep into his eyes as shudders ripple through my body. He plunges his tongue deep into me and I shake violently. His tongue, a muscular, practised thing, goes for the kill. His mouth encircles my swollen clit while it sucks!

Fuck! How it sucks. Why do Americans say it sucks when bad times hit them? It’s fucking great when it sucks.

His fingers slip inside. Two, or is it three? Rough as his kisses had been. I’m too lost in the throes of a building orgasm to know or care.

‘I’m coming,’ I shout.

‘Not yet,’ he growls, but there’s no way I can hold it any longer.

My thighs are already trembling uncontrollably. Every inch of me is tingling. I try to slither away, but it’s too late. I prepared myself, but I could NEVER have imagined the explosion that the second eat-out brings.

It is indescribably beautiful. Only she who has experienced it can know what it is. Words are inadequate. Words are silly. How can you explain true ecstasy? Shaking and convulsing, I finally find out what a pussy is really for!

He is shirtless and yanking off his jeans when the waves ebb away. For a few seconds I simply lie there enjoying the show. He has an incredibly fit body. There is a beautiful tattoo on his left breast of a roaring tiger’s face and a coiled snake on one of his biceps. I would have looked at them more closely, run my tongue over them, but he pulls his boxers off and his dick springs out.

‘Wow!’ I exclaim, my eyes wide and an awed grin on my face. ‘Huge and straight and beautiful.’

‘It’s all for you, babe,’ he says cockily.

My heart lurches. ‘Fuck me,’ I whisper.

His eyebrows lift. ‘I fucking intend to. For hours!’

‘So, what you waiting for then?’ I invite cheekily.

A slow, devastatingly sexy smile spreads across his face. He puts his knee on the mattress and comes toward me on his hands and knees. He has held back for much longer than I would have done, and now he is coming to claim his reward.

I lift my leg and rest the sole of my foot in the middle of his approaching chest. He freezes, a new flash of excitement in his eyes. He thought I was shy. But I’m not. I’ll be the wild temptress he could never have suspected.

‘My turn,’ I say. ‘My rules.’

I lift my body upwards and place my finger in the dimple made by the meeting of muscles in his shoulders. Without warning I grab his forearms and he lets me tackle him to the mattress. I push him down hard and sit astride his thighs.

Taking his erect cock in my hand, I toy with it, enjoying the way it jerks and pulsates in my palm. It has its own musky scent that steals deep into my mind, infuses itself as a memory that will never be forgotten. Actually, it is a scent that drives me quite mad.

Like a feral animal, I bend my head and, taking him in my mouth, I suck the warm, satiny skin sensually and deeply. He growls, a low hum deep in his chest. The sound is erotic. I love blowing him. I lift my eyes and watch him watching his dick disappear into my face.

I slip the middle finger of my left hand into the slickness between my legs and sneak the finger between his legs up to his butthole. Michael, I remember clearly, absolutely adored it. I probe the entrance gently. A bundle of firm muscles pushes back. Nope, no one else has been in there.

Suddenly, a strong hand curls around my wrist and yanks it away. ‘I ain’t no pretty boy, baby. In my bed it’s always going to be your ass that gets fucked.’

Right. Message received loud and clear.

And that, it seems, is the end of the ‘my turn, my rules’ episode. He fists his hand in my hair and thrusts his dick deep into my throat. Only once has a man ever done that to me and I was so shocked and offended I bit him. But with this god of a man, I’m not annoyed. Not even a bit. I let him take total control. He fucks my mouth forcefully. There’s almost a desperation to his movements, a sentiment that I understand and welcome. It’s good to know that at least on a physical level I’m as necessary to him as he is to me.

He reaches for something on the bedside table. I hear the sound of foil tearing. He passes the rubber to me. ‘Climb on top of me,’ he orders.

I roll the condom over his cock and hold myself poised over the massive throbbing shaft. The moment feels achingly sweet. The yearning to be totally filled is white hot. At a torturous snail’s pace I allow his thick hardness to pierce into the wet heat between my legs and stretch me as I’ve never been before.

I stop the slow glide and hold myself suspended above him to accustom myself to his girth.

‘An inch too far?’ he growls.

‘No, I can take it all. I know I can.’ And I push myself down. Whoa! A shocked sound escapes and he smiles with satisfaction. As if it gives him pleasure to ruin me for all other men.

Our flesh slaps with a dull, wet sound while I impale myself on him over and over again. The faster I drop my sweat-slicked body over his shaft, the more heat collects between my legs.

‘Harder,’ he spurs me on, and lifts my body to speed me up.

My sex feels plump and tender with the pounding he is giving it. ‘Damn your devil penis magic. I won’t be able to walk for a week,’ I gasp.

With muscles clenched, and the very devil in his eyes, he climaxes. Fascinated, I stare at him. He is a magnificent sight of pure maleness. He digs his fingers into my hips and, grabbing handfuls of flesh, he slides me on his body, agitating my clit until my juices flow over his cock and pool between us, and I break apart for the third time.

This orgasm is like brute force. It slams into me and I howl like a lunatic banshee.

When I return, breathless and with my hands gripping the sides of his chest, I see a fierce look shining in his eyes. I attempt to get off his body, but he holds on to me tightly.

‘Not yet,’ he says.

‘No?’

‘No,’ he confirms, his eyes so hot and intense that heat crawls up my back and neck. I hope to hell he can’t see it in the dark. To hide, I resort to being flippant. ‘Say hello to the world’s first ever dick warmer,’ I croak.

He drags his thumb over my lower lip. ‘Your lips are the color of ripe peaches, Savage.’

I lick my lips self-consciously. ‘You’re full of shit, Eden.’

He laughs. ‘And your skin shimmers in the dark … like pearls.’

‘OK, now you’re really taking the piss.’

He smiles. There is a new softness and a languor to his face that makes him so damn foxy I want to eat him with a spoon, but I don’t. The earlier cold shoulder from him still kinda hurts.

Still, it’s not too long before he has me on my hands and knees. Gripping my buttocks hard he plunges into me all over again.

I drive into her like a man possessed. The room loses its solidity, and drifts away like a cloud. There is only her and me suspended in nothing. My mind spins and old magic circles around us. I lose all sense of time as her essence rushes through me, merging with me and revitalizing everything dead and diseased in my body.

Freezing cold waves still crash around me, but I do not feel the pain. I tighten my hold on her hips and roar like a beast. I know the pain will come back—its retreat is momentary—but the scale of the relief I experience is impossible to describe.

ELEVEN

You can forget so many evenings of sadness

For a morning of tenderness.

                        —Je sais, Jean Gabin

I wake up on my back with my cheek pressed against Dom’s chest, his big palm resting on my belly, my feet entangled with his, a raging thirst, bursting for a pee, and a twenty-four carat bitch of a headache. My head is pounding so hard it hurts to even breathe.

Never again, I swear.

Gingerly, I lift his hand and, easing myself away from his heavy, warm bulk, I sit up at the edge of the bed. Separated from his body I immediately feel cold and hollow. Just the air conditioning turned up too high, I tell myself. I swing my legs to the cold ground. Ouch, my head. In the blue glow of the night light I make my way to the bathroom. Ohhhh … Peeing hurts, too. With a long sigh I go into the kitchen in search of a glass of water. On the island top I see a black napkin with two painkillers neatly laid out next to a glass of water.

For a second I stare blankly at the sight.

He put it out for me!

I scratch my head. Ouch. I shuffle over to the napkin, pop the pills, down the water, and head back to bed. Very, very gently, because my head has now started throbbing hard enough to break, I slide back under the covers. A powerful arm circles my waist and a sleepy, warm voice murmurs in my hair, ‘Sleep, sweet Ella. You’ll feel better in the morning.’

Unable to speak, I close my eyes, and after a while I fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.

A sound wakes me up. I open my eyes, and Dom is sitting freshly showered and fully dressed by the bedside. His hair is still damp, and I am suddenly reminded of the first time I saw him. It feels like our first encounter happened a lifetime ago. Another era. He has become so much a part of my life.

‘How are you feeling?’ he asks.

I push hair out of my face and blink a few times. My eyes feel heavy and my mouth feels wooly. At least the headache is gone, though. ‘I’ll survive,’ I mutter.

‘Look, I have to go out, but stay as long as you like. Make yourself some breakfast. How about I take you out to lunch when I get back?’

‘Uh, no, I can’t stay. I’ve got to go to my mum’s and then I’m meeting my best friend for lunch.’

‘Right.’ He takes his phone out of his pocket ‘What’s your mum’s number?’

I stare at him, surprised. ‘Why?’

He looks up from his phone. ‘I’m a paranoid motherfucker. I always need next of kin information.’

Because I’m so startled by his arrogant assumption that I should give him my mother’s number after two nights of … hot sex—I guess that’s what it was, there had been no lovemaking between us—I end up giving it to him. Besides, I’m not even properly awake. So this is officially an ambush of sorts.

‘Now, your best friend’s name and number?’

My eyes widen, but I cave in and give him Anna’s number, too.

‘Right, I’ll get my driver to pick you up and take you wherever you want to go. He’ll be waiting for you in the foyer.’

I shake my head. I just woke up and I’m being steamrolled into agreeing to all kinds of things. ‘Please don’t do that. I’ll just call a taxi.’

‘No you won’t. Brian will take you,’ he says, his jaw hardening.

I cover my eyes. It really is too early to fight with anyone, let alone a juggernaut like him. ‘OK, fine.’

‘I’ll pick you up from your place at eight tonight. Wear your red dress.’

I uncover my eyes. ‘Ah … we’re going out tonight?’

‘It’s Saturday. What else would we do?’

His phone must have buzzed in his pocket. He takes it, looks at it, and raises his eyebrow enquiringly at me. I shrug to indicate that he’s welcome to take the call. He presses the button and listens to a woman’s laughing voice saying something. I immediately turn my eyes away from him and pretend to be very interested in a ray of sunshine that’s pouring in through the curtains, which he must have partially opened.

My stomach’s churning with a mixture of hurt, shame and fury. What a sick bastard. As if he had to bloody take the call in front of me while I’m lying naked in his bed still smelling of sex with him. I don’t let any of my feelings show on my face, though. He wants us to be enemies who fuck? Sure, I can do that. In the end, he’ll be the one who’s sorry. A voice in my head says, ‘In your dreams he’ll be the sorry one.’

‘Cut it out, Layla,’ he says into the phone and cuts the connection.

‘What are you looking at?’ he asks me.

‘The dust motes,’ I say softly, relief pouring through my veins. All is forgiven. He was talking to his sister. I feel gooey inside.

He turns his head to look at the particles suspended in the rays of sunlight. ‘Why?’

‘Because …’ I pause. Oh my God, I am so happy for no reason whatsoever. ‘The dust motes are magic. They’re around us all the time, but you can only see them in a burst of sunlight.’

‘OK.’

‘Don’t you get it? They’re the universe’s way of telling us that there’s more to life than we can see, hear or touch. You know, like dogs can hear things we can’t, bats can feel sounds, and other animals can see ultraviolet light.’

He stares at me. ‘And you’re a tax collector?’

I shrug.

‘I’m going, but before I go …’ He pulls at the sheet that I’m holding fast to my chest.

I clutch the sheet harder and laugh nervously. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Taking something to remind me of you.’

The sheet slips down my body.

‘Open up,’ he says, looking down at the triangle between my legs.

I spread my thighs and he inserts his finger into me. Unbelievable, but I’m already so wet that it just glides into me. He takes his finger out and sniffs it. ‘That’ll do me,’ he says.

He kisses me on the mouth and then he’s gone.

After the door shuts, I lie unmoving in the quiet of the empty apartment for a few seconds. Then I jump out of bed and run into the bathroom to see what I look like. I freeze with shock to see the state I’m in. Jesus! I’ve honestly never seen myself look more unattractive.

I shower, get back into my clothes and go downstairs. A man in a black jacket gets up from one of the sofas by the plate-glass windows.

‘Miss Savage?’

‘You’re Brian?’

He smiles and nods. ‘Where can I take you?’

I give him my address and he takes me home in a beautiful dark blue Bentley. As I get out of the back seat, the parking attendant who admired Dom’s Maserati passes me.

‘Does this one belong to the same guy?’ he asks.

‘Mmm,’ I say, and, smiling like a cat who got the cream, run into my building.

My flat seems poor and cramped after his luxurious apartment. I quickly eat a bowl of cereal then take the Tube to my parents’ home. My mother looks at me strangely.

‘Are you all right, dear?’

‘Yeah, why?’

‘You just seem a bit pink. As if you’re coming down with something.’

I cough. ‘I’m fine, Mum.’

‘Come through. I’ll make us a cuppa.’

We have tea together, and I try my best to pay attention to my mother’s chatter, but it’s very hard going, and after a while I tell her I have to go meet Anna.

Anna and I meet in Starbucks. She peers at me closely. ‘What’s wrong with you?’ she asks.

‘Nothing’s wrong with me,’ I say with a sigh.

‘You look like you’re catching the flu or something,’ she insists.

‘OK. I slept with a man.’

‘What the fuck?’ she screams, so loudly the people at the next table give us a disapproving stare.

‘Speak up, won’t you? I don’t think the people in the next street heard you,’ I whisper fiercely.

‘Tell me everything,’ she orders, and takes a massive bite of her egg sandwich.

‘There’s not much to tell. He’s just a guy. It’s just a sex thing.’

‘When do you do a sex thing?’ she asks with her mouth full.

I grin at her. ‘When he looks like a Greek god.’

‘Who is this guy?’

‘Someone we’re meant to be investigating.’

Her mouth drops open and I see partially chewed egg and bread and something green. She swallows hurriedly and says, ‘Jesus, Ella. Is this like the invasion of the body snatchers? You’re sleeping with a tax dodger? You HATE tax cheats.’

I bite my lip. ‘I don’t know, Anna, I’m so confused. Everything I believed in for so long now seems like a badly thought out illusion. I can’t explain it. All I know is I just have to be with him. He has something that pulls me to him.’

‘Wow!’

‘I know. Can you believe it? Me saying something like that?’

She shakes her head. ‘So, it’s serious?’

‘No. There’s no chance of that happening. He doesn’t want anything more than sex from me.’

‘What?’ Her brow is furrowed.

‘Yeah. He has walls like an impenetrable nuclear bunker. I think he’s had some terrible tragedy happen to him. The first time we met, I walked in on him when he wasn’t expecting me to, and he looked totally tormented. I have never seen anybody suffering in that way.’

‘Not another fucking loser, like that psycho Michael.’

‘He’s not a loser. He’s just had some kind of tragedy that he hasn’t got over.’

‘Oh no. You’re going to fall for this guy, aren’t you?’

‘I won’t.’

‘You won’t? You’re already more than halfway there.’

‘I’m not,’ I insist firmly.

She sighs. ‘Is the sex at least good?’

‘Fan-fucking-tastic,’ I say with a large grin.