She slowly dismounted, then kneeled beside him, stroking his face while he played with one of her nipples.
‘You’re amazing,’ he told her. ‘And far too skilled at that for your own good.’
‘It’s a talent,’ she replied, teasing.
‘Do you do that to your other guy?’ His face darkened as he said it and Lila had to stop herself from smiling. He was jealous. Irritated. Good. It was another reason she wouldn’t leave Cammy until Ken was hers – she knew how much he couldn’t stand thinking of her with another man.
She’d told him about Cammy when they met up again after the split and he made it clear that he wasn’t happy about it at all. He’d told her he wanted her to end it, but, for once, she’d refused him. There was no way she wanted to be on her own, like a complete sad case, before Ken made his move and they could be together. At least with Cammy around she went out for nice dinners and had a bit of a life. The fact that he was leverage that might nudge Kenneth along a tad quicker was just an extra bonus.
Besides, there was one way for him to make sure that she never slept with anyone but him ever again…
‘Ken, I…’
His eye caught the time on his watch and he immediately unhanded her nipple. ‘I need to go. I’ve got another surgery in an hour.’
He registered the disappointment that fell over her beautiful face and stopped, halfway up, to kiss her, his manner softening as it always did when she pouted. ‘I’ll make it up to you, I promise.’
Hadn’t she heard that so many times before? And how many more times was she going to pretend she believed it?
‘Baby,’ she said, in the breathy voice she knew turned him on, ‘I know we said we wouldn’t talk about it again for a while, but I can’t stand this. I can’t stand not being with you when I want to, I can’t stand sharing you with someone else, I can’t…’
His mood changed instantly. ‘Oh, for Christ’s sake, Lila, you know there’s nothing I can bloody do about…’ He stopped, paused, regrouped. ‘I’m sorry.’ He leaned over, kissed her again. ‘You know I’m working on it. You know I want it every bit as much as you do. But I can’t leave yet. Bernadette… isn’t ready.’
Lila felt a ferocious urge to argue, but bit it back. What was the point? He would only get pissed off and besides, he was saying yet again how much he wanted to be with her too. That’s why he got so frustrated. It was hard for him, living in a house with a woman he didn’t love. What was Bernadette’s bloody problem? Surely she could see that she wasn’t enough for Ken? Would she ever be woman enough to have the dignity to let him go?
He wanted Lila. She wanted him. This should be so simple. Seven years, she’d waited and her time for waiting was over. It had to be done.
Removing obstacles. Seeing challenges as opportunities. She was going to do this.
He kissed her slowly, passionately before he left. ‘I’m going to make it happen,’ he told her, ‘it just needs to be the right time.’
‘I think that’s now,’ she said, trying not to sound petulant. She decided to play the one card that she knew irked him more than any other. ‘I can’t stand lying next to someone every night that isn’t you.’ It wasn’t strictly true, but she saw the shadow of jealousy cross his face once again. Direct hit.
‘Soon,’ he said, through slightly gritted teeth. ‘When the time is right.’
He kissed her again, then he was gone and it was just Lila, in a faceless hotel, in lingerie that cost more than a week in one of these rooms.
Fucking depressing, she decided. How had her life come to this? If she needed confirmation that action was required, this was it.
Sighing, she pushed herself up, peeled off the underwear and jumped in the shower, only leaving the soothing jets of the water when her phone rang. She stepped out and grabbed it from the vanity unit.
Cammy’s name flashed on the screen. She thought about answering it, then decided to ignore it, then changed her mind again. If it were important, he’d only keep trying until he got her, and if it wasn’t, then she’d get him off the phone quickly.
‘Hi babe,’ she said, doing her very best ‘good girlfriend’ act. No point in stirring things up with him until she had to. She didn’t need two dramas on her hands.
She dried herself off while she spoke.
‘Hey honey, how’s your day going? Busy?’
‘Rushed right off my feet,’ she said, phone under her chin now while she pulled on one of her stockings. ‘I just… finished a really promising call with a cardiac surgeon.’
‘Sounds like you’re killing it out there,’ he said, encouraging as always. She’d miss that about him.
She pulled on a second stocking. ‘Yep, I think good things will come of it.’
‘Great. Listen, I’m just calling to say there’s a change of plan for tonight.’
Lila almost punched the air. Thank God. She didn’t have to pitch up for dinner and pretend to like those bloody women that Cammy was friends with. What was all that about? A forty-one-year-old guy hanging out with two ancient old dears. She didn’t get the dynamic at all. And all of that stuff about Josie being a second mother to him went right over her head. What was up with the mother he had? Apart from the fact that she lived in Perth and he only saw her a few times a year when he went back for a visit. That seemed more than reasonable to Lila. But none of that mattered right now because this call had saved her faking illness and calling off later. Result.
