“You can stay here if you want to,” he offered.
“No, I’ll be fine. There are three flats here that look nice. Who do I contact to arrange viewings?”
“Me.” He winked, holding up a handful of keys. “But dinner first, then we’ll go and look. They’re all on this development orthe neighbouring ones.” Meaning if she took the lease on one of them Jon would be her neighbour as well as her lover.
As they tookthe lift to look at the first property Jon asked, “Will you stop at my place tonight as I won’t see you until the weekend?”
“I haven’t brought anything with me,” she told him, but knew that if pushed the tiniest amount she’d cave in and stay regardless.
“What if I stay at yours then? I can go to the airport from there.”
His suggestion made her smile. He wanted to spend his time with her and was being flexible in their arrangement and compromising rather than just demanding.
“I’d like that.” It was the truth. She moved across the lift until she was resting her head against his chest and holding him tightly. He stroked her hair gently making her wonder if this was normal, the ease of things between them and the warm affection she already felt for him.
“Should I be concerned about Simon hanging around when you’re on your own, darling?”
She remained perfectly still but sighed. “I don’t know, but I am becoming more concerned with every text he sends.”
“If you won’t stay at mine will you think about going back to your dad’s until you move out of yours? Please?” he almost pleaded now.
“I’ll think about it,” she agreed as the lift came to a standstill and the doors opened making her laugh.
“What?”
“This is the same floor as that bloke I went to college with, Ade. He lives at number sixty. What number is the one we’re looking at?”
“Fifty-nine, so let’s not bother, but at some point I will want to know how you know what number he lives at.” He held her against him again as he pressed the lift for the ground floor.
They madethe short walk across the complex to a block of flats that appeared to be a little smaller than Jon’s. They took the lift to the eighth floor and as Jon opened the door to the flat there was a long dark hallway with various doors off it; a bathroom, two bedrooms (one en-suite), a cloakroom, a cupboard and finally a large open plan lounge/kitchen/diner with French doors leading onto a balcony overlooking a grassed area.
“It’s nice,” Steph said eventually.
“Nice?” asked Jon.
“Hmmm.”
“Meaning you don’t like it.”
“I do,” she protested unconvincingly.
“But?” Jon smiled at her.
“I dunno, it is nice, but no more,” she admitted and thought that one word,nice,probably summed up the place, but she couldn’t really imagine living there.
He was already leading her out. “Let’s look at the next one then. You want better than ‘nice, but no more,’ darling.”
After reportingin at the security desk they rode the lift to the tenth floor at the next block of flats.
“If you don’t like any of them just say, Steph. There are loads more to look through and you’re welcome to stay at mine until you find somewhere you really like,” he said making her smile.
“Thank you.” She leaned up to kiss him, blocking all thoughts of staying at his place from her mind. How was that even possible? What would his wife say about that, or wouldn’t she know because he was offering her a bed in his bachelor shagpad? When she considered the fact that she would know all of his movements if she stayed at his, she dismissed it completely because although she knew he had a wife and refused to believe that there was nothing between them, she didn’t need a ringside seat of his comings and goings with her.
He responded to her kiss immediately and whether he sensed the unwanted and potentially distracting thoughts in her head he had her pressed firmly against the mirrored wall of the lift as he took control of the kiss; exploring her mouth with his tongue while his hands cupped and squeezed her bottom.
“Did I mention I’d missed you today?” He began to slide her grey pencil skirt up her legs.
“No, you didn’t.” She slid her skirt back down.
