‘Yeah.’ He places his hand on the railing and it accidentally covers mine. The feelings that surge through my body are so intense that I gasp. ‘Sorry.’ He pulls back his hand. ‘I’m so sorry.’ He turns his face away from me.
‘No,’ I say, reaching out, placing my hand on the angle of his chin and moving his face back to mine. His gaze drops to my mouth, and my breath catches.
This can’t happen. He’s my boss, for God’s sake. I lied to him about the songbird, I…
‘Clara.’ His hand rounds the tight silk of my waist, coming to rest on the small of my back. The sound of my heart beating bangs against my eardrums as he groans. ‘You drive me mad. You know that?’
This is all happening too fast. Much too fast, but I don’t care. I just want more – more of his touch. His skin against mine. The feeling that nothing matters but the two of us.
‘I…’ But before I can even respond, his lips are on mine, and the world dissolves into a whirlpool of passion as he pushes me back against the wall. My skirt is up, and I’m drowning in a sea of silk, tulle, and desire.
‘We shouldn’t,’ he whispers.
Without a pause for thought, I reach up, grab his tie, and pull his face hard back towards my lips because we must. I let my hands, my arms, my body wrap itself around him. I’ve never been touched, or touched anyone else, like this before. Never felt this all-consuming swell of emotion and longing. My dress is around my hips as he hoists me up against the wall then pushes the bodice of my dress down on one side, exposing a breast, taking it briefly into his mouth before slamming into me. For one moment, the whole world stills, nothing matters, and nothing exists beyond the energy of our lust. I completely lose track of time. It’s as if we’re no longer living in the same world as before. Time has no meaning.
When we eventually break apart, breathless, Marco drags a hand through his hair, looking torn and confused. ‘I shouldn’t have. I… I’m so sorry.’
Sorry?
‘No, I shouldn’t.’ He can barely look me in the eyes. ‘It’s not…’
I remember pulling his tie, forcing his lips onto mine. I can’t believe we just did what we did. I feel a wave of embarrassment. Awkwardly, I brush down my dress. Tears prick my eyes. What came over me? The man is my boss. This is a public space. My brother is downstairs! Okay so not close downstairs, but he’s within sprinting distance.
‘It’s…’ he stutters. ‘I can’t help feeling… Shit.’ He drags one hand through his now thoroughly messed hair, the hair that only moments before I had grasped hard between my fingers.
I’m going to cry. I know I’m going to cry. He’s still blustering on, saying nothing. Not even looking at me.
‘I can’t help feeling…’
‘A secret courtyard, you say?’ A woman’s voice filters through the empty room at the back of us. The same room that we walked through. Panic floods through me.
‘Yes,’ comes a male voice. ‘Are you sure you haven’t been here before?’
Marco’s face pales. ‘Shit.’
‘Bugger!’ I panic, desperately trying to rake my appearance back together.
‘That’s Fitz’s parents.’
My entire world collapses.
‘You stay here,’ he says, straightening his tie, brushing down the shoulders of his jacket. ‘I’ll get rid of them.’
‘But…’ Whatever I was going to say dries on my tongue because Marco is not waiting. This is clearly too important for him. He blusters out through the long, curtained windows, heading into the empty white room, a false smile plastered across his face as he moves through the door, shutting it behind him. Shutting it with me on the outside!
‘Hey, Stella, Ezra.’ His greeting is warm. Undaunted.
‘Marco?’ Stella’s voice rises in delight. ‘What are you…?’
‘Absolute bummer, the secret balcony is out of order,’ he says confidently.
‘What?’ Ezra sounds a little disbelieving.
‘Yeah. Can you believe that?’ Marco chimes in with all the ease of a professional liar. ‘All closed off. Health and safety.’
‘Oh,’ Stella says, a touch of disappointment in her voice. ‘Never mind. Have you heard the music in the Assembly Hall?’
I move shakily to my feet, and there’s the ear-splitting sound of glass crunching. I look down. It’s my phone. I just stood on my sodding mobile phone! Outside, the voices continue, oblivious.
