‘Shall we what?’
All the attention was a bit overwhelming. A small frown messed up his perfect smile.
‘Have some wine.’
‘Oh yes, of course.’
Two glasses in, and conversation was flagging. She really didn’t want to hear any more about paddleboarding, kite surfing or parascending as long as she lived. Things needed to move on a bit.
She took his hand this time and gave him her best sultry smile, which did the trick. It was almost too easy. He gathered up the bottle and glasses and virtually pushed her down the stairs.
‘We can finish this somewhere more comfortable.’
‘Super.’
After a deep, hard kiss in the living room he carefully untied the bow at her neck and let her dress fall to the floor, leaving her in just tiny white briefs and a pair of red espadrilles.
‘Wow, Sofia, you really are gorgeous.’
His own clothes come off in seconds, and she wondered if he’d been a stripper in a previous life. Or maybe he still managed to alternate it with paddleboard instructing. They both required a certain amount of balance. He obviously didn’t bother with underwear, but a quick glance told her he was primed and ready to go.
She hadn’t expected to be picked up and carried the couple of feet to the bedroom, but it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. He laid her on his bed with a reverence she’d only previously seen him use when talking about a topflight paddleboard he’d imported from America. The whole thing felt surreal. It was like it was happening to someone else.
Untying the ankle straps of her espadrilles took him mere seconds and as her shoes hit the floor with a bang she tried not to think about how many euros they’d cost. Her pants he pulled down with his teeth, which made her wonder if it was one of his signature moves. If so, it needed a little practice. Ittook quite a while for him to finally get them over her feet. She needed to banish the vision of him as a naughty puppy, who had raided the laundry basket, and focus.
But his body in the low light was everything she knew it would be, and his toned, tanned skin up close was warm to the touch.
Round one of the sex was good, very good, verging on excellent in fact, hard and intense, with no talking, just as she liked it. But although her body responded all the way to the end goal, her mind was still somewhere else. In the final seconds before she went over the edge, Sofia imagined looking down at herself from the ceiling, one of two anonymous tanned bodieswrithing on white sheets beneath her. A wave of sadness washed over her, so intense and unexpected that she cried out into the night.
‘Oh baby. Yeah, that’s it. Make all the noise you want.’
Back in the moment, Sofia knew that round two was out of the question, for her anyway. Usually with younger guys, and she only really dated younger guys, she’d expect to move on to rounds two and three fairly quickly, but it wasn’t going to happen this time. Giannis peeled himself off her and lay on his back, a fine sheen of sweat glazing his hair free chest and reminding her of an oven ready chicken. His punch into the air caused her to look away, lest she burst out laughing.
‘That was fantastic. You really inspire me.’
He leaned over to kiss her just as she rolled onto her side, so his wet lips landed on her back and his voice was muffled.
‘The night has only just begun, Sofia. We have all the time in the world… Time to explore each other properly.’
Giannis’s wink when she turned back to face him, coupled with his clichéd conversation put the seal on it.
‘Just need the loo. Back in a second.’
‘OK, sweetheart. I’ll be waiting…’
Sweetheart! She certainly wasn’t his sweetheart. Thank goodness that her dress was in the other room. Spying her shoes on her side of the bed, Sofia gathered them up and hid them in front of her as she tiptoed out of the room. Her pants he could keep. He probably had a whole drawer full.
The thought of her underwear as part of a collection was on her mind as she crept out of the apartment and escaped into the street. She’d agreed to the meet-up, and while she insisted any man she slept with wore a condom, the whole thing had left her feeling a tiny bit grubby.
Breakfast next morning was a lively affair. Both her friends chatted away ten to the dozen after all that sleep. Despite her physical workout, Sofia herself had tossed and turned all night, dreaming of being late for important meetings in far-flung rooms.
‘Enjoy your walk last night?’
Maddie’s query had far too much emphasis on the word walk for her liking.
‘Yes, lovely. I really enjoyed exploring all the little backstreets.’
Well, that at least was true. In the past they’d often had a good laugh about some of the men Sofia had hooked up with, but this was one she didn’t particularly want to share.
