At this point, I believed she was attention seeking. Perhaps on a punishment quest. It was true, she’s always been a pain whore, and I never disappointed her on that score.
But by the time Hal was six months old, Belle had begun popping pills recreationally. Only pill popping didn’t do her habit justice because she was open to most substances.Coke. Liquid G.
It did nothing for her restraint.
It did nothing for our marriage.
I spent countless Saturdays wandering London with a tiny Hal strapped to my chest while Belle stayed home, sullen as she dealt with a dopamine come down.
She was on a downward spiral all her own, one day encouraging me to screw the au pair as an apology for one transgression or another.What was it she’d done?Ah, I remember; she’d gone down on someone at the club while I’d been at home. It was a dark corner, she’d argued, and no one saw. Tit for tat, she’d said as I’d baulked at her suggestion. We were standing in Hal’s nursery, for fuck’s sakes, talking about infidelity as though discussing the weather while our son slept.
And then I’d found her with the neighbour in our marital bed.
By the time she’d said she was moving in with Charles, I’d felt almost sorry for the man.
And now there was Louise, game but inexperienced. Could we be treading the same spiralling descent? By keeping her out of the club, was I trying to protect her, or was I being greedy? Those flashes of daring—if she were truly serious, I’d take her up on them. Deconstruct her fully, in due course. But for now, I’d keep the kid gloves on.
The handle of the door sounded, and my head rose from the filth. Fuck Belle and her mind twisting and conniving, for I realised at that moment I was in love.
Chapter Twenty-Six
LOUISE
The lining of my skirt rubs against my bare skin, somehow affecting my gait. I sashayed and swayed as I pass Dan, perching my bottom on the desk in the front of the chair he sits in. Full of nerves and fright, I raise one foot, placing my toes on the seat between Dan’s splayed legs, using the position to push myself up and back onto the desk.
‘What’s up?’
My voice sounds a little tight. I’ve never had sex anywhere other than the usual places.A house. A bed. A sofa. In the back seat of a Chevy truck. Well, almost. But being bent over a desk at the office is definitely one of my go-to scenarios. A handsome boss—not my boss. He’s nearing sixty and bald with a sizable paunch. In my mind, I’d be dressed in stockings, heels, a gossamer blouse, and a grey pencil skirt. A few minutes alone with those images and my fingers, and the job is done. But spank bank material isn’t meant to become real. I’m excited and nervous, and well, Dan can play my dominant boss any day of the week.
‘Up? The roof. The upper floors.’ Dan rests back in the chair, slipping his hands behind his head, sliding into his role. ‘The heavens, some would say.’
Tipping my chin, I peer at him from beneath my lowered lashes. The coquette comes quite naturally when you’re not wearing any underwear. Struck by instinct rather than thought, I’d hiked up my skirt while in the bathroom and wriggled my panties to the floor.
‘Nothing else?’My voice turns unconsciously coy. ‘Up?’
Laughter rumbles in Dan’s chest, stopping abruptly as my shoe drops to the floor, the toes of my right foot curling around his pant-covered cock.
‘Not quiteup.’ I raise my head from the action. ‘But it has potential.’
From outside the room, a vacuum cleaner barks to life. My body jumps, and I’m ready to shove this scenario back into the fantasy box, but find I’m unable to move, my heel captured in Dan’s hand.
‘Are they likely to come in?’ His voice is low and seductive and makes my pulse pound.
‘No, not usually.’ Worried, I bite my lip as my gaze drifts to the door as though I’m able to devine the direction of its path. ‘Maybe. I don’t know.’
As I look back at him, he’s smiling—a smile of decidedly wicked thoughts.
‘Why am I here?’ Dan asks, his hand moving to massage my calf.
‘I don’t know,’ I whisper, suddenly unsure. Or maybe not so uncertain as his hand moves to my knee, his other curling around the hem of my skirt. ‘I... I have a question,’ I begin. ‘Do you want to go to a thing? Together, for work. You don’t have to or anything—’
‘You’re asking me to be plus one?’ His eyebrow quirks like a sudden question mark.
‘Forget I asked,’ I begin.
‘Ask me properly, love,’ he responds, obviously enjoying my reaction.The absolute shit.
‘Would you like to be my date?’ I ask as though it were no big thing.
