See You at the Show (19 page)

She got up, walking over to him.
 
“We’re from different worlds, Daniel, you and me.
 
So why are we here?
 
Why are you
so
interested in me?”

He looked at her, her blue eyes staring at him with an intensity that made him feel more nervous than he’d ever felt in his life.

“I don’t know.
 
And I have no idea what’s supposed to happen next.”

“What do you
want
to happen?”

“I can’t answer that.”

“Can’t?
 
Or won’t?”

He moved away from her, walking into the kitchen.
 
“Maybe you should go, Stevie.
 
I shouldn’t have asked you to come here, it isn’t fair on you.
 
It isn’t fair on Samantha.”

She followed him into the kitchen, pulling herself up onto the counter top.
 
“Is that your wife?”

He turned to look at her, nodding.
 
It was the first time he’d really thought about Samantha since he’d left her just a couple of hours ago.
 
The first time he’d felt any guilt.

“Ok,” Stevie sighed, jumping down from the counter top.
 
“I’ll get out of here.”

He watched as she walked back into the living room, knowing it was the right thing to do.
 
But the second he heard the front door opening, realising she was about to leave, realising this might be the last chance he had to see her, he knew he couldn’t do it.
 
He couldn’t let her go.
 

“Stevie!”
 
He ran after her, catching her outside in the corridor.
 
“Stevie, wait.
 
Please!”

She turned round.
 
“What?”

“Come back inside.”

“Look, Daniel, I’ve just left a situation where I’m hanging out with guys who don’t know what the hell they want and I really can’t be bothered to spend time with another one.”

“I’m sorry; I really am but, please.
 
Just come back inside.”

She was tired, she was confused, she didn’t have a clue what was going on or why she was even here, but something was making her want to find out.
 
Something she couldn’t explain.
 
Just looking at this strange and different man from a world so far removed from the one she was used to was making her want to stay, and she could stand there and try and analyse a situation she couldn’t understand or she could just go with it.
 
See where it led.
 
So she followed him back inside, kicking the door shut behind her, throwing her jacket and helmet back down onto the sofa as she sat down on the arm of it.
 
Daniel pushed a hand through his hair, looking down at the floor.

“I’ve never done this kind of thing before, Stevie.”

“
What
kind of thing?
 
There’s absolutely nothing going on as far as I can see...unless…”

He looked up quickly.

“Do you
want
something to happen here, Daniel?”

Did he?
 
He couldn’t answer the question, he couldn’t say anything, he just looked at her as she started to walk over to him.
 
That’s all he
could
do because he’d lost control of this now, he didn’t know what was happening anymore.
 
He just knew he wanted to be here.
 
With her.
 
That’s all he wanted.
 
For a usually rational man his thinking was way off the mark tonight because none of this was rational, none of this was safe yet he was here.
 
And he wanted her.
 
Like he’d never wanted anything before.

She was standing right in front of him now, looking right into his eyes.
 
“Daniel?
 
Do you
want
something to happen?
 
Is that why I’m here?
 
Tell me the truth.
 
Is that why I’m here?
 
Because you
want
something to happen?”

He still couldn’t answer her.
 
The words were still refusing to come out of his mouth.
 
And she was so close now, so very close.
 
Shouldn’t he be pushing her away?
 
Telling her to leave?
 
Shouldn’t he be calling his wife and telling her how much he loved her?
 
It should be business as usual in Daniel Madison’s life but it wasn’t.
 
Far from it.

“That’s it, isn’t it?” she smiled, reaching out to loosen his tie.
 
“You want to sleep with me.”

“No...Stevie, I...I mean, Jesus, I don’t know.
 
I don’t...”

“You do.
 
You
do
know, Daniel.
 
You’re just scared to admit it.”

She was right, of course she was.
 
She was right because he
was
scared, he was terrified.
 
She was right because he
did
want to sleep with her.
 
Maybe he hadn’t wanted that in the beginning but he did now.
 
Jesus, did he.

She loosened his tie, slipping it slowly away from his neck.
 
Then she started to unfasten his shirt, her eyes never leaving his as her fingers touched his skin and he felt his heart start to race, his head start to spin.
 
He felt as though he’d drank twenty cups of coffee one after another.
 
How could one person make another feel this way?
 
It was crazy!

“Are you gonna kiss me then, or what?”

“Kiss you?”

“Jesus, you’re hard work.”
 
She was still staring at him, her incredible blue eyes boring into him as she pushed him back against the wall, and then, before he’d had time to catch his breath, her mouth was on his and she was kissing him.
 
She was kissing him like he’d never been kissed before and she tasted beautiful, her lips soft as they moved on his, her tongue running along the roof of his mouth, the back of his teeth.
 
It was a kiss that was sending jolts of electricity right through him as her body moved closer to his, pressing against him, and with an almost instinctive reaction he put his arm around her waist, holding her as the kiss got harder and deeper, her fingers stroking the back of his neck.
 
Then she pulled away slightly, smiling at the almost startled look on his face.

“That was a kiss, Daniel.
 
In case you hadn’t realised.”

He still didn’t know what to say, he still couldn’t find the words.
 
He felt as though this was all happening to someone else and he was just watching from the sidelines.

“You don’t say much, do you?
 
For someone who wanted to talk.”

He looked at her.
 
She was so far away from the woman Samantha was and yet he found her utterly breathtaking.
 
She scared the life out of him,
this
scared the life out of him, but he couldn’t back off.
 
Not now.
 
Maybe before that kiss he might still have been able to find the strength from somewhere, but not now.
 
She’d opened the floodgates and everything he’d never dreamed of doing before was probably now going to happen.
 
Whether he wanted it to or not.

“Ok.
 
So you don’t feel like talking anymore...where’s the bedroom?”

“Sorry?”
 
He really couldn’t think straight.
 
All rationality had just disappeared.

“Your bedroom.
 
Where is it?
 
If we’re not gonna talk then we’re sure as hell gonna do something.”

“Something?”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, I’ll find it myself.”

She didn’t know what was with this guy but right now he was making Mark look uncomplicated.
 
But she wanted to stay.
 
She wanted to stay and push him as far as she could and see just where he was willing to go.
 
She was so in the mood tonight.

Daniel watched her walk away, out into the hallway that led to the bedrooms.
 
What was wrong with him?
 
Why couldn’t he stop this before it went too far?
 
Because it already had, that’s why.
 

He closed his eyes for a second or two, trying to get his head together, his heart racing so fast and hard it hurt.
 
He was almost finding it difficult to breathe.

His ‘phone ringing suddenly made him jump and he reached for it from the sideboard beside him.
 
It was Samantha.
 
He couldn’t answer it.
 
If he answered it it would end whatever was happening here and although that’s what he
should
be doing, he couldn’t.
 
In his bedroom, the bedroom he’d shared so many times with his beautiful wife, was an incredible woman he just wasn’t able to push away.
 
So he couldn’t talk to his wife.
 
He had to ignore her call.
 
For the rest of this night he had to forget she even existed and he was going to hate himself in the morning, he knew that.
 
But that’s what he was going to have to do or he wasn’t going to be able to get through this.
 
And he
wanted
to get through this.
 
No matter how much of a bastard he was going to feel tomorrow.
 

He switched his ‘phone off and threw it into the top drawer, slamming it shut, leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes again.
 
Maybe if he just pretended this was all a dream and in the morning everything would go back to normal, if he did that would it make him feel any less guilty?
 
He opened his eyes and looked down at his unfastened shirt, his discarded tie on the floor, her motorbike helmet lying on the sofa.
 
He couldn’t go back now.
 
He’d already stepped over the line, what was the point?
 

So, taking a deep breath he started to walk towards the bedroom, trying to push all thoughts of Samantha to the back of his mind.
 
He could hear the shower running from behind the closed door and he stopped for a second, resting his forehead against the cool surface, taking one more deep breath before he pushed it open,
 
a sudden wave of panic washing over him as the noise of the water stopped.
 
Part of him wanted to turn around and run, but before he had a chance to think about it she’d walked out of the bathroom, covered only by a small white towel.

“You’re here then.
 
I thought I was gonna have to do this on my own.”

“On your own?
 
I...”

“Ok.
 
I’m gonna shut you up now because for someone so educated you’re having real trouble stringing a coherent sentence together.”

Daniel watched as she ran her fingers through her short blonde hair, shaking it out, and as she pulled the towel away from her body and threw it onto the floor he once again felt his heart start to race because he was out of his depth now.
 
Way out of his depth.

“If you want it, Mr. Madison, it’s all yours.”

He looked at her as she stood there in front of him, naked and damp and the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
 
He couldn’t take his eyes off her.
 
She had the body of a centrefold – not that he’d seen many centrefolds but he assumed they’d have perfect bodies, wouldn’t they?
 
Christ, what was wrong with him?
 
He was starting a bloody debate in his head when he had a fully fledged fantasy standing right there in front
 
of him.
 
But Daniel had never really gone in for fantasies.
 
Until now.
 
Until Stevie Stone had walked into his life.
 
Or had
he
walked into
hers
?
 
He didn’t know, he couldn’t care.
 
All he knew was that he wanted her.
 
She was perfect.
 
To him she looked perfect, even with the tattoos and the piercings – he’d noticed she had her naval pierced, how could he not?
 
Her skin was smooth and tanned, she wasn’t particularly tall but her legs were long and slim, her stomach flat and toned, and she had the most amazing rounded breasts.
 
He’d never used that word to describe breasts before.
 
Amazing.
 
Not even Samantha’s were amazing.
 
No, he couldn’t think about his wife, he had to stop thinking about her.

“You can come closer,” Stevie said, watching him as his eyes scanned every inch of her body.
 
He was still nervous, she could tell that, it was obvious.
 
But she had him now.
 
He wasn’t going anywhere.
 
“So, you coming closer then?”