The Boleyn Effect (The Boorman Ending) (19 page)

Now it's my turn to make
my move and gain back some control, because I'm not about to
beg.

'Then maybe I don't
deserve it,' I say and I start to cross my legs and turn my body
away from him.

'Maybe you don't,' he says
moving slightly away.

OK, so we are playing
power games. I eye him evenly for a moment and then let out a deep
sigh.

'Maybe I just got the
wrong office,' I say reaching down for my blouse.

His hand quickly grabs
mine causing me to drop the blouse back to the floor. I know I've
won this point. Let's see how the rest of the game
fairs.

'Like you'd get away from
me that easily,' he mutters as he pulls me towards him.

He positions himself with
my legs on his either side and pulls himself free. I look down and
lick my lips with a mischievous grin.

'You like what you see?'
he asks.

'I like it better where I
can't,' I answer.

From his pocket he pulls
out his protection and covering himself, he enters me. Just as he
promised on the phone he moves slowly in and out. With sensation
building once more I am desperate to gain satisfaction again, but
the speed he's using is teasing rather than satisfying
me.

'Harry...please,' I
gasp.

'Beg me,' he
answers.

'Harry, I...'

He continues to stop and
start and I am barely holding on. I can't handle it any
more.

'Beg,' he groans through
gritted teeth.

It's starting to become a
battle of wills between us. Who's going to give in
first?

'Leigh...beg
me.'

Suddenly, he stops and it
causes me to whimper.

'What are you doing?' I
groan.

'I'm not doing anything
until you beg,' he hisses.

I try and push against
him, but he holds me firm. I can't handle it anymore. I am
desperate for him.

'Please...'

'Yes...say it. Tell me
what you want me to do to you.'

'Please...' I
tease.

'Leigh, I swear I'll pull
out if you don't beg,' he threatens.

His face is red with
control, and I'm shaking with so much tension. But I hate to
beg.

'Pull out then,' I
say.

He looks at me and holds
my defiant stare for a moment and then slowly he calls my bluff and
starts to leave me. Panic suddenly sets it and I grab hold of
him.

'Please fuck me
sir.'

In one swift motion he
slips out of me before I am bent over the desk and he's pounding me
hard. I can barely hold my own weight and I find myself sprawled
face first on the desk. Forehead touching oak as I push against
him.

'Harry,' I scream. 'Give
me more.'

'Come for me, sweetheart.
Please come for me,' he groans.

'Harry!'

'Leigh, my
god...Leigh!'

The wood soaks up my
orgasmic cry as I feel Harry's weight collapse on top of me. We lay
there a moment both trying to get our breath back. Slowly, he moves
off me and takes me with him. Sitting back on his chair I curl up
on his knee and we simply sit.

'I should go away more
often,' I muse.

'You should never go
away,' he answers. 'Not unless I'm coming with you.'

'I would love you to come
with me. Spend a whole night together.'

His body tenses beneath me
and flinching inside I realise that off my guard I may have pushed
the wrong button.

'I'm sorry,' I whisper
starting to move from his knee.

'What are you sorry
for?'

I grab my pants and pull
them on as well as my blouse. Damage limitation. I really need to
step back from this.

'I should not have
mentioned that...sleeping together I mean. I know you can
never...not when you are still married to Katherine.'

'Wait. This is new for me
too. This is going on longer than I expected it to and I don't want
it to stop. If I worked away then maybe. It's just
difficult.'

'I know,' I
answer.

I am backing my way
towards the door and now Harry has followed me.

'Please don't
cry.'

I hadn't realised I had
been until I feel the tears running down my face. Why am I crying?
The shock and the fear of the emotion startle me and before I know
what I'm doing I am running down the corridors as far as I can from
Harry and his office.

He eventually catches me
as I get to the road, both of us breathless from running. Grabbing
me, he roughly turns me around so I'm facing him.

'What the hell just
happened? We just had the most amazing sex and then you freak out,'
he asks.

'I'm sorry.'

'For fucks sake Leigh,
stop saying sorry. ,' he snaps.

'I... sorry...'

'So help me god, give me
your keys. We are going to yours.'

He hands me my coat as I
hand Harry my keys. We walk in tense silence and I am nervous that
this is all going too far too fast. My head is tumbling with so
many different things and emotions that I can't keep up. Finally,
we are at my flat and using my key he lets us in. Thankfully,
George has not decided to continue his late night visits. The flat
is empty.

'You don't have to do
this,' I say finally.

'You don't want me to
stay?' he asks.

Now there is a small smile
on his face and I slowly relax, the tension easing.

'I want you to
stay.'

'Then you better take me
to bed,' he smirks.

Still hot and sweaty,
Harry curls up behind me in my bed and kisses my hair. I feel
sleepy after our latest bout and the heat from Harry makes me even
more drowsy.

'Harry?'

'Mmm.'

'Is it true what you said
about not having sex with Katherine?'

I turn over so I can gauge
his reaction at the question. He strokes my head and just
nods.

'Do you still love her?' I
ask.

'Honestly, I'm not
sure.'

'Was she your first...love
I mean?'

Harry shifts to his back
so his eyes are on the ceiling. I've done it again. I've pushed the
wrong buttons and made him uncomfortable.

'I'm sorry,' I apologise.
'You don't have to tell me anything.'

There's a few minutes
silence as I rest my head on his chest. Waiting for some sign that
the mood he's descending into will change. Then he starts to speak
and I find I'm holding my breath.

'Claudia, who I told you
about was my first love and I thought I loved Kat just as much, but
maybe I never did. No one has ever come so close, but what I feel
for you is different to anything I ever felt for her or anyone
else. I'm not saying it's love, because I don't even understand it
myself.'

His use of the word love
makes my heart pound so hard and I shift away from him in the hope
he doesn't feel it. It's one hell of a double edged sword. If he
loves me then it's over and I can't keep him. I promised. But I
want to keep him and in order for that to happen he mustn't say it.
Yet, that's all I want to hear from his lips. So much for me
keeping this simple and just about sex.

'You don't have to say
anything like that to me. I'll just take whatever you have to
offer,' I smile.

He kisses my head and
squeezes me tight.

'You're such a puzzle Mr.
Cobain,' I say.

'Not really. You and I are
not much different,' he answers.

'I doubt that.'

He moves so we are now
face to face. His expression serious.

'When I married Kat, I
married above my station. She was from a successful family and
wealthy and I wasn't. I didn't know my dad. My mother brought
myself, two sisters and a brother up by herself. She scrimped and
saved in order to give us the best. I was just fortunate enough to
be the brains of the family.

'Anyway, my family was
never good enough for the Aire's and I'm ashamed to say that as I
climbed the social ladder with Kat, I left my family behind. When
my mother died, my sisters didn't even tell me until she was in the
ground. So you see Leigh, we both come from a working class back
ground and want to do better. Just take my advice, don't allow the
Gaskills to steer you away from those that are
important.'

I have nothing to say so I
grab his face and kiss him. This time the sex is much more subdued
and the change is unsettling, but I don't complain. When we finish
I rest my head on his chest.

'I'll understand if you're
not here in the morning,' I mutter and then fall asleep.

CHAPTER
TWENTY FIVE

Of course I woke alone and
I have no idea when he went, but I shouldn't have expected any
more. He would have waited for me to fall into a deep sleep, gone
home to Katherine and made some feeble excuse about his
whereabouts.

Yet, he opened up to me.
Told me something about himself that he's probably never done
before. But this could equally scare him into turning away. This is
the reason I struggle with relationships. To make matters worse
George finally made an appearance a few days later.

'So has he told you he
loves you yet?' he asks.

'We've not really had the
time to talk about it. Not when there are better things to be
doing,' I smart.

George gives me a thin
smile.

'So really you're nothing
more than a mistress,' he answers.

We both eye each other
evenly as tension rises between us. Then George starts to laugh and
pulls me into a hug. Bemused I allow it to happen. His mood swings
are worse than a premenstrual woman sometimes. I can never keep
up.

'I'm not fighting with
you. I just want to make sure that you're on top of this,' he
says.

'Make sure I'm losing,' I
answer.

'Making sure he's not
going to hurt you.'

'He can't hurt what he
doesn't have,' I say. 'It's just sex.'

'Let me take you out
tonight. We've not done that for ages.'

'Why don't you take
Clair?'

'Because I want to take
you.'

I can't help but feel
uneasy at George's change in attitude. Maybe Clair is starting to
soften him. Maybe he doesn't want to marry me after all. I should
feel like a weight is being lifted from me, but I don't, I just
feel uneasy. Like I am being set up in a hidden trap that I will
inevitably fall into.

George leaves me alone
eventually, telling me to make sure I'm ready. I spend the rest of
the day in the studio trying to catch up on work emails and phone
calls. It seems Katherine has kept her word and I have requests
from various people that she knows. My contacts seem to have
doubled in number. I'm not sure whether I feel guilty or not. I did
a good job and the reason she's done it is because I am damn good
at my job and whether I'm screwing her husband has nothing to do
with it.

So a night of clubbing is
ahead and I kinda feel excited. It's back to my old life. Carefree
and foolish, well maybe just a little less foolish. Wearing a short
lace dress with matching hot pants and killer heels, George and I
make our way to the club. Already drunk on a couple of bottles of
wine, I can't feel the slight chill in the autumn air. George has
already laughed at me as I've struggled down the Shambles in
heels.

'You want me to give you a
piggy back,' he offers.

'Not in this dress,' I
laugh.

'It's not like anyone
can't see anything already.'

I hit him on the arm, but
he's right. This dress is rather revealing, but I've a figure to be
proud of so why not. Taking my hand we cross the road and make our
way towards past the dungeons to where the club awaits our
presence.

Then I see him, waiting
near the entrance with a white open necked shirt and jeans. I look
towards George who gives me a smile.

He says. 'I happened to
mention that we were out.'

'You are up to something,'
I hiss.

'I am not up to anything.
Look, if he wants you then he's got to realise that you're a
younger woman with different needs to his wife. Let's see if he can
keep up with you.'

I bite down any retort
that he keeps up with me fine and fulfils all my needs, because
this isn't the time to have a pissy George on my hands. We walk
towards where Harry waits and I suddenly feel all shy.

'Hey,' I say.

'George invited me. Hope
you don't mind,' he says. 'He told me you confided in
him.'

'Did he?' I say. 'Aren't
you mad?' I ask.

Because I am a little, I
think to myself. This is not at all what was planned.

'A little at first, but he
is your best friend and clearly loves you. He knows the score. He's
promised to be discreet.'