Perfect (Love in Yorkshire #1)

Thirteen

Over the next couple of weeks, Connor’s recovery was surprisingly swift. Ella and Tom came by a handful of times and even Nate dropped by which surprised me. I wouldn’t have labelled him as the caring type. I was thankful that Connor had so much support from the village.

I had war wounds of my own, deep ugly bruises on my neck from Carter’s hand. I covered them with a scarf, not wanting to worry my dad or Connor.

Dad explained that Carter had been sent back to prison and had been heavily fined for breaking the terms of his restraining order. I truly hoped we never saw the man again. The terror I had experienced during that night still played in my mind.

What also made it worse was the constant reminder that I had given the address of the farm to Carter. The police couldn’t confirm anything as the man had used what they’d called a burner phone, but I of course knew the truth. My note about the call from the ‘fake’ bank was still on the fridge, a constant reminder of my fuck up. I couldn’t bring myself to take it down.

I told Dad before the police of course and I asked if he’d let me tell Rachel myself. I did and with a million apologies. She was good about it to be fair and Dad just reiterated that you never give your address out on the phone unless you are certain who is calling. Rachel did say that he would probably have found them eventually but from the pinched look on her face, I knew she was still upset.

Due to the failure on my part, I made an extra effort with everyone.

Rachel and I buzzed around the house together, taking turns to take food up to the patient, who never seemed to get full. I was blown away by how much he actually ate. He also wasn’t the easiest person to wait on and switched into one of his dark moods at the drop of a hat.

The Doctor visited and re-prescribed Connor’s usual medication but he wasn’t allowed to take it until he was off the heavier painkillers.

Everyone was doing their bit and my mother even sent a get-well card to Connor which I could tell Rachel appreciated. I’d started to speak to Mum about him on our regular catch-ups and she must have realised that I cared for him.

Mum was in a good place also, which gave me less to worry about. The first Mrs Williams was more her old self and had started seeing Phil officially. She’d even reduced her drinking or at least that’s what she said.

After almost three weeks since the fight, Connor was on his feet again and desperate to go back to work but my dad wouldn’t let him. Light exercise had been suggested due to a scan revealing that Connor had two cracked ribs. It had been explained that he had to be patient and allow them time to heal on their own. Connor hadn’t responded too well to the news of course and had done the exact opposite by starting to clear out a storage area in the main barn. Dad said he wanted to make it into a gym, which I agreed was a great idea, then Connor could stop making sneaky midnight trips to the hay barn to beat the crap out of a seed bag.

One morning Ella came around. She was hovering in the yard as I left the house, it was a bright sunny day and I needed to feel the sun on my skin. I’d just been texting my mum and pocketed my phone as I saw her.

“Hi. Connor’s up and about now but I’m not sure where he is,” I said breezily.

“I came to see you actually,” she replied, instantly putting me on edge.

I played ignorant and batted down that feeling of uncertainty. I sure hoped she hadn’t come to gossip about the fight.

Maybe I needed to take a chill pill, she may have wanted to offload about her ‘complicated’ life which may or may not have involved a past with Connor.

A penny dropped.Or did it?

‘Complicated’, there was that word again . It was Ella who had said it! I couldn’t remember at the pub, but as I saw her, that word popped into my mind. It was the same way Ryan had described his current female problems. I batted the thought to the side, the guy must have been ten years older than Ella, wouldn’t that be considered gross?

I inwardly rolled my eyes at myself and peeled my tongue away from the roof of my mouth.

“OK, cool, well I was going for a walk if you want to come?” I invited, motioning to the path which led to the fields. Rachel had mentioned baby lambs that I just had to see.

Ella nodded and fell into step beside me .

“So how is the patient today?” she questioned, pushing her hands into her pockets. I took this as a sign that she was nervous. Again, the girl had something to say and I now just wished she’d get the hell on with it.

My nose wrinkled. “Not too bad, although he did injure himself yesterday after going against advice to rest. They’re making one of the outbuildings into a gym. I heard several ‘F’ words and stayed well away.”

Ella shot me a sideways grin. “Yes, forever the hothead. At least it gives him something to focus on. Connor with too much thinking time is not a good thing.”

‘Really’ I wanted to say, ‘you obviously know him so well’. Did she fancy him or not FFS?

“I just hope he doesn’t overdo it.”

We weaved up the path between two hedgerows which cut off the view of the rolling fields. The trees rustled, the sun was high in the sky and the scent of freshly cut grass lingered in the air. I could hear one of Dad’s tractors in the distance.

A silence fell between us but I didn’t feel particularly uncomfortable. From Ella’s body language and expression, there was definitely something she needed to share. It didn’t surprise me that she’d chosen me. There was a serious trustworthy girlfriend drought in the village. Natalie, bitch-face certainly wasn’t someone you could rely on.

“I hear you and Connor are getting along?” she said and the looming dread rose to the surface. I didn’t identify jealous undertones in her words. Her voice was actually quite bright and friendly, but I decided I’d had enough circling around the subject. The fact that Connor confided in this girl still rattled my cage.

“Yes, things are good.”

“Just good?” she probed.

I shot her a sideways glance. “Stop fishing Ella. As you said yourself, it's complicated,” I threw her own words back at her and she cleared her throat and kicked a stone to the side of the path.

“That’s guys for you, I guess. Fucking unsolvable puzzles, the lot of them.”

As we turned the corner by a large oak tree, the hedge finished and field four came into view. Sheep were dotted before us; some being followed by their lambs who were still quite awkward on their feet. They were so cute .

I put my hands on the fence and stared out, delighted by the sight. Ella came to stand beside me. She didn’t seem as interested in the animals and just looked ahead with a peculiar expression.

I pushed myself back off the fence and turned to face her.

“How about you? You have anything ‘complicated’ you want to talk about?” I pushed again.

She leaned forward against the fencing and twisted to face me, her copped hair had grown almost to her chin now and the brown tufts bounced in the breeze. She looked nice today in denim shorts and an oversized hoody that swamped her slender figure. She should dress more feminine. She’d looked stunning in the dress at the club.

I gave her another nudge.

“Ella?”

“Fuck my life. It’s probably not that difficult to explain but I’ve never really opened up to anyone about it. Well, apart from Connor. He told me his shit one night and I told him mine.”

The girl swore far too much. Probably due to being around farm hands all the time.

I cleared my throat.

“You can talk to me you know. I won’t say anything to anyone, I’m not like that.”

Ella dashed a hand across her chin and I noted the chewed nails again, another sign that she was troubled. Nail bitters always had secrets. Lisa forever had her fingers in her mouth.

At last, the guts that she had held into place for so long started their spilling.

“Sorry for being so cagey but I haven’t spoken to many people about my boy drama, only Connor really but it would be great to get a female’s perspective.”

I bobbed my head in agreement and did the cross my heart sign with one finger. “I get that, but you can trust me. Come on, we’ve known each other a while now.”

She grinned, feeling reassured.

“So, the boy problem?” I cursed the way that sounded, like I was a patronising mother. From her expression, she didn’t take it that way.

The pregnancy story started circling my thoughts as I waited, basically holding my breath for her to share the wealth .

“Well, it isn’t just one boy, there are two involved.” Her attempt at small talk was forgotten and I pushed the sudden image of a threesome from my immature mind.

Then another thought popped into my head. If she said Connor and Nate I’d literally throw up.

Due to all the weirdness, I now had my suspicions.

“Connor is one of them I take it?” The question pushed its way between the tightest of lips.

Ella’s brow furrowed, her eyes impaling me. My own stare must have resembled glass at that point.

“Shit, no. Not Connor at all. How could you think that ?” She physically recoiled.

Hope surged.Or was she lying?

My eyes studied her horrified expression. She was no actress. She must have been telling the truth.

So, it wasn’t Connor. We were surely running out of boys now. At least the ones that I knew.

I was stumped and so wanted to point out, ‘I thought that because of how weird you were with me that first day? Like you were warning me off him?’ I almost fired back at her but of course, I didn’t. I was too busy bathing in the fact that her sex orgy didn’t appear to involve the guy whose surname I had written after my own (to see how it looked) that very morning. It definitely worked.

“Well, who then?”

Then a thought occurred to me. “Nathan?” I blurted. Of course, Nathan was one of them. Shit.

Ella’s frown dropped away and a glint of surprise crossed her features.

“It’s that obvious?” she said mirroring my comment about Connor during the night of the club.

I shook my head and rolled back on my heels slightly to give her my best-pointed look.

“Not really. He just said something in the pub a few weeks ago which I thought was weird. And come to think of it, he was disappointed when you didn’t show up for his party.”

I paused to allow her to interject but she remained silent and pushed her nibbled fingers back into her pockets.

“So, spill it. I’m half-right?”

A flush now stained her cheeks. Was she embarrassed because she revealed she’d had a threesome?

“You don’t have to be embarrassed. I know a few girls that have done it.”

The frown was back.

“Done what?” she put in, now looking thoroughly confused.

I was starting to lose the will.

“Had a threesome,” I blurted.

From the look on her face, I was totally barking up the wrong tree.

“Fuck, hell no! It’s not like that at all!”

I can honestly say at that point, I was thoroughly bamboozled. Ella’s reaction was off the chart. She dragged her hands from her pockets, slapped her hand against her mouth, which held the widest grin ever and burst into full-on belly laughs. It was rather high pitched with the occasional pig grunt in there. It was not attractive.

I grinned, the infectious laughter lighting up my own face.

“What? It’s like we’re speaking in two different languages,” I chided in between giggles.

We both stood there laughing like hyenas for a few minutes, the ice was well and truly broken again.

Once we had both recovered, I staggered over to a tree stump which looked a fair enough size for both our non-existent arses. Ella followed me, rubbing at her now red eyes. Running from laughter I must add , not from crying.

“Sorry, I just got the giggles. The thought of the two guys in question together in any way intimately is wrong in every sense of the word.”

The penny wasn’t just dropped, it was hurled at my head.

Ryan’s face and his own confession about it being ‘complicated’ connected the dots.

“Because they’re brothers.” I put in at last. Ping! “Nathan and Ryan.” At last.

Ella grinned as she turned to face me, knowing that it had clicked. I felt like a bit of a dummy having not totally realised it after quite a few hints looking back.

“Yes, Nathan and Ryan,” she nodded, “and no threesomes were involved as that would be repulsive. For them anyway. ”

I chuckled to myself at her cheekiness and then stopped when her voice became serious again.

“And yes, complicated as Nate doesn’t know about Ryan and I don’t know what to expect if he does find out, but it won’t be good.”

Boom again! Now that explained those moments of strange atmosphere I’d witnessed.

“So, which one was the dad?” I puffed before I could reign in the thought.

Ella rolled her eyes at that one. “ There wasn’t a baby ! Eck, that story is so six months ago.”

“So, you were never pregnant?

“No way! You go away for a few months in this village and you’re either pregnant or on drugs,” Ella explained drily. I was surprised I hadn’t offended her, if I had she recovered really quickly which made her more believable. If she had got pregnant and was lying about it, I’d have known it. I was usually good at reading people when they were full of it.

I patted her on the shoulder.

“Sorry. Just call me the ‘jump to conclusions’ girl.”

“It’s fine, really. It never bothered me to be honest, well the rumours didn’t.”

“So, Nathan and Ryan?” I prompted, feeling my phone vibrate in my pocket. I left it to ring. This girl was, at last, opening up and I didn’t want any distractions. The fact that she also had no feelings for Connor was the cherry on top. I wanted to do a little victory dance on the spot.

I thought briefly about the two boys and how different they were and Ryan Lane, how the hell would that work? I blew out a breath, I needed to be supportive, not appear like an overly judgemental type.

“So, it’s a triangle-type thing? Who came first, Nathan or Ryan, I’m confused. And no pun intended,” I grinned. My God, I was suddenly the dirty-minded girl.

I jammed a hand through my hair, frustrated by my own lack of patience.

“Sorry, you go. Give it me from the top,” I said encouragingly, doing the ‘zipped mouth and throw away the key’ gesture with my fingers.

**** *

So, the basics of it were. Ella and Nate had been involved in an on-and-off ‘thing’ over the last year or so. They’d made out a few times at parties and Nate had sent Ella a dick pic by mistake. This led to Ella winding him up on and off about it until one night they left the friend zone and slept together. Ella said it was one of those stupid drunken moments that she immediately regretted the next day.

She explained that Nathan became hooked and didn’t want to go back to being ‘just friends’, to the point where he started to make a nuisance of himself.

Ella said after weeks of being hounded by Nathan, who had started to behave like a jealous boyfriend that their original friendship had been irreparable. A rift was created in the group of friends and going to parties and other events had become awkward, to the point where Ella had taken herself off the grid for a while and travelled around America. Ping! The supposed pregnancy months in the USA.

And then came the bit about Ryan. The ‘complicated’ section.

Ella had returned to Pickering and was waiting for a taxi at the train station at the same time Ryan had come back from London. They’d shared a cab and got talking. She explained to me how she’d always had this huge crush on Ryan and that he was the real reason she went to Nate’s parties with the hope of running into him.

Over the months that followed, on trips back from her aunts, Ella said that she and Ryan had started to see each other on and off, to the point where things had headed into more serious relationship type of waters.

“My parents would freak out if they knew I’d been seeing someone almost seven years my age and the fact that he’s one of the Lane boys, would probably give my mother a stroke.”

Ella puffed with frustration as we faced each other across the log. I had both my feet up now and was sat cross-legged, drinking in all the information. I had actually missed talking about these types of shenanigans. My girlfriends back home were full of stories like this, not exactly like this of course.

“Does Ryan know you slept with Nathan, cos that conversation won’t be easy?” I said with a pondering edge. Talking about exes was probably not the easiest of discussions with budding boyfriends.

She worried her lip and I knew the answer before she opened her mouth .

“Fuck no. He doesn’t know that bit and I don’t know how to tell him. He’s started to suspect Nathan had a thing for me I think, but that’s it.”

I allowed myself to process that one for a moment. “Does Nathan know about you and Ryan?”

Ella shook her head. “No, no one knows anything really, only Connor and my brother. Nate guesses there’s someone else I think but Ryan and I are so careful. Although he did get jealous over Ryan and I talking at his house the other day. I’m doing some work on their garden.”

The comment about Connor still annoyed me a bit. The fact that they were close.

“I take it you and Ryan are—,” I paused, struggling to get the words out.

“No, not yet. We’ve done other stuff but Ryan wanted to wait until it’s out in the open and we don’t have to sneak around anymore. He wants to speak to my dad. Like a proper old-fashioned guy.”

She must have seen the look that flashed across my face and put in. “Not about marriage! You’re right, you do jump to conclusions.”

I smiled and raised my hand in an ‘apologies, please continue motion’.

“It’s just such a bag of shit, isn’t it? Why the fuck did I have to get pissed and shag the brother of the guy I’ve wanted for so long?”

Ella stretched her legs out and flicked a blade of grass off her bare thigh. My eyes roamed over her face, wondering what type of relationship advice I’d be worthy of giving.

“I suppose you have to tell Ryan about Nate, it’s the right thing to do. Play it down though, it was a silly drunken mistake and you’re young. These things happen. What you do need to worry about, is how Nate will react when he finds out about you and Ryan. He’s wired most of the time, it won’t go down well and will surely interfere with their relationship. Especially when Nathan still likes you.”

She groaned and rolled her eyes before pushing herself to her feet. She held out a hand and I let her pull me to mine.

Although I had obviously not completely taken away her troubles, she appeared more relaxed and less flushed. A problem shared and all that.

“Thanks for listening. There isn’t anyone else I can talk to now. Connor has been so withdrawn lately. Ryan is the one I usually rely on, he’s so intelligent but of course, I can’t really share this particular problem just yet. ”

We started a slow walk back to the farm. Ella spoke about Ryan, Ryan and more Ryan, it was like the Ryan floodgates had been opened and I was surprised she had managed to keep her mouth shut for such a long time.

At the house, she pulled me in for a hug and thanked me again. I told her to text me if she needed anything. Her situation was complex. I’d had little to no experience of relationships myself and so what further advice could I give? Be true to yourself, follow your heart and be honest. As long as I had listened, that was the main thing. Hopefully it would all work itself out.

I walked Ella to the gate.

“Let me know if you fancy a meet up in the pub or we could do something else sometime. Maybe go to the cinema? My dad could drop us off?”

She brightened and I knew at that point that now the misunderstandings were gone. We could start to build a friendship.

Of course, there wasn’t that much time for that, soon I would go home and back to what I now considered to be an extremely boring lifestyle compared to life here.

I shooed away the thought of having to leave and how much I’d miss everyone, especially one particular someone.

*****

As I made my way into the house, I checked my phone and the text I’d received was from Connor asking where I was. I decided to head to his room without replying.

It turned out that he did have a TV screen in his room but that he only used it to play video games. It was also usually muted or set at a lower volume.

He had since explained in more detail what his dad used to do to him and was quite open with me about it now. I could see he still struggled to talk about it.

When I questioned him about how he’d managed in the nightclub with the noise, he explained that it wasn’t necessarily the level of sound but the device itself. Connor explained that the TV used to be a major trigger and that just the sight of a set would make him feel aggressive. Irrespective of whether it was turned on or not. As Rachel and my father were more into reading, they never purchased a TV for the house. Dad also preferred the radio to what he would call ‘the usual same crap on telly’.

I always made sure I positioned myself on the side with Connor’s good ear so he wouldn’t have to ask me to repeat myself. He was definitely still touchy about the whole hearing thing, who wouldn’t be?

I knocked and opened the door and there he was in all his glory. Bare-chested, half sprawled on his bed holding a video game controller, his concentration entirely focused on his game. His jean-encased legs were stretched out in front of him and he was leaning against the headboard. His torso was still bruised but the marks had faded.

“Sign me in then,” I instructed as I threw myself onto the bed to join him. He rolled his eyes and handed me his controller before leaning over to grab the other.

“You’re back for another beating then? You’ve got guts I’ll give you that,” he said with a curl to his lip.

“Get ready for an ass-whopping,” I cooed.

He darted me an arched eyebrow.

“We’re on the same team Harlow.”

“I know. I was speaking to the bad guys.”

We both started the game with huge grins which was cool, it felt so normal to be in his company now.

I was thoroughly enjoying myself, attempting to play Call of Duty, although I was absolutely rubbish and eventually resorted to shouting at the screen. We were part of a team and I was the worst shot ever and just kept getting mowed down by helicopter fire. Connor explained that if you shot enough players, it opened up bonuses and you were given extra firepower as a reward.

Someone with a call sign ‘NinjaWarrior129’ really had it in for me and ended up being named as my nemesis at the end of the second match.

Connor was clearly amused at how poorly I played the game, but I gave it my all.

As I waited to respawn (I was starting to learn the lingo), I leaned further back against the pillows and eyed Connor who appeared totally engaged with the gameplay .

“Stop it,” he said, still heavily concentrating, there were deep groves in his forehead.

I beamed. “What?” I said innocently with the sweetest of smiles.

“You know what. You’re trying to put me off.”

I shuffled further towards him, imagining a few delightful ways I could put him off. He shot me a knowing look before turning back to the screen and healing my player.

Unexpectedly, there was a brief tap on the door and dad walked into the room, I jumped back like I’d burnt myself. He would have chosen that exact point when I’d been about to blow in Connor’s ear. Like Maid Marion does to Robin Hood in that movie Prince of Thieves when he’s practicing archery.

As he saw us together on the bed, he was stunned at first and then embarrassment must have kicked in. Red stained his weathered cheeks.

“What?” I asked innocently enough. Did he think we’d been up to something? The thought of my dad thinking about boy stuff was mortifying.

He was now blatantly uncomfortable and didn’t know where to look. We were only sitting on the bed together, it’s not like I was straddling the guy! Dad needed to take a serious chill pill.

“I just came to see if you needed anything, Connor?” Dad began his voice a mumble. Sheepish is the best way to describe his expression. I bet he was regretting bursting in now. I found it quite amusing but decided not to wind him up.

“Nah I’m good,” Connor replied nonchalantly as he placed the controller on the bed in front of him and gave Dad a sympathetic look.

“Ah OK. Anyway, I can see you’ve got your hands full so—,” At his words, both Connor and I glanced at each other, both highly amused but managing to contain ourselves; poor choice of words Dad.

“Not now, but I did have a minute ago,” Connor announced with a twist to his lips.

His comment made my dad’s eyes almost bulge from his head. His mouth did a fishlike thing. I suppressed a giggle and shoved Connor’s arm in a ‘stop playing with him’ motion .

“I’m joking Mike. We’re good here but thanks anyway,” Connor put in, thankfully coming to Dad’s rescue. I imagine he was now a freshly rehabilitated inpatient person who would certainly knock in the future.

Dad still looked uncomfortable and he darted another glance between us.

The air was tense and fizzed with a mischievous element.

“Right. Good, well. I’ll see you both later.” And off he went, exiting the room even faster than he’d entered it; purposefully leaving the door open. He even made sure it was wider than it was before.

Connor and I both burst out laughing. It was hilarious, the panic on my dad’s face. He so didn’t expect to see me in there.

I climbed off the bed as it was almost time to call my mother. Connor took a glass of water from his bedside table and swung his legs down, rising to his feet. I admired his strong, tanned throat as he drank and the way his Adam’s apple moved. He was so manly considering he was only a few years older than me

His room was quite masculine and there were no posters or anything on the walls. It was decorated in grey and black and was much larger than the room I had. His double bed was also rather comfortable. From a sitting up point of view, I hadn’t of course had the opportunity to lay down in it… yet. I smiled at the ‘yet’ I added.

“What are you smiling at? You almost gave your dad a heart attack?” Connor drawled before draining the rest of the water and placing the glass aside. He walked towards me around the bed with sure footed strides.

I could feel the heat from his body.

I flicked a strand of hair behind my ear and his own hand lifted to do the same to the other side. It was a gentle gesture and the skin on my neck prickled.

“ You were the one winding him up,” I pointed out, a little shyly, considering the handful comment had of course been related to my breasts.

Suddenly, Connor’s eyes darkened and scanned my throat. He must have noticed the now faint trace of bruising which was still present on my neck. I’d stopped wearing my scarf.

His fingers traced the area softly before moving to skim across my collar bone. Goosebumps flittered across my skin at the contact .

“That fucker,” he whispered in a gruff voice. “No one will ever touch you again Harlow,” he said with a determined promise in his eyes.

He cocked his head to the side thoughtfully.

“You have such tiny ears,” he commented.

“I’m tiny everywhere,” I croaked.

His gaze then lowered to my cleavage before travelling back to my face. I didn’t actually mean ‘there’ but he checked me out anyway.

“I’m a bum man really,” he confessed with a teasing glint. This was probably a good thing due to the fact my boobs were not really anything to shout about.

“You don’t have to go. You can stay here with me. We don’t have to play Xbox; we can do something else.”

There was a suggestive light in his eyes and my tongue flicked nervously over my lips. I knew I should leave, the atmosphere between us simmered. The door was also now wide open and I didn’t have the nerve to shut it. I could hear my dad whistling quite loudly down the corridor. No doubt warning us that he was still in ‘hearing’ distance.

“I need to call my mom really,” I explained.

He nodded his head in understanding. “K, well, say hi from me.”

“I will.”

He pursed his lips. “Do you talk to her about me? I bet you do,” Connor said arrogantly.

“You are so full of yourself,” I berated with a laugh.

“Do you?” he said again, this time more seriously. The split on his lip had pretty much healed.

“Yes, actually I do. It’s not all good stuff though so your ego isn’t to get any bigger,” I whispered, popping a kiss on his cheek.

As I drew back, he shot me a suggestive smile. “I’m big everywhere,” he whispered, echoing my pattern of words from before.

I dramatically rolled my eyes.

“ Whatever . Get some rest,” I ordered and moved to turn away but he caught my elbow and gently swung me back.

“It’s just too much fun pissing you off. ”

There was a moment of thick silence before he said. “You fancy a drive to the beach with me tonight?” There was a slight tremor in his voice.

My heart leapt in my chest.

“Yes, OK,” I replied a little too soon and with much more eagerness than I should have. Didn’t they say you should always play it cool at first?”

He returned my smile and his eyes almost glittered.

Thoughts of playing it cool vanished as I considered his current state of health. “Are you OK to drive though?” I asked.

He escorted me to the door with his arm around my shoulders. It felt nice being tucked against him.

“I’ll be fine. You should go before I change my mind and keep you in here,” he announced, turning me gently and placing a palm in the hollow of my back. I trotted forward through the doorway.

“Oh, and Harlow…” I spun back to face him.

“Yes?”

One mouth-watering muscled arm was resting on the door frame above his head, his tattooed skin close to my face.

I lifted my eyes to meet his assessing stare, it was as if he was looking at me for the first time again.

“It isn’t a date,” Connor pointed out in a semi-playful/serious tone.

I raised my eyebrows and beamed up at him. It was so a date, and we both knew it.

I purposefully lifted my chin up towards his, confidence thrumming within me.

“If you say so.”

And with that I twisted and sashayed off down the corridor, ensuring I gave him the best view of my backside and that perfect Monroe sway which I had mastered the art of after many years of practice. I knew my bum would look pretty fantastic in the black skin-tight jeans.

I heard him inhale sharply before he chuckled quietly to himself and closed his door.

I had definitely won that round.