Spare Me

Chapter 17

A fter a few minutes of post-coital cuddling, Alex slipped out of bed, tied off the condom, and wrapped it in a tissue before putting it in her bedroom trash and starting to collect his clothes. He turned back to where she was still splayed across the bed, her hair fanned across the pillow, her cheeks still flushed from their exertions. “I was thinking,” he started slowly, “maybe you might like to come spend a few days at my place? We can hunker down with movies and take Bertie on walks and, y’know… just hang out?” He was starting to sound desperate and a little pathetic. “I mean, if you want.”

She blushed and smiled up at him, “Of course I want to. That sounds great. Nobody will really be back here to wonder where I’ve gotten off to until after New Year’s either.”

He was irrationally excited to hear her agree to the plan he’d been rehearsing in his head the entire two-hour drive back from Sandringham. “Excellent. Want to pack a few things? I plan on keeping you mostly naked, but if we want to go on a walk or something, I suppose pants might be in order. ”

She giggled and stretched. “Yes, I don’t think I want to find out what frostbitten lady bits feel like.” Pushing herself to sit, she suddenly became concerned. “Wait, where is Bertie?”

“In the car,” Alex replied.

“In the car ?” she shrieked.

“He’s fine,” Alex reassured her. “I gave him a bone big enough to keep him happy for at least two rounds.”

She laughed and started opening drawers to pull out clothes. “Well if he can wait another ten minutes, I could really use a shower…” she said ruefully. “I kind of can’t believe I let you get that close to me like this.”

Alex came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her torso, clad only in a bra, kissing along her neck. “I was too busy thinking about all the ways I wanted to defile you to even notice.” He paused. “And if you can stand it for just a few more minutes, you could shower at my place?” He couldn’t understand why asking her things like this made him feel nervous and vulnerable. That was totally not his way with women—he was assertive, a little dominant even, and always had a clear plan. But for some reason with Maddy he found that, outside of the act itself, he felt less sure. He tried not to think about the fact that it might be because he cared a hell of a lot more for Maddy than he had for any other woman he’d ever been with and forced himself back into the moment. Those thoughts were decidedly non -casual. He leaned down, getting his mouth right up next to her ear, even though they were completely alone. “I’ve seen your shower. It’s tiny. If we go to my place maybe I can help you wash your back,” he said in a husky voice.

He swore he could feel her heart racing in her chest as he heard the slight intake of air, and her breathy “I think I can wait a few more minutes.”

“Excellent,” he said, reluctantly dragging himself away from her before he gave up and threw her back into bed. It was true that Bertie would wait up to a certain point, but if they actually went in for round two he’d have real reason to worry about the interior of his car. “Grab what you need for a few days, and I’ll meet you down there,” he said, indicating the absurd conversion of a sitting room the embassy had put her in—really, they couldn’t find an actual suite of legitimate rooms for her?

“Oh, and one more thing,” he added, looking over his shoulder as he headed for the stairs. “Bring the toy.” He watched her cheeks flush and her pupils dilate as he winked at her and started back towards where they’d left his shirt.

Her cheeks flushed, but she looked up at him with evident desire in her eyes. “Okay, just give me a few minutes.”

He wandered around her sitting room. It was the first time he’d been alone in her space for any real length of time and he suddenly was noticing that there were essentially no personal touches. No photos, no tchotchkes, nothing that reflected the warm, thoughtful, caring person who lived there. Before he could let his brain go too far down that path, he heard her clattering back down the stairs, a canvas duffel bag thrown over her shoulder, the sleeve of a sweater sticking out. She’d changed into an oversized striped turtleneck sweater and another pair of those irresistible black leggings that made her ass look fantastic and turned Alex’s brain into a horny cauldron of goo. She darted into the bathroom to grab a few more things and emerged seconds later, zipping the duffel as she grabbed her coat from the rack at the foot of the staircase into the main house. Alex took the bag from her so she could slip into the knee-length sky-blue coat and pull a white knit hat topped with a fur pom-pom on it over her hair, which he noticed she’d wrangled into a slightly less messy bun when she changed. Pointedly ignoring her attempts to take the bag back from him, he ushered her up the steps and out to where he’d left his car by the kitchen entrance to Winfield House.

When they walked out, Maddy seemed surprised to see his black Audi e-tron GT, with Bertie peering out the back window. “Where’s Graham?” she asked, the surprise evident in her voice.

“Home, with his family,” he said, as if that should have been obvious. “The man’s not a serf. He’s allowed to take holidays off.” He opened the passenger door for her and waited as she settled herself in the cognac leather seats before closing the door and jogging around to the driver’s side. He leaned in to toss her bag into the backseat next to where Bertie’s leash tethered him, before settling himself in the driver’s seat. “I use a driver when I’m going to official events or when I want to be able to do other things on the way.” He smirked thinking of their trip to Windsor. “But I am allowed to drive myself.”

“Wow, this thing is silent,” Maddy marveled as she took in the luxurious surroundings.

“Fully electric,” he said by way of explanation as he pulled out into the mostly empty streets of Marylebone. “It’s the way of the future.”

She smiled over at him. “I still just can’t believe you’re here! Are you sure your family isn’t upset?”

“Mads, I want to be here with you.” He was afraid to admit how much. “And really, one less person taxing the aging infrastructure of that place is a blessing to everyone else.” He reached over and took her hand, bringing it to his lips before settling it on his thigh as he navigated the route back to Kensington. The ride, which sometimes took as much as half an hour in London traffic, barely took half that, and before long they were pulling into the security gate. Alex waved at the guard on duty and noticed that Maddy ducked her head to avoid her face being seen as they drove past.

He begrudgingly allowed Maddy to carry her bag as he managed his own small suitcase and the exuberant corgi on his leash. He unlocked the door and pushed it open to let Maddy go ahead of him. As she slipped out of her sneakers, he placed his suitcase just inside the door. “I need to let this maniac go do his business,” he said as Bertie hopped and danced on the end of the lead. “Why don’t you”—he leaned closer to place a kiss on the side of her face—“make yourself comfortable”—another kiss, this one on the tender underside of her jaw—“maybe hop in the shower”—a nip at her earlobe—“and I’ll be in in just a moment.”

He felt rather than saw her shiver and she said, “Okay. But don’t be long.”

He finally kissed her lips and then had to drag himself away before Bertie dislocated his arm. “Two minutes. Tops,” he promised as he pulled the door closed behind him and followed Bertie towards his favorite tree.

“Ok, mate,” he said to the dog, “we need to do this and get it done. And then you’re going to be a good dog and go to sleep. In the study. In your bed. Not in mine. Got it?” He hoped his voice didn’t sound quite as desperate out loud as he thought it did. You’re talking to a dog , he chided himself. He had to have been imagining it, but he swore when he looked down, Bertie was giving him a look that said the exact same thing.

He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet as he waited for Bertie to do his business, imagining Maddy in his house, undressing in his bathroom, standing there naked as she waited for the water to heat up. He pictured the way her chocolate-brown hair would cascade down her naked back as she released it from the tie—how was a woman’s naked back so damned sexy? —the perfect curve of her ass—and fuck , the things he wanted to do to that ass—as she stepped into the shower, and the way her smooth skin would feel with the water streaming down .

Despite the frigid temperatures he found his cock starting to stiffen as his mind wandered, and he turned his attention back to Bertie impatiently. “Are you done yet? Come on, mate!” The dog yipped back, as if in agreement, and they walked briskly back to Alex’s apartments, where he rushed through the process of settling his canine companion as quickly as possible before racing to his bedroom and shutting the door firmly behind him.

He heard the shower running and could see steam starting to fill the en suite through the partially open door. He ripped his clothes off in a manner that he hoped was closer to Superman in a telephone booth than flailing muppet, but frankly it didn’t matter that much. All that mattered was that clothes were the only things standing between him and Maddy’s luscious, wet body in his shower.

He slowly opened the door, stopping for a moment to admire the sight before him. It was much as he’d imagined it: Maddy, her back to him, standing under the showerhead of his large shower. He wasn’t entirely sure she’d heard him come in, so he wracked his brain for some even remotely sexy way to let her know he was there without startling her. He finally landed on striding over to the shower and knocking lightly on the glass door before opening it. She turned to him, her eyelashes catching water droplets as she took in the full view of his naked form. “Hi,” he said, stepping in and joining her under the generous streams of water pouring from the twin shower heads.

“Fancy meeting you here,” she said, giving him a sassy smile.

He slid his hands down her sides, coming to rest on the curves of her hips, relishing the slick feeling of her smooth skin. Her hands slid up his chest, coming to rest briefly on his shoulders, before moving to the back of his neck to pull him down to kiss her. He sank into their kiss, drawing her closer and wrapping one of his hands around the base of her skull, lacing his fingers into her wet hair. Even though it had been barely an hour since he’d been inside her, his cock was starting to harden again.

Apparently Maddy was having similar thoughts, as one of her hands snaked down between them to take him in her hand, stroking gently but firmly as she moaned into his mouth. One hand still cradling her head, he used his free hand to cup one of her breasts, teasing her nipple into a stiff peak with his thumb. After several minutes she broke their kiss, glancing around the shower briefly before adjusting one of the showerheads to point toward the tiled bench and pushing him in that direction.

If possible, his cock got even harder as her intentions became clear. As he sat on the bench, she followed him, straddling his thighs and undulating her hips against his erection. If they hadn’t just had sex he would be coming all over her right now, because Christ was she sexy. Based on her slightly submissive nature the previous times they’d been intimate, he was surprised and incredibly turned on by the way she was taking charge, and he leaned back, holding her lightly by her hips, and let her have her way with him.

Minutes passed, filled with unhurried kisses before she slid away from him, dropping to her knees on the tiled floor. She adjusted her grip on his length and looked up at him, a sexy question in her eyes. “May I?” she asked over the steady rainfall of the shower.

“Fuck, yes, Mads,” he groaned out, his head hitting the tiled wall behind him as she immediately extended her tongue to lick him root to tip, swirling around the head of his cock before starting over on the other side. He hissed as she gently cupped his balls, fondling him as she set to working over his rock-hard length. The way her mouth felt around him was unreal. If he was objective about it, she wasn’t doing anything he hadn’t experienced before. But the fact that it was Maddy and that he could sort of tell by the way her grip was slightly too tight that she hadn’t done this for anyone in quite a while somehow made it ten times sexier. One of his hands slid into her hair, just behind her ear as used the other to brace himself on the bench, slightly worried that if he got too enthusiastic he could slip right off. His hips were bucking slightly as he moved closer to losing control and he tried valiantly to hold himself back, not to push too far or cause her to slip. But she just kept going, bobbing up and down on his cock, making sexy little sounds that he could just barely hear over the sounds of the rushing water and his own barely coherent moans mixed with praise.

“Fuck, you’re so good, Maddy. So fucking good.” She hummed around him and he almost lost control, the sounds, the sensations, all of it was overwhelming. “Oh god,” he bit out. “Mads, I’m close. I’m so close.” She looked up at him, her brown eyes smoldering as she smiled around him and redoubled her efforts. She reached beyond his balls to put exquisite pressure just behind them and moaned as he came in her mouth, swallowing until she’d taken everything he gave her. He twitched when her tongue traced the sensitive seam on the underside of his cock as she slowly released him from her mouth and sat back, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and looking up at him.

“Jesus Christ, woman,” he said, running a hand down his face as she got to her feet, smiling at him with shy satisfaction.

“Was that okay for you?” she asked, a hint of self-consciousness overtaking the woman who had just blown him out of the water… literally.

“Okay?” he asked, incredulously. “That was… a far cry better than okay, you absolute sex monster. Here I was figuring we’d conserve water by sharing a nice innocent shower before going to bed and getting our rest, and there you go ab solutely blowing my mind.” Finally feeling like his legs might hold him, he stood and joined her under the main showerhead, adjusting the second one on his way so that they were getting the warmth from both. He leaned down and kissed her gently. “That was incredibly sexy,” he said, touching his lips to the sensitive spot behind her ear. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” she said, blushing slightly.

He reached past her to pump some shampoo into his hand and, drawing her slightly out of the stream of warm water, began massaging it into her hair. She sighed contentedly as he worked the lather down to her scalp, paying special attention to the base of her head where he’d learned she held most of her tension. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back as he kept working, probably longer than one really needed to wash someone’s hair, but she was so clearly enjoying his ministrations that he couldn’t bring himself to stop. After a few more moments he gently edged her back towards the spray and started to rinse the lather from her hair, realizing that he thoroughly enjoyed knowing that she’d smell like his shampoo until the next time she washed her hair.

Maddy reached past him and grabbed a washcloth from the shelf and, after applying soap to it, started to gently wash his chest, making sudsy circles across his pecs and then down his flanks. She was almost tender in her attentions, and as his head fell back, enjoying the soothing sensations, tried not to imagine this becoming his new normal. He felt his dick quiver as she drew the washcloth up between his asscheeks, and continued her soapy and thorough exploration of his body.

When she finished he felt her lean her wet forehead against his upper back, putting her arms loosely around his waist. He turned in her embrace to kiss her before taking the washcloth from her and returning the favor. He wanted to memorize every inch of her body, from the modest swell of her breasts topped with rosy pebbled nipples to the curve of her hips to the tiny mole at the corner of the crease between her butt and her thighs. When he finished he stood behind her, his front to her back, kissing her neck languidly. She moaned sweetly for him, and he nudged her slightly forward, angling her so that when he used his right hand to splay the lips of her sex, the stream of water fell directly on her clit. He watched for her reaction, noticing that even as her eyes flew open in surprise, her lips parted in obvious arousal. “Yeah?” he rumbled in her ear, as he used his free hand to anchor her left hip to him.

“Uh-huh,” she whimpered, her breaths coming in short pants already. “Oh my god, Alex !” Her hands were raking up and down his thighs, desire carrying her higher and higher.

“I’ve got you,” he said, “Just relax. Let me take care of you.”

Her head fell back onto his shoulder, her hips writhing. He moved his right hand to reach up and pull down the removable showerhead, bringing his left hand around to hold her open as he aimed the stream of water at her pussy, making gentle circles, careful to keep it far enough away that the pressure wasn’t too intense. She keened, still clawing at his legs as he sensed her impending climax. “That’s it, that’s my good girl. Here, hold yourself open for me.” When she did what he asked, he reached down to thrust two fingers into her, continuing his assault by showerhead. “You are so fucking hot,” he growled into her ear. “So wet and needy for me.” He felt her core beginning to tighten around his fingers, still plunging rhythmically into her center. “You’re going to come so hard for me, aren’t you, Mads? Come on, give it to me.” When she came it was fast and hard, her cries echoing throughout the tiled room. He moved the showerhead away, not wanting to overstimulate her, but continuing to pump his fingers slowly in and out as she came down from her second orgasm of the evening.

She slumped against him, out of breath, and he reached past her to turn off the water, before sliding one arm out the glass door to grab two towels from the ledge just outside. After wrapping one around his waist, he cocooned her in the other, kissing her gently and murmuring sexy nothings in her ear as he swiftly bundled them out of the shower and towards his waiting bed.