Silly Games - Chapter 39

Chapter 39

                “So what’s your problem?” Laura glanced at the message in front of her and smiled. Trust Michaela to bring it down to basics. And maybe she was right. What was wrong?  She’d had a message of her friend the previous day asking how things were, she’d then told her all that had happened in the past two days and her friend could sense the unwritten ‘but’ in her words. Laura had what she wanted. Adam. So why was she holding back?

She was sat in a cafe, a large Americano and a muffin in front of her. California was an idyllic place; she was staying with a man who seemed intent on making her happy. In every way. What could be better? She didn’t know where this relationship was going, but did anyone. She’d never felt this way about a man, never been this close to anyone, it was so special. She knew she loved him, but she didn’t have any clue about how he REALLY felt. The longevity of their relationship had always been the issue, protecting her parents from a bitter split. But somewhere over the last few months it had changed; now she knew that she had as much concern for Adam in all this. It was such a mess.

Then there was her future. She’d spent years fighting to be independent from her father, and now she was almost in a similar position with Adam, fighting a reliance on him she could see that from being alone and with the distance of a coffee shop. She leaned back in her chair. What was she scared of?

Laura thought long and hard as she drank her coffee. She had to really decipher what scared her, why she couldn’t relax and let go, otherwise she was about to throw away the best thing that had ever happened to her. She thought of her father. She’d never felt good enough for him, never thought she’d achieved what he had wanted for her. Instead of confronting that, telling him what she wanted, Laura had made it her life’s work to prove to him that she didn’t need his approval. But at some point she’d confused approval with love, and acceptance with allowances. She’d rejected everything he offered to prove she was right.

Deep! She thought, collecting her things, but why was she comparing him to Adam?

She loved the small car he’d organised for her. Small? Small by Californian standards. She headed towards Venice Beach; she had a proposition for Marina Porter.

Adam and her father. They were both so different, yet had so many similarities. After all they’d both created success from fairly humble beginnings, both were driven, ambitious, enthusiastic. And both were single minded in their ambitions. So was she fearing him for the same reason? That she didn’t feel she was good enough? Laura gulped at that thought. Did she?

It was obvious his mother didn’t think she was up to the Purcell standard, and he was close to his mother, saying that, she knew he liked her. That was obvious. No that wasn’t it, not entirely anyway.  She’d spent a long time trying to be individual, she was as likely to work for her father as she was accept free handouts from Adam. It wasn’t so much who was ‘supporting’ her, as the fact that anyone was!

She looked at her phone and sighed, she’d hoped Michaela would sympathise, but as usual her practical friend was seeing things as they were.       “Suppose my problem is I’m scared hey? I’m not like you! Spent my whole life fighting moments like this. You always knew me better than I knew myself!”

It was evening back home, and Laura knew Michaela was on a date with Paul, but her friend still replied within seconds. “Sometimes you’ve just got to trust people. Not your strongest point Miss Independent. Give him a chance, ok?”

Pulling up at the Surf hotel, she burst out of the car and ran to the building, praying that Marina was there to help her. Suddenly things were looking a lot more straight forward.

Adam was ready to drop on his feet, he was normally home from work by early evening, but it was dark as he pulled into the garage attached to his house. He was weary and after the day from hell wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep. Police and insurance investigators had been hounding him all day, and he’d asked his own investigators to look into the fire. And he wasn’t happy with the initial conclusions that they were making.

Groaning he climbed out of the vehicle and locked it then dragged himself into the house. As he opened the door, the smells hit him. He’d not come home to the smell of home cooking as long as he could remember, strolling into the living area, he froze. There was Laura, in a bikini top and a tiny pair of shorts dancing in the kitchen as she stirred a large pot, her derriere wiggling along to a tune he didn’t have the energy to decipher. A soft groan left his lips, but it was loud enough to alert her, and she spun around.

                “Adam!” Dropping the spoon, she rushed across to him, wrapping her arms around him, and then plunging her lips on to his.

The exhausted side of Adam disappeared; there was nothing more replenishing than Laura, enthusiastic, wanting him, draped around him. And he responded with gusto. Like whisky to an alcoholic he devoured her, tongue thrashing into her mouth, hands pulling her scantily dressed body hard against his own.

Something had changed, and for a moment Adam was uncaring. He loved that she was still here, that she was enthusiastic, happy. It took his mind off the black cloud that had descended that day.

                “Bikini?” he breathed against her lips.

                “You were late!” Her mouth moved to his ear and she nipped at his ear lobe. Adam felt his body swell at that. “I had a swim whilst I waited. There’s food here...” Her tongue slid over his ear, lavishing exotic attention on it in the most intense fashion. “But it can wait if you have something else in mind?”

Laura was in her element, his body was hard against her, and there was something rather forbidden in the fact that he was fully, formally dressed, whereas she was anything but. And she loved it. Adam’s eyes met hers and he smiled as he popped open her shorts, with a quick wriggle and him tugging at just four ties, she was naked. And with the heat of desire that flushed her face and neck, came the swirling in her pelvis, the dampness between her thighs, and the firm bullets that were her nipples sought out the coarse pressure of his suit to assuage some of the burning that took over her.

All afternoon she’d been waiting for him to come home, desperate to see him spread out on the bed, naked at her command. But instead it was him carrying her to the sofa, her being spread out in his view, and still in his suit, even his tie still secured, he knelt between her thighs, and sought out the sensitive flesh, seeking the heat, the moisture, the evidence of her desire.

Within seconds she exploded around his fingers, but he persisted in teasing until she begged for mercy. Reaching to kiss her briefly she tasted herself on his lips, and that was intoxicating. But it was the slow removal of his clothes, the almost deliberate strip tease that made her roll on to her side and watch him intently. Once he’d slipped out of his suit and his boxers hit his thighs to reveal his own desire and intention, she could resist no longer. Dropping to her knees in front of him she took him in her mouth, devouring every inch of him, her hands exploring, holding, teasing as her mouth and tongue reciprocated.

Adam groaned and his head flew back in ecstasy, but in that position he couldn’t watch her, and seeing her, those full lips devouring him was pure sin. His hands moved to her head and it was purely to steady himself and not direct or secure her. Within seconds he exploded as dramatically and overwhelmingly as she had a few minutes earlier.

Laura purred like a cat, contented as she sat back onto her heels looking up at him, face closed, body spent. Climbing to stand in front of him she smiled as his eyes opened very slowly.

“I am sure that I haven’t done anything to deserve that!”

Grinning, she slid her arms around his neck, bringing her body tight against his sweat slicked one, “can’t I do that for you because I feel like it?”

His hands linked around her lower back and he sighed, “you can do that ANY time for ANY reason!”

She laughed, “good!” then reached for the shirt he’d slid off a few minutes earlier and covered herself.

Adam reached for his boxer shorts, and when they were on he sat at a stool at the breakfast bar with the beer she’d handed him he felt more relaxed than he thought possible. “So you’re a lot happier this evening?”

An apron over the shirt Laura was stirring a large pot of bolognaise, the other pot already simmering with spaghetti.  When she was happy with the progress, she turned to him, “I’ve had a good day! So I wanted to cook for you, show my gratitude at you helping me out.”

Jumping to his feet, Adam walked around to her and pulled her into his arms, “this is not me helping you out! This is me wanting you, here in my home, in my bed!”

Laura smiled, “well I did a lot of thinking, and I think I’ve sorted my head out. Then I saw Marina...” her smile was infectious, “I’ve arranged a deal with her, I think it might me illegal...not sure how you feel about that?”

Laughing he shook his head, “what?”

                “Well she’s employing me as a surf coach for a few months, just weekends, odd evenings and stuff. Obviously as I don’t have a work Visa she can’t pay me...but if I was staying there at the hostel I could have food and board for it...so we’ve got an informal arrangement that means I don’t have to be completely reliant on you until I decide what to do!”

                “Well if it means food that smells as great as this does, and welcomes home like I’ve just had, then I can’t complain about anything else!”

They sat together and ate their spaghetti, a rather inelegant occasion, but it was Laura’s favourite meal and she was uncaring if she made a mess. Adam was as enthusiastic about it as her, and it was a while later that she realised that he was very quiet.

                “So what’s eating you tonight?” She asked as they sat on the sofa watching the late news.

He raised his eyebrows at her faux-pas then when he controlled his grin shrugged, “nothing really, just a long day, and the worst thing was knowing that you were here waiting for me and I couldn’t get here any quicker.”

With a beaming smile she leaned back on the sofa and offered, “well then there’s no time like the present to explain to me what that means!!”

Adam loved the wicked glint in her eye as she offered herself to him, draped across the sofa. For a moment he wanted to forget the information that had ruined his day, he had no idea how he would tell her that he thought her father was involved in arson, he didn’t know how to process that himself. With a groan he moved towards her, he’d investigate the arson more tomorrow.