After All - Part Forty Two

Chapter Forty Two

The next morning she snuck off to work leaving him in bed, Dylan had travelled back from New York the previous day, and he would need a decent sleep to catch up. She made it to the office by nine, and was as usual thrown in to the chaos that was the approaching weekend at a busy hotel and golf club. Daniel was panicking about the lack of preparation by a bride holding her wedding the previous day, and she was involved in meetings with him and suppliers until lunchtime and she was glad to see Sarah approaching with a tray of sandwiches.

As they tucked into their sandwiches she glanced at her phone, and sighed, Dylan had messaged her when he woke at ten, she could tell he wasn’t happy waking without her, but she had to work he knew that. Now she had another few messages, telling her he wanted her with him in bed. She blushed as she read them.

                “You ok?”

She looked up at Sarah who was looking at her knowingly and when she gave a subtle nod, her friend laughed, “you look like love’s young dream!”

Mattie could feel her face flush again, “it’s not...”

Sarah lifted a hand, silencing her, “it’s ok. You don’t have to tell me anything, and equally you don’t have to hide anything. But just please be happy?”

Mattie smiled at her, “I’m trying.”

Grinning Sarah finished her sandwich as the phone rang and Mattie apologised with her eyes as she got engrossed in a conversation with her father who’d been back in Thailand for a few weeks, and was happily telling her all about the new home he had there. She eventually hung up promising that she’d visit, and sighed, he finally sounded happy, her father had been in turmoil for years. Hopefully now he could enjoy his retirement, and she wouldn’t worry about him quite so much.  Sarah had left the room mid phone call, so when there was a knock at the door, she looked up with an apologetic smile.

                “Sorry about that.”

The door flung open and Dylan stood there looking perfect in a dark suit, “sorry about leaving me? Or sorry about not replying to my ‘come back to bed’ messages?”

As he stepped into the room grinning, he closed the door behind him.

She giggled, “no I was apologising to Sarah, I don’t owe you a sorry, you should be thanking me for letting you sleep in!”

As she spoke she was already coming around the desk and they met in the middle of the office, lips connecting in a furious, desperate kiss.

                “Ahhh.” He sighed as they finally broke apart. “How the hell am I going to work in the next door office knowing you’re here? All lovely and enticing...” His fingers traced her cheek, sliding her hair behind her ear, and she smiled at his intense study, she would never be intimidated by him.

                “Because you didn’t get to where you are by being easily distracted!”

He grinned, but it was a sad gesture, “I didn’t have you then...it was easier to be motivated.”

That puzzled her, running her thumb over his bottom lip tenderly, “me being here shouldn’t make a difference. Go. I’ll cook you dinner tonight, we’ll have time together, ok?”

He nodded, “tagliatelle carbonara? No one makes it like you!”

Chuckling she nodded, “anything you want.”

Two hours later she looked in his office, he was on a call, immediately Mattie knew it was to Brandy, there was a way that he spoke to her that was different to anyone else. They had a really close, unique relationship and she was glad that he’d had someone to look out for him.

His eyes met hers as soon as she appeared and she felt warm in his appreciative gaze, and as he finished the call he smiled, “you look edible.”

She blushed at that, knowing he was furthering that thought in his mind, because he’d almost consumed her the previous night. “I’m done. I need to go to the supermarket...will I see you back at the apartment?”

He groaned, glancing at his computer for a moment, “I want to come now, but there are a few things I have to do.”

She nodded, “I wasn’t expecting you to be ready now. I’ll see you soon, ok?”

Standing, he covered the ground between them in a second, then pulled her into his arms for a hungry passionate kiss, “I’m counting the moments, ok?”

Two hours later, she was stirring the cabonara sauce, a large pan of tagliatelle bubbling beside it, and several bottles of prosecco on ice, when two arms encircled her from behind. She jumped a moment, not having heard the door open, but the lips on her bare neck were familiar, warm, loving.

                “Can we put dinner on hold?”

She turned in Dylan’s arms and shook his head, “no, I’ve spent long enough getting this organised.” When his face momentarily fell, she added wickedly, “and we both need the energy.”

That made him smile, “have I got time to shower?”

Once again the meal dissolved into passion, Dylan ate the food amidst almost orgasmic groans of pleasure, but as she started to dish up the lemon sorbet she’d purchased for dessert, he grabbed her.

              "There is obviously NO sexy way to eat that meal," he offered for a brief second, then in a blaze of passion, they devoured each other, and Mattie knew she’d never cook a meal in the kitchen again without remembering what happened there, and how they ate the melting sorbet.

                “You’re having the weekend off.”

Dylan’s breath against her ear woke her the next morning.

She cracked open an eye, “you can’t say that...I was off last weekend...”

He chuckled, “I’m your boss, of course I can say it. I called Sarah, told her you weren’t coming in...” When her eyes widened in shock he grinned, “I told her that we were meeting that investor from yesterday in town. Lunch...”

                “It’s Saturday morning, she would never have believed that.”

He placed a finger over her lips, “sshh. She has believed it, as will everyone else. You work too hard...you need time out...”

                “And you want to share that time with me?”

He laughed, pulling her onto his chest, “I want to spend ALL my time with you.”

Smiling, she loved the humour in his eyes, the devotion, edged with lust. It was everything she wanted to see. “And you can...but we need to talk.”

He groaned rolling his eyes, “what is there to talk about? And why talk when we can kiss?”

She made to protest, but she was defenceless against him and his wily ways, and she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

Hours later they managed to leave the apartment. Mattie couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen Dylan in shorts, but that was what he wore, combat shorts and a polo shirt, and he looked more ‘Yacht Club’ than beach bum, as usual she felt a little oppressed in her short denim skirt, strappy top and sandals. Taking her hand in his, he dragged her happily along the pavement, coming up with dozens of suggestions of ways to spend their day, from walks in the various parks, to getting the train to Brighton for a paddle in the sea. She had to keep reminding him that it was September, the sea would be freezing.

Instead, they walked to Hyde Park, still their favourite place and took a boat out on to the Serpentine. Mattie lounged one end of the boat watching him row efficiently. Once they were away from land, he pulled in the oars, and they drifted, basking in the pleasant sunshine. Mattie lifted her head from his shoulder after a little while.

                “So, what happens next?”

He opened one eye and studied her for a moment, “next? Dinner?”

She swatted at him, “no, I mean in life.”

Groaning, he closed his eye again, “well...”

When he didn’t answer immediately she prodded him in the chest, “Dylan, I’m serious. I can’t just let this go unsaid. After all that’s happened...”

He sat up and they both giggled as the boat rocked a little too aggressively, “look, we can worry, we can try and plan, but really...all we can do is play it day by day.”

She shook her head, “it’s not that easy. I mean I live in your home, we’ve lived together...but I think it’s too soon to pretend the last five years haven’t happened.”

He chuckled, “oh it happened all right. Look, let’s not overcomplicate things; all we need to do is see how things work out.”

                “But...”

He silenced her with his lips over hers, then when she was quiet he lifted his head, “this is unconventional, but I don’t want to hold back. I don’t want to let the past change us yet again. I want you, you want me?”

When she nodded, he grinned, “so we go out to dinner...then let’s see what happens, ok?”

But it wasn’t ok, so much had happened, both at the time, and in the years since, they weren’t the kids who met and married, they’d both hardened their hearts in the after math of what had ended up being a painful and hurtful divorce. SO much had happened at the time, and so much since, it was impossible to fall back into a relationship on a par with the one they’d had, they needed time, they needed to take a step back, take stock, slow down.

But as she looked at Dylan laughing as he once again set the boat rocking moving to retrieve the oars and start their trip back to shore, she knew that he wouldn’t take telling easily, wouldn’t be able to slow down.

                “So where are we going?”

Dylan looked up from the sink where he was shaving in just his black trousers, to see Matilda stood there in a floor length royal blue dress, strapless, but sliding over her curves in a gentle caress it was almost more suggestive to him than if she were naked.

He moved towards her, “nowhere!”  But as he tried to grab her, she spun around, wriggling out of his grasp.

                “Dylan! This dress is expensive and I’ve spent ages trying to make myself look better...I don’t need to be covered in shaving foam!”

He laughed, “look better? You look amazing.”

Shaking her head, she leaned against the bathroom door frame, “I asked you where we were going!”

He grinned, “ah. Cocktails at the Ritz - I know you love their Manhattan, then there’s a party at the Shard. The Birthday Party of Michael Painter, so you remember him college?”

Matilda nodded, “tall dark and handsome, who could forget him?”

He felt his eyes widen, his jaw slacken, “really?”

Matilda grinned, “yep, I saw him in Hello magazine a couple of years ago, he’s come a long way from then, I mean he was always dynamic, but I never saw him as CEO of such a big company before he was thirty.”

Dylan had finished shaving so he cleaned his jaw then turned to her, “he had a few lucky breaks, but he is in the top twenty richest people in the UK. So we go and sponge off that wealth, hey? I hear they’re serving the most expensive caviar in the world there.” He chuckled as Matilda wrinkled her nose, she wasn’t an admirer of the delicacy, and had never bought into it.

                “Yuck. You sure this is a good idea?”

He knew she’d worry, “what because these people there knew us as a couple?”

                “A lot has happened since then...I’m not sure I’m ready to explain what went wrong, and what’s changed.”

He sighed, “It’ll be ok. We just go, enjoy, then come home. Together. Ok? No one needs any answers; we do and say what we want, ok?”