Post-bath Annie:
Blue silk slip (La Senza)
Clarins body lotion (eBay)
Sisley night cream, out of date
(The Store’s staff-only bargains)
Total est. cost: £40
‘Did you put the cats out?’
It was always close to midnight when things were finally calm and quiet in Annie’s household.
She came out of the shower, dried and dressed for bed, then did a final tour of the house, checking that Owen’s covers were on and Lauren’s lights were out.
When Annie pushed open the bedroom door, she understood at once that Ed was waiting for her… expectantly.
The light was low, provided by a small sidelight and the cluster of candles that had been lit in the room’s long defunct fireplace. Music, the second love of Ed’s life, was oozing from the speakers right beside the bed, something soft and seductive that she didn’t recognise. But then this was a man who delved for obscure CDs at charity shops and market stalls. Everything had been tidied away, so the room looked peaceful and calm, the idea being that she shouldn’t be distracted, she should concentrate on her man already in bed, waiting for her.
He smiled and put down his book. He wasn’t wearing a top, but he was still wearing his glasses, a look which she found irresistibly sexy. She wasn’t even sure why; it was like catching him half undressed. Or maybe it was the combination of intellectual glasses and big arm muscles that pressed all the right buttons for Annie.
‘Did you put the cats out?’ she asked him.
‘Uh-huh,’ he answered, with a little smile.
‘Empty the dryer?’
‘Oh yeah.’
‘Wash out the packed-lunch boxes?’
‘Ooooh, your sexy talk is turning me on…’ he teased, ‘Come over here!’ He held out his arms to her.
‘The aphrodisiac of fame… Connor’s warned me, you know.’
She let her dressing gown fall open and walked towards him in the slinky ink-blue slip she’d put on after her shower, just for him.
As she reached the bed, she slid her hands over his arms and said, ‘Last household chore of the day, huh?’
‘Oh yeah,’ he agreed, looking at her appreciatively, ‘last household chore of the day. Come here,’ he instructed.
She knelt over him and they began to kiss.
His tongue felt warm and minty against hers. She felt the soft silk of her slip sliding over her breasts.
‘Under the covers,’ Ed insisted, pulling her in beside his naked body; ‘get your fantastic arse into bed beside me.’
His hands moved up over her buttocks, pushing the slip out of the way. ‘Are you pleased?’ he asked, pulling her in against his hairy chest.
‘With you?’ she asked, ‘Always.’
‘No! With Wonder Women. Are you happy with it?’ he asked.
‘I think so, I think it’s fine. But can we keep the heavy stuff out of the bedroom, please?’ she asked.
He changed the music and soft, sexy saxophone filled the room.
‘I want to slow dance with you,’ she told him.
He slid the straps of her slip down from her shoulders.
She could feel her toes flex just at the thought of the next part.
He moved down and she lay back and let him do all the things he did to make her feel liquid, molten and so very turned on right.
He didn’t just lick, he blew, he hummed and sometimes sang, right there, right up against her, until her hands were wound into his hair and she was just about singing with pleasure herself.
She was just… just about, almost… nearly. Definitely. No, not, yes… about to… when he stopped. Abruptly.
‘Don’t!’ she said urgently.
‘Just a second.’
‘No! Hello! You need to go back down there…’ she insisted.
‘Trust me.’
She was aware of a tingly buzz that wasn’t coming from his lips. Wasn’t coming from anything human.
‘Shhhhhhhh,’ he told her, ‘it’s in time with the music.’
In Ed’s hands she could see a small egg-shaped… vibrator.
‘Are we at the sex toy stage?’ she asked.
‘You know I find it hard to resist a musical gadget,’ he replied.
Now, he was good. But this… this was technologically advanced. It buzzed to the rhythm, and she wanted to dance right along with it.
She was damp and clinging to him now. Desperate for him to push inside as she felt every nerve ending pulse and come alive. ‘Baby,’ she breathed against his ear, ‘you are so hot.’
‘Have you got your diaphragm in?’ he murmured as his fingers slid against her.
‘Oh yeah… I came prepared.’
‘I wish you wouldn’t.’ He was moving inside her now, and she was so desperate to come, right, right, right now this very second, now.
‘Oh, Ohhhhh,’ she heard herself exhale against his ear.
‘Let’s have a baby, Annie,’ he said, holding her with every square inch of his body, pulling her right against him.
It wasn’t fair. It was like the opposite of torture, lovemaking someone into a decision. Orgasming them into submission.
‘Please, let’s have a baby,’ Ed repeated with the tension in his voice that told her he was going to come too.
‘Yes… yes… yes… oh yes…’ she began, but then had to clarify that was nothing to do with babies, ‘No… no, I mean no to a baby. Definitely not!’