Chapter Thirty-Six

Tanya was in heaven. For the first time, she felt like she had truly met The One. Marinos had sent a taxi to pick her up at the airport, and had ordered a Chinese takeaway for their first night at his flat together. And what a flat! Overlooking Highbury Fields, it was in a Victorian terrace but had been thoroughly modernised, with a huge kitchen-come-TV room, a sitting room with two black leather sofas and a wide screen TV, and two bedrooms with a luxurious bathroom in between. There were halogen lights with dimmer switches all over the place, smooth beige carpeting throughout and framed modern posters on the walls. To Tanya, it reeked of sophistication.

Her bags still sat in the hallway. Neither had made any reference as to which bedroom she might be sleeping in, but as Tanya sipped her wine (twelve pounds forty from Oddbins!), she knew exactly where she wanted to be. And when they did finally start kissing, watching a Tom Cruise DVD on one of the black leather sofas, his chop suey flavoured tongue entering her mouth, Tanya felt a frisson down below that she’d rarely experienced before. She’d forgotten what real sex felt like - genuine excitement and anticipation, genuine desire. She was glad all those sensations were still available to her, that they hadn’t been smoothed away by the repeated penetration of Arab and Russian cocks; that all her nights of lending her body out to strangers hadn’t taken away her ability to enjoy sex.

As his hands groped inside her skinny fit T-shirt for her bra, Tanya felt a shiver of excitement. She pulled up his T-shirt, surprised to find the muscles below. He might still be young and baby-faced, she thought, but he was fitter than James Bond. And smooth, with no hairs on his chest, and nicely tanned. She kissed and nibbled his neck, throat and nipples, making her way slowly but surely down towards his jogging pants, which now resembled a tent she was keen to enter. She eased her hand inside to grasp his cock, and teased and squeezed and did all the things she now knew men enjoyed.

All those other men, she thought, were her training. They’d made her a better, more considerate lover. Considerate? - she’d never got remotely turned-on with any of them, it had just been a job. This was different. Taking Marinos’ cock in her mouth, she sipped his pre-come like it was fine champagne, and licked and teased and nibbled, while juggling her balls like firm ripe figs. Today it was his turn to be dessert. She pulled off her skirt and stood before him in her underwear, then she unclipped her bra and let it fall to the floor, before stepping out of her thong.

‘I’m not normally like this but I really want you,’ she whispered, returning to his cock.

‘I want you too,’ he whispered, fighting for breath.

‘I just feel we’ve got a connection,’ she added, straddling him. Remembering how much men loved to see pussy, she climbed up to his face on her knees, so that he could get a full view. ‘Do you think she’s pretty?’ she asked.

‘Fucking gorgeous,’ he replied.

She stroked herself, darting one finger in between her pussy lips, putting on a show, just as she’d learnt. He raised his head up and made tentative licks, but she sensed he was young and inexperienced, and that he still had much to learn. She climbed back and straddled his cock, then slid herself onto it, leaning forward so he could take her breasts in his hands while they kissed.

His cock was inside her, Tanya thought. The cock of a rich and famous footballer was inside her! The thought turned her on and she slid up and down his shaft more eagerly, imagining what it might look like inside, imagining his cum shooting out inside her. Suddenly he did come, firing out at her, his baby face crumpling, and this sent Tanya over the edge and she came too, suddenly and with a force she’d rarely felt before.

The next morning she woke up to the sounds of a car alarm ringing insistently in the street and a bus thundering past. Without disturbing Marinos, Tanya peered through the curtains to see a sky heavy with clouds, but there was nothing it could do to dampen her spirits. Tanya was in-love with a footballer, and her world was complete.

When they got up, Marinos suggested some shopping in town, and drove to the west end in his BMW. He parked in one of those hellishly expensive places that Tanya’s dad used to complain about without even considering the expense. And then as they did Bond Street, hand in hand, he showered her with gifts - a pair of oversized sunglasses Tanya thought would look the part, a new dress and some Jimmy Choos. Everywhere they went - all these shops that Tanya would feel self-conscious in under normal circumstances - they were treated with respect, deference, even. It was a whole new experience for her. At one point Tanya heard someone call ‘Over here, Marinos’, and she’d turned to see a group of boys watching them, but he warned her to ignore them. People in the street shouted all the time, he told her; you got used to it.

By now he’d explained what he did, and Tanya had feigned surprise and tried to ask pertinent football questions, and he’d leant forward and kissed the tip of her nose, finding her adorable. He was three years younger than she, but she didn’t care. They felt right together, and his wealth was something she could definitely get used to.

That evening he took her to a smart restaurant in the west end, and she wore her new dress and shoes, and when a flashbulb went off as they left, Tanya grabbed his hand and smiled broadly, trying to ensure they got her best side.

It was only once she was back in his leather upholstered car that Tanya remembered she was supposed to be visiting her sick mum, and that photos of her in the papers might be inopportune, but remembering that Yannakis never read the British papers anyway, she decided she’d get away with it. And anyway, what did she care if she lost her job? Marinos wouldn’t let her down.

The following day they’d made it into one of the tabloids. ‘Mystery Blonde Aids Recovery’ ran the headline. Tanya quite liked being described as a mystery blonde. And it was a nice shot of her, considering. The dress, short, tight and white with pale pink straps, was fitted to make the most of her cleavage, and her legs looked longer than ever with those shoes on. She’d have to do something about her hair, though, it didn’t hang properly. She’d wanted that unkempt look, but hers was too straight and boring. Perhaps a session at some celebrity hairdresser’s might do the trick?

As Tanya poured over the newspapers, Marinos’ phone never stopped ringing. She was disappointed to see her photo in just the one, but it was a good start. They’d have to go somewhere visible again today to ensure some more. And then she’d come back to London as soon as she possibly could, because it was important, Tanya decided, not to let their love, or whatever it was, grow cold.

‘You all right with this?’ Marinos asked cautiously, indicating the photo.

‘Should I do something about my hair?’ she wondered aloud.

‘I like it the way it is,’ he told her. ‘But the publicity, I’m really sorry about it.’

‘Look,’ Tanya said, brushing the papers aside. ‘I really like you, Marinos. I always have, since we first met. That’s all that matters. And if being with you means that occasionally I get my mug shot in the papers, well, so be it!’ She thought that sounded like a good answer.

‘You’re amazing,’ he told her, kissing her. ‘Some girls would find it difficult.’

He didn’t like to admit that his mother had just been on the phone, yelling at him for getting in the papers again, and for being seen with a girl who clearly wasn’t Cypriot. He didn’t like to admit that his family meant the world to him, and that going against their wishes would be hard, if not impossible, to do. Instead, he thought of something else. ‘D’you want to go and watch the team training today?’

‘Oh, er - ‘ Now Tanya didn’t know what to say.

‘Or perhaps we could just go shopping again? Maybe see a movie?’

That, she told him, was a much better idea.