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Shaun turned the pen over in his hands before answering. "Stop fishing, Ray."
Ray gave a shallow laugh. "I've got to stay one step ahead of my wife on this one. You know what women are like. Kate is going to tell me what she thinks about you two soon. She's been dropping enough vague hints about it for me to know she's expecting a reaction and a valid response. I need to form my own opinion. It's required. It's all part of the battle of the sexes."
Shaun couldn't help smiling. "Is that what it is?"
He admired Kate and Ray's relationship. It was based on a healthy respect for inventiveness and challenge. If he wanted a relationship—and he didn't—that's the kind of relationship he would want.
Ray took a swig from his cup. "So, are you going to spill some details to help this old man out, or do I have to invent an uninformed opinion?"
"I can't imagine you having an uninformed opinion about anything, boss."
Shaun teased him in an effort to gain more time before answering properly. He hadn't considered discussing his involvement with Tina with anyone, let alone someone who was going to be there at weekends and presumably observing them with even more interest, next time around. He liked the set up he had with Tina and the last thing he wanted was for something to rock the boat.
Ray nodded. "True, but I'd rather have some facts first."
Shaun considered the question for a moment longer. "Does Tina spill to Kate about her liaison is? No, wait." He flipped the pen he'd been holding onto his desk. "Let me answer that one. I bet she doesn't."
Something that felt oddly like pride swelled in his chest. Why was that? He wanted Tina to play their little game as well, yes, but he had no intention of becoming a team with her. Therefore, he shouldn't feel pride in her actions, but for some reason he did. It was natural at some primitive level, he supposed, because they were so well matched in the bedroom.
Ray's expression was guarded. "A bet, hmm? Okay, a bottle of the best malt whisky you can find, if I can extract an answer to your question from my good lady wife."
Shaun couldn't hold back his grin. This situation was much more to his liking. "You're on."
He didn't even know if he wanted that kind of information about Tina and what she shared about their liaisons, but what the hell? He couldn't resist. Besides, he was pretty sure Tina wasn't a gabber.
When Ray later returned to his own office, Shaun swiveled in his seat, staring at his computer screen with unseeing eyes. He wasn't thinking about work. He was thinking about Tina—her body, her smile, the flash in her eyes. She was extraordinarily feminine, and yet somehow understated. He'd never been attracted to showy women and she had a subtle quality about her that he admired. Her power seemed to be something that came from within, a sense of being sure about her womanliness, even when she wasn't sure about its effect on him. And, oh boy, did she have an effect on him.
He got hard just thinking about her. Right from the first moment he'd seen her, her vitality had harnessed his interest. She was strong and didn't make a move without thinking it through. She'd battled with him at every turn, but that made it even better. In between the gaming weekends he thought about her a lot, remembering how it had been, anticipating how it might be again. He looked forward to each encounter, planned for it, and anticipated it to the extent that he got hard at the most inappropriate of times.
When he was alone in his bed at night and his body wanted sex it was Tina who came to mind. He'd stopped pursuing other women. It wasn't something he'd consciously decided, but when the opportunity had come along to see someone else he simply hadn't gone with it. It was an automatic response. He just didn't want that option. There was no point. No other woman matched up to Tina. She was all fire and vitality, and he wanted her. More than he'd ever wanted any other prize.
* * * *
Once they started to sleep together something clicked inside Tina. It was as if she started living life in a different way—as if on a higher level. She was more aware of herself than she ever had been, both sexually and intellectually. All her senses had become totally engaged. It made her confident in her work and her everyday life. She enjoyed the newfound sense of expectation that rumbled round her veins as she looked ahead to the next gaming weekend. Both mind and body were always willing and waiting for the challenge that he represented—the battle, and the reward. And Shaun was some reward. Right down to the feeling of his body against hers, every detail stayed with her. It meant he was never far from her mind, and that alone made her body buzz with anticipation. She'd catch herself smiling, remembering something he'd said, or how crazy he'd made her behave, and how bloody liberating that actually was.
Neither of them made a move to meet at any other time, other than at the games weekends. They didn't even exchange phone numbers or e-mail addresses. Did that bother her? Not at first. It was a kind of un-stated rule. Shaun wasn't the sort of man who dated. She knew that. He was a loner—the predator, the mercenary.
At first she didn't even allow herself to imagine that it would ever be anything else. It was enough that she relished the intense anticipation that built inside her as their next meeting got closer. She sensed that he anticipated it that way as well. She saw it when they met again. She recognized that recognition flare in his eyes—pride, desire, and acknowledgement that he'd been looking forward to it as much as she had. That was good. That made her thrive in this curious relationship.
Sometimes, when she was browsing the Internet, at work—where she researched stats cached there—she would pause at a website when she saw Ray's company name, wondering if Shaun had perhaps designed it. He hadn't even told her his last name. But what if he had? She knew the unspoken rules. Their communication was limited. It was all part of the game, even if it meant the days dragged when she longed to hear the sound of his voice and the nights were restless with longing for his body next to hers.
She thought about him at night alone in her bed. Rolling restlessly, she touched herself, bringing herself to climax while she imagined that it was him, remembering the way his body pressed down on hers. When his cock was inside her, he locked eyes with her, not allowing her to look away from him as he pushed her inexorably towards climax. He squeezed her nipples until the pain grew bound up with the pleasure, heightening every sensation. He rode her with infinitely precise movements, as if he understood her body more than she did. Then, with his arm around her as they fell asleep, the silent emotion she felt blossomed and grew. She never reached out for him emotionally or commented on their more intimate moments, because she knew he would back off if she did.
At first she tried to deny it, then she attempted to fight it.
Affection was bound to grow for the man who she had such a rapport and such an intense physical relationship with. Ultimately, it wasn't something she could stop herself feeling, she knew that. So she let it simmer and grow. Bask in the moment, she told herself. It would be over soon enough. He'd move on, that was the type of man he was. She'd have to lick her wounds then, of course, but for the time being it was damned good and there was no way she was going to give up the opportunity to enjoy every moment of it.
When they got to Kate and Ray's house anticipation flared between them as soon as they caught sight of one another. They pursued and attacked each other in the games arena, knowing their nights would be spent locked in battle of a different kind. In time, they began to talk. Little things that slowly built into a picture. Shaun lived alone apart from the stray cat that he claimed had adopted him
, not the other way around. That told her a lot. It would take some miracle for this man to admit he needed anyone. He'd grown up an army child, and his parents had moved from place to place. She wondered if that accounted for his loner qualities. He certainly didn't want to rely on anyone else. Perhaps he hadn't had anyone he could rely on. That wasn't something she could ask him, but maybe he would reveal it in time.
For her part, she described her housemates to him, her upbringing in the West Country and her love of research. As the months passed and they shared a little more each time they met, she began to feel she knew him more. And he knew her—boy did he know her.
"Show me," he said the following weekend. He stood at the foot of the exotic bed in her room, and his head jerked back as he stared down at her fingers. Tina realized they were lying in the crook of her naked hipbone, softly drawing circles across the sensitive skin there. She was lying on the bed, naked, waiting for him to approach. She let his command draw them down, into the close heat of her sex folds. Her thighs opened.
"Gorgeous." A smile crossed his face. "Show me some more, make yourself come." His hand began to ride up and down the length of his cock.
That pushed her level of arousal through the roof. Her entire groin was suffused with heat, her core clenching in anticipation. She wanted to grab at him and force that hardness inside her, she wanted to push his arrogant smile into her sex and make him eat the result of his words. But, at the same time, she relished the feeling of his gaze as her fingers stroked her clit. And the sight of his beautiful body jutting forwards at the hip to greet the pressure of his own hand was too, too divine.
