Page 36 of Catching a Con Man

“The price we pay for good sex,” said Ade, running one finger up my body through little white puddles. He had it all over his chest hair too, and I couldn’t help but giggle.

“Back to the shower?” Ade suggested, and I nodded and followed him into the bathroom for a second round of touching and a more thorough cleaning up. We wandered downstairs, completely naked, and Ade picked up a glass of wine.

“You don’t want to know how expensive this stuff is,” he said, and I felt the blood rush from my face.

“God, how much?” I felt sick just thinking I’d wasted an expensive bottle.

“Kidding. It’s one of Mum’s. She owns a vineyard and takes pride in every bottle. Unfortunately, that means her cellar is overflowing with it and we all get a bottle for Christmas.”

I giggled, relaxing as I took a sip. “Blackberry? And pepper?”

“No fucking way. How did you know?” Ade asked. “Much as Mum would like me to, I’ve never been an expert in wine. Especially red. It just tastes likered.”

“Echo Falls nights with the ladies I used to work with,” I said. “If you can taste thesubtle flavoursin an eight-pound bottle of wine, then you can taste them anywhere.”

“My mother is going to love you,” Ade said. And for a second, we both stood there with our glasses halfway to our lips like a couple of idiots as I processed what he’d said and he seemed to realise it too.

“So we’re…there, are we?” I asked.

“I certainly want to be,” said Ade without hesitation. “I would have no problem with you meeting my family.”

“Right. OK. Wow.” I took another sip of wine, which turned itself into a gulp, then the whole glass was empty.

“Is that OK?” Ade asked.

“That’s…good,” I responded. “Just weird is all. I keep thinking you’re going to sweep all this out from under me.”

“Like this?” Ade put his glass of wine down, and before I could figure out what he was doing, he looped one arm around the back of my legs and had swept me off my feet into a bridal hold. “Because the only thing I want to do is sweep you off your feet.”

“Cringe!” I hit him on the shoulder, but he didn’t care. He just walked me up the stairs in that same bridal hold and dumped me unceremoniously on the bed.

“Right, I’m ready for bed, and I hope you are too, because you’re staying.” Ade jumped into bed next to me in the morning.

“What’s in it for me?” I asked as I got under the covers too and scooted so I could be close to Ade.

“I’ll make breakfast in the morning, and if you like, I’ll fuck you silly before work.”

“Promise?” I asked.

“Promise.”

I turned away from Ade and pulled at his hand so that he held my back against his chest. With the size difference between us I fitted perfectly as a little spoon, just the way I liked it. I fell asleep with his whole body moulded to mine and his breath tickling my neck.

I woke in the morning to soft shoulder kisses and his fingers easing into me, and I knew it was going to be a good day.

Ade

Heading back to work with Tyler sat next to me in the car felt odd. Good odd, sure, but an admission of my private life that I’d never really made in my working life before. I could pretend, of course, that we’d arrived separately, or met up for a morning coffee to discuss our charity’s financial performance. But Tyler was insecure enough about his place in this world. I didn’t want him thinking somehow that he wasn’t important enough for me to claim him as mine, or to feel like I was distancing myself from his very presence.

So I linked hands with him as we got out of the car and walked to the lift to the executive floor. I wanted to kiss him. Isowanted to kiss him. But there were some things I had to resist in a work environment, even if I didn’t want to. The lift doors opened, and rather than the empty floor I’d been expecting, Cam was standing outside. Just waiting, his laptop clasped in front of him.

Cam’s eyes dropped to mine and Tyler’s clasped hands, and a little smile tugged at the edge of his lips. But then he looked back up at us, and his expression was worried. He chewed at his lip, and it wasn’t until the lift doors started to close that we’d all been stood looking at each other for too long.

I pushed the door until it opened again, and stepped out with Tyler’s hand firmly gripped in mine.

“What’s up Cam? I don’t like seeing you worried.”

“Who said I was worried?” Cam tried for a smile, but it got lost somewhere along the way. “Can I talk to you about something…commercially sensitive?”

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