To say Teddy was apprehensive about my surprise would be an understatement. No matter how much I tried to reassure him that he'd enjoy it and that he wouldn't need to worry about avoiding the public, he still failed to relax.
"And you're sure Mark has signed off on this? And Helen? You're not pulling any sly moves?"
I stepped in between his body and the mirror. He'd been straightening his tie in the reflection for the past five minutes, making it obvious that the adjustments only served as a way to delay matters.
"Have I told you how much I like a man in a suit?" I ran my fingers down the length of his black, silky tie, then slid my hands beneath his jacket to rest on the fabric of the shirt clinging to his waist. The warmth of his body burned through the fine material, his taut muscles tensing against my palms.
The trepidation in his eyes momentarily disappeared, replaced by a mischievous glint. "Are you seriously trying to flirt with me as a distraction tactic?"
I arched an eyebrow. "Is it working?"
Hands latching onto my hips, Teddy spun me around until my back collided with the wardrobe, air rushing from my lungs and catching in my throat.
"Depends," he said, sliding a thigh between my legs as he leaned into me. "Is it genuine?"
"You don't believe I like suits?" I replied, trying to keep my cool.
I didn't want to show any sign of weakness, but with his body pressed against mine, crushing my breasts against the chiselled planes of his chest, Teddy would no doubt be able to feel the thumping beat of my heart as it powered blazing fire through my veins.
With darkened eyes, he traced a long finger along the dip of my waist, continuing up the side of my body with an agonising lack of urgency. When he reached my shoulder, that same finger roamed lightly down my right arm, over my wrist, settling on my palm.
Slowly, like he wanted to give me every opportunity to back out, Teddy curled each of his hands around each of my own, raising them above my head to pin against the cool wood of the wardrobe. His hard body heavy against mine, the intoxicating combination of masculinity and spicy cologne lingered in the minimal space between us.
An anticipatory thrill rushed down my spine, my eyes fluttering shut. As the heat between my legs throbbed against his thigh, I writhed, craving more friction. Reading my mind—or maybe just my body—Teddy shifted his hips, and I drew in a breathy gasp, my dress riding up to give way to the width of the thigh as it ground against me.
Soft lips floated along the arch of my neck, goosebumps flaring in their wake, but they paused as they reached my jaw.
"Okay," he murmured, voice low and dangerous. "I believe you now."
Then he stepped away, the heat of his body leaving mine. I stumbled, grabbing onto the wardrobe for support as Teddy's eyes danced.
"Ready to go?" he asked, straightening his tie in the mirror again—although this time for good reason.
I could have pulled him back. He'd have given in. But I didn't. I refused to give him the satisfaction.
"Ready," I said, inching down the hem of my dress.
At least the apprehension had disappeared, only playfulness sparkling in his eyes as he opened the door and gestured for me to leave first.
"After you."
Occupying the doorway, he'd left only a small gap for me to squeeze through, our bodies brushing once more as I edged past him.
"Polite of you," I said under my breath.
"I give a whole new meaning to ladies first," he replied, his voice low. "Remember?"
*
In the car, nobody would have been able to guess what had happened between Teddy and me in his hotel room. He chatted away to Mark as usual, while I stared out of the window for the short ride, replaying the memory over and over, imagining what might have followed if he hadn't stopped. As the fantasies teased my mind, I clenched my thighs together, painfully uncomfortable in the best and worst way.
When we pulled up in front of the bar, Mark hopped out and headed inside. He needed to check everything was in order and that we weren't about to be ambushed. Apparently my inappropriate tactics earlier might have tempted the manager into selling us out to the media.
What a crazy idea.
Teddy twisted in his seat to face me, propping his arm against the headrest. "Cooled down yet?"
I met his twinkling eyes. "Don't know what you mean."
Completely ignoring the fact that we were not alone in the car—a security guard sat just feet away behind the steering wheel—Teddy unclipped his belt, scooted into the middle seat, and curled a warm hand around my knee, easing my legs apart.
His thumb caressed my bare skin as he tilted his mouth towards my ear. "Usually takes Mark a good ten minutes to check out a place." His humid breath fanned my neck, teeth gently grazing the surface. "How about I put you out of your misery? Promise I'll be quick this time..."
My aching core begged me to agree, but thankfully one part of my brain remained sensible as Teddy's fingers began to creep up my thigh and beneath my dress.
"We have company," I muttered under my breath, clasping his wrist to prevent him from venturing further.
"My men are discreet," he murmured back. "And as long as you're quiet... It'll just look like we're talking."
I glanced up to see he was right. His body blocked the driver's view of me, and during a brief lapse of judgement, my grip on his wrist loosened.
"Is this a kink of yours?" A shallow breath spilled through my lips as Teddy used the lack of resistance to glide his fingers a few more inches along my inner thigh, the tingling between my legs intensifying as he edged closer and closer to my soaked underwear.
His lips curved upwards against my ear. "Getting you off? Yes. And it doesn't take long if memory serves me right. I've not been able to stop thinking about how it felt to have my fingers inside you, to hear you moaning my name, to feel you coming against my—"
The door opened, and only my seatbelt prevented me from toppling out onto the pavement. Teddy withdrew his hand with far less haste than I'd have liked, and I peered up at Mark's expressionless face.
"Get out. Quickly."
I fumbled with my belt, fingers trembling from a combination of desire and mortification. Just hours before, Mark and I had argued on this same street as I'd fought to hold my ground and stand strong against my decision. Now he'd seen me at my most vulnerable, completely weak to his employer. Or client. Whatever their arrangement, knowing Mark had witnessed us in such a compromising position horrified me.
The building's lobby was deserted, a far cry from earlier that day, and I stabbed at the lift button with more force than necessary, as if that would help my pent-up frustration to escape.
"Steady," Teddy said under his breath, a taunting lilt in his tone. "Wouldn't want Mark to catch on."
"He clearly already knows," I replied through gritted teeth, stepping over the threshold as soon as the doors opened.
I moved to the back of the lift and leaned against the wall, enjoying the coolness of the metal panels against the burning surface of my shoulder blades.
During the journey to the top floor, Teddy and Mark fell into comfortable conversation again. I'd never noticed it much before, but they seemed to share more than just a business relationship. From what Teddy had divulged the other night, Mark had looked out for him on a personal level, too, over the years, so it shouldn't surprise me that a closer bond had formed during that time.
As we reached the rooftop and the doors separated, Teddy's chatter trailed off. He stood frozen in the middle of the lift, staring out across the bar to the illuminated skyline beyond. Tension spread from his balled fists to his stiffened shoulders, a muscle in his jaw clenching.
When he turned to face me, his earlier playfulness ceased to exist.
"Soph..." he said, voice soft.
I smiled, forgetting I was annoyed with him. "You said you'd love to visit one."
"And her methods nearly gave your top security guy a heart attack, so make sure you enjoy it." Mark clapped Teddy's shoulder, then strode towards the far corner of the roof, where he disappeared from sight.
Despite my methods, the bar hadn't skimped. Twinkling fairy lights wound around the railings, and gentle music sang from a hidden speaker. I looped my arm through Teddy's and led him to the bar. He let me guide him, his eyes still surveying our surroundings, his smart mouth no longer spouting suggestive words.
"What can I get you?" the bartender asked.
"Orange juice for me." I nudged Teddy's side. "Teddy?"
"Um, yeah. Same." He was distracted, drawing his finger along the railing edge as he gazed out at the city beneath our feet.
"You sure? This is your night. Have a drink if you want to."
"Orange is fine."
I tossed a polite smile at the bartender and waited while he poured the drinks. Still staring at the view, Teddy rested his forearms on the railing, wringing his hands together. Something about his strained expression—and his reaction ever since the doors opened—unsettled me. I'd managed to surprise him, and I knew he wasn't unhappy to be here, so why the tension?
"There you go." I held out his glass, and he took it from me wordlessly.
We sipped away without speaking, watching planes up above, cars down below, and miles upon miles of rooftops straight ahead. When the silence became too much to bear, I angled my body towards him.
"Have I fucked up?"
Teddy startled, eyes widening as he twisted to face me. "What? God, no. Of course not. Soph, this is..."
Again, the words failed him, and while I hoped his speechlessness was a positive thing, I still couldn't help feeling like something was wrong.
"Is it too much?" I asked. "Mark was exaggerating about what I did. Well, sort of. We kind of have different opinions on the matter, but—"
Teddy's mouth met mine, blocking the rest of my ramble from tumbling out. The soft kiss ended before it truly began, but it reset my brain. Reset it to the extent that I was now the one speechless as my lips tingled.
"Sorry," he said, looking sheepish. "I shouldn't have done that. But nobody has ever planned anything like this for me before. It's not too much. It's perfect."
"So why do you look so sad?"
His tongue swept across his bottom lip and his eyes darted back towards the view. "I'm not sad. I know this is just a rooftop bar to you, but to me it represents so much more. Normality. My life will never be normal, and I don't mean to sound ungrateful for how fortunate I am, but you've done something for me tonight that I don't think a lot of people would have thought worth doing. And that I'm grateful for."
An easier smile worked its way onto his lips, and I released a withheld breath. I'd expected him to be excited, but I hadn't anticipated the degree to which it would affect him on a deeper level. That proved his point, if anything; like everyone else, I hadn't appreciated just how much something so normal could mean to him.
"Wanna dance?" I jerked my head towards the empty dance floor, and Teddy's smile widened, the previous sadness giving way to his usual light-hearted energy.
We placed our glasses down onto the bar as we passed, and then Teddy spun me in a circle once our feet hit the glass floor, pulling me into the heat of his body.
"Sorry about the kiss," he said again, hands resting on my waist as we swayed together. "I just had this sudden surge of affection for you."
I tipped my head to gauge his expression. "Just a fleeting wave, huh?"
His lips twitched. "Yes. Just a fleeting wave. Don't panic, Soph..."
Laughing, I let him twirl me around again. When I'd returned to facing him, I met his playful gaze.
"I'm not panicking. I could tell it was just a fleeting wave."
He quirked an eyebrow. "Is that so?"
"Yes. We were completely alone over there, and now I know your kink is audiences."
Sliding his hands lower down my back, Teddy pressed me closer, crushing my chest against his solid muscles. "My kink is you. Not audiences. Guess I lose all sense of inhibition when I have my hands on your body."
The heat began to build again, pooling between my legs as we locked eyes and swayed to the gentle beat. I watched his throat ripple as he swallowed, his fingers sinking into the flesh of my hips, burning through the thin fabric of my dress.
With a twist of his wrists, he spun me one-eighty degrees, pulling me back against the hard slabs of his front. His arms wound around me, palms settling low on my stomach, tantalisingly close to where I ached to be touched.
Resting his head on my shoulder, lips grazing my ear, he asked, "But would you have let me?"
"Hm?" I arched against him, my gut clenching when I felt the hard bulge in his trousers digging into my back.
"Would you have let me carry on, in front of my driver?"
I'd fooled around in public before, but never in such close proximity to a third person. Yet Teddy had wound me up so tightly that I'd been dying to explode, the desperation for a release overpowering my sanity. Knowing he'd have been able to get me off in seconds may well have tempted me.
"I guess you'll never know," I said, my breath hitching as his fingers strayed an inch lower, catching on the lace band of my underwear beneath the cheap and flimsy material of my dress. "Or are you hoping to pick up where you left off?"
"Lucky for you, I draw the line at public spaces. Far too risky, even for me."
"Even when we're alone?"
A deep chuckle reverberated against my ear and I shuddered. Noticing my reaction, Teddy's arms tightened around my stomach, rolling his hips against my ass to remind me how turned on he was, too.
"It almost sounds like you're considering it, Sophia..."
The rare use of my full name sent a pleasurable shockwave up my spine. Would he say it in bed, murmuring it down my ear as he moved on top of me, crying it out loud as he came?
"No," I said, only half-lying. "Just curious."
"Okay, well, no matter how private we think we are, there are always cameras. Everywhere. I couldn't risk something like that getting out. For your sake as well as mine."
For a moment, his voice returned to normal, as if he wanted me to take him seriously—in case I genuinely had been considering it.
"Although," he said, that seductively low tone returning, "that doesn't mean I haven't spent the last few minutes trying to decide whether I'd prefer to bend you over these railings or have you in the lift. It's quite the dilemma... Do I fuck you from behind so I can still enjoy the view, or do I sacrifice the view for your legs wrapped around my waist as I nail you hard against those metal panels...?"
That nearly tipped me over the edge, my stomach somersaulting with excitement, but Teddy's earlier concerns about cameras gave me enough motivation to step out of his arms. I turned to face him, my eyes drifting down to the hardness straining against his trousers.
Slipping his hands into his pockets, Teddy rocked back and forth on his heels, seeming comfortable and at ease—like he'd won some kind of battle between us. When our eyes met again, a silent promise was exchanged.
I'd crossed a line this evening. A lapse of judgement late at night when already in bed together was one thing. But I was fully conscious now, completely aware of my actions and their potential consequences, yet not caring enough to stop.
Nobody had to know. This was now about me and him. About what I wanted, not what Becca wanted. As long as she never found out, she'd never get hurt over it. Did that make me a bad friend? Probably, but then I already knew I was a bad friend. I'd proved it twice.
I had an article ready to go. I just needed to press send. One thing for me, one thing for Becca. I'd give in to him and scratch the itch that had become more irritable ever since I'd first tried to relieve it, knowing that while he might have won the battle of turning this from friendship into sex, I was on course to win the war.
***
Thank you for reading :) xx
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