The Babysitter(85)

Freshly showered, her body oiled and perfumed, Jade reached for the shirt she slept in, one of Mark’s, and slid it over her shoulders, allowing it to fall softly to the floor.

Gently, she straddled him, careful not to wake him. Her heart ached for him, her pelvis yearned to feel him inside her. Slowly, she cautioned herself, through the warm mist in her head, the aura that was Mark in her soul. He would need encouragement initially, gentle persuasion to push aside any guilt he might feel. But it was time.

His eyelids fluttered as her hair brushed his cheek. His poor, bruised cheek. Jade’s fingers strayed to his face, her lips following in their wake. A hair’s breadth from his, she could almost taste his tongue searching for hers, probing deep into her mouth.

Slowly.

She registered a shift in his position, a stirring in his groin as she allowed herself the sweet taste of him, tracing the thin film of sweat at the base of his neck. Moving downwards, she paused to gently caress a nipple with her lips, the taut muscles of his stomach, his hips; finally reaching her prize. She felt him move as she took him into her mouth, heard him utter a throaty expletive as she worked on him expertly with her tongue.

‘Shit.’ She heard him groan again.

Jade increased her efforts, ignoring the question on his lips – ‘Mel?’ – and the sound of feet stumbling towards the bathroom overhead. Why was he whispering her name? Why wouldn’t he let her go?

She couldn’t ignore the hand he wove through her hair, the violent expletive that exploded from him as he yanked her sharply up.

‘What the fucking hell are you doing?’ Seizing her shoulders, his fingers digging hard into her flesh, Mark shoved her away and scrambled to his feet.

Shaken, Jade crossed her hands over her breasts, watching, stunned, as he hastily rearranged his tracksuit bottoms and reached for his top. ‘I… I was lying with you. I—’

‘Why?’ Mark stared incredulously at her.

Seeing an unmistakeable flash of fury spark in his eyes, Jade shook her head, bewildered. ‘Because… we’re meant to be together. We… You said. You said you needed me. That you wouldn’t know what to do without me. You promised. The first time you held me, you said you would always—’

‘You need to go,’ Mark interrupted, pulling his furious gaze away.

But he looked towards the stairs, Jade noticed, relief washing through her. He was worried about being caught. ‘It’s all right,’ she whispered reassuringly, getting to her feet and moving towards him. ‘I understand. It doesn’t matter. We have the rest of our lives to—’

‘What?’ Mark turned back to her, his expression now one of astonishment.

‘To be together,’ Jade finished, her mouth going dry. ‘To—’

‘I don’t want to be with you.’ Mark was looking at her now as if she were something abhorrent. ‘I want to be with my wife!’

No, he didn’t. Jade stared at him, confounded. She’d felt his body stirring, his heart beating. He was confused, tired. The alcohol—

‘I love my wife, Jade. I don’t want anyone else. I never will.’

Liar! Anger rose like liquid bile in Jade’s chest. ‘You wanted me!’ She pointed out this all too obvious fact. ‘You wanted to make love to me. You can’t deny that.’

‘Jesus.’ Mark shook his head, pressed his fingers hard against his temples. ‘I was practically fucking unconscious!’

‘But not too out of it to lie back and enjoy a free blow job!’ Jade retorted, fury now burning like acid inside her.

Mark’s studied her, his eyes darkening dangerously, and then he moved suddenly past her. Jade flinched. ‘I thought you were Mel. It was Mel I wanted.’

Retrieving her shirt from the floor, he shoved it at her, barely looking at her as he did.

He’s lying. Jade’s heart stopped beating. He’s lying.

Desperate to rescue the situation, she stepped closer. She’d got her timing wrong. Moved too fast. He was scared. ‘It’s all right, Mark. I understand, really I do.’ Arranging her face into a seductive smile, she reached to graze a hand across his cheek, and then leaned closer, attempting to press her lips against his.

Mark stopped her, roughly grabbing hold of her wrist. ‘You’re fucking insane. I want you out. Get your things and go.’

He meant it. Shocked, Jade searched his eyes. Eyes that were no longer kind and caring, but cruel, contemptuous and cold. Humiliation and hurt churned inside her. It wasn’t her timing she’d got wrong, it was her estimation of him, a man she’d imagined to be strong, to be her saviour. But he wasn’t strong. He was weak, weaker than his pathetic wife. A user, an abuser, just like all the others. The absolute bastard.

Swallowing back her rage, pushing it down to that deep, dark place where so much hurt already festered, she told herself to bide her time until she had more suitable opportunity to vent. ‘It’s the middle of the night,’ she said, composing her features and looking tearfully back at him. Her nakedness, she was aware, would add to her obvious vulnerability. He wouldn’t send her out now, a woman on her own in the dark.

Breathing hard, Mark appeared to debate with himself, and then picked up his mobile from the coffee table and selected a number.

Jade watched in disbelief as he spoke to the taxi firm.