Final Score. Michelle Betham

avoid the taps digging in because she wanted nothing to detract from what was happening. It was a little uncomfortable, but he was inside her so she didn’t care that her bottom was numb or that her arms ached with the effort of keeping herself steady. All she cared about was that feeling of complete calm he was giving her. That was all that mattered.

      His hands had moved now, sliding further up under her nightdress, his thumbs flicking over her nipples, sending her crazy, and she bit down on her lip as he stripped her naked before lowering his head to kiss her breasts.

      She could feel it now, the almost burning sensation that began at the tips of her toes and travelled slowly up her body, creating that white-hot pain, that beautiful rush she couldn’t get enough of. She could feel it already beginning its journey and even though it was far sooner than she would have liked, she gave into it, pushing her hips against him, taking him deeper as she leaned back further, screaming out his name as he came fast and hard, his fingers digging into her as his body tensed up, his face buried in her shoulder; until he’d given her all he had to give. Until he was spent.

      ‘Jesus, Jim…’

      He pulled back slightly as he slowly withdrew, shaking his head, smiling as he sank to his haunches and Amber gripped the edges of the sink even tighter. She knew what was coming next, her eyes closing as his mouth touched her, and she bit down on her lip again, flinching just a touch as his tongue flicked over the most sensitive part of her body, causing her to moan out loud. She could feel those tingles returning, coming back to give her another wave of intense pleasure and she closed her eyes, her head thrown right back as his hands pushed her legs further apart, his tongue probing deeper, pushing harder, until she had no option left but to give in, to let it happen, her cries echoing around the white-tiled bathroom, her whole body shuddering with the most exquisite shivers, despite the fact she was probably the most uncomfortable she’d ever been during sex.

      She kept her eyes closed as those tingles slowly subsided and the shivers wore off, until she was left with nothing but the most beautiful feeling of calm.

      ‘You okay?’

      She opened her eyes and smiled at him as he gently lifted her down, his arm staying firmly around her waist. ‘Oh, I’m just fine.’

      He returned her smile, and she felt those stomach flips and those erratic heart beats and every other cliché in the book take over as he looked at her. She was sixteen all over again, in the arms of her handsome footballer, her first love; her world. She was sixteen all over again.

      ‘We’re really doing this, aren’t we?’ she whispered, stroking his cheek with her fingertips.

      He nodded, kissing her slowly, pulling her back inside that web she’d never quite managed to fully escape from. ‘We’re really doing this.’

      She stared up into his eyes, cocking her head slightly. For so long, this man had been her life, and for a brief second or two she wondered what it could have been like if she’d tried harder to give others a chance and if she’d really tried to push him to the back of her mind in the way she should have done. Could she have made herself forget him? Could she have saved herself years – decades – of pain and heartache? Could she have stopped hating him for being the man she thought he was, when he didn’t really seem to be that man at all?

      ‘I love you, Amber.’

      She blinked rapidly as his voice broke into her thoughts, his eyes staring deep into hers. ‘I know you do.’

      ‘Do you? Baby, do you really believe that now, because…’

      She put her fingers to his lips, shaking her head. ‘I’m not going to do anything that could mean I lose you again. I’m not going to do that. Because I love you, too, okay? I love you so much I can’t even think straight some days. And the thought of you…’ She looked down, watching as his hand caught hers, holding it tightly against his chest. ‘It’s just going to take time, that’s all.’ She raised her head slowly until her eyes once more met his. ‘Everything you kept from me, all the things you did when… when there was no need, Jim. We could have been together all those years ago if you’d just talked to me.’