Australian Affairs: Seduced. Carol Marinelli

of us wants and then a quick fumble at the door…’ She loved it when he smiled.

      ‘Won’t it complicate things?’

      ‘There’s nothing complicated about sex.’ Marnie smiled. ‘And we don’t work together any more.’

      ‘I think—’

      But she halted him. ‘You’ve done enough thinking for the day.’

      She was possibly the perfect woman for Harry right now, he decided as he tasted her moist, full lips.

      And there was nothing nicer than the warmth of his kiss when you were freezing, Marnie told herself as his arms slid around hers. And could there be anyone better than Harry to get your second wind with? Because suddenly Marnie wasn’t remotely tired.

      ‘Come on,’ Marnie said. ‘Let’s get you to bed!

      But first he called Charlotte and congratulated her on her spots.

      ‘I’ll stop and get some more supplies before I come and get you,’ Harry said. ‘Yep. Don’t worry, I won’t get there till dinner.’ Marnie was taking off her cardigan as Cathy must have come on the phone. ‘She’s worried I’m going to pick her up before she gets to eat your pizza.’ He looked at Marnie as he talked on about how today had gone well. Well, as well as funeral could go. ‘Thanks for this week,’ Harry said. ‘No, Cathy, I get it. I know you can’t take another week off…’ He hesitated. ‘No.’ Harry’s response was firm. ‘Mum and Dad are okay for the odd night, but it’s not fair to ask for a week.’

      They just stared for a very long moment and there was something lovely about no longer working together, something really nice about being two people who were quite comfortable keeping their sex lives separate from the rest of their lives.

      They both knew the other’s rules.

      They’d both wanted the other on sight.

      ‘Come here,’ Harry said, and it took just two words. Marnie stepped into his space and Harry looked down, lingering a moment safe in the knowledge there was no need for holding back now.

      ‘You drove me crazy this morning.’

      ‘I know.’

      ‘You always do.’

      ‘I know.’ Marnie smiled.

      She felt his mouth on hers, felt her tongue slide in and, yes, it was nice not to think.

      Marnie, though she would never admit it to herself let alone Harry, was taken slightly aback by her own reaction to his mouth. She’d missed it, had been thinking about their kiss far more than she perhaps ought, and now he was back, his mouth sinking into hers, its demand building. She opened her eyes and saw Harry’s were closed and it was an incredible turn-on to see him simply indulge. So lovely to feel his hands stop fighting their need for contact and roam free, down her waist, then to her bottom, and despite his height they were an incredible fit, Marnie thought, so incredible that it would be terribly easy to forget about bed.

      Harry lifted her top, slid it over her head and moaned as his hands felt the bare skin he had craved. His fingers unhooked her bra and his mouth was enough to make her sink to her knees with Harry joining her.

      ‘Harry…’ She pulled back and he opened his eyes, waited for the inevitable excuses and the reasons that this was a terrible idea, but he still didn’t know Marnie.

      ‘I need to have a shower,’ Marnie said, and he laughed for the second time in a very short space of time and, no, he didn’t mind the delay in proceedings, especially with what she said next. ‘I’d like to be clean before we get dirty.’

      Marnie headed into her bedroom and picked up the alarm. ‘What time do you need to leave?’ she asked.

      ‘Six.’

      ‘I’ll set it for five, then.’ She was almost clinical in her approach yet for Harry it was sexy. He liked independence; heaven knew, there were so many people dependent on him. He liked the rarity of Marnie and her utter ease, combined with the delicious trepidation that he felt as she headed for the shower.

      He heard the taps turn on as he closed the curtains of her bay window and undressed. It was an adult reprieve that had been building and with someone who fascinated him more and more. Someone with whom he could be himself, or rather he could go back to the man he had once been.

      Naked, he walked into the bathroom and pulled back the curtain, stood watching her washing her hair, and she opened her eyes and smiled.

      ‘You didn’t come empty-handed, I hope.’

      ‘No.’

      ‘Come in, then.’

      He picked up the soap and put the little silver wrapper in the holder, and there was nothing to stop them now.

      ‘I hate showers,’ Marnie said, looking down as his large hands lathered the soap and then slid over her breasts. ‘Or maybe I don’t.’ He was as slow and as deliciously thorough as she had thought he would be. Marnie watched as he soaped her breasts, her nipples stretching and puckering, and then she took the soap from him, lathered her hands and then dropped it.

      It was Harry who paused, stared down as her hands stroked the length of him, over and over. He stood, staring as if in some delicious hypnotic trance that they’d be jolted out of any second. Marnie knew it too, she felt the swell and the lift of the balls she cupped in her hand and she was so turned on watching Harry that she wouldn’t have cared if his hand hadn’t halted her.

      He was struggling to hold back, and he kissed her till he was back from the edge. The shiver that went through her had nothing to with exhaustion or cold as Harry lowered his head to her breast.

      Her breasts had been on his mind for so long, that long glimpse of them nestled in her lacy bra had been dancing in his mind’s eyes since the kiss in her office. The taste of her wet, warm flesh in his mouth was more than worth the wait.

      Marnie watched his tongue taking its time, building her urgency, and before she even begged she watched as her nipple disappeared into to the soft vacuum of his mouth. She felt his hand slide up her thigh and she just about folded over, holding onto his head for support.

      Maybe she did like showers after all, she thought as Harry tended to the other breast for a while, ensuring she was flushed and dizzy from his generous tastings before his mouth moved down.

      ‘Harry…’

      He ignored her, knelt down and parted her legs. He retrieved the soap and washed her intimately, teasing out her clitoris till it was as erect as he’d left her nipples and then burying his face in her sex as his fingers slid deep inside.

      Marnie usually took for ever to come but not this afternoon. She was pressing Harry’s head in, watching him feast, buckling her legs to him, then accidentally blasting them with cold water as she grabbed a tap for support as she gave in to his mouth.

      Harry loved the icy blast to his shoulders as he felt her heat in his mouth; he loved hearing the very controlled Marnie losing it to his tongue then shivering in his arms.

      ‘More hot I think…’ Harry said.

      It was steamy, it was lovely and Harry had but a few minutes’ patience left in him. He stood and watched as she tore the wrapper and both looked down as she gave him a little stroke and a tease.

      ‘Sometimes I look down and just smile,’ Marnie said at the sight of her hands tenderly wrapping her present as she slid the condom down.

      ‘We’ll slip,’ Marnie warned as he picked her up, and she slid down on his length and Harry did his best to hold her, hot and slippery in his hands; but there was just a little too much energy between them, the sex they wanted a touch too vigorous to assure safety. ‘We’re going to end up in Emergency,’ Marnie warned as he tried to get back to her breasts and she wrapped her legs tighter around him.

      ‘They might have to send the flying