Leah’s promise to Rick would be put to the test; he was determined that she should do as he would ask. His own promise would be to come back and find her. One day.
Tomorrow, Friday, he would tell her after work. Then on Saturday, he would take her to the airport, put her on a plane to Milan and then run, as far away from her as he could.
* * *
Leah waited in the foyer of Littlewoods. A commercial cathedral, encased in white stone, rivalling the cathedrals erected in the heart of the city—during the war the vast interior spaces had been used to construct barrage balloons, such was its imposing scale. She felt safe at work, protected behind walls and barriers. She watched Rick approach the doors, beckoning her to join him, and together they walked back to the parked car.
Rick said nothing, uncommunicative and tetchy in his manners; he didn’t offer his hand to her and she could see pensive lines drawn on his face. Over the months, she had learnt to read his features and begun to interpret their meaning: he had something on his mind, something new, she suspected.
Once in the car, he deflected any potential questions she might have by immediately asking about her day at work. She was tempted to ask directly what troubled him, but she took his offered bait of a neutral topic and chatted quietly about inconsequential matters. As they ran out of things to say, an uncomfortable silence filled the car. She wondered if they should escape for the weekend. A couple of days in a country hotel, somewhere to talk and plan their future.
He drove cautiously, a slow pace, never too close to the car in front and his eyes on the mirrors constantly. Reaching home, she opened the front door, and Rick brushed by her quickly, checking for intruders, keeping her behind his back. His bodyguard demeanour had been activated since Sunday and it was a side of Rick she hadn’t seen so blatantly displayed. To some extent it comforted her, but it also scared her, knowing he considered the threat to her, to them both, to be exceptionally serious.
Dropping her handbag on the coffee table, she eased out of her raincoat. Heavy showers plagued the summer and signalled a typical decline in the English weather. Rick stopped her as she made to go into the kitchen to make tea. His fingers curled about her upper arm, halting her on the threshold of the door and walking her back into the room.
“We need to talk,” he said quietly.
“Yes, I agree,” she said keenly. Opening her mouth to make her suggestion about a weekend away, he jumped in before she could say another word.
“I want you to go to your mother, in Italy.”
Leah’s mouth hung open; beneath her tightening throat, her heart jumped. Finding her voice, she spoke stridently. “No!”
“Tomorrow, I’m putting you on a plane down to London, then a connecting flight to Milan.” He continued to speak with a calm authority, which did nothing but infuriate the increasingly vexed Leah.
“Absolutely not!”
“Leah, it is for the best…”
“I will not bloody go. You can’t fucking make me!” She stamped her foot down in anger. Seeing his disgruntled reaction, she altered the tone of her voice, lessening the harshness. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”
Rick’s eyes closed, as if she had caused him great pain. “I can’t come with you, that’s the point. Your mother and Gregor, they can take care of you. Look after you. I can’t any longer, Leah. It’s me that has brought this upon you. Me. I’m the one they’re after; they would follow me. With you gone, I can flee, hide and they will give up. Leave.” His last few words were spoken somewhat lamely, thought Leah, said more out of hope than belief. It didn’t detract from her determination to defy him.
“I am not going, Rick. That’s it. I won’t be parted from you again. Not after everything, not after the last six months. You won’t leave me, you can’t…” Her voice broke, tumbled apart and she heaved, her shoulders shaking as tears cascaded down her cheeks.
“Leah, don’t make this any harder than it is,” said Rick, his eyes shining brightly. “I don’t want to do this—”
“Then don’t. Please, please, don’t leave me again.” Leah reached out, touching a lapel of his jacket; he flinched slightly as if she had hurt him. “I can’t cope without you. I feel safe with you. I managed last time, when you left, because I still had Daddy. Mum, she doesn’t understand me. It doesn’t make any difference to me if I’m here or there, it is you who looks after me.”
“Leah, she’s your mother. Of course she will take care of you.”
Leah shook her head. “We’ve just begun, you and I… it can’t end, not after…” Her voice trailed away. “Please.” She said it one more time, then she tilted her head up to his anguished face, her lips drawn into an offering. Once before, when he had told her of his plan to leave, she had given him a kiss and he had held back, left it incomplete. This time, she prayed he would not hold back or stop.
Rick paused, hovering above her mouth, his breathing audible and rapid. “Leah,” he sighed softly.
His lips practically smashed into her own, no tender planting or delicate puckering, he collided with her and at the same time, pulled her into a tighter embrace. The eager panting on her part came immediately, the frantic need to be close and to feel his flesh and warmth. Leah pulled at the lapel of his jacket, dragging it down off his shoulder, while Rick continued to smother her with kisses.
Firmer hands gripped her; she recognised he was taking control, shifting her body and moving his hands about her. His mouth descended, finding her neck, he sucked hard on her flesh; it would leave a mark. His love bite, something to see in the mirror and touch.
“I can’t stop,” he muttered under his breath.
“Then don’t,” she replied between kisses.
It was a dress of her own creation, lovingly made, and she cared not one bit when he tore it off her. The seams gave, the buttons popped and flew away. Her own hands fumbled with his fly, desperately seeking his bulging cock and only when she had it between her fingers did she calm. She sank to her knees, the remnants of her dress floating down and away, leaving her in her underwear at his feet.
Leah sucked as hard as she could, letting him fill her mouth. Releasing his cock, she gasped for air, curled her tongue about his soft balls, and held them in her mouth. Rick, above and swaying slightly, moaned. His fingers ensnared the strands of her hair. Bunching it up into a makeshift bun, he began to direct her. She lowered her mouth onto him and for the first time, she could take him whole.
Feeling the tip of his cock plunge down her throat, she opened up wide for him and below, her clitoris almost fired off its first orgasm. She didn’t care if she came or not; she wanted him to take his pleasure in her. Her head bobbed up and down, coiling her tongue about his velvety surface.