It didn’t work with her new bra, though.
Second go.
A grey wraparound dress worked better, though showed a little more cleavage than her parents would consider suitable.
Perfect!
Not big on make-up, Candy put on some mascara and a slick of lipstick and when there was a knock at the door she was nervous, but nicely so.
‘You’re no help,’ Candy said as she let him in and he handed her a bottle of wine. Steele was wearing black jeans and a black shirt. He looked incredibly handsome and had that air about him that meant he was suitably dressed for any venue.
‘Meaning?’ Steele asked.
‘I was trying to decide whether to wear flats or heels given that I don’t know where we’re going.’
‘We’re going to the movies,’ Steele said. ‘I figured it might be nice if you’re tired—though we shan’t be making out in the back row. I like watching a film properly.’
‘What are we going to see?’ she asked. The movies was possibly the nicest place he could take her if they had to go out. It would be nice to turn her brain off for a couple of hours.
‘Two choices,’ he said. ‘One is very dark, apparently funny in part. One is very sad... See what mood you’re in.’
‘I don’t mind,’ she said as she led him through her lounge and put the wine down on the bench of a very small kitchen.
‘So this is what all the arguments with your parents were about?’ Steele said, looking around the living room of her small but cosy flat. The front door opened to the living room. Off that was a small kitchen and to the side a hall that led to the bathroom and bedroom. ‘It’s nice.’
‘I love it,’ Candy said. ‘It’s a ten-minute walk to the Underground, a five-minute walk to my favourite Indian restaurant.
‘We can eat before or after...’ Steele said.
The thought of Indian before sounded too good to pass up, but then other senses were calling, the attraction wafting between them as potent as any delicious aroma from food.
Candy knew she was eons behind him sexually. She wanted to have slept with him, in part to have jumped that hurdle without knocking it over, in part just to dive onto the track...
And Candy usually hated even the thought of sport, but, oh, he was handsome.
And he was here.
‘Do you want a glass of wine?’ she offered, even though he’d brought it, but Steele shook his head.
‘Not for me,’ he said. ‘I’m driving. You have one, though...’ He went to open the bottle he’d brought but she stopped him.
‘Not for me.’ Candy shook her head. ‘I don’t really drink and anyway I’m on early tomorrow. I’ll just get my shoes.’
She went to her bedroom and put on flats but as she came out Steele frowned.
‘What happened to the heels?’
‘For the movies?’
‘For me.’
She smiled and went and put on said heels, with Steele watching her from the doorway.
He made her shiver. If Gerry had stood watching her she’d have found it invasive, but with Steele she just wanted to strip off her dress, pull back the covers on the bed and climb in.
She could feel his eyes on her calf muscles and then on her bum and she turned and it was nice to feel provocative. It was something she had never felt before. He made her feel like this.
And he made her want to kiss him.
It was as simple as that, as natural as breathing to stand in the doorway of her bedroom and wrap her hands behind his neck and share a kiss for no other reason than they both wanted to. She didn’t feel naïve or inexperienced with him. There wasn’t enough space in her mind for those sorts of thoughts because it was filled instead with pleasurable ones as they got back to where they’d been on the street in record time.
Steele’s hand did move higher than the base of her rib cage this time. He was stroking the underside of her breast as they kissed, and her nipples hardened and ached for his fingers to attend to them. She had one hand at the back of his head, just to feel his silky hair, not for pressure for there was plenty of that from Steele, and she had the other on his bum. His buttocks were taut and she checked again. Yes, they were still taut and it was that hand that demanded he press into her.