CHAPTER 3

 

“We’re just getting reports there’s been trouble at the England team hotel.”

  Cate switched off the TV.  She didn’t want to hear any more; she just wanted him home.

  Before she went upstairs, she tried calling Kian again but it kept going to voicemail.  Ugh, Cate slammed the handset down.  She was so frustrated that she couldn’t find her mobile.  He was due home either tomorrow or the day after, Sara would have texted her the details but it wasn’t soon enough.  She hadn’t spoken to him since yesterday morning and she was desperate to hear his voice.  She really hated these tournaments, hated being away from him.

  She was about to walk up the stairs when she saw movement by the front door.  “Oh sweetheart,” Cate knelt down by Monty’s side.  Monty was her sister-in-law, Erin’s cocker spaniel; Cate was looking after him while she and Ben were at the World Cup.  “They’ll be home soon, I promise.”

  “Do you want to come upstairs with me?” Cate asked, stroking the top of his head.  He wasn’t usually allowed upstairs but she figured that they could both do with the company tonight.  Monty didn’t budge, keeping his big, black eyes trained on the front door of his own house, just visible through the frosted glass.

  “I know,” Cate smiled.  “I miss them too.”  She went back into the kitchen and got Monty’s bed for him so at least he’d be comfortable while he kept watch all night for Ben and Erin.

  Before she went to bed, Cate checked on Lola, who was sleeping peacefully.  Cate gently placed the palm of her hand on her daughter’s forehead; it was still a little warm but it wasn’t feverish.  Lola stirred, “Mummy?”

  “It’s OK sweetie,” Cate whispered.  “It’s still night-time, go back to sleep.”

  “When’s Daddy coming home?”

  “Soon.”  As Lola rolled on to her side, Cate saw that she was hugging her England shirt like a comfort blanket.

  Cate tiptoed out of her daughter’s bedroom and snuck a quick peek over the banister; Monty had dragged his bed so it was right up against the front door, his wet nose was twitching against the glass.  “What a family we are.”

  In the bedroom, Cate quickly got undressed with the lights off.  She hated sleeping in their bed on her own.  It was so cold and empty.  Kian was adamant that she slept there though, he got really annoyed if he found out she’d slept on the sofa or in one of the guest bedrooms while he was away. 

  She climbed under the duvet and pressed her face against his pillow to see if it still held any of his scent.  He’d been away too long, it didn’t smell like him at all.  She knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep without some reminder of him.  She padded across to the bathroom and found an almost empty bottle of his aftershave at the back of the cupboard.  She spritzed his pillow.  “Ugh,” Cate cried with frustration as she hugged his pillow tightly to her chest.  She’d thought that it would help but being able to smell him just made her miss him more.

  Eventually she must have fallen asleep because a little while later, she felt someone tugging on her pyjama bottoms.  Cate opened her eyes, it was pitch-black outside but Kian was there.  “I need to pinch you,” she mumbled, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.  She didn’t want to get her hopes up in case this was just a very vivid dream.  She reached up and pinched his cheek.  It felt lovely and stubbly against her fingers.

  “Ouch,” Kian yelped.  “Aren’t you supposed to pinch yourself?”

  It was really him.  He was home.  “When did you get back?” Cate cried, she was so, so pleased to see him.

  “I got an earlier flight.”  Kian pulled off his jacket and threw it on the floor.  He tipped Cate back on the mattress and kissed her, his tongue pushing into her mouth.

  “Fuck, you taste good.”

  His hands went back to her pyjama bottoms and he yanked them down to her ankles.  Cate kicked them off. 

  “Take off your top, I want to see your tits,” he grunted.  As he sat back and unbuttoned his shirt, she obeyed and quickly pulled her vest top up and over her head.

  “Fuck,” Kian grunted, looking down at his wife’s half-naked body.  It was like he hadn’t seen her in months.  He buried his face in her neck, breathing in those fucking intoxicating blackberries.  He felt the breath hitch in her throat as he trailed his fingers up over her ribs.  Cate arched her back, pressing her warm breasts into his hands.  Her eyelids fluttered closed as he kneaded her tender flesh, “oh.”

  She ran her hands up his back, taking everything in; his scent, the feel of his muscles flexing underneath his warm skin, the weight of his hips pushing her deep into the mattress.

  “I think somebody wanted me to pinch them,” Kian chuckled, pinching the stiff peak of her nipple.  He followed that with a sharp twist.  “Ah,” Cate jerked upwards, her torso crashing into his. 

  As he moved down, she felt his stubble scratch against her tender skin and then, “oh God.”  Cate sunk her nails into his back as he took her stinging nipple into his mouth, soothing her with his lips and tongue. 

  His erection was straining against the front of his trousers so he kicked off his trousers and boxer shorts.  It had been so long, he knew he couldn’t be gentle, not this first time.  He dragged her panties down her legs and brought the tiny bundle of silk and lace up to his nose.  He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the smell of her wet pussy.  He pushed her legs apart with his knee and traced her cleft with his finger.  She felt damp but he needed more proof that she was ready for him.  He parted her lips, her arousal spilling on to the sheet beneath them.  “Please,” Cate whimpered, tightly gripping his forearm.  Still he needed more.  He tucked two fingers deep inside her, watching as her hips jerked up off the bed.

  Kian wrapped a hand around the base of his heavy cock and lined himself up with her entrance.  Just a whisper away from being buried inside his wife again, Kian was drunk with want.  As the leaky tip of his cock rubbed against the slick heat inside her lips, he was suddenly assaulted by memories of the things he’d done with Jenna.  Fuck, no.  He didn’t want that anywhere near his home, his wife.  If he was a better man, he would have confessed straight away and begged for her forgiveness.  Ugh, Kian pressed his free hand against his chest, just the thought of being without Cate made it hard for him to fucking breathe.

  He shook his head, trying to dislodge the guilt which weighted heavily on his shoulders.  He looked down at the incredibly beautiful woman spread out beneath him, his wife.  Her body was still warm from sleep.  He bent down and kissed just below her ear.  “Mm,” she moaned, her soft hands fluttering down his back.  He trailed his mouth down her neck, playfully nipping her collarbone and down between her breasts.  While his thumb rubbed her aching nipple, his other hand trailed down her side to her hip.  Kian traced the scar on her abdomen, from when she’d given birth to their daughter.  He loved Cate so fucking much.  He couldn’t lose her, not over a drunken blow job that had barely got him hard.

  “Kian?” Cate looked up at him.  Her big, black eyes were smoky with arousal.

  “I’m just enjoying the view,” Kian teased, making Cate blush.  She turned her head to the side.

  “Don’t,” Kian ordered.  “I want you to look at me.”

  “Fuck,” he groaned, thrusting balls-deep inside her pussy.  Even though she was wet, the force of that first thrust caught Cate off guard.  Her body shunted up the mattress, the top of her head slamming into the headboard.  “Ow,” she yelped.  Kian dragged her back down the mattress and shoved a pillow between her head and the headboard.  He reached for her hands and pinned them to the mattress.

  “Fuck, Cate, fuck,” he grunted over and over again as his cock thrust deep inside her.  Cate wrapped her legs around his waist, quickly matching her hips to his rhythm.  As he ground his pubis against her clit, Cate felt her orgasm build like a wave racing to the shore. 

  Suddenly, Kian’s whole body tensed, he threw his head back.  The vein at the side of his forehead was thick and pulsing furiously.  She felt him jerk inside of her, filling her insides with his molten release.  He collapsed on top of her, sweaty and spent, his hands still gripping hers.

  He stayed there for a long time, with his cock still twitching inside of her and the weight of his hard body pinning her to the mattress.

  “What happened out there?” Cate asked softly. 

  Kian shook his head, burrowing deeper into the curve of her neck and shoulder, he didn’t want to answer.  Cate struggled to free her hands.  She reached up and held the sides of his face, forcing him to look at her.  He looked like hell; his eyes were bloodshot and his jaw was peppered with stubble.

  His eyes darkened further as he looked at her, “you didn’t…?”

  Cate shook her head, “it doesn’t matter.”

  “I want to make you come,” he said, tenderly kissing her swollen lips.  He prided himself on taking care of his wife.

  Cate smiled, “you can do that tomorrow.  Tonight you need to sleep.”

 

The next morning, she woke up with Kian’s head resting between her breasts.  Cate stroked her fingers through his dark hair, relieved that he was starting to look more like her husband again.  His tongue darted out and licked her plump nipple.

  “Hey,” she laughed, “I thought you were asleep.”

  Kian turned on his side and gently brushed her hair away from her face.  Cate found herself leaning in to his touch.  He kissed her tenderly, easing his tongue between her lips.  Her warm breasts pillowed against his chest.

  Cate felt his hand slip in between her thighs.  “What are you doing?”

  “I want to make you come,” Kian grinned, stroking his fingers back and forth through her damp curls.

  Cate was so tempted; with each stroke the throbbing between her legs intensified.  But she had to be realistic, “you can’t.”  She reached down and tried to remove his hand.

  Kian raised an eyebrow.  “Are you sure about that?”

  He slid a finger inside her.  “Fuck,” Kian groaned; he could feel his release still coating her insides.

  “Kian,” Cate said softly, her thighs clamped around his wrist.

  “Angel,” Kian kissed the base of her throat, feeling her pulse thundering against his lips.  “Let me take care of you.”

  He bent down and slowly licked her nipples, bringing them to stiff, rosy peaks.  “So beautiful.”

  He pinched the slippery bud of her nipple between his finger and thumb and then quickly twisted it.  “Please,” Cate cried, bucking up off the mattress.

  Kian pushed apart her thighs and settled between them.  Cate felt his cock twitch against her thigh.  He slid another finger inside her and circled his thumb over her swollen clit.  “Give in to me,” Kian said quietly, using his free hand to tilt her head back so he could kiss her more deeply.  Cate felt herself surrendering; the stroking of his tongue inside her mouth matched the pumping of his fingers between her legs.  His hard body trapped her against the mattress.  She felt the orgasm build in the depths of her stomach. 

  “We can’t…” Cate’s voice trailed off.  She couldn’t remember any of the reasons why they shouldn’t be doing this.

  She was so close when Monty suddenly started barking downstairs.  Kian stopped for a moment and Cate quickly grabbed his hand from between her legs and lifted it out of the covers.  “I didn’t mean that you couldn’t… just not now.  Lola’s going to come running in here any minute and we can’t be…”

  Cate manoeuvred herself out of his hold.  “We could lock the door,” Kian smirked, licking Cate’s juices from his fingers. 

  “No,” Cate said, gritting her teeth.  Two near orgasms was really testing her resolve.  “You’ll have to wait until tonight.”

  “I can’t wait that long,” Kian groaned, looking down at his proud erection.

  “Tonight,” Cate repeated, “and you can do whatever you want to me.”

  “Ugh,” Kian groaned again.  His mind raced with all the possibilities.  “You’re torturing me.”

  Cate was in the bathroom brushing her teeth when Kian walked in.  “Look what you’ve done to me,” he teased, pointing at his cock, which stood hard and erect against his stomach.

  “You need a cold shower.”

  Kian wrapped his arms around her waist, grinding his cock into her bottom.  “Why don’t you join me?”

  “Stop,” she giggled, smacking his arm.  Monty started barking again.  She wriggled away from Kian and said, “have that shower and I’ll see you downstairs.”

  When he came downstairs a little while later, Lola was sat at the kitchen counter eating cereal.  “Daddy,” she said delightedly when she saw him, “you’re back.”

  “I am,” Kian said.  He put a hand on her forehead.  “How are you feeling?  Mummy said you were poorly.”

  “I was sick five times,” Lola said, holding up five fingers, “but I’m all better now.”

  Kian sat down next to her at the counter and Lola said, “I know a song, do you want to hear it?”

  “Go on then.”

  “En-gur-land, En-gur-land, En-gur-land.”

  Cate winced, wondering how Kian would take it but when she looked at him, he was laughing.  “Why is she singing it in a Cockney accent?” He asked Cate.

  “Ryan taught it to her,” Cate explained.  “It’s all I’ve heard while you’ve been away, she’s so proud of you.”

  “Yeah?” Kian smiled again but this one felt forced, his eyes had that sorrowful look about them again.

  “Daddy, what happened to your hands?” Lola asked, lifting them up so she could look at them more closely.

  “It’s nothing,” Kian insisted.

  “Do they hurt a lot?” Lola asked.  “Do you want me to kiss them better?”

  Lola gave them both a little kiss and Kian smiled, “wow, look at that, they don’t hurt anymore.  You’ve got magic powers.”

  Lola grinned up at him. 

  “Why don’t you go and get dressed and we’ll take Monty for a walk?”  Cate said, kissing the top of her daughter’s head.  Lola jumped down off the stool and ran upstairs.  “Did Ben and Erin come home last night as well?”

  Kian shook his head, “no, just me.  I think they’re coming back today.”

  Cate sat down on the stool next to him and looked at his knuckles, which were cut and bruised.  “What happened to you?” she asked softly.

  Kian brushed her off, “It’s nothing.  Don’t worry about it.”

  There was a book on the counter and Kian reached for it.  “What to Expect When You’re Expecting?” Kian looked down at Cate’s stomach.  He thought back to the argument they’d had the night before he left for the World Cup, “you’re not…?”

  “No,” Cate said quickly, “it’s not for me, it’s for Molly.  I said I’d dig it out for her.”

  “Molly?”

  “From the Tavern.”  As soon as she’d said it, Cate knew that she’d said the wrong thing.

  Kian’s face darkened.  “When the fuck did you go there?”

  “He wasn’t there, I promise.  I‘ve been trying to find a textbook for uni, it’s out of print and there’s a huge waiting list for it at the library.  I bumped into Molly in the Trafford Centre a couple of weeks ago and she said she’d try and get it for me.  She called a couple of days ago so I went to the Tavern to pick it up.  Please don’t be mad.  I double-checked with Molly before I went that he definitely wouldn’t be there.  He was at a book fair.”

  Kian got up from the stool.  “Where are you going?” Cate asked.

  “Out.  I’ve got some errands to run.”

  Lola came downstairs as Kian was about to leave.  “Daddy, can I come with you?”

  The first place they went was the Book Tavern.  The shop was empty apart from Molly and Nick who were chatting behind the counter.  Nick paled when he looked up and saw Kian walk through the door.

  Molly quickly came out from behind the counter and took Lola by the hand, “do you want to come and look at the children’s books, sweetie?”

  Once they were out of earshot, Kian slammed his hands down on the counter.  “I want my wife’s phone.”

  “I’m married,” Nick said.  “To Molly, we’re happy.  I swear.  I haven’t seen Cate since that Christmas.”

  “Now,” Kian growled.  He didn’t want to think about the slimy, little fucker trying to kiss his wife.

  Nick rushed to the back office and came back with Cate’s phone.  Kian snatched the phone from him and put it in his pocket.  “Stay the hell away from my wife.”

  “Daddy,” Lola came running over to him.  He took a deep breath, trying to force the tension out of his muscles.  He didn’t want to scare his daughter.  “Can I buy this with my pocket money?”

  It was the children’s book, Milly Molly Mandy.  “That’s a good choice,” Molly said softly.  “I loved that book when I was a little girl.”

  Nick made his excuses and disappeared into the back office while Molly processed the sale.  “How much is it?” Lola asked, looking at the coins in her little jewelled purse.

  “How much have you got?” Molly asked.  Lola put her coins on the counter and Molly helped her count them.

  “What do you know, you’ve got £1.50 and that’s the same price as the book.”

  “Really?” Lola said happily. 

  Kian looked at the price on the inside cover, it was £2.50.  “Lola, honey, look at the cat.”  Lola loved animals; she’d begged them for a pet but Cate thought that she was too young for the responsibility.  She rushed to the front of the store to study the plump tortoiseshell cat that was dozing in the sun-filled window.  Kian pulled out his wallet and rummaged for a pound coin.

  “It’s fine,” Molly said, stopping him.  “I know she’ll treasure that book.”

  “I don’t want to owe you anything,” he said.

  But Molly insisted that she didn’t want the extra pound so before he left, Kian put the coin in the charity box by the side of the till.

  After the bookstore, they went to his agent’s office.  Dave had come back with him on the same flight.  Kian left Lola with Andrea, Dave’s pregnant assistant while they went into his office.

  When they got back, Ben and Erin were also home.  Kian volunteered to walk Monty across to them.

  “Hi,” Ben said coldly when he opened the door to Kian.

  Monty immediately ran inside the house to find Erin, who was upstairs unpacking.  “Have you told her?” Ben asked.

  “Let’s go outside,” Kian said.  They went and sat in the garden on the opposite side of Ben’s house.

  “Well, have you?” Ben asked again.

  “Do you really think she’d still be here if I had?” Kian laughed bitterly.

  “You’ve got to tell her,” Ben insisted.

  “Why?” Kian said.  “What if she never finds out, would it really be so bad?”

  “I can’t believe you just asked me that,” Ben snapped angrily.  “That’s my sister, you jerk.”

  “It’ll never happen again, I swear,” Kian started to look desperate.  “I can’t lose my family, Ben.”

  “You should have thought of that before,” Ben said.  “Even if neither of us tell her what happened, she’ll find out eventually from someone else and it’ll be so much worse.”

  “Why does she have to find out?”

  “Too many people know already.  You, me, Sinead, Yoakey’s got a big mouth and whoever else was in the bar that night.”

  “She won’t.  Not if you and Sinead don’t say anything.  Cate doesn’t go to matches so I can keep her away from Yoakey or any of the others.”

  “What about her, she might say something?” Ben couldn’t bring himself to say Jenna’s name.

  “Sinead talked to her, she doesn’t think she’ll say anything.”

  “You’re asking too much of me,” Ben said.  “You’re my friend but Cate’s my little sister, I’m supposed to protect her.”

  “Then don’t tell her,” Kian said.  “If you tell her, you’ll destroy her and my family.”

  “No,” Ben said.  “You’ve already done that.”  He was quiet for a moment, staring off into the distance.  “Fine, I won’t tell her but I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing it for Cate and Lola.  I swear to God, if you do anything like that ever again, I will kill you.”

  “I’ll let you,” Kian said.

  “Go home to your family,” Ben said.  “I can’t be around you right now.”