He laid her on the duvet, the white material puffing up around her. James opened the drawer of the bedside table and pulled out a condom.
Megan pulled it from his fingers, her hands shaking as she frantically ripped at the foil wrapper and rolled it over him. Her hands ran down the length of him and settled on his balls, their full weight heavy in her hand. He was utterly male, nothing polished or refined about his masculinity.
Megan pushed James down on the bed. She could help him take off his trousers but it added to the sensation to leave them on, made it feel anonymous. She climbed on top of him, and lowered herself onto him, inch by inch, taking him deeper into her, deeper than she remembered a man could be. She stopped for a moment and let her body stretch tautly around him. She was so full, so complete. She rocked against him, grinding her hips against him, using his body, bringing her closer to release with every languid movement. The tender pressure built inside her, gathering tighter, pushing her higher.
With one hand she traced the deep ridges of his abs. And with her other, she reached between them, finding the sensitive spot and rubbed.
He gave a terse shake of his dark head, a devious look on his perfect features. Wordlessly he rolled her on her back, pinning her between him and the mattress. His mouth was on hers again, kissing her as he rode her. This time it was his hand between them, his hand tracing circles around her clit, wringing out every ounce of pleasure her body had. He was invading her in every way a man could, and she wanted it. There was nowhere else she would rather be, no person she wanted more.
Her back arched as she threw her hand high above her head and knocked the headboard. The metal of her wedding band hit the iron rails, creating a high tinny chime. The sound reminded her of her marriage, her role: all the boundaries she had painted around herself. In the moment she was free of everything. There were no secrets, no goals: no pressure. She was just a woman experiencing the primal satisfaction of a man deep inside her. She cried out from the pleasure of it as she gave herself over to her climax.
Her body shook and spasmed, clamping down around him. Seconds later he groaned, signalling his own release.
He collapsed onto her, his weight pinning her in place. He was heavy so there was not much room to breathe but it felt…right…safe. His large muscular frame was like a barrier to reality. She closed her eyes and let the last contractions wash over her, her body completely sated. She breathed in his scent, creating a memory. For a few moments they lay together, James still inside her, their hearts beating fast against the other’s ribs.
James said something she could not hear as he pulled out of her. An apology maybe? Her brain had not yet engaged. How long had they lain entwined, James still hard in her body? She opened her eyes and saw him pulling off the condom as he walked to the bathroom.
The scene was jarring, in sharp contrast to the euphoria she had just experienced. For her body it had felt like a fantasy, a treat that she had deprived herself of for too long, but no.
This was real. She had just had sex with a stranger.
No, with a journalist!
An icy cold realisation washed over her.
“Oh fuck,” Megan said. She pulled down her dress as she frantically tried to search for her underwear. “Oh fuck, fuck, fuck. So fucking stupid.” Where were her stupid panties? She pulled the duvet off the bed and swore again. She needed to get out of here. She needed to see Ben.
“What’s wrong?” James asked as he ran back from the bathroom.
She ignored him and continued to search for her panties. Of all the stupid things she had done in her life… What the hell had she been thinking?
“Megan, calm down, what are you looking for?”
“I need to go. That was a mistake…oh God. Please don’t tell anyone.” She ran down the stairs. Where were her panties? At least she still had her shoes. Shame nearly knocked her over, she still had her shoes on. What had she done?
“Just relax. Let me get you a cup of coffee…or something.”
He was close behind her, following her steps as she searched for her clothing. He was too close. She did not need the reminder of what she had just done.
She spun on her heel. “I need to go. Please don’t print this. Shit, what is Ben going to say?” Her heart would not stop its brutal assault against her ribs.
“You’re going to tell your husband?” James asked. A peculiar look of confusion and annoyance marred his features.
She realised too late she had spoken her words aloud. Shit, what would an adulteress say? She could not think right now. She had no idea how she was supposed to react. This wasn’t in the script. Funnily enough she had never planned for the eventuality of falling into bed with a journalist. She just needed to get out of there. Screw her underwear. He could keep them. Use them as bloody evidence if he wanted. She just needed to get out of the house before she said anything else. “I’m sorry. I had too much to drink. I have never done that before. I care about my husband. Please don’t publish this.” She closed her eyes, an unfamiliar pressure building. She wasn’t going to cry, she never did.
James stood between her and the door, preventing her from leaving. “Sit down and I’ll call you a cab.”
Megan pushed him frantically. “I need to go. Just let me go.”
“Calm down. What’s wrong?”
What was wrong?! She had just slept with a stranger. She had just messed things up in a monumental way. If anyone found out, if anyone ever questioned her marriage to Ben… No, it could not happen. She just needed to get out of there so she could think.
“I need to go.” She pushed him with all her strength, but he did not budge.
“I’m not letting you go until you calm down.”
“I can’t calm down until I go home and speak to my husband.” She was frantic now, her nerves amped up to maximum. She would not be OKuntil she had spoken to Ben and came up with a plan.
James shook his head. “Seriously, woman? Think that one through. It’s your marriage so I’m not going to tell you what to do, but as a man, I can tell you, I would not want to know. You made a mistake, don’t compound it by telling him.”
Megan’s hands balled into tight fists. “I’m not going to let him read about it in the papers. I’m not going to blindside him with this.”
“No one is going to put this in the papers. I’m hardly going to run a story about how I shagged a senator’s wife. I don’t want my sex life in the paper any more than you do.”
She shook her head. “Your sex life is in the paper all the time.”
James ran his hand over the stubble of his chin. This was not the usual postcoital reaction he received. Usually his only concern was dealing with a clingy woman and having to feign interest before he made an excuse as to why he could not lie about and cuddle and talk about feelings and enjoy the post-orgasm glow. This certainly made a change.
Fuck, what was this woman playing at? Had he misread the signs? They had been pretty clear, like blinking lights over the motorway clear, but maybe he had got it wrong. Shit.
“I’m not going to tell anyone we had sex. It’s not going to be in the papers so just relax.”
“I can name all of the women you have had sex with this year. Because I read it in the papers! So forgive me if I don’t believe you.” She was shaking now, from fear or rage, he couldn’t tell.
Those were hardly all the women he had been with, those were just the women the paparazzi had caught him with, but he was hardly going to correct her on that point. “You think I print stories about myself on purpose? Woman, I do that because I don’t stop my reporters from printing any news they see fit.