CORAL - Fallen (A Romance Trilogy, Book 2) (10 page)

“No.”

“So back to my original question. ARe you
afraid of being dominated?”

“No.” I snap back.
Liar!

“You’re not?” He questions.

“No, I just don’t like it.” I blurt.

“So why didn’t it work out with this other
guy?”

“Tristan,” I sit up and turn in the bath so
I’m facing him. “Why are you so interested? It was in the past, it didn’t work
out,” I say feeling frustrated.

“Just trying to get to know you baby, like
I said I don’t want to fuck it up.”

“You won’t.”

“But unless you’ – “Tristan,” I close my
eyes in exasperation. “Seriously, where are you going with this? I came in here
to have a nice relaxing bath, and I have to say, so far it isn’t working out
for me.” He looks wounded. “Ah Christ Tristan, what?” I say, my hand splashing
into the water.

“I guess I’m trying to work out what kind
of sexual experiences you’ve had, you know…what you did with him that you
liked, so…” He breaks off reading my expression. “You don’t want to say, do
you?”

“Not particularly,” I grumble.

“I’d still like to know’ – “Christ,” I take
a deep breath. “We didn’t do much of anything, just plain sex Tristan, and no
oral, pretty boring stuff. I was young, scared and I had no confidence and no
idea of what I really liked, what turned me on. Satisfied?” I snap.

“Did he hurt you?” His voice is suddenly
low and ominous, his expression frozen as he waits for my answer.

“No, not in the way you’re thinking,” I say
staring down at the bath water.

Tristan seems to relax a little. “How did
he hurt you baby?” he asks his voice soft.

I close my eyes. “He cheated on me with my
best friend, Harriet.”

“She can't have been much of a friend,” he
muses.

“No, I guess not.” I snap. It still stings
when I think about it.

“And he can't have realised what he had,”
he says.

“Oh he did,” I retort.

Tristan frowns. “If he did then why did he
cheat on you?” He asks with his head cocked to the side. I take another deep
breath and slowly blow it out. He’s just going to keep questioning me, I know
he is, so I may as well just get this over with.

“Because he wanted me to commit to him,
move in together and he wanted to do more in the bedroom and I wouldn’t, and…”
I grit my teeth. “It’s like I said to you, I’m not sure…I still don’t know if
I’m doing this right. I don’t know what intimacy is, or how to be close to
someone. Harriet was a lot of fun, she was very pretty and very confident, she
knew who she was and what she wanted.” I close my eyes trying to push the
memory away of me catching them at it. “So I guess they were perfectly matched
for one another,” I bite.

“How did you find out?” He whispers reading
my mind.

“I caught them shagging,” I hiss.

“Do you miss him Coral?” I look up at him
staring down at the water, waiting again for my answer.

“No Tristan! I don’t miss him at all,” I
bark. He doesn’t look convinced –
Great!

“Look, he was my boyfriend and she was my
best friend. I thought they both cared for me, like I did them, so to find
them…” I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “I don’t care that it ended with
Justin, it wasn’t going anywhere anyway, and I don’t think it would have
bothered me that much if I’d have caught him with someone I didn’t know…but my
best friend? If he had come to me and said he wanted to end it, in a respectful
way, and then started seeing Harriet, I wouldn’t have minded at all. I’d have
been happy for him, for both of them, but they didn’t.

“Look, I know most people don’t think like
this, but to me, your best friend should be the person that’s most loyal to
you, not the one that does the dirty behind your back with your boyfriend. It
made me feel like neither of them gave a shit about me, and that’s what hurts
the most. It had been going on for months, and when I caught them, they both
disappeared out of my life. I didn’t even get an apology. In one day I lost my
boyfriend, my best friend and my social life.”

“Your social life?” He questions.

“I’d known Harriet since school, we were
drinking buddies. I didn’t have anyone else Tristan.”

“Oh, I see,” he says frowning back at me. “You
didn’t go out with your sister?”

“No, Debs has always been more of a homely
girl, and they were trying to conceive so she wasn’t drinking. She told me she
was pregnant the same day I’d caught them two at it!”

“Hmm…” Tristan looks deep in thought, then
he gazes at me again, his eyes all deep and mysterious. “Do you know what turns
you on now?”

“Yes, you!” I say, hoping to change the
subject.

He smiles wryly at me. “That wasn’t what I
was asking, and you know it,” he says.

I close my eyes again. “What Tristan, what
do you want to know?”

“I don’t…” I open my eyes and see him run
his hand through his hair. “I guess I’m just trying to work you out, and I know
a little bit more now.”

“Yeah…enlighten me,” I say sarcastically.

“You have issues with sex.”
Oh crap!

“No I don’t,” I argue.

“Yeah...you do, you were with this guy
before you got the studio, before…” he breaks off.
Before I was raped!
“I think you know where I’m going with this.” He adds.

“Do I really come across to you as someone
who has issues with sex?” I say with one eyebrow cocked up.

“You seem very relaxed with
me
…” He
says frowning deeply. “But you freaked out again today because I tickled you. I
swear it’s linked, sex, touch, men. I know there’s something you’re not telling
me…” He adds.
Fuck!

“No Tristan, there’s not,” I whisper,
trying to get him off the subject. I cross my arms and pout at him, feeling
really annoyed. Tristan picks up my right foot and starts massaging it, it
should feel really good, but I’m too worked up to appreciate it.

“Are you done questioning me?” I bark.

“Yes,” he frowns.

“Good. My turn,” I say, surprising him.

“Oh?” he cocks his head to the side and
smiles wryly at me. “I’m all ears.”

“Yesterday, when I came back, you said ‘I’m
not sorry I pushed, it made you leave and it’s made me realise a few things’
when I asked you what you meant, you said ‘later’ well, it’s later, so spill,”
I bark. He stops massaging my foot for a moment as he scrutinizes me, then he
shrugs and continues, his thumbs digging deeper into my feet –
Ok
,
that’s
starting to feel really good.

“Ok, well firstly, it made me realise that
you have issues, very deep and disturbing issues that you really don’t want to
share with me,” he softly says.
Holy crap, he knows…he knows I have secrets,
shit!

Tristan continues. “Secondly, I realised
that it’s ok, you know…if you don’t want to tell me, then that’s fine.” I stop
breathing, and just stare at him with wide eyes.

“And thirdly, you walking out the door,
leaving me, made me understand the depth of my feelings for you. I knew the
moment you left, that it doesn’t matter how many times you run because you’re
scared, I’ll always come after you. I’ll always fight for you and bring you
back home.” Tristan stares down at me with dark, brooding eyes.

“Oh,” I breathe, trying to take it all in.

“Satisfied?” he asks, throwing my words
back at me. I decide not to answer him, instead I lean back, rest my head on
the edge of the bath and close my eyes, my shoulders slowly start to work their
way down from my ears.

“Come back over here baby,” Tristan says, I
open my eyes and stare hesitantly at him. He has his hand stretched out towards
me.

“No.” I pout.

“Please, let me massage you, you’re
shoulders are almost up to your ears.” He gives me his sad, puppy dog look.

I roll my eyes at him. “Fine!” I grumble. I
turn around so I’m leaning against his chest once more. His hands start
massaging my shoulders again…
oh that feels so good!

“I’m sorry,” he whispers against my ear
then kisses my cheek.

I say nothing, if I open my mouth it may
lead to more dialogue, more questioning. Or he might want me to comment on what
he just told me, and I don’t want that, I can't take it.

“Who are we listening to?” He asks
chirpily.

“Enigma.”

“They’re good.”

“Yeah…they are.” I say, my voice sounding
unintentionally sad.

“Hey,” Tristan takes hold of my chin and
turns me to face him. “I really am sorry. How can I make it up to you?”

“By not questioning me anymore,” I whimper,
feeling vulnerable.

“Done, anything else?” He says.

“Yes, by making
non-dominating
love
to me when we finish this bath,” I answer dryly.

His eyebrows rise. “Miss Stevens, you shock
me. You want it again?” he teases, then sighs blissfully. “Oh it’s a dirty job,
but somebody’s got to do it,” he chuckles, running his hands across my breasts.

“Well I would have said I’m glad it’s you, but
after that interrogation I’m not so sure!” I scoff.

“Interrogation?” he says, chuckling to
himself.

“Glad you find it amusing,” I bite, but a
stupid grin is already appearing across my face, giving me away.

“Ah baby…” He soothes wrapping his arms
around me, squeezing me tight and chuckling in my ear. I shake my head and
laugh along with him, not really understanding what I’m laughing at. How can I
go from feeling vulnerable and angry one minute, to lighthearted and playful
the next?
Oh Tristan, what you do to me…

TRISTAN HAS STAYED UPSTAIRS
after our gentle, sweet lovemaking, citing he has some work to do.
So there I left him, on the bed, laptop sitting on his legs, looking as
gorgeous as ever –
Wish I was sitting on his lap right now
!

I grit my teeth at myself –
Coral!
Jeez,
I'm turning into a sex maniac too!

Shaking my head at myself, I head down the
stairs feeling much calmer than I did in the bath. I shudder slightly, all that
questioning...I hope Tristan’s just guessing about my past, I really don’t want
him to know that side of me.

As I reach the kitchen, I take a moment to assess
how I really feel. I am definitely feeling more relaxed now, I guess that’s all
the sex, and I’m feeling very excited to be cooking in Tristan’s awesome kitchen.
Right time for some music to cook by!

Switching on my MP3 player, I plug it into
the new player Tristan bought for the kitchen and scroll through my albums. I
decide on Barry White’s Greatest Hits, his songs are about love, and that’s
exactly how I'm feeling right now – very, very loved up! Can’t Get Enough Of
Your Love Babe starts playing, Barry doing his little speech at the beginning,
then the beat comes in and he starts singing.

I can't help moving my body, dancing and
singing along to the tune as I try and find where Tristan has hidden all the
kitchen equipment we bought today. Finally finding what I need, I take all the
food out the fridge and start doing my thing.

Five minutes later, I have the fish
poaching in the oven, so I start on cutting up the potatoes to parboil them. I
stop for a moment and take a look at my surroundings.

I absolutely love this kitchen, this house
and Tristan...
oh Tristan
...

Laughing at myself, I turn back to
preparing the potatoes. As I put them on the boil, Barry starts singing You See
The Trouble With Me. I sing away, knowing all the words, thinking of Tristan
the whole time. Preparing the vegetables, I put them in the steamer ready to be
done for a few minutes before the meal is ready. Then I prepare the crusty
topping for the fish.

Knowing I have some time before I make the
sauce for the fish, I pour myself a glass of wine and have a little dance
around the kitchen. The track changes again, Never Going to Give You Up starts
playing, I get lost in it and slow my body down, moving in time to the beat,
singing along, slowly swaying my hips from side to side…I love dancing, I miss
dancing…
Maybe we should all go out when Rob’s back?

I open my eyes to take sip of wine only to
find Tristan standing five feet away from me, his jaw nearly hitting the floor,
a look of shock and awe spread across his face. I stop dancing and smile shyly,
feeling a little embarrassed he caught me – Boy he looks good, he’s back in his
black sweats and another white vest
– I want him again right now!

Tristan’s eyes darken, then taking me by
complete surprise, he smiles his most sexy, panty combusting smile and starts
dancing towards me. My mouth pops open in shock as he closes the distance
between us –
Oh my God, Tristan can really dance, who knew? He looks so
fucking sexy!

Placing my wine down, I join in with him.
His wraps his arms around my waist, crushes me to him and we grind, sexily in
the middle of the kitchen…
Holy fuck!

Then Tristan leans down singing in time
with Barry...“I'm never, never gonna give you up,” his voice is really quite
good. “Whatever you want, girl you got, and whatever you need, I don't want to
see you without it.” Tristan carries on like that, singing to me.
Is there
anything this guy isn’t good at?

The timer beeping on the cooker makes us
both stop and turn around. I smile up at Tristan, reading my thoughts he lets
me go. I walk over to the music and turn it down a little, opening the oven
door I check the fish, it’s ready for it’s crusty topping. Ok, I need to get
rid of Tristan. I don't want him in the kitchen while I cook, I won’t be able
to concentrate, and I want to surprise him. Opening the fridge, I pour him some
wine and hand it to him.

“Thank you for the dance sexy, but you need
to go,” I say.

Tristan takes the wine and gazes down at
me. “Do you have any idea how sexy you look when you dance like that? It should
be illegal,” he says. “Especially in those little shorts.”

I look down at myself. I'm wearing my dark
blue P.J cotton shorts that I normally sleep in. Ok, they fit really snugly,
and I know they show of a bit of my butt too, but I knew I’d probably get hot
cooking in my sweats. I did not think Tristan would think I look sexy in them –
at all!

“You’re looking pretty hot too baby. Now
go!” I chuckle.

Tristan doesn’t move. He just stands there
staring down at me, teasing me with his sexy smile. I try and push him out of
the kitchen, giggling as I do. Tristan starts chuckling at me, because I'm not
making him move very much, it’s like he’s made out of iron or something?

Putting his wine down he grabs me by the
waist, and crushes me against his chest, then he leans down and kisses me,
passionately, his tongue battling with mine. His moans of pleasure are making
my blood pressure feel like it’s spiked, I lose all thoughts. Pulling back from
me as quickly as he grabbed hold of me, he steps back panting as heavily as I
am.
Whoa!

I gaze up at him, trying to think what I
was doing before he kissed me like that. Tristan looks a little bewildered too.
I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts…what was I doing?
Dinner, yes,
that’s what I was doing, cooking a meal!

Moving closer to him, I pass him his wine
peck him on the lips, then walk away, trying to get my head together so I can
finish off this meal...

THE MEAL IS READY.
So I
call Tristan through to the kitchen, he’s been searching for a film for us to
watch later, not that I think we’ll watch it, I think we’ll be screwing like
rabbits. My stomach fills with butterflies, just thinking about having sex with
him is enough to stop my heart beating for a second or two.

I decided to set up the new kitchen table,
rather than eat at the breakfast bar; it looks nice now it’s ready for a meal.
Alicia Keys starts singing If I Ain’t Got You, just as Tristan makes his way
over to me. I swoon at him for a second then quickly snap myself out of it –
He’s
going to think I’m a complete lunatic!

“Here.” I place Tristan’s plate of food in
front of him, trying to ignore how sexy he is and how gorgeous he smells.

“Wow!” Tristan looks shocked.

“What?” I chuckle sitting down next to him
with my plate.

“This looks amazing Coral.” I smile shyly
and pick up my knife and fork. “I’m serious this looks like Michelin star food.”
I frown at him, but I can see he really means it. I look down at the meal I have
cooked, a meal I’ve done I don’t know how many times. To me it’s easy, cooking
seems to come naturally to me.

“Now you’re being silly,” I choke.

“No Coral I’m not. Care to tell me how many
Michelin star restaurants you’ve eaten at?” I take a sip of the cool, crisp
white Chardonnay that Tristan has poured and shrug. “I thought so. I’m telling
you, this looks Michelin.”

I place my wine down and look at the meal
again. I’ve made Sea bass, which I lightly poached then roasted with a crusty
herb topping and placed on a bed of wilted Spinach, which I have served with
diced and roasted, salt and pepper potatoes, served it with steamed asparagus,
long stem broccoli, and a garlic and lemon butter sauce –
Simple!

“Ok then, it looks Michelin,” I retort,
scrutinizing the meal.

“Damn right it does,” he croons then leans
towards me, “thank you baby.” He puckers his lips for a kiss. I giggle, lean
forward and peck him on the lips.

Then I watch as he carefully fills his fork
up with a little of everything, finally dipping it in the sauce, and then
placing it in his mouth. His eyes widen as he slowly chews, then he starts to
shake his head –
Oh No! I’m sure the fish was cooked right through?

“What’s wrong?” I say my voice a little wobbly
as I try to hide the panic.

Tristan swallows then gazes at me, his eyes
going all soft and warm and crinkling at the corners, he leans in to kiss me
again, his dimples on full wattage. “That tastes amazing,” he tells me,
brushing his lips against mine. “Almost as good as you,” he adds, his eyes
darkening.

I almost choke on my own spit – Did he
really just say that out loud? I am speechless. Tristan grins deeply and turns
back to his food.

“Wow!” he says taking another bite.

“You’re making me feel self-conscious.” I
tell him filling up my fork with fish and sauce.

“Sorry,” Tristan looks guilty for like a
split second. “But this really is good, yet again you surprise and amaze me.
Where did you learn to cook like this?”

“I didn’t. I’m self-taught.” Tristan gapes
at me. “What? You don’t believe me?” I scowl.

“No no, that’s not it. You really taught
yourself?” He says, slightly bewildered.

“Well Gladys taught me the basics, and her
meals have always been pretty much the same, you know meat, potatoes and veg.
It’s all I ever ate growing up, so I guess it kind of went from there.” Tristan
still looks astonished as he continues to eat and drink his wine.

“That’s fair enough Coral but how did you
get from that to this?” He questions pointing at his plate.

“When you’ve got a lot of time on your
hands...” I sigh heavily remembering how I felt back then. “I guess it all
started when I got the studio. I was bored...a lot of the time, so I kind of
got into cookery shows, you know, Master Chef, Hairy Bikers, that kind of
thing. I liked watching them, they were the only thing I could watch that took
my mind off things, gave me something to focus on. I guess I just...if I really
liked the look of a certain dish, I’d get the ingredients and attempt to cook
it, only I kept finding that it would always work out fine first time round.
Bob was my taster, I thought he was biased, but now you’ve said that...maybe
not.” I ponder.

“So you’re a natural,” he says his eyes
sparkling.

“Yeah…I...I g-guess,” I stutter feeling quite
astonished that he likes it that much.

“What a lucky bastard I am,” he chortles.

“Yes, you are,” I say shocking myself.
That
was confident for me?

“Yes, I am,” he croons, leaning in for a
kiss. I peck him on the lips and giggle. “Did you study cookery at school?”

“No. I couldn’t concentrate for very long
on one subject, not unless I was fascinated by it.”

“What were you fascinated by?”

“Science, Physics, Art. I had a lot of
energy too, so I played a lot of sports, only…” I break off remembering how bad
I was, how many fights I started and ended.

“Only what?” he questions.

I sigh inwardly. “I was in the Netball team
and we used to have matches against other schools, and well, if they cheated or
tried to get one of our players sent off…I’d kind of lose it…” I say, cringing
inside.

“Lose it how?” he asks evidently intrigued.

“Fighting Tristan. I was a very angry,
highly volatile, scared young girl ok. Now, can we change the subject?” Tristan
has frozen like a statue, his fork halfway up to his mouth, a deep frown etched
across his forehead –
Great, I better say something, get him off the
subject.

“So what fascinated you at school?” I ask. He
places the food in his mouth, still lost in thought, then after a couple of
minutes he comes back to me and shrugs.

“I wouldn’t say I was fascinated by any of
it really. I just knew that I wanted to make money, somehow?” he says.

“Why? I mean why money?” I ask.

“Because I secretly hated not having what I
wanted when I wanted it. Don’t get me wrong, my folks were awesome, they
showered me with love and affection and that you can’t buy. But it gets a bit
much when you have to keep walking past all the shops with the new clothes only
to be taken into charity shop after charity shop...” Tristan trails off lost in
thought.

“They tried their best, I know they did, but
I couldn’t stand having to have second hand clothes. The second hand shoes and
trainers however were much, much worse. God they would stink to high heaven. I
remember asking for a new pair of trainers for Christmas one year, Gran
actually said ok, but I couldn’t have anything else as they were so expensive.
Which I was happy with, just that one present, but come Christmas Day, I find I
have new trainers, only there the really geeky ones that you just know you’ll
have the crap beaten out of you for wearing. I didn’t get my Nike’s, I was
gutted.” He stares out the window, he looks like he’s remembering something
painful, then he turns back and smiles at me, then eats more of his food.

I smile hesitantly back at him, wondering
what that must have felt like.

Tristan continues. “I guess it kind of went
on like that you know, Gran constantly saying no to me. Like if I asked for
something nice to eat in the supermarket, like a packet of liquorice or a
chocolate bar, I would never get it,” he says, his cheeks flushing red.