The Annie Carter Series Books 1–4. Jessie Keane

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СКАЧАТЬ expanding the business,’ she said, trying to steady herself as Max spread out the details and looked at the photo of the apartment’s interior.

      ‘We?’ He looked at her.

      ‘The Delaneys will chip in.’ There, she’d said it.

      He was silent. Then he said: ‘It looks good.’

      ‘It’s beautiful,’ said Annie. ‘Walking around it, I felt like I was in another world.’

      ‘Come here,’ said Max, and kissed her again, his hands deftly stroking her until he had to cover her mouth again to stifle a scream. ‘Good?’ he murmured, covering her mouth with his own again and pushing her back, going on to his knees and freeing himself quickly and pulling her legs apart, sliding her arse down the sofa until they were joined again, he was plunging inside her again, riding her.

      This is crazy, thought Annie. But she was dazed. Unable to resist. Loving it.

      ‘We shouldn’t do this,’ she whispered hopelessly.

      ‘We have to,’ groaned Max.

      And it was true. They had to, the feeling was too strong, too long denied.

      I’m lost, she thought. And when he had finished and was gone, she stood there in the empty room and clutched her head in her hands and screamed with the sheer frustration of wanting him so badly – because she knew she couldn’t have him.

      Her nerves were in shreds. She found a pack of Player’s and a lighter in the sideboard and smoked her first-ever cigarette. Christ, she had to do something. She sat down on the sofa, her knickers wet and her hair like a fright wig, and wondered what had hit her.

      ‘I’ll call you soon,’ he’d said.

      Maybe he wouldn’t. She knew enough of the world to realize that this was probably a kiss-off. He’d got what he wanted after all. Annie started to choke on the cigarette. She stubbed it out and dropped her head into her hands.

      ‘Fuck it,’ she muttered. It was good that he was probably not going to come near her again. He was her sister’s husband. All right, so the marriage was in ruins, but wasn’t that her fault too? Everything was her fault. Wasn’t that what her mother had always told her? Connie might be a lush, but Annie thought now that she had probably got that exactly right.

      Christ, she couldn’t believe what a pushover she’d been. One kiss and she’d crumbled into dust. And now look at her. She didn’t know whether she felt punched or bored. Her head was all over the place. One moment she was excited, the next devastated, the next so full of guilt over Ruthie that she thought it would choke her.

      ‘Fuck it,’ she muttered again, more savagely.

      There was a knock at the door. Annie pushed back her hair with a shaking hand and tried to get a grip of herself.

      ‘Come in,’ she called out.

      Darren put his head round the door. ‘You okay in here?’ he asked.

      ‘I’m fine. Thanks.’

      ‘He’s gone then,’ said Darren.

      ‘Yeah. Did you show him in?’

      ‘Sorry. He’s not the sort you can turn away, is he?’

      ‘No,’ said Annie bleakly.

      ‘Ellie said it went well with the flats,’ said Darren.

      ‘Oh. Yeah. It did.’ Annie felt that the flat business had happened about twenty years ago. Long before Max had hit her like a fucking force ten gale.

      ‘Only we’ll have to get the room cleaned up in a bit,’ said Darren.

      ‘Right. Sorry,’ said Annie, standing up. Her legs felt like pipe cleaners. Max’s seed was running down her inner thighs. She felt dizzy. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered, she thought with a shred of humour. Like the song.

      ‘It’s okay,’ said Darren, watching her closely. ‘That’s one gorgeous man,’ he said.

      ‘That’s one very dangerous man,’ corrected Annie, going upstairs to get cleaned up. ‘Okay, Darren, let’s get this show on the road. Get the room straight.’

      She didn’t even notice that she’d dropped the flat details in there. Suddenly all her grand schemes didn’t seem very important at all. She wondered when he would call. If he would call. But then, she mustn’t answer the call if he did. Oh shit, she was in trouble, right up to her neck.

       31

      Max phoned next day. Chris took the call and handed her the receiver. Chris’s face was blank, not showing the disapproval she was sure he must be feeling. He was a Delaney man to his bones. The Carters were the enemy.

      ‘Hello?’ Be cool, she thought. Show him you can take it or leave it. But her hands were clammy and her face felt hot the instant she heard his voice.

      ‘I’m taking you out this afternoon,’ he said.

      ‘Oh, are you?’

      ‘Yes, I am.’

      ‘I might not be free,’ said Annie.

      ‘You will be.’

      ‘I’m pretty busy.’

      ‘Two o’clock. I’ll send the car.’

      And he put the phone down. Annie stared at the receiver for a moment and then replaced it on the cradle. Her heart was hammering. She was wet between the legs. I’m going mad, she thought. I’ve just made a date to meet my sister’s husband.

      Without a word to Chris she went through to the kitchen where the troops were enjoying their elevenses. Dolly put a mug of tea in front of her and took Chris’s through to him.

      ‘Thanks,’ she said, aware that they were all watching her. Darren must have told them about Max calling yesterday. They could see she was in a state of disarray. But no one said a thing about it, and she was grateful for that.

      ‘I thought I’d seen it all, but the punters always come up with a new one,’ Aretha was saying to Ellie and Darren. ‘You know that stockbroker chap, that Coogan?’

      ‘One of your best regulars,’ nodded Ellie, eyeing the biscuits. Annie had straightened her out with the biscuit habit, and she was svelte now, but she still hankered after the bloody things.

      ‘I took him upstairs and was going to strap him into the Punishment Chair as usual,’ said Aretha.

      The Punishment Chair had been yet another lucrative idea of Annie’s. It was set up in Aretha’s room to accommodate their more masochistic clients. It was an ordinary kitchen chair adapted with black paint, leather thongs and chains and straps. It was a big hit with certain gentlemen.

      ‘He СКАЧАТЬ