The Apartment Pt. 03

Portia rushed out to greet me and pulled me into a hug.

"She's paid, she's paid! She's paid me £6k!! How did you do that? You're wonderful!!"

She kissed me on the lips. It was alarming, but I was so happy for her I didn't try to stop her.

I put my case down and took my coat off. Portia led me through to the living room. The table was laid and a candle lit. A bottle of champagne was ready to be opened...

After a sumptuous chicken casserole we took our glasses to the sofa and sat and talked.

After a little while Portia disappeared off for a few moments and returned holding a sketch pad.

"Caro please don't be cross with me but whilst you were away I've been busy."

She opened the pad. The first page had some sketches of sarongs and wrap skirts with print details and clasp shapes. The next had blouses with geometric patterns in vibrant colours of pink, mustard and aquamarine. After that was a page of swimsuits, one piece with an asymmetric strap and bikinis with halter necks and delicate crochet work. There were more pages of beach bags and even sunglasses. The design of the clothing was a little crude, but the prints and bags were exceptional.

"So what do you think?"

I hesitated for a moment. I was conflicted about whether to be kind or honest...

"I think that your print designs are fresh and interesting, your bags and fastenings are beautiful, but the swimwear and wraps need some work.

I'm due to see a client the day after tomorrow, so we haven't got much time if we want to include some of this with my stuff."

"Really," she squealed. "Oh Caroline you're just the bestest," and she threw herself at me for a hug.

***

By the following evening we were ready. Whilst Portia was refining some of the drawings I called and made her an appointment with Izzy so she could have her hair done whilst I was with the client. It seemed a good way of keeping her from attending the meeting and probable disappointment.

***

The head buyer surprisingly chose four of Portia's print designs and five of my garments for sampling. She also requested some print designs for tee shirts. I rushed up to Regent St to share the news.

Portia was waiting for me in the coffee bar next door to the salon. She looked lovely with her hair lying on her shoulders and a sweeping fringe. Izzy had excelled once again.

Portia was quite overcome that some of her designs were up for sampling, and we headed home for the New Year holiday to celebrate.

***

The combination of our efforts over the following few weeks proved to be successful and the amount of new work booked climbed with every presentation I made.

Portia's self confidence started to grow, and her designs became more consistent. We were so busy, we had little time for leisure, though we made a point of not working weekends. We went out, sometimes to the movies, sometimes shopping, but more often than not for a walk in the country.

I stopped drinking and smoking, resumed my sessions at the gym and my weight started to drop.

One evening towards the end of January she told me that she wanted to get her own place again. She stressed that it was not about wanting to spend less time with me but more about proving to herself that she was self sufficient..

"You have done so much for me and I will never be able to repay you, but I need to do this for myself," she said.

I was happy for her, but wistful about losing her company. She found a small one bed studio about 5 minutes away, and so one cold Saturday at the beginning of February we moved her out.

That evening we ate Pizza sitting surrounded by her few possessions and drinking Rose. It was odd walking home alone afterwards, and the apartment felt empty when I got there.

We had spent all of every day together since I returned from a France so it was strange not having her around.

With time to myself, I started wondering about Heather again. It was seven months since we had been together. What was she doing? Did she still think about me? That old cliche that time was a great healer was partly true, but on my own in bed I still ached for her...

***

By April our business partnership needed to be formalised so we instructed a lawyer and to draw up a formal deed. The day we signed it, we celebrated at the Tapas bar.

Portia looked lovely that night wearing a new navy trouser suit with a cerise top. The cut of the trousers was particularly flattering and following her into the Tapas bar I was treated to the sight of her shapely bottom.

She got rather drunk, and I was not abstemious. We ended up back at the apartment. Sitting on the sofa, me in a rather shapeless grey blouse and skirt, she in those trousers and her cerise top clinging to her pert bosom.

"Caroline I have never properly thanked you for all you have done for me," she said, a slight slur to her voice.

"Yes you have," I replied, I was immediately worried where this conversation was heading.

"No I haven't," her voice rising to higher pitch. "I want to show you how much I care for you, you are the most gorgeous person I have ever met.."

"Portia, you are very kind and very special to me too." This was true, her arrival in my life had stopped my downward spiral of depression in the nick of time..

She leaned forward and put her arms round my neck. She kissed me on the lips gently.

"I want you," she whispered.

It was the moment of truth...

"I'm not sure I'm ready for this," I answered timidly.

"I know you still want to be with Heather. But look, she never contacts you and you could wait for her for the rest of your life and still not see her again. Let's just have fun, live for the moment..."

"I..."but I never finished what I was going to say. Her lips closed on mine again and her tongue pushed its way between my teeth, her hand went to the back of my head and she pulled me close.

I'd forgotten what it was like to be kissed so passionately. She took her time and I was passive to her advances. She tasted so sweet despite all the alcohol...

When we broke apart, she started kissing me all over my head. My eyes, my ears and then the gentlest of kisses to my neck. A waft of her perfume, dark and musky, caressed my nostrils. I was starting to fall...and I wanted to fall..

Her fingers were at the buttons on my blouse, and then on my breasts...teasing, and stroking. My nipples rose to her attentions, and she tweaked them in turn and pushed her face down between them and started to lick me...I whimpered with pleasure.

If I had faced a judge to account for why what followed happened, I would have confessed to weakness, after a long period where I had been starved of affection. We all need affection and when suddenly it comes it's so hard to resist...

Portia knew she had me in her thrall. She became more deliberate with her actions. My blouse was pullled over my head and my bra soon followed. She pushed my arms up above my head and climbed on to my lap. I could feel the heat between her legs on my tummy. She kissed my armpits in turn, and then licked them.

"I'm not sure I'm very fresh there Portia," I started, but she shushed me and clamped her lips to me, licking...

I was momentarily worried about when I had last shaved myself, being seduced that night was not something I'd prepared for. She didn't care, she carried on licking and murmured appreciatively..

A hand reached down for the belt of my skirt and that was soon on the floor in the growing pile. Next she reached for my pumps, and when they were off she started caressing my feet and my toes beneath my tights.

"Stand up please."

I obeyed, without protest...

The clip of my skirt was next and then the zip. Down It went and immediately she grasped the top of my tights and yanked them off. My panties were all that was left. I was almost naked and she was fully clothed. She kissed my navel and then trailed her tongue downwards to my mound.

I was wearing plain white cotton shorts, her fingers reached underneath the elastic and into my curls...

She eased me back down onto the sofa so I was lying full length across it with my head on one of the arms. She lowered her head between my legs so her nose was in my furrow. I was wet from all of her attentions, she sniffed and murmured "mmm damp pussy, lovely..."

Her lips kissed me through the thin cotton, and then her tongue started on my clit. A hand went between my thighs, searching, prodding. Lower and lower the fingers stroked. I was getting hotter and hotter and she just became more insistent. One finger burrowed under and into my sopping cunt. No sooner was it in, than it was out again and she was licking it. Delving back in to my wetness she teased me a little more and then brought her fingers to my lips.

"Taste yourself Caro...let yourself go."

So I did. It was bittersweet - my memory jarred on when I had last tasted that heady mixture of arousal and body fluids...Heather...

Her fingers were back inside my panties, two went in my vagina and then one went searching for my pucker. A nail scratched at my most private place, delirium was close...

My panties were pulled down to my knees, the gusset, sticky and stained on show for her to see. I was so embarrassed but so turned on...

"Looks to me like you're gagging for it, so I'm going to make you come now Caro, just let it happen."

"Please Portia, just do me..."

Two fingers thrummed my clit and her tongue lapped down at my labia. She tortured me with her relentless caresses, my thighs started their quiver, my bud bloomed for her tongue and then the first waves of pleasure rippled through me and I erupted in her mouth.

"Yeeeess," was all I could manage before I went limp. I was spent. She looked up at me as I came back to earth.

"Not bad for starters darling," she said smiling, "now let's go to bed for the main course.."

She led me to the bedroom, turned on all the lights and made me lie down. Standing by the side of the bed she stripped of her clothing. Slowly, deliberately. When her bra was off she squeezed her little tits together, leant over and rubbed them into my face.

"I've seen you ogling these all evening," she teased.

"They're just so pretty," was all I could manage in between mouthfuls of pink nipple..

She turned and started to undo the pants of the trouser suit. Her bum was inches from me. The material of the suit was tucked tight in the cleft and as she pulled the trousers down a wave of her musk assaulted my nose. Earthy and dirty, sweet and clean. I grabbed her and pulled her on to my face. Nose between her cheeks, her cunt on my mouth, a scrap of soggy panties somewhere in between.

She groaned, and climbed on top of me, squatting with her ass in my face again. I licked her more urgently. Bittersweet...

"I need those panties off Portia - now!!"

It was the tiniest of thongs really. As she turned round and hooked them down I saw her mound. The unruly thatch I had last seen when she had first arrived had recently been tempered. Her curls, whilst still profuse had been carefully trimmed, and there in the middle, the little ring glinting at me.

"I wondered whether you might have had it removed," I said looking deep into her eyes.

"Oh no, never. I love it so much, and I think you might quite enjoy it too!" She winked at me coyly..."Now where do you keep your toys?"

"In the bottom drawer," I replied, deeply embarrassed. She found the box containing the Hitachi and opened it. "This is brand new! Oh and there's a vibrating butt plug and some lube too! Well Caroline you're full of surprises, we're going to have lots of fun with these..."

Explaining why I owned the toys was too embarrassing for words, so rather weakly I asked her to show me how they worked as I wasn't very proficient. Portia took this as permission to take control of me, and she duly did.

Eventually, she had me lying on my side in a scissors with her. Our pussies were mashed together, the Hitachi wedged on to our clitorises and she was riding the wheel control on the wand. Higher and lower, higher and lower...Her pussy ring grazed me from time to time, a little added friction as we ground in to each other...

I lost count of the number of times I came that night..

The wand had predictable effects, I wet the bed and I think Portia probably did too...

We fell asleep in each other's arms for the first time, sweaty, sticky and sated...

***

I woke up to sun coming through the blinds and needing the bathroom. I gingerly peeled Portia and I apart and got up. I was very sore down below. I also felt that first twinge that told me my period was about to start. I decided to take a bath, and ran the water..

Looking in the mirror whilst the water ran was not a pleasing sight. My mascara was all over the place, and my hair looked dreadful. Heather had been the one who had influenced me to get it cut but without her around I hardly thought about it.

The hot water stung my battered vulva. I was going to need some time to recover. I soaked for a while and memories of all the night's passion came back to mind. I smiled a big broad fat smile, but I was troubled about what it all meant...

***

In the workroom that sunny April day we worked on as usual. As we ate our sandwiches down by the river though I confronted her with my anxieties.

I told her that I felt our lustful lapse did not mean we were a couple and that our relationship needed time to develop. I was not sure I wanted any commitment, I told her I knew I was being a bitch for my indecisiveness, but deep down, one night in the sack fuelled by alcohol and our new business partnership was not a sound basis for me to commit to her.

She said she understood and she could be patient. She also said she was sure that we were right for each other and she kissed my hand. It was one of the most touching moments of my life, and I cried. My hormones were all over the place that day...

***

April turned to May. The scent from the blossom and the greenness of the tress was uplifting on the days we got outside. Our work kept coming, and we deliberated about whether we should move to a proper studio and take on a junior to do the administration.

For my birthday, Portia booked us into a hotel near Biarritz. We flew from the local airport on the Thursday and for three days were treated like royalty. It was the first time for years that I truly relaxed. The weather was hot, the pool, food and wine were exceptional.

Our room looked out over formal gardens and had a large balcony where we took breakfast and drinks before dinner. We slept together in a large carved wooden bed and made love with an urgency that suggested we had not slept together for more than the five weeks that had passed since we celebrated our business partnership.

On the Saturday, Portia arranged for some pamper treatments to be together. We lay on adjacent benches on pristine white towels whilst two gorgeous young French women massaged, waxed, buffed and polished everything from our eyebrows to our toes. We watched them and each other every step of the way.

That night we dressed in evening dresses and sat in the large dining room with its marble columns and ornate frescoed ceilings and drank claret from crystal glasses.

Portia arranged a Birthday cake as dessert, and for red rose petals to be scattered over the bed. When we retired she undressed me as if she were my maid. She sat me at the dressing table in just my ivory slip and matching French knickers and brushed my hair. She then removed my make up, moisturised my skin and put me to bed. She kissed me gently on the lips and turned out the lights.

"I'm just going to the toilet for a moment," she told me as she disappeared. I closed my eyes, my head was slightly buzzed from the wine..

A little while later Portia slipped in bed beside me and nuzzled up to my neck. She knew kissing there aroused me and she wasted no time.

Gradually, the small kisses led to bigger kisses, and our hands started to explore each other's sensitive places. As I reached down to caress her bottom I discovered straps around her waist and across her cheeks.

"Portia, what the hell are you wearing?"and I sat up in bed and reached for the light.

"It's a strap-on. I bought it for your birthday, so just come here and do as I say dearest Caroline. I'm going to fuck you senseless."

I squealed with appreciation and flung myself on top of her and found her lips.

She made sure I was well lubricated and then made me suck the dildo.

My French knickers were torn off, a pillow pushed under my hips and she breached me like an ardent lover. The dildo was large and hit my cervix a little, but soon we settled to a rhythm that had me gasping for air and I came and came and came.

Not content with one orgasm, Portia resumed pumping me with the appendage, and very quickly I felt myself building once more.

She was relentless, I was completely overwhelmed and a massive orgasm built inside and burst out of me. I could only see stars as I gasped for air. Portia collapsed on top of me and we kissed and cuddled in the afterglow.

"Thank you so much for everything today. It was the best birthday I can ever remember," I said as I turned her onto her back and kissed her chin. "And now it's your turn, though you will have to help me with the strap on."

So she did, and I fucked her for the first time, the bed creaking and groaning in complaint. Portia screamed as she came and we fell together exhausted, the bed sheet moist with our spendings...

***

The taxi from the airport dropped her off first, we kissed affectionately as we parted. I walked up the stairs to the apartment, feeling the bruising to my pubic area from the excesses of our lovemaking.

Opening up, I picked up an envelope that had been pushed under the door and made my way to the living room. I put my bags down and went to the kitchen to make tea.

I took my tea back to the sofa made myself comfortable and looked at the envelope. It bore my name in a familiar italic script - Caroline.

I opened the envelope.

Inside was a single ticket for a Midsummer's Eve concert on the 24th June at Stowe.

It detailed the time - 8pm, and my seat number, A15. I looked again inside the envelope.

There was a small plain white card in there. I pulled it out. It read:-

"Please come.

Hx"

Tears welled up in my eyes and started running down my cheeks.

How could she..?

I cried and cried, all that pain and yearning came flooding back. After all this time...

She wanted me...

Did I still want her?

I put the ticket and the card down and went to find tissues.

At the dressing table I caught sight of myself in the mirror. My mascara had run, my eyes were already puffy and red.

I dried my eyes and went back to the living room. What was I going to do? What should I say to Portia? Just at the moment my relationship with Portia was starting to feel real and my affection for her was growing Heather had walked back into my life.

It was so unfair...My tears started again. I buried my face in one of the soft cushions and howled. "Nooooo."

***

I don't know how I got it together the following day. I had cried myself to sleep, and when I woke up I looked like I had been in a fight. My eyes were red and swollen, as was my nose.

I had a long shower, applied heavy make up, and dressed in the brightest coloured blouse I possessed to take Portia's eyes away from my face.

It worked. Portia was so surprised about the colourfulness of my clothing she kept going on about it and didn't notice my blotchy face...

We worked through the day, and then late in the afternoon when she suggested we cooked something for supper, I pretended to have a migraine and told her I needed to go to bed to sleep it off.

After she left I went to the supermarket, bought wine and cigarettes and sat in the living room smoking, drinking and gazed into space wondering what to do...