The House Sitter

"Matt?"

I turned. She was standing there in just a simple white nightdress that seemed a shade too small for her. She'd taken her hair down and it hung loosely around her shoulders. She looked a little shy but her eyes held mine as I looked at her.

"Now that you've finished... I'd really like it if we could... go to bed together... If you'd like to."

I swallowed. She looked nervous, waiting for my answer. Then I nodded slowly, and held out both hands to her.

"Are you sure?" I said.

She nodded. "Very sure."

I reached out for her and she came into my arms. She was trembling, partly from nerves and partly from the cold. I held her tight, just smelling her and glorying in the sensation of finally being able to touch her and hold her as I'd wanted to for so many days now.

Then she stepped back from me, reached down, and in a single, slow movement she pulled the nightdress over her head. There was that lovely, perfect body from yesterday, paler now in the evening light, still utterly desirable and perfect.

"Natalie, you're beautiful," I said.

I pulled back the covers and stood back so she could get into bed. I took off my boxer shorts and slid in beside her. Then she took a deep breath and seemed to launch herself on top of me, her mouth on mine, her legs astride me. I took hold of her wrists and gently pushed us apart.

"Hey," I said softly. "What's the rush? We've got the whole night, Natalie, and I want to enjoy every minute of it."

"Sorry," she said. "Sorry... I'm really not very good at this."

I shushed her.

"Just lie beside me," I said. "I really just want to hold you for a few minutes, if that's all right."

She moved herself back onto the pillows beside me. I turned to face her and put my arms around her, one hand free to run down the length of her back and slowly stroke her from the top of her hips up to her shoulders. Her body, which had been tense, seemed to relax.

"Do you like my body?" she whispered.

"It's beautiful, Natalie."

I brought one of my hands around and placed it gently on one of her breasts. She gave a low moan at my touch.

"God, I've been thinking about you doing that."

I ran the hand downwards, over her stomach and towards her groin, but stopping just short. Instead I stroked the arch of her hip, just able to reach the start of the fleshy area of her buttocks.

"You have nice hands," she said.

"Mmmhmm."

"Am I talking too much?"

"No," I said. "You chat away if you want to."

"I always feel like you're teasing me a little."

I shook my head. "At the moment, I don't think there is a happier man on the planet. There is nowhere I'd rather be than here with you."

She smiled a little smugly. "Good. Me too." She closed her eyes, then opened them again, looking at me. "It's funny that this has happened, isn't it?"

"Why's that?"

"Well... I thought I was going to be having a debauched summer here at the house. With... him. And instead I've ended up in bed with you. And this is so much better."

"We haven't done anything yet," I said.

"I don't care if we don't do anything else. Well... I kind of hope we do, I suppose. You are planning to, aren't you?" She looked at me rather anxiously as she said this.

"I was planning to, yes."

"Good."

We lay there like that for another few minutes. I kept my hands busy but gentle, exploring as much of her as I could reach but still focusing mainly on her back, chest and hips. Gradually the remaining tension eased out of her.

I started to move my hands lower, first of all running my fingers through the little thatch of hair between her legs. She groaned softly.

"I feel like I'm going to just... melt."

"Can I touch you?"

"God... yes, please touch me."

Carefully I ran the lightest of fingers further down and along the edge of her small slit. I could feel the moistness along her lips. She gasped at my touch.

I spread my fingers and began to delicately slide my hand up and down, one finger on each side of her small, damp opening. Her breathing began to get heavier.

"Matt... I think you're going to make me... keep doing that..."

As my hand reached the top of its arc each time I slightly squeezed my fingers together, just enough to tease and trap her little clit for a moment. Then I released it and ran my fingers back down, varying the speed each time so she could never settle, she could never quite know when that pressure would be back.

With my other hand I gently encircled one of her breasts, toying with the nipple so it became proud and firm. She moaned.

"Oh... this is so much better... I had no idea..."

Now I pushed one of my fingers between her legs more firmly downwards, forcing those lips open and running the finger lightly up and down through the moistness.

"Have you played yourself while you've been here?" I whispered into her ear. "Have you lain on your bed and made yourself come?"

"God... yes..."

"Did you think about me?"

"Yes... I thought about the first time I saw you... on the stairs... I knew then I wanted to get you to... fuck me. I just needed to... figure out how..."

"Well, you've done it," I murmured. "Because my fingers are on your lovely little wet pussy and soon I'm going to slide myself into you and feel how tight you are..."

"Yes... I want you to do that..."

I hooked my finger so I could carefully slide the tip of it into her. She jolted.

"Is that OK?"

"Yes... that's... really nice... god, I'm so wet! I can't believe... how wet you've made me."

I slowly and ever so gently finger fucked her with the tip of my finger and then I brought the finger up to my mouth and tasted her. She watched, wide-eyed, chest heaving and breathless.

"Does it... taste normal?"

"It's delicious," I said. "I want to taste you properly. If you'll let me."

"God... Matt... you can do whatever you want to me... just please do something... you're sending me out of my mind!"

I slid myself down the length of her body until my head was just below her waist. I slowly slid her legs a little wider apart so I could more easily fit my body between them. Then I began to taste her, starting from the top of one inner thigh and moving upwards at a leisurely pace, though her soft thicket of hair at the junction of her legs and then down the other side. While I did this, I teased her swollen opening with a finger, pushing her lips open and then together again, entering her briefly with the top joint of my finger and then retreating again. I noticed her hands were gripping the sheets.

I bowed my head lower and ran my tongue up the length of her small, perfect entrance.

"Oh Jesus... nobody's ever done that... that feels amazing..."

I licked my way around her carefully, just delicately flicking my tongue over her small button once or twice but focusing most of my attention around her labia and thighs. I kept my fingers and hands busy, stroking and playing and touching her constantly. She seemed to be lost in her own world, eyes closed, occasionally pushing her hips upwards to grind herself a little more firmly into my face.

"Natalie," I said. "I'd like to fuck you now."

"Oh god, yes please Matt... that was just lovely but I really want you inside me..."

I moved myself back above her body and rested above her, looking down at those eyes. I could see a slight flicker of nerves.

"Put your hand around me," I said. "Make me wet as well."

She took her hand and stroked it against herself and then reached up to grasp my cock firmly and coat it with her juices. I began to lower myself downwards, letting her hand guide me.

She looked at me. "I hope... I mean... I've not done this very much. I hope I'm... good for you."

"Sssh... you're already good for me. Now please let me fuck you or I think I might explode."

She smiled, and pushed our bodies a little closer together, and suddenly I felt myself entering her. She was very tight, tighter than any girl I'd ever known, but she was so moist and eager that I advanced easily and smoothly into her.

"Oh god Matt... that is just... oh yes!"

She shuddered and suddenly wrapped her arms around me. "Just let me feel you like that... for a second... oh yes... don't move... oh god!"

She cried out and I felt a tremor course through her.

"Oh fuck!" she gasped. "Oh that's... oh fuck! Oh god Matt, you've made me come!"

I let her ride it out for a few moments before kissing her softly. Those big solemn eyes were full of wonder now.

"You're the first person to make me come, do you know that? I've always had to... do it myself."

"Congratulations," I said. "You get a badge. Or maybe I do."

She giggled and gasped again. "Oh god, I loved that. And you feel so big in me! I just... god, I just want to stay like this forever."

I kissed her again. "That sounds nice," I said. "But I was rather hoping it was my turn next."

"Oh yes... fuck me Matt. Do whatever you want... I'd love to feel I'd made you come too. Fuck me now, please."

I began to move more rhythmically inside her. To start with she watched me, her arms gently around my back, then her body began to move with mine, and she began to slip away again, focusing on her own pleasure even as she felt mine begin to build.

"Fuck me Matt... I'm going to come again... am I good for you?"

"You're amazing Natalie... you're perfect..."

"I've wanted you so much... I can't believe you're finally fucking me..."

"I wanted you too," I said. "When I first saw you that night... I thought... what a beautiful, fuckable girl..."

"Oh god I wish I'd known that... So nice. Fuck me harder... make me come... come in me Matt, if you need to."

"Soon... So close now... I just want to feel you come again... come on my cock, Natalie..."

"God yes... so bad... talk to me some more..."

"Your perfect cunt is the loveliest I've ever fucked... I'm going to come so much in it..."

She groaned again and again the tremors rippled through her.

"OH GOD!"

I came too, calling out her name as I spurted deep inside her. I felt her arms tighten around me, and then her fingers digging deep into my back and drawing blood. There was a distant sense of pain but it only intensified all the other feelings and for several moments the whole world seemed to spin and fade.

When I recovered and looked down, she was gazing at me, slightly concerned but with a trace of that female smugness that I recognised.

"Hello again," she whispered. "You're all mine now. For a while at least."

**

We lay and listened to the rain. The sky grew darker and it was even stormier as the last of the day faded. If there are better places to be than in bed with a lovely, young, playful woman on a dark night as the rain lashes down outside... well, I can't think of them.

"You've doubled my number," she said, after a while.

"Hmmm?"

"My... lover count, I suppose. I'd only had one... lover, before, though that seems like a terrible name for him now. Bedmate? Yeuch. Anyway, you know what I mean. You're my second."

She peered up at me. "Don't tell me what number I am for you... I'll be so jealous."

"Probably not as many as you think," I said. "Single figures, anyway."

"Really?"

"Really."

"It was good for you, wasn't it? No matter what that horrible bitch said."

"Yes. That was... amazing."

"I wish I'd known," she said. "I could have said to her, actually, he's the terrible fuck. He doesn't know what he's doing at all. He just sort of... grunted away and thought that by kissing me a lot that would make it nice for me."

She prodded me. "You are just... so much better. More than better. You know what I mean."

"Thanks," I said. "I do."

"Do you want me to shut up?"

"No," I said, quite truthfully. "I love your voice."

She made a contented noise and somehow managed to snuggle even closer.

"So... about my leaving on Tuesday?"

"Hmmm?"

"I mean... do you still want me to go? Because I will, if you want. I mean, just because I seduced you so shamelessly, don't feel that you have to ask me to stay."

I sighed. "I don't know, Natalie. I mean - will you expect sex every day?"

"Oh god yes. Five or six times a day, I think."

I thought about it. "That's quite a lot."

"You're still in very good shape for your age. I'm sure you can manage it. And I'll try and... do as much of the work as I can."

"OK then," I said. "I guess you can stay."

She lifted her head and kissed me on the mouth. "Good. Because I texted Ashley yesterday evening, and said not to expect me."

**

We had nearly two weeks together.

If you asked me what we did on each day during that time, I couldn't tell you. But everybody should be so lucky as to have such a time in their lives, of whatever length.

I remember being deep inside Natalie as she lay beneath me on a picnic blanket in the lawn, and then suddenly both of collapsing in hysterics as Polly decided to come over and give us both a friendly, slobbery licking.

I remember another canoe trip, to a different cove this time, and another naked swim. This time the cold water proved to be no deterrent, and we managed to make love standing with the water just above our waists. The heat of her body against the cold of the water.

I remember waking one morning to find her crouched above my legs, sucking me gently into consciousness as she looked up at me with those blue eyes. The feeling of exploding into her mouth.

I remember standing in the house and looking down the garden to where she sat painting, utterly engrossed. Picking up my borrowed sweater from the sofa and holding it to my face so I could smell the faint scent of her.

And I remember the day she told me it was, after all, time for her to leave.

**

"No," she said.

I looked at her in surprise. I had been expounding at length about where we could go once her parents returned. I had some revisions to do on the book, but I thought perhaps once they were done we could hire a car and drift around France for a few weeks, then perhaps drive down to Italy. I don't think I noticed that as I chattered away she was saying less and less.

"I'm not coming with you," she said. "I'm sorry Matt, but I mustn't."

"What do you mean, you mustn't? I... love you."

"Oh, I know," she said. "And I love you. It's just... it's too soon for me, Matt."

I stared at her. A horrid cold feeling was creeping across me.

"If I come with you now, I'll never leave you. I'll never be able too. And... that would be lovely, except... I worry that as I get older, a little part of me will wish I'd just had a little more time for myself. To find myself... completely. Make sure I'm fully grown, as a person, I mean. Before I become part of you. Do you understand?"

"No," I said. She smiled, and stroked my face.

"I think you do, really."

"So... are you saying... this is the end?"

"No. I don't think so. But it might be. We'll... just have to see."

I let out a long shaky breath. I felt my world was falling apart.

"Can I... call you? Email you?"

"No," she said. "I think it's best we don't. For a while. It would be too easy to come back to you, particularly those first few months. I need to do this completely on my own."

"So... what will we do?"

"I don't know," she said. "We'll find each other again, if that's what's meant to happen. Oh - yes, I know you hate that kind of stuff. Mysterious cosmic forces of the universe and all that. But... I think it's true. It will be for us."

"No," I said. "That's crazy! I'm not going to lose you just because... there was some secret sign that I missed!"

She came into my arms. "I'm sorry," she said. "But you'll have to trust me on this."

Later on, much later on, I came to realise what an astute, clever, amazing girl she was, and so much wiser than me. But at that moment, feeling raw and bloody, I almost hated her. That quiet, steely determination that we were, for now and possibly forever - over. It was inconceivable.

The following day I drove her to the station. She was wearing my sweater. She kissed me goodbye and gave me a long hug. I was probably a little colder and more distant than I should have been, but she seemed to forgive me.

Then I drove back, Polly sitting rather dolefully beside me on the passenger seat. The last day was spent in a kind of stunned stupor. I packed all my things away. Somehow when her parents returned I managed to make conversation, but I saw them looking at me a little oddly. They probably thought I'd just gone a little stir crazy, all that time on my own.

When I got home, I found a square, flat package at the bottom of my suitcase. She must have hidden it there the night before she left.

**

Two years passed.

That first book of mine sold to a publisher and did moderately well. Enough for me to get an agent who sold the television rights for an agreeable sum and, amazingly, managed to get me a two-book deal with a generous advance. It was everything I could have wished for.

The second book fared less well than my first. My agent hid his disappointment and made encouraging noises but I sensed he felt he hadn't picked a lucrative winner after all. I started the next one. I was sufficiently disciplined that each day I had more words at the end of it than at the beginning, but I knew they were pedestrian and functional. There was no magic there. The book didn't excite me. Very little did.

All this time I had no contact with Natalie. More than once I thought about calling her, just to hear her voice. But each time I held back. She'd been so certain, so determined. I had to respect that. Instead I would look at her painting. Her painting of the house by the lake with the black dog lying peacefully in front of it.

Then, one evening after a particularly dry and fruitless day of writing, I got the email. I didn't recognise the address. When I opened it just had two things in it.

A hyperlink. And a single emoji below it.

It is, on reflection, a miracle that my spam detector didn't immediately grab it and hide it from me. Some might say it was a sign.

Of course, you should never click links in emails from addresses you don't recognise.

**

"Yes," I said. "I want to buy it."

The agent looked up from his phone, rather stunned. "But, ah, don't you want to have another look around? We've only been here a few minutes."

I shook my head. "I've seen all I need to," I said. I didn't tell him I could have walked around it blindfolded.

"Oh, well... right. Well... that's good."

He looked rather doubtfully at my scruffy jeans and scuffed shoes.

"Ah... what sort of offer did you have in mind? I know the vendors are really keen to get a good price and I don't think..."

"The full asking price. I don't want to haggle." That would completely wipe me out and then some. But it would be worth it. I knew I would have to scrap the current book and start again. It would have to be a lot better this time. And then I would write another one. And another. If my publisher dropped me, to hell with them. I'd publish the books myself. If I had to, I'd maybe even do some creative writing teaching on the side. Or empty bins. Or... something.

"Well... that's great! I'm sure they'll be delighted... I know with the divorce they'd like to get everything settled as soon as possible. And with you not having a property to sell... I can't see why we can't get this all sorted really quite quickly."

He was fonder of me now. Suddenly realising that you're going to get a fat commission will do that to people.

"You're a writer, you say?"

"Yes, I am."

"Well... this is certainly just the spot. Couldn't ask for better. Hardly a soul for miles. Damned pretty too, with the lake right there. Well... let's go and start the paperwork, shall we? Hello... where the devil's that dog come from?"

He gazed irritably into the garden.