The Builders' Report (chapters 11 & 12 & Epilogue)

Chapter 11

Together they had re-potted or planted everything that Cleo had bought including two dozen seedlings that promised to be Cosmos when fully grown. Part of her purchases had included the bags of soil needed for the different window boxes and it had amazed Jason how she had managed to get it all into her Mini. He did notice that it wasn't riding quite as low as it had been.

"Shall we get a take-away, or have ya other things planned for your evening?" He asked hesitantly.

He tried not to make her feel trapped by presuming he had her full attention. But – he didn't want her to have other things planned. He enjoyed her company and wanted it to continue. She was a very bright woman and while his humour was distinctly acid, hers was subtle and dry. Once he'd picked up on it, he realised that it had been there all along but he'd missed it before. The blokes he hung around with weren't known for their subtlety. He also realised that she hadn't patronized him or spoken down to him at any time, which is what happened frequently when he worked with the rich. It seemed that they associated manual labour with inferior intelligence. If you were a brick-layer, it was because you were thick!

She made him feel good in so many ways that, of course, he didn't want her to have other plans or other people filling her time. Hell’s bells, he'd got it bad...

“A take-away sounds good but my ‘call’. I can’t keep having you pay, Jason.” She saw him smile and shrug. “What is there around here?”

“Indian and pizza. I wouldn’t recommend Chinese. Most of it tastes like it comes out of tins.”

“Is pizza all right with you? Nothing complicated after the day we’ve had.”

“Leave it ta me, I’ll order on my way home and pick it up on my way back.”

“Home?”

Did he detect a slight tone of disappointment?

“I have a couple of things ta do and I’ll be back.”

While they had been talking, she’d got money out of her purse. She handed him a £50 note, which he was frankly reluctant to take. On the other hand, he was weighing up her determination to remain independent, so finished by taking it because she cinched the debate by saying,

“This is also for the petrol and to contribute to all the meals we’ve had together. Did you realise we’ve had five meals out, in two days! I’m becoming a kept woman.”

“All right by me.” He grinned making her stomach flip over. Oh, oh, a first.

He disappeared out the front door, leaving Cleo staring after him and then at the space he had occupied. He was doing things to her that she knew were getting out of hand.

Pheromones, she knew about them and he certainly had more than his fair share to entrap her, along with his beguiling ways. Was there any point in resisting when she now knew she didn’t want to lose him? How many men did she know who would pitch in with planting flowers, no less! No point counting because the answer was ‘zilch’. Oh, dear. She was a goner…

Distracted, she wended her way up to the bathroom to take a quick shower and to repair her garden-abused hands. After the shower, she took pleasure in spreading the moisturizer everywhere. Its subtle perfume had her wondering if it would please Jason. She malaxed another cream into her hands and fingers but she was seeing snatches of him that she hadn’t been aware that she’d immortalised. Sitting naked on the closed toilet seat, slipping her fingers in and out of each other with the silky substance, she was now considering the direction this relationship was taking. Could she let go of the reins for once? Her stomach dropped as her subconscious replied,

‘You’ll never know if you don’t try.’

Jason had wanted to put the odds in his favour. He’d gone home to clean up after gardening. His hands were already rough so he was careful about keeping them and his nails, clean. He washed and felt his bristles catch a little on his rugged hands but ruled against shaving. It would be too obvious that he was making an effort to please and he didn’t want the easy rapport they had begun to build, threatened. ‘Keep it simple, Jason, old boy. Plain and simple.’

The two tap, taps with the knocker on the front door, had Cleo catching her breath. Jason! She forced herself to walk casually to the door but wished that she didn’t have to play games. She had wanted to run and surprise him with her rapidity but that didn’t mesh with the game of seduction where one had to be wooed first.

It wasn’t the moisturizer’s perfume that affected Jason. He didn’t know what it was. Probably her wholesome beauty which had been enhanced by her shower, but he wasn’t to know that. He stood with the two boxes of pizza in one hand and a bottle of chilled white wine in the other. His face had lost all expression as he took in the woman before him and he knew he wanted her; wanted her to keep! If there had been a chair behind him, he would have sat with the revelation. As it was, he daren’t move for fear of falling on his face.

Naturally, it was ridiculous to imagine he wanted to keep a woman he had met two days ago, with whom his only physical relationship had been holding hands and kissing. He mentally told himself to slow down but how was that possible in a state of paralysis? She broke his trance by proposing to take the boxes of pizza.

“Two boxes, Jason?” she commented.

“Well, I can eat a whole one and probably help ya ta finish the other.” He was back to being himself.

“Thought this wine might be good with it. They sell bottles of the chilled stuff at the off-licence.”

He had shut the door behind him as she had already headed down the hall towards the kitchen. He followed the fresh fragrance, which lingered behind her. When he had been young, he had not realised that women could smell so wonderful. Experience had shown him that some women seemed almost irresistible while others left him indifferent. He knew in that instant that he would always find Cleo irresistible, perfume or not.

She hadn’t been able to resist and had thrown open the lids on both pizzas to get a look. They both looked good but she knew she would never be able to eat a whole one. The plates and napkins were already on the table but they were going to have to use plastic goblets for the wine; not that it really mattered with pizza. She served a couple of slices, handed him a goblet for the wine. Not one of your best market brands because the top unscrewed but better than nothing on a ‘we’re closed’ day.

They sat on the divan with their plates on their laps, a goblet in hand.

“Here’s to my good luck. I happened to be there when you passed.”

He brought his goblet to hers while keeping his eyes fixed on hers. She looked him in the eyes too as their goblets crunched together.

‘Oops!’ she said as she tried to reshape the thin plastic. Jason told her about tumblers originally having rounded bottoms which forced a person to drink the contents before putting it down. They talked about all the strange cocktails they had sampled and the boring parties they had been to.

More wine was drunk than pizza was eaten. The mildest satire had them both laughing until evening fell leaving them sitting in a dimmed room. They were holding hands but weren’t aware when that had happened. And then they were kissing; empty goblets falling to the floor. The chemistry that had been silently reacting to each added element, began to catalyse. Neither of them would have been able to stop the process had they wanted to, however, everything favoured their interaction. The divan’s cushions made their embrace comfortable, the dim light accentuated their other senses so that they breathed in each other. Breathed in a little of the other’s soul as they tried to fuse their mouths and then their bodies.

Jason was conscious that he was arriving at his own limit of control and had sensed that Cleo was oblivious to how far they had gone. He forced himself to draw back even as his mouth passed across one of her exposed nipples.

“Cleo, Sweetheart. Do ya realise just what we’re doing? I’ll stop now but it has to be now because you’re driving me senseless.” His hand touched the pale globe that was her perfect breast. He couldn’t resist and brought his mouth down to take in its peak for a brief instant. The sound it provoked in Cleo only served to heighten his desire.

“Cleo?” He had to know.

“Love me, Jason. I want you to love me – please…?”

“Oh, I do. More than you can know.”

His mouth returned to hers, savouring the freshness from the wine and the air and that indefinable quality that was Cleo. This was a hunger that no food could assuage and they shared it equally. Of a single accord, they began stripping, not caring about clothes or where they fell. Their sole aim was to fuse together.
He was once again subjugated by her beauty in the pale light. Her body was so perfect that he had the strongest desire to kiss her everywhere; to worship each inch. Her moans put an end to his lingering because he could no longer resist that age-old urge of nature to couple. She was more than ready and it was all that he could do not to rapidly satisfy his own need. Her hands on him was nearly his undoing. He took a deep breath and slowly, very slowly began his possession of her.

It was as he finally claimed her for his own that he realised just how much she belonged to him. Her moans had turned to a cry and then groans as he brought her to a climax before crying out himself. The power released by their fusion left them both dazed and weak. Jason knew that it was a first for him. He held her cradled in his arms and kissed her face everywhere. He didn’t want the feeling to end. Cleo’s head was against his shoulder and she was giving him kisses to his chest while holding him tightly in her arms.

It was impossible to judge how long they remained there, clasping each other, changed forever. The chill in the air finally forced them to give up that unique intimacy that is attained when two people come together for the first time. It would, however, be indelibly marked on them both.

In his many years of sexual activity, Jason had never failed to use a condom. He didn’t know what sex with a woman was like without one. Something, however, had occurred to banish all thoughts of them, as soon as they had begun kissing. Not once had it crossed his mind to use one. The unprotected sex had made their exchange, both physically and mentally, more intense.
As for Cleo, she had never before made love. She had consciously released her tight hold on the reins that controlled her life and would never regret it. Although Jason had sworn never to sleep with a virgin, he could not believe that this had happened to him with Cleo. A virgin and no condom!

The idea that she might be pregnant left him stunned but more than that was the idea that he was the first to possess her and now, in some strange way, she belonged to him no matter what the future held! He wanted to begin again and again. To hell with condoms!

Chapter 12

Neither of them had gone into work the next day. Both had rung in sick (ha, ‘love-sick’, they had laughed unashamedly), so that the secretaries had cancelled their engagements. Jason had then taken Cleo home with him where there wasn’t an echo and where the house was full to the brim with food. They could stay cloistered in the place for a month if they liked, although a day was not to be sneezed at.

They had talked seriously about the missing condom and agreed to use one from then on. This was still very new and although neither could imagine it ending, it was silly for Cleo to risk pregnancy while they were still discovering each other. The magic of their chemistry didn’t wane. Jason’s generous kisses all over her body had broken any taboos Cleo may have had. She found she liked to lick and that Jason liked to be licked. There were not going to be enough hours in a day or days in the year for them to exhaust their longing for the other.

When Cleo finally dragged herself into work, Amanda could see that she hadn’t been well. She looked exhausted.
It was no wonder because the night had been short. She had torn herself away from Jason at five in the morning so that she could return to her flat in London to shower and dress respectably once again. But the office did nothing for her. She was obliged to go over the new campaign she planned to propose on Thursday. It was already honed to perfection but she needed at least one good night’s sleep to be able to present it with any credibility. She groaned at the thought of not seeing Jason. Maybe they could just sleep together without the added Olympics? Well, maybe once or twice… Bugger! The campaign was perfect so who cared if she looked tired. They’d put it down to her dedication to their product.

As she left the office that afternoon, something came back to her.

“Amanda, you can’t possibly know what an amazing job you did on that builders’ report. I’m going to give you a bonus for it. Thank you!”

Amanda’s mouth had dropped open as she watched Cleo hurry out through the office door. She didn’t know if she should be more surprised to see Cleo leaving work at four in the afternoon or for the copious praise she had just lavished upon her. And, a bonus to boot!

Epilogue

They had married within the year. Amanda had been gobsmacked especially when she’d seen the gorgeous man whom Cleo was marrying. Of course, things clicked into place when she learned that he owned his own builder’s yard. She just about remembered taking a picture of it. Amanda didn’t have the nerve to ask if it had been Mr. Dooley who had done her office extension on the house but she would have bet a fair sum that it had been.

In celebration of her marriage, Cleo had given everyone a day off and a bonus. She was a changed person. Amanda had loved the romance involving Cleo, and her astonishing transformation as a result. It made her job even better, especially all the bonuses that regularly fell out of the blue.

She was still with Phillip and he had begun talking about settling down. She’d known from the beginning that that was what he had wanted and she smiled thinking how he had tried to be blasé. A hundred things a day betrayed him. He wanted them to marry, and they would, because she had started to feel broody now that Cleo was expecting. Amanda sighed with a fond thought for Phillip. He might not be passionate, but he was hers and he’d make a good father.

Chemistry, pheromones, or something as simple as fate? What does it matter when two lonely souls find their mate and the fusion is miraculous! Was it really any wonder that Cleo gave a bonus to Amanda practically every time their paths crossed? Amanda often smiled when she thought about that builders' report and how she had grumbled because Cleo hadn’t appreciated it. But the day that she had, must have been very special…!