Shirley Valentine Goes to Vegas

But then, almost as if he was injecting me with a shot of something calming, I felt him push inside me, so slowly and carefully it caused that breath I’d thought was stuck in my throat to shift, giving way to a low groan I couldn’t keep down.

I could feel him, his thrusts slow and gentle, the grip he had on my fingers intensifying as our bodies picked up a steady rhythm, moving together, and I pulled my legs up around him, arching my back again, pushing my hips up against his. I was giving him permission to push harder, go deeper, do whatever it was he needed to do because I was going to take it all. He was setting me free, making me realise what I’d been missing all that time I’d been unhappy and unsure of the life I’d once led. It was like the floodgates were finally opening, and this time I really was emerging as the new me, instead of all those practice sessions I’d been going through these past few months. Could sex with a new man really do that? Could it really make me feel that way?

Throwing my head back I closed my eyes again, moaning quietly as his mouth began covering my neck in the tiniest of kisses, starting at the base of my throat and working upwards, his hips grinding into mine as he continued to thrust in and out of me with that same gentle rhythm. And each time he pushed back inside me I felt a beautiful shot of something – like the sweetest of electric shocks – hit me, causing my body to buck slightly, forcing more low groans out of me. He was making me crazy, and I was loving every wrong, confused second of it.

But then, as his fingers gripped mine so tight it verged on painful, I felt him stop, just for a second, then shudder slightly. And that was when the rush hit me. He was coming fast and hard, and I couldn’t help but cry out loud as I felt my own climax start to build, my whole body shaking with the force of an orgasm the like of which I hadn’t experienced since – I hadn’t experienced. Ever. Every inch of my skin felt like it was on fire, burning up with the heat that seemed to spread through me, diminishing only slightly as both our bodies began to slow down, that rhythm fading, his grip on my fingers loosening.

I kept my eyes closed for a few more seconds, just listening to his breathing, heavy and ragged.

‘You okay?’ he asked, gently stroking my hair from my eyes, which I slowly opened, my heart still racing as I looked at him.

‘Hell, yes!’ I smiled, because what had just happened here… how could that not make me smile? Even though I wasn’t entirely sure what I should be feeling now. I’d had sex with this man, just hours after meeting him. What did that make me? Crazy? Cheap? Lucky? All three?

‘You felt incredible.’ His voice was so low, his mouth almost resting on mine as he spoke. It was the most erotic thing I’d ever experienced, but then, to be fair, anything even verging on erotic wasn’t something my I’d experienced all that much of before. Adam just hadn’t been the type to go in for all that. He’d been a very practical man, in every sense of the word. Guarded, almost. But I’d loved him. I really had loved him. Onceuponatime.

I didn’t know what to say now. I wasn’t even sure I could speak anymore, my throat had gone all tight again. And my body, Jesus! That was still tingling in a way I hoped would never disappear. I could live with that feeling forever.

I felt him slowly pull out of me, rolling over onto his back. I turned onto my side, propping myself up on one elbow. ‘Thank you.’

He did the same, leaning forward to kiss me gently. ‘For what?’

‘For waking me up.’ In more ways than one. But he didn’t need to know all the other stuff.

He smiled, reaching out to run his fingers lightly over the curve of my waist. ‘Baby, it was a pleasure.’ His eyes dipped to my breasts, his hand moving up to touch them, something that brought back that wonderful tingle as his fingers grazed my nipples. ‘Has anyone ever told you you’ve got the most incredible tits?’

‘No,’ I laughed. ‘Actually, they haven’t.’

‘Well, somebody should have done,’ he whispered, his mouth resting against mine as he spoke in that deep, raspy accent of his. ‘Because they are fucking amazing.’

I smiled, running my fingers through his even more messed-up hair, letting him pull me closer as he kissed me again, so slowly it drew another tiny moan out of me.

‘Stay with me, Lana. Don’t go back home. Stay here. In Vegas. With me.’

7

All I could do was stare at him. I certainly couldn’t get any words out, not that I’d know what to say anyway. Was he being serious? Or was he just a little bit drunk? Because I was positive I must be. None of this was making sense anymore. If it ever had made sense. What on earth had I just done? What the hell was he asking me to do?

‘Look, darlin’, I’m the kind of guy who likes to take a risk, and you look like the kind of girl who feels the same.’

As a woman about to turn forty, I silently thanked him for calling me a girl. But this still wasn’t making any sense. ‘I don’t know what kind of risk you’re asking me to take here, Eddie. But I’m not sure I…’

He shut me up with a kiss. A long, deep, sexy-as-hell kiss. And that just pushed me under, killed me dead. I was gone. Finished. Another kiss. Another deadly blow to any common sense I might have still been clinging onto.

‘I know you’re looking for something, darlin’. And whatever it is, maybe you can find it here.’

‘In Vegas?’

‘It’s as good a place as any.’

‘You have no idea what I might be leaving behind back home.’

‘I don’t believe you’re leaving anything important.’

‘You don’t know me, Eddie.’

‘But I want to. I want to know every, single, beautiful inch of you.’ His mouth was back on my neck, leaving a trail of tiny, soft kisses along my skin, my entire body shuddering as those kisses travelled lower. ‘Spend the day with me tomorrow, Lana. We’ll take one of the Harleys, go riding, grab some food at this great little diner I know on the edge of the desert… Let’s have some fun, darlin’.’

‘You make everything sound so easy,’ I groaned, unable to stop my body from shuddering again as his fingers gently stroked my hip.

‘It is easy,’ he whispered, his lips gently brushing my shoulder, his beard tickling my skin again. I was beginning to love that feeling. ‘I can guarantee, sweetheart, that after you’ve spent the day with me, you aren’t gonna want to go home.’

I couldn’t help laughing, a small, slightly hysterical, laugh. It was the nerves and the shock and the total confusion this entire surreal scenario was throwing my way.

‘You’re actually serious?’

‘I’m serious.’

I was thrown now. Completely. ‘Okay, I… I mean, that’s just… I can’t even find the words… We only met yesterday.’

His thumb stroked my cheek again, his mouth so close to mine I could feel his breath on my skin. ‘And you still don’t believe in fate?’

‘I told you. I’m cynical. I don’t believe in fairytales.’

‘Who said anything about fairytales?’

‘Why, Eddie? Why do you want me to stay here? A complete stranger you don’t know from…’ I stopped talking, the sudden realisation that I was about to mention my ex-husband’s name hitting me like a smack to the face.

‘I’ve just been inside you, Lana.’

Oh, Jesus, was this really happening?

‘And I want to go there again, and again.’ His mouth was back on my neck, moving slowly upwards, kissing that spot just below my ear, sending a shiver through me I couldn’t control.

‘I can’t just up and leave everything behind, Eddie.’ Why not? I’d already done it once and even though that had only involved me moving a few miles down the road, it had also involved breaking up my marriage. But this…this involved a whole new country.

‘Don’t you want to know what it feels like to take a chance?’

I’d already taken one. Was it not a little too soon to be thinking of taking another?

‘It’s a crazy idea,’ I groaned, arching my back as I felt him start to stroke my thigh, his hand warm and soft against me.

‘I like crazy.’

Oh, God, he was inside me again, his fingers pushing their way in, touching me, teasing out of me another long, loud moan. ‘This is so unfair.’

‘Stay with me, Lana.’ He kissed me slowly, and I could feel reality being pushed further and further away with every movement of his lips on mine. ‘Stay with me…’

The thick white robe felt soft and comforting against my skin and I folded my arms against myself as I stared out of the window. Outside another Vegas day was dawning, the sky slowly changing colour, the darkness gradually being replaced with swirls of red and orange that cast an almost eerie shadow over a town that never really slept. It was beautiful to watch, my mind completely captivated by something I just didn’t get to see back home. Back home there was too much reality. Here I could leave all that behind. And it felt good. I felt free for the first time in so long.

‘Come back to bed.’

I closed my eyes as I felt his arms slide around my waist, pulling me against him from behind. ‘I couldn’t sleep.’

‘I’d gathered that much, darlin’. But I didn’t say anything about sleeping.’

I smiled, remembering the past few hours with a surprising clarity, given that we’d both drank quite a bit last night. But not enough to dim the memories of sex I never wanted to forget. My whole body felt almost re-energised this morning. In fact, everything about me felt different today.

‘Were you serious, Eddie?’ I opened my eyes, but continued to stare out of the window, watching as Vegas became bathed in soft, early-morning sunlight. ‘About me staying here?’

He kissed my neck, his fingers intertwining with mine as our hands rested on my stomach. ‘Baby, I’ve never been more serious.’

‘I just thought, you know, because we’d been drinking…’

He loosened my robe, pulling it open, his hands sliding over my naked skin. ‘I’m as sober as the next man now, kid. And I still meant every word I said last night.’

I leant back against him, sighing quietly as his fingers ran over my breasts, not caring that we were in front of the window, not caring about anything except the way he was touching me. His touch was like nothing I’d ever felt before – it was new and different and I was beginning to crave it.

‘I meant every word,’ he murmured, his fingers running over my hips, down over my bottom. I was lost. In just a few, incredible hours he’d opened up a whole new world for me and it was a world I was becoming more and more reluctant to leave.

I reached back to touch his face, my fingertips grazing his rough skin, burying themselves in his hair as he continued to tease me. I’d never been touched like this before. Ever. And I loved the way it made me feel: alive, beautiful – and sexy. This man made me feel so fucking sexy!

‘I know it sounds like some crazy, spur-of-the-moment thing, Lana…’ He pulled my robe back off my shoulders, and I let it drop to the floor, gasping softly as he kissed my shoulder, pulling me against him. ‘It’s what I do now, darlin’. Crazy, spur-of-the-moment things. It’s how I live my life.’

What he was doing to me, what he was saying… Just being here was spinning me out of control yet I knew what was going to happen the second I came to a standstill. I’d already made that decision last night, as we’d had sex over and over again, until our bodies could take no more. I hadn’t been able to sleep, so I’d just lain awake, watching him, listening to his breathing, thinking everything over; the craziness of the situation. What I’d be leaving behind. What I might find if I just took a chance – the biggest chance of my life.

‘You said something about taking one of your Harleys and going for a ride.’ I turned around, the urge to kiss the life out of this man overwhelming. Because I knew how his kisses felt now. I knew what they could do to me. ‘So, Eddie Fletcher, we’re gonna have sex, then we’re gonna go get that bike, and you can start showing me every reason why I should stay here.’

Leaning back against the windowsill, I turned my head to look out of Eddie’s living-room window. His house, not all that far from the Vegas Strip, was simple and somewhat sparsely furnished, but it was clean and fairly spacious, with the welcome addition of a little splash-pool out in the back yard, which was more than any house I’d owned had ever had. Not that there was all that much call for splash pools in north-east England.

I’d felt a slight hint of trepidation walking into his home, and I didn’t even know why. Maybe there was still a tiny part of me that felt this was all going a bit too fast, which it was, in reality. Yet, the second I’d stepped inside, the nerves and the doubt disappeared, to be replaced by something verging on familiarity. It was strange, but I’d decided to stop questioning everything. To stop over-thinking it all. It wasn’t helping, it was just getting in the way.

His home also had a lovely, lived-in feel to it, which seemed to make it all the more welcoming. Probably another reason why I’d felt comfortable the second I’d walked inside. His somewhat bohemian neighbourhood had the most wonderful friendly atmosphere, something I couldn’t really explain, but as soon as we’d pulled up outside on the bike there were people shouting hello, conversations striking up before we’d even reached the front door. It seemed like a nice place to hang out. A nice place to live.

‘There’s a barbecue at Hank’s across the road on Wednesday night.’

I turned to see Eddie standing in the doorway. He’d changed his clothes now – the reason why we’d detoured here first before heading out of town. He was still in jeans, of course, but he was managing to pull off a white t-shirt that clung to his toned chest quite magnificently, and it was all I could do not to, audibly, show my appreciation. The addition of a red-and- black bandana tied around his head and a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth only seemed to make the biker in him more obvious, and that was an even bigger turn-on in my eyes. I could feel my thighs physically ache for him, despite the fact we’d only had sex less than an hour ago.

‘I might not be here on Wednesday,’ I said, allowing my mouth to curl up into a slight smile.

‘Well…’ He walked over to me, stubbing the cigarette out in an ashtray on the windowsill before he slid his arms around my waist, pulling me against him, ‘… you used the word might, so, I’m gonna look at that as a positive sign.’

‘Eddie?’

‘Hmm?’ he murmured, his mouth nuzzling my neck.

‘You said you never felt the need to get married. Why was that?’

He pulled back slightly, and the look on his face made me wonder if I’d made a mistake asking him that. Was it really any of my business? But this was a man who’d just asked me to stay here in Las Vegas. To give up my life in England and start a new one, with him. Surely I had a right to at least know something about his past?

‘There was never anyone special enough, darlin’. Simple as that.’ His expression softened, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing I wanted to do was upset him. And anyway, I wasn’t exactly being open about my past, was I?

‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered, letting him pull me back into his arms, his forehead resting against mine, my fingers lazily stroking the back of his neck.

‘You’ve got nothing to be sorry for, sweetheart.’ His mouth lowered down onto mine, and I allowed his kiss to wash everything else away; all the doubt and the fear and the rationality that should be pushing its way to the surface here. It was all being slowly washedaway with every movement of his lips against mine. ‘I’m saying this again, Lana, because you need to know I’m serious. Stay with me.’

‘Eddie…’

‘You think it’ll be a mistake?’

I kissed him slowly, my fingers stroking the back of his neck, his hands pushing me harder against him as I continued to live out this fantasy I’d thrown myself head-first into. It also gave me a few more seconds to think. To get my head straight. To make sure I was certain about this. ‘I don’t know. I have no idea whether this is going to turn out to be the biggest mistake of my life, or the best thing I’ve ever done. But I’ll never find out unless I take that chance.’ I smiled, my stomach contracting as he returned that smile. ‘And I think I’m… Yeah. What the hell. I’m gonna take it.’

‘Okay.’ His smile widened, his eyes coming alive right there in front of me, and I couldn’t explain the atmosphere that seemed to surround us at that very second. I just knew it felt right. Like pieces of some messed-up jigsaw puzzle were finally coming together. ‘So, what do you say then, darlin’? You ready to start the ride of your life?’

As far as I was concerned, it had already begun.

8

I clung onto Eddie’s waist, the wind blowing my hair back off my face, the roar of the Harley’s engine the only sound I could hear as we sped along the deserted road. On either side of us there was nothing but an expanse of deep, rust-coloured land, the dust and dirt interspersed with patches of green cacti and desert plants. It seemed to go on forever, the colour changing only when it seemed to merge with the pale-blue sky, making it feel as though we were riding on the same stretch of road, over and over. The view didn’t seem to change, bar the fleeting glimpse of a bigger cacti patch, or the odd cloud that had dared to show itself in that crystal-clear sky. It felt as though we were the only two people there. Nobody else could touch us, because nobody else existed.That’s how it felt.

Leaning forward, I rested my head against his shoulder, closing my eyes for the briefest of seconds, letting the sound of the bike wash over me. I’d ridden pillion on Finn’s Ducati a number of times back home, but it had never felt like this. This was something else completely. I felt as though, somewhere between me leaving the tattoo convention yesterday afternoon and meeting Eddie again in the elevator – I felt as though I’d somehow walked into a different world, crossed some kind of parallel timeline into another existence. And I was clinging onto that feeling like my life depended on it.

As Eddie pulled the bike up at the side of the road, I opened my eyes to see a small building a little way off in the distance.

‘The diner I was telling you about,’ Eddie said, killing the engine, pulling off his helmet and laying it down in front of him as he climbed off the bike.

I pulled off my own helmet, laying it down beside Eddie’s, but I stayed where I was for a few more seconds, looking out ahead of me. That building was like an oasis, stuck in the middle of nowhere, even though I knew we were really only a few miles out of Vegas.

‘This is so different to everything I’ve ever been used to,’ I whispered, my eyes still fixed straight ahead.

‘Different can be good sometimes.’

I turned to look at him, standing there all biker-hot and handsome. What I felt for this man was something I really couldn’t explain. I’d known him all of one day – not even that – yet the thought of leaving him behind was the most terrifying feeling. Which was why I’d made the decision to stay here in Vegas. With him. A stupid, crazy decision, but I knew I wasn’t going to change my mind now. I was living a fantasy, and I wasn’t going to walk away from that; from something not many people ever got the chance to do.

I climbed off the bike, leaning back against it, my eyes locked with Eddie’s as he came closer. ‘I have no idea how I’m gonna tell my brother I’m not coming home.’

‘Well, he’s probably gonna try and make you change your mind.’ He rested his hand against my cheek, his thumb stroking my skin in slow, gentle movements as his eyes sought to reassure me.

‘Probably,’ I whispered, my mouth almost touching his now, my lips physically aching to feel his against them. ‘But I’m a big girl now, Eddie. I can make my own decisions.’

I felt my whole body relax into him as he finally kissed me, every part of me falling against him, giving into him. He was that dream I’d never even realised I had. That person I’d been looking for, the one who could open up all those locked doors that were still firmly closed inside of me. I believed that. I truly believed that. With every touch of his lips on mine, his fingers on my skin.When he was inside me everything just felt right. How could I walk away from that?

‘You haven’t really said that much about your life in the UK,’ he said quietly, pulling back just a touch, his hand still resting against my cheek.

‘You haven’t said all that much about yours.’ I laid my hand gently over his. ‘Have you never felt like going home? Back to Scotland? Don’t you miss it?’

He shook his head, his eyes burning into mine with a strange kind of intensity. ‘America’s my home now. My life’s here, in Las Vegas. I don’t have any reason to go back to Scotland.’

‘There’s nobody waiting for you back there? No family?’

He smiled slightly, just a small smile, which I wasn’t entirely sure reached his eyes. ‘My family aren’t all that accepting of my lifestyle. We’ve never really been that close.’

‘And what is your lifestyle, exactly?’

His smile grew a little wider, his eyes suddenly lighting up, which only served to make my heart beat that little bit faster. ‘I’m a free spirit, Lana. The bike shop, and my stake in the garage my MC owns earns me enough to get by on. I live pretty simply. My home’s quite basic, you’ve seen that… When I’m not working I ride, because when I’m out here, on the open road, it’s the only time I think clearly. It really is the best kind of therapy.’ His eyes were staring into mine with that strange, yet beautiful, intensity again, something that caused a ripple of excitement to bubble up inside of me. ‘I’m an old-school biker, darlin’. I wear my colours with pride and loyalty is everything. But freedom – that’s the most important thing in the world for me.’

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his. This tall, handsome man with the tattoos and the beard and a voice so low and sexy – he really was everything I’d ever dreamt of. I just hadn’t realised it, until now. And everything he’d just said there, it was everything I’d wanted to hear.

‘What about you?’ he asked, his thumb still stroking my cheek, his hand warm yet rough against my skin. I didn’t want him to take it away. I liked it, I liked him touching me.

‘What about me?’ But even after all of that I was still reluctant to open up to him. Maybe because opening up, talking about the past brought it all back to the forefront. And I didn’t want to look back. I wanted to move forward.

‘Last night, in the elevator – you told me you were divorced.’

I looked down, finally breaking that stare, because looking him in the eye and talking about Adam – that didn’t feel right. ‘I am. It’s just not something I really want to get into.’

‘Things didn’t work out, huh?’

I raised my gaze, my eyes meeting his again. ‘Yeah. Something like that. We were together a long time and… We grew apart, that’s all. It happens.’

‘Yeah,’ he sighed, finally pulling his hand away from my face. ‘A lot of shit happens.’

I frowned slightly as I watched his expression change, the look in his eyes something I couldn’t read. Sadness? I didn’t have time to really let it register as his face broke back into a slow smile. But what he’d said there…

‘You still think about him?’ Eddie asked, a question that surprised me, because it wasn’t something I’d expected him to ask.

‘Sometimes.’ I was being honest now.Because I did still think about Adam. He’d been a huge part of my life – he’d been my life. So of course I still thought about him. ‘I was with him for almost twenty years. And you can’t just forget all of that as though it never happened.’

‘No.’ Eddie’s expression changed again, the smile once more disappearing from his face, his eyes clouding over. ‘No, you can’t.’ But then, as quickly as if someone had just flicked a switch, the smile was back. The sadness in his eyes gone. ‘You said you worked in a tattoo studio…’ It was as if he’d sensed a change of subject was needed. He wasn’t wrong.