Chapter Two

Sandra closed the door behind Strickland and sat at her desk and stared blankly into space as she tried to process everything that had happened.

Two hours ago she'd been preparing to jet off into the sunset with the love of her life. Except he'd turned out to be a total wanker.

And she'd shared a bone melting kiss with Gerry Standing.

With her new man had come an exciting new job, which she now wasn't going to do… because of aforesaid total wanker.

And unless her eyes were deceiving her Gerry had become as aroused by the kiss as she had, despite allegedly requiring Viagra nowadays.

Sandra's thoughts completely derailed as she contemplated using her hands and her mouth to drive Gerry to distraction.

Eventually, she managed to pull her mind out of the gutter long enough to think about work. Strickland had suggested that she might be able to be the new head of the Murder Squad.

And he'd given Gerry and her his blessing.

But she and Gerry were so badly suited, weren't they? Except that they spent hours together outside of work and even though they argued like cat and dog on occasion, they always apologised and forgave each other. Hell, she'd turned dates down because she had agreed to meet him and would rather be with him.

And her body was still buzzing with desire.

Gerry was holding a packet of frozen peas to his jaw and sipping a bottle of beer whilst watching a football match on TV when the doorbell went. Putting the peas and beer down on the coffee table, he went downstairs and opened the door, finding Sandra smiling at him. He automatically let her in, concealing his surprise. Sandra was an incredible woman but when it came to dealing with personal issues she was far more likely to run than anything else. He had expected her to text rather than call him, her coming round to see him hadn't even occurred to him.

'I got fish and chips. I hope that's okay?' said Sandra.

'Great,' said Gerry, 'I'll get the salt and vinegar.'

'And the ketchup.'

'Peasant,' said Gerry, going through to the kitchen and getting them forks as well as the salt, vinegar and ketchup and getting a bottle of white wine out of the fridge.

They sat on the sofa, eating their fish and chips out of the paper and watching the football. Once they'd eaten, Gerry threw their rubbish away and they sat sipping their drinks. After a few minutes, Gerry turned the television off and said,

'What did Strickers want?'

'To apologise for introducing me to Max and to see if I wanted him to put my name forward for head of the Murder Squad.'

'Head of the Murder Squad? Nice one, Guv. When?'

'About a month.'

'So we get you for a bit longer?'

'Yes, possibly a lot longer. There'll be a lot of competition for the Murder Squad.'

'You'll get it. They'd be fools to give it to anyone else.'

'Thank you, Gerry,' said Sandra, leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

As soon as her lips touched his skin, Sandra felt her arousal increasing, the buzz from earlier returning tenfold. Pulling back, she looked into Gerry's eyes, seeing her desire mirrored in his eyes. Hesitantly, she said,

'Gerry, about the kiss…'

'Yes?'

Gerry braced himself to be told to forget that it had ever happened. Instead, Sandra said,

'You were right, us kissing was a terrible idea…'

'Yeah, well…'

'Because I can't pretend it never happened.'

'Me neither,' said Gerry, making eye contact with Sandra, seeing a mixture of confusion and desire in her eyes.

'So what do we do now?' he asked.

'What do you want to do?'

'I want to kiss you again but are you all right? What with Max and that.'

'I don't know. I should be upset but I'm not, not really. I mostly feel relieved, which is crazy, isn't it?'

'Depends whether or not you were really in love with him, doesn't it? If you were just infatuated then discovering he was a bastard before it was too late would be a relief, I reckon.'

Sandra grimaced,

'I think we can safely say that I wasn't in love with him… I feel such an idiot. I knew he liked to be in control but I was so infatuated it didn't ring any alarm bells.'

'Yeah but he wasn't showing any real signs of being a control-freak before today, was he? I mean, he hadn't thrown any wobblies before, had he?'

'No.'

'Well then, you ain't psychic, are you?'

'No, just hopeless.'

'Don't be so hard on yourself, Sandra, we've all done stupid things when we're infatuated.'

'I suppose.'

Sandra sounded unconvinced so Gerry said,

'Want to know the stupidest thing I ever did? You won't believe how bad it was.'

'Go on then.'

'All right but you have to promise not to tell a soul.'

'Really? I can't have been that bad.'

'Promise, Sandra.'

'Okay…I promise.'

'Right. Well, I was about eighteen, completely green but thought I knew everything.'

Sandra nodded, saying,

'No change then.'

'Oi! Do you want to hear this or not?'

'Sorry,' said Sandra, without any sincerity.

Gerry fixed her with a firm stare and waited for a moment before continuing,

'I met this woman in a bar…'

'Surprise, surprise.'

'Anyway, she was absolutely gorgeous; twenty-two, blonde, intelligent, amazing body and astonishingly didn't have a boyfriend. So, I chat her up for a bit and then she invites me back to her place and we have sex. Thing is, she's pretty rough and I end up with loads of bruises but when I ask her about it afterwards she says that she can't stand weak men and it was just a test and I passed and we can have sex whenever I like.'

'Oh, Gerry…'

'I know, but the trouble was, I'd never had regular sex before so it wasn't my brain that was doing the thinking. So, I carry on seeing her and carry on getting bruises but I'm so infatuated that I don't care. Anyway, a couple of weeks later, she suggests spicing things up and gets some handcuffs out and like a complete pillock, I let her cuff me to the headboard. It's only when she lights a couple of cigarettes that I realise what an idiot I am. I ask her to let me go but she just laughs at me and tells me not to be a pansy.'

'What happened?'

'She stubbed a cigarette out on my forearm. I screamed, then pulled on the handcuffs till one of them broke, grabbed my clothes and ran.'

'God.'

'I've still got the scar.'

Gerry rolled up the sleeve on his left arm and showed Sandra a circular scar, white with age but still visible. Sandra gently caressed the scar then, without thinking about it, bent over and kissed it gently then ran her tongue around it.

Gerry groaned as desire shot through his body. Smirking, Sandra ran her tongue around the scar again and Gerry reached for her, pulling her into his arms and kissing her. This time Sandra responded immediately and within seconds their tongues were exploring each other's mouths. Sandra sighed as Gerry kissed her neck, sucking gently at the pulse point below her ear. She ran her hands down his back and tugged his shirt out of his trousers then scratched his back. Gerry groaned again and suddenly his hands were pulling her T-shirt out of her trousers and sliding up to cup her lace clad breasts. Sandra pushed into his hands as her body flooded with desire. Gerry started to push her back to lie on the sofa but then stopped himself and stood up and led her into the bedroom instead.

Once in the bedroom, they kissed again, losing themselves in each other. Sandra unbuttoned Gerry's shirt and pushed it off his shoulders, running her hands over his chest. Gerry stilled her hands and held her away for a moment, saying,

'Sandra, are you sure?'

'Yes. Are you?'

'Never been more sure of anything in my life.'

Sandra smiled and then they were kissing again and Gerry was slipping Sandra's T-shirt off and undoing her bra. He kissed her passionately as he slid her bra down her arms then stood back so she could drop it on the floor. Gazing at her, he said,

'You are so beautiful.'

'Thank you.'

Gerry closed the distance between them and they both moaned as their skin touched. Suddenly they were pulling the remainder of each other's clothes off frantically whilst kissing and caressing each other. Gerry pushed Sandra gently on to the bed and followed her, lying beside her. He kissed his way down her body using his hands and tongue to drive her wild, only stopping when she was incoherent with lust. Sandra tried to reciprocate but he stopped her,

'No.'

'I want to.'

Gerry smiled as Sandra pouted. He kissed her pout and said,

'Next time. I'm on a hair trigger here, Sandra. I'm going to struggle as it is.'

'Better get on with it then.'

'Patience, Sandra, patience.'

'Seriously, Gerry? How long have you known me?'

'Good point.'

Gerry reached into his bedside cabinet and pulled out a condom and slipped it on and then gently joined their bodies. He leant down and kissed Sandra tenderly then began to move.
Sandra felt as though her body was on fire. Moaning, she ran her hands along his arms and chest, scratching lightly then wrapped her legs around his waist urging him to move faster.
Gerry groaned and moved faster and faster as the pleasure built. Desperately holding back, he took his weight on one elbow and used his other hand to pinch one of Sandra's nipples lightly. Sandra screamed and climaxed and Gerry followed her over the edge, shouting her name.

Gerry rolled them so that he wasn't crushing her and held her as they got their breath back. After a few minutes, he reluctantly moved, disposing of the condom and cleaning up. When he got back to the bedroom, Sandra was sound asleep so he set his alarm and climbed into bed alongside her. He pulled her into his arms, thinking wryly that although it was very early for him to go to sleep, it was probably wise to get plenty of rest; making love to Sandra had been amazing and he wanted to make sure that he had enough energy to perform whenever she was in the mood.