Free Buying Thyme by TJ Hamilton

back down into the warm water. I still can’t manage to find any words to compliment what I’m feeling inside so I just continue kissing Tench. He drags us both under the water in his embrace.
     
    Tench launches himself out of the pool, muscles rippling as they flex and tense when he pulls himself over the edge. He disappears into the pool house and re-emerges with two fluffy white bathrobes, also with the blue ‘YSL’ symbol embroidered on the side, just like the ones in the en-suite. He throws one over himself then reaches down with both hands for me to grab. I take hold of them and he lifts me up, out of the water. I bounce out of the breast deep water and land on the side of the pool, thanks to his powerful grip. He hands me the other robe to put on. With another white towel, he wipes my face and around my eyes where my mascara has obviously run from being in the water. I feel my cheeks start to prick with heat as I realise I must look a fright. Tench holds my chin up so that I’m looking into his coffee eyes.
    “You always look gorgeous Miranda, don’t you ever forget that.” He says with sincerity.  
    An unrecognisable song finishes playing and Maroon 5’s She Will Be Loved begins to sing into the moonlight air around us. Tench throws the towel down and grabs me. Holding me in a dancing pose, we move slowly to the melody.
    “This song always reminds me of you Miranda.” He says.
    My mind races as I listen to the lyrics. What does he mean? He is unexpectedly a good dancer and he twirls me around, I spin under his hand with ease.
    “A gifted dancer too I see. Have you been trained?” He asks with genuine interest as he pulls me back to him.
    “In a past life.” I reply.
    “Don’t know why I haven’t noticed before.” He responds, but I know the real reason why he hasn’t noticed.  
    I have always just been his whore. He books me and we fuck. There has been no reason for him to know more. He never asks and I never tell. Why has it changed all of a sudden? What has happened to you Joe Tench? He presses himself up to me and I comfortably lean my head against him. We sway to the music, flickering candles also dancing around us. Watching the moonlight across the harbour again, I think this could almost be magical and romantic, if I wasn’t his whore and he wasn’t a criminal. Or are we more suited to one another than I like to admit? Could I ever be involved with this man more than just his paid for company? I try and stop myself from overanalysing everything and lose myself in his embrace. The music seizes my thoughts, Maroon 5 surprisingly capturing my life in their song. I close my eyes and allow myself to be carried into the moment again.

 
     
    CHAPTER 5
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    I wake to the joyful melody of birds singing in the morning. Stretched out further than normal, I quickly remind myself that I’m still in Tench’s oversized bed. I roll over to discover Tench is not next to me. Looking up at the time it’s nine fifty-three a.m. Whoa … I must’ve slept like a baby! Then my mind flashes with scenes of the night before, recapping why I slept so soundly. The candlelit dinner in the moonlight, skinny-dipping in the pool, dancing under the stars, topped off by hours spent rolling around the bed in Tench’s arms. I reminisce the orgasm after orgasm, until the early hours of the morning. Was that all a dream? If I weren’t getting paid for it, I would assume it was. I faintly hear the Spanish tunes of the Gypsy Kings playing downstairs. I decide I’ll get up to investigate further. I find my red silk kimono in my suitcase and wrap it around me. Once downstairs, I wander through the vast lounge area in the centre of the house and venture further through to the right wing of the mansion. I find my way to where the music is coming from in the kitchen. A plump, round European woman in her fifties with grey flecks throughout her dark curly hair, dressed all in black, is happily humming