Page 48 of Take the Lead

I t’s a balmy evening and we join the others in the garden for a glass of rosé while the barbecue coals heat up. The kids are already in the tent doing a jigsaw, and when the first sausages are ready, they beg to be able to stay in there to eat theirs.

‘Okay, but no greasy fingers on the sleeping bags,’ Dee warns. ‘I’ll be watching you!’

Sarah gets her camera out again. ‘I’ve already got plenty to work with and I think it’s going to look great, but this is too nice a setting not to include as well. It will finish the montage off perfectly.’

‘You haven’t even asked us to do anything daft yet,’ I tease.

‘There’s still tomorrow,’ she warns.

Dad asks her how long the final edit will be.

‘Only a few minutes. But you can pack a lot into a few minutes.’

They start chatting about how she’ll decide what to include and what not to, and Dee turns her attention to Aleksis.

‘So how do you rate your chances for the weekend?’ she asks. But I don’t hear his answer because Mum is already talking to me.

‘You look like you’ve lost weight. You are looking after yourself, aren’t you – eating enough, getting enough sleep?’

‘Of course I am. But I’m dancing eight hours a day, so I’m bound to lose a little bit. Don’t worry, it’ll come straight back when Fire on the Dance Floor finishes.’

‘I’m so glad you decided to go on the show.’ She smiles. ‘It’s something you’ll remember forever. I love watching you on that screen. You look so beautiful.’

‘Thanks, Mum. I’m really glad I’m doing it too.

It’s been so nerve-racking at times – and exciting and terrifying and pretty much everything in between.

But there’s never going to be anything else like it.

And I got to meet Aleksis, too.’ I lower my voice.

‘I really like him, Mum. I think he might be a keeper.’

Her smile gets wider. ‘He does seem lovely. And he’s slotted right into our madhouse, which must say something about him.’

‘It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, but I just love being with him,’ I admit, glancing over to check he’s not listening.

Dee and Aleksis have finished talking and are looking right at us.

‘Oh, hi.’ I feel my cheeks flushing. ‘Anyone need a top-up?’

I reach for the bottle in the wine cooler, only to discover it’s empty. I stand up quickly. ‘I’ll go and grab another one.’

‘Let me help you with that.’ Aleksis follows me into the kitchen.

‘So you think I’m a keeper, do you?’ he asks when we’re inside.

‘You weren’t meant to hear that. I thought you were talking to Dee.’

‘Don’t be embarrassed. It’s a nice thing to hear.’ He pulls me towards him for a kiss. ‘I might just feel the same way,’ he whispers. And I swear I actually feel my heart swell.

I stay on cloud nine for the rest of the evening.

Pete supervises bedtime for the kids, who’ve worn themselves out running around all day, then the rest of us chat, laugh and drink into the early hours until my own eyes start to droop.

Aleksis and I have been awake for nearly twenty-four hours – it’s time to call it a night.

I stifle a yawn when we’re alone in the bedroom.

‘Exhausted?’ he asks.

‘Yes, but still horny,’ I laugh.

We kiss and start undressing each other, but my sister’s bed lets out an almighty squeak as we lie down on it and wriggle towards each other.

‘We’ll wake the whole household up if we try to have sex on this,’ Aleksis whispers, and as if to prove his point, the bed creaks loudly again as our weight shifts on the mattress.

‘We should have taken the tent,’ I reply in between kisses. ‘We could have got up to all sorts in there without anyone knowing.’

‘The power of hindsight,’ he sighs. ‘Is there somewhere we could go? The bathroom maybe?’

‘What if someone needs the loo?’

‘The garden then?’

‘The kids might wake up. Argh, this is going to kill me. Let’s go to the bathroom. I reckon we’ll get away with it if we’re quick.’

He smiles. ‘We’re not usually very quick.’

‘Special exception tonight?’

He doesn’t need asking twice.

The rest of the house is quiet, which hopefully means everyone else is asleep. We creep down the hallway feeling like naughty teenagers, with towels wrapped around us just in case anyone does happen to be up.

As soon as the bathroom door is closed behind us, I whip the towels away and sit on the edge of the bath, pulling Aleksis towards me so I can take him in my mouth. His breathing gets heavier as he watches me making him hard, his hands playing with my hair as he rocks gently towards me.

‘Oh Kate,’ he whispers as I tease him with my tongue, making his whole body shudder. He moves his hands to his thighs and I can see him squeezing them to help himself stay in control.

He slowly backs away and drops down into a crouch in front of me, spreading my knees wider so he can run his tongue across my clit, over and over. Just the thought of having sex with him had already turned me on, but he still makes sure I’m as aroused as he is before he draws me back up to my feet.

I turn my back to him and bend forward, my arms supporting me on the side of the bath, and he nudges my legs further apart as I push my buttocks towards him, then he enters me from behind, sliding in slowly, which makes us both moan.

‘Shh,’ we whisper in unison, stifling our giggles.

But I gasp again as he pulls back slowly then thrusts deeper. I can’t hold it in if he’s going to keep doing that.

‘Be quiet,’ he laughs.

‘I can’t help it,’ I say over my shoulder. ‘It feels too good.’

‘Try putting this between your teeth.’ He hands me my new toothbrush and I shake my head, laughing, but I try biting down on it, which works for a few seconds until another open-mouthed moan sends it clattering into the tub, giving us both the giggles again.

‘There’s no way no one heard that,’ he says.

‘I don’t care any more, just don’t stop.’ I wiggle my hips suggestively and it’s all the encouragement he needs.

He pounds against me quickly, until he’s clinging on to me and squeezing me against him, a slightly strangled noise escaping from his throat as he tries to come without making any more sound.

When he withdraws, he moves alongside me and makes me climax still bent over the bath, the fingers of one hand deep inside me and his other hand underneath me, rubbing my clit until the world around me disappears in a dizzying blur. I definitely don’t stay as quiet as I intended to.