A Train Ride to - Love Ch 03

Chapter Three

(A woman of the world)

When Sarah reached the bottom of her stairs early the next morning, it was to find a plain white envelope lying on her front door mat. Hand written and with no postage stamp, she knew immediately who it was from.

She turned it over in her shaking hands, as her heart sank right down into her shoes, and then stared at it helplessly for a full five minutes or more, before becoming impatient with herself.

"For heaven's sake get a grip!" she muttered before gripping the envelope firmly, she then gave an exasperated sigh; and tore it open with a vicious hand and took out the single sheet of paper.

'Sarah, have been called back to London suddenly;

Forgot to get your phone number so here's mine...

Call me as soon as you get back on Monday.

Yours

Sam'

It was hastily written and barely legible but Sarah hugged it to her.

He was hers!!

It sent a thrill straight through her - right down to her toes, which then dragged her heart right back up with it!

She danced through to the kitchen and put the kettle on to boil, feeling that the world just could not get any better.

She spent the morning tidying her little home, and washing and ironing her clothes.

The afternoon seemed very long in front of her and she kept playing with Sam's letter.

He had said to call when she returned to London, but she was so very tempted to pick up the phone now. In the end, she grabbed her coat and went to visit with her mum.

It was Saturday afternoon, her dad was at the local pub and her mum's home was filled with women and children. It was chaos! Her sisters had descended en masse and of course, the silence that fell when she entered the room told her she had been the topic of conversation.

All eyes fell on her, all accompanied with knowing little smirks, and mischievous twinkling eyes!

"Hello you all; what's happening?" Sarah asked brightly.

There was a burst of chattering and general hello's and Sarah made her way to the arm of a nearby chair.

There never had been enough seats when they were all at home! Sarah and other younger siblings had pretty much been raised on the floor.

Jenny the next youngest and closest to Sarah as they had grown, was sitting in the chair that Sarah settled on, and she nudged Sarah gently.

"So come on then, tell us who he is."

Silence descended again and all eyes turned in her direction.

She took a deep breath let out a sigh, blushed prettily and then grinned.

"His name is Sam -- and he is gorgeous!" she stated dreamily.

Laughter and exasperation followed that little girly display.

"And?" was the general chorus.

Sarah laughed "I've met him twice; the first time was a few weeks ago..."

"I told you something was going on with her!" shouted Jenny triumphantly.

"And the second time was yesterday..." She paused. "And then of course there was last night, so I suppose that would be three meetings." She finished thoughtfully.

"Oops! Yesterday it was a hot date and today it's a meeting. That doesn't sound too good." Someone observed.

"So which one was it little sis?" asked Jenny. "A hot date or a meeting?"

"Oh..." she paused again. "I'd say -- definitely, a hot date." she said in a rush.

"Oh? How hot?"

Sarah blushed and laughed again, this time a little awkwardly. "Not THAT hot!" she said with a hint of regret.

The conversation drifted on to other topics then; as was usually the case when they all got together.

Everyone had so much to talk about, that one person could only be the centre of attention for a brief time. It was a great system for being able to talk about your life, without feeling as if your privacy had been totally trashed.

The afternoon sped by and come teatime there was the sound of the front door opening. Her dad walked into the room and there was a general chorus of; "hi's" and "hellos!"

"Haven't you lot got homes to go to?"

Her dad's grumpy response was one that they had all heard many times before. They all knew that their dad loved them, but having raised eight children to the best of their ability and sent them out into the world; he now felt that they had done their bit, and that he and his wife should now have their home to themselves.

The general protests were good-natured, but everyone rose from their seats obediently and started gathering coats, bags and children; all the while; plotting and planning, and chattering away to each other about recent happenings in their lives and jobs.

It was a slow process out of the house and onto the street but, once there, things rapidly broke up and soon there was only Sarah and her mum stood at the garden gate.

"So you like this young man of yours then?" her mum gently asked.

"Oh mum! I think that he's the one!"

"Mmmm..." was her mum's only comment, which was pretty much all that Sarah expected; or wanted at this point. Her mum would never interfere or pass judgement on her daughters... she would just sit back and watch -- and see all.

"Well I'd better go and see about some dinner for me and your dad."

Sarah reached over and kissed her mum on the cheek affectionately.

"I'm heading back to London first thing in the morning so I won't see you until next week."

"Ok love; you look after yourself."

"Bye mum."

It was Saturday night and Sam had had a rotten day. That phone call early this morning... calling him back to London had been totally unnecessary; and he was still feeling annoyed about it. The director of the company who had retained his firm; whilst they were merging with a rival company, had had an attack of the nerves yesterday; and had suddenly started 'what if-ing' at every other breath. Sam's junior assistant had tried to deal with things as much as possible but Mr Gibbs - the nervous director - had finally insisted on calling in Sam; so that Sam could PERSONALLY soothe that man's nerves.

He got back to his flat feeling tired and irritable. He should have been spending this evening with Sarah. So that they could get to know each other better... so that he could...

The phone began to ring and he swore viciously and snatched up the receiver.

"Reynolds!" he snapped.

There was a pause and then; "Sam - is that you?" A timid little voice hesitantly asked.

Sam felt his spirits soar.

"Sarah! Sarah I am so glad that you phoned!" Sam could not have kept the delight out of his voice even if he had thought to try.

"Sam!" The warmth in her voice, just about melted him.

"I know you said to call you when I got back to London but... well..." she hesitated. "I just wanted to say hello!" She finished lamely.

Sam punched the air and let out a silent; "Yessss!"

"No problems babe." He told her easily. "I'd just got in after a rotten afternoon, and just hearing your voice has made my evening.

"Oh!" That little catch in her voice caused Sam's legs to buckle. He dropped to the sofa, his imagination going into overdrive.

"So what have you been doing with yourself?" he tried to reign in his over active libido - and get a grip.

"I spent the afternoon with my mum and sisters..." Sarah told him and he could hear the smile in her voice.

"What all of them?" he laughed.

"All of them." She confirmed, and he could picture her nodding her head in affirmation.

He was silent for a moment and then; "So, was there much to talk about?" he asked warily.

"Oh..." she murmured lightly; "we all had our two minutes of air time."

"And what was your two minutes about?"

She hesitated and then gave a small nervous laugh.

"I made the mistake yesterday of telling my mum I had a hot date."

"Oh?"

"Yep!" she told him, "They wanted to know all about you."

"And?"

"Well... I don't know that much about you; so I couldn't tell them much; could I?"

"Is that what you told them?" he felt gutted that he had warranted such little discussion.

"No!" she protested. Then she gave another little laugh; "I told them that you are gorgeous and that our hot date was indeed a hot date - which was what they mostly wanted to know."

Another air punch and another silent; "Yesssss!"

"Really?" his voice dropped a notch, became deeper, more seductive.

"Then what did you say?"

"Well, by then my two minutes seemed to be up and the conversation moved on to babies, and work problems; and how to get red wine stains out of a yellow blouse."

"Oh!" he felt embarrassed for a moment and then let out a rueful laugh. "Well I guess it's nice to know that I'm right up there with the babies and red wine stains."

"What can I tell you?" she asked flippantly.

"Well..." he said he voice dropping again, "you could tell me; that you miss me."

"I do."

"You could tell me..." he paused, "that you want me," he finished huskily.

Silence for a moment.

"I do." Quietly stated, no heat no passion; but such intensity.

The heat flooded through Sam. "God Sarah!" he growled out. "Lady! You turn me on so very badly!" he finished with a groan of despair.

"Oh! Sam!" She gave a gasp of... was that passion? Lust even? He could hear it in her voice!

"I want to get into my car and drive down to you... I want to get to you... I want to hold you..." he paused; "I want to touch you... to kiss you. I want to kiss you all over - to know every inch of you. I want to make you cry out your pleasure to me. I can make you do that Sarah... Do you believe me?"

"Yes..." A shaky little word, "Yes Sam; I do!"

Sam rose from the sofa, his body hard and full of purpose.

"Two hours Sarah! Two hours and I could be with you. Shall I? Shall I come to you, tonight?"

The silence went on for too long.

"No." he finally said it half to himself. "You're not ready for me yet; are you honey?"

He sighed and dropped to the sofa again running his hand through his hair as he did so.

"It's alright darling," he soothed. "I know I'm moving too fast for you."

A tiny sob was his only response and Sam felt like a real heel; felt like he had been putting pressure on her, even from a distance.

"Sarah?"

Silence followed and Sam let out another sigh of regret and remorse.

"Talk to me Sarah -- please!"

"Oh Sam! I don't know what to say or do. I've never felt like this before about anyone... I'm just so confused!"

"I know Sarah, I know you're only young... and haven't had much experience."

She gave a little laugh. "Try none!" she said solemnly.

Sam frowned and stood up again. "What are you trying to tell me Sarah?"

"I did tell you. I've never felt like this before about ANY man." she sighed then said; "You know the old saying sweet sixteen and never been kissed?"

"Yes?"

"Well, in my case it was sweet twenty four and never been kissed..." she paused, "well, not much... not until I met you that is," she finished ruefully.

Sam was stunned.

"But... but, you're so very beautiful! What are the men thinking off, in your neck of the woods?"

Her laugh was more natural this time. "You keep saying that; and I'm not you know. Besides just because a man may want to kiss me, does not mean that he automatically gets to. I get a say in it too you know." she argued.

Sam thought back to the kisses he had shared with Sarah. "I don't remember you getting much say in the kissing with me," he challenged, a little guiltily.

She laughed. "I'm not a little victim Sam; I like to think that had I really not wanted you to touch me; then I could have stopped you."

He remembered how tiny she was, and how he had towered over her.

"Oh? How exactly?"

"Oh I don't know. Maybe a swift hard kick somewhere, the shins perhaps... maybe a little higher if you were very persistent..." she went on thoughtfully. "And I have a very piercing scream if the situation warrants it. It can be quite painful on the ear you know."

Sam sat down and laughed.

"My tough little Sarah..." he said breathlessly, "who would have thought it?"

Sam felt the tension drain from him, along with any lingering lustful urges towards Sarah.

"So what now?" she asked softly.

"I think we need to take things nice and slowly Sarah. I want to see more of you but I don't want to rush you into anything. What would you say to... a movie on Monday night?"

"I'd like that!"

They sat chatting for a little while and Sarah gave Sam her mobile number, along with her address in London. Sam arranged to call for her at six thirty on Monday evening.

The call ended an hour later and their goodnight was full of unspoken promises.

Sarah hung up the phone in a dreamy fashion; and sat staring into space.

She hugged her arms around herself imagining it was Sam holding her.

She let out a huge yawn and glanced at her clock. Nine o'clock, it was still so early and yet, all she wanted to do was to go to her bed and pretend Sam was with her.

She locked up her little home and climbed her stairs. Her bedroom with its pink flowered wallpaper and deep rose curtains, carpet and bedding suddenly seemed very little girly to her.

It was time she grew up! She thought. She owned her own home (well almost) she ran her own business (well, with her friend) and she was dating a man like Sam Reynolds (well, sort of).

Yes, she was definitely a woman of this world!

She undressed and crawled into bed. She dragged her spare pillow down the bed and cuddled up to it.

"Oh Sam!" she whispered sleepily. "You came all this way just to be with me!"

Sarah snuggled down the bed and drifted off to sleep - to dream some wickedly erotic dreams, all of which involved Sam.