In Confidence

"Graeme. The boy I... My boyfriend before Nick."

"Oh yeah. What was he like?" Rebecca had never said much about this male to either Ed or Nick, although Nick had murmured to Ed and Gina that he couldn't have been much of a lover, judging by her responses to the simplest things in bed.

"Oh... He was a creep." Rebecca coloured. "And I was an idiot. I thought that he meant the things he said to me, you know? Then, once I was sleeping with him, he just wanted me to go out with him and his mates while he got pissed. I reckon that he was showing me off to them."

"Oh, that old story," said Ed. "I can see why you went after a father figure when you were on the rebound -- anything to get away from that sort of adolescent. Not that it was a very good idea, I'm afraid -- plenty of men my age would have slept with you and then boasted about it to their friends."

"Yeah, well... Anyway, eventually I got sick of him and dumped him..."

"Good girl," said Gina, "you've always had a bit of sense, then. Oh, sorry -- I'll shut up. This is your story."

****

Rebecca was taking a short cut through the park when she Graeme and a bunch of his friends approaching from the other direction. She huddled within her coat, suddenly burning red -- but she couldn't avoid Graeme's notice.

"Woo, it's Becky. You want to come back, darlin', you can always ask. I'll think about it -- and you'll not get a better offer..."

Rebecca kept walking, refusing to meet Graeme's eye. She was a little surprised, though, to hear another voice from the group.

"Oh, give it a r-r-r-rest, Graeme."

The speaker was a taller member of the group, she glimpsed out of the corner of her eye -- probably a bit older than Graeme, and not as scruffily dressed. But he hadn't done her much good; in fact, he was simply hooted down.

She carried on walking for a few moments until she found a bench to sit on, her face burning even more with rage. Graeme didn't know anything; even if she had indeed been desperate for sex, she knew now, he'd be a lousy choice as a supplier...

"Are you oka-ka-kay?"

She looked up. The question had come from the tall friend of Graeme's, it seemed. At least he was alone.

"What's it to you?" she snapped.

"Family re-re-re-responsibility, I suppose. I'm Graeme's brother."

"Oh." She looked up at that. "You'll be Richie the -- Big Brother Richie."

Richie the Wimp, she hadn't said. She'd never met him before, but Graeme had talked about him -- mostly to sneer at him. She'd laughed along like a dutiful girlfriend, but even then, she'd had the lurking suspicion that Richie's offences were having a university degree and an interesting job that involved lots of foreign travel -- two things that were likely to be beyond Graeme -- as well as a stammer.

"Yes." Richie nodded.

"Where's Graeme and the rest of them, anyway?"

"Oh, they've gone to the m-m-match."

"Course they have. It's Saturday afternoon. Without you, though?"

"Not my st-st-style." He paused. "Anyway, if you are okay, I'll leave you alo-lo-lo..."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. Sit down if you want. I don't own the bench."

Richie paused, then shrugged and sat.

"I'm Rebecca, by the way,"

"Y-yes -- Graeme said."

"What were you doing out with him, anyway?" Rebecca asked, "I didn't think that you two got on."

"Oh, I'm just visiting M-m-mum and Dad," Richie explained, "and I was heading the same way when he went out. You're r-r-right, though. Dunno why I b-b-bother. Trying not to upset M-m-mum, really."

"Don't try too hard. From what I've seen, I think she knows him well enough that she won't blame you."

Richie shrugged, and Rebecca looked at him. He was very different from his brother -- gawky, perhaps a bit of a geek. But his actions, and the fact that he didn't get on with Graeme, made her warm to him. "Sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to keep you."

"Oh, n-n-no problem. I just had some st-stuff to pick up from the shops."

"Oh, I was heading that way myself. Come on, we might as well walk together."

Not surprisingly, they were heading for completely different shops -- Rebecca needed a new pair of shoes, while Richie was buying stuff for his computer. But he followed her into the shoe shops out of some kind of politeness, and offered honest if vague opinions about her choices when asked, so she felt obliged to follow him into his shops, where she noticed that he became more precise in his manner, with less of a stammer.

"Fancy a coffee?" she asked when he was done.

"Okay," he said, but then he led her into one of the more expensive coffee shops, and ordered a strong espresso, which he drank with an intent expression. She watched him, sipping her sweet milky coffee more casually.

"Hey," she said, "fancy going out tonight?"

He seemed startled, but after a moment he said yes -- after which, there were a few minutes of confused negotiation while they learned that he assumed that this meant a meal while she had assumed that it would mean a drink. Soon, Rebecca had the feeling that their ideas about ways to spend their time would be completely at odds.

"I've got a better idea," she said. "You can just come round to my place. My mum always goes out with her mates on a Saturday night, so it'll be quiet."

"Get a takeaway or so-so-something?"

"Something like that."

They fixed a time and went their separate ways. When Richie showed up as promised, clutching a couple of bags of takeaway food -- Rebecca had a bad feeling that he hadn't trusted what she might acquire if she'd had a vote -- he found her wearing a long, lightweight cotton dress.

"That's n-nice," he said as she directed him to sit on the sofa. "I d-d-don't keep up with f-fashion..."

"Oh, it's not fashionable," she said, "I just like it."

"Why's that?"

"A couple of things," she said. Then she knelt astride him on the sofa, and touched his chin with one hand. He was gawping a little, but that gave her the chance to give him a deep kiss.

"That was n-n-nice," he said rather bemusedly when she stopped to breath.

Rebecca ignored that. "About the dress," she said, "it's rather thin -- I bought it for beaches in summer, really. Put your hands on my bottom." Richie, still looking startled, obeyed. "There," Rebecca went on, "what do you feel through it?"

"N-n-nothing..."

"Exactly." She stood up. "Come on," she said, "we can microwave the food later."

But Richie remained seated. "Are you sh-sure?" he asked.

"Course I'm sure." He remained paralysed. "Oh," she said suddenly, blushing, "you are -- well, you do do this, don't you?"

Richie took a deep breath. "Yes. I do." He looked at her, scowling a little. "Don't tell me -- Graeme said something..."

"I don't care about Graeme..."

"Good. But for the record, no, I'm not g-g-gay -- and I'm not a v-v-virgin, either. I just haven't let Graeme m-m-meet any of my g-g-girlfriends. They were all too n-n-nice for that."

"I'm sure that they were. But it's too late with this one -- I know the little sod. But let's forget about him for now. Let's just enjoy ourselves."

Richie paused for a moment more, but then he smiled. "Okay," he said, stood up, and embraced her gently. She squirmed against him deliberately.

"Feel that?" she said, "No bra either."

"You d-d-don't m-m-mess about, d-do you?"

"Not when I don't want to."

Upstairs, in her bedroom, Rebecca stood back while Richie removed his shoes and jacket, and then more slowly, his shirt, socks, and trousers. She noticed a promising bulge in his underpants.

"Sorry if I'm not m-m-much to look at..."

"You're fine," she said. Then she reached down to the hem of the dress with both hands, and drew it up over her head in what she hoped was a single smooth move. She was indeed completely naked underneath, and she was pleased to find Richie staring at her with a smile. He stepped forward and kissed her again -- rather nicely, she decided -- and then nodded towards the bed.

She lay down on it, and he responded by kneeling on the floor and bringing his face down to her pussy. He looked at it for a moment, and used his hands to open the outer lips, just a little clumsily, but then he applied his lips and tongue to her clitoris.

She felt a thrill go through her. Nick had done this to her, and she knew that she liked it then, but she was pleased to realise that she liked it just as much from Richie. After a few moments, she caressed his hair.

"Mmm," she said, "you've done this before, haven't you?"

He paused to look at her. "Once or t-twice," he said, then he went back to work.

She decided that Richie had definitely got the smarts in that family. He knew what he was doing here, and seemed to like doing it. He also had patience, gently teasing her with his mouth until she eventually reached a first shuddering climax.

He looked at her again. "You o-okay?" he asked.

"Bloody hell, yes."

"Sh-shall we..."

"Yes -- I mean, yes please. There's condoms on the bedside table."

He kissed her hips and thighs quickly, and then stood up and dropped his underpants to reveal a full erection. Rebecca handed him a condom packet, and he opened it and donned the contents -- but then he leaned forward again to kiss her stomach and breasts before kneeling between her thighs. She actually moaned a little with impatience before he pushed into her...

And then he paused, for just a moment, before he began to move his hips, slowly, gently.

God, she thought, this is pretty good. She realised that her clitoris was still sensitive from his mouth-work, and he gradually eased her to a second orgasm and then -- god! -- A third. Only then did he raise himself up on his arms and increase the strength of his thrusts until she heard him gasp softly and felt him come.

He moved off her and lay down, looking at her with a smile.

"Wow," she said, "you take your time, don't you?"

"S-s-sorry..."

"No! I mean, Christ no -- it was brilliant. Sorry if I seemed to rush things at first."

"I was f-flattered," he said, and smiled again. "But shall we go have that f-f-food now?"

They sat on the sofa, sharing reheated takeaways, and she ruffled his hair. "Reckon you'll be up for another go-round a bit later?" she asked.

"I wouldn't m-mind."

"You can spend the night if you like. Mum won't mind." Well, that was a point that had never been tested -- although Rebecca's mother had been fully aware of her relationship with Graeme, and of something during her fling with Nick.

"Okay. Thanks. I'll call home."

The second time, he invited her to get on top of him, and she attempted to imitate his careful, gradual approach. Impatience got the better of her as she rode him, though, and she moaned loudly as she came. After that, however, he caressed her breasts deftly as he pushed up into her, and erupted again with a moan of his own.

As they lay together in the afterglow, she looked at his face as she dozed off. Not handsome, she decided, but okay -- and a mouth that could do what he did to her cunt could look how it liked.

In the morning, though, she woke to find herself alone, and decided that he must have slipped away home in the small hours, hopefully without disturbing her mother. Hearing sounds from the kitchen, she pulled on a robe and went downstairs.

But there she found Richie, dressed and chatting pleasantly with her mother, who looked -- thank god -- more or less charmed. In fact, Richie was -- Hell's bells! -- preparing breakfast. Well, that's a kink I never tried with Nick, she caught herself thinking.

He looked up at her as she entered. "Oh, hi," he said, "I was about to b-b-bring you this."

"Thanks," she said quietly, and sat down. "You've met, then?"

"We have," said her mother with an odd expression. Nick passed them both tea, and handed a bowl of cornflakes to Rebecca. "Excuse me a second," he said.

"Bathroom's at the top of the stairs," her mother said as he went out. Then she turned to Rebecca.

"Well," she whispered, "I would ask where you found this one, but I know his family from way back. He's not much like his brother, is he?"

"No," said Rebecca, still quiet.

"Yes, well, that's great, isn't it? I'd hang onto him if I were you. There's not many will make you breakfast. Frankly, love, there's not many will stick around for breakfast."

After breakfast, Richie and Rebecca found themselves in her room together, sitting side by side on the bed. Richie had thanked Rebecca for providing breakfast, and she had thanked him for fetching it, and then a tricky silence fell between them. Then Rebecca took a deep breath, twisted round, and kissed Richie hard on the lips.

"Thanks," he said when she let him. "That for anything in p-p-particular?" But she just kissed him again, and used her weight to bear him back onto the bed. Breaking the kiss, she ran a hand down the front of his shirt to his trousers, where she unzipped his fly and briefly put her hand inside to caress the bulge in his underpants, before completing the job of unfastening things.

"This ab-b-bout anything specific?" he asked again.

"Just taking my mother's advice," she replied, kneeling on the bed next to him to pull his trousers and underpants together down his hips. His cock came free; it was beginning to swell. "And because I really, really fancy another shag," she added.

She smiled and opened her dressing gown to reveal that she was still naked underneath. Then she ran a fingertip gently up and down the length of Richie's cock until it hardened fully, before finding a condom on the bedside table, fitting it, and straddling him.

He smiled back as she lowered herself onto him, and reached up to tease her nipples with his own fingertips. She moaned a little in the back of her throat as both of them began moving their hips in circular motions. They both came almost simultaneously after a few minutes, and then rested together for a few minutes before Rebecca lifted herself off and delicately removed and binned the condom.

"Fancy doing this again some time?" she asked, "Like, soon?".

And so Rebecca kept Richie for a while. She was worried at first about how Graeme would find out about this -- she soon decided that she probably wanted him to know, but she didn't want to hear him being vile to Richie about her -- but they managed that problem. Richie made no secret that he was having an affair with someone -- staying out all night was an obvious hint -- but he never said anything about who he was seeing, despite Graeme's attempts to suggest that he was faking things or that he was gay. Rebecca never called Richie at his family home, and Richie never addressed her by name when he was on his mobile to her and Graeme was around. Eventually, though, she and Richie were out together, arm in arm, when they walked passed Graeme in the street. She silently braced herself for some nasty remark about cast-offs or something, but Graeme was too startled to speak and Richie managed a cool smile. After that, she and Richie never really mentioned the subject, although she got the impression from him that Graeme had decided to leave the topic alone.

She and Richie didn't actually have much to talk about, it seemed to Rebecca, but Richie was sweet -- and more importantly, to be honest, the sex was great. Richie wasn't quite as clever as Nick, and he could be clumsy, but he really tried to make things good for her, and he only ever needed telling what she liked once. Sometimes she went to him in his house on the other side of the county at weekends, sometimes he came back to her place, and a couple of times they went away to little hotels in the country -- which she'd have found boring, except that they had comfortable beds, and they could strip naked and fuck like maniacs (very polite maniacs in Richie's case) so she didn't get bored at all.

But Rebecca found herself worrying as time passed, and eventually, she decided that things had gone far enough. Lying in her own bed again with Richie in the afterglow of sex, she looked at him with a wry smile.

"Hey," she said, "we've got to talk. About us."

"What about us?"

"This has been great, you know, but let's be honest -- we went out together to wind Graeme up. We don't have much in common, do we? And the sex has been good, but now..."

"The j-joke's over?" Richie smiled ruefully. "I guess that you're right -- time to leave things before we get bored."

"Yeah, I must bore you..."

"Oh, I du-dunno..." Richie reached out and fondled her breast with a cheerful smile. "I thought I must b-bore you, mostly. And don't under-der-derestimate yourself. You're a smart girl. You should do more with yourself."

"Yeah, well, I've been thinking about that... But anyway, will you be okay?"

"M-me? Sure. It's been a great few weeks, but n-n-now I've got a lot of business trips coming up... I'd just have been le-le-leaving you at a loose end." He winked at her and then rolled over onto his back. "You'll have your own l-l-life to lead. But thanks, anyway. It's been good."

****

Things fell silent at the table for the moment as the waiter cleared away the main course plates, then Gina spoke. "Okay," she acknowledged, "that was a bit of a revenge fuck too, to start with. But it sounds like you gave Richie a pretty good time, and I'm betting that you gave him some confidence."

"Okay," Rebecca allowed, "it was good, and I took him seriously -- he took me seriously, after all."

"Sounds like you're doing fine, then. Hey, does this place still do those little almond things?"

For a few minutes, the three diners were distracted by the dessert menu, but then things fell quiet again as the waiter went off with their order, and Gina turned back to Rebecca.

"So what about man number three, then?" she demanded.

Rebecca shrugged. "Oh, that was nothing..." she said.

"Hey, even I know that sex isn't ever nothing. Was he really that bad?"

"No... Okay, if it'll stop you pestering... It was after I'd applied to go to the college -- they invited me in for a bit of a chat -- an informal interview, you know? -- and they suggested that I take a look around the place on my own when that was done. Have lunch in the canteen, stuff like that. Anyway, it was out of term time, but there were still a few people around. Then, while I was eating, one guy sat down near me and started talking to me -- though his English wasn't that good. Turned out that he was an Italian student, over here on some kind of short course..."

****

Rebecca had bought a salad and a soft drink from the counter, and looked down at them as she decided that she was being chatted up -- or at least, that the Italian guy was trying to chat her up. He had a bit of charm, but it didn't come through the language barrier half as well as a probably thought.

At first, she was a little annoyed. She'd thought that she'd mastered the art of huddling down and avoiding attention, but it seemed that this wasn't working now. Perhaps the new hairstyle and clothes were something to do with that? On the other hand, well, she could find this flattering.

Although she told herself not to get too vain. He probably wants to pull an English girl so that he'll have something to boast about to his mates back home, she thought -- and in that case, any local girl would doubtless have done. On the other hand, when she looked at him -- Marcello, he was called -- she had to admit that he was quite cute-looking, in a Mediterranean sort of way. Watch it, she reminded herself, you used to think that Graeme looked nice -- and if she was right about his motives, this one wasn't much better than Graeme.

On the other hand -- well, perhaps he was just away from home and looking for a, what were the words, an innocent flirtation. Anyhow, it would be rude to a visitor to treat him like dirt just for talking to her, even if he was trying a bit hard. Perhaps it was just how Italians were.