Fur Coat No Knickers (7 page)

‘Actually
… on second thoughts, maybe I
would
play with a cow’s udder,’ I added deviously, slamming on the flirtation switch.

‘Sure that’s grand news
, so it is!’ slobbered the revolting yokel, looking delighted. ‘Can you cooke? I’m a meat and two veg man meself, so I am.’

‘
Ah! You’re
so
funny!’ I laughed, deliberately too loud. ‘Me, cook? I can’t cook for toffee!’ I said, giving him a playful shove; knocking the featherweight slightly off-balance.

‘Oh
, I’m
so
sorry!’ I gasped, grabbing him by the arm. Actually, I wasn't. I took the opportunity to see if the hunk in the corner was still watching. He was.

‘Ah, never mind su
re, you’re me dream woman, so ye are,’ said the yokel, steadying himself, shuffling his way closer and closer until I had to take a step back. ‘I likes a bit of rough and tumble me self, sure I do.’

He just didn’t seem to get it that I really didn’t care for his
‘meat and two veg’. I wanted the gorgeous ride’s meat and two veg - that was far more appetising.

‘Can I
catch you for a dance later?’ leered the indefatigable yokel.

Ah, see
mum and dad had very strict views on this. They brought us girls up to know that if ever a man had plucked up the courage to ask us to dance, we were never to say no. They had really drummed it in. So, of course, my answer was ‘yes’. However, I drew comfort in my traditional get-out clause – my would-be dance partner would have to try and find me first.

‘I’ll be back later for that dance
,’ I grinned, turning to dart away. He picked up my hand and slobbered a kiss on it. Yuck! Smiling through gritted teeth, I worked my way back to the real men.

Shite! I couldn’t see him. He had completely disappeared. I didn’t want
it to appear that I was looking for him - so, disappointed, I sloped over to Laura. She was on her third pint of Carlsberg already. I could never comprehend how she was able to drink beer at the same rate as men and still remain upright at the end of the night. She seemed to be having a ball too and was flirting outrageously with a very handsome six-foot-tall, broad, blonde Adonis. She was in her element. The Adonis pulled her out to dance and I was left alone with the other players, feeling a little vulnerable. Lovely as the rugby boys were, I couldn’t help but try and find
my
ride from earlier... Nothing.
That bloody farmer!
My heart sank. Giving up hope, I threw back my vodka and Coke, swallowing it down in one.

Then
, suddenly all six-foot plus of
my
hunk emerged from the darkness, striding directly towards me. My heart rate accelerated instantly and my instincts were screaming:
pout, pout, and look cool! Don't look at him, Tara!
I just couldn’t help but gawk;
he was just so god-damn sexy.

For a few seconds, I felt as though my legs had been cut off beneath
me, as I stood paralysed in awe. He was so incredibly, mind-blowingly gorgeous. My stomach flipped over as our eyes locked. I tried to look away but, quite simply, I was mesmerized. I managed to pull myself out of my stupor for long enough to check out his left hand to make sure there was no Mrs. Beautiful - there wasn’t. After that I was completely lost again.

‘Are you okay?’
he asked, in a slow, sexy voice, ‘your friend said you fell over.’

‘I’m fine
, thank you,’ I purred (even though I was seething inside with Laura).
The bitch! Why the hell did she have to go tell him
that
? Sometimes she stoops lower than a centipedes arse!

‘I haven’t seen you around here before
,’ he continued in an English accent. I was completely thrown. I had just presumed he would be Irish. I guess he must have been equally surprised with my own English accent.

‘Can I buy you and your friend a drink?’ he asked.

‘Err, that’s no
friend
of mine,’ I answered, trying to keep the mood casual, even though I was still raging with her. ‘That’s my
much
older, big-mouthed sister.’ I couldn’t help myself adding, with a mischievous grin; ‘we call her ‘Lickarse Laura’.

‘What’s the pair of you drinking?’
he laughed.
Oh, great, now I’d have to ask for a pint for my boozy sister.
I always felt so embarrassed that she drank pints; it was so unfeminine.

‘Er
r, I’d say she’ll have a small glass of Carlsberg and may I have a vodka and cock… Err, I mean
Coke
, please.’

Oh my God… did I really just ask him for some cock? Oh God.
I was cringing with embarrassment; I just prayed that he hadn't heard me. He came back a few moments later with a huge tray of drinks and handed me my vodka and Coke, smirking.

‘I’ll see what I can do about getting you that cock later
,’ he added with a wink.

Shite!
My face was crimson again.

Trying to ignore his comment and steady my breathing, I changed the subject:

‘Oh, err, that’s a rather big glass for a lady,’ I stammered, desperately hoping the flame red of my cheeks would disappear.  

‘Well, I could
n’t help but notice you earlier, and that your sister was drinking out of a pint glass… don’t worry,’ he continued with a gentle smile after seeing my cringed face, ‘it is very acceptable for ladies to drink pints in Ireland.’

I involuntarily laughed as he swept away my anxieties in one foul swoop. Our eyes
locked for a moment, unfaltering.

‘
By the way, my name is Travis.’

‘
Travis
… that’s a cool name,’ I blurted. ‘Mine’s Tara. Tara Ryan. Nice to meet you. Where are you from?’

‘Manchester
,’ he replied, proudly.

Hmmm,
a northern ride
, I thought, suddenly developing a thing for northern men. I then explained that I too lived in England and was just over visiting my lunatic family for Christmas.

We
quickly became engrossed in deep conversation. I wanted to know every single detail about him and just couldn’t get enough of hearing him talk. It turned out he’d had a very successful career playing rugby for England and had toured all over the world. In his mid-thirties, he retired from playing professionally and was then headhunted to become a fitness coach for Dublin for the coming season. He was now living between the two countries, but flew home to see his parents as often as he could. He shared digs with other players in Dublin, but planned eventually to move to Ireland on a permanent basis.
Really?
I thought, slightly disappointed at the latter part of his conversation. I would soon put a stop to that!

By now
, the bar was rocking and packed to full capacity. The dance floor was overflowing with the giant-sized rugby team taking up most of the space. I kept hearing rowdy shrieks of laughter coming from them all. Glancing over at Laura, I could see she was in the thick of the dancing crowd, trying to teach them salsa.

Travis and I smiled indulgently at them and then
swiftly continued getting to know each other. Despite the noise and wild atmosphere, it really was as though we were in our own personal little bubble. I was oblivious to everything else around us.

I liked him. I liked him a lot and I was certainly getting some high definition flirty signals from him.
It took me a little while to ask him the question I really, really, wanted to know the answer to.

‘Are you single?’ I asked, my heart hammering in my chest.

‘I am now,’ he replied, very seriously, while looking deep into my eyes.  

‘Me too
,’ I added, trying to remain composed while screaming inside with delight. With that, we both leaned forward and our lips touched. He wrapped his arm around my waist forcing me to fall into him. From that moment, something shifted inside me. I felt my emotional floodgates open and the warm embrace of love race through my body. So, this was it. This was the feeling I had heard others talk about. My life had merely been a rehearsal up to this point. This was the man of my dreams, here, in the flesh, with me. I felt like I had been taken to another place, as our tongues gently began to entwine. Everything was happening in slow motion. All the background noise had completely disappeared now. We were in deep embrace, kissing slowly, long and tenderly. My lady-garden’s sprinklers were now beginning to activate themselves.

We both pulled back, looking at each other. Everything was in real-time again and all the noise flooded back. Travis, not taking his eyes off me, tenderly
raised my hands and kissed them delicately.

‘Was it as g
ood for you as it was for me?’ he asked with a cheeky smile.

Dumbfounded, I was unable to utter anything.
Phew
was the best I could manage, as I collected myself and licked my lips.
Delicious.

‘Hey Tara, this is Dougie
,’ Laura panted breathlessly after her energetic salsa moves. ‘He’s the greatest dancer!’

‘Lovely to mee
t you, Tara. I see you have more than met our Travis,’ he said with a sloppy grin.

Laura then dragged Dougie off by his shirt collar to
the outside terrace for a smoke. Still high from my love rush and with my head in the clouds, I hadn’t noticed that the band had finished and the bar had started emptying. Holding hands, Travis and I followed the crowds outside. I couldn’t help but think about my flight home back to England in the morning. I had been in Dublin for the best part of four days and now there was something worth staying for, I had to leave. Typical!

‘I would really like to get to know you more Tara. Much more.’ Travis stated domineeringly
, as he romantically swung me around to face him.

Phwarr.
The sheer manliness of him. My lady-garden went into yet another spasm and I couldn’t help but wonder what he was like in the bedroom department. I really wouldn't object to him tackling me, at all.

‘I would really like that too.’ I added, completely away with the fairies. I could hardly help myself
– now, I was actually trying to visualize the size of his tackle.

Sensing my momentary distraction, Travis pulled me closer. We kissed again
, wrapping our arms around each other.

‘Get a load of
them
!’ shouted Dougie.

‘For the love of God
!’ jeered one of the team.

‘Sweet Jesus
…’ bellowed Laura, ‘get a room!’

We simply couldn’t leave each other alone
, and I for one, was already aching at the thought of leaving him.

‘Come on then
, gorgeous,’ he slid out his phone from the back pocket of his tight Levi’s. ‘Let’s have your digits. There’s no way I’m letting you go back to England without me knowing how to get hold of you.’

Being drunk on adrenaline, nerves and vodka meant
I had to repeat my number several times before I got it right.

‘Put in the English code
!’ I added, desperate to get this part of the evening just right. I wasn’t going to lose sight of this man now. It was a real pain I didn’t have my own phone with me so I could get
his
number. I hadn’t even thought of taking it out with me. After all, it was just something else that I had to carry. Lip-gloss and perfume were always my first priority.

Dougie, who continued to rib Travis about being in love, took off his ring and gave it to Travis.

‘G’wan n' marry her now!’ he slurred, laughing lecherously.

We all laughed in our drunken state as another one of the team members pulled up a flower from the
garden, put it in his hair (soil and all) and announced in a gravelly voice that he was to be bridesmaid. Dougie offered to be the priest and Laura, laughing, took a role reversal and was best ‘man’. We all roared with laughter and began a pretend wedding ceremony. Travis whispered that he wished it was real and scooped me up in his arms. Then, before I knew what was going on, I was being shoehorned into a taxi. Apparently, the party was to continue back at Dougie’s house.

I don't remember much of the journey, as our tongues were doing most of the talking. I was just elated t
hat my night with Travis hadn’t ended yet.

We arrived at Dougie’s house and all headed for more beer in the kitchen. Six of the players had arrived back at the house too. Travis made it very clear he wanted us to be alone, but
there was no way I was going upstairs, as drunk as I was. As much as I wanted to rip his clothes off and feel those muscles, there was no way I was going to fall over with my legs in the air. Well, not yet anyway.

I checked that Laura was okay
, but as ever, when drunk she was as happy as a pig in shit; especially when surrounded by gorgeous men and bountiful amounts of booze.