and her hands now gliding across his chest and back as he responded fiercely to his kiss.
When they finally parted, Tina was breathing heavily.
'I thought you'd been killed too,' she told him, gripping his right hand tightly.
She sat down on the bed beside him, shrugging off her coat.
Carter saw that she was wearing only a thin sweater and a leather skirt. Her hair was freshly washed. She smelled as if she'd just stepped out of a shower. He touched her cheek with his free hand and she kissed his fingers as he traced a pattern over her lips.
'How did you get in?' he asked, glancing at the clock. 'It's nearly three in the morning.'
'I sat in the car outside the train entrance,' she told him.
'There was only one porter on duty. It was just a matter of waiting.'
He smiled.
'For what?'
'Everyone has to pee eventually,' she informed him. 'I sneaked in then. I knew you'd be in this room, Frank always uses the best facilities for his men if they're injured.'
'Where is he now?' asked Carter, anxiously.
'He went back to his own place about midnight. I told him I'd be OK on my own.' She leant forward and kissed him again, quickly. 'I was so worried about you. I had to see you. I'm sorry, Ray.'
'We'll both be sorry if Frank finds out. We'll end up propping up a flyover somewhere,' Carter told her sardonically.
'I'll go if you want me to,' she said, getting to her feet.
Carter held her hand and pulled her back down beside him pulling her close, feeling her breasts pressing against his chest as they kissed. He allowed one hand to slide beneath her sweater, reaching higher until it closed over one unfettered mound. He rubbed gently, feeling the hardness of her nipple against his palm. She sighed and reached for his growing erection, encircling it in her hand, coaxing his stiffness. She pushed him back on the bed, slipping free of his hands to lay beside him. She kissed his chest, nipping the flesh between her teeth, sliding lower until her tongue flicked at the bulbous head of his penis.
'No,' gasped Carter, somewhat reluctantly. He sat up. 'Not here. Not now.'
She didn't speak but merely sat on the edge of the bed with her back to him.
'How much longer have we got to go on like this?' she asked. When she turned to face him he saw tears in her eyes. One solitary, salty droplet ran down her cheek. Carter leant forward and kissed it away.
'Meeting in secret, both of us frightened of what we say in case we give ourselves away,' she persisted. 'It's been like this for six months now. The odd night together if we're lucky but always looking over our shoulders. Looking for Frank.'
'That's the way it's got to be, Tina,' said Carter quietly. 'We have to be careful, both of us.'
'I hate the way things are,' she said wearily, clutching at his hand. 'But I know you're right. To a certain extent we both need Frank. Without him I'd have nothing ...'
Carter interrupted her.
'That's bullshit,' he snapped. 'We don't need him. He doesn't own us.'
'But we can't just walk out on him can we?' she said challengingly. 'He'd kill us.'
'Then we'll take that chance,' he said and pulled her to him, gripping her by the back of the neck, feeling her hair on his powerful hand. She responded fiercely, her hands once more drawn to his erection. This time he didn't stop her; instead he allowed her to rub his shaft gently while he lifted her sweater and bent forward. His lips fastened around one of her hardened nipples and she lay back, across the bed. Her own hands now left his penis as she undid the zip of her skirt and wriggled out of it, pushing the expensive leather to the floor.
Carter slipped off his pyjama bottoms and stood naked before her for a second before dropping slowly to his knees.
He gripped each of her ankles and parted her legs further, nuzzling the silky gusset of her panties, his tongue lapping at the edges of the material before squirming inside the loose elastic.
She lifted her legs and snaked them around his shoulders,