Butter Wouldn't Melt by Penny Birch Read Free Book Online Page B

knew that, but she’d be cross. I’d get punished, and not with a spanking, but with something both dirty and humiliating, one of her specials, which came in infinite variety and could be very hard to take. Instead, I told myself I was safe just so long as I was in the wine bar and there were lots of people around me, so when one o’clock came and I should have gone back I stayed, accepting yet more champagne, which was a mistake. Everybody had bought a bottle now, except me. I couldn’t afford it, and they knew that.
    â€˜Whose round is it?’ Andy queried, as if he didn’t know.
    â€˜Pippa’s,’ Den answered, and I found myself digging in my bag to see if I could scrape together enough for a half bottle of the house champagne, only for Mark to come to the rescue, and to take his chance.
    His arm had come around my shoulders as he spoke.
    â€˜Give the poor girl a break, you mean bastard. How’s she supposed to buy a bottle in here on what old Montague’s paying her?’
    â€˜A round’s a round,’ Andy pointed out.
    â€˜Yeah,’ Den agreed, his voice slurred with drink, ‘but I’m a fair guy. If she doesn’t want to pay up, she can put out instead. How about it, doll?’
    I couldn’t speak, red-faced and open-mouthed in outrage, but both Mark and Steve quickly jumped to my defence, calling Den a prat and a jerk. Mark’s arm pulled tighter around my shoulders.
    â€˜Look, it’s OK,’ I finally managed. ‘I think I’ve got enough for a small bottle . . .’
    â€˜No, that’s not necessary,’ Steve insisted. ‘The next one’s on me. Come on guys, give the poor girl a chance.’
    It was impossible not to feel relief, also protected by the strength of Mark’s arm and the warmth of his body. He’d been right to give himself low odds as well, because while he might have been a lizard he knew far more about how to appeal to a woman than either Den or Andy, whose attitude was just plain creepy.
    â€˜Get a life, Steve, I was only joking,’ Den insisted, but I knew he hadn’t been.
    Andy gave a nasty little snigger before he spoke in turn.
    â€˜Yeah, you can take a joke, can’t you, Pippa?’
    â€˜Yes, of course,’ I answered, but this time I allowed my voice to stay cold, a perfectly reasonable response.
    My head was beginning to spin, but I swallowed what was left in the glass and accepted another when Steve brought back his bottle. I knew I had to stay,but now the danger was different, and worse, that Steve or Mark would come up to my room and play on my sympathy and the state I was in to seduce me. Before long I’d be down on my knees with a penis in my mouth, saying thank you in the best way I could, a thought which again sent a thrill through me, sharper than before.
    Again I pushed it down, but now with a weird sense of panic which I’d last known in the back of a car while watching my friend Sophie suck a man off through the open window. It had been frightening and exciting all at once, bearable only because the doors were firmly locked and my friends were there. I’d even gone as far as to pull up my top to show him my breasts, and there was no denying that I’d felt the urge to take his thick, dark erection in my own mouth. Fortunately my aunt had turned up before anything more could happen, which in a turn had led to my virgin spanking, an experience of such perfect ecstasy . . .
    â€˜Pippa? Earth to Pippa,’ Steve’s voice broke in, and I found myself mumbling embarrassed apologies as he went on.
    â€˜I was saying, once you’ve finished with that stuff you’re doing for Maggie, why don’t you join me on a visit to a client. It would be good experience for you.’
    â€˜Yes, thank you, I’d appreciate that,’ I answered, truthfully. ‘But what about Maggie?’
    â€˜You can ask her,’ Den