Karen Fitzroy couldn't have felt more proud as she and her husband Con walked past the array of press photographers into the swanky West End hotel. They were there to celebrate Blackport Athletics' biggest triumph since Con's playing days, winning the UEFA Federation Cup, having beaten some of Europe's best clubs on the way. Not only had their son, 22-year old Richie, established himself as a regular member of the first team, he'd actually scored the winning goal.
In the reception area a beaming young woman took their coats, and as they entered the ballroom, low lit with a glitter ball casting a strobe effect around the room, both were handed large glasses of champagne. Karen's eyes sparkled as she glanced around, spotting the famous players of the team and their glamorous WAGs, their grizzled Serbian manager, for once not looking like a bear with a bad migraine, and a few other parents, although only three of the first team were British and, Karen thought with a glow of pride, Richie was the only one Blackport born and bred. He saw his parents arrive and came over to give them both a big hug.
As Con drifted off straight to the free bar, Karen circulated among her fellow guests, swiping more champagne from the circulating waiting staff as she went. She was well known within the Latics circle, and with her 1980s-big auburn hair, her prominent bust (thanks these days to a reliable push-up bra) and standing five-feet-ten tall barefoot she really stood out in her three-inch high heels and glittery black trouser suit which sparkled as it reflected the various spotlights around the room.
Over the next hour or so Karen nibbled from the buffet but mostly quaffed champers as she made her way around the individual players congratulating them and giving each a peck on the cheek. The last one she approached was their blond star and captain, the 27-year old Estonian Mikko Sepp, valued at an estimated £90 million on a bad day. With a reputation as a slightly aloof figure, even among his teammates, he was standing slightly off to the side of the congregation, watching them with a small, perhaps condescending, smile of amusement, no wife or girlfriend apparent. A little tipsy by this point, Karen tottered over to him on her high heels, said "Onitlussed sulle", proud of herself for having especially learned an Estonian term of congratulations, and was gratified by his warm and genuine smile. She placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned down slightly to kiss him on the cheek. At the last moment he turned his head slightly so that Karen's sloppy kiss landed not on his cheek but smack on his lips, and at the same moment a jolt of electricity shot through her as Mikko's hand slipped between her legs and gave her crotch a firm squeeze. Then, with a wink, he moved off.
Karen was so stunned she momentarily braced herself against the wall. She wasn't sure whether to feel outraged, flattered or titillated by the young man's brashness. She glanced around quickly but nobody seemed to have noticed what had happened. Still a little dazed, Karen weaved her way over to the buffet table and took a slice of apple pie, thinking she had maybe sober herself up a bit and wondering whether it really had happened or she had imagined it. There was nothing imaginary though about the cloying dampness she felt in her panties.
As she turned back to the party Karen's eyes sought out Mikko. From the other side of the large room his big blue eyes were locked on hers. Perplexed by his apparent interest in her, Karen circulated the edge of the crowd, but Mikko always remained across the room to her, and it seemed as if his eyes never left her. Surely, she thought, he'd just been playing with her and couldn't really be interested. At 52 she's retained most of the good looks that had taken her to second place in the Miss UK contest back in 1991, although her jowls were now a little puffy with fat. Her figure was still pretty good, her slight paunch not showing through her clothes. Even so, one of the most glamorous men in English football, barely half her age, who could have any gorgeous young woman he wanted, fancying her? Bloody ridiculous.
The next time she looked towards Mikko he was standing by a door leading from the room. Catching her eye again he gave the slightest flick of his head then opened and stepped through it. For a moment Karen wondered if she'd imagined the gesture, but she was sure she hadn't. She glanced around the room -- Con was over at the bar with his old teammates from the 1998 double-winning team, and nobody else seemed to be paying much attention to her. Before she realised she was doing it, she was making her way across the room to that door. She told herself she was merely intrigued, that nothing unexpected was going to happen, but even as she thought it she felt her nipples stiffening and her belly flip-flopping nervously.