Hanna Ch 06 09

Chapter 6

Declarations and Dinner

The curtains had closed and the lights above gradually brightened just a little, then I was given several minutes to compose myself and return to reality before Hanna came back into the room. 'Now you know a little of what we can do Mac.' she said softly. 'I hope you enjoyed the performance, we try to tailor these things to what we believe our clients will like. I trust we succeeded in your case.'

'In every possible way Hanna.' I replied, pulling the robe more tightly around myself.

'Good, now, let me offer you another drink, I'm sure you are more than ready for one. And at the same time we can talk a little more.' she said, moving towards the cabinet on the far side of the room.

Having poured us both a drink we sat and talked, at first about the 'show' as she referred to it, and my reactions to it. 'As I told you, the more we know about a person's deepest, sometimes subconscious thoughts, the better we can perform for them. So anything you wish to tell me at any time will be beneficial, for both of us.' she added with a cheeky smile.

'I must congratulate you, and the people that helped you of course.' I said. 'The way you captured and recreated the first scene was truly brilliant. It was as though you had been inside my head and read my memories. Everything was exactly right, even down to the tree branches around the window. And of course the girls, the women, were spectacular.'

'And they truly enjoy doing what they do Mac, I don't use prostitutes of course, all my people do what they do because they love it. But of course they do share in the financial rewards too.'

'I should hope so. But where do you find them?'

'Ah, I know you'll understand if I just say that's a trade secret Mac.' she answered with a knowing smile.

'Of course, but be sure to pass on my sincere compliments, especially to the young woman who took such very good care of me.'

'I'll do that with pleasure, but you could pass on your compliments in person if you wanted to. I know that particular woman would be very happy to share a bed with you, if you would like that.'

'I don't think that will be necessary Hanna. I would much prefer to spend a little time talking with you, if I may.'

'Really, conversation rather than stimulation?'

'Hanna, I find your company more stimulating than anything that woman, attractive and skilful as she is, could possibly do for me.'

Her skin was so white and her make-up so light that she couldn't hide the faint flush of colour my words brought to her cheeks. 'That's nice to hear Mac, but I should tell you that when Gerry takes a fancy to a man, as she told me she did to you, I have heard that she gives a truly memorable performance. I don't believe my conversation could possibly be compared with that.'

'Let me be the judge of that Hanna. You must remember that I was drawn to you after just seeing a not so very good photograph in a newspaper. Since then, even though you have kept them most professional, the meetings and conversations we have had have only strengthened those initial feelings. I have to tell you that many of both my dreaming and waking hours during the last two weeks have been filled with images and thoughts of you.'

She said nothing for so long that her silence worried me. Even more so because until I heard myself saying it I'd had no intention of saying what I had. The outburst had been completely out of character for me. A man who had played mind games with some of the best negotiators in the business had blurted out his deepest feelings to someone he hardly knew, and to someone whom he had previously given the keys to his financial ruin.

While she remained silent her eyes were busy, staring deep into mine, her gaze flicking back and forth from one to the other, as though searching for some sort of additional information. After what seemed an eternity, but which was probably no more than the longest minute of my life, she said. 'Would you like to stay for something to eat Mac? I can have something brought up to us and that would give us more time to talk.'

'I can think of nothing I would like more Hanna.'

'Really?' she said, arching her eye-brows and giving me a cheeky grin. 'I very much doubt that, but I'll choose to believe you. You go and have a quick shower and get dressed, while I call down to the kitchen.'

I did as she suggested and in spite of the draining orgasm I'd just experienced was amazed to find that like some teen-age boy preparing for his first date I was trembling with rapidly re-building nervous excitement. My heart was beating wildly, my fingers refused to deal with buttons, I couldn't get the knot in my tie to stay in place, and my hair seemed to refuse to do what it normally did. It was ridiculous! But the sense of excitement was also exhilarating.

But if I had expected her to somehow signal we might be entering a new area of personal exploration together I would have been disappointed. When I returned she was sitting on one of the lounges, occasionally taking a small, absentminded sip from her glass as she stared into space. She was so deep in thought she obviously didn't hear me return and it was only when I went to sit down opposite that she suddenly looked up.

'Ah, Mac!' she said as though surprised to see me. 'I'm sorry, I was miles away, our meal will not be long now, just time to finish your drink.' she added, passing me the glass I had left behind. Then, completely ignoring the remarks I had made just a few minutes before, she said.

'Now, while we have this extra time together we have an opportunity to talk about how we can refine what we do for you, see what additions or changes might make what we do more realistic, more exciting for you.'

But I wasn't going to be side-tracked quite that easily and, taking a calculated risk, replied. 'Hanna, the only thing I can think of that would make it any better would be if you were personally involved, I mean in more that just the planning.'

'I take that as a compliment, but I think it's being a little mischievous of you.' she replied somewhat cautiously.

'I assure you it's not meant as either, even before I said what I did earlier, you must have suspected how I had started to feel about you.'

'Oh I could tell you were attracted to me, but then that's not unusual.'

'I imagine so, I imagine many of your clients offer to, shall we say, sweeten the pot, if you take part in their 'show'. But I don't think what I am experiencing is anything quite as shallow as that.'

'Really?'

'Really. After all, we have much in common. Neither of us was born in this country, and the French are very adept at reminding us of that fact. Politely of course. We both have a similar love of music. We have both made whatever money we have from our own efforts. And if I am not mistaken, we both have more than our fair share of enthusiastic sexual energy.

And that's without even considering how we might, given the opportunity, find we could feel about each other at another, more personal, more emotional level.' I added.

'All right, I'll be as honest as I believe your are being with me. Yes I find you attractive, very attractive.' she added with a grin. 'I felt drawn to you that first evening, when I only had time for a quick glimpse of you, in the bar. Of course I already knew something about you, hearing of your enquiries about me sparked my usual suspicions. We have to be extremely cautious you understand. So I had a couple of my people check you out. You have managed to impress many people, and made very few enemies Mac, that in itself is quite an accomplishment.' she added with a more conspiratorial smile.

'So, having seen the face in the flesh, so to speak, I made a few more enquiries, then decided to arrange to bump into you. To tell the truth I can't be absolutely sure as to whether it was the professional me, or the woman who made that decision. The rest you know.' she added, then took a sip from her glass before continuing.

'When I first started the Foundation I made a rule that I would not, ever, allow my personal life to become entangled with what I do and the people I meet through its activities. I had men of course, but always made sure they and whatever we did together were totally separated from what I did with the Foundation. Like many people, so far as I am concerned business and pleasure must not mix.' she said firmly.

'Well I ...' I interjected, but fell silent when she stopped me.

'No, please wait, let me finish. For the first few years there were no real problems, but as the Foundation grew, became more demanding of my time, something had to give. The man I was with at the time made it clear that he was not satisfied with the rapidly shrinking amount of time we could have together. And he was right, I was being totally unfair to him, I had to make the decision.

I did, I decided the Foundation was more important.' She took another, longer sip of her drink and that time I remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

'That was three years ago now, since then I have to all intents and purposes been celibate.'

The statement amazed me, and it obviously showed. She smiled. 'Yes, odd isn't it, in this day and age of free-wheeling sex, but I assure you it's true. But all I can say is that in the last ten years the Foundation has grown from one woman's somewhat bizarre idea into an organisation that has provided several million dollars for the support of new music and musicians. But that has been at a cost to me.

However, it has also developed into what I think of as a fraternity. Whilst I am still seen by those that know what we do as the figure-head, and I do also get involved in much of the creative side of our private activities, it no longer needs me to do everything. There are others who can and do take on many of the roles I used to have to do alone.

I suppose what I am trying to say, in a very round-about sort of way, is that I could now start to take time out for my personal life. Not that I would want to stop being involved with the Foundation altogether.' she added quickly.

'And no man who respected you, or your achievements would want you to do that Hanna.' I said reassuringly.

'So although we have met the way we have, let us take a little time to get to know each other. If we find we have more in common than mere initial attraction, who knows. Can you understand what I mean, and more importantly, could you handle that sort of situation Mac?'

'Yes, and with no trouble at all.' I immediately replied confidently.

'Good, then let's ignore what has happened during the last hour or so, and get to know each other over dinner, like any other couple who have met through more normal social circumstances.'

I grinned and said. 'I'm not at all sure I can easily ignore what has just happened to me, but I'll certainly go along with the latter part of what you said.'

She laughed, that deep-throated laugh that had made my hair curl the first time I heard it. 'Fair enough, and I'll admit that there was a time there when I was tempted to join in what was happening. You are built very impressively Mac.' she added in an under-tone.

'You were watching?'

'Someone has to, to ensure nothing goes wrong you understand. As it was you I didn't want anyone else doing that. I'm not sure why. But I hope you are not too offended.'

'Not at all, and yes I do understand. You liked what you saw?'

'Mmm.' she answered almost shyly, then gave another of those laughs and added. 'Perhaps my celibacy has gone on for too long.'

'Perhaps I arrived at just the right time.' I responded with a grin.

'Perhaps you have.' she answered, and just then, as though on cue, her front door bell rang. 'Ah, our meal.' she said in an almost relieved tone as she got up and went across the room.

As I should have anticipated, her kitchen provided close to five star service. There was a delicious asparagus based soup with cracklingly fresh rolls, then very rare, thinly sliced roast beef with duchesse potatoes and a range of lightly steamed vegetables, followed by a fresh fruit compote and cheese platter. And an excellent Merlot both complimented the food and helped our conversation along.

I really don't remember exactly what we talked about, I know we exchanged potted and probably heavily censored life histories. I discovered the rumours of her links with royalty were a little exaggerated, but that she did have links with both Czech and Romanian nobility from one of her grandparents, along with a mix of Polish and Ukrainian blood from another.

There had been sufficient money to give her an excellent education but little more than that, and once out of university she was on her own. Her love of music had drawn her into a public relations job with one of the big orchestras but the incessant political machinations had proved too much to continue a long-term career in that area.

Although she loved the classical repertoire she had always found contemporary music exciting, and before leaving her full-time job had begun trying to raise funds for a small, relatively unknown group specialising in that genre. And it was whilst trying to come up with ways of doing so that she first had the idea of the Foundation.

It was many months, and there had been numerous dead-ends before she succeeded in getting half a dozen like-minded people together who were prepared to give her ideas a trial run. And in the first full year there had been several extremely embarrassing failures. However, with determination, and a slowly growing number of hand-picked people the Foundation took shape, then once established, very quickly prospered.

She made no mention of whether or not she had actively participated in fulfilling the early client's fantasies and I certainly didn't pry, what had happened years ago to either of us was by then of no concern. But in addition to raising funds for music and musicians her contacts had, over time, given her several opportunities to invest and make money, which she had done both wisely and successfully.

Having given her a similarly truncated version of my own life to that point we began exchanging anecdotes about events from our past. Although I thought hers were significantly more humorous than mine, I was able to make her laugh at some of the scrapes I had got myself into and by the time the bottle was almost empty we both had tears streaming down our cheeks.

'I don't remember when I last enjoyed a meal as much as I have this one Hanna, thank you.' I said, when there was finally a few moments silence.

'Nor I Mac, it seems we have a similar sense of humour.'

'And that's important if two people are to become close to each other.'

'I wonder ...' she said pensively, then without completing the sentence, pushed herself away from the table. 'I don't know about you Mac, but I think it's time to see just how close we might become. Don't you?'

'Most definitely.' I replied as I started to also get up.

'No wait, I need a little time in the bath-room, finish your wine.' she said, gently pushing me down again. My rooms are at the end of that corridor, finish your wine and then I'll see you in a few minutes.' She added, then bent and kissed me lightly on the lips before hurrying away.

Chapter 7

Hanna

I did as she suggested, taking my time in finishing the last of the wine before heading for the bath-room myself. Having taken a piss I took off my jacket and tie to wash my face and hands, then carried them down the corridor towards the light streaming from a partly opened door.

It was obviously her private sitting-room, there was none of the formality of the area we had been in, this room, though still functional was essentially feminine. There were photographs and several paintings on the walls, vases of flowers and trinkets scattered here and there, everything somehow testifying to the gender of the occupant. I stood there for a few moments, as though trying to learn something more about her from the things around me, then noticed another door-way, also slightly ajar, so I went towards it and pushed it open.

There was only one small lamp on in that room but as it was supplemented by the light from the sitting-room, as my eyes adjusted there was more than enough to see her, sitting on the edge of a very large bed.

Like me, she had removed her jacket but was otherwise still fully dressed and the light reflecting off the dark orange colour of her silk shirt gave her face a soft warmth. Her hands were resting lightly on her knees as she looked up at me and I could tell from the expression on her face that a shyly nervous young woman had replaced the maturely confident one with whom I had spent the previous hour or two.

I went down on my haunches and gently took her hands in mine. 'Hanna, you are the most adorable woman I have met for a very long time. You have also been denying yourself one of the basic pleasures of life for an equally long time. I would like very much to give you just a little of what you have been missing. It would be my pleasure to give you pleasure. Do you understand?'

Her fingers tightened around mine and she nodded. 'Well then, just trust me.' I said, pushing myself up and lifting her with me.

I took her in my arms and we kissed. At first quite hesitantly, our lips merely brushing against each other's, but then with gradually increasing confidence. And as we continued kissing I let my hands roam up and down her back, one moving down over her waist and buttocks, the other up to her neck and shoulders. Moving slowly, undemandingly, just lightly caressing her.

Although her lips returned my kisses initially the rest of her body remained quite still, neither resisting nor responding to my touch. But in time I felt her pressing herself lightly against me, then more firmly, then finally felt her arms tightening around me, pulling me closer still.

A minute or two later I eased back a little and slid both hands up to cup her face. 'You are a truly lovely woman in every way Hanna.' I whispered, then kissed her eyes, her ear, then the tender flesh at the side of her neck, then pausing to add. 'I want so much to see, and to kiss every part of you. May I do that?'

She said nothing, but smiled and nodded, so I began to slowly undo the buttons down the front of her shirt, trailing butterfly kisses over her as I worked my way lower.

Underneath the shirt I found a daintily lacy bra in the same shade of dark orange as the shirt. 'You'll find I like to be colour co-ordinated whenever possible.' she said softly as she reached up behind herself to unclip it.

'Very chic, and very, very beautiful.' I replied, staring down at the way the twin globes of creamy white flesh strained at the delicate lace-work until my clumsy fingers reached the end of the line of buttons and I tugged the shirt up out of her skirt.

But beautiful as that sight was it was nothing when compared with what I saw when she slipped off her shirt and bra. Her naked breasts were even more lovely than I had imagined, their firm, silky smooth curves seemed to me to be the perfect exemplar of feminine beauty. Even though not as large as many others I had enjoyed, they were so perfect that for a while I did nothing but stare at them. Enhancing their shape was the fact they were set just close enough that their fullness created a natural cleavage. Hanna would certainly never need to wear a push-up, or indeed any sort of bra. And, contrasting with the milky whiteness of the surrounding flesh and tipping the upward arcing curves, were dark cherry red nipples that made me moisten my lips in anticipation.

I felt my hands and fingers tingling at just the thought of touching, holding them. 'It's a crime to hide so much beauty Hanna.' I murmured softly, bending to lightly kiss one already stiffening peak before lifting my hands and adding. 'I'll warn you now that I'm not going to rush this.'