The Good Neighbour

"Thank you so much, I appreciate what you did," says the twenty-something young woman to her saviour. "I'm Amy, by the way."

"Rick, and don't mention it." A little older and a lot taller the personable guy sharing the lift shrugs self-deprecatingly.

"Some other residents in this block get annoyed when my granny wanders, it's great you brought her home. I could kiss you."

"I won't stop you."

"It was a figure of speech," Amy is visibly flustered, "I meant it affectionately."

"I'll take that," he replies encouragingly.

Acting wholly out of character, she rises on tiptoes, kisses his cheek and favours him with a heart-warming smile. Time stops, the tension is palpable. Throwing caution to the winds Amy leans in closer and kisses him again, this time on the lips.

"Am I completely misreading this," he ventures cautiously, "or are we having a moment?"

"Not sure what we're having, just that it feels good." With perfect bad timing the lift reaches the ground floor and the doors open.

"I didn't want that kiss to stop," says Rick.

"Me neither," Amy looks at him apologetically. "Sorry, got to rush to the pharmacy and pick up Gran's meds," she adds and is gone.

Rick understands her haste, aware that Amy looks after her increasingly frail and forgetful granny, frequently visiting the apartment block where he and the elderly woman live; a devoted granddaughter with little time left for herself. On a couple of occasions, he's helped Amy carry in shopping bags and today returned the confused old lady to her care, having fortunately intercepted her attempt to leave the building clad only in nightwear.

What just happened there? Amy wonders walking down the road minutes later, futilely attempting to slow her heart rate. We only kissed, although I'd like it to be a whole lot more. She imagines being held in Rick's arms and then taken to bed. Shakes her head to dispel the unlikely fantasy. I mean, quite apart from these shapeless dungarees and the pounds put on lately while cooking for Gran, I wasn't sylph-like in the first place, he's not likely to fancy me. A fit guy like Rick is way out of my league, probably just being polite. For a few minutes though it had felt wonderful, human contact, a sense of possibility. Forget it, not going to happen.

Wow, thinks Rick, on his way to work, that girl certainly knows how to kiss. A rare genuinely spur-of-the-moment encounter, although to be honest over recent weeks he's become conscious of a growing physical attraction. The pretty face, those sparkling green eyes. Something else too, nothing immediately obvious, perhaps an unfulfilled sexuality? He's never seen her wearing anything but unflattering workaday clothes and wonders how her curvy body might feel close to him.

Amy can't seem to get Rick out of her head. What's not to like? She isn't the only woman locally to give him a second glance. Clearly a kind person, helps without being asked and went the extra mile today to save Gran from an accident or worse. Seems to live alone and work away a lot - at what she's no idea. That's all she knows, except, strangely, Amy's noticed him check her out a couple of times, she hopes favourably.

Three days later they cross paths again, inevitably in the lift.

"We can't keep meeting like this," Amy laughs, "what are the chances?"

"Pretty high, I've been standing here since Thursday hoping to bump into you," Rick jokes. Her heart skips a beat.

"I'm going to ignore the frankly stalky implication and take that as a very weird compliment," Amy tries to keep the exchange light.

"Good, that was my intention, oh, here we're here." They both step out on the ground floor.

"That kiss the other day?" Rick raises a quizzical eyebrow.

"Yes..." She blushes at the recall.

"I'd like to finish it properly."

"When?" To her embarrassment, Amy's voice rises an octave.

"Anytime in the next 10 seconds," Rick, cups her face and kisses Amy like he means it. She responds passionately, desperate to feel his lips on hers, not caring who might see, uninhibited and going for broke. When they finally step apart from the intoxicating embrace both are breathless and excited.

"An improvement on our last encounter," Rick observes, "yet somehow this corridor lacks ambience, want to come to mine?"

"Yes!" An invitation that doesn't take any time to consider. Rick takes her hand, Amy inwardly glowing at this small intimacy, and leads her through his front door.

Okay, good first impression, a clean, bright, comfortable flat, not some bachelor hell hole of fake-leather furniture and unwashed dishes. Amy is relieved and impressed.

"Very nice."

"Me, or the decor?"

"Both." Amy spontaneously snogs him and is enveloped in Rick's arms, that dream at least has come true. Feels the hard-wired male reaction of an erection stir against her leg. So, Rick does find her desirable...

An observation confirmed when he undoes the dungaree's shoulder straps - when in her life, Amy wonders distractedly, did they become default attire? - and slips his hands under her T-shirt to caress prominent breasts. At least I've got decent knickers on, thinks Amy. During the last few days, her greying everyday underwear has been consigned to recycling and replaced by seldom-worn, sexier items from the back of a drawer. Ready for anything. Sparks of desire, charged with unspoken expectation and longing arc between them, physically and mentally drawing the two closer.

"A confession," he murmurs, surfacing from another kiss.

"You're saving yourself for marriage, not that sort of boy, just sobered up?"

"All the above. No, just that I've secretly fancied you for ages."

"Me, seriously?" Amy can't hide her surprise.

"You," Rick confirms, gently squeezing her boobs and sending a delicious shiver of sensation through her body. He rolls Amy's erect nipples between his fingertips, and she moans softly, craving his touch, arousal tingling between her legs.

"Why?"

"Basic physical attraction, also your intellect."

"Why do you think I'm clever?"

"The MA certificate in pride of place on your granny's mantlepiece, I noticed it when helping you with the shopping.

"Ah, that." Amy got a good degree, was offered an enviable job and had a rosy future before caring for Gran temporarily derailed her life. Now she dares to dream it's taking a turn for the better. Taking the initiative, her hands unfasten his belt.

"This is all getting a bit one-sided mister, and these trousers seem to be tight on you. Oh, wow." A very erect penis springs out. Amy cups his balls and encircles Rick's shaft with cool hands.

"You like?"

"I do like," she confirms.

"Well, you've seen mine, now I get to see yours." He tugs the overalls down to expose Amy's naked breasts and curvy body, her most intimate yet-to-be-revealed treasure concealed by dainty blue panties. Rick slides a hand between her legs. She moans and kisses him again. When they break, he brings dewy fingers up to her mouth and she lewdly sucks them.

"Someone is getting wet."

"Hardly surprising." A thrill of arousal, more intense than she's ever experienced, courses through her trembling body. "I want you inside me," Amy says, shocked at her boldness and all but drags Rick to the bedroom where, to her delight, her knickers are removed and thighs reverently parted. No longer in the land of wishful thinking, this is really happening to me, thinks Amy, scarcely able to comprehend the speed of events. Rick's fingertips lightly glide over the silky texture of her inner thighs to delve between delicate folds. His tongue plays havoc with her clit and Amy lies back, blissfully transported to an erotic seventh heaven.

Reluctantly, Amy places a hand on Rick's head to halt his expert oral attentions. "Steady tiger, I need your cock inside me before I come." Rick slides up the bed and she raises her knees to ease his entry as inch by inch he slides into her, a slow and gentle first fuck. Amy gazes intently into Rick's eyes, moving with him, feels her climax inexorably build and instinctively guesses he is also close. Pussy contracting around his lovely cock, Amy gasps and shudders as he ejaculates. "Oh God, I'm going to come too," she moans, orgasm releasing a flood of pent-up lust.

Dazed and amazed at their sexual intensity they collapse on the bed. Amy considers her new lover carefully, lowers her eyelids and asks seductively. "Please sir, may I have some more?"

"Well..." Rick looks at his flaccid penis.

"I'm sure I can revive you," replies Amy and within seconds his cock hardens in her hot mouth as she sucks his erection back to life. "Prepare for a second coming," she giggles, "do me from behind." She turns around, gets on all fours and lewdly presents her delectable derriere.

"Bad girl," observes Rick and slaps her left buttock, unable to resist the temptation. The pale skin immediately pinkens.

"Stick around and you'll discover just how much that gets me going," she purrs.

Does she like spanking? Amy certainly enjoys the abstract idea as it plays out in her fantasies; the prospect of her complicit surrender is intensely erotic. Rick has shown he can be considerate, can he also act authoritatively? Right now, she has a more immediate need.

Taking her at her word, Rick enters Amy's kneeling form doggy style and settles into an insistent rhythm of long, measured strokes, manoeuvring Amy's hips to adjust the angle and increase the pressure on her clit, deftly locating the sweet spot.

"Oh, Christ," Amy presses a pillow to her face to stifle her cries as they increase in volume; knees giving way she falls forward. Without missing a beat, Rick straddles her thighs and continues.

"I'm all yours, fuck me!" Rick plunges his cock into Amy's velvet slot a final time. "Yes, yes, yes!" she cries, overwhelmed. "Don't stop." Her wish is his command. Warm jets flood her pussy, leaking onto her thighs. Rick holds Amy close until her body, trembling with orgasmic aftershocks, stills. "Thank you," she whispers, dreamy and endorphin satiated.

A perfect moment, followed by an unavoidable hiatus. Rick departs on a month-long tour of Europe, trucking equipment for a famous band. The lovers message daily on WhatsApp and gradually reveal their backstories.

How her creative talent provided an escape from a chaotic background, until the failing health of her beloved gran - the most important person throughout Amy's childhood - scuppered her career plans. Why Rick was cast as the familial black sheep after turning his back on a high-level career for a life behind the wheel. Unexpectedly, two weeks into Rick's trip, Amy's house share folds and there are no affordable options close to her granny, whose one-bed flat is too small for two.

"Move into my flat," texts Rick immediately. "No sense in the place being empty, and it'll be great to come home to you." Is Amy imagining it or is this relationship getting serious?

Music tour completed, Rick arrives home; opens the front door and stops dead, blinking in astonishment. Amy is a woman transformed, wearing a curve-clinging, low-neck dress.

"Who are you and what have you done with Amy?"

She smiles radiantly at his reaction and pulls Rick into a fervent lipstick-smudging embrace. Amy somehow seems taller; he looks down, ah, heels, another innovation.

"Welcome home darling," each word imbued with sensual promise.

"I'll say, is this new outfit for my benefit?"

"Mainly mine, but kind of nice if you like it too. Truthfully, I wasn't sure I could carry it off."

"Tick that box," responds Rick appreciatively.

"Not too cheesy then? It's been a long time since I bought anything new. I wouldn't wear these shoes to walk down the high street, but they do make my legs look longer. Fun to flash a little cleavage, too." The wolfish look on Rick's face leaves Amy in no doubt as to the outfit's enticing effect

She's cooked dinner and bought wine; they, eat, drink and talk.

"Get off with anyone on the road?" ventures Amy, half-seriously. Rick senses his reply to this outwardly innocent question may prompt a longer conversation.

"No chance," he replies truthfully, "it's a totally different job from how people imagine and sadly not a roll-and-roll lifestyle. Late finishes, early starts, strictly no dope or booze. How about you? Not an issue of course, I mean, we're not exclusive," he adds hastily. This from the guy who gave me the keys to his apartment thinks Amy. I'd best be honest and upfront.

"Once, which leads me to an admission," Amy catches sight of Rick's crestfallen expression. "Don't fret, it was strictly a one-nighter. The hook-up was with a woman. I didn't go seeking it, she asked and feeling lonely I said yes. Makes no difference to my wanting to be with you."

"You didn't mention any of that in our online chats," Rick says, grumpily, yet with an audible sigh of relief.

"I wanted to say it face to face, but should you decide it's bad behaviour and deserves punishment, I'm happy to plead guilty," replies Amy, provocatively. Whoa, Rick didn't expect that. This is turning into quite the homecoming.

Offering no resistance when Rick pulls her gently over his lap, Amy gives a sharp intake of breath as he lifts her dress and bares her lovely bottom.

"So naughty," she whispers, peering over her shoulder, already flushed with arousal. Carefully, since he correctly guesses it's her first time, Rick spanks her pale orbs until they're pink. Allowing frequent respites to stroke and soothe Amy's hot cheeks and insinuating his hand between her thighs to finger fuck her wet pussy. Held firmly in place, she writhes libidinously.

"You're enjoying this way too much," he observes, pleased that she's taken to spanking so readily.

"Such a turn-on," she sighs, "but now I need you to take me properly." Sliding from his lap, Amy straddles him and cheekily lowers herself onto the erection that Rick has freed from his jeans. "Oh, yes please," she says eagerly, impaled deliciously on his hard member, hands on his shoulders and riding Rick cowgirl style. Amy leans closer, "I can feel your cock throbbing inside me," she groans, eyes half-closed. "Is it good for you too?"

"Wonderful, your pussy is so tight in this position," gasps Rick, "and let's not forget these," he adds, freeing her sensitive boobs.

"Christ that alone is enough to make me lose it," Amy gasps as he works each erect nipple. She bucks faster on his shaft.

"In a hurry?" smiles Rick, adjusting his pace to match hers.

A series of incoherent whimpers is his only answer and sensing she's very close to coming he intensifies the pace. Amy cries out, fingers digging into his shoulders as orgasmic waves course through her body. Watching her come so euphorically tips Rick over the edge and they lay together, basking in the afterglow,

Six months later Gran dies peacefully at home and to the chagrin of her useless, grasping family, Amy inherits her flat.

"How is the new bloke?" Carol, one of Amy's monthly book group members, asks as they wrap up proceedings.

"Not so recent, almost a year together. Meeting me tonight in fact, that's him over there." Carol looks over as a handsome guy returns Amy's wave. Stares open-mouthed far longer than is polite and nudges Sue, another of the group.

"My God," exclaims the latter, "you are joking, right Amy?"

"About what?"

"That's your boyfriend."

"Sure, Rick, I told you."

"You and Richard Winford are an item?"

"Who's Richard Winford?" Amy appears bemused.

"Scion of the Winford supermarket dynasty. Hello! The place where we all buy our weekly groceries. Used to be a tabloid newspaper favourite back in the day, always clubbing with some model or other on his arm. Worked for the family business, suddenly chucked it in and disappeared overnight."

Amy stares at them, seemingly so shocked she can't continue the conversation. Abruptly heads for the door, grabs a startled Rick and rapidly departs into the night, Quick on the uptake, he realises the problem.

"Guess I'm busted, huh?"

"Why didn't you tell me!" A flash of anger from Amy.

"Embarrassed by my former self, to be honest. Sounds arrogant but I was surprised you didn't recognise me. Then I discovered you don't do social media and understood why."

"What happens now?" Amy asks pointedly.

"Nothing, except I'm going to end the long trips away. I miss you too much. I told my boss, James, just one more tour."

"Does he mind?"

"Not really, we were at school together, I think our friendship will survive."

"Private school?"

"Progressive school, but, yes, fee-paying. And since we're being upfront, I own half of the company."

"Honesty appreciated," Amy doesn't bat an eyelid at this disclosure. "However, you haven't answered my question: Why the big secret about who you are? Am I being road-tested? A stop gap until someone better appears. WTF!"

"I knew you were the one right from the start," replies Rick, trying to rescue the situation, " I thought if you found out about my history you'd run a mile."

"You think I'm that judgemental?" Amy raises her voice. "We're good together, stop trying to sabotage it." Angrily she drums her fists on Rick's chest until he grabs her wrists and pulls her close.

"I'm sorry," he says, "I don't want to lose you."

They tumble into Rick's flat, trailing discarded clothes over the floor in their haste to have ardent and abandoned make-up sex, first on the kitchen table, then the bed.

"You're mine, always," Amy gasps as they come together.

"You have to admit the sex is good," Rick observes wryly when they eventually regain their composure.

"The sex is very good," agrees Amy. "But no more secrets, although I have one...."

"What?" asks Rick, drowsily

"I stopped my oral contraception. Doctor's advice, wreaking havoc with my hormones - looks like it's condoms from now on. Don't worry, I can take a morning-after pill, I meant to tell you earlier before things got out of hand."

"Or you could not take it...."

"You mean... us... together?" Amy can scarcely believe what Rick has just implied.

"Absolutely."

A trimester passes; the curve of her pregnant belly becomes apparent. A few weeks back, in their new spirit of openness, Rick had tentatively owned up to nurturing a fantasy.

"Anything for you. What is it?" As ever, Amy proved open to suggestions. Rick leant in and whispered sweet somethings in her ear. She grinned conspiratorially. "You're on."

Today she rolls onto her side and parts her bottom cleft. Lying directly behind, Rick nudges the tip of his erect member against her liberally lubed rosebud. He's already bought Amy to orgasm with his tongue and fingers, and she now makes a conscious effort to relax as he insistently presses against her anal cherry. With a brief twinge of discomfort, the head of his cock enters; more easily than on the first two occasions, practice makes perfect. If Rick thinks this is exclusively his wish, fine, although the idea has long featured in Amy's darker fantasies. There is something thrillingly transgressive about being fucked in this way.

A surge of excitement flows through her entire body as Rick's cock pulses insistently inside her, just two or three inches is enough. Amy quivers at the intensity, one hand fingering her pussy, the other squeezing her tits as Rick's girth fills her arse, Captured and captivated they come together.

Amy convinced everyone that she hadn't recognised Rick when they first met. This romanticised version of events is the story people want to believe; the truth remains her secret.