Alex & Beth

He washed, brushed his teeth and built up the courage to go back into the bedroom. Beth had changed into a long t-shirt and judging from how prominently he could see her nipples she wasn't wearing a bra. His cock twitched as a vision of of him sucking on those nipples flashed before his eyes.

'Tag,' Beth said, holding out a hand and walking to the bathroom.

'Tag,' he replied. She squeezed past as she tagged his hand.

Beth's clothes her piped on top of her suitcase in the corner, including her bra on top. His curiosity got the better of him and he quietly slipped over to peak at the label, 36C, a good size that he longed to caress. Instantly ashamed of himself at this invasion of privacy Alex slinked back around to his side of the bed.

At home he would have slept naked but that wasn't happening tonight. His boxers were hardly much protection but it seemed the proper thing to do. He quickly changed and and slipped under the covers. The bed was comfortable, if a little softer than he was used to, and he was soon able to get the pillows in a good position.

Presently Beth returned from the bathroom and slipped into bed herself. After an awkward moment or two she rolled onto her side to look at him.

'Thank you for all of this,' she said. 'I know I shouldn't have lied but I couldn't help it. Everyone else in my family are successful in work, life and love. I'm none of those things so just once I wanted there to be one less thing for them to lord over me. I should just embrace the failure that I am and live with the consequences.'

'You aren't a failure,' Alex reassured her. 'You are an amazing caring woman. The only reason you don't have a real boyfriend here is because you haven't met one good enough for you yet. Life isn't all about money and flash cars. Why be with some loaded twat if you aren't happy? You'll find the right person.'

Beth smiled but there was sadness in her eyes. 'What about you. Aren't you looking for someone?'

'oh I'm not sure I'm ready for anything like that,' he said. 'I can't imagine anyone would be interested in some nerd in his 30s that already has grey hairs.'

'I think it makes you look distinguished,' she said. 'Very sophisticated.'

'Sure but not sexy, I don't think anyone has ever looked at me and gone wow he's hot,' Alex laughed. 'And that's including when I had a girlfriend. You won't have faced that problem.'

'What do you mean?'

'Well you are hot as hell,' he said. Strangely confident to keep talking. 'I thought it from the moment I saw you on your first day at work. Now here is a lady who is a cut above the rest. Then I discovered that not only are you beautiful you are smart, funny and caring. A hell of a package. I can't imagine many guys are worthy of you.'

He wanted to kiss her again. To reach out and touch her but he didn't dare. She wouldn't want someone like him and he couldn't deal with the rejection, not now.

'You're wrong, I'm not any of those things,' she said, rolling back and turning out her lamp. 'It's late, we need to be up early in the morning.'

-

Sleep did not come easily to Alex, his mind was awash with thoughts and fears. The light sound of Beth's breathing did help him relax and eventually he did drift off. It had been a long time since he'd slept in the same bed as someone else. So it was not the most restful night's sleep, he kept waking and drifting off again throughout the night. At one point he discovered Beth snuggled in close to him and that he had instinctively put an arm around her. He left it there, not wanting to disturb her by moving it.

It was a pleasant feeling though, to have someone close, their warm bodies together. He drifted back off to sleep with a smile on his face.

The chirping of an alarm woke Alex properly. He was alone in bed, the memory of Beth close to him was strong but was it really a memory or a dream? There was no sign of her but the sound of running water from the bathroom suggested she was showering.

Waiting his turn Alex checked his phone. Unsurprisingly he didn't have any messages so instead he just browsed the news, nothing particularly interesting was happening in the world.

After a little while Beth emerged from the shower, wrapped in a towel.

'Morning,' she said. 'Did you sleep well?'

'Yeah,' he said, trying not to dwell on the notion that this beautiful woman was stood in front of him wearing only a towel. 'It's a nice bed. When is kick off this morning?'

'The ceremony starts at 10,' Beth said, sitting on the edge of the bed and using another towel to dry her hair. 'We've got a couple of hours yet, I want to get breakfast so hurry up and get in that shower. It's really strong, practically had me pressed up against the tiles it's so powerful.'

'Good, I like it nice and strong,' he said as visions of a naked Beth pressed against a wall flashed before his eyes.

By the time he was done in the shower, which was indeed powerful, Beth was dressed and waiting for him. She was still in casual mode, just jeans and t-shirt, as there was no need to dress up for breakfast.

'I'm so glad I wasn't invited to any of the pre-wedding rubbish,' she said, politely turning her back so that Alex could dress in relative privacy. 'I really couldn't stand hanging around making a fuss of Florence while she gets her hair done and puts her dress on.'

'I know a lot of siblings don't get along but it seems somewhat more between you two,' Alex commented. 'Any I need to know about, as your boyfriend that is?'

'I don't know, I guess we're just really different people,' she said. 'Flo has always been desperate to be the centre of attention and I'm not, she doesn't understand that. She thinks I'm too judgemental. I'm not, I love her because she's my sister I just don't like her much. Get what I mean?'

'Sort of,' Alex replied. He had a similar relationship with his own sister though it seemed somewhat less antagonistic. 'Well I'm ready shall we breakfast?'

As with everything else about the hotel the restaurant was over the top but beautiful in its own way. They took a table in the corner and a waiter took their orders, both stumping for full english breakfasts.

'Can't beat a good bit of greasy food to line your stomach before a lot of drinking,' Beth said with a smile. 'I'll apologise in advance, I suspect I'll need to drink a fair bit to get through today.'

Alex laughed. 'If we have many more run ins with your mother I might have to join you.'

'She's such an old witch,' Beth said. 'It still surprises me that she even had children. Not that she gave us much thought once we were born, a series of nannies and boarding school took care of that.'

Alex was beginning to understand this dysfunctional family a bit more now.

When there food came they ate slowly, in not great rush, and Beth pointed out various members of her extended family who were also having breakfast. There were also a number of old school friends, most of which she wanted to avoid.

'I'm surprised she invited that lot,' Beth said as a group of four blokes arrived.

'Why?' Alex asked.

'Would you invite four ex-boyfriends to your wedding?' Beth said. 'Though to be fair, boyfriends might be too strong of a word. Flo dated them all briefly and allegedly fucked them all at a particularly wild party, though I never found out if that was true or not.'

'Yeah, I probably wouldn't have invited them,' Alex said. 'Though I've never been involved in a gangbang so I wouldn't know how awkward it was afterwards.'

'Depends on the people I guess,' Beth said. Her reply tacitly impling that perhaps she had. 'Still weird to see them here. I'm definitely glad you are here now. They'd probably try it on with me if they knew I was single. Last time I rejected them they ended up with Flo, hope that doesn't happen again.'

'Then I shall be your white knight to protect you from the gang bang bros,' he said as she laughed.

'They'd love that name no doubt,' she said. 'I should start getting ready. We don't want to be late.'

'OK, I'll wait here a bit and finish my tea,' Alex said then lowered his voice. 'Give you a chance to change in peace.'

'Maybe I like putting on a show,' she said with a twinkle in her eye. She laughed upon seeing him get flustered. 'Well it's generally more fun when things come off.' She leant in and kissed him on the cheek. 'Thank you, give me fifteen minutes or so then I'll be decent...ish.'

Alex sighed as she left. Beth really was a remarkable woman, he wished he could read her better. One moment she seemed flirty and then distant. For now he contented himself with enjoying his breakfast tea and the views out over Lake Windermere.

'Was that Beth Mackenzie with you earlier?' asked one of the gang bang bros. Alex hadn't even seen him approach.

'Oh yes, it was,' he said. 'How can I help?'

'Damn, she is looking hot, sorry, I'm Tarquin, I went to school with her,' Tarquin said. 'Who are you?'

'Alex, I'm Beth's boyfriend,' Alex said, noting the flicker of disappointment in Tarquin's eyes. 'Pleasure to met you.'

'Same, same,' Tarquin said. 'You're a lucky man. Everyone wanted to get into Beth's knickers at school but she always played hard to get. Don't think anyone was lucky enough to claim her prize, and it certainly wasn't from lack of trying I tell you. I had to make do with Flo in the end.'

'You really are a prick,' Alex said, unable to stop himself. 'Beth is not some prize for you crow about conquering. Hell no woman deserves that. How pathetic are you?'

'How dare you, don't you know who I am?' Tarquin bristled.

'No, I don't,' Alex said flatly. 'I've never heard of you and frankly I was happier not knowing you. Now I'm sure you aren't going to try anything stupid. I'm just here for a wedding and I'm sure it's going to go smoothly. You don't want to get on the wrong side of Mrs Mackenzie now do you?'

Alex got up and left his table, leaving the speechless Tarquin in his wake. That probably wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done but it made him feel better.

While not entirely sure how much time had passed since Beth left he guessed it was long enough and decided to go back to the room. He passed Mrs Mackenzie in the lobby, wishing her a polite good morning, but was ignored. He shook his head and carried on.

Reaching the room Alex knocked on the door and announced himself before entering. It was only polite.

'Good timing,' Beth said as he came in. 'Can you do up my zip?'

Beth was stood in front of the mirror. She was wearing a knee length deep red floral dress that was partly zipped up. Between her shoulder blades and the nape of her neck were exposed. A slight chill went up Alex's spine, he had always found that part of the body sexy for some reason and Beth's was incredibly sexy. He approached and gently touch the dress, it was made of a floaty chiffon that moved at the lightest touch. Slowly he zipped the dress up and heroicly resisted the urge to kiss the back of Beth's neck as he did so.

'Thank you,' she said, turning and giving the dress a little twirl. 'It's easy for blokes, all you need to one suit for all occasions.'

'I would like to point out that I've actually got two suits,' Alex said as he removed his suit from it's carry bag. 'Now admittedly only one of them actually fits, but I do have two.'

'Let me guess, one of them is too small now,' Beth said putting in some earrings.

'No, it's too big actually. I used to be fatter,' Alex said, changing into the suit as quickly as he could. 'At the rate I'm going I'll probably fit into it again soon. Office work does not agree with my waistline.'

'Sounds like you need to work out more,' Beth said.

'I'm too self conscious to go to the gym alone,' he said. 'I always feel slightly embarrassed. I guess I would need a work out buddy who doesn't mind getting hot and sweaty with me.' Beth cocked and eyebrow at him. 'That's not what I mean.'

'You can come to the gym with me if you like,' she offered. 'I'm not some super gym bunny but I don't mind teaching you a few tricks.'

'I'd be grateful,' he said. It didn't need to be said that she would undoubtedly be super hot in a gym kit, it would be worth the exercise just for that. 'I need someone to help me get a grip on things, teach me all the best positions.'

Beth smirked. 'If you are quite finished. We'd best get going. We don't want to be accused of being late. Oh come here,' She noticed him faffing with his tie. Grabbing the end she pulled him closer and helped him adjust the knot. 'There, much better. You almost look presentable.'

'Thank you,' he replied, swallowing hard.

Beth picked up a tight fitting leather jacket to go with her outfit. Once Alex had his jacket on they headed off.

-

The wedding ceremony itself was long and tedious, clearly Florence and her husband to be wanted to get their money's worth. Alex took one look at the guy and agreed with Beth that he was a twat. Much like Tarquin earlier there was a smug air around him and this was probably the furthest north he'd ever been in his life.

Florence, on the other hand, looked like a younger Beth, if Beth spent all her time and effort to have a perfect Instagram face at all times. Seriously Florence had this strange unearthly look as though she had a filter on her actual face. Alex found it really distracting. The dress was good but for the wrong reasons. It was pretty much cleavage and arse and not much else, definitely not sophisticated in anyway but certainly making a statement.

Alex spent the ceremony whispering jokes into Beth's ear and trying to make her laugh. He mostly got away with it since they were sat right at the back, only once did Mrs Mackenzie throw a dirty look in their direction.

After the ceremony there was a brief respite as the photographs were organised. Apparently no one had told the photographer that Beth was a persona non grata and kept trying to include her in family photos. Florence and Mrs Mackenzie tolerated her presence in a couple but that was it. To Beth's relief after that she and Alex were relegated to friends of the family group shots.

'Do you think it's too early to start drinking?' Beth asked as another group were shepherd past for a photo.

'Sun isn't quite over the yardarm yet,' Alex said. 'Won't be long though. Glad we had a big breakfast I'm getting hungry.'

'Typical man, always thinking with your stomach,' Beth said.

'I thought men were supposed to think with something else,' Alex said.

'Oh I'm quite sure you are,' Beth said dryly. 'There is plenty of flesh on display today. It's like a bloody cattle market. Quite a few of my old classmates without their partners. I'm sure once the booze starts flowing there will be a few illicit hookups today. Reliving the good old days.'

'Sounds like you went to a very horny school,' Alex commented.

'It was a mixed sex boarding school in the middle of the Lake District,' she said. 'A whole load of horny teenagers locked up for months on end. What do you think was going to happen?'

'Fair point, makes my comprehensive school sound quite tame though,' Alex laughed.

'I'm sure you had plenty of conquests in your time,' Beth said.

'Why do people keep calling having sex conquests? It's a disgusting saying,' Alex said quickly. 'And no, I didn't. I'm a nerd now, do you really think I was anything different as a teenager? I could barely talk to girls.'

'Well you've got better at that with age,' she said. 'You know all the right things to say to me.'

'Do I?' he laughed, taking her hand and kissing it. 'Well it's easy with a beautiful woman like you. I can relax when I'm with you.'

'See what I mean, a real charmer,' she said. 'Keep talking like that and you never know what might happen.'

-

The day wore on and gave way to the afternoon meal. There were a barrage of speeches, gift giving and toasts. Alex and Beth were seated on the embarrassing relatives table away in a corner, amongst the mad aunts and uncles that couldn't be trusted. As soon as the bar opened Alex got both himself and Beth drinks, he felt they had earned them. The first drinks went down quickly but Alex and the waiting staff made sure they were well stocked. Alex could already feel himself getting tipsy as he wasn't used to drinking so much. It was worth it though. The booze was loosening his inhibitions and he could be more confidently flirt around Beth, which she seemed to respond well too.

As Beth excused herself to go to the bathroom after the meal was eaten Alex asked the lady next to him, Aunt Brenda, a question. 'So why does everyone give Beth a hard time about weddings?'

Aunt Brenda snorted. 'This bloody family is so vindictive. It happened twenty years ago at my second wedding. I was marrying this younger man, it was a whirlwind romance but I was very much in love with him. Little Beth though, only 9 years old, took exception to him. Declaring loudly during the ceremony that we shouldn't be married. It caused quite the stir because she wouldn't let it lie.'

'What happened?'

'She got sent to her room and everyone harped on about her ruining it,' said Aunt Brenda. 'At the time I thought so too. However two months later I discovered the love of my life trying to steal my savings. The money grubbing bastard. Beth saw through him from the first. I thanked her after the divorce and apologised for my behaviour. No one else did though. All too hung up about the embarrassment rather than the fact that she was right.'

'This is an odd family,' Alex observed.

'You don't know the half of it my lad,' Aunt Brenda said. 'They've all got skeletons.'

'Whose got skeletons?' Beth asked, returning to the table.

'The Mackenzies,' Aunt Brenda said. 'Alex was just asking why they don't trust you at weddings.'

'Two bloody decades ago,' Beth said hotly, swigging more prosecco from her glass. 'You'd have thought they would give it a rest by now.'

Beth lent her head on Alex's shoulder and he stroked her knee gently.

'You two are such a lovely couple,' Aunt Brenda said. 'It's good to see you happy Beth. You deserve a bit of happiness. I can tell you two are meant for each other. Not like Flo and this Bret. That marriage won't last.'

'Thank you Aunt Brenda, I am happy,' Beth said, taking Alex's hand and giving it a squeeze before kissing him gently.

Aunt Brenda laugh. 'Get a room you two.'

'Well we do have one of those,' Alex said supping at this pint of cider and giving Beth a look. Perhaps it was the booze but he was feeling rather bold.

'If you kids will excuse me I think it's time I went and had a word with my niece,' Aunt Brenda said standing up. 'I don't know whose idea it was for her to get a boob-job but they deserve a slap.'

'Boob-job?' Alex asked, momentarily distracted.

'Yeah at the beginning of the year Flo's boobs were a C cup like me,' Beth said, draining her glass and refilling it from the bottle on the table. 'Now they've got to be an E or maybe even an F. It's fucking obscene, she looks like some blow up sex doll.'

'No one needs boobs that big,' Alex said. The cider was going down well... 'Now your boobs, if I may be so bold, are amazing. They look just the right size to me and a lot of fun to play with.'

'You think so do you?' Beth said, using her arms to push her breasts together and create an even more impressive cleavage. From Alex's vantage point he could see everything. 'Like what you see?' Before he could speak though she placed a hand on his thigh and slowly edged it up to his crotch. It didn't take long for her fingers to brush against his erect penis through the fabric. 'I'll take that as a yes.'

Beth lent in and kissed him. A proper kiss full of passion. After what felt like an eternity they broke off.

'God you are amazing,' Alex said breathlessly. He could stare into her beautiful eyes forever, especially since right now they were full of lust.