Sandra A Taste of Paradise

Disclaimer: New tricks belongs to the BBC, Miquelle De Martinez is mine, but I don't really want him... Do you think Aunty Beeb would swap him for Rob?

Rating; M.

Pairing; Whoja Think! ;-D

Note; In the last chapter, I got the time difference wrong. The Caribean is 6 hours behind, not in front, Whoops. Sorry, fixed for this chapter.

/

Sandra couldn't remember ever feeling this good, she was laying face down on her towel, the sand warm beneath her body, sunlight filtering through the coconut palms, warming her back. She had spent the morning swimming in a crystal clear lagoon, a place so beautiful it seemed to have come straight from a bounty advert. It was everything she had been dreaming of the past few weeks as she had endured the rain of the British summer. The only thing different from the pictures in the brochure which she had been gazing at in the run up to her holiday was the presence of the man swimming in the sea, not ten metres from her. At the lagoon, they had swam together, revelling in the freedom of the anonimity of their surroundings, and had eventually emerged from the water long enough to find a secluded spot where they could make out like a couple of teenagers.

She looked at the mobile lying next to her. It was Rob's, which he had told her to use as it was set up for international calls. She had been building up the courage to make this call for nearly an hour. It wasn't going to be easy, and she had hoped to have a few more days of heaven before having to face the real world. Eventually she plucked up the courage and dialled the number which was imprinted in her memory. The phone rang a few times before a familiar voice answered.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Esther. It's Sandra. Is Brian there?"

"Oh, Sandra. Of course, I'll call him... 'BRIAN PHONE!'... Jack and Gerry are here too. They all came over for tea. How's the holiday? Are you having a nice time?"

"Fabulous. Thanks, have they said anything?" She asked, her voice went up an octave with nerves.

"You mean about meeting your boss over there. They have been wondering. Quite a coincidence, but at least you have a friendly face to enjoy your holiday with." Sandra could almost hear the smile in the other woman's voice.

"Who is it?" She heard the familiar voice in the background.

"Sandra's on the phone." She heard the muffled noises of the handset changing hands. She sat up on the towel, watching the man in the sea.

"Sandra. What's going on?" Brian came straight to the point. Sandra sighed.

"Hey Brian. Look, I know you probably have some questions, but first I need your help. There is a Portugese national living on the Island called Miquelle De Martinez. I need you to see if you can get any background on him."

"Why? What's up?"

"It's a long story."

"Ok, I'll see what I can find and call you back."

"Use Robert's phone. It's set up for use abroad. If you call mine it'll end up costing me a fortune." She closed her eyes and waited for the response.

"Robert! Since when has he been Robert. When we called this morning, we sort of got the impression that the two of you were in the same room. What's going on?"

"This Miquelle character made us feel uncomfortable, he works at the hotel I was staying at. Rob asked me to share his apartment to get away from him."

"So you're sharing an apartment? Is that all?"

"Brian..."

"I mean, are you just sharing living accomodation and going your seperate ways, or have you been seeing a lot of him?"

She watched as the man in question emerged from the surf. His pale green shorts clinging to him in a way which left nothing to the imagination. She smiled mischieviously.

"I've seen plenty." She murmured.

"Eh?"

"Oh, I've been seeing quite a lot of him." She replied, as he sat down on the towel next to her. He gave her a peck on the cheek and mouthed 'who?' . She covered the phone.

"Brian." She whispered. He nodded. She pressed the speaker button.

"What do you mean?" The northern accent asked. Sandra sighed. There was no point in procrastinating, her boys were probably imagining allsorts anyway.

"Brian. How can I put this. I met him unexpectedly on the beach an hour after I landed, we had dinner and got chatting. We've been together ever since."

"What, even at night?" The yorkshire tilt went up an octave. Sandra looked at Rob, he smiled and nodded.

"Yes. We've been sleeping together." It was blunt and to the point, and didn't nearly explain what they had, but it was all she could think of. She waited for a response.

"Oh!" Was all she got. She waited for a moment.

"Brian? Are you still there?" She asked nervously. "Brian?"

"I'm still here. You just took me by surprise. Look, I'll get that search started and call you later." With that the line went dead. Sandra folded her arms around herself. Despite the warmth of the sun, she suddenly felt cold.

Robert watched as she started to cry softly, he knew how much her 'boys' meant to her. He also knew how much they disliked him. He shifted so he was sat behind her, and pulled her into his embrace, she turned and put her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder, he held her tightly, trying to give any sort of comfort.

"Tell me what I can do." He whispered, kissing the top of her head. She shook her head slightly and tightened her grip on him. Robert felt his heart break, he felt so helpless. "I'm sorry, I never wanted to hurt you." Sandra raised her face to his.

"It's not your fault, never think that. It's just that things have changed so quickly. There is so much going around in my head. I had hoped we could face them together when we got home, but with all these miles between us, I can't see their eyes, read their faces. I don't know what they are thinking, and I hate it. They've become so much a part of my life, I don't want them to think I'm..." She couldn't find the right words, Robert smiled and finished for her.

"Consorting with the enemy?"

"Well, Yes. I mean, I know that's probably how they see it. I want them to see what I've seen over the last twenty four hours. But that's not possible at this distance. I don't know what to do. I wish I hadn't told them now." She sighed sadly. He leaned down and kissed her softly.

"Whatever you want me to do, I will do. If you want me to hold you tight and be your shield, I'll do that. If you need me to give you some room to think, I can keep my distance. But don't ask me to stop loving you because that's one thing I just can't do. And I don't regret what has happened, not one little bit. They will come round, you know they will. They love you too much to stay angry at you. You knows, maybe by the time we get back on Saturday, they will have had time to calm down."

"Brian said he would call back with any information he can find on Miquelle." She said softly.

"Well, that's good. Maybe he'll have a chance to think things through before he calls back. Why don't we get a shower and get dressed. There is a seafood restaurant in the harbour. We'll get something to eat, then maybe we can come back here and relax."

"What about Brian?"

"I'll keep my phone on me. If we do happen to miss his call, we can always phone back."

"Will you do something for me?"

"Of course, whatever you want."

"Lie down here with me. I just want to snuggle for a bit, then we can shower for dinner. I want to just be with you for a while, forget everything else." She smiled, "Does that make any sense?"

"It makes perfect sense." He moved so he was beside her, laying down, he put his arm out inviting her in, she lay down next to him, her head pillowed on his shoulder, he wrapped her in his arms, enveloping her in his embrace. "Okay?" She nodded.

"Rob?"

"Mmmm."

"Whatever happens, don't blame yourself. I love you. So long as I have you, the rest will work itself out."

"I'm not going anywhere my love. I promise."

/

Esther wandered back into the kitchen, carrying some of the tea things and putting them in the sink, she turned to face her husband. He was stood motionless, looking at the phone which was laying on the working top.

"Are you alright love?"

"It's Sandra."

"Sandra? Is she alright?" Esther asked alarmed. "She sounded fine."

"Oh, she is. It's just that...Well...She's been with Strickland."

"It's nice that she met a friendly face to spend her holiday with. I don't care how independant someone is, it's nice to have company to share memories with." Esther chattered, Brian looked at her, a stunned look on his face.

"No, but she's been getting to know him. Biblicly I mean."

"And? If she were our teenage daughter, I'd be worried, but she's forty something years old and can look after herself. And Mr Strickland's nice. I think it's lovely. A holiday romance." She smiled whistfully. Just then, Jack and Gerry shuffled into the kitchen.

"What's up. You've been gone ages." Gerry asked, adding the pile of dishes he had brought with him to the others.

"Sandra called." Esther replied. Gerry and Jack both stopped dead and looked at Brian.

"Well?" Jack demanded.

"Is she?" Gerry asked at almost the same time. Brian took a deep breath.

"She asked me to look up a portugese man who is living on the island. I've got to call her back."

"Portugese?" Gerry questioned.

Brian sat at the table and opened his laptop. He started a police search on the man Sandra had mentioned.

"Do we know why she want's to know about this bloke?" Gerry asked, Brian shook his head.

"Not really, just said that he worked at her hotel and had made her feel so uncomfortable, she had left." He raised his eyes to the two other men. "She's staying at the same place as Strickland."

"Well, that explains it. If they are staying at the same complex, no wonder he was there this morning, he probably called to take her out or something." Jack reasoned.

"Yeah, or something!" Gerry interupted, "Mark my words, that slimey bastard will be trying to get into her knickers." Brian coughed.

"She's not staying in the same complex, she's staying in the same apartment."

"See!" Gerry exclaimed. "I bet he's all over her, trying to wheedle his way into her bed. I cottoned onto him right from the start." He took a breath. "Right, we have to phone her, tell her to watch herself."

"Gerry. I already asked her what's going on. She told me they met on the beech just after she arrived. They've been together ever since. He's already sleeping with her."

"That Bastard! I'm gonna kill 'im!" Gerry spat. Jack looked pale and sat down heavily.

"Silly girl." He muttered.

Esther had watched and listened to the conversation from the door. She folded her arms and looked at them sternly.

"Shame on you all! Do you want to know what I think? Well even if you don't, I'm going to tell you. I think you should all shut up and listen to yourselves. You're all talking about Sandra like she's some gullible, vulnerable teenager, and you're going on about Mr Strickland like he's a lecherous predator...Shut up Gerry!" She stopped Gerry from interupting. "Brian, you told me his marriage broke up several years ago, how many girlfriends has he had since then?"

"Well, I'm not really sure... I mean..." He looked to his friends for help.

"There was that Christy bird, but she chucked him after she got what she wanted." Gerry answered, he looked to Jack

"That's the only one I can think of. I've seen him trying to chat up women at the parties we go to, he's not very good at it though." He shrugged. Esther scowled at them.

"Not exactly a gigolo is he. From what I remember of the few times I met him, he was something of a gentleman."

"It's not that, he's well...He's..." Jack felt like a child being scolded.

"He's the boss." Gerry replied, as though it answered everything. "He can be a right fu.. fickle bugger sometimes."

"I'm sure he can. I imagine he'd have to be to cope with you lot. But let me tell you one thing I know about him that none of you know. When Brian was in that rehab clinic, the union told me they could only fund half of his treatment, now, you may or may not know that the other half came from Sandra." The boys nodded.

"We worked that out." Jack agreed.

"Well, what you don't know, is that I received a receipt for the bill from the clinic for the other half. The union pulled out it's funding when it found out the clinic was not one of it's approved facilities. He paid it. Your boss, the one I've spent countless hours listening to you moaning about, the one you are constantly calling names and making fun of. And I want you to think about this, when I answered the phone earlier, Sandra sounded happy, she didn't sound like she was under duress, or was being pressured. I do know that when you hung up the phone, she didn't sound so happy. Don't you dare ruin this holiday for her." Esther turned her back on them and marched out of the room. The boys all looked at each other.

"I feel as though I've just been reamed out by a headmistress." Jack gulped.

"Welcome to my life." Brian replied. Just then his computer beeped. He scrolled down the screen. "We need to call Sandra, this is serious." He frowned.

/

Rob watched as Sandra slept against his shoulder, he brushed his fingers through her golden hair, gently moving the stray strands from her face. She had dropped off against his shoulder almost as soon as they had settled down together, the warmth of the sand and the sound of the sea lulling her into a gentle sleep. He watched her face as she slept, he felt at though he could stay in this moment forever, except for the fact he was developing a severe and painful case of pins and needles in his arm. He gently extracated himself from the sleeping beauty. He wanted to head inside and shower off, but he didn't want to leave her alone on the beach. He ran up and opened the doors to the apartment, then returned to the beach, he slipped his phone into his shorts pocket and gathered Sandra into his arms, she started to stir, he held her tightly against him until she settled, then he carried her up the steps and into the apartment, she shivered gently as the cooler air hit her skin, he carried on until he got to the bed where he laid her down gently and pulled the bedspread over her. He brushed the hair back from her face and kissed her forehead.

"I love you." He murmured against her soft skin, and left her to snooze, he collected the towel and other items they had left on the beach, he didn't want Miquelle to get any more souveniers, and returned to the apartment, sliding the door shut, he locked it. He wanted to be sure that just for now, they were safe. He got himself a glass of orange juice from the fridge and was just about to head for a shower when the phone in his pocket started to ring. He looked at the caller display, he didn't recognise the caller, but could see it was a London code. He took a breath, calming his temper, the logical part of his brain knew that the boys hadn't meant to hurt Sandra, but the other part of him could only think of her tears, and wanted to break noses. He pressed the accept button.

"Strickland." He answered, his voice calmer than he felt.

"Oh, Sir. Umm, Is Sandra there?" Brians voice sounded hollow, Robert realised he must be on speaker phone.

"Sandra's upstairs asleep."

"Oh, ok. Umm Is she alright."

"She will be." Robert wanted to lay into the men listening on the other end of the line, but the politician in him realised that would only drive a bigger wedge in between himself and Sandra's team.

"Will you tell her I'm sorry, for earlier." Brian sounded thoroughly miserable, Robert took pity on him.

"I will, she'll be glad you've called back. Do you have any news for us."

"Yes. This De Martinez is a real piece of work. He was prime suspect in Portugal for the rape of three women. Then he escalated to rape and murder, the teenage daughter of the family's housemaid. The poor girl was kidnapped, raped and strangled. The portugese police were about to arrest him when he vanished, his father claimed to have no knowledge of his whereabouts. He has been arrested in the past for sexual assault, stalking and GBH. When he was twelve, he spent a year in a psychiatric hospital, he attacked a class mate with a hammer when she refused his advances. His father has bought his way out of trouble each time."

"Right, I'm going to email you a name and phone number. Can you pass all the information you've found to him, then pass his details on to the Portugese police."

"Is this the bloke Sandra was talking about? She said someone was bothering her so she left her hotel."

"Yes, something about him was very off, Sandra can handle your common or garden pest, but this one set my hackles going, and he gave Sandra the creeps. We've been to the local police and they've confirmed he has a reputation for making a nuisance of himself. They've also linked him to two sexual assaults, but they have no evidence. Sandra..." He trailed off, he didn't want to worry them, but at the same time, he didn't want to hide anything.

"Sandra what?" Gerry's voice came in from the background. Robert sighed.

"Sandra wants to offer herself up as a target. We've got a police bodyguard, but I don't like it."

"I don't either!" Jack exclaimed, "I don't like the idea of Sandra being the object of this phsycho's obsession, with only a couple of island cops as back up."

"Can't you talk her out of it?" Brian added. He heard Gerry in the background.

"This is Sandra we're talking about. He's got more chance of persuading the sun not to rise. You know what she's like when she gets an idea in her head."

"She won't back down. Her only other options are to pack her bags and come home, or hide herself away until Saturday. You know she won't do either of those, it would just leave the nest poor sod he targets to solve the problem." Jack agreed. Robert decided to bite the bullet.

"Look, I know how much you care about her, and I know you all probably want to knock my block off at this moment. But I promise you this, If Miquelle De Martinez want's to get to Sandra, he'll need to get past me first. I'm not going to let her out of my sight until this little Bastard is in custody." He heard some shuffling, then Jack's voice came over the line, louder than before.

"You're right, we do care for her. I care for her, and I do want to knock seven bells out of you right now. We're used to protecting her from arseholes and those who'd take advantage of her, but since we cant be there to do that, you look after her. Do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear." Robert agreed.

"Right. You send me that number." Brian's voice came back over the line."

"And keep us posted." Gerry put in. Robert smiled softly.

"I will. Speak to you later." He hung up and looked at the phone for a moment. He took a photo of the card Dennis had given them and emailed it to the boys. He peeled the shorts off and headed to the bathroom. As he stepped under the cascade of water, he replayed the conversation with the boys over in his mind, he knew they would have a face off when he got back, but he was sure they wouldn't give Sandra a difficult time. He could handle their anger, he was used to being public enemy number one, so long as they directed their anger towards him, he could keep Sandra from being torn in two. His thoughts drifted to the woman upstairs. He was overwhelmed by the depth of feeling he had for her, they had only been together for about twenty four hours, but he found the thought of losing her unbearable. He had always loved her, he had been drawn towards her from the moment they were first introduced, but everytime he had tried to talk to her, his nerves had got the better of him and he'd wound up looking like a prize idiot, and he'd never forgiven Bevan for his 'friendly' advice, that she prefered to be called 'Sandy'. He thought about this last day which he had spent in the company of the most amazing woman who had allowed him into her life. He couldn't help it, his body responded immediately, leaving him as hard as a rock. He sighed and turned the temperature of the water down a bit, cooling the water. That didn't help, he just remembered the lagoon they were at earlier, the cool waterfall refreshing them as they had kissed. The image in his mind, of Sandra in her bikini, the water running down her cleavage, made the cold shower even less effective. He groaned and wrapped his hand around his member, he stroked himself slowly, trying to give himself some relief from the memories running through his head. He became aware that he wasn't alone, he looked to the door, where Sandra stood, watching him, her eyes hungry.

"You want some help with that?" She smirked. He removed his hand and slid the door of the shower open. He stood there in all his glory, his erection standing to attention.

"This is all your fault." He smiled. "One thought of you pops into my head and this happens."

She undid the straps on her bikini top and let the material fall to the floor, she stepped towards him and did the same with the bottoms, until she stood naked in front of him. She ran a finger along his length, her nail raking him, making him breath hard. She wrapped her hand around him, copying the movements he was making a few minutes before. He sighed and shut his eyes.

"Sandra, God sweetheart, you're driving me mad." He whispered.

"Make love to me then." She replied. She pushed him back into the shower and joined him under the cascade, she gasped as he backed her up against the shower wall, the coolness of the tiles surprising her. He lifted her legs, and she wrapped them around his body. He was supporting her weight with the help of the wall. "God Robert, I need you in me now!" She gasped. He guided himself to her opening and pushed into her in one fluid, forcefull motion. He held himself still. She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered into his ear. "Don't hold back, I need to feel you."

He started to move, keeping his thrusts steady, pulling out almost all the way before sheathing himself into her completely, the head of his cock hitting her sweet spot again and again. Their eyes locked together, blue on blue. He picked up the pace, watching as her eyes darkened.

"Rob, God, I love you sooo muuuuuch." Sandra gasped as she climaxed. "Robert!"

"The sound of his name rolling off her tongue, and the feel of her orgasm clamping down on him drove him over the edge and he came hard, filling her. He pulled out of her, lowering them both to the floor of the shower. He sat with his back against the tiles, Sandra cradled against him. She found his lips with hers and kissed him, pouring all of her love into the contact.

Eventually they pulled their lips apart, Robert held Sandra against his chest. They sat in silence, comfortable in each others company until a shiver brought Sandra back to reality.

"Rob, why are we sitting under a cold shower?" She smiled. He grinned back and kissed her lightly.

"Well, I was trying to deal with my 'little problem' without waking you."

"Don't sell yourself short. There is nothing little about it."

Rob laughed and helped Sandra stand, he shut off the water and grabbed a towel from the rail. He wrapped it around her before grabbing one for himself. They left the bathroom, gathering the discarded swiming suits and putting them to dry.

They were soon dressed, and Sandra found herself sat on the white sofa, watching as Rob opened a bottle of wine in the kitchen. She watched as he bustled about, trying to find a corkscrew. Her mind wandered back to their meeting on the beach yesterday, the moment when she realised who it was she had been eyeing up. She felt a moment of shame as she realised that had she known who it was before she had walked along the beach, she'd have probably avoided him.

In the years they had worked together, she had never taken the time to get to know him, he'd always just been the annoyance from upstairs. She realised now how much of that politically minded beaurocrat persona was a mask, a mask which he used to hide the gentle, caring man who she had come to love over the last twenty four hours. She also realised how much pain he had been hiding. The look of despair in his eyes as he had told her about his children had brought her to tears, they hadn't even known he had children until that day at the circus, and by that time he had already lost them. She remembered the rush of anger as she had watched him and the Berlin bitch kiss after the bust up at the big top. At the time she had thought she was angry at him for getting them involved in a personal problem, but now she wondered if it hadn't been a little bit of jealousy. Then there was the moment in the cow's office when she admitted to only sleeping with Rob to get him to look at her case. It had taken all of Sandra's will power to keep herself from punching the bitch. The casual way she had confessed to using Rob had filled her with fury. And she remembered the look on his face in the hospital, when Christy had sent him on his way, having got what she needed from him. It was the look of a man who had known all along that he was nothing more than a toy, that he had been used, then thrown away.

Yet she had let him walk away. She had been in the position to be a friend to him, she could have taken him for a drink, or just told him he wasn't alone, yet she had watched from the other side of the car park as he had sat in his car and wept. And she had just watched as he drove away.

She felt the tears on her cheeks as she watched him pour the wine and carry the glasses to where she was sitting. He saw the tears and put the glassed on the side table, sitting next to her he wrapped his arms around her and held her.

"Hey, shhhhh. It's alright. Brian phoned back while you were asleep, he wanted you to know he was sorry. Everything will be fine sweetheart, I promise." He felt her shake her head.

"It's not that." Her voice was shakey, "Though I am glad he called back."

"What is it then?"

"Oh Robert, I'm so sorry. I let you drive away alone." He looked confused for a moment. "I watched as Christy dumped you, then I just stood by and let you drive away. I can't imagine how lonely you must have felt." She watched as the emotions flittered across his features, the need to be honest with her conflicting with the need to protect her. She brushed her fingers across his cheek. "Please, I don't need you to spare my feelings. I stood by and watched you cry when I could have been a friend." He took a long drink of his wine and sat forward on the edge of the sofa, his elbows resting on his knees. He looked down at the floor.

"I knew she was using me. But for a very short time I could pretend that somebody actually cared. It still hit me when she turned me away though. I suppose a little bit of me had hoped she might come to like me."

"But if you knew she was using you..."

"Why let her?" He smiled ruefully. She nodded. "Because there was no-one else. I was tired of being on my own, my marriage may not have been a bed of roses, but after... Going back to an empty, silent house every night...She gave me a reason to leave work before midnight." He downed the rest of the glass of wine. "You must think I'm pathetic." She leaned across and rubbed his back softly, trying to convey some comfort through the contact.

"No, I don't. I think you're a man who is used to hiding himself. I think I'm only just beginning to realise how badly we have let you down." She put her fingers on his lips to stop him from interupting. "Your marriage broke up and you lost your children, all right in front of us, yet we did nothing. I saw Christy for what she was, she even told me she was using you, yet I did nothing. I let you drive away."

"Sandra, I'm alright. I've been taking care of myself since I was a child. And I don't blame you, not for one moment."

"Tell me." She ran her hand through the hair at the nape of his neck. He looked confused for a moment. "Tell me about yourself. Let me see you."

"There's not much to tell. To be honest, much of my history is fairly miserable. I'd rather look forward than back." He took hold of her hand and kissed it. "Especially when the future is looking so good." She stroked the hair back from his face.

"Alright, I'll let you off for now. But will you tell me later?" He nodded.

"Why don't we get something to eat first." He kissed her gently, "And I want you to remember something."

"What's that?"

"Something a friend once told me. Yesterday is history, tomorrow's a mystery, everyday is a gift, that's why it's called the present."

/

Author's note: This was a strange place to end the chapter, but I really wanted to post tonight. xxx.