“You are.”
I skim my fingers over his jaw. “Not like this. I need you.”
“I’d like that too, but we don’t have anywhere we can go to be alone.”
I look towards the multitude of huge hotels that line the beach.
“What are you thinking?” Archer asks.
“One of them must have a vacant room.”
“At this time in the morning?”
“Sure. People will have left for early flights. Or maybe not all the rooms are full.” I pat my pocket, making sure I have my wallet. “I’ll rent us a room. If you want to.” What if he doesn’t?
Archer laughs. “Of course I want to. But you could end up getting ripped off.”
I kiss him fiercely. “I don’t care. I need you, Archer. I need to know that, despite everything Dad said, despite everythingIsaid, we’re still okay.”
He nuzzles my nose. “We’re definitely okay, Jacob. I’m proud of you.”
“You…are? For what?”
“Standing up to your dad.”
“Let’s go and find a room to rent.”
Hand in hand, we stroll off the beach towards the closest hotel.
“We should go to a pharmacy too,” he says.
“Why?”
“I don’t have condoms or lube in my pocket, and I think we’re going to need both, don’t you?”
My cheeks become hot. I’d been so consumed by my need to be close to him I hadn’t thought of the practicalities.
We find a pharmacy long before we find a hotel with a vacancy. In the end, we have to go a fair way from the beach to find a hotel with an empty room. I wince at the extortionate rate but pay in advance for one night. Archer was right. I’ve been ripped off. Then again, what must the man think? We turned up in the middle of the morning, in last night’s clothes, without luggage. It screams ‘We’re here for sex’. I’m beyond caring what the man thinks of us. I need to be close to Archer.
The moment we enter the simple room, I push Archer against the wall, press against him, and kiss him.
“Déjà vu.” He pecks my lips.
“I was wearing a tie last time.”
“Yeah. That was hot.” He pushes my T-shirt up and runs his hands over my back.
I grimace. “We’re still gross from the nightclub.”
“Don’t care. Do you?”
“No. We can get clean later.”
“Exactly.”
I wrap my arms around him, manoeuvre us to the bed, and tip us onto it. We lie together for a while, kissing, touching, exploring. Gradually, our clothes come off until we’re naked, our bodies hot and heaving.
“I love you. Make love to me, Archer.”
