Jackie turned back as I followed her up the stairs to a platform with three single gold door elevators standing in front of us. Jackie pressed the button to the one in the middle and I followed her in. “If you like, I can take you straight to your room, give you some time to settle yourself in before lunch. Take a bath, have a shower, do whatever you like this place is completely yours for the next four days.” She smiled.
“Completely mine?” I accidentally said out loud.
“Of course, completely yours--and Henry’s,” she said as she pressed the top button on the elevators listing that read P. It took me back to the first time that Henry showed me his penthouse in the city. Of course, he too had a penthouse suite in his own mansion on his private island and Jackie was taking me there right now. Did that mean that we were sharing a room together? Henry and me?
The elevator was all glass and sped up to the top of the building. I tried to take a glimpse into the many hallways of the various levels, but the elevator moved too quick. I did have short peeks into different lounges, chairs, art and constant flickers of gold. If my quick calculations had been right, we had moved up six levels and the doors opened up straight into the penthouse, where I saw my suitcase sitting neatly next to Henry’s.
We were sharing a room. Of course we were sharing a room, why would I think otherwise? We were adults, we were clearly into each other. He had already offered me the rose, the rose that would make this--us--official. Did thatmean that it still mattered if I waited? I didn’t know… I wanted to dive into all of him, I didn’t want to think about stupid rules. I wanted to forget the plan that the girls and I had put together but at the same time I knew how right they were. What I kept from him, I kept him wanting. He had all of this to give me, he had a goddamn mansion on a private island. I was a catch too, but I had no doubt his inbox would be full of DMs and women practically threw themselves at him as soon as he walked into a room.
“After you,” said Jackie, a smile taking over her thin face. I stepped out of the elevator and felt her stepping a little too close behind me. My feet came to an instant stop as I gasped, staring out through the large window of the vast ocean in front of us. In the corner of the room was a bar that looked like a smaller replica of the one downstairs, bottles piled to the ceiling with two white velvet chairs facing into each other. Jackie walked straight towards the bar. To the right of me was a large piano, just like the one I saw in the corner of the restaurant in Henry’s building. I made a mental note to find out how well he could actually play. Standing a meter in front of me was the largest round bed, full porn star style that overlooked the vast water outlook in front of Henry’s island.
I didn’t know what else to do other than to laugh. Laugh out loud with absolute joy because this was my life, this was my reality, and I was standing right in the middle of it. I ran towards the bed, jumping into the middle of it, letting my body soak into the softest mattress. I was lying amongst the clouds, theclouds of a penthouse, on my soon-to-be boyfriend’s private island. This memory right here would be locked inside my mind forever.
How I had positioned myself on the bed, like a dead snow angel, even caused a laugh out of Jackie’s lips. At first, I thought that she was stiff, monotone. But maybe she just needed some warming up to me, because without even asking she had made me a margarita and was serving it to me. I pulled myself off the bed, taking the glass off her.
I checked my stomach, forgetting that there was still some fresh blood pouring out of me and could have stained the fresh white sheets. Not that that would have mattered to Henry or Jackie, not when they used white silk as nothing but a bloody rag. I double checked the sheets, thankful that they looked clean as I took a sip from my drink. Holy shit. It was a bloody good marg.
“This is incredible, thank you so much! Can I make you one?” There was no way I was going to make a marg as good as this one, but with a bar as extensive as what was in this room, I could at least give it a red-hot crack.
She smiled warmly at me and shook her head. “Miss Molly, you are the guest here. You don’t need to be making drinks for me. I’ll show you the bathroom and then I’ll get out of your hair,” she said as she pointed towards a door behind the piano.
I followed her over as she unlocked the door and kept it open, revealing a very bright room, that almost blinded me.
“Oh my God,” I said out loud as I stepped into the fully lit room. It was on the side of the building and all the walls, even the roof to the bathroom was glass. I saw the entire inland of the island, the sun shining bright down above us. The floor was gold tiles. There was a small shower in the corner and a large round bath that sunk down into the floor, that was filled with flower petals. The room smelled like lavender. “This is stunning.”
“I’m glad that you like it. I hope you don’t mind, the petals are frangipani, and the essential oils that we used was lavender. I did send Henry an email asking what you would prefer but he didn’t get back to me.”
“No, this is stunning, this is amazing! Can I take a bath now?” I asked.
“Of course you can. And it’s not like anyone is around, but just so you know, the glass has been fitted out so that you can only see out not in. It’s Henry’s specialty. He likes to look up at the stars and bathe sometimes.” Of course he did. She could imagine his naked body lying in this bath, looking up at the constellations above him. It didn’t get any hotter than that. But just as my body began to tingle, my stomach churned and instantly I felt sick. Remembering the story of his parents and how similarly it seemed linked to mine. Was that why he looked up at the stars?
“I’ll leave you to it,” said Jackie as she opened a cupboard to the right of us and passed me two warm towels. “All towels, toiletries, anything that you need will be in here, and I’ve alsoorganized the wardrobe which is just outside of the bathroom to the right. Just press the round button twice and it should open for you. If there’s anything else that you need you will notice keypads fitted on the walls in every room. Just dial one and then you will get a direct line to me.”
“Thank you, Jackie, this is amazing. Really thank you!”
She nodded and disappeared from the bathroom, closing the door behind her. I went to the edge of the bath and took in the greenery surrounding me. It had been so long since I had been around any nature, let alone this much. Even just looking out at it I felt a level of calm that I had only felt since meeting Henry. The thought of taking my clothes off, diving into this bath, I felt like the queen of this island. I was Jane to his Tarzan. I slipped my top off and threw it onto the ground beside me. So incredibly freeing.
Dipping my toe into the water, I jumped back when I heard the door behind me. My heart stopped. Shocked to see Henry standing in the doorway.
“What are you doing here?” I said, half choking on my words. I didn’t mean to come across rude. I just wasn’t expecting him to come in here. The plan was that I would meet him for lunch, but now he was here, standing in front of me and I was shirtless, in my plain nude bra. But as I stood frozen, his eyes didn’t even drift down from mine.
“Sorry I…” His face was still, voice a stutter. “I wasn’t ummm…” He gulped, and I knew I was sick but watching him stutter just made me even more horny. Maybe this moment could be something, fuck the bra I was wearing. I could at least make this a tease. I was here, and there was no turning back now.
“What? You weren’t expecting me to be standing here without my top on in the bathroom?” I asked.
Henry’s cheeks turned bright pink, staring down at the ground. But a slight chuckle escaped his mouth. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was expecting. I wasn’t thinking at all. I literally just came in here to get your shirt washed for you before it stained,” he said, looking back up at me briefly, his eyes were still very cautious to look anywhere lower than mine.
He took a couple of steps closer to me, the closer he got, the more my heart pounded, and my body began to heat. He stood in front of me, carefully leaning down to pick up the shirt I just dropped next to me.
“Is that all you want?” I said, standing still and watching his every move. I was playing with fire, but I couldn’t help it. I loved it. And watching the way he paused, his eyes lost in thought for a second pondering my words. Oh, what I would give to know all the things that were running through his mind. We were once again locked in our vortex, the eye gaze that I felt like I could not ever bring myself out of, and I never wanted to. Unless it was because he wanted to wrap his arms around me, kiss me passionately, first my lips, then my neck as his cool hands ran over my body, undressing me before he lifted me up and took me right here in the bath behind me. I could almost hear myself screaming out in ecstasy, looking upat the clouds. I was too lost in my vision, too caught up in what I thought was about to happen, the last thing that I imagined was what was actually going on right in front of me.
Henry took my shirt in both hands, spreading out the red blood stain and lifting it to his lips. He took one last look at me, before tilting his head down, closing his eyes. The red stain disappeared into his mouth. He sucked it up in an instant, his lips moving around the cotton like my blood was the best thing that he had ever put in his mouth. Better than chocolate cake, and even though his eyes were closed, I was certain that they were rolling around in the back of his head right now, the crease in his brow gave away the ecstasy running through him. When he finally took the shirt out of his mouth, he tipped his head back, gasping for air and letting out a small moan. He then looked back at me with the most intensely clear eyes I had ever seen from him.
“What is this?” I said confused, frozen. I didn’t know what to do or think. My logical mind told me to think this was weird. But the way he looked when he sucked the blood stain on my shirt, I couldn’t help but repeat the image in my mind. He was devouring it, licking up every little piece of it. He loved it, and I mean really loved it. The thought just made my hips want to rock towards him uncontrollably. If he could do that with one stain, imagine what he could do to me. This was all kinds of sick. It was wrong. Wasn’t it? What even was it? And why did I weirdly love it? “Is this where you tell me you’re a vampire?” I muttered, still waiting for a reply. But that broke his intensity,his lips curving up as he let out a slight chuckle. Oh God, I wanted him so damn bad. I was confused as hell, but it didn’t stop the fire in between my legs.
He tucked my shirt into the back of his jeans, then placed his hands on either side of my hips. He gripped me tightly and pulled me into him. This was where my silly little game ended. I had no control over this. It didn’t matter anyway. He had already shown me the rose, he wanted me, he wanted this, he wanted us, and this was the moment I would give him exactly that. All of me. The best of me.
Henry’s lips pressed against mine, and it felt like there had been worlds and lifetimes between the last passionate kiss that I received from him, even though it was only last night. Finally, I could taste him again. I missed his peppermint mouth, his strong tongue. But how he was gripping my hips right now, this was more intense than I have ever experienced. His lips moved to my cheek, sucking on the end of my ear lobe, gently kissing my neck. This wasn’t just him. I had never felt like this with anyone before. Holding myself back felt wrong, stupid even. Why would I deny myself of the thing that I wanted the most, particularly when it was standing right in front of me?
