“I do love that dog a hell of a lot,” I agree, thinking of the joy I feel when he wags his tail every time he sees me, like I’m one of his favourite humans in the world. There’s nothing like the love of an animal, and I’m so glad Sadie will finally have that in her life.
Man, she really hasn’t ever been treated right by any of the significant men in her life. I’d give pretty much everything I have to be the one to change that, to show her what it’s like when someone puts her front and centre in his life. Where anyone with the slightest semblance of sense would put her.
Because anyone who had the good fortune to have the affections of this white hot livewire of a woman has used up their entire quotient of good luck for their whole lifetime.
“Can you give me a hand bringing everything in, please?” she asks me as we pull up outside her place.
“Was already planning on it.” Not least because going to see Gary went by too fast, and I’m not ready for that to be the sum total of my time with Sadie today.
In a couple of journeys, we have him set up in her living room, and the half sack of parrot feed and cage liners put away. I make a mental note to go shopping for some toys for the poor little sod, as Tracy didn’t have any to offer us. Which says a lot about how much effort she put into looking after him. No wonder he swears. I’d curse my head off, too, in his shoes. Tracy seemed nice enough, but Gary’s clearly better off with us.
I mean, withSadie.
I look through the cage, and Gary meets my eye, saying nothing, just shuffling on the spot. I’m biased, but I can’t think of anyone better suited to look after this little guy than Sades.Two lost souls in need of healing through unconditional love and acceptance. “It’s OK, mate,” I whisper, “you’ve got a good one here. You’re on easy street now.”
“Hey,” Sadie says behind me. “Thanks. For the ride, and for helping me in with him, and…look, you have to let me pay you back. It’s too much.”
“Oh, forget about it, you.” I flip my hand. “Consider it covered.”
“It’s. Too.Much.” She gives me her best I’m-not-kidding look, and that, plus the sliver of unmade bed I can see taunting me in her bedroom just over her shoulder, makes me melt.
“It’s nowhere near enough,” I insist softly, walking towards her, backing her up until she’s against the wall. Her eyes travel to my lips, and Em and Eli’s wedding comes rushing back to me, the incredulity, the softness of lip on lip, tongue on tongue. I’m craving it right this second more than ever, and screw thesoftly-softlyapproach. That hasn’t done me any favours so far. “You have no idea how much I’d give you if you let me.”
“You don’t need to buy me things. I don’t want to be givenstuff,” she protests weakly.
“So whatdoyou want?” I ask, leaning my hand just next to her face, crowding her and making no effort to stop. My cards have already been placed on the table; no sense in backing down anymore. “Tell me, sweetheart, so I can give it to you in spades.”
As though she can’t help herself, one hand comes up to my hair and clutches, tugging until it almost hurts, and I welcome it. “I want…” She growls. “I don’t know.Something.” And she pulls my head closer to hers, but I stop just short of our lips touching.
“‘Something’, huh?” But talking makes our lips brush together, and I’m a goner. Whatever I was going to say to try to get her to open up flies out of my mind, and instead I find myself opening her mouth with my tongue the way I’ve always wanted to. She moans, making my skin prickle, and this kiss isas electric as the first. Her hair smells like flowers, and I pull it free of her hair tie, grabbing great greedy fistfuls and wrapping them around my wrists. Her taste is so sweet it’s making my head swim, and all I can think of is more, another, and another, getting even closer to her…
She gasps into my mouth, and I swallow the sound as she grabs my ass, grinding me into her. I let out a long, guttural moan, relishing that not only can she feel how hard she makes me, shewantsit.
The bed…it’s so close…take her to it and -
No. Not yet.
I break away abruptly, shutting my eyes as I catch my breath so the sight of just-kissed Sadie can’t tempt me to carry on, until I’m back under control of myself. I can hear her panting, soft gusts of her breath hitting my chin, and fuck mylife, I love this woman so much.
And that’s why I take a very reluctant step back.
Also, if I’m honest, I like the way she was clinging to me…and I’m low enough to want to give her a small taste of the raw deprivation crazies she’s given me since the moment we met.
She whimpers in protest, and my eyes snap open. God, those swollen lips… That glitter in her eyes…
“Go out with me.” The words are out before I can think about them. “Let me take you out on a proper date.”
“A proper date,” she echoes.
“Yeah. Dinner. Some place nice.” I give her a wry smile. “I want to do this properly.”
She frowns, but it’s a curious thing rather than a cross one. “Why do you want to…”
“Because you deserve it.” I give her my version of her I-mean-it look. “If you’re up for it, you are getting wined and dined the way you should have been all along.”
Sades squirms a little, but I can tell she likes what she hears. I don’t miss the regretful way she looks at her bed, and it’s enough to try my patience to the very limit. “What time,” she asks, looking at Gary, who seems like he’s fallen asleep. Hopefully a good sign that he’s settling.
“How about I pick you up at seven tomorrow evening?” I’m sure I can book something decent by then. There’s a new French restaurant, Chagall, that opened up on Crockett Street. Very high class, according to the reviews, and very sexy. Award winning food, romantic music, and dim lighting. Can’t go wrong.
