I nod and begin to busy myself in the fridge while Mase watches me, carefully.
“Are you going away?” There’s a very strange pitch to my voice and I am unsure what this sensation in my chest is.
“Yes, next week, I think. Work, something cropped up earlier,” he explains as I nod and realise that relief is what I feel.
“Olivia—”
Mase is interrupted by my phone I’m running towards, mainly to avoid the conversation I think my boyfriend might have been ready to open.
“Hello, yes, Charlotte. Next week would be great, Mase is away.”
I watch Mase as I listen to Charlotte who wants to see all of my ideas for her sun room and all too quickly I hang up, but fortunately Mase’s attention is now on my plan for the following week rather than my plan to marry, or not.
In order to avoid conversation with Mase I am keeping busy, keeping busy and using diversion tactics. It has been three days since his proposal and since then I have begun to organise some things with Charlotte for her sunroom. I have also put some ideas together for Mase’s bedroom, our bedroom. Those things have been fun and given me a sense of fulfilment, but I will be glad to see Mase go away for a few days.
I am going to stay with Charlotte. It really will be easier to stay there while I work rather than commuting and after my commute dry hump past, my boyfriend is totally opposed to regular commuting. Charlotte seems genuinely excited to have me coming to stay, although she already has house guests in the form of Bethy, Leo, Mia and their new baby, Byron. I, on the other hand am a little nervous to be staying without Mase, although as I am avoiding him it might be for the best.
With a long and loud yawn, I wonder if I have time to catch up on sleep. My other tactic to distract Mase from any marriage conversation is sex. We aren’t exactly short on the sex front, but since that afternoon on the table it is off the scale. Not only am I exhausted and permanently ready to pounce every time Mase opens his mouth but worse still I am struggling to walk or even pee without wincing, but I have no other avoidance tactic in my arsenal.
I am seriously considering forty winks when the door opens meaning Mase is home early.
“Bollocks.” I realise my voice is a little louder than I’d planned when he speaks.
“You okay?” His pace quickens out of concern for me until he comes to a stop at the entrance to the kitchen where I am.
“Fine, fine.” I greet him with a ready smile when I look at his handsome face.
“Sure?”
I nod with another smile.
“Olivia,” is as far as he gets before I know I have to do something and am considering stripping off right there, if only to divert his attention but then we’re going to end up having sex and I think I may be permanently incapacitated if I have sex again today.
Fortunately, the phone rings, my phone. I virtually sprint towards it and regret it when I feel my delicate tissues being pulled and stretched. Grabbing the handset, I see my dad’s name on the screen.
“My dad,” I say, nervously wondering what he might want. Answering it I find my nerves are replaced with relief that I have yet again avoided the marriage conversation.
Chapter 55
Mason
I can’t help but gasp at the sight of my girl’s arse as she walks up the path of her father’s home. The dash back to the car allowed me to walk behind her and fully appreciate the glorious sight of her more than ample behind that is encased in the navy blue fabric of the knee length dress she’s wearing. It looks good from the front with its cream coloured fitted waist detail and matching vertical stripes over her boobs that look bigger than usual in this outfit but the way it clings to her arse really should be outlawed.
I am distracted by her shoes when she stops at the door and rings the bell. I love the idea of shagging her with sexy shoes on and tonight’s are something else…they’re cream, I think, but they’re nothing but straps around her feet, like a cage and then laces that fasten around her ankles.
If we had been visiting anyone other than her dad I would have cancelled and that dress would be on the floor of the bedroom, or the bathroom, kitchen, lounge, maybe even somewhere near the table, but not the shoes, they’d still be on her feet. The smile I am wearing evaporates when I think of the table, the same table where we made love, where I proposed to her.
The door opens and we are received warmly by Nigel and Carol. I shake their hands as they’re offered and then hand over the flowers and wine I’ve just retrieved from the car. With one hand resting against Olivia’s back we follow them through their house, and I allow my mind to consider my proposal.
I fully accept that asking your girlfriend to marry you whilst shagging her on the table might not be romantic, especially as I asked her at the split second she’d started to come which in turn pushed me into my own climax with her. But I meant it. I had already decided that I wanted to marry her when I spoke to Arianna and I knew I was going to ask her, despite the fact that I knew she had no real desire to marry, or at least that’s what she’d claimed.
My smile is restored when I think about the endless sex we’ve been having since I asked her, so much that she looks as though she has some kind of impairment, but she has to know that I will only allow her to distract and deflect from the conversation we need to have for so long, but I will not push it, not tonight. Tonight, we’re going to meet Nigel’s family and when we get home we’ll sleep. No sex and no awkward conversations. My girl needs to heal and calm the fuck down before I go away, but when I come back we will be talking and I have no intention of stopping until she agrees to be my wife, no matter how long it takes.
My phone buzzes in my pocket and I can see that my dad has text me with a simple message.
I wish I wasn’t going away right now because I will be too far away to keep her safe myself, but my dad will put measures in place, further measures. I also wish there was some progress with the police, but so far there appears to be none.
