I'm smiling. I know exactly what he means, because I have that sense of humour too.
“Is not talking a pre-match thing for you?” he asks. “I mean, we all got our game plans and things we have to do-”
I turn suddenly and step toward him, pushing up on my toes to kiss him. “I want you in my bed,” I say when I have his bottom lip between my teeth, meaning it's barely audible, the M and The B impossible to say, but I think he gets the idea as I see a flash of something illuminate his eyes. A beat later I feel his hands grip both of my butt cheeks, pulling me flush to him where I feel the hard ridge of him. It startles me enough to drop his lip and close my eyes, savouring it.
“Show me the way,” he says but he doesn't let go, and his lips come down on mine again.
“Aiden?” A man's voice tears us apart. It's an Irish accent and it's coming from some way behind me, further up the hill.
“Feckity feck feck feck!” Marty says into my forehead before straightening up, lifting his hands off my butt. He pulls his head up too but leaves the bulge of his erection resting against my stomach.
“Aiden, what are you...” the voice continues, and I turn so I can see who it belongs to. I can't resist leaning back so my backside is pressed up against Marty again. “Maeve said that you were meeting the-”
He stops when he sees me, and I can’t help but smile. There's no denying who this man is. He has the same height, broad shoulders, narrow hips, and five o'clock shadow. The lean definition in his chest and arms, and the way he walks - knees turned out slightly, a very subtle bounce in each step – are all undeniably made from the same DNA as Marty. His father. While an instant discomfort rises in me, it's doused a little by the fact I can see this man is at least twenty years older than me, which is a relief I didn’t know I needed.
“Hi Dad,” Marty says with clear reluctance in his voice. “Yeah, I did go to the bar to meet the manager but...”
He trails off, and I resist the urge to look up at him and question that blatant lie.
“But now you're here, and I'm assuming this is not the manager,” his father says, looking at me. I see his hair is fairer than Marty’s and his eyes are lighter, green maybe, like Maeve’s. “Not because I'm a sexist pig and think women can’t be hotel managers, but because Marty already told us the manager was a man, and we actually thought he may have caught Marty's eye but looks like we got that wrong, eh?”
“Dad, this is Jenna. Jenna, this is my father, James,” Marty says through a clenched jaw.
Marty's dad steps forward and holds out a hand to me, giving me a warm smile. My palm is pulled into a firm grip. It moves my body slightly, enough to recognise that Marty is losing his erection, and I am inexplicably sad about that.
“Nice to meet you, James. I'm the hotel manager's sister,” I say as if to explain.
“Oh. Well, that's an interesting plot twist.”
“No plot, Da. Just me and Jenna had a drink and now we're going to get some dinner and... wait. What are you doing here?”
“We need more ice,” he says holding up the metallic ice bucket he’s carrying. “And frankly I needed a fresh air break from your mother and your sister, who have been painting each other’s nails all evening while arguing about the pros and cons of veganism. So I offered to go get it myself, and of course, I accidentally on purpose went the long way. They've been bickering about which pulses are the best sources of protein for the last hour and there's only so much I can take now I’ve done both crosswords and all the sudokus I can find.”
“Understood.” Marty nods. “So, Maeve is a vegan now?”
“No, of course not, she single-handedly demolished the cheese platter we ordered with our drinks. But you know what she’s like. She’s watched five YouTube videos on something and now she’s an expert.”
I snicker at that. As if noticing my smile, Marty’s father looks at me again then, his eyes softening even more.
“I'll let you go,” he says, and he walks past us, before pausing a few steps down the hill “You have a nice evening now. Enjoy your dinner.”
“Thank you,” I say, hoping my smile is as normal as possible and not at all in the 'I'm-about-to-get-laid' category. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too, Jenna,” he says and gives me a half-wave. I turn back to Marty but then hear him call out, “Be safe, son... if you know what I mean!”
I crash my head onto Marty's chest. I haven't had to even think about parents giving sexual health advice since I was a teenager, and I want to wince, laugh and cringe. I do a strange combination of all three into his shirt. Marty's hands slide down my back and he laughs into my hair.
“Is it me, or is the universe trying to stop my penis from going into your vagina?”
I laugh a little harder, smile a bit wider and lean a little closer to him.
“No, not the universe,” I say. “Just our families. But guess what?”
“What?”
“I have a lock on my villa door. And a Do Not Disturb sign. And also...” I pause, waiting for his eyes to find mine.
“Yeah?”
