Oliver made a show of pretending that he only just remembered that nugget of information. ‘Well, technicallyyou’rethe one writing… I’m just here as the eye candy.’ He smirked. The hand that had been on the gear stick slid to my upper thigh.
I took a quick breath, doing my best to focus on his face and not the feeling of his touch. The problem was, both were incredible.
‘And you do that job so well.’
The smile on Oliver’s face dipped for a second, causing my body to tense. ‘What’s wrong?’
When he saw my concern, he removed the hand from my thigh and ran it through his messy hair shaking his head in disbelief as he stared out at the street. ‘Sometimes it’s scary how good you’re getting at reading me,’ he mumbled the words almost to himself.
‘What’s up?’ I prodded—anxiety rising inside my chest.
He turned back to me. Propping on arm on the steeringwheel, the other reached out to cup my cheek where he played with some of of my shorter pieces of hair hanging around my face.
‘Don’t freak out.’
‘That is not how you start a sentence where you don’t want the person to freak out. I’m already freaking out because you told me NOT to freak out. Can you see the flaw in this don’t freak out plan?’ I stared at him bewildered when all he could do was smile at me. ‘Just tell me.’ I pleaded.
‘Alright,’ He heaved a sigh, ‘I might have stolen your keys yesterday from your purse and got someone to install a small backup generator in your laundry cupboard. It’s not big because there isn’t much room in your flat. But it will kick in if there’s ever another black out like that again. I also got him to fix your radiators. So, yeah, please don’t be mad.’ The words tumbled out of his mouth at such a speed it took me a moment to catch up. He looked at my expression and his face crumpled. ‘Oh, shit, you’re mad, I just told you not to be!’ he cried when he saw tears cresting the corners of my eyes. Both hands reached up to cup my face that was probably turning red and blotchy now.
‘Look, I know it was over the line and breach of privacy and blah blah blah, but I couldn’t bare to think of you sitting in there alone when the possibility of a-‘
I unbuckled my seat belt and leaned across the console, grabbing his face and capturing his lips with mine. The traitorous tears continued to leak out of my eyes onto his cheeks. Oliver was momentarily stunned but quickly took control of the kiss, gripping the back of my head firmly and holding me to him.
I never thought I’d love having a man take over. In all my other relationships I’d been the one to steer the ship. From everyday life to sex. I was always the one taking control—not necessarily because I wanted to but because they neverseemed to prioritise our relationship or me. But with Oliver, I didn’t need to. He guided every situation. Down to the very muscles in my body who seemed to melt the moment he commanded them to.
When we were completely out of breath and my tears had started to mingle with our kiss, I pulled away.
He swiped a finger under my eyes. Thank God I wasn’t wearing mascara otherwise I would be looking like a panda bear right now.
‘So you’re not mad?’ His brow furrowed.
I let out a watery laugh, letting my hands tangle in his shirt. ‘No. I’m not mad. It’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.’
If it was possible, his frown dipped even further. ‘It’s nothing special, Pooh. I just didn’t want you to be scared anymore.’
His words pelted me like bullets. Each one punching through my body, leaving indelible marks behind. I cinched my eyes shut—unable to look at him and see the emotion swirling in his eyes.
To him this might be nothing. To me… it waseverything.
He’d seen my fear and not onlynotjudged me for it, but he’d actually done something to try and help it. I didn’t have the words to express to him how much I appreciated the gesture.
Actually, I did.
They were right there. Pounding out of my chest with every beat of my heart.I love you. I love you. I love you.
I swallowed the words back.
‘Thank you. Honestly. I can’t…‘ I shook my head staring down at where my fingers grazed the soft material of his shirt. He gripped my chin, lifting my head up to meet his gaze.
‘Wow, so all it took was several orgasms to get you to go all soft and gooey, huh?’ A wicked gleam shone in his eyes.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about… you’re still a giant dipstick.’
His lips tugged. ‘I think you mean Ihavea giant-’
‘Okay. Moment ruined.’ I pushed away from him. My body screaming at me for denying it Oliver’s warmth.
He threw his head back with a laugh. ‘You love it.’
