His fingers resume their circular rhythm as if in reward for saying the right thing. It’s only the truth, but I’ll say it again and again if it means he does this to me. His green eyes watch intently as he brings me teeteringly close to the edge again, before slowing to an almost standstill.
‘So how about it?’ he says, as my hands travel to his buckle, in desperate search of relief one way or another. I don’t know what he’s asking because, as ever, when he touches me like this I can’t think straight, can’t see past the very same blinding lust that has me breaking every rule in my own personal handbook.
‘How about what?’ Freeing him, I wiggle closer to the worktop edge with the intention of sliding myself on top of him, with no regard for any protection because the thought of a single millimetre between us any longer is unbearable.
‘We elope.’ A grin spreads across his face as he rubs his tip across my entrance, before pulling away again just as quickly. A gasp bursts from my lips, at both his actions and his words.
‘You can’t be serious?’ I inch towards him again, determined to capture his body one way or another.
‘I’m deadly serious.’ Darkening eyes bore into mine and he rubs himself against me once again. ‘Not now, of course, but if this plays out the way I know it’s going to, it’s inevitable anyway.’ His thighs lean forward, literally dangling the bait in front of the eyes that I can’t tear away from him, even if I do think he’s half-crazy.
‘How long are you going to make me wait?’ I mean before he enters me, but he refers to his own mad suggestion.
‘How does six months sound?’ He pushes his tip in enough to make me moan, withdrawing again, continuing to tease me.
‘You want us to elope in six months?’ My eyes eventually manage to leave the prize to meet his, curiosity outweighing my physical desire for the first time since I got here. He rewards me by entering me again, a little deeper this time, lingering long enough to make my eyes roll backwards in my head.
‘If we are still as mad about each other six months from today, as I know we will be, I think we should get married. Nothing or nobody in this world could separate us then. There’s no way you’d lose your job in our devoutly Catholic country for getting married to someone you work with. And your brother will have no choice but to accept I’m serious about you.’ He pushes deeper into me, a promise of all that could be.
He’s crazy. It’s an absolutely crazy idea. But in this second I’m crazy enough to think it’s a good one. Six is my lucky number. Wild with lust, I nod my own silent promise and his lips meet mine. His fingers resume their position, even as he sinks himself further inside of me. Joined at every physical point, his name falls from my mouth in muffled sounds, which he swallows with his kisses until stars spin deliciously in front of my eyes. Finding his own satisfaction, he grips my backside and grinds against me.
‘Did we just sort of get engaged?’ His head lolls forward, his lips pressing against my forehead in a tender but possessive gesture.
A high-pitched girlish squeal squeaks from my lips and my chest pants as my heart works hard to steady. ‘I think we sort of got engaged to get engaged, if that makes sense?’
‘I know it sounds crazy. It’s very early days, but this is real. I knew it long before the professionals matched us together. I’m telling you, Amy, I am going to marry you.’ Those deep soulful eyes fill with such certainty, I believe him.
‘This will only work if we keep it between us. We’ll never get the chance to find out how perfect we are if anyone finds out before we’re ready to cement it. It’s the only way. We have to be sure we are a war worth fighting. Because that’s what it’ll be.’
‘At least now I have an end date on having to lie to one of my closest friends. I hate sneaking around. It goes against everything I’ve ever believed in.’
‘It’s the only way for now.’ Taking his face in my hands, I gaze into his eyes.
‘Why is he so protective of you?’ Ollie tucks a stray spiral behind my ear and tilts my chin to meet his eyes.
‘I’m the youngest. The baby.’ It’s not the whole story, but it’s partly true. The full story still chills me to the bone, still gives me nightmares, and is the sole reason Eddie is the way he is around me.
My eyes fall to his open trousers again and both of us seem to realise at the same time that we didn’t use protection.
‘I guess if we’re getting married it won’t matter.’ I say it as a joke, but the shrug and accompanying smile I get back insinuates Ollie is one hundred per cent happy with the risk.
‘I’m clean. We’re tested regularly, as you know.’
‘Well, I was practically a virgin until last night, as you know.’ I may as well have been and I’ve always been careful. I make a mental note to start the pill as soon as possible.
‘Seeing as we sort of got engaged to be engaged, do you think I can have your phone number now?’ He buttons his trousers and pulls his phone out of his pocket before passing it to me.
I tap in my number and give it back. A smile plays on his lips while he creates the new contact.
‘I hope you didn’t save it as me.’
‘I did.’ He turns the screen to show me. It says, ‘Forever.’
He shrugs, laughs and leans in to kiss me again.
ChapterTwenty
OLLIE
