Oliver
“Do you have to work today?”
Darius looks up, his chin digging into my torso while his hand draws patterns on my skin. We’re lying in his bed, where we’ve been since moving here after kissing on the sofa for what felt like hours. His hair is a mess, sticking up on one side and flat on the other where he’s had it pressed to my chest all night.
There’s a large uncovered window at one end of his room, letting in a muted glow where the sun is trying to push through heavy grey clouds.
“No, I have a few days off,” I say, tucking a hand behind my head and adjusting myself on the bed so I can get a better look at the man tucked against me. “What about you?”
Darius unfurls his body from my side, crawling up until he’s splayed on top of me, bracing himself with a hand on either side of my head.
“I have a shift at the coffee shop this afternoon. And I have to walk Ludo and Lenny after breakfast. But I’m freeallmorning.” He gives me a salacious grin, and I lift my head and meet him in a short sweet kiss, his tongue dancing along the edges of my lips until it dips inside my mouth. I couldn’t care less about morning breath, or the fact that we’re both still sweaty from last night’s activities, I will kiss this man every opportunity I get.
Our movements are soft and slow, not progressing into anything more, but still lighting me up inside in a way that is not purely sexual but is more a sense of rightness. Likethisis where I belong. I moan when Darius pulls away and slides onto the bed next to me again.
“Will you stay with me today? You could walk with me to work later and come back here when I’m done?”
Tangling my hand in his hair, I tip his head up.
“Only if you promise to make me a fancy ass latte.” There’s a tinge of fear creeping up inside of me at the thought of spending another night in his bed. Not because I don’t want it, but because I do. Far too much. I’m almost mad at myself for letting down my defences as quickly as I have for Darius, because I’m still so sure I’ll fuck this up and he’ll walk away. Or worse, he’ll ask me to leave.
The thought is pushed away when Darius presses his lips to the pulse point on my neck. “Deal.” He looks up at me and smiles, and the result is breathtaking. His eyes sleepy, his lips soft, his cheeks a rosy pink beneath those damn irresistible dimples. “But let’s lay here a little longer before we start the day.”
I relax into the bed and tell myself to enjoy the now and not worry about the what ifs. Reminding myself that Darius has always seen me for who I am. I was never pretending with him and no matter how messy or wounded I am; he accepts me. I don’t want what we’ve shared to be fleeting; I want more, and Iget the feeling he wants that too. Only, there’s one other thing playing on my mind as I stare down at him.
“Can I ask you something?”
Darius is tracing the words of my tattoo with one finger, his eyes locked onto the movement, but they meet mine when he says, “Sure.”
“Are you seeing anyone else?”
He pushes himself onto one arm, his body turned to the side so that his front touches my hip. “Why would you think that? Of course not.” His brow furrows. “Are you?” Darius puts a space between us, and I reach out and haul him back against me.
“No. There hasn’t been anyone since before I met you and since then, it’s only been you.Alwaysyou.” His body softens in my hold and he kisses the inside of the arm I have wrapped around him. “But I know you went on that date soon after we met.”
“And you’re wondering if I’m seeing him again?”
“I guess, yeah.”
He shakes his head. “No. It meant nothing – it was all my father’s doing.”
“What do you mean?”
Darius pulls out of my arms and rolls onto his back. I follow him onto his side of the bed, reversing the position we were in earlier so that my chin is on his chest.
“My father has this wild idea that he’ll marry me off to a Scandinavian prince or the heir to some billion pound company. Any union that will benefit him.”
“That seems…” I can’t think of the right word, but Darius finishes my thought for me.
“A bit much. I know. He means well, really he does. What you need to understand about my dad is that he grew up with very little. No money, some days no food, a single mother who worked hard to give her boys everything, but it was neverenough.” Darius takes one of my hands in his, linking and unlinking our fingers as he talks. “My father and my Uncle Robbie worked from the day they were legally old enough to work and eventually, they built the business into what it is today, with nothing but a dream and determination.”
“And what he has still isn’t enough?”
Darius shrugs. “It doesn’t seem so. But that’s the way in his world. There isalwaysmore to own, more wealth to amass, more people to impress. So, yeah, occasionally he sets me up on these ridiculous dates and I go along to humour him. Sometimes I think he knows it’s pointless, but he still holds out this hope that one day I’ll meet ‘the one’ and that they’ll come with a bingo card of connections.”
The strap of the pink camisole Darius put on before climbing into bed has slipped off his shoulder and I push it down further and kiss the curve of his neck.
“So you’ve never been even a little bit tempted?”
