“Say it again.”
“I want you, babygirl.” I breathe the words over his lips, loving the way his body trembles under my palms. “These lips.” I hover my mouth over his. “They’re so kissable. And this ass –” Sliding both hands beneath the waistband of his lace shorts, I palm his smooth, round globes. “Flawless. God, you’re so fucking incredible.”
Our hard cocks brush together when Darius swivels his hips, and with each word of praise I shower him with, his body moves with more urgency.
“Perfect. So perfect. Just like that, take what you need.”
He leans forward and captures my mouth, kissing me with a passion that sets my body on fire. I meet him stroke for stroke, tongues warring, breath mingling, hands grappling. I get his shorts down and he paws at mine, frustrated grunts passing his lips when he can’t get them all the way off. I lift my hips to make it easier, shoving them down without dislodging Darius from my lap and then we’re both naked, skin on skin, heat on heat.
I touch every part of him I can reach – starting with his ass before moving to his lower back. I map the ridges of his spine, over his shoulders, into the grooves of his collarbone, along his neck and up to his face, where I take his cheeks in my palms and hold him still.
I love you.The words stick on my tongue, the fear that I’ll put myself out there and he will leave so ingrained in me I can’t force them out. Darius moves his head, a subtle nod that says he knows.He knows.Then we’re kissing again and nothing in the world can stop the need pouring from the two of us as we writhe and grind together. Pre-cum spreads between us, easing the glide of our hot, hard cocks.
“More, Ollie,” Darius whines into my mouth, and I release his face and slip a hand between our bodies, seeking out our cocks. His is longer than mine, but thinner in girth and I take us both in hand, wrapping my hand around us as best I can. Darius does the same, his hand joining mine in creating a tight tunnel that we both thrust into. We’re no longer kissing, just holding our mouths together as we hurtle towards the edge of the inevitable plummet.
“Come for me, babygirl.”
Darius whimpers, my name falling from his lips as his body shakes in my hold, his orgasm crashing over him. He says my name again, this time louder, his voice thick with desire, and I can’t hold back. My own release rockets through me with an intensity that steals the air straight from my lungs and I throw my head back on the pillow, my hips jolting as pleasure blasts out of me. My skin tingles and muscles contract and yet, through it all, I don’t take my eyes off of Darius as he loses himself in pleasure. His eyes are closed, his head tipped back and his bottom lip held tightly between his teeth. He thrusts into our fists once, twice, and then a third time before collapsing on top of me, his body lax and sated.
I stare up at the ceiling, my hand still trapped between our bodies.
There’s this moment after the high of an orgasm, when the world becomes clearer, sharper. It’s a feeling I’ve experienced before, but never with the clarity with which it hits me now – I’dset the world on fire for this man. To protect him. To love him. To keep him.
Andfuck me, if that isn’t the most wonderful, terrifying thought ever.
Chapter 18
Darius
“It’s blue triangle, yellow star, green square, red circle, green square,” Darcey says, leaning over Lachlan's shoulder.
“That’s not working,” he says, pulling the lever on the box we’re trying to open. It’s three days before Christmas and we’re having our annual night out to celebrate the season. This year, it was Lachlan who organised – booking us into an escape room in London followed by dinner and drinks.
“Fifty seconds,” Finch yells, standing next to the door as the red numbers on the counter tick down.
Oliver leans over Lachlan's other shoulder, reading the sequence out loud before he says, “Swap the triangle and the circle around.” Lachlan makes the changes, and this time when he pulls the lever, a secret compartment pops out of the box, revealing a gold key.
I take the key from Lachlan, hastily fitting it into the lock. When I turn it, the door slides open, and a loud siren andflashing lights fill the room before a staff member appears in front of us.
“Congrats! You have successfully escaped Casper’s Vault of Doom.”
There’s loud cheers all around before we pile out of the room to collect our plastic medals, then spend a few minutes messing around in the photo booth with the selection of props available. When we leave, filtering out onto a busy London street, Oliver slips his hand into mine, and I lean into him. Except for Friday nights, when I go to Birmingham for family dinner, we’ve spent every night together since the night of the quiz. I cannot get enough of him, or this feeling of contentment that is there every time I wake up and feel his hard body wrapped around me.
It’s as close to perfect as it can be. There’s still the matter of my father to be dealt with – I know he won’t approve of this relationship and I want to shelter both of us from his response. Thankfully, he’s been too preoccupied with a big merger to have paid me much mind lately, but I know the time will come when I have to tell him about Ollie because, as far as I’m concerned, Oliver is it for me.
I love him.
Darcey, Finch and Lachlan have welcomed him into the group with as much gusto as I knew they would, and though we haven’t seen Caiden again together, I have met up with my other best friend a few times over the past few weeks. He’s living in domestic bliss with Jamie and too wrapped up in this new stage of his life to be meddling in mine. We don’t talk about Oliver and I’m okay with that. While I know they have history, I don’t love the reminder. It never used to bother me, but now that Ollie is mine, I never want to think about the people who came before me.
My phone rings and I let go of Ollie’s hand to answer.
“Hey, Dad. Everything okay?” I say as we cross the road at the pedestrian crossing. My dad is quiet on the other end of the line for a few seconds before answering.
“Yeah. Fine. Are you busy?”
“Out with friends in London,” I reply. “Did you want to talk about something?”
“No. Um…just wanted to check if you’ll be here for Christmas.”
