Darius smiles through the tears threatening to fall. “Are you asking me to marry you, Mr Cross?”
Sweeping a hand up to the back of his neck, I pull him into a gentle kiss.
“I’m making you a promise. And I need you to make me one, too.”
“Okay. I can do that.”
“Promise me that if he hurts you again, this all ends. Screw your father and whatever deal you have. You are everything to me. My here and now, and my future. In this lifetime and all the others. I won’t let you go.”
Darius straddles my lap, wrapping his arms around my neck, his lips pressed to the racing pulse at my throat.
“I promise.”
Chapter 32
Darius
Today has been the best I’ve had in a long time. We woke before the sun, a tangle of limbs and lazy kisses that led to a burning urgency for each other. Spooning me from behind, Oliver lifted my leg, hooked it over his hip and readied me for him. All the while, his lips claimed mine and his free hand mapped the planes of my body. Our lovemaking was slow and sensual. Our bodies, slick with sweat, moved like two perfectly in sync dancers. There was no urgency. Only the desire to exist in a place where time doesn’t matter and we were as we were always meant to be.
Oliver and Darius.
Him and me.
Us.
Oliver came first, his teeth grazing my shoulder as he cried out my name. Then he rolled me onto my back, and kissed and sucked my nipples while working my cock, until I was gasping, air trapped at the back of my throat as I came.
Not even bothering to clean up, Oliver cradled me in his arms and we slept until the sun was high in the sky.
We went out to buy fresh fruit and bread for breakfast, then took a walk up to the castle before meandering down the high street, dipping into shops as we went. Now, it’s late afternoon and we’re lying on a blanket laid out on the beach in front of the cottage. It’s cold out, both of us wrapped in our coats, and Oliver behind me, his body heat soaking through the fabric and warming me further. There are grey clouds in the sky, and a heavy earthy smell mixing with the natural scent of the ocean.
“I really like it here,” Oliver says, hands sneaking beneath my coat, stopping only when skin meets skin. There’s two empty cartons next to us from the fish and chips we ate for dinner, and an open bottle of wine that we take turns swigging from.
“Me too. Do you think you’d ever want to leave the city and live somewhere like this?”
“Hmm,” he hums. “I don’t want to leave London, not yet anyway. But would I? For you, yes. I’d go anywhere with you.” Oliver lifts the bottle to his lips before handing it to me. “Is that what you want?”
I take a sip, shaking my head. My fringe falls into my eyes and I use my splinted hand to push it away. “Not yet. Maybe one day. I love the city, and I love my penthouse. I’d also like to travel before settling down somewhere.”
“Yeah? Where would be first on your list?” Oliver takes the wine from me, then balances it between a pile of stones at the side of the blanket.
“Barcelona,” I reply, with no need to think about it. I’ve been wanting to visit the city for a while now. “And Cape Town. There’s a beach there that’s home to a colony of penguins. Sometimes they swim alongside people.”
“I don’t know if that sounds fun or dangerous,” Oliver remarks.
“They’re not dangerous.”
I snuggle back further into his arms. In the distance, thunder rolls and the clouds above us look close to bursting.
“So, first we travel, try not to get mauled by penguins, and then we buy a run down coastal cottage?”
I smile. “That’s the plan. Tell me again what our life would look like?”
Oliver chuckles, nuzzling his nose at my ear. “You like this game, don’t you?”
I nod and he plays along, describing the life we could one day have. With a garden and a dog, and a place for Norman’s aquarium. Days spent sanding and painting, choosing finishes and arguing over kitchen tiles. Nights in front of an open fireplace, on a mattress because he hasn’t finished building our bed. Walks on the beach and even a boat for lazy Sundays on the water. It’s all fantastical, but the more he talks, the harder I fall in love with him and this picture of our future.
“That sounds perfect, but you forgot the big screen television,” I joke. “We can’t watch documentaries on a teeny screen. I’m thinking an entire cinema room.”
