With one final thrust, he grows completely still, his expression a bittersweet mixture of agony and ecstasy.And I did that to him. Me.I never realised my body was capable of such movement. Of such pleasure. Giving and receiving.
‘Raphaela Alescio.’ Mac’s laboured words bring me out of my own head. Still inside me, our bodies are a tangle of limbs and sweat shining skin. ‘At some time in the not too distant future,’ his voice rumbles, ‘you’re going to marry me.’
I do just what you’d expect of me right then. I cry—bursting into floods of tears. For a million reasons, and none of them sensible, I weep big, fat tears.
‘Darlin’, don’t cry,’ he whispers, taking my head in his hands. He kisses me with a loving kind of ferocity, his power and strength restrained above me. Around me. Why do I feel at home in his arms? Protected. Accepted. And, dare I say it, loved. ‘Does that sound so bad?’
‘Crying always sounds bad, but it’s what I do.’ My words are all wobbly, but I can’t move my gaze from his. ‘I cry at the drop of a hat.’
‘I’m not droppin’ any hats,’ he says, staring down at me, collecting my tears with his thumbs. ‘But I am asking you to marry me.’
‘That’s your dick talking!’ The words burst from my mouth without thought—words I probably picked up in a magazine or something.Words never to trust,post orgasm.
‘Contrary to popular opinion, a man’s dick doesn’t rule his head.’ He smiles down at me. ‘Does marrying me sound so bad?’
‘You don’t really want to marry me.’ He can’t mean it.Can he?
‘Ella, listen very carefully,’ he says all possessive and growly, ‘because I mean every word I’m about to say. You’re mine, little girl. Until the end of my days.’
I open my mouth to apologise—to tell him I’m sorry for what happened tonight—to repeat my love for him, when distantly, a bang sounds.
‘Is that the front door?’ I don’t have time to ask another thing as Mac unceremoniously rolls me across the bed, flipping the edge of the quilt over my bottom, the other edge over my head. Pushing myself to face him, I shove away the heavy down and mass of my hair. ‘Whatareyou doing?’
He doesn’t answer as his bedroom door crashes open, bouncing off the adjoining wall and producing a small boy in Batman pyjamas and matching slippers, a bright green hoodie, and a mass of wild hair.
‘Daddy!’ yells Louis, scrambling up onto the bed. He throws his arms around Mac, nuzzling his chin into his father’s neck. ‘I couldn’t get any sleeps in the ’otel room.’
‘Ah, Da,’ growls Mac, patting his son’s hand as a tall man appears in the doorway. As I hurriedly begin to cover my now burning face, I can suddenly see where Mac gets his fierce expression from. I don’t have a moment to process anything further as he begins to berate the man severely. But not for what you might think.
‘What’s wi’ this?’ he demands, plucking at the sleeve of his son’s hoodie. ‘No son of mine will support the Tims!’
An invasion of privacy? Nope. A choice of soccer team.
‘Get over y’sel,’ the older man returns. ‘They’re a grand football club, and wee Louis here’s gonna play for them when he gets big, aren’t you, laddie?’ And cover your bits before your mother gets here. What is it with my kids,’ he grumbles to himself, turning his back to the room. ‘I’ll ha’ a heart attack one of these days, probably after being flashed once too many times. But, it’s nice to meet you, hen.’ He says this a little louder, adding a curt wave of his hand over his shoulder. ‘I’d like it even better if you had some clothes on,’ he adds in an undertone.
‘It’s gween, Daddy,’ interjects Louis. ‘I look like a turkle!’
‘So you do, but I think we might get you a nice blue one instead.’
‘Non, I like it too much!’
‘George, what are you doing standing—’
‘I’d give them a few minutes, Stell,’ rumbles his father’s voice in response to a much higher one. ‘Mac’s got himself some company.’
‘Why didn’t he say when you called?’ she reprimands.
‘He didn’t answer. I told you,’ he says with an air of long suffering. ‘And now we know why.’
‘Not company, Grandad. Ella is sleeping in Daddy’s bed!’
I’m not quite sure why Mac’s mother then squeals with delight.
