Chapter 36 #2
I run my lips over the skin on the back of her neck.
Olive’s suppressed moan shoots straight between my legs.
I’m so hard it hurts. I want to finally do it with her, but we’re at my parents’ place, besides which I’m scared I have too many complexes.
I only have to think about what happened last time she undressed in front of me.
And one thing’s for sure, I can’t lose my nerve at the sight of her naked again.
Possibly she’d understand now, but I can’t do that to her.
She’s the woman of my dreams, I don’t have to tell her so, but she’s also a person with feelings, however much she likes to pretend that isn’t true.
As she rolls toward me, my head stops thinking. I lean down to kiss her.
She puts her hand on my face and presses herself into my body. I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her onto me. Her breath catches, and then she starts to move. Rhythmically but tantalizingly slow. I feel like I could explode any second.
It takes a huge amount of self-control to twist back onto our sides. I press her gently onto her back, and then I’m over her.
Her dark hair is crazy, her lips are red and gorgeous. I kiss them, to make them more beautiful still. And then I run my mouth down her throat.
Olive leans her head back and turns slightly as I let my hips sink down onto her. She shuts her eyes and gasps my name. I feel dizzy.
She wraps her legs around my hips and lifts herself toward me. Her belly is warm as I slip my hand under her T-shirt. Just a tiny bit, to find out how she likes it. When the hand doesn’t move, she opens her eyes.
“Don’t grin like that,” she hisses, but her voice is shaking.
“Like what?” I ask, pushing my hand a little higher.
Whatever answer had been on the tip of her tongue, she seems to forget it as I reach her left breast. It’s almost ridiculous how perfectly it fits into the palm of my hand.
My stomach muscles contract slightly as Olive stretches her back and pulls me closer by my T-shirt.
There’s too much fabric. Much too much. But before I can spin out that thought any further, I hear them.
Voices—my mom’s and then Cleo’s—through the closed door.
I feel like someone’s tipped a bucket of icy water over me.
Olive looks like she’s similarly sobered up when I meet her eyes. She lies motionless beneath me, listens, then shoves me off her.
I laugh quietly as she hastily pulls the covers over herself and lies on her side. “Don’t worry, they won’t come in.”
“I’m glad you’re so sure of that, Colin,” she mutters. She’s still breathing hard. It’s good to know that it was at least as unsatisfying for her as for me. Which isn’t to say that it was bad. Just . . . too short.
We fall silent again, the voices fade. Then I hear the TV.
Olive sighs, half with frustration and half with tiredness.
In my mind, I agree with her. I could never have imagined I’d be looking forward to getting back to boarding school this much.
It’s just as possible that we’d get caught there, but anything is better than risking it at home while my parents are sitting on the couch in the room next door.
Olive seems to feel the same.
“Hey,” I say hoarsely—she’s shut her eyes again.
“What?” she mumbles. “I’m still tired.”
“I thought I’d woken you up.”
“You wish, Fantino.”
“You might as well admit you didn’t find it so bad yourself.”
“Hm,” she says, and no more.
“Livy . . .”
“Tori would have your head on a platter if she heard that name on your lips.”
“I’d like to see her try. And stay awake now. It’s too early.”
“Just five minutes,” she mutters.
I can tell that she’s really tired, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling the same. This day has been too much. I mean, I’ve been to the police, had a fight with Mom and then with Cleo. My eyes rest on Olive’s face and see it relax—she’s beat.
You’ll never adjust to the time here if you give in to the jet lag, I want to tell her, but then it occurs to me that we have no reason to adjust to New York time. Seriously, none at all. We’ll be flying back to Edinburgh in a few days.
Olive sighs with relief as I put my arm around her and pull her close. Her head is resting in the crook of my arm—exactly where it belongs—and growing heavy.
“Tell me how you’re doing,” she says, to my surprise.
I study her face and don’t have to think long about it. “Fine, now.”
“What did Cleo say?”
“She mainly cried and apologized.”
Olive blinks. “So it was her?”
I nod but don’t reply.
“Was she scared you wouldn’t come back?”
I nod again. “But we talked. She knows I’m staying. In Scotland,” I add hastily as Olive opens her eyes again. She tries to play it cool, but then a blissful smile creeps over her face. She buries it in my neck.
“You’re staying,” she repeats, sounding so happy.
Where else would I go? There’s no point to a place if Olive isn’t there. Obviously, I’d never tell her that. But I don’t have to—I figure she’s known for ages now.
“And I’ll speak to my parents, ask if Cleo can come too.”
“Would she like that?” Olive puts her hand on my chest. She always does that. Her little hand with the delicate fingers that she runs an inch or so over my body. I’m lost. My heart beats faster.
“It was too much for her,” I say. “Let’s see what she says when she’s had a while to think about it.”
“I like her. She’s like you—like a cute version of you.”
“Hey,” I say.
“You’re cute too, obviously. Not that you want to be, right?” she replies.
“Depends.”
“On what?” She’s the devil, and she’s slowly running her hand from my chest to my belly. Below the belly button, things get critical. I have to stop myself taking her hand and leading it lower. Until I feel her around me, so that she can squeeze and whisper “darling” until I explode.
“Are you hungry?” she asks.
Yeah, for you. I’d love to say that. But of course, she really means, do I feel low and need to eat? Since that whole hospital incident, I can feel her concern, and I hate that.
“No, you?”
Olive gives a tiny shake of her head. “God, I’m tired.”
“Try to get some sleep,” I say in a hoarse voice that betrays how much I want her. But she’s too sleepy to notice, so I force myself to get a grip.
“Babe,” she whispers, imitating my accent. She giggles quietly to herself.
“Shut it, darling.”
She grins, and then I see the smile slowly fade from her face as she falls asleep.