Chapter 25 #2
It was amazing. Two weeks of sun in Thailand, just lazing around, laughing, drinking, a proper escape for us.
Harry plucked it from a kind old woman on a beach, with so many necklaces hanging from her arms that she jangled as she walked.
It was bound by a cheap piece of leather and barely had any sparkle to it.
Harry said it was the same colour as my eyes that day. And, fuck, if that didn’t hit hard.
“I wish you wouldn’t wear that thing so much,” he said, still smiling anyway. Despite our ups and downs over our long years of friendship, I always kept it with me.
“How could you say that, Harry!?” I clasped my hand to my chest, giving a mock gasp. “Don’t you know this is my most treasured possession?”
He rolled his eyes, biting his lip as he looked up at me, and it took everything I had not to groan.
“You have far better things than an old piece of glass from Thailand.” He chuckled.
“I really don’t,” I replied, my voice low, too serious.
And then he reached out to touch the necklace.
Like the embers of a fire, the moment his fingers brushed my bare skin, they caught.
I sucked in a dry breath as he laid his hand over the space between my collarbones. My skin warmed under his palm, the same temperature as his.
“Harry,” I said his name like it held the weight of the world. I wanted to respond to his sigh so fucking badly, but I couldn't fuck him up before he went out there to perform.
I tried to school my fucking face and not give away the need building within me, but his hand twitched and he craned his neck, looking up at me, blinking at me too purely.
I was a fucking mess.
He had to see it. He couldn’t not see it because his gaze snapped to my lips as my tongue creased them, and his fingers dented my flesh.
My senses fled as my eyes widened, the sparks lighting into a fire that raced over my skin when I leaned in closer.
“What’s wrong, handsome?” I asked softly, my voice naturally lilting as I tilted my head to the side.
I thought nothing would break through his ‘business face’ at such an important event, but I could see it there, splashed over him, plain as day.
He wanted me too.
Harry’s hand trembled against my chest, and he pressed his fingers harder, like he was searching for my heartbeat. But he wouldn’t find it there; it was too busy pounding along with the sick lump of guilt in my throat.
His lips parted as he moved closer, and another shaky breath confirmed it.
If he made the first move, I couldn’t be blamed, right? If he touched me, it was only right I returned the favour.
He gave me a shy smile as his hand vanished, flying downwards to suddenly brush over my hip bone, and I flinched back.
I was two seconds from grabbing his shoulders and finally kissing him.
Until I heard a clink behind me, along with a rattle by my hip, and he pulled back with his bloody cufflinks resting in his palm like precious little jewels he’d mined from behind my fucking ass.
Because of course. I was so wrapped up in my dick that I forgot about the cufflinks.
He never went to a Fischer event without them. His grandmother had gifted them to him in her will, his most prized possession, the one object he always wore at any event and they had just saved me from making a terrible mistake.
“It’s a lot,” Harry said quietly. “When I really think about it, I don’t know how the years have passed by so quickly.”
He was carrying on the conversation as if he hadn’t felt it too.
I swiped the cufflinks from his hand, trying not to glare at him. These fucked up feelings were all mine, and it wasn't his fault he was whipping up a storm inside me with that trick.
“Yeah, but you’re still managing. You’re so close, and you know I'm going to be with you every step of the way,” I said as I circled his wrist, lifting it to eye level so I could fix the cufflinks in place.
It was part of our routine for these events, one I’d kind of forced on him years ago and he just accepted.
I flipped his wrist, exposing the soft skin so I could run my thumb over the stream of veins before covering them up with the cuff.
“You’re blushing again, handsome,” I murmured. “Are you getting it out of your system before you go to brunch? Or am I really just that pretty?”
Thankfully, he snorted in reply. “I think you’re getting a big head again. But that’s nothing new, is it?”
“Especially not with my cock,” I grinned at him, and another chuckle followed.
The room was quiet around us. Only the gentle rocking of the yacht disturbed the precise method I used to fit his cufflinks, one that took three times as long as his stylist’s.
“I think that’s you ready,” I said as the second one clicked into place.
I straightened, unable to hold back my sigh of satisfaction. Because I loved the little stretch of his neck every time he looked up at me. I was so close to swooping down and tasting the moans in his throat.
Instead, I took revenge, leaning forwards just enough that my chest swept his shoulder. I savoured his sharp intake of breath as he tried to step away from me, bumping back into the closet door. I loved how alarmed he looked.
I plucked our ties from the coat hanger, casually throwing mine over my shoulder as I pulled back and prepared his.
That’s what he got for his cufflinks fake-out.
“Look, we’ll get through this, okay?” I said, looping the tie over his neck. “I’m going to be right here with you.”
“Like always?” Harry asked with a wry grin, his shoulders relaxing as he let me tie the knot around his throat. He’d lost his wariness, which was definitely a bad choice, but it made it easier to do up his tie when he wasn’t giving me short breaths and gasps.
“Like always,” I replied as I adjusted it around his neck, running my finger over his birthmark that was like an affirmation of our connection. “I’ll sit there watching you beat those fuckers back. You know how much I love watching you play.”
He stilled for a second before quickly catching himself. Most of me wanted to know what had just run through his mind, but I dropped it.
“Okay,” I said, straightening his jacket as if a whirlwind of desire hadn’t just torn through me. “Let's go out there and show them what you’re worth.”