Chapter 63 – Thomas
Chapter Sixty-Three
Thomas
We’re properly alone again, Kit and Kola vanishing in separate directions, and the taste of Clover lingers on my lips.
I want so much more from her, but there’s still something special about this moment in between wanting her and having her.
I love the tension. I love how she looks at me now like she isn’t afraid.
“Our relationship?” I ask her.
“Yeah, I know it’s corny. You can forget I said anything.”
I drag her closer to me by the hand before she can pull away and that soft version of Clover disappears forever. I’m not letting this girl go. Never.
“No,” I tell her. “Clover Robinson, I want you to be my girlfriend.”
“With a label on it and everything?”
“Yes, with a label on it. I don’t want you falling in love with someone else. Like that dance fellow… Roger.”
Clover rolls her eyes. “Roger? No way.”
“I seem to recall him having an interest in you.”
I want to reach out and touch her. Hold her. Tell her that I couldn’t stand it if any other man even looked at her.
“I think you’re jealous,” Clover teases. Fuck. I must be so transparent. It isn’t like me.
“Of who? Him? Jude? Kit?”
Clover scowls. “You don’t have to keep going with the slut thing.”
“That’s not what I meant. I just… You’re beautiful. Naturally, I have to fight off a lot of suitors.”
Clover punches me in the stomach, probably for being so backwards and misogynistic.
“You’re annoying,” she says.
“So are you my girlfriend then?”
“Yes,” she says. “I guess. But we should probably go on a real date before we make it official.”
A date. I’d love to take Clover on dates. Expensive dates. I’d love to see her in a dress, even if I doubt she’d wear one.
“During finals week?” I ask her, hoping I can have a little notice. Clover flashes me a half smile and then shakes her head.
“No way, school comes first.”
I grin at her. I have a suggestion. A suggestion that might kill me, but a suggestion that will give me something to hope for and look forward to during
“What if we waited until we got back. Stayed faithful over the holiday and when we finally see each other again…we do something special.”
I reach for her hand. She allows me to touch her. I run my fingers over her palms. I want to pull her against me, but we have to do this. We have to talk things out.
“Okay,” she says. “Faithful. I can do that.”
She gives me a curious look as if to question whether I could possibly do the same.
“I could wait years for you,” I murmur. “A holiday isn’t a big deal.”
Clover bites her lip and then looks away from me. I hold her hand tighter. I don’t want her to be afraid.
“I don’t know why I can’t let myself go with you, Thomas.”
I get it. I understand Clover perfectly because I’m like her — too much like her for my own good.
“Because you’re scared to be in love.”
Clover chuckles. “Aren’t you?”
“Yeah, bloody terrified. But… It doesn’t matter. I like talking with you. I like lying in bed doing nothing with you. There’s something so bloody easy about being around you.”
I shake the hair out of my face so I can see her properly. Clover smiles and her face turns into a warm, glowing ball of light. I want to hold her so fucking badly.
“I know,” she says. “It’s like… Having a friend but there’s something more, you know?”
“Yes. I know.”
She tiptoes and kisses me. I grab her by the hips and pull her closer, deeper into the kiss. I love when she kisses me. I love any little sign from Clover that she’s letting go, that she’s giving me a chance to get to know her. She wraps her arms around my shoulders and kisses even more deeply.
I run my hands over her hips and then cup her bum. Clover squeals and moves closer to me, her hips undulating slightly against me, getting me rock hard. Kissing her, touching her and fuck, even watching her can be enough to get me hard.
She pulls away and catches her breath.
“I have to stop myself,” she breathes. Her chest moves against mine with each of her breaths.
“Okay,” I whisper, even if I don’t want her to stop.
“I promise to stay in touch over the holiday,” she says. “I promise not to ghost you, get all distant or make things weird. I want to make this work when we get back to school.”
“So do I.”
“I don’t care what happened this semester, I don’t care about any of the bad things you’ve done, but I want you to promise me that you’ll stay out of trouble, okay? Promise that you’ll be different.”
I know she’s talking about the ways I hurt her, the secrets I’ve kept from her and the past I’ve had which any woman would find less than respectable. For Clover? I could promise the world.
“I promise to stay out of trouble.”
“No investigating the other half of spicy freak without me,” Clover tacks on at the end.
“You were planning to investigate?”
“Yes. Sylvia and Kola want me to leave it to the police but I can’t do that. It’s bothering me, you know? It doesn’t make any sense. If Molly hated you so badly, why did she only attack people around you?”
“I dunno.”
“We know she wasn’t working alone. I just think it’s bigger than we realize, you know?”
I can’t blame Clover for turning this around in her mind a hundred times. It’s been a major distraction from studying for finals and not even going out on the water to scull and clear my head has had any measurable impact on my concern.
“What about the incident earlier with Kola? Could it have been Jamal.”
Clover shrugs. “Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, don’t investigate without me.”
“What about Sylvia and Kola?”
“I don’t want to worry them,” Clover says. “They deserve to enjoy their holiday. It’s my fault Kola was in the line of danger. I have to do something about it.”
“It’s as much my fault as yours.”
“Then help me.”
“Why do we always end up working together on some sordid little secret mission?”
Clover rolls her eyes. “There’s nothing sordid about this. And anyway, it’s definitely because we’re both stubborn.”
“Aye.”
I kiss the top of her forehead and she shudders, reaching up for another kiss on the lips. I eagerly kiss her back and we make out until our lips burn. My cock wants to burst by the time we’re done.
Patience.
You have to be patient when you really care for a girl, even if it feels like waiting will kill you. The right woman is always, always worth it.
“I’m not leaving here tonight,” I whisper. “It’s my first night as your boyfriend and I want to hold you, Clover Robinson. I want to hold you so fucking tightly…”
“Then climb into bed,” she says, slowly easing out of her shirt and into her bra. “I could use a good cuddle.”
There’s that pretty smile again. I swear, I’m in heaven.
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