Chapter Twenty-Two
Oliver
“Okay, well, I think it’s my turn to tell a story,” Theo said, looking down at the cards in his hand and grinning.
It was much later in the evening, and several of us sat around outside picking at the last bits of food while playing a card game called Braggart that Noah had brought with him.
In it, we were all pretending to be heroes in a pub, trying to tell the tallest and most ridiculous tales we could with the cards we’d drawn, embellishing furiously as we went while trying to score the most points and avoid being called a liar.
We’d all had a couple of drinks by that point, and every round, the stories people told got more and more outrageous.
“Go on, then,” Alex said. “Impress us.”
“Well,” Theo said, starting to lay out cards. “Last night, while wearing nothing more than my boots and a smile, I covered myself in oil to wrestle with the gladiator champion of a nearby kingdom—”
“Wrestling? Is that what you’re calling it?” Laurie asked with a laugh. None of us could keep a straight face at that point, especially when Theo batted his eyelashes innocently and grinned.
“Absolutely, he was very good at wrestling. I think I’m going to get lessons,” Theo said as Alex choked on his drink. “Anyway, I think I’m probably a much better person for it.”
“You fucked a gladiator, and it made you a better person?” Noah said wryly. “What kind of sex are you having?”
“Enlightening apparently,” Lane said.
“Come on. Are you all telling me you’ve never had the sort of incredible sex that changed you as a person?” Theo asked, reaching for his bottle of cider. “If not, I highly recommend it.” He winked, and I snorted. “Is anyone going to challenge me? Or do you all believe I did this incredible deed?”
“Honestly, I don’t think I’d challenge you if I could,” Laurie said, looking down at his cards. “I’m going to the bar instead.” He reached for the pile of cards in the centre and drew three.
I looked down at my hand. I didn’t think I’d be able to do much this round either, but I would potentially be able to call someone a liar… I was just waiting for the right opportunity.
“Okay, my turn,” Lane said, a playful grin curling his lips. “And while Theo’s deed is something, I think I can top it.”
“Can you? I’d watch that,” Theo said.
Everyone laughed, and Lane pretended to scoff. “In your dreams.”
“Oh yeah? Well, what fantastical feats have you performed lately?”
“As it happens, while I was in the queen’s bedchamber last week, I danced to impress the foulest of all dragons—”
“Why was there a dragon in the queen’s bedroom?” Alex asked. “Were you interrupting something?”
“Sounds to me like he was the entertainment,” Noah said.
“If you’ve got a fucking dragon in your room, that should be entertainment enough,” Alex said.
“Oooh, we’ve reached the monsterfucking part of the evening,” Theo said gleefully, clapping his hands while Laurie laughed. “Wait, did you just dance and then get kicked out, or did you get to join in the rest of the fun?”
I snorted, my whole body shaking with silent laughter. I’d never be able to match this, but I was having too much fun just watching. I understood now what Noah meant about playing the game with people who had the same sense of humour.
“A gentleman never tells,” Lane said. “But I will say that my deeds are now known across the land.”
“Are you our resident dragon fucker then?” I asked, trying to keep a straight face and failing miserably.
“Aww, that’s not fair,” Theo said.
“Why the fuck are you disappointed?” Alex asked. “Wait, fuck that, I know exactly why. I’ve met you.”
Theo giggled. I was quickly realising there was a lot more to him than a sweet face and incredible trifle-making skills, and I wanted to get to know him better. I thought we’d get on well.
“As I said, a gentleman never tells.”
“Sounds fake to me,” Laurie said. “If it was real, you’d be bragging about it.”
“It’s not real,” I said, pulling out the card I’d been saving and sliding it onto the table between us. “You’re definitely a liar. In fact, you’re an outrageous liar.” Several people ooohed as Lane smirked at me.
“Yeah? What happened instead, then?”
It was my turn to grin as I produced two more cards from my hand, laying them out over Lane’s.
“You might have been in the queen’s bedchamber, but there was no dancing.
Instead, I know for a fact you were hiding in terror.
And it wasn’t from a dragon either. It was from an angry-looking chicken!
That’s why your deeds are known throughout the land. ”
“Hey, chickens are vicious bastards,” Lane said. “You try fighting one.”
“It’s a chicken,” Alex said. “You can run faster than a chicken.”
“Not a vicious one,” Lane said. He was still grinning, and the look he was giving me suggested I might be in trouble later—the fun kind of trouble that would leave me begging for more. “Go on, then. What have you got?”
“Oh, I’m not telling a story,” I said wryly as I reached for the pile of cards in the middle of the table. “I’m off to the bar. Which I think means Theo wins this round.”
“You fucker!”
“Yeah,” I said. “But what are you going to do?”
Lane’s expression was full of heat and unspoken promises, and it made my cock throb in anticipation. I hadn’t realised how much I loved riling him up until now, and I suddenly wondered if it would be rude to unceremoniously boot everyone out so Lane could drag me upstairs.
I took a long sip of my drink, wrapping my lips around the mouth of the cider bottle, my eyes never leaving Lane’s.
We played another few rounds of Braggart, which ended with Theo being declared the winner and Alex grumbling that he’d cheated.
Theo celebrated by kissing Alex’s cheek and demanding Laurie carry him home because he was too tipsy and tired to walk.
I’d thought he was joking, but as I’d seen them off, I’d watched Laurie offer Theo a piggy-back ride.
I still wasn’t sure if they were together, but if they weren’t, they definitely needed to be.
Alex stayed around for another few minutes while Noah helped me load the dishwasher before the two of them headed off together.
Will had left earlier because he had to get up early to start the farming day, and Spencer had left before we’d started playing because he also had to get up early to do more baking for Novel Tea before it opened.
As soon as Lane closed the door on Alex and Noah, he turned to me with a heated smile.
“That was fun.” He stepped closer, and suddenly, his lips were right there, just inches from mine. “Busy but fun.”
“Yeah, it was. We should do it again sometime.”
“We should. Although next time, everyone can bring something just to lighten the load a little. But you have to make that bread again because it was fucking incredible.”
“Thanks,” I said, feeling a flush creep up my cheeks. “It’s not hard to make.”
“It’s not about how difficult it is. It’s the fact that you made it.
” His hand came up to cup my jaw in the same way it always did when Lane wanted me to focus on him.
It was something that made me feel safe and wanted and unleashed a storm of fiery butterflies in my chest. I couldn’t escape Lane’s words; I just had to listen, which I supposed was the point.
“You’re incredible, Oliver, truly. I… I’m so fucking happy you’re here. ”
“I’m happy too,” I said quietly. The words crystallised a realisation that had been slowly forming over the last few weeks. I was happy here, happier than I’d been in a long time, and saying it out loud made it feel so much more real.
I didn’t want to go back to London. I wanted to stay in Heather Bay, with Lane, for as long as he’d have me.
I just had a few kinks to work out first. Like whether I could keep my job if I wasn’t going into the office every day or even once a week.
And if I couldn’t, then I’d figure something out.
Maybe try my hand at freelance editing for a while and find something part-time to help pay my bills.
I didn’t think I’d be up for running a full-time bed and breakfast, but it would be an option if push came to shove.
But now wasn’t the time to think about that, not with Lane drawing me closer to him, his hand wrapping around my waist to pull our bodies flush.
“I can’t believe you called me a liar,” Lane said as his mouth brushed against mine.
“An outrageous liar.”
“There’s not really much difference.”
“You’d have done the same to me,” I said. Lane shrugged, and I felt him smile.
“Probably. And Alex, just because he’s fun to piss off.”
I chuckled. “I don’t want to talk about Alex.”
“What do you want?”
“I think you already know that.” I pressed my hips forward so he could feel my growing arousal. Just being this close to Lane with the promise of so much more between us was enough to get me worked up.
“Tell me,” Lane said. “I like hearing you.”
“I want to suck your cock. I want to get on my knees and worship you.”
“Mmm, I like the sound of that. What else? How do you want to come?”
I hadn’t really thought that far. I just wanted to show Lane how much he meant to me. He was always thinking about me, especially when it came to sex, and I wanted to put him first for once.
“I don’t know,” I said. “We’ll get to me afterwards.”
“No,” he said. “That’s not how this works.”
“But… you always put me first. I want to spoil you.”
“Funnily enough,” he said with a wry smile as he drew me in for another kiss, “spoiling you makes me happy. I love making you come.”
“Oh…” I hadn’t thought about it like that.
I’d always known Lane was a ridiculously giving man, especially in bed, but there was something different about the fact that he did it because he liked making me happy.
It was a subtle difference, and most people probably wouldn’t notice it, but to me it spoke volumes about how he really felt about me.
He hadn’t said how he felt. Instead, he’d shown me.