TEN
Mia
I’m restless. Luke Wilson is upstairs. In my house. I’m still tingling all over from the things he did to me yesterday. What I want more than anything is to get him to do them again.
No. That’s not quite right.
What I want even more than that is to get him to let me do the same things to him. I know he was hard for me yesterday. That was part of what had me so excited. It’s been such a long time since I’ve felt desirable, felt sexy. Luke made me feel like I was the sexiest woman on Earth. The way he touched me and held me and pleasured me, I can only remember feeling like that once before in my life and the same guy was responsible for it then.
And he didn’t even cum once. At least I don’t think he did.
I hope that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong. Could he be hiding some kind of sexual dysfunction? Maybe sea monsters don’t work the same way human men do.
Maybe I should ask him.
No, that’s ridiculous!
I shut that idea down quickly. I can’t imagine anything more awkward. So yeah, I google. The results I find are confusing until I can narrow down the specific type of monster Luke is. From the pictures, I’m guessing he’s a kraken. The way his skin changed to that vibrant shade of aqua and his legs split into tentacles. I manage to find an article where one woman claims they can have sex more or less like humans do. I’m just scrolling to the bit where she’s talking about pregnancies and how they’re different for kraken, when a sound from upstairs makes me jump and close my screen guiltily.
I should really get something useful done instead of snooping on Luke on the internet.
Instead of going to the hardware store to see if I can get art supplies like I was going to do today, I hang around wondering if I should go up there or if I already look way too keen. Like crazy keen.
I don’t know how this works anymore. I’ve been with Oliver for the better part of twelve years. He’s really the only guy I’ve ever been with. Well, apart from Luke, that one summer ten years ago...
How do adult women do this ?
What I really need is an excuse to get Luke’s attention. Oh, that would be bad, though, wouldn’t it? I shouldn’t do that.
I last another ten minutes.
I’ll just go upstairs and check on his progress. I’ll say I want to see how the new feature tile looks against the white tiles I picked for the other walls.
I feel like a kid at Christmas, sneaking out of bed to squeeze the presents under the Christmas tree while her parents are in bed. As I reach the door of the bedroom, I hear music playing. Natalie Imbruglia. Above the music, an off-key male voice sings along. I grin. Sneaking to the doorway, I peek in.
Luke is on his knees in the shower, scraping grout into the gaps between the tiles. He’s stripped down to a white singlet and his cap is flipped backwards. He works with swift efficient motions, swiping the tool across the gaps in the tiles, then back down to catch any extra. The whole picture is so different from what I would ever find Oliver doing. He doesn’t know the first thing about DIY or home maintenance. If anything needs to be done around the apartment I either do it myself, or we hire someone. I mean, the guy won’t even change a light bulb.
Luke scoops more paste from the tray of grout and the muscles in his arm flex when he lifts it and scrapes it onto the wall. Then he uses his finger to wipe a loose splotch.
My pussy gives a brief flutter as I remember those clever fingers and hands working me to five orgasms yesterday. I think it was five. I pretty much lost count after the first few.
I press my thighs together at the frisson of warmth in my core. Then I have to stifle a giggle when he puts on a falsetto voice to sing the high part of the chorus .
I clap my hand over my mouth, but he turns and sees me. His eyes go wide and he turns his singing into a cough. “Ah, sorry. Was I too loud?”
“No. I just came up to see how you were going. I like your singing.”
He gives me a sheepish grin. “Not sure anyone’s ever said that before.”
I laugh. “Well, if you ever heard me sing, you’d probably understand why. My singing sounds like cats fighting.”
“No way. I bet you do everything perfectly.”
I snort. “Don’t ask me to speak in Italian, then. That’s another thing you don’t want to hear. My high school Italian teacher actually asked me during a seventh grade oral exam if I had in fact got confused and tried to speak in French!”
Luke laughs. “I’m sure you weren’t that bad.”
I gesture to the wall. “It’s looking good.”
He stands, brushing his hands on his worn jeans. “Yeah. I have to say I like these new tiles. They really work in this space.”
“They do, don’t they?” I’m not looking at the tiles. I’m looking at him.
The corner of his mouth lifts as if he knows what I’m thinking. That he really works in this space. My space.
I take a step closer. I expect Luke to step back, but he doesn’t. We’re standing so close we’re almost touching. He looks down at me.
A buzz from my pocket makes me jump. Fishing my phone out, I mutter a swear word when I see it’s Oliver. “I should probably take this.” I stare at the phone in my hand, an unpleasant feeling in my gut like the floor just turned to quicksand .
Luke frowns. “Is it him?”
I nod, still not answering. My phone keeps buzzing.
“You OK?”
I nod again. I am. I can do this. I can’t hide from him forever.
Luke’s warm, rough hand on my arm grounds me and the floor stops sinking in on itself. “You’ve got this. Just tell him how you feel.”
I still don’t answer.
“Or don’t. Just block his number and run away and live here in Kraken Cove forever.” He gives me a wink. “I’ll cover for you. If anyone comes looking, I’ll tell them I killed you and buried the body in the backyard.”
This is so totally not what I expected him to say it makes me laugh. I shoot him a grateful look and scurry out of the ensuite to answer the phone.
“Hello?”
“Mia! I thought you were going to keep ignoring my calls forever.”
I’m taken aback. I thought Oliver would at least sound a little bit sorry or embarrassed. “Ah, yeah. I guess I just needed a little while to process how I’m feeling.”
Oliver makes a little noise in the back of his throat. “Listen. That’s what I called to talk to you about. I wish you’d answered me sooner. Then we could have cleared all this up and you wouldn’t have been left feeling bad.”
“We could?” I walk to the window in the bedroom, looking out at the gum trees in the yard below. The leaves are still. There’s no breeze. “I wouldn’t? ”
“No, Mia. That’s just it. I don’t know what crazy story Tegan told you, but I can guess, and I promise you that’s not what happened at all.”
I frown. Tegan can be a bit dramatic, but it’s not like her to lie. In fact, she’s much more likely to tell the truth, even if it will hurt someone’s feelings. “Well, what happened then?”
Oliver sighs. “Rebecca Owens and I were going through her statement again. The case is heating up and I knew that the defence wanted to cross-examine her.”
“Wait. Wait.” I shake my head, trying to clear it. “So you’re saying there’s nothing going on between you and Rebecca?”
“No, Mia. Look, you know that Tegan has never liked me.”
“Oh, that’s not true.”
“Mia, let’s face it. She’s had it in for me ever since we first got together.”
I bite my lip. Technically, it was when he thought we should take a break in our final year of high school, but that’s not important. He’s right. Tegan isn’t his biggest fan. Isn’t that why Tegan wanted to dig the dirt on Oliver in the first place?
I sigh. “Yeah, but if there’s nothing going on, why did you invite her back to our place?”
“Look, either you believe me or you don’t. What it comes down to is trust. And after everything we’ve been through together and how long we’ve known each other, I’d like to think we could at least trust each other.”
I swallow around a sudden dryness in my throat. I didn’t think of it quite like that. I’m not quite ready to let this rest, though. “I hear what you’re saying, but there is more than just this one thing. The late nights, not answering my calls...”
“All with good reason. You know how busy I’ve been. ”
“And it’s not that I don’t trust you, but you have to admit it looks bad. And you never want to sleep with me anymore.”
Behind me, Luke clears his throat. I flush as I turn. He’s leaning against the doorway watching me. “Look, it’s none of my business, but...”
Oliver’s voice in my ear sounds peeved. “Who is that?”
I pull the phone away and concentrate on Luke. “But what?”
“Well, there’s got to be something up if he doesn’t want to have you every fucking day.” This time his voice is pitched low. There’s no way Oliver could have heard him. He takes a step closer to me and I shiver all over at the way his look eats up my body from foot to head. I feel like he’s touched me more with a look than Oliver has in months.
“Is there a guy there? Mia, do you have a guy there?” Oliver’s voice is practically screaming through the phone. I put it back to my ear. “So what if I have? Don’t you trust me?”
“I...I...” He’s got no retort. For once, the guy who’s always got a comeback has nothing to say.
“It’s a bit different when the shoe’s on the other foot, isn’t it?”
“Mia, you’re being ridiculous.”
No, my head is clear now. I can’t believe he nearly talked me out of believing Tegan. I inject my tone with all the confidence I can muster. “I don’t think I am. I’ve cancelled the wedding, and I’m staying in Kraken Cove until I’ve sorted out what I want to do about the house and the apartment, and everything else. Please, don’t call me. I need time to work out how I’m feeling. Alone. I’m not going to marry you, and I’m not going to let you twist things around into making me feel like I’m the bad guy here.”
“Mia, that’s not—”
I look up at Luke, who’s watching me, an encouraging smile on his face. It gives me the strength to cut Oliver off. “As of last night, we’re done. You’re free to do whatever you want. I just hope you’ll be honest with me about it when we next talk.”
I hang up without giving him a chance to reply. Then I stare at my screensaver of the park outside my window at home behind the cracks on my screen.
It’s probably my imagination, but they seem a little smaller today than they did yesterday and the night before. I’m pretty sure I know whose solid, comforting presence I have to thank for that.