Chapter 36 Ludo
Ludo
I slid open the door to the summer house.
“Wait here,” I said, nipping inside.
“Hurry up, it’s cold out here.”
“I won’t be a minute.”
Cue me, rushing around madly, making the bed, throwing clothes from the floor into the laundry basket, lighting a few Molton Brown candles, and slipping out of the pants I’d been wearing all evening and into a fresh pair.
I checked myself in the mirror, took my glasses off, put them back on, took them back off again, and put them on the bedside table.
I ran my fingers through my hair and, finally, flung open the door.
“Here to read your gas meter, mate,” Sunny said. I laughed but hoped he wasn’t planning to continue this role play once he stepped across the threshold. Not tonight, anyway.
“Nice gaff. The candles seem brave, given, you know, your history.”
“Can I get you anything? A glass of water, or…?”
Sunny moved towards me, our eyes firmly locked on each other.
His face was beautiful, lit by the golden flickering of the candlelight.
I stepped backwards until my legs hit the edge of the bed and I fell onto it.
Sunny lowered himself down onto me, the weight of him pressing into me.
Our legs tangled. The smell of him filled my lungs and made my heart thump in my chest. My body shivered and tingled.
I looked up into Sunny’s eyes, his beaming face.
Tenderly, he brushed my hair from my face, his fingers gently weaving through my unruly curls.
“You’re gorgeous. You know that?”
“I’m starting to think you’re not really here to read my gas meter at all.”
Sunny laughed and lowered his lips to my neck, kissing his way along my jaw towards my mouth.
Softly, slowly, like he was savouring every single moment.
We kissed, and our hands explored each other’s bodies.
Within a few minutes, shoes had been kicked off, trousers had been removed and shirts were crumpled on the floor.
We rolled around on the bed, kissing and tasting and breathing in every single part of each other, each lost in the other, lost in this delicious, precious moment.
I felt more complete, more whole, than I had ever felt in my entire life, just being wrapped up in his arms and having him in mine.
My body ached for him, wanted him, needed him, and when I couldn’t bear the ache any longer, it welcomed him in.
* * *
In the afterglow, Sunny lay back against the pillows and closed his eyes.
I lay beside him, studying his body in the candlelight.
Wherever the sun had kissed his skin, it was bejewelled with freckles the colours of toast and ochre.
The trail of them wound from the neck and across the lean muscle of his chest, where his infamous nipples, the colour of ballet slippers, still stood en pointe.
I kissed them. Then I kissed his collarbones and the explosion of auburn and amber gemstones that covered the tight muscles of his shoulders.
I rested my head on his chest, my cheek pressing into the warmth of his body.
I felt his heart beating beneath me and breathed in the homely, manly scent of him.
He smelt of nutmeg and sandalwood and of two boys who had just had sex. He was beautiful, and he was in my bed.
* * *
In the morning, when I opened my eyes, Sunny was already awake. He was sitting up against the pillows, one arm around the back of my head, hand resting on my shoulder, the other hand holding my water-damaged copy of Wolf Hall.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” he said, reaching down to kiss my forehead.
“You’re not actually reading that, are you?”
“I’m not sure anybody has actually read this. It’s impenetrable.”
“I only keep it there to impress boys,” I said.
Sunny threw the book on the floor and snuggled down into the bed until our noses were touching.
“You don’t need a book to impress me, Ludo Ben. You’re impressive enough all on your own.”
Then he kissed me.
“Hilary Mantel will be rolling in her grave,” I said. “All those hours researching Thomas Cromwell, completely wasted.”
After round two, and a shower, Sunny suggested we go for breakfast somewhere.
“We’ve got some serious talking to do,” he added.
It was the most deflating thing he could have said.