Chapter 32
As long as you’ll put up with me
“It isn’t,” I scoff.
“Oh, it absolutely is!” Connor counters.
“There’s no way he’s going to make it.”
“Want to bet on it?” Connor’s face is full of mischief as he makes his offer. “If I win, I get to ask you anything I want, and you have to answer honestly. If you win, you can ask me. Deal?”
I consider his proposal. There’s no way I’m going to lose, and I’d like to find out more about Connor without restrictions…
“Deal,” I say, offering him my hand to shake.
Connor takes it, shakes it once and brings it up to his mouth to kiss. Still holding hands, we turn our attention to the focus of our wager.
As Connor predicted, the seagull we’ve been watching for the last half hour waddles its way through the open doors of a chain bakery and steals a sausage roll right out of someone’s hand and flies out again with its prize.
I laugh. “That greedy bastard!” We’ve already watched him steal chips from four different people, half a sandwich from a small child and an ice cream from a very angry tourist. “I thought for sure he’d be shooed out of there before he had chance to grab something!”
“Aww, don’t pout, baby,” Connor says, mimicking sympathy.
I watch our bird peck at the sausage roll. “I just can’t believe the nerve of these seagulls!”
As he eats, two other enormous seagulls land next to him and start ripping away at the pastry.
“They’re absolutely brazen,” Connor says, kissing my cheek. “You’d think their parents would raise them better than this. You know, teach them the moral implications of stealing.”
I smirk. “Don’t be a dick.”
I give him a small shove, but he catches my hands and pulls me towards him so our noses are nearly touching.
“Don’t be a sore loser.” Connor kisses me for the millionth time today.
You’d think I’d get bored of him kissing me this much, but I don’t. Each time lights a fire inside me, making my skin tingle and my pants more and more damp.
We’ve spent the entire day exploring the area, playing on arcade games, making beach art and visiting the tourist shops. We stopped for lunch at a little café on one of the side streets, Connor scowling at my salad but not commenting.
Surprise, surprise, I’m back on the diet again.
Not that I’m openly advertising that fact to Connor.
Even though he managed to relax me a bit about showing him my body, I’m still unhappy when I look in the mirror.
I admit the green bruise on my eye and still-healing cut on my head aren’t helping my perception of myself, but the root of the problem is my size. Always has been.
Despite the hot weather, I’m covered up in white linen trousers, and I have a cardigan on over my T-shirt to hide my arms. I bought a cap and some giant sunglasses from one of the souvenir shops to hide my face from the public.
I wanted to buy a plain grey cap, but Connor insisted I buy a black one with the words i love north wales embroidered across the front in red.
I agreed, on the condition that he bought a matching one in pink, which he did, and he hasn’t taken it off since.
We wave goodbye to our seagull (which we named Sid) and turn back in the direction of our hotel.
We walk hand in hand along the front in comfortable silence, Connor’s thumb stroking mine, simply enjoying being in each other’s presence.
When we reach the hotel, he holds the door open for me and guides me towards the elevator with a hand on my lower back.
He’s barely pushed the button for our floor when he presses my back against the mirrored wall and slams his mouth to mine.
I’m taken by surprise, so it takes me a minute for my brain to catch up with what’s happening, but when it does, I run my hands up his chest and return the kiss.
Spurred on by my reaction, his hands slide from my side around to my arse and squeeze, pulling my hips into his crotch.
I let out a surprised moan when I feel his erection through his chino shorts.
“I’ve been wanting to do this all day,” he breathlessly says against my mouth.
I giggle. “You have been kissing me all day.” My laugh turns to a gasp when he sucks on my neck.
“Not the way I’ve wanted to.”
Connor returns to my mouth, and I open for him immediately, letting his tongue sweep in and caress mine.
“I could fuck you right here.” He groans, rubbing his hard cock against me.
“I wish you wouldn’t,” comes a dry female voice from the foyer.
We both snap our heads to the still open elevator doors, to see Bambi stepping inside.
I try to wriggle out from under Connor, out of embarrassment, but Connor doesn’t seem bothered.
He reluctantly shifts his weight from my body when he sees the pleading look on my face, and pulls me to stand in front of him to hide the bulge in his shorts.
Wrapping his arms around my waist, his hands landing intentionally on my stomach, he gives Bambi a tight smile.
“Next time, try to save it for your room,” she sneers, turning to press a button on the panel.
“Don’t worry, there’s plenty left for when we get to our room.”
I blush at his words and duck my head, glad I left my cap and glasses on.
“We’ll be needing room service tonight, too.”
“That’s not a service we provide,” she says, swinging her sleek ponytail as she speaks. “Sorry.”
“According to Andy, it’s a service that’s available to me and my girl whenever we want. I’ll call our order down.”
I try to ignore the way him calling me his girl makes me feel; I’m wound up tight enough as it is. Bambi gives him a withering look but reluctantly agrees.
I supress a giggle at her annoyance and take the opportunity to snuggle a little closer to Connor. Luckily, the elevator reaches Bambi’s floor quickly. She stomps out before the doors are fully open and disappears down the corridor without another word.
I spin in Connor’s arms so I’m facing him. “Room service?”
Connor leans down and kisses me. “I thought we could stay in and just relax tonight. Is that okay?”
An evening alone with Connor where I don’t have to watch other women fawn over him or compare myself to everyone around me? Yes please!
I smile. “Sounds perfect.”
The waiter from the restaurant downstairs rolls a trolley to the table by the window, gives us a small nod and retreats.
“There’s enough food here for ten people!”
We’ve changed into a set each of Connor’s joggers and a T-shirt, and there’s an old sitcom playing on the TV.
“I wanted you to have options,” Connor says as he inspects the dishes under the cloches.
I look at him with mock disapproval. “That’s what menus are for.”
He smiles, pulling out a chair for me. “Stop complaining and come and sit down.”
Once I’m seated, with a cloth napkin on my knee, Connor pours me a glass of wine and starts to dish out the food. I sip my wine while he fixes me a plate of what seems to be a bit of every dish the kitchen offers.
“I can’t eat all of that,” I groan as he sets a plate piled high with delicious-smelling food in front of me.
He shrugs as he starts on his own plate. “You don’t have to. Just eat as much or as little as you want.”
There are five different dishes on my plate. Five of my favourite foods, now I come to think of it, none of which are remotely diet-safe. I reach for a spring roll, while Connor settles down with his own food. He’s decided to just have a tiny bit of everything.
“Now that we’re sorted, I think it’s time I collect on our bet,” Connor says before ripping into a chicken wing.
“What bet?” I absently brush some rogue pastry from my T-shirt.
“The Adventures of Sid the Seagull?” Connor laughs. “We bet on his stealth, and I won. Now I get to ask you anything and you have to answer honestly.”
“Shit,” I sigh, dropping the remaining half of my spring roll onto my plate.
“Got something to hide from me?” Connor asks, his eyebrow lifting in amusement.
“No,” I answer quickly. “It’s not that at all. I just hate talking about myself.”
Connor licks the barbeque sauce from his fingers, then wipes them on his napkin. “How about this. I only ask you three questions, and you can ask me three back so the focus isn’t all on you.”
I suppose three questions isn’t unreasonable. I give him a reluctant nod, pick the spring roll back up and throw it into my mouth. I’m going to need all my energy for this.
“Good.” Connor smiles.
I love his smile. It’s warm and genuine and makes him look even more handsome. I can’t help but smile back, despite my heart racing in my chest.
“Ladies first.” He picks up another chicken wing.
I wish he’d move on to something else – seeing him lick his fingers is ridiculously distracting.
“Okay.” I take a minute to choose my questions carefully. Though I have no doubt that Connor would honestly answer anything I asked, any time, I want to make this conversation worthwhile. “Tell me about you and the baby deer.”
“Bambi?” Connor doesn’t look remotely surprised by my first choice of question and answers matter-of-factly. “She’s Andy’s sister. He took her on here when he bought the place because she couldn’t hold down a job anywhere else. We had one drunken hook-up years ago. That’s it.”
He casually wipes his hands on a napkin and moves on to his burger. He sounds dismissive about the entire subject, as if it didn’t mean anything to him. I have a feeling Bambi feels differently.
“Oh, and Bambi isn’t her real name, by the way.”
I laugh. “Thank God.” As a teacher, I’ve met many poor souls who are stuck with idiotic names thanks to their parents, but thankfully never a Bambi.
“Her name’s Veronica, but she hates it. She says it makes her sound like a fifty-year-old woman in a tweed suit, so she insists that everyone calls her Bambi. Thinks it’s cute.”
“It isn’t,” I snort. We both laugh and take bites of our food. “Your turn.” I don’t want to answer personal questions, but a bet’s a bet and I’d rather get it over with as soon as possible.
“Why did you marry Rhys?”