Chapter 12
Fox
There were so many firsts here. Waking up to someone clinging to me was today’s.
I’d never had that before. Thomas hadn’t been tactile at all, even behind closed doors, and he’d hated touch in the night.
A light sleeper, apparently. Sometimes I’d wondered if he’d simply been repulsed by me, my sweat, my morning breath, my…
everything? What did I know? There was so much with him I’d read wrong and interpreted in a way that had been entirely different from the actual truth.
Thomas hadn’t loved me. Not like I’d loved him, instead I’d been some kind of interim solution enabling him to have a practical shag on tap and a place to stay half funded by me.
I’d been really naive, which was definitely an issue here. Was I still so stupid that I believed this could be different? Well, he’d proved me right so far, this Noah.
Fast asleep in bed next to me, this man. All messy hair, falling over his eyes. Soft skin everywhere, gorgeous waves of it against the white sheets.
Noah. He was very human. Honest. Brave. Much braver than me, because he actually said it like it was.
Asked me questions and answered mine, with proper words and no excuses.
I was so used to excuses I’d started to expect them.
Another thing that made me shudder, lying here naked with the ceiling fan brushing cool air over my body.
“Hey.” I poked a finger into his arm. Softness and downy hair over hard muscle.
Perhaps it was rude to wake him, but I had lost track of time, not even knowing if we’d overslept breakfast or if it was time for lunch.
I needed water. Also? My foot was now in the hell of unsoothable itching.
I’d been here before, and I knew better than to try to rub it against the sheets; instead, I just held it up to the fan, hoping the cool air would help.
It didn’t. It just made it a hundred times worse, and I honestly wanted to cry.
“Hey,” he moaned back, stretching out his body.
The sheet moving down with his foot, exposing his very…
pleasant-looking erection. Morning wood was lovely, and I, for one, would have happily crawled straight on top of that.
Sunk down on it and thanked him for the insane stretch that would have me sore for days.
I’d gratefully have simply sucked him off.
Let him come in my mouth, the way he had deflowered that little wish from me last night.
Had it been worth waiting for? Absolutely.
Noah was not only an excellent top, but he also sucked dick with enthusiastic purpose.
Or perhaps it was just my limited experience here.
Had I had multiple partners in the past?
Yes. Just a small handful, all of whom had left me feeling inadequate.
I was starting to realise a few things here, analysing my past with anxious discoveries hitting me left, right and centre.
Thomas had been crap in bed. I had probably been too intimidated to realise, and on top of that?
I needed to learn to ask for things. There were things I wanted, and this was the most frightening thing.
It had been such a brief time, knowing him, and here I was, wanting to ask him for the world.
Insane. I knew that. Also? The itch was also proper insane, and now he was sat up holding my leg up off the bed with a concerned look.
“Itches,” I huffed out. Don’t you dare, Fox. No tears. Don’t wake him up and cry in his face. Not a good look. Miles away from the seductive sexual favours you had planned to dish out in your head.
“Shower. Let me carry you in there. You need a pee?”
“I’m not a kid,” I grumped out, but at the same time I nodded. I needed relief. In every sense of the word.
“Don’t be stupid. I’m here to help you.”
Which is when my brain threw out flowers and rainbows again, despite the water pooling in my eyes, allowing my foot to touch the floor. Fuck. This was sore and horrible and vile and embarrassing, and him lifting me up in his arms like a baby was also…incredibly hot.
Now, hot was one thing. Calming and reassuring in the same sentence was not what I had expected, but it was.
He looked after me, putting me down on the toilet and grabbing the showerhead.
Getting the temperature right, before gently covering my foot in cool water that made me release a ridiculous sigh.
Also? I was peeing in front of him. Sat on the toilet.
And all he did was cover the floor in more water than was probably sensible whilst gently stroking my leg.
“There’s a drain in the corner,” he muttered, like I’d called him out on trying to flood the villa. “And your foot is the priority here.”
“Also, your back. You need to stop carrying me around.”
“It’s not like you can walk. And we’re going to breakfast today, because my parents will honestly disown me and not ever speak to me again if I miss this.”
“Shit,” came out of my mouth. “Happy birthday.”
“Forty today. Half a life lived. Not much to show for it.”
“You have plenty to show for it. Hot body, all your own hair and a very cute man in your bed. You said that yourself; I’m just repeating it.”
Here it was, that gorgeous blush on him.
What I absolutely loved about him, and now I was blushing myself, just thinking those thoughts.
He made me warm, all over, just his gaze on me and I crumbled.
And using that word? Ridiculous. I was not in love with him or anything; I was just shit-talking to make him smile.
Also, to keep me from reacting to the water he was spraying over the sole of my foot.
It was helping, actually. Cooling. Also?
I was still stark naked on the toilet, and here was that now familiar, “Yooo-hooo!” signalling the swift entrance of his parents into the room.
Yeah. We’d left the patio doors open overnight. Because we were idiots.
“Stay,” he mouthed, handing me the showerhead with one hand and ripping a towel off the rails with the other, as I watched his bare arse exit the room.
“Happy birthday!” his mother squealed, as I tried to think how to handle this gracefully. No chance of that because now I had all of them waving at me through the open door as Noah thankfully shut it behind them, leaving me alone with my foot and showerhead and shame.
I managed, of course I did. Towel tight around my waist, foot feeling a little less awful, and here I was hobbling to my waiting audience, trying to at least look like I…belonged here.
“Fox, darling,” she said, the mother. Gillian.
A spectacle unfolding right before my eyes.
Me naked, hiding behind a towel. His mother laughing heartily.
For an older lady, she was very elegant.
Same soft eyes as her son, and that warm smile.
And of course, now she was shamelessly hugging me and kissing my cheeks, followed by a warm squeeze of my arm from his father.
This was weird. Inappropriate and perhaps … No, I wasn’t freaking out, and Noah was casually getting dressed in the corner and his dad was sitting at the foot of the bed, and all I could think of was how the bed was covered in spunk and us and everything under the sun and he wasn’t even bothered.
Also? I had no clothes of my own here, having worn his yesterday. Like the loser I obviously was.
“So, boys, I have booked the courtesy buggy to pick us up in fifteen minutes, just so Fox here can get transported safely. How is that foot, darling?”
“Better,” I grimaced out a smile, like a fool.
“Good.” She nodded. “We’ll have a nice leisurely breakfast, a few glasses of bubbles, and of course Noah needs to get his present.”
I nodded. Noah just sighed. “Mum, can you guys just leave us in peace for a sec and let Fox here get dressed?”
“Absolutely,” his dad agreed, vacating the room far too willingly. And his wife just patted me gently on the cheek, like I was a small child.
“Fox, darling,” she said. Then she walked out, waving her hand in the air.
“Get dressed,” Noah urged, a growing blush on his face.
I agreed, perhaps it was a bit much remaining stark naked with his parents outside.
Or maybe it was because I was smiling now, gratefully accepting the clean shirt he was handing me.
Alongside my now dry shorts, that…well. Fit.
My own shirt was still flapping in the wind outside, and I took a step forward to go retrieve it as he just shook his head.
“Smells a bit. Wouldn’t wear it.”
“Trust you to protect me from bad odour.” I grinned.
“Well…” He was swallowing his words and looking away. Like he was ashamed of his behaviour, when all I could see was someone looking out for me. I wasn’t used to that. People caring enough about me to ensure I…didn’t smell bad. It was humbling, and the fact that I liked it was…
He wasn’t mine and never would be. This was just a temporary…
A rebound. This was a rebound and one I had to get over. Quickly. Hence I pulled the clothes on and left him standing there, retreating outside to his mother’s embrace, like she hadn’t just seen me two minutes ago.
“Darling, we had dinner with your friends last night. What a bunch of men, eh?”
“Yes. I’ve known them all for years. We…”
“You all go on holiday together. Very nice. But also. Thomas?”
Damnit. Not the conversation I wanted to have right now.
“My ex,” I admitted. Perhaps I had told her before, but I couldn’t remember right now. Conversations and interactions all a blur. I couldn’t even have stated my own name at the moment, too befuddled with the crap swirling around in my head. “He’s very…persistent. It’s difficult for me to…”
“Darling, if you can pardon my language for a minute. That man is an absolute disgrace. Controlling and out of control. All I can say is thank God you’re no longer with him, and please promise me you won’t go back.
Whatever that foul man says. I had the displeasure of his company at the table, and no. Fox. Absolute no.”
“He’s not that…”