Chapter 28 – Vale
DAWN
VALE
Oliver takes me to the shower. He washes me with loving, gentle hands, his every touch reverent.
He’s taking care of me. He dries my body and slides my dress back over my head.
Then he leads me out of the pool house and up to the kitchen.
I sit at the kitchen island nursing a bottle of cold water while he excuses himself to get some dry clothes.
It takes him five minutes before he’s back, wearing ripped jeans, a tight black T-shirt and a pair of combat boots I’m surprised he owns.
He’s dressed down for once. Is this how he looks when he’s alone?
His long dark hair is down with a few thick strands caressing his cheek.
He rarely leaves it down, but I wish he did.
Oliver smiles at me. “You’re blushing,” he says, and I look away quickly, bringing my hand up to my mouth.
I don’t want him to see my humiliation. I feel his arms around me in a soft embrace.
“Don’t hide from me. You never have to hide anything from me, Vale, not ever. Tell me what has you blushing.”
He turns the barstool so I’m forced to face him. He leans in, his focus entirely on my eyes. He isn’t going to give in. He wants to know everything, but it’s hard to be so vulnerable with him. I barely know him, yet it’s like I’ve known him my entire life.
“Your hair, I like it down. You look very handsome right now. That’s all.” My cheeks heat farther. Oliver wants no secrets between us, while I want to hide most of the time.
I reach up and grab one of the thick strands that curls at his cheek. I wrap its silky softness around my finger and twirl it. “I might be jealous of this strand and how it touches your face so freely.” I say.
I can’t believe I just said that. It may be my truth, but it’s ripped from me without any conscious effort. I look down at my knees, my embarrassment grating against my nerves. My heart throbs in my chest.
Oliver lifts my chin, forcing me to look at him. His smile is the brightest I’ve ever seen it. He looks genuinely happy. That’s the moment I realize that woman before hadn’t given him happiness. She didn’t, but my crazy-ass words did, and he’s all the more attractive for it.
“Touch me, I’m yours,” he whispers as he brings my hands up to his cheeks and holds them there with his own.
I cradle his face in my trembling hands, then close my eyes as my heart sings at his words.
I can barely breathe because of the fluttering in my chest. Oliver being mine sounds good, it sounds right. It sounds like fate.
My head is spinning. “Sometimes I think you must be a dream. Just being with you, feeling your skin against mine. It’s too much, yet not nearly enough. I’m sorry. I’m not making any sense.”
He stops me with a kiss, his lips gentle at first, then tugging at my bottom lip. He pulls me into his embrace. The heat from his body seeps into mine, waking my heart and filling me with bliss. Why does he feel like this? When he pulls back, he lifts my chin to look at him.
“Give yourself some credit, Vale. You make perfect sense. I get it. I don’t think I could ever get enough of you. You’re more than I could ever have asked for—” He stops and I have a feeling he wasn’t finished. He doesn’t say the words, but I hear them echo in my head, More than I’ve ever deserved.
“Come on, let’s go for a drive,” he says.
But I yawn before I can stop myself.
“You’re tired,” he acknowledges, his lips trying to tilt into a frown.
“No, I’m fine. Let’s go.” This is nuts, it’s almost morning. The birds have started singing. I should have been in bed hours ago, but I can’t tell him no. I don’t want to tell him no.
“Are you sure? I can walk you home and hold you till you fall asleep. I can take a rain check. I won’t mind.” I love it when he holds me, but I don’t want to miss a second with him.
“I’d rather be tired tomorrow than miss a moment with you.”
“Alright, I’ll not argue with my lady.”
Oliver grabs my hand and pulls me off the stool.
He leads me out through the back door as I try my best to keep up with his long legs.
Instead of going directly out through the veranda, we turn left and walk around the border of a formal garden.
It’s too dark for me to see much detail.
When we make it around the edge, I look over my shoulder at the house.
I notice a tower that must face the front, one I’ve strangely never seen.
“Oh wow, that would make a good observatory. Do you have a telescope?” I ask, knowing he doesn’t.
He looks back at the house, noticing where I’m looking, and smiles secretively.
“Maybe one day I’ll get one and you can show me how to use it.
” I crack a smile, hoping he does get one.
Then he continues down a path to a large garage.
Not once does he let my hand go. At the door, he presses in some numbers on the keypad, and it unlocks.
When we go inside, lights come on automatically.
I’m shocked by the large space. He’s got at least ten cars in here. But I know which one we’re taking because it’s the car that always sits in front of his house. I head straight for the pretty silver car.
Oliver laughs. “You know me already. It’s a ’59 Ferrari GT California Spyder,” he explains as if I should know exactly what it is. Everyone should.
“I’ve never seen a car like this before. It’s beautiful,” I tell him as I lean over the passenger door and look at all the small dials that cross the dash.
Gramps and Oliver are alike in this, the love of classic cars. Gramps has a 1967 powder-blue Mustang he drives to all the local car shows and a boring hybrid he drives around town when he regrets the cost of gasoline. The Ferrari makes you question why modern cars have lost their souls.
Oliver pulls me back against him and opens the door.
“My lady,” he says, then holds his hand out for me as I sit down against the buttery soft leather.
He shuts the door, steps around the car, then sits in the driver’s seat.
I search around for the seat belt, turning to my left and right, but I can’t find it.
“No seat belts,” he explains like it’s normal.
“Oh, okay. Is that even legal?”
“Probably not, but I’ll drive safe. No worries.”
I sit back and he starts the car, the rumble of the engine loud in the enclosed space. He shifts the car into Drive, then pulls out of the garage. As Oliver turns toward a driveway I’ve never noticed at the back of the sprawling property, I tilt my head back and look at the stars.
I love this car.
As we get to Little River, he slows down.
I don’t understand why they call it that because it’s huge.
He turns onto a side road that leads under the bridge.
I sit up at the crunch of gravel. I’ve been down here many times, fishing with Kat’s family.
He parks the car and sets the brake right under the bridge.
Where we’re parked, the river expands in front of us.
There’s a gorgeous view of the sky above the water.
In the distance, the dark sky is slashed with deep purple as the day fights away the night.
Stars twinkle in the darkest parts of the sky, almost telling the world goodbye.
It’s a beautiful view I’ve never seen before.
“This is . . . amazing. I didn’t realize . . . ” I don’t have the words. I’ve been to this exact spot many times but always during the day.
“I thought you’d like it.”
I turn in my seat to face him. He wraps one arm around my waist and lifts me up onto the console between the seats, pulling me closer to him like he can’t stand the distance between us. I lean my head against his shoulder, content to be in his arms.
I love him. I wonder if I’ve ever loved someone more. He leans in, kissing my hair.
“Why did you have to be so perfect?” he asks with pain in his eyes that claws at my chest even as it creates that fluttering feeling. He needs to be loved. I hope he accepts mine because it’s there, growing, gathering momentum every second.
His words overwhelm me. I reach out and push a strand of hair away from his face, tucking it behind his left ear.
I pull at his neck and kiss him. This time he lets me take charge.
My lips are timid against his. They’re soft while his can be hard and demanding.
I suck at his bottom lip, pulling it into my mouth, sliding my tongue against it.
He doesn’t close his eyes the way people in the movies do when they kiss. He likes watching.
I draw away nervously, but his arms tighten around me.
He pulls me closer and tilts his head a bit to the side.
He claims my lips as his own. He bites at my bottom lip hungrily, and I can’t stop the soft moan that escapes my throat.
I’m helpless in his kiss. I lean back as he kisses along my jaw.
His teeth glide over the sensitive skin of my neck, and I jerk my legs together.
My breathing speeds up and he notices. He always notices, every single reaction.
Maybe that’s why he never closes his eyes. He needs to see it all.
“Do you like that?”
I reply with a breathy, “I really like it.”
He smiles against my neck, then he nips me with his teeth. I don’t know why the slight pain lights up all my pleasure sensors. “Do it.” I want him to bite me, taste my blood.
Oliver pulls back and the monster inside him rears its head, darkness spreading out from his pupils. His breathing has picked up. He’s affected by his hunger. In that moment, all I want is to give him all of me. I want to offer myself to him, my sex, my blood. It all belongs to him.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Bite me, taste me,” I whisper, lost to the vision that swirls inside my mind of his teeth sinking into my flesh as I moan in pleasure. It’s a wonderful vision.