Chapter 26
twenty-six
HENRY
The first thing I noticed on the drive back into Otterleigh Bay was how quiet Amanda had become.
Not cold, just distracted, like she was overanalysing everything again. She still smiled when I spoke, still teased me, still nudged my elbow with hers in the car, but something in her had tucked itself away. A little wall.
I didn't push.
I wanted to.
But I held back.
She’d promised to come to the ceilidh-come-secret wedding, largely to check whether I’d be going as a true Scot. Plus, she wanted to see Claire and Owen’s secret wedding, having never experienced something quite as wild as that. She wanted to be here.
She wanted me here.
But every so often, when she thought I wasn’t looking, she stilled, retreating into her thoughts.
Amanda's default setting was not still. She sparkled and bristled and busied. When she was quiet, something was weighing her down.
Still, she came with me without hesitation when Owen asked us to prep the village hall for the "Hogmanay decorations" that were actually the basis for the secret wedding decor.
We spent half the evening up ladders, convincing thousands of fairy lights and metres upon metres of leafy garlands to stay in place.
She cracked jokes with Jean and Jim, and put her event organisation to swift practice, making a multitude of suggestions that would make the night even more special for Owen and Claire.
The village hall was unrecognisable by the time we finished. A The ceiling looked like a star-studded forest canopy. And Claire and Owen thanked us a million times, telling us we’d both have whisky for a while. Amanda looked slightly green at the thought of all that whisky.
Lanterns lined the windowsills, complete with electric candles, much to Amanda’s dismay. Jean had told us that the village committee would have a conniption if there were real frames, and the last thing we needed was Morag brandishing a fire extinguisher at the bride.
By the time we'd finished, the place looked truly magical.
I stepped down from the ladder, dusting my hands, and caught Amanda standing in the centre of the room with her gaze tilted upwards.
The soft gold of the lights washed over her face, thousands of catchlights glimmering in her dark eyes.
She looked dreamy. And that wasn't a word I would have applied to her last week.
‘Ready?’ I asked.
She turned, her eyes focusing as if she had been miles away.
Probably thinking.
More likely overthinking.
‘Can we test it?’ she asked. ‘With all the other lights off?’
‘Sure.’ I crossed to the far wall, where the rank of light switches lives, switching off all the main lights, leaving just the fairy lights and the slowly spinning disco ball, which Amanda had fitted with warm white light rather than silver.
It was like being tossed into another world. For being a village hall, the room had been transformed into a truly enchanting space. Even I was awed.
Golden light rippled overhead; the fairy lights twinkled slowly to create a blanket of magic, while the disco ball threw moving lights around the room.
Not a single space lacked dancing gold. Lanterns flickered warm and soft.
Garlands covered the sketchily painted white ceiling, dulling its brightness and letting the lights stand out.
The dark panelled walls reflected the light back at us until the whole space felt enchanted, like a place made for making promises and stolen kisses.
Amanda took a quiet breath. ‘It’s perfect.’
I crossed the floor to her, unable to resist the pull. She didn't move as I approached, just watched me with that half-guarded, half-yearning expression that had been haunting me since we got back from my parents.
I held out a hand and waited to see if she’d take it. When she did, I pulled her close to me, gathering her with one hand while I held her other against my chest.
‘May I have this dance?’ I asked.
Her eyebrows knitted. ‘There’s no music.’
‘I don’t need music. Just you.’
I began moving in small steps that carried us in circles. Amanda followed my lead, her cheek brushing against my jaw.
The lights glowed around us. The patter of her heart quickened beneath our hands. Mine too, no doubt.
After a few minutes, I brushed a kiss over her temple.
‘You’re quiet. Somewhere else, maybe. Are you alright?’
She tipped her head back to look at me. Her eyes sparkled with light, her pupils huge and unreadable. Then she smiled.
She said, ‘I'm okay. Really.’
I didn't quite believe her, but I didn't want to press and ruin the moment.
Instead, she slid her hands up my chest until they came to rest on the back of my neck, fingers lacing gently into my hair. The shift in her expression hit square below the belt. Wherever she had been in her head, she came out of it looking ravenous.
‘You still haven't rewarded me,’ she said, almost innocently.
‘For what?’ I played dumb, knowing well the games that still lay beneath the surface.
‘For being so very jolly at Betwixtmas.’ Her lips curved. ‘Have you gone off me already? Do I need to find another pierced gardener to make me see stars?’
She was teasing, but jealousy flared hot in my chest anyway. I knew she was joking, but Amanda was mine.
Low sound rumbled out of me as I traced her lips with mine. ‘Princess… I’m going to make you see more than stars. You’re going to soar high enough to fuck amongst them.’
The way she trembled had me hard right there in the village hall.
Then she whispered, her voice a soft, warm, lethal thing:
‘Don’t worry. I have plans for you tonight.’
Her body tightened in response, exhaling deeply to calm herself. I loved how very eager she was to get back into my bed.
I tipped her chin up with two fingers, letting my gaze linger on her mouth, the mouth that had tortured me every day since we’d met.
‘You have plans?’ she asked so coyly that it took everything not to pin her to the floor and take her in the middle of the village hall. Not that I think she’d have stopped me. Instead, I nudged a leg between hers and gripped her hips to grind her against me.
‘Oh, yes,’ I breathed.
Amanda whimpered, arching her hips to gain more friction against my thigh.
‘Look how horny you are, pressing that sweet cunt against my thigh in public just to show me how needy you are.’
Her cheeks reddened, but she didn't cease the grinding. Gripping her hips tighter, I moved her harshly, enjoying the way it made her gasp.
‘This is what you need, isn’t it, Amanda? To get out of your head and let me take care of your wet pussy. Right?’
Her answer was a throaty moan that had me biting my lip. I gripped her chin and tilted her face to mine. ‘That’s it, Princess, get yourself all good and read for me. Nice and wet so you can take every inch.’
Outside, the wind pressed against the hall walls, and inside, the hall filled with her wanton moans as her hips quickened.
‘Look. At. Me,’ I growled, needing all of her focus as she fell apart. Those dark eyes fixed on my face as her lips opened in a desperate plea.
‘Please, Sir. I need all of you.’
Without another word, I hoisted her over my shoulder, ignoring the wet patch on my thigh. I hit the lights off and locked the hall, all while she whimpered against my shoulder.
Never had the drive back to Bayview seemed so eternally long.