‘No, that would be a massive conflict of interest.’
I scowl. ‘But you help me de-stress.’
‘Hardly on a professional level!’ She laughs, then lowers her voice, leaning over the desk. ‘Or are you suggesting I should allow all of my patients to worship me?’
My shock is clear. ‘No one else gets to taste you,’ I virtually growl, the thought sending me to a maddening place I have avoided for a long time.
But I snap a lid on it when Harry jumps back onto the chair next to me, looking at me in cute curiosity. ‘OK, Daddy?’
I ruffle his hair, ignoring Olivia giggling across the desk. ‘Perfect, mate.’
‘Are you ready to go home, Mummy?’ he asks.
‘Not just yet.’ She reaches for the remote control and I immediately fear the worst. ‘Shall we?’ she asks on a wry smile.
I can feel my boy’s eyes on my profile as I stare at my love, so I slowly turn to him, finding that familiar exasperated look plaguing his gorgeous face. ‘I don’t think we have a choice,’ I remind him, knowing he already knows this.
‘She’s mad,’ he breathes tiredly.
‘I concur.’ I can do no more than agree, because he’s right, and take his hand when he holds it out to me. ‘Are you ready?’
He nods and we both stand together, just as Olivia presses a button that brings the room to life. We remain motionless, despite the instant blast of Pharrell Williams’s “Happy”, and watch as the woman in our life jumps up, all enthusiastically, and kicks her Converse off. ‘Come on, my beautiful boys!’ she sings, rounding her desk and seizing our hands. ‘Let’s de-stress.’
There are too many counters I could make to that, but a quick warning glance from my wife tells me to zip it. My lips purse on a sulky pout. ‘I can think . . .’ I just can’t help myself, but I’m halted when her palm slaps over my face.
She grins and comes closer, keeping her hand exactly where it is. ‘I bought Green and Black’s earlier.’
My eyes widen and my blood heats. ‘Strawberries?’ I mumble against her hand, fighting off trembles of anticipation when she nods her head. I match her grin behind her hand and mentally conjure up my plan for later. It’ll involve worshipping. Lots and lots of worshipping.
‘Can we dance now?’ Harry asks, pulling our attention to him waiting impatiently to the side. ‘Control yourselves,’ he mumbles.
We laugh and each of us claims one of his hands so we form a circle. ‘Let’s do this,’ I say, bracing myself for what I’m about to endure and partake in.
We spend a few moments flicking gazes to each other, smiling, waiting, before Harry makes the first move. My boy breaks out in song, belting out the lyrics as his little body practically goes into spasm. He shakes off our holds and throws his arms into the air, closing his eyes as he starts jumping around the office like a little nut job. I’ve never seen such a wonderful sight.
‘Come on, Daddy!’ he yells, jigging his way across to the sofa and jumping onto the cushions. The slight discomfort his carelessness brings isn’t something I can help, though I’m getting better, for sure. Plus, we always tidy before we leave.
‘Yes –’ Olivia nudges me, smiling – ‘let loose, Mr Hart.’
My shoulders jump up coolly. ‘As you wish.’ I hastily shrug off my jacket as a crafty smile slowly forms on my face. It falls to the floor, but I leave it exactly where it is and run to join my boy, dragging Livy behind me. ‘Make way!’ I yell, catapulting myself up on the couch with him. The sound of his giggles and the look of delight only spur me on. I’ve lost my mind, shaking my head, spinning Livy on the floor below me and singing along with my boy. God knows what my hair must look like.
‘Woooohoooooo!’ Harry screeches, springing off the couch. ‘The desk, Daddy!’
I’m in action immediately, running across the office again. I lift his little body up and join him on the huge, important-looking workspace. ‘Go for it, Harry!’
‘Yeaaaahh!’ His legs fly out, kicking the piles of paper everywhere.
And I couldn’t care less.
It’s raining white sheets of paper, we’re busting some very questionable moves, and we’re laughing in between picking up the lines that we know. It’s heaven.
My angels and I are in our own bubble of happiness, except our bubble is now huge. And nothing can pop it.
The music starts to fade, but our energy doesn’t. We’re still going hell for leather when Goldfrapp’s “Happiness” kicks in and Harry screeches his excitement. ‘Oh wow!’ he gasps, pushing his waves from his forehead. ‘My favourite!’
I’m yanked down from the desk and the three of us form a circle again. I know what’s about to happen. I’m going to get very dizzy. There’s only one thing that can stop the inevitable, so I pin my eyes on Olivia as Harry instigates the spinning of our little circle. He’s away with the fairies again, so he won’t notice that my full attention is planted firmly on his mother. And hers is on me.
Around and around we go, over and over, Harry singing and Olivia and I focused solely on each other. ‘I love you,’ I mouth on a crooked smile.
‘Your bones, Miller Hart,’ she mouths back, giving me that full-on beam.
Good God, whatever did I do to deserve her?
I’m feeling quite sweaty when the music finally comes to a stop, and continuing to follow our usual tradition, we all collapse to the floor in an exhausted heap. We gasp for breath, our chests heaving, Harry still chuckling with his mum.
I smile up at the ceiling. ‘I have a request,’ I mumble breathlessly, resisting the urge to meet Harry’s cute smiling face at the sound of those words. There’s only one right answer to this request.
‘We’ll never stop loving you, Daddy,’ he answers hastily, placing his hand on my arm.
I drop my head to the side to find him. ‘Thank you.’
‘We have a request, too.’
I take a deep breath and swallow down the lump in my throat that’s spiked by pure, undying happiness. ‘Until there is no breath left in my lungs, sweet boy.’
My world centres and everything is just perfect once again.
Olivia Taylor sent my meticulous world into fucking chaos. But it was real. She was real. What I felt with her was real. Each time I worshipped her, I felt my soul get a little bit cleaner. It was beautiful. It meant something. With the exception of one regrettable time, our lovemaking was never an all-out slamming of one body into another to reach the ultimate aim.
Pleasure.
Release.
Our intimacies were never automatic, either – not in the sense of my body taking over and just . . . doing. But it was automatic in the sense that, ultimately, it was natural. Effortless.
This was supposed to happen to me.
One night turned into a lifetime.
And not even that will be enough. Everything with Olivia and Harry will never be enough.
My name is Miller Hart.
I am the Special One.
But special because no other man to ever walk this land could ever be as happy as me.
I don’t need to elaborate.
I’m free.
About the Author
Jodi Ellen Malpas was born and raised in the Midlands town of Northampton, England, where she lives with her two boys. Working for her father’s construction business full time, she tried to ignore the lingering idea of writing until it became impossible. She wrote in secret for a long time before finally finding the courage to unleash her creative streak, and in October 2012 she released This Man. She took a chance on a story with some intense characters and sparked incredible reactions from women all over the world. She’s now a proud #1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author.
Writing powerful love stories and creating addictive characters has become her passion – a passion she now shares with her devoted readers.
Learn more at:
JodiEllenMalpas.co.uk
Twitter @JodiEllenMalpas
Facebook.com/JodiE
llenMalpas
Also by Jodi Ellen Malpas
This Man
Beneath This Man
This Man Confessed
One Night: Promised
One Night: Denied
Copyright
An Orion ebook
First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Jodi Ellen Malpas
This edition first published in 2015 by Orion Books
Copyright © Jodi Ellen Malpas 2015
The right of Jodi Ellen Malpas to be identified as the author
of this work has been asserted in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to
actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1 4091 5571 3
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
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5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane
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www.orionbooks.co.uk
One Night: Unveiled Page 41
