by K. A. Hobbs
His face flushes from embarrassment or arousal, or possibly both. I’m not sure. I think I’ve scandalised the poor man.
Then I notice his eyes, hooded, dark and swimming with need.
“Good Lord,” he croaks, closing his eyes. “What are you trying to do to me?”
“I’m trying,” I start, wrapping my hands around his neck, “to get you to make love to me. I know you’re a gentleman, and I love that, but right now I need you to search inside yourself for the sexual man I know you are and be with me, like men and women have been together for centuries.”
“I don’t think…” His eyes open and he drops his forehead to mine. His hands are shaking and I can feel everything he feels—arousal, confusion, need.
“You can. You’re safe with me.” I reach for the waist of his trousers and tug him closer. “Trust me to take care of you in this. I promise you it will all be okay. It’s different, I know that, but different doesn’t have to be bad.” I grin at him mischievously. “This won’t be bad. Not if we do it right.”
He smiles at me before he reaches his still slightly trembling hand out and places it over my heart. “I trust you in all things. I trust you with all of me, even the parts you can’t see yet.”
His words affect me more than I expect them to. I feel hot all over, like I have electricity running through my veins. I let my hands wander across his chest, across his shirt buttons and down to where they’re neatly tucked into his trousers. I tug and he gasps but doesn’t stop me.
It takes a few minutes, but by the time his shirt is unbuttoned and his muscular, sculpted torso is revealed to my eyes, his hands are no longer shaking, his eyes are darker than I’ve ever seen them before, and his face is focused.
With more determined fingers, he reaches around behind me until he finds the zip on my skirt. As he tugs it down, the fabric becomes loose enough that I can lift my bottom and he can remove it.
Dressed in only my underwear and he in his trousers, the first skin on skin contact is more pleasurable than anything I’ve ever experienced before in my life.
“George,” I groan, pushing myself into his body, testing how we fit together.
“Are you okay?” he groans as I kiss his naked shoulder.
“More than I ever have been.”
“I …” he begins then looks unsure.
“You’re safe,” I whisper.
As with all things, he shows enthusiasm and proves keen to learn. He works out where to touch me to make me groan in delight, and I do the same for him.
There’s a moment when he changes, becomes someone different, someone more in charge than I’ve ever seen him before. He removes what’s left of our clothes and slides me further up the piano before climbing on top of it, too. He clasps my hands and joins us in most delicious way possible.
He takes his time, teasing and torturing me with his body. He makes me beg for more and only then does he give in.
It’s perfect. But then, it always is with him.
No words are spoken. None are needed. We speak a thousand of them with every touch, sharing something so profound I feel it in my soul.
The connection goes far beyond anything any earthly being can comprehend, and for the first time in my new life, I feel lucky to be experiencing this as an angel, and to be experiencing it with George.
We’re late to dinner.
When we walk into the packed room, Leo meets my eyes and gives me a knowing smile.
George reaches for two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and hands one to me. He raises his glass, his eyes heating all over again, and beams at me. “To us,” he says.
“To us,” I repeat before taking a sip. “And to your piano.”
A few days later, I’m lying on Molly’s bed while she gets ready to go out and meet Seb. Astian for dinner.
“I hope you cleaned these sheets.” I smirk, rolling over to sniff the freshly laundered duvet cover. “Is that the scent of sex I can smell?”
She throws a brush at me and glares. “I just put those on this morning before you got here.”
“Because you made the others all sex scented?”
“No, because they needed to be changed. What’s wrong with you today? Is George not putting out so you have to spend your days picturing Seb and I?”
“Oh, he’s putting out alright.” I grin, remembering our adventure on the piano.
“I don’t need to hear about you two having sex in the shower or on the sofa, thank you very much.”
“Please.” I roll my eyes. “Don’t be so boring. This time, we took the piano for a… fine tuning?”
Her mouth pops open and a look that can only be described as disgust washes over her face. “You… tell me you’re joking.”
“Why would I joke about it? It happened, and it will be happening again… and again… and again, if I have anything to do with it.”
“You can’t do that. Why would you do that?” she whines.
I stare at her blankly. “Have sex?”
“No, not have sex. Do that to a piano, violate it like that. What has it ever done to you?”
“Violate it? I’m sorry, does the grand piano have feelings?”
“Of course it does, you heathen.”
“Well, if it does have feelings, I’m going to guess after the other night, they’re all good ones. There’s no way it wouldn’t enjoy what we did.”
“You.. you… piano abuser. It’s a grand piano, isn’t it? How could George do such a thing?”
“Molly, calm down. George wasn’t thinking about the piano, I can assure you. He was too busy enjoying having me laid out naked before his eyes.”
She shudders and holds up her hand. “We must never speak of this again.”
I roll backwards and laugh so hard I think I snort. When I’m finished laughing, my stomach aches and my face is wet from the many tears that have fallen. “You know I love you, right?” I tell her. “You’re so cooky, you know? And a prude, might I add. Anyone would think you’re still a virgin the way you get so embarrassed at everything remotely suggestive.”
“Perhaps I am,” she responds with the best angelic smile she can muster, considering I know for a fact she took the kitchen counter downstairs for a spin only last week.
“Any more exciting sex adventures to tell me about?” I ask her, standing and going over to watch her pull faces in the mirror while she puts on mascara.
She turns with the wand in her hand, wielding it like a weapon in my face. “Has anybody ever told you you’re kinda nosy?”
“Only everyone. If you have no intention of sharing, I’ll go and leave you and Sebby to it.”
“Well…” She grins, dabbing my nose with a small spot of black before turning back to the mirror and contorting her face again. “He really doesn’t like it when you call him Sebby.” Her eyes colour with mischief as she finishes up her eyelashes and caps the mascara. “It makes him all growly and handsy. I love it when he’s handsy.”
“We all love it when they’re handsy. Piano time made George handsy.”
She giggles. “Everything makes Seb handsy at the moment. I’m pretty sure I still have his handprints on my—”
“You’ll have them there again if you don’t hurry up and get ready.” Seb’s voice cuts through the air, full of confident amusement, and it makes my heart sing to see the way that Molly’s eyes light up at his appearance.
“Promises, promises,” she sings, dancing across the room to him with all the grace of a drunk pug.
“Later, beautiful,” he mumbles into her neck, getting well acquainted with the perfume I watched her spray there only moments ago. “We have to go.”
“I’m leaving,” I yell, walking towards the bedroom door. “Feel free to get handsy while I’m gone.”
Seven Months Later…
The day couldn’t be more perfect. Lying on the sand, I stare up at the sky as a flock of seagulls squeal overhead and a single plane cuts a white ribbon across the flawless blue sky.
The rhythmic crashing of the waves against the shore is lulling me slowly into drowsiness, the sun’s rays beating down on me doing nothing but encouraging laziness.
In the distance, I can hear children squealing as they chase the waves and splash around in the sea. But I’m content to just lie here with Seb’s hand in one of mine, and the pinky of the other curled around my best friend’s. It’s one of those days when everything seems right with the world. There isn’t a single cloud in the sky, the water is cool, the sand is soft, the ice cream is plentiful, and above all else, the company is perfect.
“It doesn’t get much better than this,” I say with a wide yawn, turning my head against the sand to look in turn at two of the most important people in my life.
George was here earlier until he received a phone call from some Angel Counselling Service I didn’t even know he worked for and had to leave in a hurry. And my mum is far too busy with her new mystery man today to join us.
“I dunno,” Seb says, rolling onto his side and propping his grinning face up on his hand. “You girls could be naked or something.”
“Hey!” I slap his hand from under his head, sending him flopping to the sand with a groan. “Your girlfriend is sitting right here, Seb. Astian.”
“And have I mentioned how stunningly, beautifully, radiantly gorgeous you look today, oh love of my life, my sun, moon and stars?”
“Bloody hell, you suck up like a hoover, Sebby,” Imogen cracks from beside us, her voice dancing with laughter.
“A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, twinkle toes. This one packs a right punch when she wants to.”
He laughs when I attempt a growl in his face, his hands gripping my cheeks and his lips easily silencing me while Imogen watches on completely unperturbed by the public display of affection. I honestly think he and I could get down and dirty in the sand right now and she’d just sit back and wish she had popcorn.
Batting his chest with my hand, I duck away and scowl at him. “You don’t get to just shut me up by ki—”
His lips attack mine again, cutting me off mid-rant to the rabid applause of my best friend.
“If only I could do that to shut her up when she’s on one,” Imogen says jovially from beside us, earning herself a side-eyed warning look that she waves off with an eye roll.
“I would not have a problem with that at all,” Seb says with a wiggle of his eyebrows. “Long as I can watch.”
“You’re both disgusting,” I let out with a chuckle. “Where is Libby? I feel like spending time with somebody who doesn’t have a smart mouth.”
“Not the only bit of me that’s smart, sweetheart,” Seb hedges, rolling away smoothly when I move to kick his shins, laughing.
“You’re an idiot.”
“Oh yes, but I’m your idiot and that’s all that matters.”
“Hmm,” I hum, looking out to the water to see Libby skipping and dancing about madly in the waves, enjoying every second of her beach day. Jumping up, I grab the frisbee from the sand and make my way to the water’s edge, calling to her and instantly regretting it when she leaves the water and proceeds to shake her fur free by spraying it all over me.
Waving the frisbee until it catches her attention, I throw it along the beach for her and watch happily as she scampers off after it, her behind almost overtaking her front paws in her eagerness to get to it.
“She loves you, you know?” Seb says softly as his arms encircle my waist and his chin rests on my shoulder.
“Somebody has to,” I joke in reply, twisting my head to plant a sloppy kiss on his nose right as a huge wave crashes against the sand and soaks us both. I swear I hear Libby snicker at us as she returns the frisbee, her eyes shining with fun.
“Yeah, laugh it up, fuzzy face,” Seb grumbles as he bends to pick it up and hurls it for her again, this time into the water. “Who’s laughing now?”
“Wow,” I say with amusement. “I never knew you were so vindictive.”
“Oh, you bet your arse I am. Now, what was it you said about me just a moment ago? Something about being disgusting with a smart mouth?” His grin turns playfully malevolent and I begin to back away, hands raised in surrender.
“Ah, no, you seem to have me mixed up with my evil twin, Milly. You know I would never say those things about you.”
He cocks his head, the corners of his lips lifting impossibly higher as he stalks towards me like a lion stalking its prey. “Milly, huh? I don’t believe you’ve introduced us?”
“Oh, really?” I say, retreating still further until the water covers my ankles, but still he comes.
“Mmmhmm, bit of an oversight, don’t you think?”
“Well, I, uh…” I never get to finish my sentence.
In a single second, he’s on me, his arms lifting me easily into the air, making me squeal and kick madly as I go, even though I know now there’s only one way this ends.
“What am I again? Disgusting and smart-mouthed?”
My head darts from side to side so quickly my head spins as I giggle uncontrollably. “Noooooo, that was totally about somebody else. You are all handsome and shit, and your mouth does only good things.” I nod emphatically to round off my lie, my legs still kicking hopelessly in midair.
“You better believe it, sweetheart,” he mutters against my skin before striding deeper into the water and tossing me into the air before I plunge into the freezing cold sea.
The water floods into my mouth and up my nose as I’m caught out mid squeal, and when I resurface, I have gross seaweed hanging from my hair and water dripping from every inch of my body. “You… you…” I stutter, shaking my fist at him and attempting to make a run at him, hampered by the way the sand tries to suck down my feet with every step.
“Handsome and talented-mouthed man?” he finishes for me with a hearty laugh that seems to echo off every cliff and rock around us, making the air ring with his happiness. With our happiness.
“Something like that,” I throw out through gritted teeth before finally reaching him and throwing myself into his arms, my wet body and clothes soaking through his as I press my lips to his and allow him to lift me and carry me like a baby koala back to the shore.
“You two are giving me toothache,” Imogen yells out as we approach, part way through rubbing sun cream into her arms.
“See a dentist then,” I quip before cutting my lips to his again as he lowers me back to the sand.
I can’t seem to keep away from him. My eyes and hands constantly drift to him like they’re being dragged by some invisible force of nature. He is my magnetic north, pulling me in whenever I feel lost or directionless. His arms are my safe place, his kisses my drug of choice. I am in love with every single part of him, smart mouth included.
If somebody had told me, in those dark days and years after losing Ben, that one day I would smile again, laugh again, love again, I would have kicked them out and called them crazy. When my world fell apart and I couldn’t see the wood for the trees, these two people I’m standing with, bantering back and forth in my favourite place in the world, were the ones who helped me to find meaning in a confusing world. They helped me take the fragile and broken pieces of my life and my heart, and piece them slowly back together, a little more of my smile returning with each piece they slotted into place.
Yes, the day is perfect. There’s not a cloud in the sky and the sun is beating down, but it would still be perfect even if it was lashing with rain, storming or blowing a gale. None of the other stuff matters anymore, because I know, come rain or come shine, I’ll always have the man I love and the woman who became my best friend by my side.
There is nothing worth more in the world than the people who love you when you aren’t worth loving. There is nobody in the world more precious than the friend who drags you up when all you want to do is sink. And there is nothing more important than holding on tight to the ones who both literally and figuratively keep you from drowning.
And, in a rare moment of emotional
candour, I feel tears welling in my eyes as I tug on the arms of my two favourite people and drag them closer for a group hug.
“I love you guys,” I whisper. “In very different ways, Sebastian. Don’t get over excited.”
He chuckles and I feel the warmth of their returning hugs as Immy snorts.
“Don’t pretend you don’t want me, Sparrow.”
Huffing a sigh, I slap her backside, eliciting a small squeal and a giggle. “I’m trying to bare my soul here. Could you try to keep a lid on your raging nymphomania for just two minutes?”
“There isn’t a lid, Moll. It’s a fountain, forever flowing.”
“Ain’t that the truth?” I laugh, cupping the back of her head and dragging it to her favourite spot right in the middle of my boobs. “Whatever. Just shut up for two minutes while I say something, okay?”
“Yes, boss,” she mumbles, rummaging her nose in my cleavage for a moment before pulling free.
“Damn right. You finally caught on.” I drift off, unsure of what to say now that she’s actually silent and listening.
She coughs after a while, unable to keep quiet for long. “You were going to say something?”
“Just give me a moment. Being nice to people takes it out of me. I need to refuel,” I bark with a laugh tinged with the emotion that’s welling up inside my chest.
Seb’s lips press to my temple, soft and tender, yet somehow still managing to send those sizzling tingles sprinting all over my body in record time. “Hey, Moll?”
“Mmm,” I hum contentedly, willing to just stay this way forever, right here, in this moment, the three of us, happy. All the picture needs is George to complete it, and I’m certain he’ll be back soon.
“We love you, too,” he says softly, his arms encompassing us both in a moment that, to me, is everything and more.
I’m standing there, right next to her, when it happens.
