by K. L. Jessop
He takes my chin and places a soft kiss on my lips and whispers. “Thank you for being my light.”
My heart melts. The man is ruining me in so many ways.
“Now we really should get ready for work,” he sighs.
My stomach drops and I place my hands on his chest. “Don’t be mad with me,” I whisper. Anxiety floods my insides as I look away from him. He knows something is wrong and brings my eyes back to his.
“Tell me.”
“I rang Marcus and told him that we wouldn’t be in today.” My voice is quiet. I don’t regret what I’ve done because I believe Andrew needs time to recover from everything that happened last night. But the knowledge of taking that control from him is what worries me, because I’m unsure what his reaction will be.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t think your head will be in the game today. I know mine certainly isn’t. One day isn’t going to make the hotel stop functioning because you’re not there, and if I’m completely honest, I want to spend time with you—just you and me. Just us.”
There’s a long pause and I’m waiting for him to disagree—be annoyed that I’ve gone behind his back and made the decision for him—but I’m surprised when he agrees.
“I think you’re right.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I’m exhausted and don’t really want to see anyone. Come to think of it, I don’t want to share you with anyone else today either.” He pulls me closer
“Good to hear,” I grin. “So then does that mean we can just lounge around all day and watch Netflix?”
He grins. “No.”
“Ok. I guess we can lounge around and just talk some more,” I tease.
“Talk?” He chuckles. “You want me to talk?”
“Yeah. You’ve done the hard part, babe. The rest will be a breeze,” I grin.
“Watch your cheek, Simmons. I have ways of making you pay for your teasing.”
I squeal as he flips me onto my stomach, planting wet kisses across my shoulders. I sigh. “I like the way you make me pay. Only you’ve not answered my question.”
“I didn’t know you asked me one.”
“Are we going to lay around and talk?”
He spreads my legs. “We’ll talk, just after I’ve said good morning to you properly.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Andrew
She walks over to the sliding glass doors that enters out onto the stone-pathed balcony in just her lace underwear. Her hairs tassels down her naked back in messy curls as the sun glows against her golden skin. God, she’s the sexiest creature I’ve ever laid eyes on and I’m lucky to call her mine. Chloe was never this bold and daring. I thought that once I had Megan, my desires would calm, that they’d fade from my thoughts and I’d be able to focus again. I was wrong. My thoughts haven’t calmed, nor have they faded, and the only focus I have is her. She’s my first thought, my last at night and everything in between.
Revealing my past to Megan has lifted a bigger weight than I thought I was already carrying. It was the nights I found the hardest. Coming home to an empty house, I was instantly hit with just how fucking lonely I was. The rawness was like something ripping at my heart and squeezing the air from my lungs because another day had gone and another night where the void simply couldn’t be filled because I’m not good enough to be wanted.
Megan’s changed that part of me. I don’t know what it is about her, but she has a way of getting me to unwind into surroundings I’ve found hard to blend into all this time. She’s brought so much light to my life that’s constantly been filled with shadows. She doesn’t look at me and see a man that’s worth nothing, she sees a man that’s somehow worth everything and more. I find that difficult to comprehend when I’ve had an upbringing of vile words and disappointment.
“So, what are our plans today other than talking and lounging?” I ask, approaching her on the balcony and swimming my arm around her waist.
“Well, I would suggest we spend all day in bed getting sexy and sweaty, but the day is too beautiful to spend in doors.”
She’s right: summer has finally arrived and the days just keep getting hotter. I love this time of year. Everything is vibrant and fresh. “Unfortunately, I have to agree. Do you want to go for a drive? Get away from this place for a while.”
“Sounds perfect. Do you have anywhere in mind?”
I’d like to drive into the country and walk among the poppy fields as she looks good in and against the colour red, but it’s too long to be cooped up in the car and to not be able to hold her. “You decide,” I reply.
“I’d like to go to Abbey Town. I’ve not seen that part of the coast before. Plus, there’s meant to be this amazing ice cream shop.”
I raise my eyebrows and chuckle at her decision. “You want to leave one coastal town and go to another? Wow, for a woman who’s full of adventure, you sure aren’t on this occasion,” I tease.
She elbows me in the ribs. “Watch it, smart ass. You said it was my choice.”
I kiss her shoulder before slapping her ass. “Alright, you win. Let’s hit the road.”
***
It’s taken us just under an hour to get to today’s destination. Abbey Town is a small attractive coastal town filled with small shops and cobbles. Fishing ports and beach style restaurants line the main promenade while the shops are hidden away in off-road streets and back alleys. The place is buzzing with tourists and children and Megan’s face beams as we park up.
“This place looks so cute,” she squeals and is out of the car before I have a chance to get out and open her door. The sea breeze sweeps her hair up as she walks over to the wall at the end of the car park to see what’s on the other side. I can’t help but smile as even with her heart shape sunglasses on I can tell her eyes have a sparkle of excitement in them.
“Isn’t it pretty?” she says as I approach. I focus on the street below. We are at the top of the town and a small road curves its way down the hill as window boxes filled with flowers outside the shops create a brightly coloured line on either side, blending into one another as the turquoise of the sea meets it at the bottom. Gulls swarm around fishing boats out at sea and those that are in the harbour to the far right of us, while kids sit on the edge of the stone wall pier with crab lines and buckets.
“I can’t recall ever coming here either,” I admit.
“And you thought my adventure was ridiculous.”
“I never said that,” I grin.
“You didn’t have to.” She kisses my cheek and skips away from me. “Come on I want to get a sugar rush from too many sweets and ice cream.”
The further we venture into the small town the more historical it seems to become. The shops are nothing more than small cottages with tiny windows and thatched roof tops, redeveloped on the inside to accommodate each business with local produce and home-grown food supplies. Women in baker hats and aprons knead the dough in the bakery shop whilst tourists take photos and watch as if they’ve never seen that kind of hard labour before. Yet right next door you’d have a business where no hard work is needed because it’s done by the click of a button and shipped in from overseas. It is a funny little place.
“You’re quiet. What are you thinking?” Megan asks as she locks her hand with mine.
“How different this place is to the lifestyle we have and it’s only a few minutes away. I thought my job was hard but some of these people literally have to fight to make a living and keep a roof over their head.”
“I know it’s crazy, right?”
“Annie use to make her own bread,” I say as we leave the shop and stroll along the cobbled street. “Every Monday morning as I made my way to her place so she could walk me to school, the smell would hit me as I rounded the corner. She got that good at it that she eventually started to make loaves for the neighbours and I’d earn myself pocket money if I delivered them on my bike.”
“Aw, my little delivery boy,” she teases. “You two seeme
d so close.”
“We were. She was the mother I wish I’d always had. She did more for me than anyone else and treated me as though I were her own. The only person I can go to now that resembles her is Rosa. Her and Marcus where my rock when Chloe passed.”
“Rosa is everyone’s mother. She thrives on looking out for her none birth babies.”
“Even if fifty percent of what comes out of her mouth is smut.”
“Exactly.” Megan giggles.
Rounding the corner, we come to the modern day of Abby Town. Along the sea front are bright coloured shops with flags above the doors and benches along the promenaded. The energy has stepped up a gear from the back streets we’ve just experienced and now that charge seems to have awoken Megan into the crazy girl that’s never too far away. I can’t help the wide grin that’s plastered across my face at the sight of her. I’ve never known someone to get excited over small things like ice cream shops and plastic windmills that blow in the wind. Her excitability is refreshing.
“You really are a big kid, aren’t you?” I grin.
“Of course. What’s the point in life if you don’t have fun. We only get one chance so just enjoy it, I say.”
I couldn’t agree with her more, and it’s only since she’s been in my life that I’ve realise how empty mine was. Every day is fun when Megan is around and I’m thankful for that.
She pulls away from my hand but I grab her elbow and pull her back, crashing my mouth on hers and showing her exactly what she’s doing to me. Her arms go around my neck as her legs weaken the deeper I go and I don’t give as shit that we’re stood in the middle of the street where everyone is watching.
“What was that for?” she whispers, trying to catch her breath as her lips and skin are red from my scruff.
“Do I need a reason?”
She shakes her head. “Guess not.”
“What shall we explore now?”
“Ice cream. I need to cool down as I’m feeling a little hot and flustered.”
I raise my eyebrows in amusement. “Any particular reason?”
“Just some ass trying to ruin me in public.”
“Come on,” I chuckle. “I want to sugar coma with you.”
Icey Temptations is vibrant and buzzing with different sized children under the age of twelve. It’s like entering an indoor play centre with hyperactive kids swinging from the ceiling because of too much sugar. The idea of this place is you collect a plastic food container that’s big enough for a family six, fill it with whatever ice cream and topping you want and pay on the way out. Job done.
“What flavours are you going to go for?” I ask as we head towards the open-top freezer. She raises an eyebrow and I realise I’ve asked a ridiculous question. “Double chocolate it is then.” I scoop three large spoonfuls of soft ice cream into our bowl, followed by three scoops of Raspberry and white chocolate for me. Making our way to the bench table in the far corner that’s full with topping and syrups, I face Megan on the bench seat, dragging her forward so her legs are over mine.
“My God, there is so much choice,” Megan says as she looks at the amount of sweet toppings provided.
“I know. I’m a little overcome myself.” I top my side of the food container with honeycomb and sprinkles, while Megan goes for a variety of sweets before drizzling vanilla syrup over the top. My stomach churns just looking at the concoction. “You’d better not be sick in my car,” I joke.
“Shut up. I am the queen of all things sweet and sickly. You should have seen the amount of shit I’d consume after dinner on Sundays. My parents were horrified.”
“I’d like to meet them one day,” I admit. It’s no lie that I want to know more than just her body and mind. I want to know every detail about her, every childhood dream or memory, every good and bad thing about her. I feel like I’ve outlaid so much of my life these last few days, I’ve hardly had chance for her to tell me hers.
“Jesus, believe me when I say you don’t want to meet them, especially my mother. She is way too overprotective—even more so than Lucas but in a head doing way. She treats me like a child and if she knew that I was sitting in here about to ruin my body with calories she’d have me on a weight programme by the time we left the shop.”
I laugh. “So, she’s the complete opposite to you then?”
“God yeah,” she mumbles as she stuffs ice cream into her mouth. “I fell off my bike when I was six and cut my knee. I was fine, but because it was bleeding she made my lay out on the bed for the rest of the day to recover.”
“What do they do?”
“Mum likes to think she’s a beauty consultant for some swanky makeup line originated in Barcelona; she works over here representing the company but she’s nothing more than a dog’s body running around making coffee and trying out new products. Dad is part owner of a company in London that manufactures children’s toys.”
I could listen to her talk all day: she’s mesmerising.
“Having a father in the toy business must have made you popular at school,” I say scooping up more ice cream.
“Not really. I hardly had any close friends. Amelia is the only girl I’ve ever really connected with. Growing up in London and my parents being too protective made it difficult to form proper friendships with others. I was always swinging from trees in the park with my brother.”
“Do you resent them for that though, for not letting you experience youth like you wanted?” I wanted to know if being held back like she had been caused her to have hostility towards them like I have with my own parents.
She shakes her head and eats some more. “Oh, I lived, believe me. I’d just do things without them knowing and rebelled as a teenager. I think by that point I knew what I wanted in life and where I wanted to be, which was here. Having come down here to visit my uncle in the summer, I fell in love with the place. Then, once I met Amelia I dragged her here with me.”
The conversation that we are having is what people do when they first start dating, not weeks down the line when they’ve already been sleeping together like we have. Telling her about my past has in some way made us start all over again.
Megan suddenly slaps her forehead as her eyes pop out. “Fuck. Brain freeze.”
I laugh. “I’m not surprised the way you rammed it down your throat.”
“I’m sorry. Did you just say I’m greedy?”
“No, I said you rammed it down your throat.” I grin, tapping her on the nose.
“I think I’ve got that sugar rush I wanted,” she giggles. “How come you’ve finished yours already?”
“Probably because I’ve hardly been talking.”
She scoops up a spoonful of her ice cream and guides it to my mouth, the flavours of chocolate and nuts melting against my tongue. It’s so good. “Are you saying I talk too much, Mr Harris?” Her arms encircle my neck and she shifts herself forwards on the bench.
“Not at all,” I murmur. “I love listening to you talk. You make me feel as though I’m home.”
Her eyes flicker with something unspoken as her cheeks blush, and leaning closer, it’s her turn to kiss me. Her cold tongue dances with mine, flavours of chocolate and raspberry blend together, as she grips the back of my head. A soft whimper hits the back of her throat and I’m done for. Just when I think I’m lost in this woman, she has me lost all the more. Sniggers from a group of kids catch my attention and I pull away from Megan to find eight pairs of eyes and wide smiles watching us.
“I forgot about the kids.” She laughs.
“No shit,” I grin. “Let’s get go home.”
“I’ve got a better idea,” she whispers, taking her credit card from her purse. “Let’s head down to the beach and hire a beach hut.”
I raise my eyebrows in amusement as a wicked grin sweeps across her face. “What do you have in mind?”
“In my mind, I see a beach hut with a locked door and the curtains closed keeping everyone guessing on the outside as to what’s going on, whilst on the ins
ide two naked bodies lose themselves in each other because it makes them feel too damn good to ignore.” She cups my crutch with her hand.
“You’re wicked.”
Chapter Twenty- Six
Megan
As soon as we enter the sandy smelling beach hut, Andrew’s mouth crashes to mine in desperation and the door is kicked closed. Hearing the lock turn and the blinds fall to give us privacy, we frantically remove our clothes. Our hands are all over each other, touching and gripping as though we’re holding on like our lives depend on it.
“I’m so hot for you right now, Andrew,” I gasp as I feel his erection against me. He guides us to the makeshift bed, not breaking the connection of our hungry kiss. He turns and lowers himself, shifting me closer and trailing his tongue down my stomach.
“Show me,” he whispers against my skin. “Show me what I do to you.”
He wants me to take the lead. It makes me feel trusted, not that I ever had any doubt in that, but he’s giving me full control so I can show him how strong my desires are. Pushing him down on his back, I straddle him. I drag my lips from his jaw to his neck, nipping the sensitive skin of his collarbone with my teeth before sucking gently. I’m so wet, I tease his erection with my slickness, stroking against him so the sensation sends my body into a bundle of red-hot tingles. The more I tease, the deeper the groans escape him and the harder his fingers press into my ass.
“Jesus, Megan.”
“Do you like me rubbing you this way, baby? Does it make you hot?”
“Every dirty little thing about you makes me hot.”
Laid bare and waiting, I sit back on my heels and take him in: his strength, his sex appeal and his fast inhales that are all for me. God, I’m so fucking lucky. He groans when I take his dick in my hands. He’s big and hot, and his hooded eyes hold mine as he slowly licks his lips. I lower my head and swirl my tongue around his tip, lapping away the pre-cum.
