I’m breathless with how quickly I’ve been maneuvered. I prop myself up on my hands and look down into his gorgeous gray eyes that have almost been taken over by his huge pupils.“You know that gigolo training you said you had…”He laughs, slides a hand to the back of my head, and kisses me.Ohhh… the delight of having his arms around me, his fingers brushing over my skin, his hot mouth claiming mine. He’s so laid back normally, so relaxed and mellow, even when he’s busy—he’s like the embers of a fire, eternally warm and comfortable. And so I hadn’t expected this fierce heat, like a blow torch singeing me from top to toe.Despite his obvious desire, he takes his time to kiss me, his tongue playing with mine, his hands roving slowly over my skin, fingers trailing from my shoulders down my back to my bottom, then stroking up my sides. Mmm… it’s wonderful, but I want to explore him, too.I push myself up to a sitting position astride him, and he watches me as I skim my hands down over the
“Mmm,” he says. “That’s better.” He lowers his head and strokes his tongue up through my folds.I catch my bottom lip between my teeth and suck it as he flicks my clit with the tip of his tongue, then gently sucks. Ohhh… I should have known he’d be fantastic at this. He spends ages licking, sucking, and teasing with his fingers, and I guess I must relax because eventually he turns his hand palm up and slides one, then two fingers inside me.“Good girl,” he murmurs.I shake my head, not opening my eyes. Oh Jesus, he’s curving his fingers up and… ohhh… I didn’t think G-spots really existed, is that what this is? Trust Huxley to find mine… holy fuck… It’s an unusual sensation, intense and… um… ohhh… absolutely fucking wonderful…I’m just starting to feel the first flickers of an orgasm when he withdraws his fingers and sits up. I open my eyes, my breath leaving me in a frustrated rush.“Sorry,” he says, removing his underwear before moving up over me. He looks down and kisses my nose. “T
Huxley“Don’t get sleepy,” I scold as Elizabeth’s eyelids droop. “We’ve got a long way to go yet.”She smiles. “It doesn’t matter how many times you have sex, as long as you do it at the right time.”“Nevertheless. I intend to fill you to the brim.”“Mr. Romantic.”I laugh, roll over, and get up. I search for boxers and pull them on, then tug on my trousers.“Going somewhere?” she asks.“I’m going to order us some drinks and a snack. I’ve got to keep my strength up. Want anything in particular?”“Mmm… something sweet.”“Okay.” I walk around to her side of the bed, lean over her, and kiss her. “We’re getting in the hot tub,” I tell her as I walk out the room. “Naked, before you start going all coy on me and getting your cozzie on.”I walk through to the living room, flick on one of the lamps. Then I go over to the phone, pick it up, and dial for room service. I put in my order, then go out onto the deck to take the cover off the hot tub and start it up.“I’m not sure about the naked pa
“Watching you eat it does.” I blow out a breath and have my own spoonful.“Cake’s not the only thing I’ve been looking forward to tasting.” She looks over her shoulder at me mischievously.“There won’t be any of that,” I reprimand her. “We need every drop of my baby batter to end up where it’s supposed to.”“Baby batter?”“Is daddy sauce better? How about erectoplasm?”She chuckles. “I prefer the band names. Like Pearl Jam.”“Yeah. And 10cc. They say that’s apocryphal because 10cc is apparently twice the amount a man ejaculates. I don’t agree. I think I could have filled a fifty-gallon whisky barrel by myself ten minutes ago.”That makes her laugh.“Actually,” I add, kissing her neck, “my favorite band name for it is The Lovin’ Spoonful.”“I like that.”I offer her some more chocolate cake. She opens her mouth, and I deliberately bump the spoon against her nose before sliding it between her lips.She flicks me a wry look, removes the chocolate from the bridge of her nose with a finger,
She shrugs. “I wonder sometimes about your relationship with her. She had your baby. You look after her. And you’re connected by Joanna. I wonder how close you are sometimes.” She swirls her hand in a circle, creating a whirlpool. “Do you love her?” Then she splashes, irritated with herself. “No, don’t answer that. I’m sorry. It’s none of my business.”I kiss the top of her head. “Elizabeth, we’ve just had sex. It’s a reasonable question. The answer is that I love her like one of my sisters. She’s had it tough—her parents were very strict, and they were extremely harsh on her when she got pregnant. I mean, really harsh, practically medieval. They wanted to send her away to have the baby so their church wouldn’t find out.”“Fucking hell.”“Yeah. It’s the only time I put my foot down and said no, she wasn’t going.”“I’ve wondered sometimes… you’re so honorable and, well, chivalrous, for want of a better word. Why didn’t you ask her to marry you?”“Because I wanted you.”She turns and loo
ElizabethIt sounds like heaven. I think I actually did die at some point, and this is all part of a blissful afterlife where I can make love with Huxley like this until the end of time.My hips move of their own accord against his fingers, and I rest my hand on top of his, enjoying the sensation of matching his movements inside me.My head is still spinning his answer to my question:Why didn’t you ask her to marry you?His reply,Because I wanted you, makes me feel thrilled and humble and guilty and ashamed at the same time. I said no to him because he’d broken my heart and I was trying to protect myself. But I never considered his heart. His feelings.All along, I’ve thought of him as a tomcat, a man with a short attention span who takes what he wants, albeit wrapped up in a kind, gentle package. Have I been wrong all this time? Is the reason that he’s never settled down really because he’s in love with me?I don’t want to think about it now. My brain’s not working properly. His finge
My jaw drops. What?He lifts his eyebrows and rotates his forefinger. Grumbling, I shift onto my front, resting my cheek on my arms.“Lie still,” he murmurs in my ear, and then he places a few more drops on my skin. Slightly less than before—I think this is backfiring, and he’s more than ready to slide inside me, but he obviously has a couple of places he wants to pay attention to before then.He sweeps my hair to the side and puts one drop on the nape of my neck. One between my shoulder blades. One on my spine, and one on my tailbone.He puts one on the sole of each foot, the back of my knees, on each thigh, on each side of my bottom. And then he picks up one final one.“I daren’t ask where you’re putting that,” I whisper.He doesn’t reply, but I feel his hands parting my cheeks, and he leaves the drop there, right at the top.“We’ll just let that melt,” he says, and I can tell he’s smiling.He moves up, and then I feel his lips at the nape of my neck. Mmm… that makes me shiver. I’m
“All day, you’d be lying there, waiting for me to come home.” His hips are speeding up—he’s turning himself on. “And at night I’d do whatever I wanted to you, and you wouldn’t be able to stop me.”Ohhh… this guy knows exactly what I need. I can feel him holding back, and the thought of the generous, loving Huxley waiting for me makes me want to weep.“Oh God,” I whisper, as the first ripples spread through me.Carefully, he withdraws, and my eyes fly open in surprise.“Four times,” he says silkily.I groan. “You’re kidding me.”“I warned you.” He kisses my neck, waiting about ten seconds before he slides inside me again.Then begins a slow torture session, with him thrusting me each time to the edge of an orgasm before withdrawing and letting the ripples of pleasure die away. Four times he does it, and by the end I’m drawing deep ragged breaths, aching for release.“Hux…” I beg. “Please.”He tilts my face up and kisses me. “All right,” he says softly. “Hang on, this is going to be a b
June 21st (two months later)KipIt’s the winter solstice, exactly six months after I met Alice, and Mum and Dad’s house is full of people who’ve come to celebrate the renewal of Saxon and Catie’s vows and their baby-naming ceremony. Saxon sprung a wedding on her after Christmas while they were on holiday, because he wanted to marry her but knew she’d be overwhelmed by having to say her vows in front of lots of people. However, six months have gone by now, and she’s settled down a lot, to the extent that when he suggested they combine a naming ceremony with a vow renewal ceremony, she jumped at the idea.Dad’s twin brother, Brandon, and my aunt, Jenny, are chatting to Mum and Alice’s mum. Penny has been spending a lot of time with Mum, and I’m so pleased that they genuinely seem to get on well. Penny’s holding one of Catie’s twins and Mum’s holding the other, and the two of them are clearly enjoying themselves.Kennedy’s helping Catie get ready. Her husband, Jackson, with baby Eddie, i
He holds out a hand to me. “Let’s go outside.”Meekly, my head whirling, I let him pull me up and lead me out into the garden. It’s dark now, and a couple of moths are fluttering around the kitchen window, but there’s enough light for us to see each other clearly, and it’s not cold.Still standing, he turns me to face him. “What do you think?” he asks.“I don’t know what to say. I… I’m ashamed Mum feels that Charlie and I didn’t listen to her. She’s right of course. I was determined to make the sacrifice because I thought it was what I should do. But she is still my mother, and she deserves to have a say in it.”I look down at where he’s holding my hands. “But it’s not easy. It would be a huge change for her to move, and I know that change is one thing she really struggles with. When anything big happens, it always makes her unwell.”“That’s fair enough, but we’d make sure we did it in small steps so it didn’t become too overwhelming.” He lifts my hands and kisses my fingers. “Whateve
I glance at Charlie, a little ashamed. She looks back at me, her lips twisting.“I don’t think it occurred to either of you to ask me what I want,” Mum says. “And every time I tried to talk about it, you shut me down.”I stare at her, horrified. Is that true? I suppose it is. She did try to say she wanted to find a solution that would mean neither of us would have to give up the men in our lives, but we both steamrollered over her, insisting we weren’t going to cave.“When I talked to Kip, though,” Mum continues, “he said, ‘What do you want?’ I was so touched I nearly cried.”I glance at him, but he’s looking at her, his lips curving up behind his fingers.Mum looks at me. “As I said, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. But I’m not going to let either of you pass up on the chance of happiness with the man of your dreams for me. Alice!” She snaps as I open my mouth. “Please!”I close my mouth again, shocked at her sharp tone.“I know that over the years you’ve had to step up an
AliceI’m absolutely shattered.Charlie’s revelation yesterday threw all three of us into a whirlwind of heightened emotions, and it’s been very difficult to stop them spinning us around.Mum went to bed early last night, exhausted from the whole thing, and the two of us stayed up until very late, checking on her from time to time, both frightened of leaving her alone.“We have to sort this,” Charlie told me at one point, long after the sun had set. “We can’t keep doing this to her.”“I know that,” I snapped. But I couldn’t see a way clear through the thick forest of our problems.In the end, both of us were so tired and irritable and upset that we decided to sleep on it and talk again the next day.I lay awake for about an hour, thinking about Kip, missing him, and feeling miserable, and fighting with myself because he’s my best friend, and I wanted to call him and talk it over with him, and I couldn’t. Eventually I crashed out, slept too long, and I’ve woken with a headache, grouchy
I sigh. “Shit.”“Yeah. She was so happy, and I just couldn’t bring myself to say it. I kept thinking about the baby, and I knew I had to try and make a go of my marriage for the baby’s sake. So I stayed. I told Renée I couldn’t see her again. She texted me occasionally, but we didn’t meet up. I tried, I really did. But Chloe had morning sickness for the first few months, and after that she just didn’t want sex—she said it felt weird while she was pregnant. And then the baby was born, and even a few months after, she still wasn’t interested. I tried to be understanding, and accept she was tired and probably sore, but… I know it makes me a terrible person, but I just kept thinking about how Renée wanted me, and how good she made me feel… And then one day she contacted me again and asked to see me. And I’m only human, Kip. I was lonely, and I know it sounds pathetic and childish and makes me an arsehole, but I was angry with Chloe for not wanting me, and for not taking my needs into acco
KipAfter my long phone call with Penny, I send a text to Sam, the pilot of the Knight Sky, then take my laptop out onto the deck and spend half an hour browsing and jotting down some notes until the doorbell goes. I answer it to find Craig standing there. To my relief, there’s no sign of Renée. I’m tempted to say, ‘So she let you out on your own, then?’ but I manage to restrain myself.“Jesus,” he says, staring at my eye, “what happened to you?”“Don’t ask,” I reply wryly. “Come in.” I stand back and let him pass, close the door, and follow him down the steps. “You want a coffee?”He shrugs. “Okay.”I take it as a sign that he’s planning to stay at least long enough to have a drink, and turn on the machine. “Thanks for coming,” I say as I start the espresso pouring. “I wasn’t sure you’d agree to it.” I glance at him. “Was Renée okay with you coming?” I’m genuinely curious, as I was convinced she’d arrive with him.He sits on one of the barstools and scratches at a mark on the counter.
He puts his arm around her. “It’s amazing,” he says softly. “Thank you.” The last ounce of resentment has vanished from his eyes.“They’re lovely gifts,” Mum tells me. “Well done.”One of the babies—Liam, I think, because he’s wearing red—stirs in the cot, waving his tiny fists in the air.“Can I pick him up?” I ask, and Catie wipes her eyes and nods..“Of course.”I lift the baby out and walk beneath the umbrella so he doesn’t have the sun in his eyes.“Hey, little fella,” I murmur, and he looks up at me with his big blue eyes. He smells sweet, of milk and talcum powder, and when I stroke his cheek with a finger, he grabs it and tries to suck it. I chuckle and look at Saxon, who’s watching me with a smile.I feel a huge swell of relief. It’s the first step to putting things right with the people I love, and it feels damn good.I just hope I can do something similar with Craig and Alice.*I stay for another hour, drinking my coffee and chatting to my family. Then, just before midday,
KipI read it several times, then send it.It’s time to head over to my parents’ house. Dad bought each of us a breathalyzer when we were younger so we could make sure we weren’t over the limit after a few drinks. I haven’t used it for a while as I don’t tend to drink at all when I’m driving, but I take it out of the cupboard and blow into it, relieved to find I’m well under.Taking the presents with me, I get into the Merc and head out into the sunny morning.When I pull up at the house, Saxon’s Aston is already there, gleaming in the sunshine. I pick up the parcels and make my way inside, my stomach fluttering. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the need to apologize for bad behavior.As I pass the kitchen I see Mum there, talking to Pamela as they load a tray with cups of coffee. They both look over as I stop and walk in. Pamela gives a wry smile, and Mum gives me a look that says, ‘What am I going to do with you?’“Morning,” I say, going up to Mum, leaving the parcels on the cou
KipI vomit twice more in the night, but luckily Damon’s there to help me stumble to the bathroom, and to encourage me to drink more water. So when I eventually wake up for real, I feel a tad fragile, but not half as bad as I might have done if he hadn’t been there.I check the time—07:14. The sun is up, flooding the room with pale yellow light. The sky is such a light blue that it’s almost white.The bed next to me is empty, and I can’t hear Damon upstairs.Still no message or calls from Alice, but there are a few others waiting for me. The first is from Damon.Hey bro, I left around two a.m. once you stopped throwing up. Take the Panadol and drink the orange juice, then go apologize to Saxon and Catie and I’m sure you’ll feel better. DThe second is from my father.I’d like to see you here at eleven a.m., kiddo. Make sure you’re not over the limit. Dad xHe hasn’t called me kiddo for years. It’s obviously a reflection of my behavior last night.The third and fourth are from Saxon. The