A Beautiful Forever(22)
She starts to make noises while she kisses me, I can tell she’s about to come again. I try not to move too much more than a small pulse as we fully connect, letting her guide the rhythm. When she cries out, I finally let go as well, pushed over the edge by the pleasure from her moans.
She lies down on my chest again, breathing hard, and I roll us both so that I ‘m on top now, kissing her face, her neck. I run my fingers over her body and enjoy the smoothness of her skin beneath my fingertips.
Placing her hands either side of my face, she guides me, so I’m looking at her, there is such adoration in her face as she gazes up at me, tears still threatening to spill from her eyes. I lean down and kiss each one, tasting a slight saltiness on my lips when I do. Her hips rock up against me and I'm instantly hard again, moving inside her, setting aside my worries and losing myself in our blissful connection.
Paige
Being with Elliot is a heaven I never thought was possible for me to experience. I don’t think I ever want to go back out into the real world again. I don’t want to face the things I have to face, or speak of the truths I have to tell. I just want to be right here, right now, connected with him – forever.
Chapter 17
Elliot
As we lie together, naked and wrapped around each other, I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be. I feel like I’ve found myself in her arms, and I don’t want to let her go.
“I’m so sorry for making you go in there. I should have taken you home,” I say to her as she lies on my chest tracing her fingers in between my abs as I twirl her hair around my fingers, enjoying the way it coils around each one like a spring.
“You didn’t make me do anything Elliot,” she answers.
She sits up to talk to me, and my eyes fall to her breasts; I don’t think I’d be a guy if they didn’t. She doesn’t speak, so I drag my eyes back up to hers, and she’s smiling at me. But it doesn’t touch her eyes or display any sort of happiness; it's thoughtful and a little sad.
“Are you going to be ok?” I ask out of concern, smoothing my hand against the skin of her arm.
She looks over at closed curtains of the hotel room window and sighs. “I just wasn’t expecting her to be there. I barely even got to say two words to him. It feels like we wasted the trip out here.”
“There isn’t a moment of time around you that I consider a waste Paige.”
She turns her attention back to me and looks slightly pained as she smooths her hand down the side of my face. “You have such a beautiful heart Elliot.”
Paige
He’s looking up at me, and my chest hurts from caring about him so much. Why did this man have to come into my life? I was surviving fine without him, and now I don’t feel like I can even breathe without him near me.
We have gone from meeting on a plane to being a constant in each other’s lives in a little more than six weeks. I don’t know how I’m going to say good-bye when he leaves, all I know is that I need to be with him, perfect like we are now, for as long as we can. I don’t want to tell him any more about my past, I don’t want to ruin what little time we have together.
He takes my hand from his face and kisses my palm, pulling me down to lay beside him. His fingers trail up and down my back as he leans up on his arm, studying my tattoo. It feels strange having someone look at it after keeping it covered for so many years, kind of like my soul is exposed.
His voice is low and intimate when he speaks. “So is this how you see yourself?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you see yourself as a phoenix, rising out of the ashes?”
“Not really,” I answer, rolling over to face him.
“Well then… what does it mean? You said it’s to remind you of everything you don’t want to be anymore. What don’t you want to be Paige?” He sits himself up, so he’s leaning against the headboard as he waits for my answer.
I look away from him as a tear spills from my left eye and try to discreetly wipe it on my pillow. Taking a deep breath, I sit up, clearing my throat.
“I just… don’t want to be who I was. It… um, it’s kind of like my cross to bear – if that makes sense; that’s why it covers my back, and the Phoenix means… that I hope that something good can come out of all the wrong… that’s all.” I glance at him briefly as he studies me intently, I can see he isn’t happy with my answer, but that’s all he’s getting for now. I just want the next six weeks with him and then if he insists, I’ll tell him everything, then I’ll let him go.
In an obvious move to shift his focus, I swing my leg over to straddle him, grinning wickedly as I lean in to kiss him. He’s a little slow to respond, but when I use my hand to stroke his shaft back to life, his kiss becomes much deeper.
His hands move up into my hair as he pulls me towards him, delving into my mouth with his tongue. He breaks free and holds my face away for a moment, “We can’t go all the way this time,” he informs me. “I don’t carry multiple condoms around in my wallet.”
“That’s fine,” I say, kissing him between my words, “we just won’t penetrate.”
He lets out a moan as he dives back into the kiss, his fingers in my hair and his chest pressed against my own. I can feel his shaft hard between my legs and slide myself up the length of him, careful to avoid the tip.
“Oh, you’re like silk,” he says into my neck as he nips at my ear, then flips me onto my back. I laugh in surprise at the suddenness of his movement but quickly slip into oblivion as he slides down my body and settles his mouth between my legs.
Elliot
After doing everything we possibly could to each other without having actual sex, we both fall asleep, exhausted, and curled around each other. It’s dark when I open my eyes to the sudden music, at first I don’t realise where I am, but I quickly remember when I look at my phone and see Shane’s number on the screen. “Ah, crap!” I say grabbing at it and answering before it rings out.
“Where the f*ck are you?!" he complains immediately in my ear.
“I’m sorry man. We're on our way,” I lie, flipping on the bedside light as I get up and hunt down our clothes. “It just took longer than we expected, we’ll be about an hour.”
Shane sighs on his end, “Fine,” he says flatly, “Just hurry, I’m supposed to be at Coral’s before then, she’s gonna be pissed at me.”
He disconnects without saying anymore, and I get my jeans on as I move over to Paige’s side of the bed. “Paige, honey, wake up,” I whisper, gently rocking her shoulder in an attempt to rouse her.
She blinks a few times before her eyes focus on me properly, “What? What’s wrong?” she asks sitting up and taking the clothes I’m handing to her.
“We need to get back. Shane needs his car.”
“Oh shit! I forgot about him!” she says, suddenly throwing her clothes on and stuffing her feet into her shoes.
“I know, me too,” I say as I grab my jacket and hold out hers. She slips her arms in, and I pause our rush for a moment to kiss her. “I don’t want to go,” I tell her.
“Me either, but we can’t keep his car forever,” she returns, kissing me again. I cup her arse in my hand and pull her body against mine, savouring these last few moments of our time alone. As we pull apart, she sighs and picks up her bag. I take her hand, and we walk over to reception to return the key before getting back into the car for the drive back to the flat.
When I said ‘I don’t want to go’, I meant that I don’t want to go in six weeks. I don’t want to only have that small amount of time with her. I’ve already spent half my time here getting close to her and now that I am. I can’t imagine having to walk away.
Chapter 18
Paige
“Maybe you should take a few days off,” Andrea suggests as I send yet another customer on their way without having any sort of a conversation with them that wasn’t related to their hairstyle.
“I need to work at the moment Andrea.” I get to work cleaning up the fallen hair from the floor.
“Do you need to talk about it?”
I pause my sweeping and look up at Andrea’s concerned face. We're experiencing one of the rare quiet times in the salon when we have no clients waiting, and our next appointment isn’t for another hour. So it’s safe to talk, my problem is – do I want to?
Sighing, I fall into the salon chair, leaning my upper body weight on the broom in my hand. “I just…” I start, having trouble working out what to say. I’m trying to let people into my life, but it’s still hard to share my worries when I’m so used to dealing with them on my own.