A Beautiful Forever(29)
When the door opens, I sit up on my elbows, watching as Elliot closes it gently behind him and climbs onto the bed next to me.
He lies on his side and looks at me. Concern etched into his facial features as he searches my face with his eyes. My heart skips as his fingers brush my face when he reaches over to me, pulling one of the buds from my ear and spilling Thom Yorke’s crooning voice into the quiet of the room.
“Are you going to tell me what’s up?”
I stop the music and slide myself up, so I am sitting on the bed against the wall. He watches me intently, waiting for my response.
“I just walked in and saw you flirting with the new girl, and I hated it.”
He raised his eyebrows and then cracked a smile, “You think I was flirting with her?”
“Uh, yeah – you were all smiling and laughing while she was touching you. Then you jumped up all guilty the second you saw me.”
He started chuckling; I'm having a jealous hissy fit, and he's chuckling at me!
“Have you even considered that I was jumping up because I was relieved that you were home? You were gone for over an hour to get milk – I was worried. Jolene was going on and on in my ear, and I was trying to be polite and listen but all I could think about was you. I jumped up because I was glad you were back and that nothing bad had happened, plus - I was glad you were back so Jolene would see I have a girlfriend and stop throwing herself at me.”
“So I’m your girlfriend now am I?” I ask, feeling ridiculous at how my heart just did cartwheels through my chest when he said it.
He climbs up the bed and kneels in front of me. “Paige – we live together; you are way more than just my girlfriend, alright? You should know by now that I hate girls being all over me. I find it incredibly uncomfortable.”
“Yeah right, you hate pretty girls flirting with you and touching you?”
“Paige - I was pretty overweight when I was a kid, right up until my late teens. Girls like Jolene out there - they didn’t give me the time of day. When I got into sports, lost a bunch of weight and started to bulk up with muscle, suddenly these girls were looking at me like I was this new guy they’d never met before, and they made their interest obvious – just like Jolene was. I admit - I went with it more than a few times, because I am a guy not a saint, but it was all hollow. Those girls, they didn’t like me, or we would have been dating when I was overweight. They only liked what I looked like and what being with me did for them. I’m not stupid. I know how I look, and I know that I attract a lot of women, but I don’t want them. The only woman I care about touching me, or flirting with me – is you, don’t ever doubt that.”
“You were chubby?” I ask disbelievingly, trying not to smile.
“Why are you laughing? I’m pouring my heart out here!” he laughs back.
“I’m sorry! It’s just that the image of you as a chubby kid is so adorable!”
He pulls me toward him and rolls on top of me, biting on my neck so it tickles like hell. I’m laughing so hard that I start slapping at his back and yelling, “Stop! Stop!”
Slowing his mouth to a gentle kiss, he pulls away and looks down into my face as he holds himself over me.
“Can I tell you something?” I ask, touching his face.
“Anything,” he replies.
“I haven’t had a boyfriend for eight years.”
His eyebrows shoot up, “Eight years?”
Nodding, I say, “I didn’t think I could care about anyone again.”
A smile spreads over his mouth as he leans closer to me, lowering his voice to a low deep gravel that hums through my body when he speaks. “So… you care about me huh?”
“Very much,” I whisper as his mouth meets mine, my body responding immediately by wrapping my arms and legs around him, writhing against him.
Breaking away for a moment, he looks down at me, eyes sparkling. “So, um, that was some trick you showed me this morning,” he growls, pressing his erection against me, nipping me on my neck and driving me wild.
“Do you want me to show you again?” I whisper, gasping as he pushes himself against me once more.
“Hell yeah,” he grins, eyes twinkling as he rolls on to his back, still holding me against him. I make a big show of sliding down his body, undoing his pants slowly before releasing his erection, gliding my hand up and down his smooth shaft before lowering my mouth.
“No yelling,” I tease, before taking him in my mouth and slowly start drawing him in.
Chapter 23
Paige
“You seem much happier these past couple of weeks,” Andrea comments during the afternoon lull in the salon. “You and Elliot must be getting along well then?”
“Are we ever,” I reply, attempting to keep the ear to ear grin to myself as I put the kettle on to make us both a tea, I can’t help but gush a little about how great things have been since we moved into the room in the flat together.
“Oh, I want an Elliot too,” she sighs, accepting the mug as I hand it to her. “Are you doing anything special this weekend?” she asks. “It’s not long until he has to go home is it?”
Suddenly, my mood plummets as I’m reminded that we only have a week left. “He’s um, going home in a week actually. So, I’ve planned a great weekend at a B and B in Lyme Regis, I booked it all online, it looks pretty amazing,” I tell her as brightly as I can.
“Oh, I’m sorry honey. I didn’t realise he’s leaving that soon!” she sympathises, sipping her tea and watching me with interest.
“It’s fine Andrea, we both knew this was coming. We’ve been trying to have fun while we can, instead of worrying about what will happen when he goes.”
“I’ll bet you’ve been having fun!” she laughs winking at me suggestively.
I feel the heat rise in my cheeks as I return her laughter while images of Elliot in bed flick through my mind, warming my core. Suddenly, I’m feeling edgy and want this day to be over so I can go back to the flat with him and lock us both in our bedroom all night.
Tomorrow morning we’re leaving for Lyme Regis and from the look of the images of the bed and breakfast online, we’re going to be staying in pure luxury. Our last weekend together is going to be amazing, I won’t accept anything less.
***
Elliot
After leaving the flat early Saturday morning, I drive Paige’s newly acquired car to the bed and breakfast that she picked out for us to spend a night at. It’s taken us nearly three hours to get here and after listening to the Jebediah disc for the second time through, Paige switches to the radio and tunes it into her phone, so we spend the rest of the trip listening to 90’s alternative rock, she’s got a great voice as she sings along, knowing the lyrics to every song. I’m actually surprised at how many songs I also remember the lyrics to – like Radiohead’s Creep and Powderfinger’s Passenger.
“Almost there,” I say as I turn onto the road that leads up to where we’re staying.
“I can’t wait!” Paige grins, wriggling happily in her seat. “My arse is so numb, I can’t wait to stretch my legs.”
“Well we could have stopped you know,” I point out.
“I know, but I want to spend all of our time here. It's beautiful isn’t it?” she gushes, as I pull the car into a parking space outside the bed and breakfast.
“Wow,” I say as I look up at the grand building, rendered a sandy colour set in the most idyllic coastal setting. We climb out of the car and stretch as we look around at the story book styled English gardens and the view that continues uninterrupted, over rolling hills all the way to the sea.
Taking a deep breath, I fill my lungs. I don’t think I have ever had such clean air in my chest in my entire life.
“This is amazing!” Paige calls over to me, smiling as she spins in a slow circle, taking in her surroundings.
I open the boot and take out our suitcase, waiting for her to join me so I can wrap my arm around her waist and walk inside together.
There’s a small woman with brown curly hair, waiting for us when we enter, she introduces herself as Beattie and shows us upstairs to our room. Walking ahead, she chats away about what time breakfast is served and where they get all of their produce from. I stop listening when she opens the door to our room, and I’m faced with this giant iron bed, covered in white pillows and a pale green quilt. I want nothing more than to flop down on top of it. Sleeping on two single beds pushed together hasn’t been the most comfortable experience of my adult life so paying as much as we are for this weekend seems totally worth it for the bed alone.
Paige
I can’t help but smile as I see the way Elliot is looking at the bed. I half expect him to lift off the floor and float towards it on a cloud of desire. I admit that I can’t wait to lay on it either, it looks like heaven.