CHAPTER483
I chew my lip, heart aching with everything he is saying, eyes glazed with emotion. There’s a lump in my throat from how beautifully romantic Arrick can be, underneath all the cool and aloof he shows the world. I never thought it would be like that with him.
The plane journey with our friends and Nathan was minus Jake; just a group of hungover people going back to the city. Nathan and Christian slept for the hour-long flight while Jenny gazed out the window daydreaming sleepily, leaving Arrick and me together. Side by side with hands held under cover of the table and I leaned my head against him. Listening to his heartbeat as he read a book and I napped in and out of consciousness. He hadn’t let go until we got up to leave the plane, not once, and then didn’t let go until we got out of the car at his apartment and carried our bags.
“I like that you’re like this.” I finally say, his hand trailing up to my jawline, tracing my lips with his thumb, eyes focused on my mouth and the obvious desire to kiss me. Starting to recognize the tell-tale signs of eyes dilated, brows slightly tensed to a tiny frown, the serious deadpan focus on my lips. He is easy to read when you know how, and I love the fact that he seems to want to kiss me endlessly. Even when he isn’t kissing me, he’s usually thinking about it. “There is definitely a lot of fire and passion underneath that very sexy chest, waiting to get out I think.” I prod him in the pec with a smile. Loving the way it feels to be able to touch him without any boundaries, or hesitation. I feel like exploring every part of him with inquisitive fingers and have to stop myself from lifting his shirt to go peeking.
“I guess it’s been dormant for a long while. Or maybe I just didn’t have enough sexual chemistry with anyone to let it out, until you.” He grins cheesily and I roll my eyes.
“Stop! Chat up lines are lame, and I happen to know, also bullshit. You were definitely a Lothario before you settled down. I may not have been privy to your naughty antics, but I sure as hell heard the rumors, and you stupidly told me things you shouldn’t have.” I slide out of his embrace and flit into the kitchen as the coffee jug starts to fill up, reaching for mugs in the cupboard above. He moves to where I’d been standing and takes up the same leaning down posture he had before, arms resting on the counter as he watches me ready our drinks.
“Reformed my ways … just for you. Want to have a jacuzzi out on the roof and then come down here for a movie before bed? Pretty sure there’s a bikini you left here in my drawer from that party last year.” He is watching me with that infuriating poker face and smiles when I eye roll at his obvious lameness.
My mind flits back to that party and the fact he split up a drunken brawl between me and Natasha that night, before forcing me to go to bed in his spare room. Shrugging it away I glance at him slyly.
“Or you know, we could skinny dip.” I lift my chin with a naughty smile, completely serious. Not against seeing that perfectly sculpted body of tanned skin and black ink again, since it is clearly etched in my memory. I don’t have any issue being naked with him again either.
“We could … but we’re not.” He stands up, stretching his arms out over his head and joining fingers so he can ease out his shoulder muscles. It’s instantly erotic to me the way his body elongates and moves fluidly, all muscle and beautiful masculine lines making me hot from within. I realize I am openly staring, and he catches my eye with a smile.
“Why not?” I pout as he returns to his casual pose. From sex demon to sexy lounging model. I think I am going to like playing with my eye candy of a man in a jacuzzi.
“Because, seeing you naked again will seriously mess with my calm, especially when you are within arm’s reach. I am struggling to function on the memory of you in all your glory as it is.” He takes the mug I have now slid across to him gratefully, lifting it to take a sip while holding it around the base with fingers through the handle. He is such a guy in every way, and I find myself lifting eyebrows with complete amusement at this fact. I never noticed until now how many completely ‘guy’ mannerisms he has.
“Hmm, I doubt that very much, I’m almost boy shaped.” I gaze down at my mug then go snooping in the cupboard for creamer.
“Trust me, there’s nothing boy shaped about you, Sophie, not anymore. Maybe when you were fourteen, but you have definitely moved into a woman’s shape a little too perfectly. You attract male eyes like flies to honey, baby, you’re just oblivious to it.”
I frown his way dubiously, regarding that genuine look and knowing he means it. Taking a look down almost impulsively in an almost childlike manner to see what he is seeing. All I can see is slender legs, a flat stomach, and a modest bust. Everything slim and in proportion, a little on the dainty side for my liking but nothing like the curvy bodies of some of the women I have seen him date over the years.
“Maybe I’ll fill out still, guess there’s still time.” I smile his way with a shrug, not body shy at all and not really that insecure, despite a past that used to make me hate my body on all counts. Therapy has done so much for me, but I still fail to see myself as sexy and curvy in any way and try to dress to make me look more so.
“You don’t need to fill out, trust me. You are already capable of making men horny as hell, Mimmo. The number of assholes I’ve had to intervene with on your behalf proves that. You can count me as one.” He winks, that naughty hint of a smile as his eyes linger on me for a second as he works his way up over my body lazily. Definite interest peeking in that cheeky eyebrow wiggle he gives me. It’s amazing how one loaded look can turn me to mush and sizzle at the same time and he isn’t even touching me. I swallow nervously, trying to deflect from the topic I started and realize this will be a whole new part of the relationship between us to explore at some point. It makes me unsure suddenly, antsy and I look for another topic to focus on.
“I’m sorry I did that to all of you. I mean all the drinking and partying and acting like an idiot for years.” I bite on my lip, looking away across the immaculate room with a sinking feeling in my gut. One thing I have done since starting school is pondered and regret the last couple of years all the time, hating what I look back on it and all the pain it caused the people who love me. How childish I was in dealing with things and how I behaved towards everyone, including him.
“I’m beyond sorry I didn’t figure out it was because of me, Sophs. I just thought you were going off the rails like Leila did and nothing seemed to get through to you.” We’re both cradling our mugs, perched on either side of the counter and looking at one another openly. The first time we have talked with any space between us in the last hours, I guess I need some distance for a few minutes.
“It wasn’t your fault, I didn’t even know why I felt that way.” I shrug matter of factly, dismissing his blame for something he had no control over at the time. Hating that I can now look back and see the mess I was, and yet he didn’t give up on me in all that time. It makes me warm inside, softer towards him at the memories.
“For the record … I’m glad that you feel that way; I’m glad that things changed between us.” He lays down his mug, standing up and laying his palms flat on the counter as though pondering whether he should stay there or come to me. I guess he can tell that I might need some breathing space, but I can also tell that he isn’t liking the lack of touching going on. He’s been insatiable for contact since this morning.
“You don’t wish it was still how it was, and you were still ignorantly happy with Tasha?.” I blurt out a little too painfully and raise a brow his way. I don’t even know what that was, what I am trying to achieve.
Testing the boundaries maybe?
He moves around the counter to me, obviously choosing to be closer, finding me with his arms and pulling me against him so I have to put my mug down too. Pulling me in to face him and giving me no option but to obey as he slides my body against his faultlessly, perfectly molded as though we really did break from the same mold once.
“Nope … this feels right to me, righter than anything I have ever known.” He stoops a little, buries that cute boy face in my neck and breathes me in before planting a kiss on my throat. I giggle unexpectedly when he hoists me up by the butt and legs onto the counter and slides me back to sit on it, nestling himself in between my thighs so we are nose to nose, intimately joined and I am his prisoner. This close to his face and that disarming smile feels a lot better than being across a kitchen, and the familiar tingling of my insides goes into overdrive.
“You make me want to wrap these around me every second of the day.” He murmurs close to my mouth as he angles for a steamy kiss, pulling my legs around his waist so I can lock my ankles together behind his back, my arms around his neck as he tilts me back and fits our bodies in snugly. Getting braver with how far he can push me with every single touch it seems.
Casanova!"
