‘At this rate, we’re never going to make it,’ he said, and then gave me a small smack, like someone smacking a horse to make it go faster. I got the message, and started running again. But when I stopped to unlatch the gate, Andrew pushed me into the fence and slipped his fingers under my panties and dragged them over me. I stopped fiddling with the gate, I grabbed on to the fence and pushed myself backwards, giving him better access to me. But when he slipped a finger into me, I knew we needed to get back to the house. We fumbled with the gate some more and then ran across the lawn. We reached the patio outside, and as soon as I saw it I threw myself down onto the massive day bed and held my arms out for him. He flopped down on top of me, crushing me with his weight.
‘You sure your parents are asleep?’ He rose onto his elbows and looked down at me.
‘They are. Besides, they’re literally on the other side of the house.’
He looked around. ‘You’re very loud though.’
‘I’ll try and be quiet.’
‘And just how are you going to do that?’ He slipped a finger into me again and I gasped loudly. ‘See, you’re very loud.’
I slapped my hand over my mouth again as he moved his finger in and out. I shook my head at him desperately as he went a little faster and harder. I was struggling to hold back the noises that were building inside me.
‘Ssshhhh!’ he hissed, looking amused.
I shook my head again and he grabbed a pillow and pushed it over my hand and mouth. I wrapped my arms around the pillow and then bit on it as he moved faster and faster. I raised and dropped my hips, matching his rhythm, but I needed to make noises; my body told me to.
‘Fuck the pillow.’ I tossed it on the ground and let out a loud moan as Andrew laughed and brought his mouth down to me.
‘You’re going to make me scream,’ I panted, getting closer and closer, his tongue and fingers working some kind of magic on me that made me feel like a wild animal that could not be contained.
‘Time it with a very loud wave,’ he said, and then laughed against me. The words falling from his lips, his breath rushing over me, the steady rhythm that was so perfectly timed, almost like a ticking metronome, all helped me come faster. Soon, I could no longer contain the noises falling from my lips, no matter how I flattened my hands over them. Finally, I let out that shout that I knew would inevitably come. My body shuddered for a few moments, and then stopped.
‘That was very loud.’ Andrew smiled at me.
‘Was it?’ I sat up and looked around. ‘Do you think my parents heard?’
‘I think the neighbors might have heard.’
‘No! Are you being serious?’ I looked towards their house to see if any lights had come on, but it was still dark.
‘It’s possible that the people of Australia heard too.’
And now I recognized he was teasing me so I slapped him on the arm. He grabbed my hand, raised it to his lips and kissed my fingers one by one, and then he kissed the soft, sensitive skin on my wrist.
‘You know I’ve fallen in love with you, right?’
‘What?’ I pulled my hand away in shock.
‘I’ve fallen in love with you, Pippa.’
I crossed my legs and shuffled away from him. I had not been expecting to hear this declaration right now, and it shook me.
‘Um . . .’ I mumbled. I hated it when conversations took a surprise turn, and this was definitely a surprise turn.
‘You okay?’ he asked.
‘Okay? I don’t know, I mean . . . You just blurted out that you’ve fallen in love with me, so I’m a little . . .’ I fanned my face with my hand frantically as my cheeks warmed up.
‘You need a moment, I get it.’ He stood up and walked over to the chair opposite the daybed.
‘Needed a moment’ was an understatement. I needed ten moments. I needed . . .
‘Fallen? Not falling?’ I asked. ‘Past tense. As if it has already happened, and not currently happening?’
He nodded.
‘So already in love with me, not going to be in love with me.’
