I check my watch, then look at him shyly. ‘I guess I could stay a little longer.’
‘You’re not going home until you’ve done the washing-up, darling. I can’t be expected to do everything.’
‘Yes, sir.’ Laughing, I get up and pick up his plate.
‘I was joking, Nella!’
I insist on at least starting on the dishes, but Mark comes to stand behind me at the sink and getsverydistracting.
‘Fuckthe washing-up,’ he orders. He kisses my neck, and one hand sneaks under my T-shirt to caress my breast. With the other, he passes me a tea-towel so I can dry my hands, then walks me backwards until I bump against the kitchen table.
Kissing me softly, he slips a finger inside my underwear.
He finds my clit, and I gasp in pleasure.
‘Just checking,’ he murmurs.
He adds a second finger and I suck in a breath. ‘Checking for what?’
He pulls out a condom from his back pocket. ‘I need you ready so when I bend you over this table, I can take you hard.’
The preparing part doesn’t take long. Certainly not long enough to take off any more clothes. He unbuttons his jeans, turns me round, slides my underwear partway down my thighs, and guides himself into me. It’s fast and intense. The table legs judder against the floor as he pushes; his fist bunching my T-shirt to pull me towards him with each unsparing thrust.
I come breathlessly, and he follows seconds later with a full-throated groan.
It’s dark outside, and we’ve been back in his room for a couple of hours. He’s lying on his back, and I’m curled around him, his chest hair tickling my nose. One of his arms is wrapped around me, and the other is bent at the elbow under his head. The only way we could look more like smug, after-glowing lovers is if we were both smoking.
‘You said we wouldn’t be a good match in bed.’
He looks at me confused. ‘What? No, I didn’t.’
‘You did. You said I was too short for you in that first tango lesson with Theo.’
He sighs. ‘A couple of things. First, we were talking about dancing, not sex.’
‘Yes, but everyone knows the two are linked.’
He starts to quietly laugh. ‘Secondly, and this is the crucial detail you missed, I had a semi at the time. I needed to shut down that conversation really fucking fast. In front of your brother and your future brother-in-law, I didnotwant to get a raging boner.’
I lift my head to look at him. ‘Seriously?’
‘You do realise you’re hot as fuck, right?’
After everything we’ve done tonight, I can’t believethisis what makes me blush.
‘And you always were. The feeling was mutual, I think,’ he adds softly. ‘That’s kinda always been the problem between us.’
I nod, knowing he can feel my head move. It’s been that simple all along. And he’s been brave enough to say it.
It makes me readier to acknowledge the other shadow looming on the horizon. This one not about the past, but about the future.
‘Why Venezuela? Isn’t it very dangerous?’
He jerks his head towards me, and his chest rises and falls before he speaks.
‘That’s not the reason I’m going if that’s what you think. I might crave volatility and adrenaline more than I should, but Idon’t have a death wish or anything. The reason it’s Venezuelaspecificallyis because I had a colleague from Caracas who told me how bad things were and how he was trying to get a volunteering programme off the ground. The red tape was a nightmare – it took a year to sort out all the paperwork and visas. He moved heaven and earth to let me delay my departure – they’re a man down, now. I promised him two years. I owe him.’
Is he gently telling me he can’tnotgo? Does he think I’m asking him to stay?
