AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That dog saw too much.
I headed to my small bathroom, undressing as I went, and climbed straight into the shower. Setting the temperature to cold, I ducked beneath the shock of water, pressing both hands to the tile so I wouldn’t be tempted to reach down and squeeze my straining cock. Jerking off would feel too much like giving in, and I needed to focus all of my energy on getting over these feelings. It didn’t help when our text conversations were occurring more frequently. I never started the conversations, but I always engaged. And as the days passed, they’d taken on a more flirtatious tone. On her end, because like I said,I did not know how to flirt.
Last night she texted and asked me to play a game where we both had to send the last photo we’d taken on our phone at the same time.I thought it was a little strange, but played along. The moment hers loaded on my ancient phone, I realised my mistake. It was a photo of her and Dudley down at the bay, Dudley’s whiskers wet and sand-coated. She wore dark sunglasses, her curls blowing in the breeze as she smiled brilliantly into the camera. The photo wasn’t revealing, cutting off just below her shoulders. But it showed enough for me to see the wings of her collarbone and emerald-green bikini top. The colour against her creamy skin was enough to make me dizzy.
And then the horror set in.
She’d sent a stunning selfie. And I’d sent…oh god.I’d sent a half blurry shot of the wooden washback, seventy-two hours into the fermentation process.
Twenty-four hours later, the memory still made me ill.
If she texted tomorrow, I wouldn’t respond.
Princess: What are you doing?
Mal: WatchingSleepless in Seattle.
Princess: REALLY??
Princess: I love that film.
Mal: I kind of guessed when you demanded I watch it ten times this week.
Princess:“I knew it the very first time I touched her. It was like coming home… only to no home I’d ever known.”
Princess:“I was just taking her hand to help her out of a car and I knew… it was like magic.”
Princess: I’m weeping!
Mal: Are you going to recite the entire bloody movie?
Princess: Maybe…
Mal: I’ll stop watching.
Princess: (Zipping lips closed)
That got the barest smirk from me.
I was grumpy tonight, and I discovered the reason the minute Tom Hanks opened his damn mouth. His irritating, too charming mouth. No wonder April loved this movie so much, it was what women wanted, romance and tooth-rottlingly sweet monologues. A man who could make a woman fall in love over a damn radio show.
For the first time that week, I ended the conversation first.
14
APRIL
Want Want – Maggie Rogers
“You still haven’t signed the contract?” Syd’s voice was a high peal down the line.
Sweat pooling beneath my arms, I clutched the phone tighter to my ear, squeezing Dudley’s stocky body to my slick chest with my free hand. I traversed the steep path down to the bay with slow steps. Even my knees were sweating. The chill from the previous week had scorched away thanks to the tail end of a heatwave blowing in from southern Europe and it was hot.Really hot. I didn’t mean to be so predictably British about it, but it might be too hot.
Perspiration mingling with the scent of sun cream I’d slathered on before leaving the manor, I felt a million miles from the April Sinclair persona I was used to slipping on every morning. I hadn’t felt like her for weeks now, if I was being honest with myself.
“I told you, I need to take some time. I said the same thing to Angela and she understood.” I panted, flicking out the toe of my sandal to dislodge the tiny pebbles that had snuck into the sole.
“Time for what?”
