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His chest was against my shoulder and I could feel the softness of his sweater against my bare skin. I tensed. Goosebumps covered the skin on my arms, and I closed my eyes. I didn’t move. Didn’t start on working on the paragraph either.
‘Charlie,’ William whispered this time.
Had he noticed that I was struggling with having him so close? I held my breath.
Because of the way our backs were turned to the others, I don’t think anybody could tell there was something going on with me. While I could still hear them talking and getting ready to leave, to me William’s quiet voice was the loudest in the room. I was stuck between moving forward so his sweater wouldn’t caress my skin and just leaning back and living the moment to the fullest. I did neither. Torture being fun and everything.
Rick thankfully chose that moment to ask William something so I could start breathing normally again, but my heart hadn’t gotten the memo and was determined to keep up its fast and frantic beat. I waved at myself with my hand to cool down at least a little. Why wasn’t anyone opening a window?
The others said their goodbyes as they left, one by one. ‘Bye, guys,’ I yelled as I planted a small kiss on Pepp’s not so little nose. He was getting bigger by the day. ‘You’re such a good boy,’ I whispered, holding his face in my hands. He bumped his nose against mine and I smiled.
While William was letting Rick and Stan out, I grabbed my laptop and headed straight towards the couch, Pepp following after me. I sat down and quietly groaned. My butt had plenty of cushion to it, but after three hours straight on a chair it still hurt. I closed my eyes and sighed. Pepp jumped up onto the couch and curled into a big ball, his back resting against my thigh. My right hand on the keyboard, I trailed the fingers of my left hand between Pepp’s eyes – his favourite spot. His eyes slowly closed and just like that he fell into sleep.
I heard the door close.
‘I hope you don’t mind finishing on the couch because my back and my neck hurt like crazy,’ I said to William as I deleted a paragraph and started rewriting with both hands.
And then suddenly there was a hand on my neck. I slid forward in record time as a shiver worked down my spine and put the laptop on the coffee table. I glanced at Pepp; his eyes were still closed and he hadn’t even moved from his spot. I rested my back against the back of the couch and tilted my head up to meet William’s eyes as he gently kept his hand on the base of my neck. ‘To what do I owe the pleasure, Will?’
‘William. Do I call you Charriot? And you worked more than anyone tonight, no wonder your neck hurts.’
I let out a big laugh and finally woke up Pepp. He turned his head to look at me. ‘I’m sorry, baby,’ I murmured and ran my hand along his body until he relaxed back. ‘Charriot?’ I asked, tilting my head up again, still smiling. ‘What does that have to do with Charlie? I shortened your name to Will. There was a logic.’ His fingers squeezed my shoulders and I jumped forward again so I could look over my shoulder. ‘Are you flirting with me, William? Because I’m very good at flirting. I told you this before. I’ll see it from a mile away.’
William laughed and then sighed. I bit on my lip. ‘You did tell me before. Do you want me to loosen your muscles, or not?’
Grinning, I leaned back again. ‘Thank you. I’ll take that. Would you like me to show you my flirting skills? You can be my training wheels for my date this week.’
Why was I suddenly playing with fire?
‘Finally going out with Rupert?’
I looked over my shoulder. ‘Are you doing that on purpose?’
He grinned at me. ‘What am I doing exactly?’
I shook my head and faced forward again. ‘Don’t know who Rupert is, but with Ralph, yes. Depending on how work goes, maybe Thursday.’
‘Good luck.’
‘Thanks. How about the flirting?’
‘Relax your shoulders,’ William muttered as his hands made contact with my skin again and it was music to my ears. I was nothing but putty under his fingers. My body was slowly melting, I could feel it. Not just because of his hands on me, but also because of his voice.
I had to force myself to keep my eyes open when he started to knead my muscles.
A few moments passed in silence and then he hit a particular spot and my eyes closed all on their own. ‘That feels really good,’ I whispered, and when William hummed back I had to fight off the goosebumps on my skin. It was no use. The shiver raced down my arms and all over my body. ‘Could you talk to me? I really like your voice.’ I tilted my neck to one side and quietly moaned. A girl could really get used to having him around. And not just because of his massage skills.
