leave” his voice is barely louder than a whisper through clenched teeth. His brazen disregard for his own nakedness making him all the more intimidating, all I can do is stand aside, open mouthed.
Jake's hands raise up defensively “OK, OK” he says, but then turns to me “I’ll speak to you later” he says defiantly before leaving.
Swinging the door closed I exhale, my shoulders slumping, I suddenly feel unsteady on my feet, Carlos steps forward, wrapping his arms around me, “Your shaking” he says, stroking my hair.
“It’s a lot of drama for this early in the morning”
“So, that’s the husband huh?”
“Ex-husband” I correct him.
“I can see why, that guys a douche.”
“Tell me about it!”
Carlos slips his arm around my shoulders and leads me back to the bed, sitting me down on it, “Or how aboutyoutellme?” he asks.
I curl up under his arm, lifting my legs over him, as if by doing this I could stop him from leaving me once I’ve told him.
I explain what happened while he was away, Jake turning up, what we said to each other, how I had hoped he had gone home, watching Carlos’s jaw tighten intermittently throughout.
My heart sinks, he’s realising it now, I come with baggage; baggage that won’t just be packed away in my past, but instead follows me round like a bad smell. I can hear the conversation that’s coming, he didn’t sign up for this, he’s not ready for this kind of commitment, it’s not you it’s me.
The usual speech, just the first time I’ve had to be on the receiving end of it. Someone should really hand out a manual to divorcees, ‘what to expect when you start dating’, so we don’t get our hopes up that it will all be as rosy and sugar coated as we tell ourselves.
As I come to the end of my explanation I can feel the lump forming in my throat, but I swallow it down, the last thing I want is to make him feel like he can’t be honest, just because I’m blubbing like a baby.
I begin to pull my legs off him, making his escape easier, his hand grips my thigh, pulling my leg back over him.
“Where do you think you’re gong?” he asks, giving me an award winning smile.
“I just thought, with all this…..you might want to….you know…..run a mile. And I wouldn’t blame you, in fact I completely understand….if that’s what you want to do” I’m all stutters and insecurity.
He leans over, planting a long, soft kiss on my lips, “that is the last thing I would ever want to do” my heart skips a beat, I hadn’t allowed myself to believe he might not want to run, this is so unexpected, so beautifully, perfectly, magically unexpected; I throw my arms around his neck, knocking us both back onto the bed, “really?” I ask, not making any attempt to keep the exhilaration from my voice.
“Really, really” he replies, covering me in kisses, “now, where were we?” he asks, nuzzling my neck and running his hand up my thigh….
We are still in bed by mid afternoon, “shouldn’t you be working?” I question him as the clock passes 16.00.
“Yes” he replies simply, “I should be, but I can’t exactly drag you into the office and have my wicked way with you there, so work will just have to wait.”
“Indefinitely?”
“Yep” he is brilliantly stubborn, but if it means I get more time in bed with his naked self, then I think I can learn to live with it.
“As much as I love the idea of staying in bed forever, I could really do with eating at some point today?” I test the waters.
“Room service?” he fires back.
“I was thinking more dinner with Blair and John?”
“Aaawwww” he whines dejectedly.
“I know, staying in bed with you for the foreseeable future is great, but I also want to show you off, my knight in shining armour,And you did suggest it to Blair yesterday, so we really should” I add in the last bit, knowing he is too polite to go back on his word.
“Oh alright” he pouts like a toddler getting a telling off, “we best make this time count then” his expression changing in an instant to an impish grin, he pounces on me, his fingers tickling my sides, as I shriek, helpless against his onslaught.
It’s 18.00 before he finally relents and lets me ring Blair, almost guaranteeing they will have already made plans for tonight’s dinner; but happily she said they were