Merry Measure - Lily Morton Page 0,41
but his lips quirk, and I don’t think I’m succeeding.
He cups my head, bringing me closer, so our lips nearly touch. “Since Christmas last year,” he says.
What the fuck? I close my eyes and swallow hard, because he’s fucking potent this close, with his full lips and pretty brown eyes. I finally open my eyes. “Christmas?”
He nods. “It started when we sat at your kitchen table, just the two of us.”
I wrack my brains. “Wasn’t I pissed?”
“We both were.”
He pauses, and we say, “Eggnog” in unison.
He chuckles, and I lay my hands on his broad shoulders, feeling the muscles there. Excitement and hope buzz through me, making me dizzy. “Well, I am pretty irresistible when I’m drunk,” I say, smiling up at him and shifting closer. We both gasp as our bodies touch, and he closes his eyes, as if looking for control.
“You’re pretty irresistible all the time,” he says thickly.
I want to keep discussing this, but I want something else more, so I reach up and run my fingers over his lips. The next second, he has me backed against the wall in a small opening off the foyer. It’s dark and smells of herbs, but it could be a palace for all the attention we’re paying. We kiss furiously, our lips eating at each other.
A woman’s voice sounds from nearby, and Jack jerks. His lips are swollen, and his eyes unfocussed. “Jesus,” he mutters.
I moan softly and pull him back to me, holding onto his arse. He lowers his head again, taking my mouth with a soft groan. His arse cheeks are full and firm, and I clutch them, writhing against him.
I reach down and lower his zip, slipping my hand in and running my fingers down his dick and listening to his groan. My own cock is rock hard, and I can feel the dampness in my underwear when he stops kissing me. I chase his mouth for a second, but he groans and steps back hugging me lightly and kissing my hair. I still. I’ve never been held by a man like this before. Like I’m precious.
“We need to stop. I’m not fucking you in a restaurant toilet with your brother only a few steps away,” he says firmly.
I make a moue of disgust. “Please don’t ever bring my brother up when I have an erection. It’s not comfortable.”
He grimaces. “God, no. Never again.”
We smile at each other, and he leans down and whispers into my ear, “And I’m not fucking you when we get back to the hotel room either.”
“What?” I say, and it’s far too loud.
He shakes his head. “We’d be racing into a new phase in our relationship. I need you to think about that first.”
I blink at the word “relationship” and try to avoid clapping my hands and doing a random cartwheel. Then his words sink in about not fucking me. “Jack Cooper, why are you such a bloody gentleman?” I bemoan.
He grins, bending to kiss me. He takes a quick step back as a familiar booming voice sounds out.
“Arlo, Jack, where are you?”
We just have time to frantically comb our hair back and straighten our clothes before Freddy rounds the corner.
“Here you are,” he announces. He pauses. “What are you doing?” he asks curiously.
The silence is sticky for a very long second. “Oh erm… Jack had an eyelash stuck,” I blurt. “I was just getting it out.”
He glances at Jack and then at me, and I resist the urge to shuffle my feet. Then he shrugs. “Okay,” he says. “Do you think you could come back up? We need to head to a bar so the others can drink away their angst because of Jack’s ex.”
Jack rolls his eyes. “What’s he done now?”
“He told Bee that being too clever can put people off.”
I snort. “Oh, dear.”
Freddy claps his hands. “Yep. So come on.” He walks off, and we fall into line behind him. “You’d better do up Jack’s fly, though, Arlo,” he calls over his shoulder. “Now you’ve very kindly got that pesky eyelash out for him.”
“Shit,” I groan, and Jack starts to laugh.
Ten
Arlo
I come awake slowly, relishing the snug warmth around me. I hum contemplatively and stretch out savouring the feeling. No alarm is blaring, no frantic rush to work where the parents will treat me as if I’m one step up from a serf and they’re unsure why I’m not doffing my cap.
A chuckle sounds nearby, and my eyes fly open, memories rushing back. For a second, I wonder