Page 33 of Caught in the Middle

When she settled back into the bed, Oliver snaked his hands around her waist as she used his bicep as a pillow, just like the evening before. And, just like the evening before, her heart thumped furiously with excitement, as she hoped that he couldn't hear or feel it.

'See, you're not shivering anymore,' he whispered in her ear, snaking a hand up her thigh. 'And you don't feel cold at all.'

Lucy held her breath as his hand ran past her panty line, back up to her waist. She was torn between feeling ecstatic that his strong, beautiful hands were roaming her body, and feeling embarrassed that she was wearing those god awful panties from that service station hiking shop.

'Yeah, I guess you’re little tricked worked,' she managed to say, trying to sound as relaxed as possible.

A moment passed, and Lucy thought that maybe he was fallen asleep.

'What do you want to do when you grow up, Lucy?'

'Grow up?' she laughed, 'I'm 22. I am grown up.' She pulled away slightly, and turned her body to face him. 'I'm not the little girl you think I am, Oliver.'

His chest vibrated. 'I know, kiddo.' He snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her towards him. His warm, sweet breath tickled her nose. 'But you didn't answer my question.'

Lucy thought about it for a moment. She knew that she had no life ambitions - she had absolutely no idea what she wanted to do - or even could do - when she finished university, especially now that she hadn't even sat her final exam, so the tiny chance she had of even obtaining a degree had completely vanished.

But 'I don't know' was not the answer that anybody wanted to hear, nor the answer she ever wanted to give. It was embarrassing for her - people who have no clue what they want to do after university show that they have no ambition in life, and that's the least sexy thing ever.

‘Um, I haven't quite made up my mind yet,' she stammered, as she tried to focus on keeping her voice level as he stroked the small of her back tenderly, 'probably, like, PR or something.'

She could see him smile, even in the dark. 'It's okay to not know what you want to do. Hell, I had no idea at your age, and I turned out just fine.'

'Yeah, kidnapping girls is just fine.'

He nudged her face with his forehead, like a friendly puppy wanting to play.

'All I knew,' he continued, 'was that I wanted to escape Ireland, and move to London.'

'Why?'

He thought about it for a moment. 'Because I grew up in a very rural farm in the middle of the country, and I was home schooled until I was 18.'

Lucy's ears pricked up: This was the first piece of personal information he had given her.

'I wasn't home schooled because my parents hated the countries education system, or anything like that. No, my brothers and I couldn't afford to go to school. We were incredibly poor, we could barely afford to eat, let alone spend money on petrol and school uniforms.'

Lucy didn't know what to say. 'I'm so sorry to hear that,' she mustered.

He nudged her again with his head. 'Don't be, I had a great childhood. Sure, we went to bed hungry sometimes, but I learned so much that I wouldn't have had I grown up privileged.'

Lucy nodded, even though he probably couldn't see her in the dark. She thought back to her own childhood, very comfortable and sheltered. Maybe that's why she had never had the drive to make anything of herself.

'So you moved to London?' She asked.

'Yeah. I'd saved up enough money from working on the neighbour’s dairy farm, and caught a plane to London when I turned 18.'

'And then what?'

'And then I did what I had to do, and now 15 years later I'm in a great position to give back - you know, helping idiots like you who Joey Leonardo want to kill.'

She ignored his last quip and quickly did the math. He was 33! No wonder he thought she was so immature.

'So what happened to your family? Do you go home a lot?'

He fell silent.

'Sorry,' Lucy babbled, 'I'm so nosy, just tell me to shut up if I'm asking too many questions -'

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