Page 80 of The Secret

I wanted her to be mine.

And I was going to Bring. It. The fuck. On.

We all took a seat at the table and I looked around to find Bell in Alex’s arms, guzzling down her lunchtime bottle. Kit was deep in conversation with Freddie, and even though I tried to catch her eye, she was too engrossed in whatever they were talking about. It was probably pointless praying it wasn’t me.

Someone dropped a steak on my plate, and from then on, my attention was taken by food, something I had in common with Bell.

“Fuck, these are good steaks. Nice job, bud.” I raised my beer to Jasper sitting across from me.

“Agreed.” Jamie scooped a massive portion of sweet potato onto his plate. “And it’s good to be over here. I plan on eating myself into a food coma this afternoon, then starting all over again tonight.”

“Think we could all do with a nap.”

Napping wasn’t what I had in mind, not by a long shot. However, as much our relationship had changed in the last twenty four hours, Kit was still working for me, and until I managed to have the incredibly awkward and uncomfortable conversation about her contract which Rafe had been pushing, I wanted Kit to take the lead, to decide what was right for her. I didn’t want her to feel pressured by me in any way, because if it was my choice, we’d spend the rest of the weekend in bed where I’d explore every single millimeter of her heavenly body, discovering exactly what pushed her to the brink of explosion, and do it over and over again until we needed resuscitating.

I pushed away the visual of her riding me, sweaty and naked, before lunch became very uncomfortable. I glanced over to Cooper to find a shit eating grin on his face.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, just that I’ve been looking forward to this moment for a long, long time.”

“What moment? What’s happened?”

His fork twirled in the general direction of my face. “That look you have. That’s what I’ve been waiting for, what we’ve all been waiting for. Never thought I’d see the day when Murray Williams willingly hung up his rubbers.”

“Whatever.” It was the only response I could come up with. It was irrelevant I hadn’t had sex in months, or that I was a willing participant in my abstinence because that’s not what he was talking about. “Not like you didn’t cry like a baby when you met Freddie.”

“Not denying I did. I just never thought I’d see it from you.”

I shrugged, not caring. And I didn’t, I really didn’t. It wasn’t just sex I hadn’t had in months; I hadn’t even looked at another woman in months, which had nothing to do with Bell.

Jamie peered down the table to where the girls were either side of the kids and my parents, except Samson who was now sitting on Cooper’s knee.

“Come on then, tell us what’s happened.”

“Nothing’s happened.”

“Bullshit.”

I was stuck between the rock that was the three of them not giving up until I spilled the beans, made rockier by the fact that I’d called Jas for advice, and the hard place that was my word to Kit we wouldn’t make it widely known. Although we hadn’t actually discussed our own behavior this weekend, I very much hoped that I’d still be allowed to sneak in a few kissing sessions. A boob squeeze too, if I was lucky.

I made eye contact with each one of them individually. “How much of what I tell you goes straight back to the girls?”

To give them credit, they were all solemn and genuine in the crosses over their hearts. “None of it.”

“Fine. We kissed last night. And then this morning.”

“Yeah you did,” Jasper smirked through the sip of his beer. “Then what happened?”

“Nothing, we drove up here.”

“What’s going to happen this weekend?”

I shrugged. “What d’you mean?”

“Is it a separate bedrooms situation and we’ll find you sneaking in the hallway in the middle of the night? Or actual separate bedrooms? Because if it’s the former, give me advanced warning - I don’t want to run into you in the night with your dick hanging out.”

Cooper snorted so hard he inhaled whatever he was eating, and Jamie had to give him a firm thwack on the back to help him stop coughing.

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