Page 90 of Oar Than Friends

‘Don’t hold your breath, big brother.’

The newspaper was momentarily forgotten, and we both started laughing as we caught each other’s eye, shouting, ‘As long as we beat Phoebe.’

Marco returned with a tray of coffee, toast and jams, a plate piled high with warm croissants, and a bacon sandwich.

The tray had barely touched the table before Alex was stuffing an enormous bite of the sandwich into his mouth, and mumbling thanks. He was still chewing as I poured out two coffees and grabbed some croissants, and headed back upstairs to Kate, where she was unsurprisingly still asleep. Thankfully.

Now it meant I got to see her wake up.

I stripped off and snuck under the duvet, covering up her creamy thigh wrapped around the edge, and snuggled in next to her. She stirred the second I wrapped my arms around her.

‘Good morning, sleepy head.’ I kissed her nose as she peered up at me.

‘What time is it?’

‘About nine, I think,’ I replied, laughing as her eyes bulged and she shot up to a sitting position.

‘Nine. Oh my god. We have to get dressed. Your mom …’

‘Katey babe,’ I tugged her back under the covers, and pushed my fingers through her hair, ‘take a breath. We don’t have to be up for anything, my mother is probably still asleep. I think most of them are.’

She turned around, her face less panicky. ‘Really? How have I slept so late?’

‘I wore you out. And now we can enjoy our first morning in bed, we can spend all day in here if you’d like.’

‘I could cope with that.’ She sighed and shifted up until her lips pressed against mine, but before I could deepen our kiss any further she moved back. ‘Have you been up already? Is that coffee? And croissants?’

I nodded.

‘Wow, breakfast in bed. You’re a keeper.’ Her hand shot up to cover her mouth as she yawned wide, ‘I can’t remember the last time I slept this late.’

‘You needed it. That big brain of yours has been working overtime.’

‘It’s gonna need to do some more working today,’ she grimaced, ‘is that okay?’

‘You can do whatever you’d like. I have work to do this holiday, so do Alex and Hector. They both have exams when school returns, but today is Christmas Eve and if you’re up to it we have some fun planned this afternoon.’

‘Oh yeah? I like fun. What kind of fun?’

‘Every year in our village, everyone in the neighbourhood dresses up as Santa and runs around the fields and lanes. It’s kind of silly, but it’s become a long tradition and at the end of the race we all head to the Lamb and Lamppost – the local pub.’

‘Is there a winner?’

I nodded, ‘Yeah, they win a medal and a bottle of cream from Farmer Murphy, the guy whose fields we run through.’

‘A bottle of cream?’

‘Yeah, it’s a whole thing. I can’t remember why,’ I held her gaze, mindlessly looping strands of her hair aroundmy fingers, ‘but the only thing we have to do is beat Phoebe.’

‘Beat Phoebe?’

‘Yeah, it makes her so mad. She’s probably been training all year for it, but she can’t outrun Alex, or me.’

‘What time does it begin?’

‘Not for hours …’ I hummed as my lips found the sensitive spot on her neck, the one I’d quickly learned made her mew softly. My dick knew it too.

She inched closer, the heat of her body almost scalding mine. ‘So you’re saying we have some time?’

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