Page 73 of Three's a Crowd
Pulling him to her, she hugged him hard. ‘I guess you’ve had to be because of the way you were forced to grow up,’ she whispered into his neck.
He pulled away from her and lay back on the cushion, staring up at the ceiling. ‘Yeah. Probably. Not that that’s a good excuse for how I treated you. And Adam too. I don’t think Sally knew how Adam felt about you at that point, but I did. It was so obvious in the way he talked about you – which was all the bloody time – and the way his behaviour changed when he was around you. He never said anything directly to me, but he didn’t need to. There was this unspoken agreement between us. He wasmy best friend. If he hadn’t been, God knows what would have happened to me. He was my family. Him, Sally, Andy and Sam. And the last thing I wanted to do was fuck that up. I loved them all. Still do. Unfortunately, you got caught up in it all. Not that I regret what we did. Not for a second.’
He turned to look at her again now. ‘Having sex with you was the most meaningful experience of my life. And I very much want to keep doing it. If you’ll let me?’
He lifted his hand to stroke his fingers down her throat, then down to her breasts, where he circled his fingertip around her nipple.
She shivered with pleasure. ‘Fine by me.’
‘I’ve always felt this intense need to protect you,’ he murmured. ‘I wanted to keep you safe. Perhaps because I didn’t feel safe myself and I was projecting? That’s what my counsellor thinks, anyway.’
‘Makes sense,’ she said, finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate on replying as his fingertips moved down over her stomach, and lower.
‘I knew from an early age I was completely in love with you, but I was afraid you’d reject me if I told you how I felt. I just wasn’t brave enough to go after you myself and I missed my chance.’
‘How early an age?’ she managed to struggle out, as his fingertips slid over her mound and into the damp, waiting heat between her legs.
‘Since I first met you, I think, so twelve? Though if I had to put an exact time on when I knew it for sure, it’d be when you broke that bone in your foot and I could see how scared and in pain you were, but you were trying so hard to hide it from me. You were always so brave. I think I fell totally in love with you at that moment.’
Daisy was astounded by this confession. She’d had no idea he’d felt all this, and from such a young age too. She was suddenly, desperately sad for the lost, lonely boy he used to be.
She reached down and stilled his hand, holding it against her body, but needing to pause the riot of sensations he was drawing from her so she could concentrate fully on what he was saying.
Zach looked at her, his eyes searching hers, clearly wondering whether he was freaking her out by admitting all this.
‘You can see why I acted the way I did, can’t you?’ he said. ‘I’m not trying to excuse any of it, I know it was shitty behaviour and I said and did some bloody awful things, but I loved you so much, I couldn’t bear the thought of never being part of your life. It made me crazy.’
‘It’s okay,’ she said, ‘I get it.’ She drew his head towards her and kissed him hard. ‘You’re right. We’re meant to be together; I’ve always felt that too. Always just known it. Deep down.’
She rolled on top of him, straddling him and lining herself up with his body, then slowly lowered herself down onto his rock-hard erection, taking him deep inside her.
He let out a loud, deep groan as she began to move above him.
Putting his hands on her hips, he helped her move so they were perfectly in sync with each other, her pressing down and him thrusting up at the same time.
It was utter bliss.
She came first and he followed her not long afterwards, his fingers digging hard into her hips.
Smiling to herself, she dropped her mouth to his and kissed him deeply, drinking in the delicious scent and taste of him, her heart fluttering in her chest.
He was all hers now.
They finally dragged themselves out of bed – or rather, off the sofa – and went in search of food. Daisy hadn’t been shopping recently so they snacked on oat cakes, cheese and fruit, which suited Daisy fine as she was having trouble locating her hunger.
They sat in companionable silence while they ate.
After finishing her food, Daisy glanced over at Zach as he poured himself a glass of wine from a bottle which she’d fortuitously unearthed from the back of a cupboard.
He obviously felt her watching him because he looked up and gave her a questioning look.
‘Why did you invite Adam and me to Cannes?’
He paused for a moment, seeming to consider his answer. ‘Partly because I missed you both and wanted to see you, partly to show off how amazingly well I was doing – to try and temper my jealousy about the two of you being together, but I also badly wanted to make it up to you, for my awful behaviour when I came to stay with Lola,’ he said, pausing to take a sip of his wine. ‘I told myself I had to get used to the idea of you and Adam being together because I really couldn’t stand the thought of losing your friendships. I don’t have anyone else in this world that I love the way I love you two. You and the Carmichaels are my onlyrealfriends.’
He looked at her slightly shamefully. ‘And I suppose, deep down, I always hoped you and Adam would have an amicable split and I’d be around to help you pick up the pieces. Maybe on that trip? I don’t know. I was so caught up with how much I missed you, I wasn’t really thinking straight.’ He frowned down at the table. ‘I also didn’t properly consider how all this would affect Adam.’
Daisy leaned over the table and cupped his face with her hands, turning it gently so he was looking at her.
