Page 17 of Love You Like That (Excess All Areas 4)

“Like, anal sex. Is that kink? And if it is, who decided sticking it in one hole was fine and the other not?” Willow mused.

Alex choked. “Jesus, Willow.”

“It’s a fair point,” Zoe said. “Why do you hate the word kink, Alex?”

“You really want to ask me that, Rocky?”

She thought for a moment. “Yes.”

Luke put his forefinger to his lips as he walked up behind Willow. Placing his hands either side of Willow’s face gently, he tipped her head backwards and kissed her, before sliding his hands down her body to her bump. It was something Zoe had noticed him do several times before, and she wondered how it would feel to be loved like that.

Or even like the women in the books. There was no question the heroes loved their women, even when they were spanking their butts seventeen shades of pink.

Zoe wiggled in her seat to relieve the pressure of the imaginary punishment and shook her head.

“You okay there, Rocky?” Alex said, dropping down on the sofa next to her. His eyes were bright, and his mouth set in its usually ever-so-slightly upturned smile. “You’re fidgeting.”

“Yeah, just been sitting here in this spot for too long. And is that it? You’re just going to call me Rocky for the rest of the tour?”

Alex grinned. “Probably. You want to know why I hate the word kink?”

Willow chuckled and placed her hand over her mouth.

Luke groaned. “Don’t, for the love of god. I don’t want Cletus hearing any more of this conversation.” He placed his hands on either side of Willow’s bump as if playfully protecting the baby’s ears.

Alex laughed as he picked a piece of fluff off his kilt. “I feel like kink is a word often associated with a guilty secret, something you should be ashamed of. It’s like there’s this polite way to fuck. Missionary. And, wow, from behind if you’re feeling frisky. And then there’s this deviant way of doing it. And I don’t buy it. There’s nothing wrong with you if you like having your movements restricted while fucking, or find it liberating to pretend you’re a horse, or need someone to dominate you. As long as it’s safe and consensual, I say go get it and use words that make you feel good about it.”

“I didn’t catch all that,” she said hoarsely. “But I think I understood enough.”

Alex leaned close to her. She could smell the clean scent of him. Quite delicious. No wonder he had no problems picking people up when he looked and smelled like he did.

“It’d be cool to go to a place like that, don’t you think?” he said, nodding toward her laptop.

“Erm. No. If I crashed and got drowned in the rain, I’d want a tow truck and a towel, not a leg spreader and ten metres of rope.”

Alex looked at her and then began to laugh. Uproariously. “You’re so cute. Rope can be a lot of fun.”

Matt walked over and said something Zoe didn’t catch as he fiddled with the cuffs of his shirt. Luke and Alex both looked up at him, and she missed their response too. She’d gotten used to it. At least, she’d stopped taking it personally. Sometimes people just forgot there was a deaf or hard of hearing person with them and stopped including them.

At first, it had felt paralyzingly lonely. Now, she’d become a wizard at task-switching. Instead of waiting for the conversation to include her again, she’d just pick up something she was working on and carry on. Unless the conversation pertained to her, like it often did with her parents, or she was interested in the conversation. Then she’d cough, loudly, and remind them she couldn’t read lips through the back of someone’s head.

“We have to go. You’re coming to the side of the stage to watch, right? You can’t miss the first moment in Glasgow. The crowd is wild.”

“I don’t know whether you said first or worst.”

“First.” He took her hand and tugged her to her feet.

She watched as Luke placed his hand on Willow’s back to help her up the stairs to the stage. Jase teased Izabel. Matt and Ben walked with Chaya who was heading back the next day. Cerys was already in position by the sound desks.

“Fine.” She sighed, knowing the real reason she didn’t want to go was because she wished it was her taking the stage. She yearned for that moment before a single note hit the air. The anticipation, and the way it would build.

Alex turned to face her just before he stepped onto the stage. “You are infinitely more interesting than you let others see, Zoe Atkins.”

She didn’t know what to say to that.

By the time the concert was done, Alex was half-starved as usual.

Ed ushered them all off the stage. “Right. You, your towels, water, everything into the cars. Matt, can you, Iz, Luke, and Willow get into the first one? Alex, Ben, Zoe, Chaya, and Jase, you guys are in the bigger car behind it.”

---