Page 17 of Ship of Fools

“Can I stay? I’ll... I’ll calm down with the fantasy thing.”

He smiles. I can feel it, despite barely being able to make out his face.“This is sooooo a hookup.”

“This isNOTa hookup.” I emphasise, but I’m smiling too. “This is whatever we decide it is. We can do, nothing, or cuddle and go to sleep. Or just go to sleep. Or we can play out some of those fantasies in that head of yours and have sex.”

“Sex.” He shakes his head, still holding onto me, his hands moving gently to my back as he pushes me further into his hold. I’m now pressed up against his dressing gown, and the belt knot is digging into my guts. “Why is it always about sex?” He mutters into my hair.

“Because sex is fun, and it makes us feel good. But it’s not everything, I would be really happy just to get into bed with you. Lie down, you know. Under the covers.”

“You’re the one who took all your clothes off.” he teases.

“You’re the one sending all the mixed signals right now.” I tease back, pushing away and untying his dressing gown. “Can I take this off? You’re too hot.”

“I’m not hot.”

“You are very haaawwt.” I drawl, shivering again with his fingers running down my arms.

“I should go brush my teeth.”

“I should go home, but I’m still here. Get in the bed, Luca.”

“Are you always this bossy?”

“I’m the Sales Manager, remember? I help people to buy beautiful cars and make them spend insane amounts of money to make them even prettier.”

“You’re pretty. Cars are just metal.”

“I—” I start to say something and immediately forget what I am thinking, because Luca Germano has cupped my chin and is now pressing his lips against mine, and my head short circuits for a minute or two. His lips are full and soft, and he kisses like a porn star. I didn’t expect that, not with him. He kisses me like he’s devouring me, and then he presses little kisses to my jaw and my cheeks and up on my temples as I whine like an injured animal until he’s back kissing my mouth. Then I moan into his mouth and wrap my arms back up around his neck.

“Clothes. Please.”

“On or off?” he teases, as his tongue licks my bottom lip. I purr like a bloody kitten, his hands stroking down my chest, stopping briefly to caress my nipples. He’s... a tease. I’m surprised, and somewhere in the back of my brain I cheer, because I think I might like this. I think I might just like this, a lot.

This is the point where blokes usually pick me up and toss me on the bed. That bit is usually arousing, well, apart from that time I hit my head on the bedpost and bled everywhere. But with Luca? He just walks me backwards, and lets me sink onto the bed as he crawls on top of me, and then his hoodie comes off.

“Put the light on.” I say sternly.

“Why?”

“Bloody tease, because I want to see you!”

The light comes on, and he’s smiling. “What happened to the power cut?” he giggles, and I realise that I love his smile. He looks genuinely happy, all crinkly around the eyes and he’s got cute dimples and yeah.“You’re going to break my heart into a million pieces.” He says softly and kisses me again, as my hands run up and down his chest. He’s hairy, I thought he would be, with all the stubble on his face, and with his olive skin and a firm, defined chest I’m in man-heaven.

“Nobody is getting their heart broken here.” I say dreamily, because nothing in my head makes sense right now. He’s gorgeous, and he is kissing down my ribs making me giggle, and I’m trying to get under the covers, which is impossible since he is kneeling on the edge of the duvet, so instead I shimmy out of my boxers. Because, yeah. I have a boner brewing down there. I’m enjoying this, and he knows what he’s doing.

“I thought, you said, you… I thought you were kind of inexperienced or something.” I huff out, trying to form full-on sentences when my brain is short-circuiting in random bursts of crazy. He’s supposed to suck my dick next. That’s the usual order of things. Instead, he’s kissing up the inside of my leg, making me squirm, and now the lights are on I kind of regret asking for them, because I might normally be all confident about my body, but suddenly Luca Germano is making me feel small and insecure. I don’t work out. I’m skinny and bony and my dick kind of matches my size.

“You’re amazing, so bloody gorgeous.” he says, and wets his bottom lip as I look up. I shouldn’t, because he smiles, then kisses the top of my poor penis, that promptly jerks with joy.

“I have a small dick.” I say, throwing my arm over my eyes. There, it’s out. He’s seen it. He’s also seen my knobbly knees, and bony feet, and all the other parts of my body that I am usually okay with putting on display. The men I bring home are usually only interested in my mouth and my arse anyway, but Luca seems to be working over my whole body, his mouth and hands seemingly everywhere in random patterns, like I might disappear before he has time to map out every millimetre of my skin.

“Your dick is the cutest thing I have ever seen.” He comes back up to my face, and kisses my fingers that I’m trying to hide behind. “You are the cutest thing ever.”

“I’m... I talk too much, never think before I speak. I flirt and I mess up, and I’m…”

“You’re a brat.”

“Yeah. I know.”

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