Page 10 of You've Got The Love
“You want a child-free dirty weekend? You old dog, I didn’t know you still had it in you!” She interrupts me, grinning.
“No. Jesus, Sanne. And keep your voice down. She’s in trouble—potentially—so I’m taking herhome to keep her safe. No one will know she’s there, but in case they do, I don’t want Abel anywhere near us.”
“What’s happening? Is she okay? Is she hurt?”
“She’s fine, sister. Well, physically, but she had a panic attack on the ferry fromEnglandtoFrance.”
“Fuck. And that’s why she’s sleeping?”
“Yeah, she’s wiped out, she’s fast asleep next to me,” I say glancing over at Amber as she sleeps soundly.
“Bas,”Sanne’s voice breaking on my name, makes me look back at the screen to see her eyes glazed over.
“What’s wrong?”
“I just… I just haven’t seen you look at anyone like that since… Marieke,” she whispers, her voice full of emotion.
“I…” I cough, not knowing what to say to that because she’s wrong. “Yeah, anyway, so can you keep Abel longer?”
She just nods and smiles a watery smile at me. I try to swallow around the lump in my throat. Seeing her like that always gets me. We wave at each other and end the call. All I can think about is what she said. She’s wrong. She just doesn’t want me to be alone anymore and hopes Amber is the answer to that. At least that put her off asking about what’s going on, for now anyway. She’ll be all over me soon enough, wanting to know everything.
This isn’t a long stay stop, so I have to wake up the sleeping beauty next to me. I can’t help but just stare at her. Her small, slightly upturned nose is just peeking out of the blanket, and I have the sudden urge to kiss it.
Jesus, Bas, pull yourself together.
“Amber,” I whisper as I gently squeeze her knee, hoping to not make her wake up with a jolt.
“Hmmm,” she hums sweetly, burrowing into the blanket further as she clutches the seatbelt at her chest.
This girl.
“Liefie, I’m going to get us some food. Do you want to lie down on my bed while I’m at the shop? I’ll lock you in, you’ll be totally secure, and I’ll only be gone a few minutes,” I ask her as I watch her sapphire blue eyes open and focus on me–those eyes.I could spend hours just gazing into them.
Fuck. Come on, Bas, mind on the job.
“Okay, yes, please. I feel like I haven’t slept for a year,” she whispers as she yawns and stretches her arms above her head, making the blanket fall away. Her shirt rises slightly and shows a delicious slither of bared skin. Is that a belly button piercing?Oh, fuck. I wonder if she has anything else pierced. I would love to run my tongue slowly along that creamy, pale skin, to pull her piercing gently with my teeth and…NO. No, Bastiaan, we aren’t going there, but I can already feel my dick demanding that we absolutelydogo there. He’s very insistent where Amber is concerned. Now I’m fucking hard. Great. How am I supposed to walk across the forecourt with a tent in my trousers?
Fuuuuuck.
I stand up and pull my jacket on to try and hide my very impatient friend by slyly pushing him to the side.
“Here, the bedding is clean. Well, cleanish. I’ve only slept on it one night,” I smile at her, watching her look around my home-away-from-home.
“This is so cool, you have everything you need here,” she comments quietly as she sits on my bed, smoothing her hands on the bedding as she takes everything in. She looks so sleepy, so fucking adorable.
“I do, it’s small, but I have everything I need for my days on the road,” I reply watching as she lays her head on my pillow.Shit. It’s going to smell of her. I’ll have to wash this as soon as we get home, I can't have her scent all over it… and great, mywaswaning dick is now getting hard.Again. Everything about her makes me hard, but her scent, that Jasmine perfume she wears that mixes with her own unique smell, gets me every fucking time. I feel like I can smell her days after I’ve seen her, I catch her scent in places I know she’s not and its torture.Exquisite torture.
“Is this Abel?” She points at the picture I have pinned next to my bed. He’s smiling after he’d just caught a huge sea bass. That was such a great day, my days with my son always are. Fishing is our favourite thing to do together.
“Yes, that’s my boy,” I say proudly, then remember the picture next to him is of Marieke on our wedding day. It was taken as her mother was doing up the endless silk buttons on the back of her dress. She was smiling at the camera, looking so happy. It’s my favourite picture of her.
“Sorry about that,” I murmur as I reach over and grab the picture, feeling strange about her seeing it. Seeing her.
“Bas, there is nothing to apologise for, truly. I’m just so so grateful that you are keeping me safe during this crazy time in my life.”
“Of course, there was no choice to make. You can stay with me for as long as you need. No ‘thank you’ needed.” We just smile at each other, like this moment has been paused somehow. She is truly beautiful, breathtakingly so.
I stand and pull my eyes away from hers quickly and rub the back of my neck as I clear my throat, feeling awkward as fuck. Damn, this girl is going through it right now. She doesn’t need some older guy ogling her, and she especially doesn’t need some guy thinking about her the way I have been. She deserves more. She deserves everything.
