Page 14 of You've Got The Love
Taking a deep breath as I wait for my milk to boil for mykoffie verkeerd, I lift my head and look out of the window over the sink to the lake. It looks like it's going to be a gorgeous morning.
“Good morning, Bas,” I hear Amber chirp from behind me, interrupting my thoughts.
I turn around and lose my breath instantly. She’s stood in none other than one of my t-shirts, socks, and all her beautiful blonde curls are loose and everywhere. She looks like she’s just rolled out of bed. Well, shehas.My bed. She looks stunning. Like she’s had a refreshing night's sleep. Well, at least one of us has.
“Good morning, Miss Bell. Sleep well?”
“Yes, surprisingly. I thought I would have trouble getting off, but I really didn’t. Your bed is so comfortable, I could have stayed in it for hours. I took the liberty of helping myself to one of your t-shirts, as I forgot to bring something to sleep in. I hope you don’t mind; I just didn’t want to interrupt you after you went to bed,” she looks up at me shyly, with pink dusting her nose and cheeks.
“Of course, help yourself to whatever you need. I’m glad you had no trouble getting off… to sleep, I’d hate that for you,” I say, trying my best not to grin at her. It completely goes over her head as she walks around to my side of the island and bends slightly over the sink to get a good look outside. I try my fucking hardest not to look, but she’s right there, bent over in front of me, so my eyes drift down to the curves of her arse.Jesus. I wish I hadn’t. I swear to Christ she’s not wearing panties. Her arse is smooth against my t-shirt, no telltale lines of underwear. Is she wearing a bra?No. We are NOT looking there.
“Bas, it’s breathtaking out there. You are so lucky to live here. I wouldn’t ever leave if this were my home. After I’ve showered and made my calls, can you show me around?” She asks excitedly as she spins around to face me. Looking down at her as she wiggles on the spot, I can 100% confirm that she isn’t wearing a bra. This girl is trying to fucking kill me. It’s the only explanation.
“Yep. Course. Tea?” I ask, forgetting how to form proper sentences.
“Oh, yes, please. I’m gagging for a cuppa. Have you had breakfast? Please, can I make it? I want to make myself useful.”
She is surely not asking to make me breakfast while she wears just my t-shirt, fully naked underneath. But as she smiles expectantly up at me, I think that’s exactly what she’s asking me.
“You don’t have to do that, Amber. Why don’t you go and get ready for the day, and I’ll prepare us something?” I offer, wanting her to get dressed as soon as possible with as many clothes as possible.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind.”
“Of course. Go on, go get ready, and we can go to the grocery store and get things you can use to make me a proper full English breakfast. I’ve always wanted to try one.”
“Yes! You have yourself a deal, Mr Van der Meer,” she beams up at me and holds up her palm in offering, which I slap in the universal‘hi-five’way.
She trots out of the kitchen, and I’m left with a cast-iron dick that I’ve had smashed up against the side of the island. This is ridiculous, I’m in my late 30s, I shouldn’t be getting hard at the drop of a hat, just because I saw the delicious outline of her arse and her tits jiggling around.
This is going to be so much harder than I thought.
“Honestly, Andrea, I’m alright. Bas looked after me and made sure I was okay. I had no idea that it was a panic attack, which is stupid of me, really. I should have picked up on that, but I’ve never had one before,” Amber says, trying to calm Andrea down by the sounds of things, which doesn’t surprise me, as she is so protective of her.
I kind of tune her out as I finish putting our breakfast plates into the dishwasher. It felt so easy sharing a meal with her, even though she’s on edge and worried about her father, we bantered in our usual way, she told me a little more about her childhood, and I told her a little about mine. It’s just effortless with her; there are no awkward silences, no awkward anything. I’m pretty sure she’s into me; she’s made that fairly obvious, it's just my good friend ‘guilt’ that is stopping me from going for it. I know Amber isn’t a girl you just spend a few nights with, she’s a girl you commit to and don’t ever fucking let go. But she deserves to be someone’s everything, not someone’salmosteverything. It’s not just me, either, how would Abel feel? It’s just too much, too hard. I can't do it, not when Marieke lives front and centre in my mind. And I know I couldn’t get through heartbreak again, no way. It almost destroyed me last time; this time, it would finish me off.
“Bas?” Amber calls as she squeezes my forearm. “Are you okay? You were miles away,” she blinks up at me, and not for the first time, her beauty renders me mute. She is magnificent.
“Sorry, just spaced out a bit then. How was Andrea? It sounded like she was worried.”
“Of course, she’s worried, you know what she’s like. She said she should have come out here, but I told her absolutely not. I hate that you are potentially in danger because of me. I couldn’t bear it if she were too.”
“No, she needs to keep safe inEngland. Did she manage to call all your customers?”
“Yeah, she sorted everything. She passed a lot of the work over to ‘Sally’s Blooms’, they are great there, Sally always helps if we need it and vice versa. But Andrea did say that I used to have panic attacks when I was little. I have no memory of them at all.” She frowns at that.
“Did she say why you had them?”
“I used to worry about Dad, she said.”
“Makes sense, that’s a lot to take on at any age, but a small child. That’s too much.”
“Yes, I guess. Anyway, are you ready? I’m looking forward to taking a walk around the lake. I didn’t bring any jumpers or hoodies with me. I don’t suppose I could borrow one, please?” she smiles sweetly up at me.
“Of course, I’ll go and grab you one.”
As I walk into my bedroom, I’m immediately hit with her jasmine scent. She hasn’t even been here for 24 hours,and she’s everywhere. My bed has been made to absolute perfection; it looks like the beds in hotels. It makes me want to throw her on it and really mess it up.
I open up my wardrobe and pull out the smallest hoodie I own, knowing it's still going to drown her. Having a woman wear your clothes is an intimate thing, it’s incredibly sexy. That’s the thing, I want to see Amber in my clothes and only my clothes. For fuck's sake, it's like I have a split personality, one minute I can’t get away from her fast enough like last night before bed, and the next I want to mess up my bed with her. I need to pull my shit together.
