Page 95 of One for the Road
We’d avoided each other all week. Cooled things down. I’d tried to forget the way she looked blissed out. Panting from the pleasure I’d brought her. Still, I’d jerked off so many times, I was half worried I was about to defy the laws of science and my cock would fall off.
But if I was already torturing myself, I might as well do it thoroughly.
Maybe it was the email from Sarah, which I hadn’t yet replied to, that had me suddenly acting like the hourglass was ticking down.
“Oh, anything is fine.” Her cheeks turned a pretty pink.
“Great.” Something else I was starting to learn about Isla: she was determined to not be a bother to anyone. “Now tell me what you really want?”
Little did she know, giving her everything she wanted was beginning to feel like the perfect use of my time.
I had a list forming:
Take care of Teddy’s school trip.
Make Cameron regret the day he was born.
Fix her car.
“A Coke would be great.”
“Coming right up.” I couldn’t resist grazing my thumb up the length of her spine – no bra, again;fuck– before going to the fridge.
“I picked this up for you too.” I handed Mum the box tucked beneath my arm. “Arrived in the post this morning.” And was delivered to Isla’s house – I’d swear the postman was pranking us at this point. At least now it was an excuse to go over and make her and Teddy breakfast. The memory of Isla’s perpetually bare cupboards made me antsy.
“What is it?” Mum squinted without her glasses.
“A robotic vacuum.” I grabbed a Coke from the top shelf, cracked it open and added it to a glass with ice.
“Oh, I have one of those! I love it,” Heather said, shoving a piece of cucumber in her mouth. “Saves me so much time.”
The deep lines at the corners of Mum’s eyes creased. “What would I need one of these for?”
“So you can stop pushing around that relic you’ve had since nineteen eighty-five. Did you know that twenty-five to thirty-five per cent of people over sixty die within a year of breaking a hip?”
“So glad we invited Dr Doom to lunch,” Callum said.
“Do you know something I don’t?” Mum set the box down on the counter.
Perhaps I could have been a wee bit more tactful. “It’s better to be on the safe side, don’t you think?” She’d become a little less steady on her feet the past few months. Nothing I was concerned about, but with her living out here alone, it was better to alleviate any risks.
“I don’t need a robot cleaning for me.”
“It’s not the worst idea in the world,” April agreed.
“I’m still getting used to the camera doorbell you installed last month. It keeps talking to me every time someone comes to the door.”
“That’s the point.” I set the glass down in front of Isla, my hand going right back to that spot at her waist. “It’s a safety precaution, so you can see who’s at your front door without opening it.”
Mum waved her hand. “I don’t need you wasting your money on me. Not when I can’t even work the blasted thing.”
“Is anyone remotely surprised?” Heather asked. “Alistair’s always been that way. It’s his love language.”
“My what?” I asked as my siblings all laughed.
“Your love language,” Heather repeated. “Everyone has one.”
“What’s mine?” Callum asked eagerly.
