“Liv, you have been out cold most of the day, I need to get you home to bed and take care of you.”
She looks at me and smiles. “That’ll do nicely,” she says with a wink.
As promised an hour later she is all tucked up watching a movie with dinner from downstairs across her lap. We both are. I managed to sneak her in the back way and get her in bed before I went down to get us some food and tell Max she was home safe. I don’t know why it seemed so important to have her to myself tonight, but I didn’t even tell anyone that she can walk on her foot now. I just wanted it to be us and I knew Max would want to see her after such exciting news. I know it’s selfish, but this feels like the last night she will really need me and suddenly I feel insecure about where that will leave me tomorrow.
“Stop it!” she suddenly exclaims.
“Huh? What?”
“Stop with the negative thoughts and the moping around and stuff. I still need you to look after me.”
I frown, but I can feel my lips curling into a smile. How does she do that? “Stop with the reading my mind and stuff,” I retort.
“I can see what you're thinking and I think it’s silly that’s all.” She huffs. “You should be glad I’m nearly better.”
“Oh my God, Liv, I am! That’s not it. I just…I just, I’ve liked you needing me.” I sigh. “You are so God damned independent that it’s hard to feel indispensable sometimes, that’s all. I don’t want you be hurt or incapable, but taking care of you, well it’s been nice for me…you know?”
“It’s been nice for me too. But it isn’t over, I still need you.” She smiles softly trying to make me feel better.
“I know. I’m just worried about losing some of this.” I say, gesturing to our feast in bed at 7 pm. “Soon, you’ll be back at work and I’ll be home alone.”
Liv shakes her head. “That won’t happen. I want this now.”
“I know how badly you want to get back to it and I don’t want to stop you.” I interrupt. “I don’t want you to change for me.”
“I’ve changed because of you, not for you. My old life was what I needed, but now I need us. I couldn’t go on forever working like that. The new staff aren’t just for cover, they are permanent. I’m going to work like a normal person when I go back. There will be some nights, but you’ll know where I am if you want to join me,” she says with a shy smile. “Do you think you’ll still want to work in the bar from time to time?”
“I feel like I’m part of this place now. I was trying to fill in for you, I just thought you wouldn’t need me once you’re back.”
“I’ll always need you,” she says. “What you’ve done has meant the world to me and I want you to be part of it. I know you have your work, but this place is my world and you share it with me now.”
I wrap my arms around her, ignoring the sound of plates clinking on top of our bed covers. “I love you,” I whisper. I hold her tight to my chest.
I still need to hold her in the shower, but she can at least balance herself better now. I won’t readily give up our morning ritual even when she can do it herself. I love the fact that I get to see her this way every day. It’s nice to be back here again, now that she’s had her stitches removed.
“Danny, I can feel that,” she says, indignant, although I can hear the smile in her voice.
“I can’t help it,,” I reply, kissing her neck and pushing my erection against her again. “You do this to me. I’m trying to be good…but now you’re just teasing me, rubbing back and forth.”
“You are insatiable! I’m just washing.”
“You know what you’re doing.” I laugh, turning her around and hitching up her leg, so that she is still standing on her good foot. She gives me an innocent look, so I push her back against the wall. She gasps at the cold tiles against her back, but I give her no time to think as I push myself into her, hard.
“Oh God!” she moans.
She knew what she was doing, she is so wet. So I give her what she so obviously wanted. I have her lifted slightly so that her foot is only just on the floor as I slam into her. Her arms wrap around my neck and her fingers grasp my hair as she desperately tries to gain some leverage, but I stay in control and don’t let up for a second. This is going to be really fast.
I’m aware of my own moans mingled with hers as our mouths fight to connect, but I’m going too hard to keep her lips on mine for long. The water rushes between us, heating us up as I struggle to hold back.
Liv’s cries are increasing, she is pushing away from the wall to meet me, grinding as she does. I feel like I can’t fight it any longer, so when she says, “That’s it, fuck me,” through gritted teeth, I immediately start to come. I cry out and thrust through the intense orgasm, as hard as I can, wanting to take her all the way too. She digs her nails into my back and moans, then I feel it. That welcome grasping of her insides as they come crashing in around me. We moan and pant, I don’t think we’ve ever been so loud.
I laugh, capturing her lips and kissing her deeply. I slowly withdraw and lower her foot back to the floor; I love the fact that I still can’t let her go. I never want to let her go. I hold her close and feel her chest rising and falling rapidly.
“You okay?”
She exhales a shuddery breath. “I’m fucked!” She laughs.
Chapter Seventeen
Liv
You should really have a bath.
“You know, I was thinking,” Danny says from the doorway of the bathroom as I pull on my jeans in the bedroom. “You should really have a bath.”
I sniff my armpit sarcastically. “I just had a shower, what are you saying?” I laugh.
Danny laughs too, wrapping his arms around the bare skin across my stomach. “I mean, we should have a bath, not just a shower.” He pauses, I notice a faraway look in his eyes. “You’ve really needed one all this time you were getting better.” He frowns, like he has somehow failed me, by not providing me with this essential thing during my recovery. A recovery, he was forcibly absent for much of. The thought of our break-up still puts a dark cloud over me and I fight to shake it off before he notices.
“I assume a bath wouldn’t fit, that’s why Connie never put one in.” I shrug. “I’m used to it.”
Danny glances back at the bathroom. “Would you let me look into it?” he asks. He seems twitchy about something, I can’t see why having a bath is suddenly all important. But I do like the idea of him putting some of himself into the flat. More and more it’s becoming ‘our’ home, so if he wants a bath, I wouldn’t dream of stopping him. A smile plays on his lips for a second and then his attention comes back to me, waiting for an answer.
“Sure.” I shrug again. “If you think it can be done, I would love to soak in a bath with you.” I twist in his arms and sigh with pleasure as his lips play on my neck.
Danny looks happy when I see him at his laptop in the garden later, content is probably a better description and he should be. I’ve come on nicely in the few weeks since I had the screw removed and things have settled down generally. He doesn’t seem to have any regrets about moving here and while I know he misses Jen especially, he is making a special effort to stay in touch and he’s really close to some of his new friends here. I occasionally marvel at how normal life is recently. After all the ups and downs of the last few months, it has taken no time at all for us to find a rhythm that suits us. We are better than ever now that we both know what went through the other’s heads all those years ago. I know for sure now that he did love me as much as I loved him and the value of knowing that is immense, almost worth the heartbreak and all those years apart. Without it we wouldn’t have what we have now.
I instinctively thumb across my ring. Looking at it, I smile. I have him, this is all I need in life. Well, almost. Before this all started to go wrong, he wanted to start a family. I wonder where he stands on that now? It’s as if he never said it. Maybe so much has happened that he has reconsidered? My stomach tightens. I guess I’m not okay with that possibility. I just don’t want to disrupt anything by bringing it up. I know that he wants to be with me forever, but as far as his thoughts on babies...and marriage, which I can hardly even dare to think about…I’m clueless.
