The Art of Starting Over

Chapter 38 - The Calm Before the Storm

At around ten o'clock, Millie retired for the night. She was visibly and unsurprisingly tired. She had spent all day cooking and cleaning to impress, or maybe to intimidate, Keith.

"So," Keith started, leaning forward on his chair. He put his hands on my knees and my stomach did a neat lurch. "That could have gone worse, right?"

I wince slightly. "She's usually very sweet but... well, you know what she's going through. And she's very very protective. So tonight was kind of a big deal. You're the first boy I brought home."

"Apart from your boss."

"It's not like that," I said quickly. "I never brought my boss home. He just... shows up. And Millie knows him as a little boy. He doesn't get along with his family, my mum left home when she was very young... so they kind of found each other. He's always here for her-"

"And for you, apparently."

It was impossible to ignore the resentment in his voice.

"Keith, it's really not like that, okay? We're nothing. Not even friends. We're not even talking at the moment. That's how nothing we are."

Keith nodded slowly as his hands cupped my cheeks. "I don't want her to think I'm not good enough for you."

"She doesn't think that!" I responded a bit too quickly.

He looked at me for a long moment before giving me a chaste kiss on the lips. "What do you say we open that Merlot?"

I smiled instinctively and went to fetch the bottle. I opened it, somehow managing not to tear the cork, and switched off the radio. I grabbed two wine glasses from the top cupboard and headed for the living room. Keith plopped himself on the couch beside me as I sloshed the blood-red liquid into the glasses. When I turned to hand him his glass, I found him staring at me.

"What?" I asked, running my tongue over my teeth to see if there was anything lodged in them. His eyes smouldered under his romantic, honey-blonde locks.

"You're so beautiful," he breathed.

I felt myself going as red as the Merlot in my hands, his directness always catching me off guard. 

"You act like nobody has ever told you this before."

"Not a lot of people have," I said truthfully. 

"Well, they're either blind or complete idiots," he muttered softly as he reached out and rested his palm over the back of my neck. I felt my mouth curl into a smile. "I really like you, Ally."

I stared back at him, very conscious of how hungry his eyes had become. Before I could say anything, Keith planted a soft, slow kiss on my lips, the softest and slowest kiss I had ever been given. He pulled back about half an inch and then kissed me harder.

I felt the urgency in his fingertips as they moved down my neck, down my back. I inhaled, trying to get some oxygen to my brain, but all I got was more of him. Before I knew it, I was on top of him, straddling him, kissing him recklessly as though my life depended on it. Keith was very easy to get lost in. Suddenly, I wanted his touch, his tongue, his occasional soft moans to engulf me, engulf everything inside my brain and replace it with blur. Millie. The fear of losing her. Jeremy. His absence. I blocked it all out and tried to fill the void with him.

His hands were under my shirt, one on the small of my back, the other going straight through the neck opening and around my neck again. My own hands wandered down his chest and when I reached the hem of his T-shirt, I lifted it off him and threw it somewhere over my head. Keith looked up at me, his chest heaving, absolute wonder in his eyes.