FOLLOW YOUR HEART

Chapter 35 - Begin at the Beginning

Camila stared at the number of boxes in the room with dismay. "We have to go through all of these?"

"Apparently," Shawn said. "I'm glad it's not a nice day, at least we're not missing out on anything else."

She gave him a smirk. "I wasn't thinking of going outside things, more the things we can do inside!"

He grinned. "I think we will need a break or two, or three..."

"I don't know where to start..." she groaned.

"Well, as Lewis Carrol said, begin at the beginning," Shawn said.

Camila stared at him. "Shawn Mendes, have you been reading?"

"No, it was a quote on Instagram."

She laughed, and pulled the first box out and opened it. It was full of all sorts of things, photos, certificates, knick knacks. They began sorting things out into piles. Things to store for George, things they wanted for themselves (if George was OK with that), things for other people (Tally, Jamila) and things to throw away. It took a long time because there were so many interesting bits and pieces. They did the two biggest boxes then went downstairs to have lunch. They made sandwiches and sat in the drawing room. The photos from Christmas were still on the mantle, so they packed those up as well, and then they went through the books. Shawn went upstairs and retrieved some of the unused boxes from the storage room and they packed up the books. Camila packed some for herself, and some she thought George would like, such as the family history, but the rest they packed up for the library of the hotel.

Not so much into books as she was, Shawn played piano while she sorted them and the afternoon whiled away.

"We didn't get much done upstairs," he said in the end. The books were all packed up now, and Shawn had sorted through the music.

"Fuck, look at this!" He passed her some Beatles sheet music with notations made and signed by Paul McCartney, and a book of Elton John music that Shawn hadn't even looked at before that had a rude and hilarious dedication to Garry. He put those to one side, along with the Clair de Lune piece at Camila's request. They taped up the boxes and marked them and then did a bit more in the room upstairs before dinner.

"I'm going to have a shower first," Camila said, yawning. "I'm dusty and dirty and stiff from sitting on the floor."

"Sounds like a plan," Shawn said. "How about I heat up a couple of meals and bring them up and we eat them in the bedroom while we watch TV."

***

He had planned to make love to her, but he looked over about half an hour after they'd finished eating and the movie action was heating up and saw she was sound asleep. He snuggled in and fell asleep in minutes himself.

He awoke in the night and went to turn off the television, but he stopped at the sight of her in the flickering light from the screen. She had kicked off the covers, her leg was looped over the top, her t-shirt had ridden up and she only wore very skimpy lace panties underneath. Her hair was spread across the pillow like a mermaid's and he lay propped on his elbow, staring at her, for quite a while before he leaned forward and kissed her. She sighed and although her eyes remained closed, her arms made their way around his neck and she kissed him back with a lazy sensuality that had his body aroused in seconds. He slid his hands over her hips and up under her t-shirt, caressing her breasts. He started there, then made his way around her body, kissing, caressing, exploring. Somewhere not long before she came the first time he realised she was awake, and he must have stopped because she grabbed his hand and put it back where she wanted it.

"Don't you dare stop," she moaned, and he grinned, and did whatever she wanted.

They played for over an hour, she returned the favour, then after he was spent, she made him hard again and he took her, fast and hard until she was screaming. It drove him crazy and he reached a shuddering ending, crying out himself, before collapsing on top of her. They were covered in cooling sweat and they lay and kissed and entwined their hands over and over, no words needed.