The Heart Series: Complete Boxed Set (25 page)

Joel sat down beside me and grabbed my hand as his fingers entwined with mine. I couldn’t stand the distance between us a moment longer. I hopped over, bouncing onto his lap and pressed my lips against his temple. I breathed in the delicious scent, my nose nuzzling deep into his hair.

“I love you, Iz.”

I smiled at his words I would never tire of hearing. “I love you too.” I kissed him with so much passion when I pulled away I saw the lust burning deep in his eyes. “Now I need you to do something . . .”

“Anything.”

In that moment I believed he truly would. “I need you to take me upstairs and make me forget my own name.” I felt movement in his jeans. I loved it when my words had the intended impact.

A grin pulled on his lips. “I think I can manage that.” He stood up, lifting me with him. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and nibbled his ear.

“Oh yeah, you’ve more than proved yourself in that department.” I started laughing when he ran up the stairs two at a time.

“Yeah, but I’m about to take it to a whole new level.” He raised his eyebrows suggestively, his eyes dancing with excitement.

“There’s another level?” I asked surprised.

Seriously, how much better could it get?

His smile grew even wider at my response. “Oh yeah, got to keep my girl happy.” He kissed me hard on the lips, placing me down on the bed.

I bit my lip as he stood back, unceremoniously dropping his jeans down to the floor.

Holy shit!

My eyes widened at the sight of him stood to attention. This was definitely going to be an afternoon to remember.

* * *

I shuffled around in my seat trying to get comfortable. I was curled up tight on the chair, my body completely spent after an afternoon of pure and unadulterated pleasure. Flashbacks of our time together soon began creeping back inside my head.

Best. Afternoon. Ever.

I smiled, reliving Joel pressing me up hard against the wall. My legs wrapped tight around his waist as our mouths desperately sought out each other’s, taking my breath away with each and every thrust. I felt my body shudder at the memory alone, but the click of the door quickly snapped me out of my thoughts, hearing my mother return home from work.

Ten minutes later, Joel appeared. I was busy peeling my way through a mountain of potatoes with my mother chatting away in the background.

“Hey, Iz, Helen.” He dropped down to kiss my cheek, and I blushed at the innocent exchange compared to the things we had got up to hours earlier.

“Hello, Joel, have you had a hard day? You look shattered,” My mum asked, looking concerned.

Oh god.

I bit my lip trying to stifle a laugh. Joel’s lips twitched, trying hard to suppress a grin.

“Yeah, it’s been hard,” he replied, managing to maintain a straight face.

I snorted at his words, quickly turning it into a pretend cough when my mother glared at me. “Yeah, Joel’s a hard worker. He’s a real people pleaser.” I began focusing on peeling the potato to detract myself from smiling.

“Well, I like to give them what they want.” He grinned, picking up a potato. We both peeled together, continuing to shoot glances back and forth at each other.

“I think they will be more than satisfied with the level of service you give.”

His eyes stayed on me, and I smiled as delicious thoughts of this afternoon came flooding back. I felt my body already beginning to burn for him again.

“Well, I do try my best, but it is nice to hear.”

My eyes locked with his. “I think you more than reach the bench mark, in fact I would go as far to say you take it to a whole new level.”

He raised his eyebrows, grinning at me. “I do like to put smiles on faces.” He winked, and my grin grew wider. He certainly had me smiling all afternoon.

“You certainly do that. I bet you have them shouting their approval.” I took a sip of my drink trying to mask the laughter.

“Yeah, it certainly was noisy this afternoon.”

I spluttered out my drink at how vocal I had been. “I can only imagine, complete customer satisfaction. You should get a raise. I think you’ve more than earned it.” Our hands brushed against each other, placing our potatoes together into the pan.

He grabbed my hand, staring deep into my eyes. “As long as I am fulfilling all my customer’s needs then I am a happy man.”

I smiled as he stroked my hand, our eyes locking onto each other. I concentrated on the shivers he was sending through my body.

“What the hell are you two talking about?” My mother asked, interrupting our moment. We laughed hard at my mother’s confused expression as she shook her head in complete bewilderment.

* * *

After a week, my ankle was almost back to normal. Joel was back at work much to my dismay, and college was thankfully finished for the summer. With no more exams or assignments, I was finally free to relax.

Complete bliss.

We had stuck to my mother’s rules sleeping apart, but it wasn’t through choice of our own and the pressure of being apart was soon taking its toll.

Walking out the bathroom, I saw Joel standing in the doorway. He pushed me back inside, locking the door behind him. The grave look he gave me made me feel sick.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, staring into his large, sad eyes. He sighed, burying his head in my neck. My arms wrapped around him. “Joel, please tell me what’s wrong?”

“I never get to see you, Iz. I hate sleeping alone knowing you’re just down the hallway. Do you know how many times a night I have to talk myself out of coming to your door?”

I lifted his head to look at me, cupping his face. “I know it’s hard for me too. All I want is you beside me, but if she catches us you’ll be thrown out. I’m not having you go back there. I want you here safe with me.”

“I know, but it doesn’t make it any easier. I need to find my own place so we can be together.”

Did he really just say that?

“Really? You want to live with me?”

He scrunched his eyebrows together. “Of course, but do you want to live with me?”

“Errrmmm, let me think about it . . . of course!” I almost laughed in disbelief he was even wondering.

“You will?” His look of bewilderment pained me.

Why was he even questioning my answer?

I pulled him into a hug, our foreheads pressed against each other. “Do you even have to ask?”

“What about your mum?” The fear was there in his eyes, he knew what her reaction would be.

I stroked his face gently with my hand. “I’m nineteen soon, she can’t stop me.”

He closed his eyes, letting out a soft sigh. “That’s all I want, I hate waking up alone. I want you in my arms every night.” He pressed his lips gently against my hair, and my insides began doing somersaults.

“I’m going to ask around to see if anyone has heard of anything reasonably priced.”

I squealed in delight, wrapping my arms around his neck. He lifted me up, walking me over to the sink and placed me down. My arms and legs remained locked around him. I pulled him in close, my mouth now devouring his. We slowly became consumed in one another, but I knew we had to stop.

I leaned back panting and watched his lust-filled eyes turn sad, querying my action. My thumb skimmed over his bottom lip as we regulated our own breathing. “I can’t wait to move in with you, Joel.” It would be a dream come true for us to have our own place.

He smiled before pressing his lips against mine again, I pouted when he pulled away. “Better go before your mum catches me.”

I grabbed his hand and kissed it. “Soon, we won’t have to worry, it will just be us.”

“I can’t wait.” He stuck his head out the door to check the all clear before kissing me again. “Night, Iz, sweet dreams.”

“Night, baby, dream of me.”

“I always do,” he replied winking before disappearing out the door.

* * *

“Hey, here’s my favourite girl,” Joel shouted. I blushed at his loud announcement walking through the pub door. I cringed as virtually everyone inside turned to look at me. He was far too loud for his own good, but I secretly enjoyed his display of affection. Especially seeing a small group of girls sat opposite intent on shooting daggers my way.

I stared, amused by their attire. They were way too overdressed for an afternoon in a pub. I was guessing by the seating arrangement, they were all vying for Joel’s attention. I smiled in delight, knowing his sole concentration would only be on me.

I walked though to the back to greet him in private. He smiled, pulling me into his arms and I sighed, it was my favourite place to be.

“Guess which lucky girl gets to work along side me over the summer?”

“Really?” I asked, leaning back to look into his eyes.

He nodded grinning. “Yes, really.”

I squealed with delight. “That’s amazing!” I hugged him tighter, excited at the thought of seeing him more.

“You’ll be working three days a week and we need to get you a T-shirt.”

“Am I going to be working the same shifts as you though?” I frowned at the thought of being here without him.

He chuckled, tilting my chin up to look into his eyes. “Well, I do the rota so yeah that’s a given.”

I squealed again, squeezing him tight. “Thank you.” Our lips connected, and I momentarily lost myself, his kisses always had a habit of doing that.

“You’re more than welcome, especially if I get thanked this way. Now, come on, you need to practice pulling a pint.”

I made a face.

Oh god, not right now!

I wasn’t up for any form of embarrassment, but Joel kissed my hand reassuringly, leading me out to the front of the bar. The girls’ instant smiles soon turned into scowls, openly glaring at Joel’s arm wrapped around me.

He dropped his arm momentarily, grabbing a glass to demonstrate how to pull the perfect pint. It looked easy enough, but then again this was me.

He smiled handing me a glass, and I heard everyone as they turned to watch my first attempt.

Hmmm, no pressure then.

I pulled the lever forward, concentrating on the golden liquid beginning to fill the glass. I tilted it at an angle, like Joel had shown me. There was more head on mine, well basically half the glass was froth. Joel laughed when I frowned, holding the glass up.

Well that was an obvious failure.

He handed me another glass, this time standing behind me, his body pressed up tight behind mine.

How the hell could I concentrate now?

He helped angle the glass as I pulled on the pump, and this one was perfect. He kissed my hair, and I grinned like a Cheshire cat.

“Now you try it.” He moved away much to my dismay. I began filling another glass, and this one was just as good.

Success.

Joel held it aloft smiling as all the pub cheered. “Now who wants Izzy’s first pint?” All hands shot up. I smiled, slightly embarrassed at the attention I was attracting, but more elated I had conquered pouring the pint.

Joel returned my smile. “Keep them coming, Iz, looks like we have a lot of thirsty customers.”

I concentrated hard, filling each glass, smiling at my handy work. When I’d finally served the last customer Joel grabbed me, pulling me into a kiss.

“Iz, you’re a natural, and you have all the guys charmed.”

I scrunched up my nose in disagreement. “I don’t know about that . . .”

He chuckled kissing my nose. “I do, I’m going to be fighting them off.” He grinned, and I rolled my eyes at his over exaggerated words.

“Is this your girlfriend then Joel?” An old guy with a beard and flat cap asked.

“Yeah, this is my girl,” he said, drawing me in tighter. My back was pressed into his chest as his arms wrapped tightly around my waist.

“If you ever get sick of Joel, I’m single, love.” He flashed me a smile, and I laughed in an awkward kind of way. He must have been around seventy.

“Hey, William, anymore talk like that and you’re barred. Izzy is mine, so hands off.” Everyone laughed at Joel’s joke as he kissed my hair. “Are you ready for another surprise?” he whispered in my ear.

“Good surprise?” I asked, turning round to face him.

“The best.” He grinned, nodding over at Lee, who had just walked out front and was serving. They had a silent exchange before he led me out back, pulling out a blindfold.

No way.

I frowned, stepping back. I hated surprises, and I hated blindfolds.

“It really is a good surprise,” he whispered, placing it over my eyes so I was encased in darkness. I squealed in shock clinging onto him for dear life when he swept me up in his arms.

He stopped shortly after, placing me down. I heard a jangle of a key. He kissed my head and took off the blindfold. “Surprise, welcome to our new home.” He grinned and pushed the door open, waiting intently for my reaction.