Holly's Intuition (4 page)

Stewart sensed he was watching, and smiled over at him.

Joshua realised his mum had said the same thing twice at the end of the phone, the second time louder.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“I said you haven’t forgotten it’s the buffet, tomorrow night after your sister’s wedding rehearsal? You said you were coming.”

“No, I haven’t forgotten, family dinner tomorrow at eight, right?”

“Bring Hol y,” his mother said at the other end of the phone. “I’m so pleased you’ve got such a lovely girlfriend.”

What the hell
? Joshua froze. Why did she think that, just because Hol y was over for dinner? He hadn’t indicated any more. As if he didn’t have enough problems announcing his current sexuality status to his family, now his mother assumed he had a girlfriend. “We’re just good friends.”

His mum chuckled. “Oh, I could tel she was more than that when I met her, my boy. Take your time, it’l work out.”

Joshua felt a rising sense of discomfort. He stil had the kettle in one hand, and he put it down while he wondered how in hel he’d managed to indicate to his mother that Hol y and he were an item.

She was burbling away happily at the other end of the phone.

Take it by the horns, he decided. “As I said, Hol y and I are just friends,” he interrupted, “but hold on, I’l ask her now.”

Hol y had turned his way and was looking at him with a concerned expression on her face.

“Hol y, you met my mum at the hospital, and she’s asked if you would you like to come over tomorrow night?” Initial y, he prayed she’d say no, that she would have another event on. It was the simplest thing and it would discourage his mother from assuming they were an item, and yet part of him wanted her to be at the event. He’d enjoyed her company, and he wanted his family to meet her. “It’s nothing formal,” he added, trying to encourage her.

“My sister is getting married and it’s a bit of a family gathering to wish her wel .”

In the background he could see that Stewart was wryly amused by the situation, damn him. Hol y stared at him for a long moment then nodded.

“Okay,” she replied. There was a little trepidation in her voice, as if she wasn’t quite sure, and he hoped his initial reaction hadn’t been too obvious.

“I’m so glad she can come,” his mother said at the other end of the phone, obviously able to hear al of the discussion. “She’s such a lovely girl.”

She sounded so pleased that he didn’t have the heart to clarify it a third time.

“Oh, and you must bring your flatmate as wel .”

Once again, Joshua froze. He gave a deep internal groan. “Yes of course, I’l do that.”

“See you al then,” she replied, apparently delighted.

When he put the phone down he gave Stewart an apologetic glance. He had his knowing expression on and had clearly got the gist of the conversation. Joshua wanted to say it was no big deal. Stewart already thought he was overcomplicating his life by waiting to make his announcement.

An uneasy silence descended after the phone cal ended.

Hol y was the one who broke the awkward moment, and she was looking at him with concern. “Please don’t worry about it. It’s just a bit of a party, right?”

Was it that obvious he was worried? Joshua supposed it must be. “I’d appreciate it if you came with me. It’s a family thing but I’l explain that you’re not my girlfriend when we get there. I don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea”

Should he say more?

They both stared at him.

Stewart laughed wryly and shook his head, reaching for his wine glass. “No, you wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.”

There was bitterness in his tone.

“Stewart, please, it just happened.”

Stewart’s head jerked up. He was definitely unhappy about the situation. Joshua’s frustration grew. His partner had been patient up until now, but things were getting out of hand. He needed to clear this up with his family as soon as possible. He wanted that too, once Donna’s wedding was over. He wasn’t going to mess up her special week by stepping forward with his news right now.

“What?” Stewart asked. “You want me to sit here and watch while you make your life even more of a mess than it already is, give you even more to stress over?”

Joshua gave a mental groan. “No, but having this conversation now isn’t fair on Hol y.”

Stewart scowled. “Bloody hel , Josh. Hol y knows we’re in a relationship.”

Holly knew
? Joshua looked at Stewart, then Hol y, in turn. She did know. She wasn’t confused by what was being said. Had Stewart told her?

“Stewart didn’t tel me.” She blurted that out then blushed. “If that’s what you’re wondering…”

“Hol y had a hunch,” Stewart explained, his voice ringing with sarcasm. “And she doesn’t have a problem with it, despite your need for secrecy.”

“I don’t have a need for secrecy,” Joshua said between gritted teeth, “I’m just waiting for the right moment.”

Hol y gave Joshua a sympathetic glance, lifted her napkin off her lap and put it on the table. “Maybe I should go.”

He stared at her, and the one thing he was certain of was that he didn’t want her to go. It had been good and he didn’t want the evening to end yet, especial y not on such an awkward note. “No, please don’t.”

He joined them at the table and reached for the wine bottle, topping up their glasses. When Hol y settled and reached for her glass, he felt relief.

“Actual y it feels good that you know.”

“Wel ,” Stewart said, voice stil dripping with sarcasm, “I hate to say I told you so.”

“Al right already.” He took a grateful swig of his wine. “I know it’l be better out, and I want that. But it’s Donna’s week, so I’l do it after the wedding.”

He looked at Hol y. She smiled, and her expression was even warmer than before. That felt good. He returned her smile. “I’m sorry about the mix-up with my mum.”

Instinctively he put his hand out and covered hers where it wrapped around the stem of her wine glass on the table. She blinked slowly, and he felt as if he was basking in her smile, like some mutual warmth had somehow been shared.

“Don’t worry about it,” she replied, “real y. Hey, it’s an evening out. A single girl can’t afford to miss any parties that are going on.”

Something about her put him at ease. He noticed that Stewart had lost his bitter look, too.

“I can understand your hesitation,” she continued. “It’s a big week for your family. I’m sure they have enough on their minds already. We’l go as friends and it’l be fun, and then you can do your thing next week.”

Stewart gave a sardonic laugh. “So you get to go to a party, and I get to sit at home with takeout.”

“Um, no. Mum in her generosity included my flatmate, in case you got lonely.”

Hol y didn’t seem surprised by that. Stewart’s eyebrows lifted. The three of them exchanged glances, then Hol y chuckled and they were laughing about it.

“I’l have to remember not to pat you on the arse,” Stewart said.

“Yes,” Hol y agreed, “and I’l have to remember to get jealous if you accidental y do.”

“Oh man,” Josh said, nodding, “what a minefield. It could only happen to me.”

But somehow it didn’t seem such a big issue, not with Hol y there diffusing the mood with her sunny smile and her gentle, understanding nature.

Somehow she made it feel al right.

Stewart had to work hard on his self-restraint in order not to tease Joshua, after Hol y had gone. Joshua had already screwed up enough and he knew it, and that’s the only reason why Stewart buttoned his lip. In just over a week, Joshua was going to come out to his family. He was tense about it and he’d been withdrawn. The fact he’d been dealing with an injury and wasn’t able to cycle every day didn’t help either.

Stewart reclined on the bed, watching for Joshua to emerge from the bathroom. It had been good to see him enjoying Hol y’s company. Joshua was a social person, and the evening had been fun. Joshua walked in a moment later and stepped over to the ful -length mirror on the wardrobe, stil brushing his teeth.

“She’s a great girl,” he commented, in between brushes.

Stewart nodded. “She is.”

Joshua stopped brushing and looked at his frothed teeth in the mirror with a critical stare. “Do you think she looks at everybody’s teeth? I mean, because of her job?”

Stewart laughed. It was
so
hard not to tease. “Oh, yeah, I’m sure she does. Why, are you worried you might not be up to scratch? She might have high toothy standards when it comes to her neighbours.”

Joshua shot him a look. “You may wel laugh, but I know for a fact you check out everybody’s level of physical fitness, whether you are aware of it or not.”

Stewart shrugged. He was curious about something other than teeth. Joshua was very interested in their neighbour. It went beyond a thank-you dinner.

Josh returned to the bathroom. A moment later he was back and stood in front of the mirror, scrubbing his short hair with his knuckles before turning to the bed. “If only that stupid misunderstanding with my mother hadn’t happened.”

Stewart wanted to comment acerbical y. It was getting harder to hold his tongue. “It’s a party, we get to hang out with Hol y again. You can sort it out later.”

Josh nodded. His thoughts were elsewhere.

Still with Holly, apparently.

“Yeah, and it was real y good of her to play along with it.” He had a distant look in his eyes, then he pul ed back, making eye contact, smiling. “Can you believe she made us laugh about it?”

Stewart scanned his lover’s lean form, taking in the bulge of his cock in his soft cotton jockey shorts.
Interesting
. From that a person might surmise that Joshua had been turned on by their dinner companion. He was about to comment on that but once again thought better of it.
All in good time.
Instead he reached for Joshua, hauling him on to the bed. He landed on his side, facing Stewart.

“Yes, she certainly does have a knack of breaking the tension,” Stewart responded. Wrapping his hand over one of Joshua’s fit buttocks, he wrenched his jockeys down. “How about I help you relieve some more?”

Josh responded eagerly, his hips moving. “Sounds good.”

Stewart happily claimed his mouth. Even so, he had the feeling it was the calm before the storm, because there was no way Joshua could be as relaxed about the situation tomorrow night, Hol y or no Hol y.

* * * *

In the flat next door Hol y stood in her shower, begging the warm water to purge her of the powerful connection she was experiencing. After the evening spent with Joshua and Stewart it was even more intense, and now as she tried to wash it away in her bathroom, she felt a wave of warm emotion from very close by. It dawned on her that their bathroom backed on to hers.

Joshua was thinking about her, and it was as if he craved her company again, even though she had just left. Much as she had al evening, Hol y felt as if he was drawn to her emotional y and physical y. When she tried to rationalise it, she knew it should feel like a dangerous game to her—being around him and feeling those things when he was in a couple with another person—but his spirit was fraught with tension and her nurturing instinct was triggered by that. It meant that she wanted to respond to him, to be there if he needed her. As she reflected on it, it seemed as if that feeling tied into what Faye had said about responsibility. That was how Hol y had felt, ever since the accident.
And more than that
, she admitted, with a sigh. Caring was one thing, wanting was another.

While she had been with them the psychic link had felt less of a burden—as if she was going along with the flow of events, rather than secretly spying. And Joshua had wanted her there. That was the key element for her. He’d wanted her to say yes to the surprise invitation. The initial chaos he’d felt made her want to leave, but that lasted only a moment and what won out was hope, hope that she would go along with it. How could she not agree?

Everything in her wanted to be there with him, partly to support him, partly because her connection demanded it. She’d had a crush on Joshua before the accident; she admitted that to herself now. There was no denying it. Truth be told, she had a crush on both of them, hard as it was for her to come to terms with that. The opportunity to spend some more time with them had presented itself and she was glad. At least being with them while being connected to Joshua felt much less deviant, she mused.

She turned around under the shower, sluicing water through her hair, rinsing away the shampoo. She froze, and her lower lip caught between her teeth as she was once again swamped by images of the two of them. They were making love next door.

It was so intense and sudden that she reached for the ceramic soap holder, holding on to it to steady herself. Stewart had grabbed Joshua and pul ed him on to the bed. He tugged his jockey shorts off, and was now marking Joshua’s fit buttocks with his teeth, biting him playful y while he eased one finger into his back passage. Joshua’s response was intense, his erection throbbing as he lay face down on the bed, his torso arching up, fingers clutching at the pil ows. A moment later Stewart doused him with lube between his buttocks, donned a condom, and laid over him.

The speed at which anticipation built in Joshua was staggering. Hol y was right there, as if she was lassoed and physical y pul ed into the moment, her body brimming with sensory stimulation, her womanly centre throbbing.

With his lubed fist wrapped around Joshua’s cock, Stewart entered Joshua’s back passage. The intense stimulation from Joshua made Hol y grasp for the shower curtain. Her legs had gone weak under her. She reached for the shower controls and turned the water off. She had to get out of there and sit down, before she slithered to a damp heap of arousal on the cubicle floor. Almost staggering, she grabbed a towel, wrapped herself in it and sat down on the toilet lid. Closing her eyes, she hunched over, arms wrapped around her waist, scarcely even aware of her wet hair dripping on to her thighs.

Stewart crooned to Joshua while he eased his considerable erection inside him. Joshua’s fingers dug deeper into the pillows as Stewart urged
him to relinquish. His balls throbbed, ejaculation imminent. When his body gave and Stewart pushed deep, edgy emotions shot through him. The
dark thrill of being owned, being invaded, by Stewart was like a decadent narcotic, and Josh was flying high on it. With Stewart’s cock massaging from
the rear while his fist jerked him off, Joshua was in ecstasy.

Hol y thrust her hand between her legs and rubbed herself vigorously. Lust burned in her. It wasn’t enough. Resting one foot up against the edge of the bath, she opened her legs wide and rested her shoulders back against the cistern. With her free hand she opened her folds then thrust two fingers inside, hungry for release, desperate for it.

This is what they are doing to me, making me crazy
.

In the flat next door, Joshua hit his peak. Static needled his entire skin. He roared aloud as he ejaculated. Hol y took herself over the edge, her body squirming, her hips rocking back and forth as she rode her fingers and orgasm blistered through her.

She slumped back, shocked at the intensity of what she’d experienced, helplessly bound to it. The drip, drip, drip of a shower not turned off properly counted the time as it passed. It took a good two minutes or so for her to level. That was when it occurred to her that in less than twenty-four hours she would be with them again.

With a self-deprecating laugh, she shook her head.
How the hell am I going to look them in the eye tomorrow night, after this?

Wel , she had to do it. No backing out this time, because she’d promised and Josh needed her. Pul ing her towel into position she stood up, and faced the fact that it was going to take some high-level meditation to push it out of her mind and be nothing more than a social butterfly.