Sexy Hart (Sexy Series) (23 page)

“Yeah, I’m with you on that. Everyone knows us as friends. I don’t want to feel like they’re watching our every move while we’re making something together.”

“Exactly.
But… what about Bea and your parents? Don’t you think we should tell them? I’m worried they’re going to be upset that they were kept in the dark.”

“I think they’ll understand. We’ll tell them first and we’ll do it properly. I don’t want to make some huge, public announcement or anything. It should be done tactfully and I think that way, my parents and Bea will appreciate our reasons for getting married and our decision to keep quiet for a while. What about your parents though?”

“Oh, I don’t think my parents will mind too much. We’re not as close as you are and… well, I’m kind of… different to the rest of my family. They expect me to break rules and defy convention.”

“What? Really?”

“Mmm hmm,” I murmur, nonchalantly.

“I find that hard to believe. You’re a good girl.”

“Yeah, but I’m different to my family.”

“Are you going to let me meet them? I’m amazed after all these years that we rarely even discuss your family.”

“I know,” I sigh. “You will meet them, of course. I’ll take you when we’re ready to be seen as a couple.”

“Will you tell me about them?”

“Yeah, maybe not now, though.”

“Okay, beautiful. So, how about the wedding? Are you sure you’re okay with the one that we had? It was so rushed and secretive, I don’t want you to regret that.”

‘No! I absolutely will not. I love that we did that. We’re not doing things conventionally, I never really have. So I think our wedding was fun and solely about you and I. And that’s what matters to me. Besides, Bea and Daniel’s wedding will be coming up at some stage, and we had Tilly and Luke’s beautiful ceremony only a few months ago; it’s not like we’re short of shindigs. Let’s keep ours a memory just for us.”

“Oh!” he says, remembering something, “I keep forgetting to give it to you. I doubt you’ll have a use for it now that it’s wilted, but I had your bouquet of roses boxed up at the hotel - I’ve got them in my bag.”

My heart suddenly races and I sit up to turn and look at him. “You… you got my roses back?”

“Uh huh,” he says, calmly.

“Oh my god! Oliver! Thank you! I thought they were gone! I wanted to take the ribbon, at least, but when I left them on that chair, I thought I’d lost them. Oh that means so much to me, you’re amazing!’ I clutch his face and kiss his lips over and over, loving him for being so god damned thoughtful.

He laughs as I kiss him and he holds up his hands in mercy. “I just thought you might want to keep them, I wasn’t sure…”

“I wanted a keepsake and the posy of roses just reminds me so much of the chapel and everything. It was so much fun, just you and me. You know?”

“I do. I loved it because of what I gained and what I shared with my best friend in the world.”

“And I got you. I’m so lucky.”

“Be quiet,” he says, pulling me back into his embrace.

“I will not! I am lucky.” I turn on my side to snuggle, comfortably, against his chest.

We lay together quietly for a while. I close my eyes and think back to Tilly’s wedding; it was a beautifully sunny, spring day back at the beginning of April. The daffodils and bluebells were in full bloom and the sun had just turned powerful enough to warm the days, pleasantly. It wasn’t anything huge or elaborate, just a small, intimate gathering of close friends and family.

Luke’s parents and their partners flew over from the States, along with Gemma, Jay, Jack and a few other family members and friends, for the stunning ‘do’ at ‘The Grove.’ They decided they wanted to have the celebrations in the UK because Tilly would soon be moving to LA with Luke, and they wanted their married life to start where Til grew up. It was sad that Alexia couldn’t make the wedding because of a hugely important work issue that needed either her or Daniel, and as Daniel is Luke’s best friend, obviously he attended the wedding.

I know she was gutted to have missed it, and we missed her, too, but we managed to video-call at the
reception which was great fun, and included her in the day somewhat.

Gemma, Bea and I were bridesmaids, and Tilly’s nephew, Jack, was her
page boy. It wasn’t a super-traditional wedding; the whole thing took place at the Country Estate, but it was absolutely stunning. They chose a beautiful pastel blue for their colour theme which was simple and elegant. Our dresses weren’t run-of-the-mill, made to measure bridesmaid dresses from a catalogue, either, oh no. We had a fun shopping spree or two into London, on a mission to find a beautiful designer frock to suit us all.

In the end, after sending picture upon picture to Gemma, we all decided on a knee length, strapless, sixties style,
full skirted dress in a plain blue taffeta with pointy matching kitten heel court shoes.
So
my style! And the kitten heels were great because we didn’t all tower above our tiny Tilly.

And Tilly. Wow. She was a picture
; incredibly beautiful with her hair up in a slight beehive with a thin, ivory alice-band separating it from her lovely full fringe. She wore large but simple diamond earrings and a matching pendent to complement the flawless, ivory, empire line gown. The dress was made of a thin, lined tulle with a deep v-shaped neck-line and a wide band running around her ribcage, under her bust and narrowing to a small, fabric covered broach at her sternum. Even with her bump, the band accentuated her tiny little waist, so from behind, you’d never even have known she was carrying a child.

The fabric hung heavily to her toes, skimming her baby bump elegantly. The floral embroidery at the bottom of the dress and running through the short train was immaculate, and finished the dress to perfection. Bea made a note of the designer so that she can explore the range when she plans her wedding, because she fell in love with Tilly’s dress, as we all did.

The thing I remember most about that day - apart from how handsome Oliver looked and how sad I was that we hadn’t spoken for a while - was how ecstatically happy Tilly was, and how thoroughly emotional Luke seemed. I’ve never seen a wedding more about true love, than that one.

“What are you thinking about?” Oliver asks, brushing a few stray hairs from my face.

“Oh, I was just remembering Tilly’s wedding.”

“What a great day. Remember Luke’s dad on the dance floor?”

I laugh, loudly, at the memory of his incredible break dancing, I don’t think anyone had expected anything like it. “I forgot! That was so funny, he was amazing!”

“At least now we know where Luke gets his dance floor moves from.”

“Yeah! Where do you get your moves from, Ol? Your dad’s not much of a dancer.”

“You can say that again! I don’t really have any moves; I just like to wind and grind to the rhythm of my girl.”

“Er, well, you’ve not done a lot of winding and grinding to the rhythm of this girl, darling, but I definitely enjoyed a bit of that on my birthday, we’ll have to go out and do some more now we’re… together… and everything.”

“Yes we will,” he says, squeezing me tightly. “The one thing I don’t like about that
wedding, is that I was with Stacy. She was hard work that day.”

Uh, don’t make me think about her.
“I bet. It would have been nice if we had been together then.”

“Uh… I wish we had been. I couldn’t stop looking at you.”

“Really?” I ask, trying to hide my huge grin.

“Yeah, you were absolutely stunning! If I’d have known in a couple of months you’d be Mrs. Oliver Hart, I’d have had to assume that a crazy coincidence had occurred.”

I giggle. “Don’t be daft.”

“Hand on Hart’s heart, I never thought I’d manage to convince you to go any further than
occasionally
letting me poke you.”

I laugh louder, again, “You really fancied me then?”

“Clare,” he says in disbelief, “are you being serious? I more than fancied you
way
before then. Years before. How didn’t you know that?”

“Because we were best friends, Oliver! We were super-close up until Simple Stacy. And you were so determined to stay with her, even though she was so awful, I really thought you were going to be together for a while. And that was really difficult for me because I knew how wrong she was for you.”

“You knew it, because you knew
you
were right for me.”

I pause for a minute. “Not exactly. I knew I could be a good girlfriend for you, because I know everything there is to know about you and because you mean the world to me. But I didn’t think we
should
be together because we had something so good before. I couldn’t have lost you if it went wrong, you know that. So I didn’t let myself contemplate it.”

“Hmm, interesting. So… Simple Stacy, huh?”

I smile, feeling naughty. “Well, I had a few names for her. Most starting in something bad and ending with ‘Stacy’.”

“You’re naughty.”

“I know. I tried to keep them to myself though, I didn’t want to bitch about her, you know, she was your girlfriend and though I didn’t respect her too much, I had enough respect for you not to go overboard about how much I disliked her.”

“And that, there, is another reason why Clare is the one for me.”

I smile and snuggle into him. I just love this time we’re having, together. No one to interrupt and make us pull away from each other, no one to turn up, no need to look over our shoulders every five minutes to see who’s around. It’s such a nice feeling to be able to relax with him and discuss everything in peace and quiet.

“Clare,” Oliver says, softly.

“Uh huh?” I turn my face to look up at his.

“Thank you.”

I frown. “For what?”

“For doing this. For taking a huge leap of faith and believing that I’ll be good enough for you.
For agreeing to do this so randomly. For taking on a husband like me.”

“Aw, Oliver! Don’t thank me,” I say lifting my hand to touch his cheek. “I know you, I know you’ll be more than good enough for me. I wasn’t swept along by the
fantasy, I wasn’t ‘persuaded’ by you. I wanted to do this just as much as you did. I have been worrying about aspects of it, since, purely because we haven’t had a chance to talk much until now, but I would never doubt your intentions or virtues. I think you are the perfect man, I’ve told you that already. We just need to get used to being together and learn how to be a couple now.”

He smiles at me with a pride-like look in his eye and he clutches the back of my head to lean down to kiss me. “You’re perfect.”

Our meal arrives after a short while, forcing us to separate to eat. The food isn’t
that
bad for economy class aeroplane food - overcooked beef with dauphinoise potatoes and carrots - and once I’ve finished, I’m itching to get back into Oliver’s arms to talk and cuddle and plan again, but as with always on flights, we’re left with our trays for ages.

“I wish someone would come and take these…”

“I was just thinking exactly the same thing!”

“Because you want to touch
me…” he says, teasingly. He’s not wrong.

“Yeah! I do! I want to touch you in naughty places as well.”

“Oh Christ, Clare, don’t go there. If I’d have known we’d never have gotten a chance to make love, I’d have scrapped that idea of not doing it the night before, on your birthday, and we’d have got down to it, good, hard and heavy.” I groan loudly in frustration. I’m so randy right now. “You getting turned on?” he whispers with a cheeky grin, nearing my face.

I roll my eyes and giggle. “More than you probably realise, Oliver.”

“Oh, really? Have you ever… on an aeroplane?”

My eyebrows shoot up as I grin. “No! Have you?” I ask, not sure I really want to hear the answer.

“Nope. But there’s a first time for everything.”

“Oh really?” I ask, amused, crossing my arms. “And where might you suggest we do it?”

“We could… well, we could wait until everyone goes to sleep and we could get frisky under a blanket? Or… we could try and squeeze into the toilet?”

“Oh that’s gross. They stink!”

“Hmm, suppose. Depends how horny you are, really…”

I chuckle. “Are you horny enough to do it in the toilet?”

“Yes.” he says, matter-of-factly. “To be perfectly frank about it, yes, I am horny enough to have sex in a toilet. I probably wouldn’t even think about where we were if I had you semi-naked and raring to go - in a confined space with me.”

I laugh out
loud, he really is such a funny man. Combining that with hot, sexy and married to me makes him seriously irresistible. Though I think I might have to resist in this instance.  “Well, although I’m definitely raring to go, I’m not really sure the aeroplane toilet is the place for me. Besides, knowing our luck, everyone will see us going in there together and we’ll get caught mid-action. I don’t want to get in big, bad trouble or be left even more frustrated. And before you ask, doing it under a blanket in full view of everyone is even worse.”