Sexy Hart (Sexy Series) (35 page)

CHAPTER 17

FRIDAY 16TH AUGUST

Oliver wakes me this morning, fully dressed with two cups of tea in his hand, crouching down by the side of the bed.

‘Darling,
wakey wakey…”

“Hmm?” I grumble, looking him up and down, “Clothes?”

“Yeah, sorry, I’ve got to go shortly, but wanted to have a quick cuppa with you beforehand.”

“Oh goody,” I say, enjoying that I get to keep him for a few minutes longer.

I sit up, pulling the sheets over my naked body and tucking them under my armpits, covering my chest, and I lean against my head board. He joins me, fully clothed, minus the boots, thank god; those dirty work things aren’t allowed within three country miles of my champagne pink bedlinen.

He hands me my nightie and looks over at me, holding his mug in both hands and resting it on his belly. “Good morning, gorgeous girl,” he whispers as I slip the nightie over my head, making myself decent in case Alexia comes in.

I grin and respond, quietly. “Good morning, handsome. I love you.”

“I love you, too. I’m sorry I didn’t offer you any overwhelming pleasure last night, or this morning, I don’t know what happened last night - we just passed out! This morning - I woke up late and thought it would be too risky to do anything with Alexia here,” he whispers.

“I know, don’t worry about that. Last night was lovely, I love falling asleep with you like that - it’s so… comfortable. Kind of reminds me of that first night in Vegas after Sta… after she left, when you came to my room for a chat. You asked to stay with me because I was comfortable…”

“And that was true, I promise! I mean… okay, of course I wanted more…but I really love cuddling you - you are comfy! Maybe I should try to sleep on those…” he whispers, raising his eyebrows and looking down at my boobs, “bet they’d be the best pillow,
ever
.”

I giggle, quietly. “I’m sure they would be for you, but I reckon your unconscious head resting against my boobs would be a little bit painful for me…”

“Meh… party pooper. At least let me have a feel…”

I laugh, silently as he continues to stare at my boobs under the nightie and sheets. “The door is open, Ol.”

“Yeah… but just a quick one…” he says, licking his lips and I can’t help but laugh out loud. He’s so funny.

He lifts his hand slowly and claws his fingers like he’s about to cop a feel and our attention is immediately pulled from the situation by Alexia, who pokes her head around the doorframe, “Good morning, guys, did you sleep well?”

“Morning, Alexia,” I say warmly, not worrying too much about what she may have seen, I’m pretty certain that she wouldn’t have guessed anything naughty by what she saw at that moment, “I slept like a baby, how about you?”

“Hi, Lex.”

“Hey, Oliver. Yeah, I slept wonderfully, too, thanks for asking. Thank you for the coffee, Oliver, I appreciate it.”

“No
problemo. I suppose I’d better be off…” he says, making my heart feel a little bit empty already.

“Okay, will we see you later?” Alexia asks.

“Yeah - didn’t we make plans to go out for dinner or something?”

“Yep,” I respond, “to ‘The Feathers’ in Ricky with everyone - they’ve booked a big table.”

“Oh yeah - well then, yes, you will definitely be seeing me later, and I shall look forward to it, immensely.”

He slips off the bed and bends over it again, to kiss my cheek. “Until later, gorgeous.”

“See ya later, handsome,” I say with a wink, quite enjoying seemingly play acting in front of Alexia but being totally real with Oliver at the same time.

“Beautiful,” he says, stopping in front of her and kissing her cheek, “enjoy your day at work.”

“You too, dear!” she says, laughing and he turns to have one more sexy, goodbye look at me before disappearing out into the hallway, fumbling - I’m assuming, with his boots - and out of the front door.

I miss him already, but it won’t be long until I’ll be seeing him again looking perfect in his sexy evening clothes at dinner tonight. I know he has a very busy day on site today, so probably won’t be able to pop in for his tea and chocolate cake, but that’s okay - I can sneak outside with him tonight while everyone is deep in conversation and snog in the shadows somewhere.
Mmm.

Alexia is already ready for work, so I am free to use the bathroom and get ready myself, and before I even disappear into the shower, Daniel has collected her and they’re on their way to the London office for a day of hard grafting. Within about an hour, I’m leaving too, with a spring in my step, as with every day of late, and a huge smile. Everything is great, and next week - it’ll be even greater. And I
know
things must be
really
good, because I just got my period, and I don’t feel even the slightest urge to punch someone in the neck or cry like a baby. Amazing.

Oliver texts me a couple of times throughout the morning; beautiful, loving messages that make clear exactly how much he loves me, and how sorry he was that he couldn’t give me one last kiss before he left. He really does outshine any other man I’ve ever known, tenfold.
They’ve been a mere, mediocre, English summers evening where Oliver is the brightest, warmest, most tropical Hawaiian sunrise…

At the end of the day, Bea and I close up together and drive home separately to start to get ready for this evening. I’m so excited to see Oliver already. As much as I adore Alexia, and just
love
that she’s staying with me, I just wish that she knew, so I could at least be with Oliver around her, she could be staying in one of the spare rooms in
our
home, rather than here. Don’t get me wrong, as everyone knows, I just love my girly pad, but Oliver’s house is my new life, my ‘wife’ life - and that’s where I’d like to entertain my guests. Our guests.

She arrives home very shortly after me and we potter around together, getting ourselves ready. I send a text to Oliver to tell him I love him, but he doesn’t respond immediately, probably because he’s still at work or in the shower right now, so I’ll have to be patient and speak with him later. I feel like a teenager.

When I go through my wardrobe, I don’t think about what
I
want to wear; I think about what Oliver would like to see me in. He says he likes me in anything, but I know he likes certain things especially - he likes a dress, but at the same time, he loves tight trousers so he can see my shape nicely… so I decide on a L.B.D. - a lovely, plain, very fitted one. Tight, in fact. It has a stiff frill over the shoulder and around the arm holes and a very low back, but other than that - it’s a gorgeous little dress that will have Oliver pulling me out that back door and around the corner for a snog every two minutes.

Having finished my up-do and make-up, I slip into the dress and some silk, black, stiletto pumps and head to the kitchen, feeling fabulously dolled up, to pour a glass of wine for us both before we walk over to Bea and Daniel’s apartment. Alexia joins me, offering a little spin as she puts her clutch down on the counter. “What do you think?”

“Oh, Lex, you look stunning! I adore your outfit! I’m going to find you a British man this weekend, I hope you realise this.”

She giggles and comes over to take her glass of wine. She really does look beautiful. She has a pair of cream, pleated, silk-crepe wide leg trousers on, high
waisted, with a navel length black, crocheted lace, high-neck, sleeveless top and some cream, suede pointy stilettos. Her clutch is black to match her top. She is so tall and slender - so elegant, and this outfit absolutely compliments that.

She’s always so well put
together, I admire her, wholly, for her incredible independence and girl power. She knows what she wants - she gets it. She knows what she wants to look like and she owns that look, and it’s always impeccable. Her hair is down; a long, thick, dark mane, perfectly curled at the ends so it bounces all over the place when she moves.

We toast to a great trip for Alexia and fantastic weekend ahead, and take a sip as Alexia’s phone rings. It reminds me to go and grab mine from the bedroom, along with my clutch. As I step back out into the hallway from my room, I hear Alexia speaking a little louder than I’d have expected and something makes me stop to listen, looking through to the kitchen, seeing the back of her.

“What? No, we didn’t hear it ring, why? What’s the matter, Daniel?” she asks, urgently, somewhat out of character, and pauses to let him speak before responding again. “Why? What happened?” She turns slowly to look at me and I just know something is wrong with Oliver. I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but Oliver is in trouble.

It could easily be Bea or someone else, but for some reason I have an overwhelming, instinctive intuition that my Oliver is hurt. I drop my clutch on the floor as my chest constricts, just that look in her eye that so clearly tells me that she has something terrible to break to me.

“Okay, we’ll get there. What are they saying?”

I lift my hand to my chest and hold it there as if it might just ease some of this pain. I don’t know what it is, but I know I need to be worried. Alexia’s hand is over her mouth and she’s serious.
Very serious. “Oh god, Daniel…” she says and I already see tears in her eyes.

Why am I just standing here? Why aren’t I screaming at her to tell me what’s happened? Why aren’t I reassuring myself that everything is okay?
Because if I don’t - this might not be happening.

Alexia hangs up and grabs her bag, walking towards me with caution. I simply stare at her and wait. She puts her hand on my arm and looks directly into my eyes with such a caring, sympathetic expression and the tears fall from my lashes down my cheek as she tilts her head, ready to speak.

“Sweetheart, we are going to have to get to the hospital, very quickly.” She pauses and nods, knowing that I’m thinking it’s Oliver. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers, “Oliver has been in an accident.”

I gasp loudly at the words, I knew it already, but hearing them being spoken is too harsh for me to cope with. “No…” I whisper, shaking my head, almost begging for her to be wrong.

“I’m sorry, sweetie.”

“Is he… what… how…
” I mutter, not really knowing what to do and I bounce slightly in desperation.

“He’s very sick, sweetheart. We need to go now.”

“Why now?” I ask, shouting. “Why right now? Is he… is he going to…” I weep, my hand across my mouth. “No…” I whisper, “…no! No, he can’t!” I cry, shaking my head and walking in a circle, looking for something; I don’t know what.

“Clare, come on, we need to go. Can you drive? Shall I get us a cab?”

“No…” I say, clearing my head slightly as I grab my keys from the side table and head for the door. “No, I’ll drive. I need to get there…”

I open the door and storm out of the house with Alexia closely behind me, closing up. I switch on autopilot and get my car going, Alexia just about making it into the passenger seat before I pull away from the curb. I don’t speak at all. I drive a little too impatiently, and had there been a police patrol car anywhere near, I would, undoubtedly, have been pulled over and further delayed, but instead, there
was just an incredible number of incompetent drivers to slow me down.

When we arrive at the hospital, Alexia speaks for the first time, telling me exactly where he is; my husband; where in this huge, scary hospital my darling, beautiful, handsome husband is. I park in the first available space in the stupid, shitty car park and run towards the hospital, searching for signs to the right department, totally ignoring the pay and display parking rules. So I get a fucking ticket,
who cares. It’s the last thing on my mind right now.

Alexia runs along with me, the stupid heels clicking on the ground like we’re a pair of idiotic teenage girls. “You love him, Clare,” she says, surprising me entirely and I simply stop on the spot and stare at her, hot tears filling my eyes, my throat painful as I swallow the huge, dry lump. I take a deep breath of air and somehow need it desperately, like I’ve been holding it, and at the moment I let it go, I break. Both of my hands covering my mouth, I wail, trying to ask questions, not wanting to know answers, and she immediately embraces me tightly, rocking me ever so slightly.

“Shh, let’s just get to him, hmm?”

“Tell me… how…”

“It was an accident at work. He fell.”

“From what?” I ask, shouting at her as if she’s not giving me enough information.

“I don’t know exactly, but it was quite a distance, I believe.”

“Oh god,” I cry, one hand clutching at my chest, “is he dead, Lex?” I ask, my voice wobbly and weak as my shoulders hunch and my head falls back, tears pouring over my cheeks and into my ears as I look up at the sky, unable to believe I’m having to ask this.

“Listen, Clare,” she whispers, clutching my wrist, “when Daniel called, he was in surgery, he was alive.” She pauses to take a deep breath to tell me the rest, clearly difficult for her. “But Daniel said we needed to get here, and fast, because…”

“Because he’s going to die?” I cry, loudly, searching her sad eyes.

She swallows and tilts her head slightly. “He’s badly injured, but the doctors are working hard, to try to make him better.”