Just to Have You (Blackwood & Friends #3)

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Ben: "I have been charged by a bull, bitten by a goose, attacked by your chicken, and your goat headbutted my nether regions just by being in your presence today to atone for my, as you call it, bull-headed arrogance. Have I not yet earned your forgiveness?"

Griff: "Oh, very well, then."

(B & G conversation on forgiveness 3 years prior)

"Amy!" Oliver yelled, partly amused and partly determined to catch up to her and kiss her senseless. He stepped into a trot, closing the small distance she had on him, though why she had chosen to walk on the other side of the hedge instead of the lane they had been on befuddled him. "Hold on just a damn moment!"

She did no such thing. "The hour is late and I am quite cold," she told him pointedly, turning to look at him over the hedge. "Everything is quite eloquently laid out in the document you hold in your possession." Then her eyebrow quirked and a look of mischievousness overcame her face, his heart beating faster at how marvellous he found that expression. "Should you disagree to any of the terms, we can renegotiate on the morrow. Or when you have had time to review it."

"I wish to review presently," Oliver told her unhesitatingly. "I wish to negotiate it now."

"Can you read it presently, Ben?" she teased.

"You wrote the thing! Why don't you tell me?" He gave her a speaking look as she continued to traipse determinedly along on the other side of the hedge and he felt bereft at being unable to get closer to her with the obstruction between them. He silently lamented the lateness and darkness of the hour which inhibited him from perusing the document. If it were lighter he would have torn it open and began reading it right then and there. "And why are you walking in the pasture? You must surely be ruining your slippers."

There was a mysterious smile on her face now but she continued on. "There are a few points to consider carefully, Ben. But the gist of it is that we may court for thirty days and if at the end of those thirty days, you still... uh... desire me, then we may-" She glanced shyly to the side and even in the shadows he saw a blush form against her skin.

"Thirty days?" he repeated dumbly. "Thirty days?" He could damn well marry her in thirty days but he kept the thought to himself for now as he tried to understand the premise behind her conditions.

She shrugged the shawl she had draped over her shoulders closer. "I thought the duration a fair one," Amy explained lightly. "We have only ever known each other as friends. I believe the time will allows to reflect on the new roles of our relationship and establish if we will fit as... lovers."

"Amy," Oliver said slowly, "in order for us to ascertain if we will fit as lovers, we need to become lovers. Also, thirty days?"

She was blushing even more then and he could have vaulted over the hedge just to try and prove to her how thirty days would likely drive the both of them insane. He had been mad for his need of her, especially after what had transpired in the carriage. It had been a fantasy come to life, witnessing her soft thighs spread before him, so close he could have reached out and stroked her silken skin himself, while her hand worked herself furiously, her head tilted back and her neck straining with her beautiful release.

Thirty fucking days. She must be mad.

"It is hardly that long," she said wryly. "Besides, it will give you time to cry off if you believe we are unsuitable and because we would not have, uh... consummated our relationship, it would not be overly awkward between us."

"Griff, we have consummated our relationship," he pointed out fairly. "And if I think back and reflect really well, I remember how exquisitely tight you fit around my cock."