A/N: Penultimate chapter and I was going to sub-title it "Debbie's Ear" (she'll know)! Hope that you enjoy this …
"You okay?"
"Yeah, never better Boss"
"Don't …." The word was snapped out in an instinctive reaction before he'd had time to think about it as he stretched and arched his back, then propped himself on one elbow to look down at her head on the pillow next to his "I'm not your boss anymore, Molly, I haven't been your boss for a long time"
"I know …. Sorry ….. were just … stupid, I didn't mean …. sorry"
"No, I know …. But … "
Charles shrugged, not wanting to spell it out for her that he hated the underlying suggestion that was in those words that they weren't equals. Molly stretched her legs and rubbed her hand over her stiff neck and tried to ease the crick that had come from sleeping next to him at an awkward angle, before she arching her back and stretching like a cat, putting the back of one hand on his face and gently stroking down the dark stubble in a silent apology. She loved the way he closed his brown eyes briefly when she touched him, eyes that could melt her ….. soul with one look but that were a tiny bit worried looking right then as well as red-rimmed and tired, just like hers probably were, gritty and sore from lack of sleep. It had been incredibly late when they'd finally got to bed after being out till gone midnight and then having what was without doubt the best sex of her life, even better than all the other times that they'd had sex, and that was saying something, so that she was absolutely knackered and would most likely have still been fast asleep if it hadn't been for the pressing need she had to get up and go for a pee.
"I need a pee"
"Go on then" He put out his hand and wiped his thumb under her eye trying to wipe away the black smears of mascara that she hadn't got around to taking off before she'd hit her pit in the early hours. She made her usual silent resolution that one of these bloody days she really was going to get her act together and start cleaning off all her make-up before she went to bed, without fail, and that maybe she'd even get around to buying one of them creams and using it on her gob. But she hadn't, not last night, so that now he smirked as he smoothed her hair from her face "God, you look just like Alice Cooper"
"What? Who's she?"
"It's not a she, it's not a woman, Alice Cooper is a he, he's an American rock ba …. Bloody hell, how old do I feel right now?" He ran his hand through his hair as he looked at the way she was shaking her head, bewilderment written all over her face "He's a rock and roll singer, has all this black ….. shit round his eyes" He demonstrated what he meant by waving a finger in a circle in the air near his own eyes "and his hair all over the place" He laughed "He always looks wrecked"
"You sayin' I look wrecked?"
"Well, you do a bit, but I love it when you look like that, it's very sexy" He was still smirking "Go on, I'll keep the bed warm … or make tea if you want some"
"I'd love some, didn't get it last night did I?" She looked at him from under her eyelashes before giggling at the expression that appeared on his face when he registered her double entendre, which she hadn't noticed herself until the words had left her gob "I'm trying to get up the guts to get out from under 'ere" She lifted up the top edge of the duvet and pulled it closer to her chin "Think it might be bloody freezin'"
She'd been still waiting for him to come out of the bathroom the night before when she'd fallen asleep. He'd been in there for what felt like forever, not that she was timing him or anything, but just how long did it take for someone to wash their hands and face or even to wash their bits and brush their bloody teeth? It hadn't taken her more than a couple of minutes to sort herself out so that she'd been just about to shout through the door at him to please hurry up, but then hadn't, just in time it had occurred to her that he might be on the bog or something. But the bed was warm and comfortable and she was tired and sleepy so the last thing she remembered clearly was an attack of the yawns which had made her eyes water and then having to fight to keep them open and then the mattress dipping down when he got in next to her, his arm sliding across her as he tucked her body against his and then nothing, not until her bladder had started screaming at her to get up.
Shit. Never mind what he'd said about her looking like some singer, some rocker, she looked like someone's idea of a fucking nightmare, standing there in the bathroom, stark naked and shivering, nipples sticking out like pebbles in the cold and totally wrecked with her hair a tangled mess, just like a bloody birds nest, with black smears and smudges of mascara all round her red-rimmed eyes. Far from looking sexy like he'd said, she just looked bloody awful.
"Molly …..?" He sounded concerned as he yelled. She'd been so long trying to get rid of the 'Alice Cooper' look by scrubbing at the skin under her eyes with a clump of wet bog roll that he was obviously wondering what the fuck she was doing in there "You okay in there? Tea up"
"Comin'"
She almost ran across the room from the bathroom and dived back into the sanctuary of the warm bed, then pulled the duvet up around her ears. Not only because she was right and it was bloody freezing, but unlike him she didn't have the confidence you need to parade around showing off your bum in broad daylight, so that she wanted to get into the haven of the bed and bury herself under the duvet before he turned back to watch her. It was alright for him, he had a gorgeous body, all that going to the gym and running and that, although in her opinion he could maybe do with putting on a little bit of weight here and there, but that might just be something that would make her feel better. It didn't matter what he said or how long they'd been together, she was still a bit conscious of cellulite and maybe having …. flabby ….. bits whereas he had this massive confidence in the way he looked. He could walk around without a stitch on and not feel any need to be shy aboutanything.
"What time your mum and dad back?"
"Later on this afternoon I think, why?"
"Just checkin'"
"Worried they might catch us at it in the kitchen?"
"Nah ….. that is NOT gonna happen, not in the kitchen, 'n not anywhere where they might catch us and anyway we'll be long gone by the time they get 'ere won't we?"
"What, you don't want to stay and say hello?"
"Nah"
She wanted to change the subject, had absolutely no wish to discuss it, but could hardly say that she couldn't think of anything worse than a nice little reunion with his mum and dad when he'd spent all that time with her lot over Christmas and hadn't complained once, not even when Bella had been a complete knob and walked in on them, something that still made her shudder when she thought about it, talk about embarrassing.
"They love you, you know, Mum and Dad"
"Still? What even after everything? Don't think so"
"Of course they do, especially Mum, you know she said she'll love you till her dying day and she meant it, even if you had decided not to give me a second chance and that you couldn't stand the sight of me anymore, she knows it's down to my own little medic that I'm still here"
"Yeah right" Molly chose not to react to the saving his life shit which always embarrassed the fuck out of her "And even if she does, bet your dad don't"
"Of course he does" He stopped and thought for a moment "Apart from Mum, Dad doesn't actually love anyone, well except for Sam, he loves him, but no-one else"
"Not even you?"
"Nope, especially not me, I'm a sad disappointment to him" He sniffed dubiously at his arm, obviously thinking it was time to change the subject "God, I stink, must go and get a shower"
Molly was about to contradict him, she was horrified at what he'd just said about his father and had been all set to order him to stay exactly where he was and tell her what he'd meant about being a disappointment, something that beggared belief as far as she was concerned, and that of course he didn't stink but for the first time in all the months, years in fact, that she'd known him, even when they'd been in the stinking hot hell-hole of the FOB, his normal citrus and soap smell didn't completely mask the faint smell of male sweatiness, something that she found incredibly sexy.
"I bet I'm worse"
"Rubbish you smell the same way you always do … you smell of you"
"You sayin' I always stink?"
"Of course not, God …." He raised his eyebrows and shook his head from side to side in a show of faint amusement and frustrated disbelief.
She wanted to say it was lovely of him to say it, even if it was complete shit. She wasn't stupid and knew just how sweaty she was, armpits and that, and that there was a distinct smell of sex surrounding her "I smell of you for starters"
-OG-
Despite the steam misting the glass of the shower she could see the glow of his body through it as he stood there happily oblivious to her presence in the bathroom watching him. He was singing and lathering away as the water poured over his head and then down over the planes and valleys of his muscles, over the faint dusting of dark hair on his chest and into the thicker tangle of hair under his abs before running off his body. Molly stood for ages just watching and then took a deep breath and tried her best to muster the sufficient courage necessary for her to do something she'd never done before. A sudden jolt of panic that he'd be finished and out before she'd done anything at all made her take another deep breath and open the door, stepping in behind him so that he turned to look back. He stopped singing and stood absolutely still, not moving a muscle so that even the foaming sponge in his hand hung stationery in mid-air while he stared, seemingly lost for words … and then smiled, his beautiful lop-sided smile.
"Thought I'd save your dad's hot water bill"
"Did you?"
"Nah"
"Thought not"
Neither of them said anything else as, with eyes half shut, he pulled her round to stand in front of him and tucked her under the jet of water making her close her eyes against the torrent as it flowed over her face and her hair and then poured down her back and over her bum and legs. Everything seemed to spiral as he put a finger under her chin and lifted her face up towards him bending his head to kiss her and used the tip of his tongue to tease her lips apart as the water poured over his head again before flowing down over both of them as his hands moved up to cup her face.
She could feel him rigid and hot and strong where he was pressed against her stomach as she automatically clenched her muscles and breathed in, doing her best to hold her breath in a vain attempt to look thinner, instinctively doing what she could to try and make the consequences of her recent chocolate and Baileys diet a little less obvious. His body was so toned and lean with such well-defined muscles that she knew just how squishy she must seem next to him.
"Stop it" He chuckled as he kissed her neck, not bothering to try and pretend that he didn't know what she was doing, and then ran both his hands down her back, his fingers lingering and stroking over where he knew her tattoo was and then cupped her bum and pulled her hard against him "You're beautiful just the way you are, perfect, I wouldn't change a single thing about you" He lifted her hand up with his and held it out in front of them comparing the size and the length of their fingers against each other before laughing softly and wrapping his fingers round hers, bending his head to brush a kiss over her knuckles.
The ability to switch off completely and make her brain stop running replays of the 'be careful, watch yourself, don't get hurt' mantra had proved impossible up till now. Despite all her best efforts it had still kept on popping up and running in her head. She'd come closest to getting shot of it the night before in the kitchen, but now, as their kisses found a rhythm it seemed as if all there was, just him, his mouth and his tongue, them, his body and hers and the water spilling over them, nothing else mattered. He turned her so that her back pressed against him and bent his knees slightly because she was too short for her bum to grind easily against his erection, the tiny groan that escaped him when she did reverberated in the silence that up till then was filled with only the sound of heavy breathing and water running. The world switched off for her when he circled the sponge on her stomach, soaping her body until he discarded it and moved his long fingers to hold her breasts, to cup them easily as he rubbed his thumbs slowly backwards and forwards over her nipples until she wanted to shout out, to beg him to just …. touch her … She didn't know if she'd said it aloud until he ran his hands down her sides and she obeyed the small movement he made with his head and hands without speaking that told her, asked her, to move her feet apart a tiny bit and make it easier for him to slide his hand in between her legs.
The first delicate touch of his circling fingertip had her gasping and making small whimpering noises, so that she reached behind and clasped him with a hand that seemed to her to be inadequately tiny as she circled him. Not that it seemed to matter to him, it didn't appear to be any sort of problem at all as he moved his fingers in time with hers and his breathing got more and more erratic and ragged, also in perfect time with hers as he continued to thrust. The moment that they came apart was almost simultaneous, both of them shaking and filling the bathroom with cries that echoed off the tiled walls and made it a bloody good job that there was no-one else in the house.
It took a few moments for her to stand up straight and stop leaning against him, to turn round and breathe out a deep sigh then lean her head against his chest instead as they let the shower wash away any lingering evidence of the last few minutes. He was cradling her head against him in the silence that was wrapped round them, his fingers buried deep in her hair and against her skull as he waited for her to say something; neither of them were completely sure what to say to get back to reality, both of them slightly worried about getting it wrong.
"Come on, let's get you out before you get cold"
"I'm not cold"
"Good, bloody glad to hear it" He took a large warm towel off the radiator and wrapped it round her before flipping her wet hair free of it and smoothing his hand over to tuck her curls behind her ears so that it streamed down her back and dripped onto the towel at the bottom. Tucking his own towel round his hips he ran his hand over his hair before tugging at the curls on the back of his neck and then raised his eyes to look at her "I love you, Molly"
"Yeah, I know"
"What? finally, she's decided to believe me, about bloody time"
-OG-
He grinned as he stood behind her with his arms round her waist over the top of his thick cabled sweater that looked more like a dress on her that she'd 'borrowed'.
"Tell me again, why am I going to do this?"
"Because you love me, you said so" Molly leaned back against him and looked up trying to see his face as he rested his chin on the top of her head "And I think it's against the law to 'ave egg and chips without ketchup, don't know what your mum's thinking"
"Even oven chips?" He bent away from her to avoid the hand that was about to swipe at him. He'd already been to the nearest shop once to buy the chips but she hadn't realized at the time that there was no ketchup either "Alright, I'm going, I'm going" He lifted the hair that was still damp and kissed the back of her neck "I don't know, other girls want flowers and chocolates but what does mine want? Tomato ketchup"
"I'll 'ave chocolate 'n all if you're offering"
His face was wreathed in a broad smile of happiness as he walked backwards towards the kitchen door with his hands extended out in front of him in enquiry "Anything else?"
"Nah, you're alright, but get a move on will you, the chips are nearly done"
"Molly ….." He stopped just inside the kitchen door and waited until she looked at him, her eyebrows raised as she waited for him to say whatever it was that he wanted her to know "I know I got it all wrong when I asked you to move in with me when I did, but just because you told me to fuck right off, it doesn't mean I'm not going to ask you again … and again, and in fact I'm going to keep on asking until I get the right bloody answer"