Neil looked surprised by my outburst, but not as though he disagreed with it. “It’s certainly something we could look into. If Sophie’s schedule permits.”
It would permit. I would make it permit.
He glanced between the two of us. “And perhaps, then, if it’s not too forward of me to suggest it…we might talk about a more permanent living arrangement?”
“I’d like that,” I answered, hopefully for both of us.
“This was a change that I don’t think any of us anticipated,” Neil said, and he actually blushed while he spoke. “But I’m glad it did.”
El-Mudad’s phone dinged, and he grimaced. “I must go. We will talk, again, soon.”
“Skype sex!” I suggested enthusiastically, and he laughed. Then, with a brief hug and hastily exchanged pecks on cheeks, he turned and headed off to his ride.
We waited on the top of the slope and watched from our safe distance, waving as the helicopter rose into the air. We shielded our eyes to follow its path as far as we could see, but the sun was too bright.
“Well…kind of boring, now, huh?” I said with a shrug.
“Don’t flatter me,” Neil said dryly, but I knew that he understood my meaning.
Back at the house, we shuffled listlessly inside.
“Snooker?” Neil asked, his heart audibly missing from the request.
I didn’t like snooker, anyway. I wasn’t any good at it, and Neil kicked my ass every time. I put up my usual argument. “I don’t see what’s wrong with good old-fashioned, trouble with a capital T, American pool.”
“Well, we do have a pool. Fancy some laps?” he suggested wanly. “Or we could go for a drive. I could pick up some crab and—”
I put my hands on his shoulders. “Neil. Stop putting off missing him. You already do.”
He pulled me into his arms and kissed me, long and slow, and a bit sad now that it was us on our own, again. When it ended, he kept his forehead pressed against mine. “You might be the only reason I can survive a long-distance relationship.”
I rubbed my nose against his. “We have a blissful eight hours before my mom gets home with all her souvenirs. Twenty-four before Olivia is back. If we’re going to go swimming, it’s going to be skinny dipping.”
“No pool sex, please,” Neil made me promise as we headed for the stairs that would take us down to the lower level.
“No sex at all,” I revised. “I am very sore.”
I shed my top as we headed down the stairs. At the bottom, I pushed down my pants.
Neil whistled low. “How are you even able to lie down?”
I tried to look over my shoulder at my back, but there was no chance of getting a glimpse of what he’d seen. “Is it bad? It hurts like hell.”
“Yes. Very bad.” He frowned and held me still with his hands on my waist. “I should have stepped in.”
“Stepped in, how? You weren’t standing there,” I reminded him. “Plus, it was so fast you probably wouldn’t have thought about it until it was over.”
“I feel as though I didn’t protect you.” He ran a hand over his hair.
“Seriously, don’t beat yourself up about it.” Probably not the best choice of words. “I don’t feel like either of you crossed a line or let me down. I don’t feel violated. We’ll just be more careful, next time, all right?”
“Yes, we certainly will.” Neil’s past experience haunted him, still, despite the enormous strides he’d made in the past years. His fear of becoming like the man who’d raped him was something he still couldn’t shake.
I hopped up on my toes to kiss his cheek. “Come on.”
Neil raced me to the patio doors, and we emerged from them fully naked, our clothes like a trail behind us. I delicately dipped my toes in on the first step, but Neil ran straight to the deep end and jumped. He pulled up his legs to do a cannonball that broke the surface with a tremendous splash.
Though not a drop could have possibly reached me, I recoiled when he came up and admonished, “You’re so childish.”
“And you’re a scaredy cat. It’s eighty-five degrees out here. Get into the damn pool,” he ordered.
I rolled my eyes and walked down the steps. After the initial sting from the saltwater against my wounded back faded, the pool was perfectly lovely without us having to turn on the heaters. I swam over to him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders.
“So,” I began, locking my legs around his waist beneath the water. “What do you think about all of this?”
I didn’t have to specify the “this”. He responded, “I’m a bit thrown. On the one hand, I’ve never been in love with two people at the same time on purpose.”
“But you’ve been in love with two people at the same time before?” I leaned back to float, still using him as my anchor.