“Move up here,” he ordered and my stomach did a flip-flop.

“W-what?” I sputtered, my cheeks heating at the command.

“On my face,” he went on and I swear I blushed from head to toe.

“Stu, I—”

“You heard me, luv. C-mere,” he said breathlessly. I could tell by his expression that even though he’d just come he was still worked up. Lucky me.

Before I could stop him Stu grabbed my hips and shifted my body until I was doing exactly what he’d asked. I yelped and gripped the headboard to steady my balance. Stu pressed his face to my sex, his mouth hot and wet as he tongued me. I cried out, sensitive after the pounding he’d just given me.

Glancing down I saw him watching me, absorbing my every reaction. I hissed when his teeth grazed my clit, and the way his lips curved in amusement told me it had been intentional.

“You’re a bastard,” I said past a moan.

He only smirked, still going to town on me with his mouth. Every part of me fizzled with pleasure, and when his tongue slid inside me I had to bite my lip to keep from screaming. He was way, way, way too good at this, especially considering he was so out of practice. His fingers dug into my hips, holding me in place. His tongue was on my clit again now, swirling in a circular motion as my stomach tightened and my thighs tensed.

I was close, so close.

“Fuck,” I swore. “Stu, I’m—”

He said something but it was muffled by the fact that his face was still pressed to my vagina. The vibration was what sent me over the edge, and I came so hard my body bucked. Stu’s groan echoed through me, and he continued licking until every last tremor subsided.

I dropped down onto the bed and snuggled into him, burying my face in his neck because I was embarrassed now. I couldn’t believe I’d just done that, that I’d let him to do that to me.

Stu flipped us so we were spooning, one hand cupping my breast, the other spread out over my stomach. I felt owned by him, every part of me possessed. The thought was sobering. He sucked my earlobe into his skilled mouth then whispered, “Go to sleep, luv.”

I wanted to. In fact, there was nothing I wanted more than to drift off into a contented slumber wrapped up in his arms. I didn’t realise how much I missed being in bed with a man, being held by him, until this very moment. But I couldn’t stay. I already felt too raw, too exposed with him after the day we’d had. I also had to go home because if I stayed out all night Alfie was going to wonder where I’d been. It was a pity I didn’t have any close female friends so I could pretend I was spending the night at their place.

Grown women could still have sleepovers, right?

I allowed myself a couple of minutes to enjoy lying next to him before I tried to make a move.

“No chance,” Stu grunted, his lips in my hair. “You’re staying.”

“I can’t,” I whispered and his arm tightened around me.

“Got plans to wake up and fuck you again. Don’t mess with my plans, Andrea.”

How did he manage to make that sound charming? It was a true talent.

“If I don’t go home Alfie will worry.”

“So shoot off a text and tell him not to wait up.”

I shook my head and twisted around to face him. “You don’t understand. Alfie can’t know about us, not yet. He doesn’t do well with change. I need to pick the right time.”

“You’re not his parent. You shouldn’t need to pussyfoot around him.”

“That’s not what I’m doing. Alfie’s just not like everybody else, and I’m one of the few people in the world he feels safe with.”

Stu wore a serious look. “What’s his deal anyway?”

I rubbed my shoulder and sat up. Stu followed suit, his warmth pressing into my back. When I didn’t say anything for a long moment he spoke quietly, “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me.”

“No, no, I want to, it’s just . . . Alfie’s always been an artistic soul, almost like he operates on a different plane than other people. That temperament was exacerbated as a result of his upbringing.”

“Did his old man knock him about or something?”

I shook my head. “No, nothing like that. To be honest, his dad wasn’t really present in his life much. Raymond was always working or out spending time with his revolving door of mistresses. His cheating turned Alfie’s mum into a paranoid wreck and my cousin had a terrible time of it living with her. After a while her paranoia transformed into coldness and Alfie spent a lot of his childhood without any warmth or parental love.

“She took a lot of her unhappiness out on him, always bossing him around, treating him like her own personal servant. For years I tried persuading him to move out, but he was too under her thumb. Then after Mark passed I finally managed to convince him to come and live with me. Nowadays he keeps very little contact with her, and it’s for the best. I know it might not seem like it, but he’s so much more balanced now that he doesn’t have to see her all the time. It’s not that she’s a particularly bad person, she’s just not good for my cousin.”

“I can understand that. Some people are like black holes; they suck out all your energy. And I get why you’re protective of him. He’s your family.”

A breath escaped me, and I was so relieved he understood Alfie’s and my relationship. “So you’re not mad I can’t stay?”

“No, Andrea, I’m not mad,” he whispered and bent to press a kiss on my lips.

“Thank you.”

We were quite for a few moments before I spoke. “Stu?”

“Yeah?” His hand stroked lazily back and forth across my stomach.

“What was it like growing up here?” Now that we’d been intimate, I felt like I wanted to know everything about him. It was like I had this unquenchable hunger inside me. I mean, the inside of his house was clean and modern, but I had to wonder if it had always been that way. Most of the street looked fairly rundown.

He pondered his answer a while. “Sometimes it was brutal, especially after our Mum died. We were all still kids at the time, and our old man hadn’t been on the scene for a long while, so we were more or less on our own.”

I gasped. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t known his mother was dead, but he never spoke about his parents and I’d never asked. “But didn’t social services step in? A bunch of kids with no parents can’t just be left alone like that.”