24. Archer

Chapter 24

Archer

I can't stop staring at Jacob. This is the exact opposite of standing at the island's highest point, where I felt like a small, insignificant cog in a huge machine. Jacob's words make me feel important, wanted, and needed. Both humbling moments. Both stealing-my-breath-away moments. Yet they couldn't be more different.

"Archer?" Jacob knits his brows.

I shake myself. "I'm okay." My voice is choked up and strangled.

He strokes my face. "Sure?"

"Yeah. Just—you're the best."

He smiles. "So are you."

"I want to face you while we make love."

I turn onto my back, pick up the condom, carefully tear the wrapper, and roll the rubber onto my cock. I'm glad Jacob talked sense into me but also sad he did. It would have been amazing to be truly close to him, with nothing between us. I slick my cock with plenty of lube and beckon him to me.

He widens his eyes. "You want me to straddle you?"

"You'd have more control that way. But if you don't want to?—"

"I'm good with that." He rolls over, pecks my lips, and plants his knees on either side of my hips, straddling me.

I hold my cock steady while he gets himself in the right position and slowly slides onto it, breathing out. I stroke his arm. Have I prepared him enough? He said he was ready. I trust him.

His arse squeezes around my cock. "Oh, fuck, Jacob, you feel amazing."

He puffs out a breath and smiles. "So do you." He leans forward and kisses me long and deep. He rests his forearms on either side of my face, runs his fingers through my hair, and stares into my eyes. "I love you, Archer."

Emotion flutters in my chest and lodges in my throat. I blink repeatedly, but tears still cloud my vision. "I love you too."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Just a little overwhelmed and so very in love."

Since I first declared those words last night, they've burrowed into my heart. A small seed at first, but over the hours, that seed has taken root, grown, and is blossoming into something wonderful. If this is what being in love feels like, I never want it to end.

He arches a brow. "That's all?"

"Yeah." I hold his hips and brush my fingers over his skin. "I've never felt this way about anyone."

"Nor have I." He kisses me again, deeper and longer than the last. He massages my lips as he makes love to me.

I groan into his mouth and tangle my tongue with his. Despite the urge to thrust up into him, I keep still. I want him to have total control. I want him to enjoy me being inside him. I want this to be the best experience he's ever had bottoming.

"Archer," he murmurs and kisses me again, more desperate and needy. He rocks his hips harder and faster, taking me deeper. "I fucking love you."

"You love me, or you love fucking me?"

"Both. And being fucked by you." He slams his lips against mine and slips his tongue into my wanting mouth.

I hold him tight, helping him rise and fall on my cock.

"And making love to you." He seeks out my lips again, embracing me.

We're rolling until he's on his back, and I'm on top. He wraps his legs around my waist and applies pressure, pulling my cock deep inside him. I gasp, grunt, and groan as I thrust into him. He moves to the same rhythm. We kiss. Our lips only part for the briefest of moments. Our hands explore each other's bodies. We whisper words of love and desire.

"I love you. I need you." I slip my hand between our hot, sweaty bodies and grasp his hard cock.

His arse tightens around my length. He kisses me hard and comes, his body trembling beneath mine, and his cum splatters my hand and our stomachs. I'm seconds behind him. My orgasm rocks my body, leaving me breathless as the room spins around us. I rest my head on his shoulder and lie panting and spent.

He strokes my back and kisses my hair. "Thank you."

I brush my lips over his collarbone. "I should be thanking you."

He snort-laughs. "Let's just agree that was great."

"Mm, next-level sex."

Jacob chuckles. "We should shower."

"Now?"

"Yes, we stink. And while some of it is a sexy stench, the rest isn't."

I wrinkle my nose. "Good point, well made. But can't we stay here for a while longer?" I nuzzle against him.

"We can cuddle for the rest of the day once we're clean." He taps my shoulder. "Come on."

"You're a meanie."

"You'll thank me when I smell nicer."

I grumble but ease out of him and let him pull me off the bed to the en-suite. We spend longer than we need to in the shower, mostly because we hold and kiss each other under the cool stream of water. I erase most of Regan's telephone number. Enough that it's impossible to tell what the number is, at any rate. The rest will have to wait until the next time I shower.

Once we're done, we spread towels on the bed and lie on them in each other's arms. We kiss, doze, and cuddle. Each time I open my eyes, the shadows fall in a different place in the room, and the quality of light is different. It doesn't matter how happy I am here with Jacob; my stomach still churns. Why is it taking so long for Mum—or Barry—to call? Sure, we can stay here tonight, but what about after that? What if being with me has destroyed Jacob's relationship with his dad?

"You're tense. What's wrong?" Jacob kneads my shoulder.

"I'm sorry your dad reacted the way he did."

Jacob sighs. "I expected it. You're right."

"About—?"

"He is a bully. I've spent my whole life trying to live up to his expectations. Trying to earn his respect. Trying not to be a disappointment. Caving every time he wheeled out his classic phrase ‘It would mean a lot to me if…' He wanted me to be the perfect son. But no one's perfect. Perfection is too much to ask of anyone. And the crazy thing is, for so long, I thought he was perfect. But it was all an act. He's just as flawed as everyone else. Maybe even more so."

"Jacob." I squeeze him.

My heart hurts for him. Mum might have been a fairly hands-off parent, and she's a force of nature who likes to get her own way and has no boundaries, but she never tried to control me. She never makes me feel shit and worthless. No one should do that to anyone, least of all their child.

"It's okay," Jacob says.

"Is it?"

"Yes. I've let him dictate my life for far too long. I'm done with that now. I'm going to live my life for me. I'm going to do things that make me happy. I'm going to love the man who makes me happy." He hugs me tight. "It would be great if Dad could accept us, but if he can't, so be it. He can think what he likes, but I know the truth. I love you. Not one moment of our time together has been because I wanted to get back at him for cheating on Mum."

"I know."

"Do you?"

I push up onto my elbow and cup his jaw. "Yes." I flop down. "Can I make an observation about your dad? Another observation about your Dad."

"Go ahead."

"I don't get what our mums see in him."

Jacob laughs, rolls me onto my back, and kisses me. "You know what? Nor do I." He rests his forehead against mine. "Is it weird that I feel free?"

"Free?"

"Deciding I don't care what Dad thinks about me anymore has lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. It's like his expectations have shackled me all these years, and I'm finally free."

"And what do you want to do with your newfound freedom?"

"Love you." He kisses me with such tenderness my heart swells.

"You're going to make me all emotional again."

"In a good way?"

"The best."

Beep .

"Is that your phone?" Jacob tenses.

My heartbeat quickens. "I think so."

I peck his lips, pull away from him, and root through our scattered clothes to find my phone. Jacob scrambles upright with the covers pulled around his waist. I sit cross-legged beside him.

"It's a message from Mum."

We stare at my locked phone screen.

"We should read it," I say.

Jacob nods.

I squeeze his knee. "It'll be okay."

"Will it?"

"Whatever happens, we'll face it together."

"Yeah, you're right." He threads his fingers through mine.

I unlock my phone and open the text message, ensuring my screen is in a position where Jacob can see it too.

Mum: You can come back to the villa whenever you want. Love you.

I frown. Was Mum able to talk Barry around? The last thing he said was that we wouldn't be welcome to return if we left. Mum is good at bending people to her will, but is she that good?

"What does it mean?" Jacob asks.

"That we can go back."

He sucks in a breath. "That's not what Dad said."

"Mum must have convinced him otherwise."

"What if she didn't?"

I loop my arm around Jacob. "She wouldn't have told us it was okay to go back if it wasn't. We should go and see what they have to say."

"Now?"

I shrug. "Why not? At the very least, we need to change our clothes. You forced me out of bed and into the shower to get clean, but all we have to put on is crusty club clothes."

He chuckles, but there isn't much humour in the sound. "Good point."

"We've got this room until the morning. Worst case, we pick up some clothes and come straight back. But that won't happen. It's going to be okay."

"I'm not sure I have anything left to say to Dad. He instantly thought the worst of me. How can I forgive him?"

I lean my head on his shoulder. "Who says you have to?"

"He's my dad."

"He's a bully."

"But he's still my dad." Jacob sounds so lost my heart breaks.

"You have to do what's right for you." I'd like to tell Barry to go fuck himself, but he's not my dad, so it's easy for me to want him out of my life for good.

"How do I know what that is?"

I put my hand over his heart. "You'll know. You'll feel it here."

He rests his head on mine. "I hope so."

"You will. We don't have to go back to the villa right away. We'll go whenever you're ready."

He inhales and lets out the air slowly. "We should go now. Well, after getting dressed."

"That would help. I don't want to get arrested."

"That would put a dampener on the holiday."

"Just a tad."

We get dressed. Now that I'm clean, my club clothes feel stiff and scratchy. I can't wait to get out of them into something fresh. Once we've gathered our meagre belongings, we walk to the villa, proudly holding hands.