Chapter Thirty-Four
Olivia
Oh God, my skin is on fire! As I peeled the tee shirt off, I regretted every single second of being out in the sun today. I was so much redder, in a lot more pain, and now my head was aching under the strain of it all. I felt dizzy and sickly. I didn’t feel like I could do anything. Everything hurts now, so much. I hate it.
I collapsed face first onto my bed and whimpered pathetically. This was my own fault; I’d inflicted it upon myself. I shouldn’t have gone out, but I didn’t want to miss out on anything.
“Olivia, can we go out now?” Justine burst into my room and begged me. “I want to go for a wildlife walk.”
For her, I so desperately wanted to do it, I would have given anything to be in a position where I could go with her, but I was just too ill. “I’m so sorry, Justine,” I rasped back. “I don’t think I can. Maybe you can go with Dad.”
She pouted out her bottom lip, clearly not liking that plan. “But I want you to come. I like you, Olivia.”
“Oh, I like you too, sweetheart.” My heart bled, I felt like I had just become another person to let her down. “I think if I get an early night, I’ll be much better in the morning. We can go then if that’s okay?”
I could almost feel the pain radiating off of her, which only heightened the guilt. Her eyes swam, but in my mind, this was the perfect chance for her to spend some one on one time with Mark. They needed it.
“Why don’t you and your dad start by walking around the area and looking for wildlife? See what you can find, and we’ll do a much bigger search when I’m better. I promise you I’m trying my best.”
I reached out my hand to grab hers, but she wasn’t in the mood. She gave me a cold look, which reminded me of when I first came to work with her and she clearly hated my presence. If I had any energy at all, I would have moved to hug her, but I just couldn’t do it. I felt like I was burning brightly, badly flaming.
Mark peered in behind Justine and he gave me a sorrowful look. “Are you okay, Olivia?”
“Nuurgh,” I grumbled back, barely able to even look at him. “Not really. It really hurts so bad.”
“I want to go out,” Justine whined. “I want to do my report for school. I need to see some wildlife.”
“Oh, Justine, we can’t leave Olivia like this; she’s in agony. We need to take care of her.”
“I’m just going to sleep,” I insisted because I didn’t want Justine to hate me more. “You guys go.”
“Please, Dad, please?” Justine fluttered her eyelashes, wrapping Mark around her finger. “Just for a bit.”
I tried to give him a reassuring look, and soon he agreed. “Okay, just for a little bit. Not for long.”
I could tell that Justine wasn’t too happy about that, but she nodded and agreed. I half watched them out the corner of my eye as they left, and once they were gone, I peeled the material of the dress off my body. It was killing me; anything touching me ached. I slathered as much after sun on me as I could manage and I rolled over to finally get some sleep. They would be gone for a while now, which gave me time to get some rest.
My eyes fell closed, and it wasn’t long before the dizziness turned into blackness and peace came for me. It was heavenly; it was the first time that I hadn’t been in pain since I first got burned by the sun.
***
“Olivia?” All of a sudden, I jumped as I heard Mark’s booming voice. “You okay?”
I peeled my eyes open and turned over onto my back, but that hurt too much so I moved back onto my front. Realizing that I was still stark naked, I climbed under the softest cotton sheet that I could find before I answered. They would come in, I knew it, and I certainly didn’t think it would be a good idea for anyone to see me nude.
“Erm, yeah, I’m okay,” I answered in a gravelly voice. “Are you okay?”
Justine burst through the door, making me glad that I had covered up my body, and she bought me in a tiki cup, which was absolutely. “I got this for you to have your water in.”
I took it from her and sucked back the water as if I was in the middle of the desert. “How was your walk?” I gasped afterward. “Did you manage to get everything done? I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there.”
“It’s okay,” she answered glumly, not giving much away. “I’ll finish it tomorrow. I’m tired now anyway.”
“Yes, and that’s why it’s bedtime!” Mark yelled. “Come on, sweetheart.”
I said goodnight to Justine and winced as she kissed me. Then I listened intently as Mark put her to bed. I wondered why he hadn’t come in to speak to me, to check if I was okay. He seemed really concerned earlier, so it was strange. But I guess he had to focus on Justine first. I was okay anyway; I could survive this.
I reached out, trying to grab onto the after sun to slather some more liquid relief onto me, but I couldn’t quite reach it. Just as I was about to give up and head back to sleep, I heard the creak of the door opening. I wished that I could turn to see who it was but the sunburn and shock had me fixed in one place.
“Do you want some help with the soothing cream?” he asked me quietly. “I can give you a hand.”
I couldn’t answer that with words because it felt too intense, so I nodded instead. I kept my face pressed into the pillow while I heard his footsteps creeping across the room. The nearer he got to me, the more intense the anticipation coursing through my veins got. I almost bunched my entire body in thrilling terror.
Mark grabbed the bottle and he peeled the sheets off of my body. I tensed, probably pointlessly because he’d seen me naked before, but I felt all vulnerable and exposed in this position. I couldn’t even see him; it was all a little strange. But oddly sexy too, and I wasn’t quite sure why. God, this was all kinds of wrong…
His hands brushed up my back, making me gasp as the coolness of the cream as he touched me. It was nice though, a big relief. It heightened every single sense inside of me, making me all messy and raw.
Mark worked my body for a while, rubbing cream everywhere, all over my shoulders, my back, my legs. Every time he gets somewhere close to a sexy place, I found myself desperately wanting him. I was in pain, still very confused about my feelings, but I couldn’t help myself. My butt was lifting off the bed towards him automatically.
“You are naughty,” Mark giggled gruffly as he sensed what I was doing. “You know nothing can happen.”
With the safety of my eyes not upon him and my face in the pillow, I said something I didn’t think I would. “Why is that?” My heart raced hard against the bed. “Why can’t anything happen?”
“Because of your burnt skin,” he said as if it was obvious. “I just don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t.” I’d become so desperate for him that I didn’t care. “Just be careful.”
He was hesitant for a moment, but I soon heard him unzipping his trousers to free himself. I could have turned to look at him, to watch him, but I didn’t. I found not knowing different and interesting. It was deliciously sexy, and I liked the taboo nature of it all. I planted the palms of my hands down on either side of my face while I waited for him. I didn’t know where he was coming from, when he would connect with me, and that was exciting.
Finally, I felt him touch the bottom of my back lightly. I raised my hips off the bed, giving him the access that he needed. He nudged my legs further apart and pressed his tip against me. He teased my entrance, and I bit down on my bottom lip just to stop an elated scream from flying out of my mouth. He felt surprisingly good considering all the agony I was in. I needed more of that, so I rolled my hips backward, wanting him.
“How can I be careful if you’re driving me crazy?” Mark begged. “You’re too much, Olivia.”
I didn’t care; I wanted to be too much, I needed him everywhere, so I pushed back and threw my head back. My hair tickled against me, and it wasn’t the nicest sensation in the world, but I managed to forget about it rapidly as Nick slid all the way in. I fell forward, my hips crashing into the bed as he thrust. I focused only on the wonderful feeling in my core. The heat started in my womb and spread through to my belly, warming me up in a nice way.
“Oh, fuck,” I gasped into the pillow, biting down to stop myself from yelling. “Oh, Mark.”
I could feel him crashing against me, his hips slamming into me, and it made my head spin. I started to see stars as he made me feel even more incredible. The burning bliss spread through me and crashed through me, making my body shake and buck. It was an intense orgasm that started as a creep but soon exploded, consuming me entirely. I leaned into it, loving the sensations, finding an intense relief in it. I needed this.
Mark shuddered and gasped out as the pleasure came from him, filling me up completely, and once he did, he crashed on top of me. He fell into me, and he held me close to him, still hugging me from behind. I grabbed onto his arms, holding them there in place. I didn’t want him to let go of me just yet.
“Stay here,” I whispered in a begging tone. “Just for a little while; don’t let me go, please.”
He pressed his lips lightly to the back of my neck. “I don’t want to let you go, I promise you that much.”
It felt like he meant more than just tonight; it felt like he didn’t want to let me go ever. It was complicated, we both knew that, but if we both had strong feelings for one another then we could make it work, couldn’t we? I wasn’t sure, but I liked to believe it. It was nice to think that this could actually be real anyway.
The exhaustion got the better of me rapidly, and I felt my eyes sliding closed once more. I wanted to stay awake longer to talk to him about some stuff, but I was drained, emotionally and physically. I couldn’t help it. As long as Mark stayed with me until I fell asleep, everything would be okay.
Mark brushed his fingers over my skin as I drifted off, he touched me in a sweet and delicate way which meant I drifted off into a really pleasant, peaceful sleep where my dreams were amazing. All about me and Mark and the potentially wonderful future that we could have together. With Justine too: she was a big part of that picture. I wanted her to be in it all. All of us together, like a little crazy family that revolved around amazing feelings of love.