by Holly Martin
‘OK, let’s see what we’ve got,’ Jamie said softly, and he moved round and picked up one of the tiny black bundles of fur. ‘This one’s a boy.’ The puppy snuffled and yawned in his hand and Jamie handed it to Tori to hold. She cradled it in her hands, feeling the warmth from the puppy seep into her. ‘These two are girls,’ he said, putting them down softly on the mattress as he moved on to the others.
Tori continued to hold and stroke the tiny bundle of fur, all her fears and worries about Aidan drifting away. She smiled at the power of the puppy.
‘OK, we have five boys and six girls,’ Jamie said, a note of concern in his voice.
‘God that’s a lot.’
‘Yes, it is. Normally dogs Beauty’s size have a litter of between six and eight. It’s not unheard of to have ten or twelve but it doesn’t happen very often.’ He looked at Beauty who still had barely moved since their arrival. ‘I don’t think they’re getting enough milk. I estimate they are three or four days old and I think they should be bigger than this. Some of them are really small. I think she might be malnourished. If she’s not been able to get out and get any food, relying solely on what Beast is bringing her, she’ll be hungry herself and, with eleven hungry mouths to feed, that lack of food means a lack of milk.’
‘Oh no, I feel awful. If I’d known she was in here, I would have put out more food.’
‘Well now you know, it will mean that we can get more food inside her over the next few days and she’ll probably get better. But I think she might need a hand with these puppies. She can’t feed them all. I don’t know enough about this though, I’m not sure if normal milk from the shops is good enough.’
A thought occurred to her.
‘You know who would know. Melody.’
At the mention of her friend’s name, Jamie blushed. ‘I’m not sure…’ he started awkwardly. It was almost painful to watch.
‘No, she would. Her mum used to breed Labrador puppies. Quite often there would be one or two puppies that weren’t taking the milk or would get pushed out the way of the stronger puppies and Melody and Isla would help their mum to hand-wean them. She would know exactly what to do. Let me give her a call.’
Jamie nodded as he watched Beauty eating the food that Tori had put down for her. ‘Well that’s a good sign, at least she’s strong enough to feed herself. Why don’t I go and get more chicken? I’ll give the vet a call as well, have them all checked over, if the dogs will let the vet anywhere near them. If you can talk to Melody, I can pick up supplies, depending on what she wants.’
‘If you’re going to the shop to get supplies, why don’t you give Melody a call yourself rather than me relaying what she says to you? Do you want her number?’ Tori said, cringing a little inside that she was interfering. But it was only a little and really it was for the good of the puppies.
‘I have her number,’ Jamie said. ‘I’ll, umm… give her a call. I’ll be back here shortly.’
He moved off towards the house, obviously thoroughly despondent at the thought of calling Melody, and Tori couldn’t help a little smile spreading on her lips. She put the puppy down next to Beauty and went off into the cottage to look for any other meat she could give Beauty and Beast until Jamie came back.
She had just finished making sure the dogs had fresh water and dishing up two big plates of all the ham and pork slices she’d bought for her sandwiches when there was a knock at the door.
She went to answer it, expecting to see Jamie, but Aidan was there instead.
‘Oh, hello.’ Warmth flooded through her as soon as she saw him.
He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek and then, when he went to pull back, he changed his mind and kissed her gently on the mouth and all those wonderful feelings for him bubbled to the surface. It had to be more than just sex for him, she had to believe that.
‘I believe you have an animal problem,’ he said.
‘Multiple animal problems actually.’
He frowned in confusion as she let him into the cottage.
‘We have puppies,’ Tori said, leading him out the back towards the shed.
‘Beast had puppies? With Beauty?’
‘It sure seems that way.’
She peered round the shed door and Aidan did the same and there was Beast, playing the doting father perfectly as he lay next to Beauty, admiring his children.
‘Oh wow,’ Aidan said, softly.
‘There’s eleven of them. Jamie thinks that Beauty might struggle to feed them, even if we keep her well-fed. He’s going to call the vet and Melody, who might be able to help us – she used to help breed puppies.’
Aidan moved slowly into the shed, letting Beast and Beauty sniff him before he crouched down to look at the puppies.
‘Wow, Beastie, look what you did,’ Aidan said, stroking Beast behind the ears. Tori placed the plates of meat down near their heads and Beauty and Beast gobbled them up.
‘Should we bring them into the cottage?’ Tori asked.
‘We can, if you’re happy with that?’
‘I’m happy with it. I’m spending every night with you anyway. We’re practically married already,’ Tori teased, and then wondered if she should talk to him about their relationship. Was it too soon to ask about their future?
‘Yes, apart from the wedding ring and the happy ending,’ Aidan said.
Tori didn’t know what to say to that. There was a tone to his voice that she just couldn’t pick up. Anger, disappointment? Or was it something else?
‘And you don’t want that, do you?’ Tori asked, quietly. ‘When we first met you said you didn’t want any kind of relationship.’
He turned to face her. ‘So did you. Or have you changed your mind?’
Oh god, she couldn’t tell him that she was thinking of marriage and happy ever afters with him already, it had only been a few days.
She swallowed. ‘Do you see it going that way?’
He focussed his attention on one of the puppies, picking it up gently in his large hands. ‘I have no idea where this is going. I think we probably want very different things.’
‘What is it that you want?’ Tori asked.
She watched him cradle the puppy in his arms and she suddenly wondered what he would look like cradling his own baby in his arms. A stab of longing flashed through her as she thought about a tiny dark-haired baby that was half hers and half his. She quickly pushed that thought away. What was wrong with her? She’d never been particularly broody before but that was because she had been so anti-relationships. Closing herself off to any relationship meant closing herself off to the possibility of having a family of her own too. But now, staring at this wonderful man, she suddenly wanted all of that: marriage, children, the happy ever after with him.
He looked over at her, staring at her as he tried to form the words in his mouth.
‘I want…’ He reached out to touch her face. ‘I want to carry on exactly as we are now, having lots of fun and lots of great sex, and not ruin this with talks of the future. Because if we talk about this now, one of us will end up getting hurt and then it will be over before it’s even begun.’
She swallowed down the huge sense of disappointment flooding through her.
‘So just keep things casual?’ she said, trying to keep the emotion out of her voice.
‘Yes,’ he said, almost urgently.
‘Meaningless?’ she asked.
He flinched. ‘Whatever this is between us, I’ve never thought it was meaningless. Is that what you think? Because if you do, I think we better end this right now.’
There was a noise at the door and Tori looked round to see Jamie arrive.
‘I’ve brought reinforcements,’ Jamie said, grinning hugely, clearly with no idea what he had just walked in on. A few seconds later, Melody arrived, a big smile on her face too.
Tori smiled slightly at the sight of the two of them together.
‘Ohh, look at the puppies,’ Melody said, moving slowly into the shed, stroking Be
auty and Beast and then picking up one of the puppies. Beauty still seemed too tired to care. ‘God, this one is so small.’
‘Can you help them?’ Tori said.
‘Yes, absolutely. We can hand-feed the three smallest ones and supplement the others with what Beauty is giving them until she is back on her feet. We’ve already been to the vets and they’ve given us special puppy milk and bottles and syringes just in case the bottle teats are too big. The vet’s going to come round later to check on them all. We’ve got some special puppy sheets too for when they need to go to the toilet, we have loads so enough to keep us going for a while. Jamie bought it all,’ Melody said, looking at Jamie adoringly.
‘We’re going to move them into the cottage, so we can keep an eye on them more easily,’ Tori said.
Aidan put his puppy down. ‘I have some tarpaulin in the back of the car. I’ll put that down in the lounge and cover it with some old sheets and blankets. We’ll have to build some kind of makeshift pen once the puppies get a bit older, or they’ll be getting everywhere, but they don’t seem very mobile at the moment.’
He left the shed, and for a moment Tori wondered whether she should go after him, but she wanted to talk to him alone, without any chance of Jamie or Melody overhearing. She turned back to Jamie and Melody and watched them for a moment as they held the puppies. Maybe a tiny bit more meddling wouldn’t go amiss.
‘Is there any chance you two could stay here tonight to help feed the puppies and keep an eye on Beauty? I have to help Aidan with the heartberries, I know he’s worried about the storms that will probably be here in the next day or so. He thinks there’s a possibility the heartberry field will flood early and we’d lose half the crop, so we’re trying to get as much as possible done at night. I probably won’t be back until nine or ten tomorrow morning and I can take over the day shift.’ Tori laid down the bait, hoping they would take it.
‘I can stay here,’ Melody said.
‘I can too, we can take it in turns to do different shifts,’ Jamie said.
‘You can sleep in my bed,’ Tori said, suppressing a smile when they both blushed. Clearly that was taking the meddling a step too far. ‘I mean, take it in turns to sleep in my bed.’
They both nodded, and Tori nearly cheered with joy that her plan had worked. Nothing might come of it, but it couldn’t hurt to force them to spend a night together, even if it was strictly platonic.
She just needed to sort out her own love life now.
21
Tori walked up the drive to Aidan’s farmhouse later that afternoon.
Between her, Aidan, Jamie and Melody, they had carefully relocated Beauty and the puppies to the lounge of Blossom Cottage. Beast had gone backwards and forwards to the shed making sure all the puppies had been brought into the house before settling down next to Beauty. But as soon as the dogs were comfortable, Aidan had left, citing that he had work to do. Tori knew that was true, but she still sensed that it had more to do with their conversation earlier in the shed.
Instead of meeting on the beach as planned, Isla and Elliot had come round and Elliot couldn’t have been happier, playing with and hugging all the puppies. She had spent a few hours with them, all the time thinking about Aidan and what she wanted to say to him. She still had no clue.
She knocked on his door and a few moments later he answered. His face softened as soon as he saw her, and he reached out for her briefly before he let his hand fall at his side.
‘I never said I thought what we had was meaningless, I was asking if you thought it was meaningless,’ Tori said, quickly.
He stared at her. ‘Oh.’
‘Look, I have no idea what is going to happen when I leave here, and I understand you don’t want to talk about it. But you have made me ridiculously happy these last few days, there is definitely nothing meaningless about this.’
He reached out and took her hand. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be,’ she said.
‘This is something special, and I know this will probably never end in marriage and two kids—’
‘Five,’ Tori interrupted.
‘Five kids?’
‘That’s what Agatha has predicted,’ Tori said, wanting to lighten the mood, though she knew she was just trying to cover over the tension rather than deal with it.
Aidan laughed. ‘OK, it probably won’t end in marriage and five kids, but no matter what happens, you need to know that this is… something,’ he said.
‘I know.’
She looked down at his hand in hers and sighed with relief. She looked up and noticed he had a red blobby stain on his chest.
‘You have jam on your shirt,’ Tori said and reached out to wipe it off but just ended up smearing it over his shirt.
He watched her intently as her hand moved across his chest. He was so hard and strong and suddenly all thoughts of removing the jam scattered from her brain. She smoothed her hand over his muscles and slowly down his belly towards the top of his jeans. She brought her other hand to join the first, caressing and stroking him through his shirt.
He cleared his throat. ‘What are you doing?’
‘I have no idea but I’m enjoying myself,’ Tori said.
As she continued to stroke him, tracing his muscles through his shirt, Aidan pulled her inside and closed the door.
‘What are you doing?’ Tori asked.
‘I’m going to enjoy myself too,’ Aidan said. Bending, he threw her over his shoulder.
She squealed as he carried her up the stairs to his bedroom. He threw her down on the bed.
She laughed as he bent over her and kissed her hard. ‘What are you doing? Do you think you can just throw me over your shoulder, carry me to your bedroom and make love to me?’
‘That’s exactly what I think.’ He placed a soft kiss on her neck, sending goosebumps right across her body.
‘I’m not sleeping with you,’ Tori said, undoing the buttons on his shirt. ‘Urgh, I don’t find you attractive at all. Your elbows are too lumpy and don’t even get me started on your knees.’ She ran her hands across his wonderful warm chest and wrestled the shirt from him completely. God, he was magnificent.
‘If we’re not sleeping together, why are you undressing me?’ Aidan said, kissing at the very base of her neck, seemingly not perturbed at all by her slur on his looks.
‘You have jam on your shirt, I’m just helping you out of it. Don’t want to get jam on your nice clean sheets.’
‘No, of course not,’ Aidan said, popping the button of her shorts and then pulling down the zip. ‘You have jam on your shorts too.’
‘I do? How careless of me,’ Tori said, lifting her bum so he could tug down her shorts. It seemed she had jam on her knickers as well as they were quickly removed along with the shorts. ‘I’m pretty sure I have jam on my bra as well.’
‘Let me check,’ Aidan said, tugging her t-shirt over her head and throwing it across the room as she undid his jeans and pushed them down his thighs. ‘Ah yes, you do.’ He quickly divested her of her bra, so she was naked underneath him. ‘And jam on your breasts.’
He bent his head and kissed her breast, licking across her nipple, sending sensations of pleasure shooting through her body. She cried out, grasping the back of his head as she arched against him. He moved his hand between her legs, stroking at the very top of her thighs. Her orgasm came so fast and hard, it left her breathless, and he kissed her, catching her gasps on his lips.
He pulled back and wrestled himself out of his jeans and tight black shorts.
‘Condoms,’ she breathed.
‘Top drawer.’
She quickly leaned over and yanked the drawer open, grabbing a handful and tossing them back on the bed.
‘Though I have to ask, if we’re not sleeping together, why we need condoms?’ Aidan said, picking one up.
‘Well, better to be safe, now we’re both naked. I wouldn’t want you accidentally falling inside me.’
Aidan chuckled. ‘That would
be very careless. And seven condoms?’
‘Just in case you’re feeling particularly clumsy. It might happen again and again.’
‘That would be terrible.’
‘God yes, awful.’
She watched him slide the condom on and her eyes widened as she realised how ready he was for this.
She quickly sat up, pushing him on his back and straddling him. A second later he was deep inside her.
He groaned, and moved his hands to her hips. ‘Careless.’
‘Oops,’ Tori said, resting her hands on his chest as she stared down at him. He felt so amazing. She started to move but he caught her hips and held her steady.
‘Just wait a moment, let me look at you,’ Aidan said. He moved his hands across her ribs, trailing his thumbs across her stomach. He slid his hands over her breasts, caressing her hair through his fingers. ‘Whatever happens between us, I want to remember you like this, sitting on top of me, looking like an absolute goddess. I want to remember the sunlight in your hair, every beautiful freckle on your skin, your cheeks flushed from the orgasm I gave you and the look in your eyes that says you never want to be any place but here. Whatever happens, I want to remember this moment forever.’
‘Oh,’ Tori said, quietly. Right then the humour and silliness faded away and there was just the two of them, caught in this moment. And it was true, there was nowhere else she wanted to be. In her heart, she knew she could never walk away from him.
He stroked his hands back down to her hips, gently urging her to move, but she was frozen there. She had fallen in love with this wonderful, kind and funny man. And what the hell was she going to do about it? That thought was terrifying and wonderful all at once. She had to put the brakes on, lighten the mood somehow, while she digested this.
‘When we get married, when my snoring keeps you awake every night, when I wake up with morning breath and my hair sticking out in every direction like a bush, when my singing in the shower sets your teeth on edge and my tidiness and my ability to burn the simplest meal drives you mad, you can remember this moment.’