Only Oscar (Wattys 2022 Shortlist!)

Chapter Seventeen

He'd almost told her how he felt. 

 It was difficult not to when she took everything in her stride, eased all his fears and said she thought he was amazing. But if she wasn't certain how she felt, she was right to stop him.

With the biggest obstacle out of the way, the need to speed things up was hard for him to deny. He wanted their future to start now and if she didn't rein him in, would have the rest of their lives mapped out before she could catch her breath. 

Knowing how free-spirited she was, it would be a bad move. She needed time to get to the same place as him. But in the meantime, thankfully, there was nothing to stop them doing what he'd burned to do since they kissed in the rain. 

The thought of her taking him in hand... and mouth...

It took considerable effort to hold it together until they left their parents. He was hanging by the thinnest of threads as they walked back to the car. Inside it, they crashed together and spent endless heated minutes engaged in foreplay that left their clothes in disarray and their breathing labored. So, when his phone rang, he ignored it. 

Three calls later, he was ready to kill whoever was on the other end.

"You gonna get that?" she mumbled against his lips.

"I'm busy," he muttered. "They'll get the hint."

"They don't seem to be getting it," she pointed out when it started ringing again.

"For fuck's sake." Oscar raised his head, fumbled to find his phone in the center console and glared at the name on the screen before answering. "What, Jazz?"

It better be a DEFCON one, our-apartment's-on-fire, level of emergency.

"You've been outted."

Oscar frowned. "Outted how?"

"It's all over Twitter. Hash tag gopher guy."

The impact of what he was saying hit home, pushing Oscar back in his seat as Callie refastened the buttons on her dress. "How'd they get my name?"

"Don't know, haven't got to the source yet," Jasper replied. "Disgruntled head-hunter, someone we dealt with along the way flapping their jaw, doesn't really matter, does it? It's out there now."

"Can we put a lid on it?"

"Too late. You're already trending worldwide."

"Shit. Why didn't you call me?"

"He kinda did," Callie commented from the passenger seat.

She had a point. 

"Is that Callie?" Jasper inquired.

"Yeah, she knows."

"How'd she take it?"

"Great." He didn't stop for long enough to consider how his friend might feel about that. "This moves the schedule up. We gotta take advantage of the publicity."

"Figured you'd say that."

"We're leaving Jersey now."

A quick, regretful glance at Callie as he attempted to button his jeans over a mammoth erection revealed she was watching what he was doing with a glow of pride in her eyes. She'd put him in that condition and she knew it and he vowed she'd pay for it later. 

"Call Harry."

"He's already here."

"Get him to put gopher two up for pre-order."