Just to Have You (Blackwood & Friends #3)

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Griff: "Is it... are you... supposed to use your tongue when you do it?"

Ben: "I think so. Do you like it?"

Griff: "I am not sure... perhaps we need to try again to be certain."

(B & G conversation on kissing 'That' day 9 years prior)

Amy caught herself blushing hearing Jason's words but as she stared up at Oliver he scarcely appeared to have heard them at all, so she allowed the comment to slide and pretended that she too hadn't heard them.

"Is this what one does at balls?" Amy asked him as he continued to lead her through the throng of people. She spied her mother, gloriously resplendent in a ball gown of satiny puce while her cheeks splotched with her eagerness to consume as much champagne as humanly possible in one night, talking with Lady Hollingsworth and another matronly looking woman of import. "Drink champagne, turn about the room, and jest with one's peers?"

Oliver snorted softly. "There will be dancing, which should commence shortly," he provided. "Otherwise, they can be rather dull if one doesn't liven things up a bit."

"Oh, indeed. I must say, you are doing a good job at ensuring my first ball is not underwhelming," Amy teased. She hardly found the affair boring at all. Firstly, she had never worn such finery that had been tailored to compliment her body so well that she had scarcely recognised herself in the looking glass earlier that evening. The ball itself was almost magical and she had been astounded by the array of light and glittering crystals of the chandelier, the wistfulness of the daisies and blooms swaying romantically from the ceiling- she had never seen anything the likes of which before. And Oliver simply oozed refined sophistication in his black evening attire, so infinitely sleek and handsome. Even his auburn locks had been tamed into some semblance of smoothness though still favouring that adorable left-sided cowlick.

And he was wearing his spectacles! It made her absurdly pleased that he had compelled himself to put aside that personal insecurity, overcome it and embraced an element of himself which was so decidedly... wholesome. Her body had suffused with warmth when she had seen him, especially because he looked more of the Oliver she knew and adored than ever before, and the events of the previous evening had faded in lieu of her appreciation for her friend.

Simply, however, she knew she would not be able to quickly forget what had transpired between them because whenever she did think about it, she filled with nervous energy and anticipation at the memory. It had taken most of the day for her tormented, over-analysing mind to worry over the matter and it had come to the startling realisation that she had liked what she had seen... even though she shouldn't.

"There are other endeavours one could partake in to ensure further amusement of a ball," Oliver told her and his voice was sly, smooth, catching her attention once more as she turned to regard him.

"And that is?" she asked curiously.

She watched as the corners of his eyes creased and a smile so wicked curl his lips she knew immediately what he was about before he need say it. "Private assignations, an illicit rendezvous." Oliver's teeth flashed at that, deep grooves lining his freshly shaven cheeks. "If you like, I could arrange-"

"With who?" she demanded pertly. "There is hardly anyone here who would be susceptible to my charms."

That roguishly wicked smile dropped and surprise, or alarm, pulled his brows down. "Are you implying you would find the notion acceptable? I was only jesting."

"Ben, be reasonable. Even if I was there is no gentleman here who would take interest in a veritable spinster." She laughed lightly at that and she could not even imagine herself in the improbable situation that would even suggest a private meeting with one of the men present tonight. Other than Lord Hollingsworth and Oliver's friends, she could identify no other person of her acquaintance, and the few gentlemen who were in attendance seemed quite unavailable and mostly... old.