The Honeymoon Period (The Austin Series) (20 page)

‘Dad, are
you going to monopolise my girlfriend all night?’

‘See Mia, you’ve
got my son smitten. He can’t even manage five minutes without you.’

‘
Dad
.’

‘You think
this is bad Mr. A, you should see them reunite after a morning or afternoon
apart, you’d think they’d been parted for weeks. God, when he had to spend the
night away with me he was pining all night and they literally couldn’t keep
their hands off each other when he got back.’

‘Doug,
really?’ Gabe glared.

‘Try
staying under the same bloody roof as them Doug, it’s a nightmare.’

‘Lexi, I
don’t think this is appropriate dinner conversation,’ I said blushing again. ‘Especially
not in present company.’

‘I’m not
that old, Mia. I still remember what it was like to be a teenager in love, you
know,’ smiled Robert. I looked at Gabe and shook my head in despair and he moved
his chair up next to mine and put his arm around me and kissed my temple.

‘Ok guys, I
think you’ve embarrassed us enough for one night. Let’s talk about someone
else’s sex life, shall we? Preferably not Dads.’

‘Touché,
Gabriel,’ laughed Robert.

Three hours
later we’d eaten sorbet, main course, another sorbet and a pudding, drunk at
least a bottle of wine each, had pudding wine and liquor coffees with petit
fours and we were back in the Limo and outside my apartment.

‘Guys, don’t
forget the cleaners are in at ten,’ reminded Gabe as Doug and Lexi said their
goodbyes. Gabe tightened his arm around me and I rested my head on his shoulder
as he and Robert discussed our plans for the apartment and I felt my eyes
closing.

I woke with
a start to darkness and felt something heavy on me and sat up quickly in a panic.
I was on a bed with a thick fur throw over me. As my eyes adjusted, I realised
I was in Gabe’s room and reached over and turned on my bedside light. It was one
a.m. and I was still in my dress but without my shoes. I looked over to Gabe’s
side of the bed and found it empty. He wasn’t in the bathroom either so I walked
downstairs and looked in his lounge which was in darkness. I couldn’t hear voices
in Robert’s lounge either so I padded barefoot on the cold tiles to the kitchen
door and went in and saw Robert sitting at the island with a bottle of JD and
two partially filled glasses.

‘Mia, we didn’t
wake you did we?’

‘No, I just
woke up and wondered where Gabe was. I’m so sorry for falling asleep.’

‘Don’t be, you’ve
had a stressful few weeks, you obviously needed it.’

‘How did I
get upstairs? Gabe’s not supposed to be lifting anything.’

‘Don’t
worry, I carried you for him. He was insistent that we let you sleep,’ he
smiled. I blushed again, his dad carrying me when I was wearing no underwear?

‘Thank you.
Is Gabe, ok?’

‘Yes we’re
just having a catch up over a whiskey, he popped to the toilet. Join us?’

‘Thanks,
but I’ll go back to bed, I was just worried about him. I’ll leave you to enjoy
it, he misses you. Thanks for a really lovely evening, it was incredibly kind
of you.’ I walked over and kissed him on the cheek.

‘It was my
pleasure, you’ve all done so much for him it’s the least I could do. See you in
the morning, Mia.’

‘Night,
Robert.’ I left the kitchen and looked at the door to the utility, but decided
to leave him to enjoy his night with his dad and I headed up to the bathroom. I
cleaned off my makeup, brushed my teeth and pulled my dress off before having a
quick shower to rinse the evidence our earlier encounter in the restaurant
toilet. Yawning, I headed back to bed and fell asleep again in minutes.

I woke up
to hear banging and cursing and put on the light, squinting to see Gabe at the
foot of the bed grinning and swaying.

‘
Helloooo
,
baby. I’ve missed you. Have I told you that you’re beautiful?’

‘Yes, you
tell me all the time Gabe,’ I rubbed my eyes and saw it almost three a.m.

‘Have you
told you that those lips on your face are the most
fuckable
lips I’ve
ever seen? Your other lips are very fuckable too, delcisous … delcisously
fuckable.’

‘Gabe
Austin, are you
drunk
?’ I exclaimed.

‘Noooo.’ He
shook his head as he swayed on the spot.

‘Yes you are,’
I giggled. ‘You can hardly stand up.’

‘You’re
so
sexy, do you know that?’

‘You’ve
told me on a few occasions yes. Come on, get undressed and get into bed.’

‘Bed with
you?’ he asked as his smile reached his lustful eyes.

‘Yes, with
me,’ I smiled.

‘Boy it’s
my lucky night,’ he chuckled as he tried to pull of his tie.

‘It’s your
lucky night every night, Gabe.’

‘Nooo,’ he replied
shaking his head. ‘It’s
my
lucky night.’

‘That’s
what I said.’

‘
My …
lucky … night,’ he slurred. I giggled again, I’d never seen him properly
hammered before. I watched as he carried on trying to undo his tie, nearly falling
over the foot of the bed as he tried to concentrate. I shook my head and pulled
back the duvet and went to help him, worried he’d fall and hurt his shoulder. ‘You’re
naked,
naked
in my bed,’ he exclaimed wide eyed.

‘Yes, I
always sleep naked in your bed Gabe, come here let me get you undressed.’ I
reached up and undid his tie as he swayed unsteady on his feet staring at me. I
smiled as he studied me while I started to undo his waistcoat buttons.

‘I love you,
baby,’ he mumbled.

‘I love you
too, Gabe, try and stand still for me.’

‘Your tits
are very big and perky.’

‘Thank you,
now give me your hand so I can undo these cufflinks.’ He held up one hand for
me and put the other one on my breast and gently squeezed it.

‘It’s so
soft and lovely, I
lurrrrrve
your tits.’

‘I know you
do, Gabe. Right, let it go and give it to me please.’

‘You want
me to give you your tit?’ he asked looking shocked and very serious.

‘No,’ I
laughed. ‘My “tit” is very firmly attached to me. Give me your
hand
.’ I
pulled it off me while he protested and tried to kiss me. ‘Wow, you
stink
of whiskey.’ I managed to dodge his lips as I undid the other cufflink and shrugged
his shirt off his shoulders.

‘I drank
whiskey,’ he nodded.

‘I know you
did, try and stand still so I can undo your trousers.’

‘Are you
trying to sudjuice … sudooch me baby?’ he grinned as I undid his button and
unzipped him.

‘No, I’m
not trying to
seduce
you, just trying to get you undressed so I can get
you into bed.’ I grabbed his hand and walked him around to his side of the bed and
pulled his trousers and boxers down, stunned to see that he had a solid erection
in his state.

‘Into bed
to sudooch me? You want my body. I want your body. Fuck, you’ve a great body. Did
I ever tell you what a great body you have?’

‘Gabe, you’re
a very horny drunk, stop fondling me please.’

‘No. Want
to touch you. You’re
mine
.’

‘I am yours
yes, but no touching.’ I grabbed his hands as he tried to grope me again and he
pulled a sulky face making me giggle.

‘You’ve a
hot body and I want to touch it,’ he pouted.

‘You touch
it all the time Gabe, right now I need to pull back the duvet and you’re going
to get in and go to sleep. Grope me again and I’ll get out that paddle and
whoop your arse.’

‘Ooooo,
watch out, my dirty girl’s back,’ he chuckled. I let go of him and bent over to
pull back the duvet and felt his hand slide down my bottom and between my legs.
‘Gabe, stop it,’ I protested as I stood up and whacked his hand away.

‘I want to make
lurrrrrrrrve to you,’ he sang as he grabbed me by the waist and pulled me
tightly to him. I had to stifle a laugh when he continued and tried singing Boyz
II Men “I’ll make love to you” and I realised singing was on the very short
list of things that he really
wasn’t
good at.

‘Gabe, you’re
so
drunk, I’m not doing anything with you. Now, get into bed before you
start acting out the dance moves to that song and I get really cross with you.’

‘It’s ok,
you know,’ he sighed heavily as he dropped his hands from me and his shoulders
slumped.

‘What’s ok?’
I asked as I looked up into his glazed eyes, even drunk he was so beautiful it
hurt my chest.

‘That you
don’t love me,’ he whispered shaking his head. ‘Not like I love you.’

‘What do
you mean?’ I looked at him shocked.

‘It’s ok
baby, I still love you anyway. I’ll always love you … my forever girl … but we
could be so happy.’ He lifted a hand and tried to trail his fingers down my
cheek, but ended up palming my nose as he looked at me sadly.

‘Gabe, we
are
happy, aren’t we?’ I frowned as I removed his wandering hand from my face. ‘I
love you, why do you think I don’t love you?’

‘You don’t
want to marry me or have my babies. We’d have such beautiful babies, you’d be
the best mother and I’d love them so much, just as much as I love you because
they’d be ours, Mia.
Ours,
our beautiful babies,’ he sighed. I stared at
him in shock as a ball of hurt started rolling and gathering momentum inside
me. He really thought that I didn’t love him because I’d told him I didn’t want
these things?

‘Gabe I …’ He
pushed his hand onto my face again, trying to cover my lips and gave me a sad
smile.

‘
Sssshhhh,’
He cut in with an over exaggerated whisper and a wavering finger to his own
lips. ‘We’re not supposed to talk about it, you never want to talk about it so
we
never
had this conversation. I’ll be fine,’ he nodded. ‘I want more,
you don’t ... but I’m going to be fine because you’re my girl, my forever girl.
You are my girl, aren’t you? Even though you don’t want me properly?’

‘Yes I’m
your girl, Gabe,’ I whispered choking back the tears. He tried to kiss me and I
put my fingers over his mouth and realised he’d got tears on his own cheeks. ‘Gabe,
please get into bed. Get into bed for me.’

‘With you?’

‘Yes, in a
minute, I’m going to hang your clothes up and go and get you a glass of water
and then I’ll be back, ok?’

‘Promise me.’

‘I promise,
so get in for me and lie down, please,’ I begged. He suddenly sat on the edge
of the bed and rested his forehead on my stomach, his arms wrapped tightly around
my thighs and I took in a pained breath when I saw his shoulders moving and
felt his tears on my bare skin.

‘Don’t
leave me Mia. You were going to leave me, I couldn’t bear it if you did. I
love
you, don’t go.’ I could hear the desperate plea in his voice.

‘I’m not
leaving you Gabe, I’m right here,’ I stroked his hair and unclasped his hands
from behind me, lifted his feet and pushed him down onto his back and he
covered his face with his hands.

‘Don’t look
at me, I don’t want you to see me like this. I’m the man, I’m supposed to take
care of you,’ he moaned. I pulled the duvet around him and pulled his hands away
from his face. Where the hell was this all suddenly coming from? He hadn’t even
cried once with all the trauma he’d just been through.

‘You do
take care of me Gabe, you take very good care of me. Please stop crying, you’re
upsetting me.’ I sat on the edge of the bed and cupped his face in my hands and
kissed each of his temples and his soft wet lips, salty from his tears. He made
a little moan which made my heart ache for him. ‘
Sssshhhh,
Gabe, I’m
right here. Sleep for me baby.’ I held one of his hands in mine and put my
other on his hair and stroked his forehead with my thumb and he sighed and
tried to focus on me, but his eyelids kept trying to close. ‘Don’t fight it, go
to sleep. I
do
love you, with all my heart,’ I whispered.

I waited
until his eyes were shut, his lips parted and he started breathing deeply, with
the odd catch in his breath as his tears dried and his hand went limp in mine.
I sat watching him for a while, he seemed so sad and I hated that I was doing
that to him. I realised I’d tears on my face too and quickly wiped them, but a
few more came. I carefully let go of his hand and crept to the bathroom and sat
on the toilet and started sobbing, but quickly forced myself to stop, I hadn’t
cried properly for so long I knew if I really let go like I wanted to, I’d
never stop. I made up my mind there and then, I was going to have therapy and
face my fears and I wasn’t doing it because of some demand by a scarily
domineering and protective Robert Austin, I was going to do it because I loved
his son. I loved Gabe more than life itself and I wanted to make him happy, he
deserved to be happy and if that meant that marriage and a family somewhere
down the line, I’d do it, I’d do it for
him,
because he was so worth the
effort
.