Chapter Nine
Nora looked up at the slightly imposing house. Not a house, and not even slightly imposing, this was actually a lot more imposing, and the house was more like a mansion. This was Gabriel’s home. The one he grew up in with his grandfather.
He’d promised to bring her here after she showed him her childhood home.
It was hard for her to go back there.
Even harder to start taking away her parents’ possessions.
She didn’t know what she was going to do with the house. Her aunt and uncle’s stamp on the place was still there, but they were not going to take any more from her.
“This is where you grew up?”
Nora asked.
“Yeah. He didn’t even make me go to boarding school, even though my parents wanted me to go.”
It was so surreal to her. Where she had an amazing time with her parents and they were loving, supportive, and just there for her when she needed them most, Gabriel’s parents were the complete opposite.
“This is huge,”
Nora said.
Gabriel laughed and held his hand out for her to take.
She had talked to Trudy about the fact he wanted to take her to his grandfather’s place. Trudy had warned her that she needed to be prepared. Nothing could have prepared her for this.
“It’s home,”
he said. “My grandma wanted to fill every room with a child, but that was not to be.”
He sighed. “Then of course she’d hoped her only son would provide billions of grandchildren, and he only gave one.”
“Wow,”
Nora said.
“Yeah, come on.”
He led her up the six steps that got them closer to the front door. She expected him to get out an ancient-looking key, but instead the door opened to reveal a man who kind of reminded her of a butler.
“Lawson,”
Gabriel said.
The two men hugged.
Lawson appeared to be in his late sixties.
“It is good to have you back, Gabriel. I was starting to wonder if I should send in Esther to come and get you, to bring you back,”
Lawson said.
Gabriel laughed. “Life has been hectic, Old Man.”
“Don’t you call me Old Man. I could wipe the floor with you, and you know it.”
Nora couldn’t help but smile at the friendly display of affection she witnessed between Gabriel and Lawson. She was used to Gabriel’s frown and no-nonsense attitude, at least to everyone else he came in contact with.
Gabriel turned toward her. “There is actually someone I’d like you to meet,”
Gabriel said.
“You brought someone home?”
Lawson turned toward the door and suddenly yelled for Esther.
She looked a little panicked toward Gabriel, not exactly sure what was happening.
“Esther, come here. Gabriel has brought a woman home.”
His voice seemed to echo behind him, and Lawson looked toward her.
She smiled. “Hi,” she said.
Gabriel chuckled. “Lawson, I’d like you to meet Nora Pierce, and Nora, I’d like you to meet Lawson Williams.”
“Williams?”
Nora asked with a frown.
“I’m his grandfather’s best friend, and when I was a boy, they adopted me, and I took on their name.”
She frowned.
“Like Trudy, Lawson and Esther were the only people my grandfather trusted.”
Lawson tutted. “It is a bad day when you cannot trust your own family.”
He shook his head, and then an older woman she assumed was Esther came in. Lawson went to her, wrapping an arm around the woman’s waist.
“Gabriel brought home a woman.”
Esther was already looking at her. “You’re not like the women he usually dates.”
“Esther!”
Gabriel said.
“I’m not a model or an actress,”
Nora said. “I work for him.”
Lawson and Esther both turned to Gabriel. He shrugged.
“Well, it’s getting way too warm out here. Come on. I’ll go and get some lemonade,”
Esther said.
They stepped inside Gabriel’s home, and Nora felt so out of place. She felt her hands go clammy.
“It’s good to have you back,”
Lawson said. “I’m going to help Esther with the drinks. Lovely to meet you, Nora.”
She watched as Lawson left and she turned toward Gabriel. “They hate me.”
He laughed. “They don’t hate you. They’re … not happy with me.”
Nora frowned. “How is that possible?”
“I’ve never brought anyone home. You’re the first person I have, and you work for me.”
He shrugged.
“You never mentioned about your grandfather having an adoptive brother.”
She thought he only had Trudy looking out for him.
“Lawson was my grandfather’s best friend when they were boys. From what I know, he didn’t have a great time of it, and then my great-grandfather adopted him, and raised him as his son. My grandfather and Lawson were best friends, but Lawson refused to take any inheritance. I think my great-grandfather knew his son would take care of him. He and Esther are childhood sweethearts.”
“And they live here?”
He nodded. “Yeah, my grandfather wouldn’t have it any other way, and when my grandmother was alive, she was best friends with Esther. It worked for them. Of course, my dad tried to get them kicked out, which is why my grandfather handed over control of the estate to me.”
His parents really were a piece of work.
“In all honesty, Lawson should have gotten control of the business, but he waived all rights to it, which is why it ended up belonging to my father.”
“Wow,”
Nora said.
“He trusted his best friend, and he’s family to me,”
Gabriel said.
She liked that he did have people who were willing to look out for him. She reached out and took his hands.
“I like them.”
“Did you know they’re both in their eighties?”
Gabriel asked.
“What? I thought they were sixties, max,”
Nora said.
Gabriel shook his head.
“We’ve lived a good life,”
Lawson said. “And we have a healthy diet, and a lot of love.”
Esther chuckled. “We do not need to be telling them about our love life, Lawson. Now, let me talk with Gabriel, because I need to know how serious this is.”
Gabriel laughed. “Esther, come on. I’ve only just gotten back home.”
“And we are about to talk in private. We’ll be back.”
Nora felt panic rising inside her. Gabriel looked at her and winked. “I’ll be right back.”
She was about to be left alone with Lawson, and she had a horrible feeling neither of them liked her. Her hands were still clammy and she felt sick to her stomach.
“Don’t worry about anything. Esther is just going to question him and make sure everything is … aboveboard,”
Lawson said.
“I’m not after his money,”
Nora said. She didn’t know why she just blurted that out, but it felt important to do so.
“You’re not? You know he is a wealthy man, and I do believe once he marries, that also allows him unlimited access to his inheritance.”
She frowned. “Gabriel hasn’t said anything about an inheritance, and I don’t think he needs it.”
Lawson leaned forward. “If he demands a prenuptial agreement?”
Nora’s eyes went wide. “You mean, if we decided to get married?”
she asked.
“You cannot tell me you have not thought about that?” he asked.
Her heart raced. “Uh, I can, actually. I’ve not thought about marriage or any of that.”
He frowned. “You expect me to believe that?”
“I don’t expect you to believe anything. I work hard for Gabriel. I’m not after his money and I know that is hard to believe, and if he needs me to sign anything, then of course I will. I want to protect him.”
“You do?”
Lawson asked.
“Yes, I mean, he already has a lot going on with the way his parents treat him.”
“You know about that?”
“Gabriel told me. Did he tell you about the visit he got from one of his exes, claiming to be pregnant with his child?”
She saw her words had surprised him, so she explained what happened.
“Fucking hell,”
Lawson said. “Pardon my language.”
“It’s okay.”
He sighed. “Just when I think his parents wouldn’t sink to a new low, they never fail to surprise me.”
“I’ve not met his parents. Are they really that bad?”
Lawson sighed. “I don’t like to speak ill of family, and his dad likes to remind me that I am not a Willams, and I have no right to be here.”
“He tells you that?”
Nora asked.
“Every time we see each other, which is not often, trust me.”
Lawson shook his head. “You’re really here for Gabriel, aren’t you?”
“I know you don’t believe me, but I think he is quite something.”
Lawson stared at her for several seconds, and then he smiled. “I have a feeling you and Gabriel are going to do okay.”
****
“I don’t appreciate you doing this,”
Gabriel said.
“I know you don’t appreciate it, but I’ve got to make sure you’re not making any kind of rash decisions, Gabriel,”
Esther said. “We’ve not seen you in close to six months. You barely speak to us on the phone, and now out of the blue, you bring a woman here.”
“Am I not allowed to bring a woman home?”
Esther sighed. “Do not attempt to guilt me, Gabriel. I am taking care of you, and if you were not so damn stubborn, you would see that.”
She glared at him, and he laughed.
“I know you are, and trust me, I love you for it. You don’t need to worry about Nora.”
“I don’t? There are a lot of women out there who would gladly manipulate you, to gain something!”
“And I know you’re right about that. Trust me, I’ve met a great many of them, and Nora is not like that. She is different, and if you stopped judging her, you’d be able to see, she is nothing like the other women I’ve dated.”
Esther snorted.
“What’s that?”
Gabriel asked.
“Dated? A brief fling is not dating.”
“For the past four months, I’ve been dating Nora,”
Gabriel said.
“Four months?”
“Yes, four months, and still counting. She is … something else, Esther. Trust me, Granddad would have loved her. She is strong and loyal and brave.”
He saw Esther’s eyes go wide, as if he was making it up, so he told her a few little facts about the woman she was judging.
“Oh, my,”
Esther said, once he finished.
“That is the brief version. Trust me, that woman in there is not after my money. She is not after anything, and I pursued her. She’s real. She’s…”
“The one?”
Esther asked.
Gabriel took a deep breath and nodded his head.
“Son, if you can’t even admit it, how do you hope to propose to her?”
she asked.
“I’ve … not gotten that far.”
“But you love her?”
Esther asked.
“Yes, I love her and I intend to spend the rest of my life with her.”
He stopped and smiled. “She’s the one.”
Esther stepped toward him and cupped his cheeks. “I am so proud of you. Come on, come on, I better go and meet her, and show her I’m not a first-class bitch.”
Gabriel laughed, and once he entered the sitting room, he saw Nora had moved closer to Lawson, who had pulled out his wallet, along with his never-ending photographs. He always kept several of his favorites, as close reminders of good memories. Gabriel remembered his grandfather always did that and was always finding an excuse to look at them, especially ones of his wife.
“You were a cute baby,”
Nora said, looking up.
“Ah, that he was, and a little terror as well. He never liked to sleep much throughout the night, and I swear, he used to hear the house settling, and the merest hint of a creak, and he was up.”
He smiled as Nora’s gaze seemed to warm. His woman looked good here, in this house.
For the next couple of hours, they enjoyed some lunch, some tea and coffee, along with the telling of memories. Lawson and Esther loved to retell his most embarrassing moments. By late afternoon, he saw Esther was getting tired, and the two retired for a few hours, leaving him alone with Nora.
“Well?”
Gabriel asked.
“I love them. Does she hate me?”
“No, she doesn’t hate you. She didn’t know if you were a gold-digger or not.”
She winced. “Seriously?”
“Esther is blunt. It is one of the things Lawson loved about her, what my grandfather admired in her as well, and of course my grandmother also loved her. She was always refreshing.”
“She’s wonderful. They’re wonderful.”
Gabriel held out his hand. “Would you like the full tour?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’d love to. Am I allowed to see all of your home?”
“Baby, you can see whatever you like.”
She chuckled and he pulled her close, putting his hands across her shoulders.
He kissed the top of her head, and took her from room to room, telling her about a memory in each room. By the time they got upstairs, Gabriel was desperate to be alone with her. He took her straight to his room.
Stepping inside, she wrinkled her nose. “It would have been cool to see your childhood room,” she said.
“This is it,”
he said. “The only difference is, when I got older, I redecorated.”
“Tell me what teenage Gabriel was like?”
He shrugged. “Hardworking. Desperate to prove to my grandfather I was nothing like my father. The usual.”
“Did you have posters? A naked woman calendar on the wall?”
Gabriel laughed. “No, I didn’t.”
“Come on, that would have been cute.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. What did you have?”
“Puppies and dogs. I loved them. We could never get a dog as my mom was allergic, so they were always getting me teddy bears in the shape of dogs, notebooks, diaries, calendars. You name it.”
“We never had a dog,”
Gabriel said. “We never had time for it. Granddad wanted to get me one, but I told him no, my studies were more important.”
He reached out, taking Nora’s hand, and pulling her in close. “You know, I’ve never had a woman here.”
“Never?”
“No. Granddad had rules, and bringing a woman back here meant something.”
“It did?”
she asked.
“Yeah.”
“What did it mean?”
Gabriel stared into her eyes, closing the small distance between them, and he stroked her cheek. “It meant she was important. It meant you had thought about her and decided that no matter what, you couldn’t live without her.”
“Gabriel?”
“I don’t want to live without you.”
And that was all he said, before he took possession of her lips.
She let out a little moan, and he swallowed it down. Her whimper was so cute, so sweet.
Tracing his tongue across her lips, he plunged inside and met her tongue, deepening the kiss. At the same time he was kissing her, he began to work on the buttons of her dress. She had insisted on wearing something formal. The dress looked stunning on her, curving to her body in all the right places, but now he wanted her naked.
She would be the first woman he had ever brought back to his bedroom.
I sound like a fucking adolescent.
What he wanted to do to Nora was anything but. He felt so hungry and desperate for her.
The moment he had enough of her buttons open, he started to slide the dress off her body. He couldn’t help but groan as it fell to the floor. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he carried her straight toward his bed, sliding her down on top, and then pulling away. He stopped touching her only long enough to remove his shirt, and then reached behind her, flicking open the catch of her bra.
Her full breasts sprung forward, and he couldn’t help but cup them, running his thumb across the peaks, and then he needed to taste them. Taking the first full nipple into his mouth, he sucked, going gently at first, allowing her to become accustomed to feel of his lips on her tit, but then he started to tighten, using his teeth. Her head fell back and a moan escaped her.
Trailing his tongue across the valley of her breasts, he proceeded to take the second nipple, using his teeth, and felt her legs press together. He wanted to send her mindless with the pleasure. He wanted her to beg for more. Letting go of her tits, he began to kiss down her body.
“Gabriel,”
she said his name on a moan.
“Relax,”
he said. “No one is going to disturb us.”
And with that, he pressed a hand on her stomach, pushing her back down so he could enjoy her a little more. Spreading her legs, he looked at her panty-covered pussy. The tiny piece of fabric was in the way, and he wanted unlimited access to her sweet cunt. Sliding his fingers through the material, he bunched it up in his hand, squeezed, and listened to the satisfying snap as it tore from her body.
This time, he couldn’t help but groan as he stared down at her slick pussy. The lips of her sex, just slightly parted, showing him the hardened nub of her clit, and how wet she was.
He stroked up the inside of her thighs, and then sinking around to her hips, and pulled her in close to the edge of the bed. The tiny moan echoed around the room, and the sound went straight to his cock. He wanted her to scream his name.
Caressing back toward her pussy, he spread her pussy open, and then he couldn’t tease her anymore, as he simply didn’t have the patience, and placed his tongue at her nub. He glided back and forth, before sucking her clit right into his mouth.
Gabriel didn’t bite down, but the threat was there. He had no intention of hurting her, but he wanted to create that perfect point between pleasure and pain, and dance her across it.
His name spilled from her lips, and he couldn’t help but moan. That’s right, baby, scream my name.
Stroking his tongue across her clit, he circled the swollen nub, and then danced across it, before going down and starting to tease her opening. He heard her moan, and she started trying to thrust against him, but he held her still and didn’t allow her to make any sudden movements. He was the one in control, and he wanted her to enjoy this.
Gabriel loved his name being screamed.
And he knew exactly what his grandfather meant by bringing the right woman here. The one he intended to spend the rest of his life with. That was what was important. Nothing else. Just this—the two of them, in this moment together—and he groaned just thinking about it.
She was perfect.
His woman.
And he was totally in love with her.
Breaking from her pussy, he knew he couldn’t hold back and needed to ask her this next part. He put his fingers to her pussy and moved up the bed, staring into her eyes.
“Nora,” he said.
She opened her eyes and then gasped as he thrust two fingers inside her, feeling how tight she was, and then twisted them so his thumb danced across her clit.
“Gabriel,”
she said. There was that moan again that was making him so hard, he had a horrible feeling he was going to come in his pants. She made him feel close to losing his mind, and he loved it.
“I want you to stop taking the pill,” he said.
Nora’s eyes widened, just a touch, but enough for him to notice. “What?”
“I want you to stop the pill. For me, this is it. I want you, Nora.”
She licked her lips. “You want me to stop taking the pill? You want to risk getting me pregnant?”
Just the thought of her swollen with his child made him feel so primitive. “Yes.”
He wanted to be her everything, and the truth was, she was already his everything.
She reached up and placed a hand on his cheek. “Are you sure about this?”
“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”
His grandfather had always told him that when he found the right woman, he’d know. The feeling would never go away no matter what he did.
His feelings for Nora were not going away. They were not getting less. They were growing rapidly every day, and he wanted them to keep growing.
Gabriel stared down into her beautiful brown eyes, and he already knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this woman. He wanted to marry her, to have the world with her, and that meant children as well. The children he never thought he wanted, he did with Nora.
Everything was so clear now.
All it took was the right woman. Nora. His woman.
For the rest of their lives.