Chapter 11
Tori
The bags thudded to the floor when Gabe dropped them at the door. I followed him into the apartment, glad to be back but homesick at the same time. The whirlwind trip had me exhausted, and both of us needed to work the next day.
“Chinese?” Gabe said, stretching. His long arms almost touched the ceiling, and I followed the rise of his shirt as it freed from where he had tucked it in his pants.
“Sounds fantastic,” I answered, grabbing my bag and dragging it to the bedroom. Opening it on the bed, I began unpacking. I heard him call in the order, one he knew well enough not to ask what I wanted.
So much had happened in the last two days. The engagement ring shimmered as I carried my makeup bag into the bathroom. I was getting married. To the man of my dreams. An amazing man who made me happier every day. Whom I loved beyond anything I thought possible.
A man I was still discovering, his pieces slowly coming together.
Another secret, that he wasn’t social after months of thinking he was an outgoing, sexy, heartthrob type.
How wrong I’d been. Granted, the sexy, heartthrob part had been right, and that side of him was all mine.
But the outgoing side had been a facade, and I’d never realized it because with me he wasn’t that way.
Perhaps I should have seen it in the bashful looks he sometimes had, the nervous way he rubbed his neck and struggled for words, but I factored those adorable traits as those of a man in love. They were moments reserved for me, and I loved them.
“Ordered,” he said, coming into the room and tossing his bag next to mine. “About twenty minutes.” His eyes perused me as I stood in the doorway of the bathroom. “Dinner in bed? Followed by dessert?”
Throwing my head back with a laugh, I replied, “Sounds like a plan, but maybe we could start with dessert?” I was craving his touch.
He hadn’t done more than kiss me the entire trip, a sweet need to be respectful to my parents.
His surprise at them letting us share a bed told me more about his upbringing than I thought he wanted me to know.
He was proper, polite, well-mannered, something I’d always known, but it was even more evident around my parents.
“Why is it you never told me you don’t like social situations?”
His expression dropped, and I gnawed my cheek, hating that I’d been the cause.
Sitting on the side of the bed, he folded the shirt he was holding.
“I prefer to be solitary, but I function fine because…” That faraway look crossed his features, the one that told me he was in the past, facing haunting memories.
My chest ached at the thought, and I crossed the room, scooting the suitcase over and sitting next to him.
“I had to be social. There was no choice, and if I complained, it meant punishment.” He rubbed his face, that distant expression still there.
“My father hosted parties, and his children were on display, examples of proper upbringing. Spine straight, mouth shut unless addressed, hands tucked to the side, behavior on point. Nothing to embarrass him.”
He fidgeted with the shirt, and I brought my hands over his to stop the motion.
When his eyes turned to me, there was so much pain in them that I wanted to erase it, to wipe his memory of the past, but I couldn’t.
“I always preferred being alone until you came along.” His hand moved to encompass mine.
“When you came into my life, I never wanted to be alone again. You filled a space I hadn’t realized was there, an emptiness that had been waiting for you all this time.
I can function, and I do it well, but my preference is to be away from people and now, to be with you. ”
“And your friends?” I knew he had a text group of college buddies, and he’d told me about his friend from high school with whom he still talked.
“They know how I am and respect it. I wasn’t much fun at the parties in college.”
“So you were the one in the corner looking sexy and broody?”
He gave me a mischievous grin and didn't have to tell me he wasn’t always alone. I rolled my eyes and elbowed him. Catching my elbow, he pulled me into him.
“I’m your sexy and broody man now, luna mia. Only yours. These hands will never touch another body because yours is the only one I’ll ever hunger for.”
My insides somersaulted, and I smashed my mouth into his, pushing him back on the bed.
Days of barely touching had his hands shoving at my clothes and mine doing the same as our suitcases tumbled to the ground.
By the time the food arrived, he’d feasted on me, then taken me, and left me too weak to answer the door.
That man’s tongue was a deadly weapon, almost as deadly as the rest of him.
The reflection in the mirror was that of a fairytale princess, not me.
Wrapped in a plethora of white satin, I turned to view the back of the dress.
This was the one. I’d known the moment I saw it, but the clerk had insisted on sending me out with ten other dresses before she let me try this one.
Simple and elegant, it gave me an hourglass figure and sat softly on my skin.
And I knew Gabe would love it, that he would look at me like every man in a romance movie looked at his bride-to-be when she walked down the aisle.
I pushed the curtain aside, and the woman shook her head.
“I guess I should have listened to you. This is beautiful on you.” She gathered up the train and followed me into the showroom where my mother, my cousin Anne, and my best friend Cindy waited.
Their gasps informed me they loved the dress just as much as I did.
The three had invaded our peace two days before, and I knew Gabe was going crazy with all the commotion. Cindy was loud, and with Anne, the volume only increased.
“Victoria, you look so beautiful,” my mother said with tears in her eyes.
“You look like a princess,” Anne added, with Cindy agreeing with vigorous head nods. She was sniffing, her eyes glossy.
“This is the one,” I told them, swiveling to the standing mirrors and looking at the dress again.
The clerk took some measurements to make a few minor adjustments while my mother brought over a handful of veils.
It hit me again that I was getting married in three months.
A month had passed since Gabe had proposed, and each day passed quicker than the day before.
A giddiness set in, and I hopped up and down on my toes.
“I’m getting married, Mom.”
She hugged me, squishing the veils, and I heard the clerk huff.
“Come on, you two. It’s time to find our dresses,” Cindy said. “And I better look as good as you, Tor.”
“You can’t look better than the bride,” Anne scolded.
“I didn’t say better, but I can look as good.”
My mother and I shared a look before breaking out in laughter.
The day continued that way because there was no other way with Anne and Cindy.
It was a taste of home I’d missed, not having noticed that Gabe consumed my existence now.
I didn’t mind because I loved him so much, but it was nice to have other parts of my life coming in to show me how complete he had made me.
“Did you have fun today?” Gabe asked me that night, his fingers draping up my arm.
“I did. Thank you for putting up with them.”
He peered down at me. “Put up with them? They’re your family.”
“I guess so.” I’d known Cindy long enough that I considered her family, as did my parents. “But they’re a lot to deal with.”
Kissing my head, he rested his head back, shifting me so I was looking down at him. Pushing my hair back, he said, “I want you to be happy, Tori. If a group of chatty women makes you happy, then so be it. If a stadium of that made you happy, I would fill every seat just to see you smile.”
And my heart swelled further. I didn’t think my love for Gabe would ever fade; he took up too much room.
“Wait until the wedding,” I said, giving him a kiss. “When my entire family is there.”
“Can’t wait,” he mumbled, a grin tugging at his lips.
Smoothing my hand down his chest, I asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to invite your family? The invitations don’t go out until next week.”
As I’d expected, his mood soured, the grin eclipsed by the shadow that always lurked over him. “No, they won’t come, so why waste the ink?”
“Did you tell them?” I hadn’t asked, afraid of upsetting him.
“No.” His gaze rose to the ceiling. “I’ll need to, but…I don’t want them to spoil this moment.”
His muscles were taut with a tension I’d noticed had been more prominent since we’d returned home from Connecticut.
Whatever demons he was struggling with, they had escalated.
The only people he had invited were his school friends, whom he’d told me he had informed through their group chat.
It seemed sad that he didn’t have anyone from his family coming, but it was something I couldn’t remedy for him.
“Get some sleep, luna mia. You had a long day.” And he had just worn me out further, taking me against the wall the minute I’d returned home and then again in the bathroom when I was getting ready for bed.
It was almost like he couldn’t get enough of me, and I wasn’t complaining.
If this was life with Gabe, I would gladly take the brooding moments for all the amazing sex that came with it.