Chapter 50
CHAPTER 50
GAbrIEL
I come out of the home office to find Leah sitting on the balcony, staring out over the water below.
“Hey,” I say, coming up behind her and dropping my head to hers, stealing the kiss I’ve been longing for.
“Hey yourself,” she says looking up and smiling. It’s been three weeks since the accident. Her ankle is down, but I’m making her stay at home, much to her frustration. “Rob and Leon both called. They’ve sent you emails but said it’s nothing that can’t wait until Monday. Amanda also called. She and I have gone through the latest press releases. If I didn’t know she loved being your secretary, I’d be worried for my job.”
She may not be in the office, but it doesn’t mean to say she’s stopped working. She and Amanda are working side by side, sharing their two roles to ensure all jobs are done by either one or the other.
I grip her chin and tilt her head, dropping a more passionate kiss on her lips. “You’ve nothing to fear. You’re stuck with me. I don’t care whether you are my PA, communications officer, or bed warmer. I’m — ”
She slaps my arm, locking her hands behind my head.
“Is that right? Bed warmer?”
I swing around, dropping myself onto the seat beside her, pulling her into my arms.
“What I meant to say,” I say nuzzling her neck. “Is I don’t care about titles providing I have you in my life.”
“Well, you’re stuck with me and our little bean,” she says, taking my hand and placing it on her stomach.
“I’m not sure he or she is a bean anymore. More peanut sized,” I say, gently stroking where the life we’ve created is growing. Her body changing week by week, highlighting the miracle.
“True, and soon he or she will be a bowling ball. Not that we’re a secret anymore.”
Her accident outed us. My mad, frantic dash and protective response left no one in any doubt something was going on between us. What shocked me the most, was their lack of surprise. The outpouring of love towards Leah and her wellbeing, showed me I wasn’t the only one who saw her true value. I’m the lucky man however she has chosen to be with.
Vince came and saw her, when he heard about the accident, but Leah closed him down. I was privy to their conversation as she met with him here. He didn’t seem surprised when he found out, I was the person Leah was now with. When I walked him out, he told me I was a lucky man.
We stare out over the city below us, a comfortable silence stretching between us. The streets below are still busy, although we get to enjoy the silence being this high up. Important in a city that never sleeps.
Leah snuggles in and I wrap my arm more tightly around her. “Today was crazy. I was hoping to finish early so we could go out.”
She looks up at me, her chin resting on my chest, understanding reflecting there. “Don’t apologise, Gabriel. I know the company and what it demands of you. It’s who you are, and I’ll never ask you to change. The fact you’re even here with me and not at the office is more than I expected.”
“I’m the boss.” Something my mother pointed out to me, shortly after Leah’s accident. I can still hear her words.
“ Gabriel Frazer, you have a baby on the way. You need to learn to prioritise!” She proceeded to lecture me on parental duties and that of being a partner. You’d never have thought I ran a billion-pound company and people trusted me with their money. I left her like a little boy with his tail between his legs.
“You are. But there’s a company and its clients who rely on you. I don’t want to take you away from what’s important. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate it, but I can’t be selfish.”
I run a hand through my hair as I stare down into the face I’ve come to know so well.
“What is it?” she asks, sitting up and taking my hand in hers. “Talk to me.”
A furrow forms between her brows, and I brush it with my thumb. “Gabriel, what’s going on?” I can tell from her tone I’m scaring her, but I’m scaring myself more. What I’m about to say has far-reaching connotations.
“The past three weeks.” I look at her, my eyes swimming with the emotion I can no longer contain. “When you didn’t come back... I thought... Then Amanda came in, and I spoke to Stella... My world stopped.” I run a hand over my mouth. “I’ve never been so scared, not since my father’s accident. The thought of losing you.” The tightness in my chest grows at the sheer thought.
Leah turns to face me. Her hand comes up and cups my cheek. I turn into it, placing a kiss on her palm. I close my eyes briefly and relax into the feel of her.
“You haven’t lost me,” She whispers. “I’m not going anywhere as long as you want me here,” she admits. My eyes fly open. I know how vulnerable she’s made herself.
I cover her hand in mine.
“I want to change our contract.”
Leah sinks back into the sofa, her expression one of confusion. “Our contract?”
I interlock our fingers in a way I’ve become accustomed to.
“I want you here with me. I don’t want you and our child living downstairs, where I only see you for a snapshot of time.” I grip my hair, not sure if I’m making sense. I pause, inhaling, before slowly releasing my breath. “I know I told you I don’t do relationships. It’s true. I haven’t, at least not successfully. I’m not saying I’m not going to fuck up. I can almost guarantee I will. But Leah, these past months with you. I’ve never felt like this. I know I said we would fake it. But this doesn’t feel fake. At least not to me, anyway.”
I stare into Leah’s eyes, watching as they fill with tears.
Oh hell, I’ve made her cry.
I grab both her hands and drop to my knees by her feet. “Marry me. Be my fiancée for real. Be my wife until we’re old and grey,” I say before I can stop myself.
Leah’s eyes widen, the moisture escaping from the corner of her eyes, making tracks down her cheeks. I let go of her hand and capture the droplets on my thumbs.
“I know this is not what we agreed. Or the proposal you deserve or I wanted to give you, but —”
She lifts her hand to mine and squeezes, before placing a finger against my lips. I fall silent and wait. I watch in amazement as her face alights with the brightest of smiles.
I take her hand in mine and grip it, bending my head and holding it against my forehead. “I want us to be a proper family, not co-parents. I want us to share in the mundane and the special moments. Watch our child, hopefully, children take their first steps, say their first words. When this little one is born, I want to make another one.”
I grip her hand, and when I raise my head, Leah is openly crying, but her smile lets me know they’re happy tears.
“Yes,” she says. Her eyes twinkling. “A billion yesses. I don’t need a fancy proposal. Actions speak louder than words. Although your words... who knew?” She chuckles and I smile. “I love you Gabriel Frazer, so much.”
“I love you. Maybe I should have started with that. But since you came into my life. I can’t think straight. You’ve changed my life, my world. Made me look at myself, question everything,” I say, dropping my head to hers.
Leah’s laughter fills the air.
“I love you so much,” she says, leaning forward, her hands coming up and wrapping themselves around the back of my head. She pulls my mouth down to hers, my little communications officer, demanding my lips. For eight years this woman was under my nose, and I didn’t see what I had. It wasn’t our time, but I’ll be damned if I’m letting her get away now I’ve realised she is the other half of me.
Without breaking contact, I lift her up and carry her back into the living area. Placing her gently on the sofa. I slow the pace of our kiss, savouring the feel of her against me.
“Make love to me, Gabriel,” Leah whispers against my lips.
“It will be my pleasure,” I say. “I’m going to worship you for the rest of our lives. I love you, Leah. I was blind for so long. You’ve made me open my eyes.”
I spread her thighs, moving between them, dragging my mouth from hers trailing my lips down her jaw to her neck, my hands weaving their way up and under her jumper, pushing it over her head. My fingers make quick work of her bra, freeing her breasts to my gaze and mouth. “Beautiful,” I say, moving my mouth to one of her nipples, sucking and teasing until Leah bucks beneath me, her fingers, gripping my hair.
I move to the other, teasing and nipping, taking my time until Leah is squirming beneath me. Her skirt is bunched around her waist. My hand snakes up under her skirt before finding the material of her panties. Leah gasps as my finger trails under the elastic. As always, she’s wet and ready for me. My cock stiffens to the point of pain with the knowledge.
I return to her lips, pressing myself against her, my fingers tormenting as I know she likes. She gasps as I breach her entrance with two fingers. Our kiss deepens as she rides my hand, our tongues tangling in desperation. The sound of our heavy breathing echoes around the space.
“I want you naked,” I say, slipping my hands into the waistband, pulling both her panties and skirt down.
“Beautiful,” I say, spreading Leah’s legs wider, exposing her to my gaze. I should have realised I was a goner the night I took her on my dining room table. Sinking into her welcoming pussy was like coming home.
I let a hand trail down her stomach, watching in delight as the muscles contract and jump under my touch. Rising, I drop a kiss on her stomach, where it’s beginning to swell with the life of our child growing within her.
I look up to find Leah’s eyes on me. Love I never thought I’d see radiating brightly. I drop my mouth to her core, my eyes never leaving hers as I lap from entrance to clit, teasing her swollen flesh with my teeth, tongue and lips. Her thighs stretch, the noises she’s making telling me all I need to know. I smile against her skin as her fingers dig into my scalp, her hips rising up to meet me.
When I curl my two fingers against her front wall, I watch her explode. Her body clenching and shaking as her orgasm shatters her.
I continue gentler movements until she’s purring beneath me. It’s only then I place my lips against hers, sliding my tongue into her mouth, my fingers still buried deep inside her.
“I’ll never get tired of watching you come apart in my arms and on my mouth,” I whisper as she mewls beneath me.
“I’ll never get tired of you making me. Who knew the man in the expensive suit has such a magical tongue and fingers,” she says, wrapping her legs around me and rubbing herself against me.
“What about my cock?” I ask, just as she sucks on my tongue, shooting a pulse of pleasure south.
Leah doesn’t say anything. Instead, her greedy fingers are untangling my trousers and freeing my painful dick. When she gently squeezes me, I let out a loud moan.
I shove my trousers and boxers down without breaking contact. Leah grips me and presses me against her entrance.
“I’m yours,” she says, turning her head, her eyes glazed with passion. “Gabriel, I want you now,” she says.
I spin us around, dropping us to the floor onto my thick rug. My body beneath hers, our lips clashing, knowing she can taste herself, but she doesn’t blink, instead she deepens the kiss. Moaning into her mouth, my cock finds her entrance and sinks in. I thrust forward until my balls stop me going any further.
“I love you,” I say against her lips.
“I love you more,” she says.
“I don’t think that’s possible,” I say as I begin to move.
Our foreplay means this is going to be over quicker than I want.
“Make me yours, truly,” Leah says. “Coat my insides with your cum. We have forever to take it slow. I need to know I’m alive, and we’re together.”
“Your wish is my command.”
My hands grip her hips as I slide in and out. Her breasts press down against my chest, my mouth on hers. I feel her orgasm begin, her muscles contracting around me, milking my dick. My body speeds up, and I thrust harder until the pressure takes over, and I follow her over the edge, my cum filling her up, as she wanted. This is where we started, but that’s all it was, the start. This time, it’s with love. Although I think the love has been hiding under the surface for a long time, both of us too scared to voice our change of heart.
Leah collapses on top of me. I pull the throw over our naked bodies. Her hand draws circles on my chest.
“Thank you for trusting me,” I say against her hair.
“Thank you for loving me,” she says, and I smile.
“I think I’ve loved you from the beginning. It just took my conscious brain some time to catch up.”
Leah pushes herself up and stares at me.
“What will your family think? We’re going to give them whiplash.”
I chuckle, her look one of confusion.
“Have you not realised they love you? They already know I’m madly in love with you. They know me better than I know myself, I think. Knew the only way I would have put a baby in your belly was if I had powerful feelings for you. I’m the luckiest man alive that you’ve fallen for me, too. “
She places a hand against my cheek. “The same goes for me. There were so many reasons I shouldn’t fall in love with you.”
“We’re not having a long engagement. I want to call you mine as soon as possible.”
Leah laughs at my words. “Patience,” she says dropping a kiss on my lips. “We need to wait for my parents to come back from their trip. I’m not sure they’ll forgive us, especially my dad, if he doesn’t get to give his only daughter away,” she says, her mouth closing over mine.
I wonder how quickly I can charter a plane to Australia.