Chapter 22
Gabe
I woke up with a start and reached over to pull Elle to me, but she wasn’t there. I sat up in bed and looked around, frantic to find her. I heard water running in the bathroom and dropped back down onto the bed. I let out a deep breath and worked on getting my heart rate to go back to normal.
Elle and I had spent the weekend together, hardly leaving the penthouse.
We hadn’t wanted to; we certainly didn’t need to.
All that I wanted, all that I needed was with her in the penthouse.
We talked, laughed, made love all over, and cooked when we needed to.
I suggested we go out to eat or even take a walk on Sunday but Elle had stood next to me, tugged my pants down and given me the most spectacular blow job.
After that, I never mentioned leaving again.
All too quickly, the weekend ended and I had never been more reluctant to start the week than I was that morning. I wanted more time with Elle, but I knew I shouldn’t ask for it. I had to be happy with the time that I had with her and that we would have more when we came home that night.
“There you are,” I said to Elle as she came out of the bathroom.
“Where did you think I would be?” She asked.
“I didn’t know. I woke up and you were gone. I didn’t like it.”
“Sorry. I had to go to the bathroom. I didn’t want to wake you. Next time I will,” Elle said as she nestled next to me.
I wrapped my arms around her, running my hand down her back and squeezing her ass. “You better.”
Elle laughed and kissed my chest. She put her hand on my chest and smiled up at me.
I squeezed her ass again. My body reacted to having her next to me and I could sense her doing the same.
I wanted nothing more than to take her into my arms and spend the next hour making love to her, but we both needed to get moving.
“This weekend was great. I don’t want it to end,” I said.
“Me either. I love this bubble we’ve created and I don’t want it to burst. You know, I only have two lectures today and I’m sure I could get the notes from someone else,” Elle said.
“Are you thinking of ditching class? You Elle? The one who has never missed a day of class, even when she was sick?” I teased.
“We do get a few sick days, or mental health days. Maybe I need a day to recharge after such a long and vigorous weekend,” she teased back.
“If you think you need it, then by all means you should. You need to take care of yourself otherwise you can’t help anyone else. If you want, I can stay with you, make sure that you have everything you need and then some,” I said and kissed her neck.
“The only reason I would even consider taking it would be if you were with me. It wouldn’t be any fun to be here all alone. Not when I can spend the day in bed, with you naked,” she said.
“You have some excellent ideas. You definitely had a few this weekend.”
“I might have a few more,” she said.
“Really?”
She sat up and gave me a serious look and said, “I don’t want to keep you from anything, though.
I loved this weekend; I want to hold on to it a little while longer.
I don’t want to go to school and I don’t think I really need to.
But that’s what I want. I don’t want you to feel like you have to just to make me happy. ”
“Elle, have you not figured it out yet? There is nothing I want more in this world than to make you happy. There are meetings and things I should be doing at work today but I can take a day if I need to as well, if I want to. And there’s nothing I want more than to spend another day with you.”
“Really?” Elle asked.
“Yes. Why are you so surprised that I would want to do that? Do you have any idea how much you mean to me?”
“I have an idea but it would be nice to hear exactly what you mean,” she said and blushed.
Elle always looked so self-confident. I had never thought she would need reassurance about how much I cared about her.
I thought I had shown it to her in a thousand different ways over the weekend.
I thought she understood how important she was to me if I was willing to lie to my daughter to be with her.
It showed me a new side to her. I got the impression it wasn’t a side she let many people see and I was honored she let me.
Slowly, I sat up and took her hands in mine. I brought them up to my mouth and kissed them. Her eyes held mine as she waited for me to speak. I kissed her hands again and then brought them back down.
“Elle. I agreed to let you live with me because I wanted to make my daughter happy. I had no idea what I was going to get when I did. I couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out.
I found a woman who is smart, funny, opinionated, free-spirited, and without a doubt the sexiest, most exciting woman I’ve ever met.
“You’ve shown me how life can be. How wonderful it is when you have the right person with you. I never expected this to happen but I’m so glad it did. I know it has only been a short time we’ve been together, but it has been the best times of my life.
“It’s not a hardship at all to spend time with you.
It’s more of a hardship to be away from you.
I want to be with you all the time. I have never felt this way about any woman, not my wife, not even a friend, no one.
But I do with you. I love every moment I am with you and miss you like I’m missing a part of myself when you aren’t there.
“Nothing would make me happier than spending the day with you. The only way it could be better was if we could do this every day, for as long as we both shall live.”
I watched as Elle’s eyes got big when I finished my speech.
It was as close to an admission of love as I could give her.
I might want to be with her. I might have thought about her being my wife and in my life forever more with every day we were together.
But it didn’t mean that it could happen, at least not yet.
“Gabe. I had no idea. I mean, I hoped. And I certainly feel the same way. It’s crazy. We hardly know each other. Well, I feel like I know you. But this has happened so fast. I didn’t want to allow myself to believe that you could feel even half of what I was feeling for you.”
“So, you feel the same way?” I asked. I hadn’t realized I needed to hear her affirmations until she was saying them.
“Yes. A thousand times, yes. You know me. I wouldn’t ditch school, even two lectures that aren’t important for anything.
School is a priority but I want to make sure I have the right balance in my life.
I want to do what I want to do. I’ve spent too much time only concentrating on school.
If I can let loose, have some fun, and do it with an incredible, wonderful, and sex man, I’m going to.
I want more of these days. More of what we have, for as long as we both shall live. ”
I smiled at Elle as she repeated my words back to me.
Reaching up, I squeezed her hand and held her gaze.
“I think it’s time that we talk to Sarah about us and what is going on.
If we’re going to make a go of this, and I think we want to, we need to tell her.
I don’t want to hide how I feel from you.
I don’t want to worry about being discovered.
I want to be with you, really be with you, and there’s only one way we can do that. ”
“Are you sure?” Elle asked. She knew what a big step this was for us.
“Am I sure I want to be with you? Am I sure I want to have a future with you? Am I sure I want Sarah to be a part of that? Yes, to all of it. Do you?”
Elle nodded and smiled at me. “Yes. I want all of that. Sarah saw me texting you the other day. She told me how all she wants is for me to find a man who makes me happy and sees how wonderful I am. I think I’ve found that man. I hope she can see how happy you make me and give us her blessing.”
“She’s a smart woman. She would be blind to not see how happy we make each other. She will be happy for us. I know it. How can she not be?” I asked.
“When do you want to tell her?” Elle asked.
“Tomorrow? We can have dinner, the three of us, and we can tell her then?” I suggested.
“Not tonight?” Elle asked.
I leaned forward and kissed Elle’s shoulder and then moved my way down to her breasts. “Call me selfish, but I want to have another day and night with just you and me. No one else. Tomorrow is soon enough to bring Sarah into this. Until then, I want you all to myself.”
Elle smiled at me as she leaned towards me and we fell onto the bed. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”