Chapter 23 #2
"You sound surprised. Of course they’re good. They’re baked with love." I giggle and move to close the tin, but he catches me, pulling me onto his lap. His arms wrap around my waist, his face buried in my neck.
"So that’s why they’re so delicious," he murmurs.
"That’s the secret ingredient."
I enjoy the closeness and set the tin aside, covering his hands with mine. How good it feels to simply be with him.
After tea and cookies, we leave the spotless kitchen. It’s late; we really should go to bed. Tomorrow is Saturday, and we can sleep in—though Rosie hasn’t quite learned that yet. On weekends, she's wide awake and full of energy by eight at the latest.
"If you need anything—anything at all—I’m just a room away," I tell him upstairs, pointing to my little “sleep paradise.” Gabriel pauses beside me, his eyes on mine. "In case you don’t want to be alone. Or… want to talk."
Gabriel doesn’t answer with words. Instead, he steps closer, a faint smile on his lips, and places a hand at the back of my neck, drawing me into a soft kiss.
"Do you want to be alone tonight?" he asks quietly.
I swallow, staring into his moss-green eyes. They’re lit with such yearning it steals my breath.
"No," I whisper as his hand slides down my arm and over my shoulder. He takes my hand, steps back a few paces, and pulls me into his bedroom. My heart races—we’ve never been in here together before. I’ve hung his shirts and suits in the closet a few times, but that’s the extent of it.
“We could use the key,” he says as we reach the bedroom door.
“What key?” I whisper, excited. Only one comes to mind—but surely he doesn’t mean that one?
“The one you used back then to open my cabinet and then placed incorrectly on the book in the drawer.”
Yep. Exactly the key I was thinking of. I swallow nervously and manage a small smile.
“You never said anything,” he teases, grinning broadly as he opens the door.
“What should I have said? That I confused your clothes cabinet with your toy cabinet?”
“And that you were looking for a key?”
“Yes…”
Like a little snoop.
“We can also just spend the night together. Whatever you want.”
“Rosie could go to a friend’s tomorrow, to play,” I suggest as we step inside.
“She could stay over there too,” he adds.
“Yes… she could,” I murmur, embarrassed, as he closes the door behind us and locks it. I swallow hard—and then his lips are on my neck.
“You have to be quiet,” he murmurs against my ear.
“How am I supposed to do that when you’re doing these things with your lips?” I gasp, arousal catching my breath.
“Then maybe we shouldn’t,” he says.
“I…” Damn it. Rosie could wake up, and the door’s locked. “We should wait until tomorrow. She’s right next door.”
He frowns, not liking the idea either, and I can see a plan forming in his mind.
“Come.”
Whatever Gabriel has in mind, it makes him smile again. Finally, this man is beaming at me again. It's a brief moment of distraction from his worries—and if I can help him with that, I'm more than happy to do it.
He opens the door again, gently pulling me into the hallway. Rosie's bedroom door is slightly ajar. We peek in: the night light glows and she’s sound asleep. Perfect.
“What now?” I whisper, amused. It feels thrillingly forbidden, sneaking around the house like we’re planning an illegal overnight party.
“Come.” He takes my hand and guides me to the stairs. We sneak through the darkness to the front door, but now we're going through the hallway.
Where on earth is he taking me?
I'm quite glad we can see where we're going thanks to the small LEDs on the stairs. We installed those as a precaution for Rosie in case she wanders around at night. Sometimes she gets thirsty and goes to the kitchen for a glass of water, even though we put a bottle by her bed. Kids, right?
"Where are we going?" I whisper, giggling, until I see it: He's leading me to the garage. "Wait. Wait. Wa..." I stammer in shock, because in there it’s freezing cold.
"I want to continue where we left off," he says as he pushes open the heavy security door. It really is damn chilly in here, but not as cold as outside. The garage is well-insulated—I can't even hear it from the kitchen when he parks there or when the gate opens.
Oh! Now I get what he has in mind! Right. Here I can be louder. But wait a minute... he wants to make love to me in the garage? It's cold here and only his cars are around!
And one of the limos...
So, he wants to continue where we left off? True. Back then, everything started in a limo.
Gabriel opens the back door and pulls me into the car. Laughing, we land on the back seat as he pulls me onto his lap.
"I'm not wearing makeup, and I have pink plush slippers on, you're aware of that, right?"
"You're perfect just the way you are," he replies and begins to explore my neck and décolletage with his lips.
Okay, I should really shut up now and stop complaining.
"Keep talking," I murmur as I run my hands over his cheeks, his neck, his strong shoulders, and through his hair, which I tousle a little. I'm so eager for him and so is he.
His hands settle on my hips with desire, pulling me close. I move against him in waves, gasping as he demands my lips in return. This moment belongs to us—long overdue, finally happening.
All those weeks of hard work, flew to Japan and Turkey, to Austria and Switzerland, a short trip to Greece and Morocco—and now we end up here again.
We had the most beautiful backdrops in the world before us, beaches and mountains, sunshine and snow as far as the eye could see.
And yet we only needed one thing: each other.
No money in the world, no hotel room however beautiful, no luxury suite with room service can give me what I wanted from the beginning: this man. All to myself.
"I'm so glad I hired you," he whispers against my lips while pushing my soft, cozy sweatpants off my hips.
"And I'm so glad I accepted," I answer him as I kneel on the seats while straddling his lap. This makes it easier for him to undress me and to reach for what he wants to touch with his hands and lips.
Eagerly, I strip his shirt from his body—I don't just want to see him while secretly watching through a door crack, no, I want to touch him.
Feel him on and under me. I want to listen to his throaty, rough voice as he rubs his hardness against me and repeatedly make sure that I'm close enough to him.
He holds me tightly in his arms and even delays the moment a little, which we're both looking forward to.
He simply doesn't want it to be over too quickly.
"You're mean," I whimper, when I'm wearing only the robe—no, now I'm not wearing it anymore. He even pulls off my socks so that I'm sitting completely naked on top of him.
"Because you're cold? I can warm you up, no problem," he murmurs and lets his warm hands wander over my back while his tongue travels up from between my breasts to my neck.
"Because you're taking your time..." I complain.
"I want to enjoy it before you fall asleep again," he teases me, amused.
"Mmm..." I close my eyes and sink exhausted against his chest.
"Kim?"
Oh no, my dear, you've earned this now.
"Hey. Kim?"
Yeah, he can panic a little bit. I giggle and thereby release him from his small shock.
"I thought for a moment you'd really fallen asleep."
Yeah, punishment is necessary.
"Your fault." I laugh and put my hands on his cheeks, looking directly into his eyes and sighing contentedly.
Only two glasses of whiskey that night, and I went home with him.
I’m so glad I didn’t sleep with him then—it would’ve been meaningless, and he probably wouldn’t have hired me.
I would have missed out on so much: my dream job, the sweetest little girl I get to care for, and the man who makes me feel truly special every day.
Sometimes it takes time.
Sometimes it can be quite a bit of time and patience until the person across from you realizes what they have in someone who loves them more than anything.
It's not always love at first sight that throws both people into emotional chaos from the first moment.
Sometimes many glances, conversations, problems, and shared moments are needed until you realize that what you already have is love.
There are certainly people who would say our life is boring.
That it's pure habit and no longer exciting because we don't argue, don't have to court each other, but. ..
This is exactly what I want.
I want peace and harmony.
A man who takes care of me as I take care of him, without either of us losing or giving up ourselves in the process.
I want to be with him in his bad times, stand by him, and not move an inch away from him. And then, when the clouds have passed, we enjoy being together.
And wild moments in a limo.
The car rocks while I burn with desire. Feeling how aroused he is because of me, hearing his voice, and feeling his hot, toned body is exactly what I wished for.
I can be as loud as I want, don't have to hold back, and certainly don't have to be considerate of anyone else. I can let myself go and know that strong arms will catch me. Again and again, throughout this night.
In the short breaks, we sneak through the house to check if we might have woken Rosie—but she's a deep sleeper and doesn't wake up.
Although… the next morning is brutal. Gabriel and I lie in our beds: he gets woken up first, then me. The kid’s loud laughter fills the house, while all we really want is to sleep a little. After all, we didn't get a wink of sleep all night...