“You’re so funny. Yes, I’m fine with moving into your rooms, but just so you know, this will be a joint marriage, and you will not be making all the decisions by yourself.”
“That’s exactly why I asked your opinion,
mi amor
.”
“I appreciate that, Gabe, I really do, but the whole ‘I’m marrying you whether you like it or not’ and ‘if you don’t move in we’re getting married tomorrow’ thing, while cute because I happen to agree with your proposals, could very well have been a battle if I’d disagreed. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly a shy, reserved kind of woman who follows directions without question.”
“You’re the woman I love. If we fight, we fight. I also am stubborn, and I am used to making all decisions by myself. We’re bound to disagree on some things. But afterwards, when we’ve reached a compromise, we’ll kiss and make up, and it will all be worth it. In fact, I think we should practice that part right now.”
“Yet another proposal I can agree with. You’re on a roll.” They walked inside the master suite in each other’s arms, lips connected and hungry for each other, and Gabe kicked the door closed behind him, picked Summer up in his arms, and carried her over to the bed.
“I want to make love to you in my own bed. I want to know what it’s like to spend the entire night with you in my arms and wake up with you in the morning. And when we wake up tomorrow, I want to make love to you all over again. Are we still in agreement,
mi amor
?”
“Completely.” She held out her arms from her reclining position on the bed, and Gabe dropped down on top of her, bracing the bulk of his weight on his forearms. He dipped his head to kiss her again, and she wrapped her arms around him, meeting his passion with a full portion of her own.
Gabe slipped his hand behind Summer’s neck and tilted her head at more of an angle, so he could kiss her more deeply. Summer started pulling his t-shirt out of his jeans and up his back, scratching her way upwards, urging him to take it off. Gabe had wanted to make love to her slowly, taking his time to enjoy their first time in their home together, but as she started touching him and pulling him against her body impatiently, he also became impatient and decided that slow could wait until later. He had to have her now.
“I want you,
cara
, I need to be inside you. I promise to take the time to seduce you later, but right now we need to hurry. Please.”
“You don’t have to seduce me, Gabe. If you don’t get your clothes off right now, I’m going to scream.”
“Hold your scream until I make you come, Summer. I’ll take my clothes off if you’ll take yours off. Now,
cara
. Go.” They broke apart and undressed so fast they were bound to have broken some kind of record. No time to even throw the castaway garments off the bed. They kicked or shoved things off and over as needed and as quickly as possible, then came together in a flurry of arms and legs anxiously wrapping around each other.
“Touch me, Gabe, everywhere. I need to feel you everywhere. Oh God, closer, honey.” Summer reached between them and wrapped her hand around his erection making him groan. She moved up and down and cupped his sack.
“Summer, if you don’t slow down, this will be over in a heartbeat.”
“I don’t want to slow down, Gabe. I need you inside me.”
“Are you ready for me, baby? Let’s see.” Gabe reached between her legs and cupped her mound making her gasp. He traced the folds to her opening and slid first one then two fingers inside her wetness, feeling deeply inside her core, making her arch against his hand. “I don’t know, Summer, are you sure you’re ready for me?”
“God, Gabe, please. Stop teasing. Now.”
Gabe withdrew his fingers and replaced them with what she wanted. “Yeah, baby, I think you are ready. Feel how I fill you, Summer? You’re so tight and wet. I love it when you squeeze me like that. Again, yes baby, like that.” Gabe grabbed her hands in his and pulled them above their heads, lacing their fingers together. He bent to her breasts, gently biting her nipples then sucking away the sting as he began to move deeply inside her.
“Ah God, Summer, you’re perfect. We’re perfect together,
amor
. I love you. I’ll always love you, baby.” He laid his head against her breasts seeking the promise of the love they shared. He licked and kissed her breasts and began to move faster, feeling her passion rising with his.
“Gabe, hurry. I want us to finish together. I’m so close, I can’t wait much longer.” He raised his head and looked down at her, wanting to see her face when she came. He let go of one of her hands and grasped her hip, pulling her against him and rubbing her most sensitive spot with each deep thrust.
“Now, Summer, now, baby. Yes, with me,
amor
. God I can feel you contract around me. It feels so good.”
“I can feel you too, Gabe. God. I love you, I love you.” Summer buried her face against his neck, and he wrapped her in his arms, trying to absorb her totally into his body. She was already in his heart and soul.
“I love you, too, Summer. We’ll spend the rest of our lives together from this day on. I never want to be without you. I couldn’t stand it.”
“I’ll always be with you, Gabe. I need you close. I can’t believe I found you. Now that I have, I’ll never let you go.”
“You’ll never have to, baby. I’ll never leave you.”
“That’s the best part, babe. I know.”
They held each other, stroking, memorizing every inch of each other. Gabe was lying on his back with Summer settled against his side with her head on his shoulder. She was stroking his chest and playing with the silky black hair she found so fascinating. He was sliding his fingertips in circles on her hip and thigh.
Gabe rolled to his side and pulled her over to face him. “How are you doing, Summer, with all this excitement and planning for our future.”
Summer smiled at him. “I’m doing just fine, Gabe. Don’t worry, I’m not in a panic. In fact, I’m excited and … happy. I know that sounds simple, but that’s actually a really great feeling for me in terms of planning a future with someone else in it.”
“What changed, baby? From the time I told you I wanted to spend time with you, investigate possibilities with you, you didn’t want to discuss it or even admit a future together was a possibility. Today, you not only told me you love me, but you agreed to become my wife. Believe me, I’m thrilled to have your agreement, but I am also surprised. I thought I’d have to work harder to win you over and get past your fears and defenses.”
“I’ll try to answer you, my love, but I’m still trying to sort some things out, so be patient with me. I actually knew I loved you shortly after we made love that first time, probably the day we had our picnic, but I wasn’t ready to tell anyone, especially you, because I was very much afraid of loving you. I didn’t trust you, I didn’t trust my feelings for you, much less your feelings for me, and I just knew I would end up alone again, so I was determined not to hope, trust, or become reliant on you.”
“It was everything I could do not to run away from you as fast as I could. But there was something so compelling about you, I couldn’t pull away as I’d done in the past when things started getting serious. And, of course, there was Marisol whom I already loved. The first step I took towards facing my fears was to just consider the possibility of a relationship with you, which is what you asked me to do the day of the picnic. You made me realize that all I thought about was what bad things might come of us being together. Not once had I considered that it might turn out well, and that made me sad and a little angry at myself. It’s what Oprah calls an aha moment. I was still scared, but I made up my mind to see it through and to not run away from my feelings or you.”
“That was a very emotional day for you,
querida
. We found the villa and your ladies, you found out your father had given it to you, and you relived a lot of memories, good and bad I think, while you were there. I wasn’t sure if the day brought you closer to me or took you further away.”
“Oh, closer, absolutely, Gabe. I’ll never forget how you took me to find it and how you stood by me and saw me through all those emotions. You were wonderful.”
“I knew I loved you by then, Summer. The way you were with Marisol, how you weren’t impressed with my wealth or fame, how you stood up to me. All of those things endeared me to you, but it was spending time getting to know you that made me fall in love with you. Your goodness, your honesty, your openness, everything that makes you the woman you are. When you drove off with your cousin, I wanted to hit something. I knew then that ours would not be a casual affair. I’d never been jealous in my life until that day.”
“You were jealous? How nice. Anyway, I already liked you after you’d given my
Abuelita
the red carpet treatment, but after taking me to the villa, you became my champion. At the carnival, it was so nice spending time together, the three of us. It felt so right, somehow, so natural. The turning point, however, was when we went back to my villa with the baby. The next epiphany came the last night we had there. Could it only have been last night? Good God.”
“Anyway, Luisa saw me troubled and talked to me about things I hadn’t known about my parents and my step-mother. She helped me see things from an adult perspective rather than from a little girl’s broken hearted point of view. That helped a lot, but what tipped the scales was remembering how in love with life my mother had been and how she embraced everything in her life and even in her death. She refused to let anyone or anything steal her happiness, and she wanted that for me also. When you told me you loved me, instead of automatically being afraid of losing, I embraced winning. I believe you love me, and I am so happy that you do. I won’t allow the past to steal my happiness from me anymore.”
“Summer, I do love you. I’ve never loved anyone like I love you, and I know I never will again. When you first told me about your past, I was very angry at your father. I couldn’t understand how he could have abandoned you like that. Now, however, I don’t judge him so harshly. The more I have of you, the more I want you, or more precisely, the more I need you. We’ve been together such a short time, but I already cannot picture my life without you. I still think your father handled the situation badly, and although I hope that I would have handled things differently, I do think that I would be truly devastated if I ever lost you. I don’t think I would ever get over it, so I can at least understand his grief, I believe. Just talking about it bothers me.”
Summer leaned in for another kiss full of comfort and peace. “Not going anywhere, Gabe. I still haven’t come to terms with everything yet, and I can’t say I’ve forgiven my father or his wife, but at least I’m no longer so controlled by the past. I’m still sad and hurt, but I think I understand things a little better, and I see things a little more clearly. Maybe in time I’ll be able to be entirely at peace with the past. I’m certainly closer to reaching that point than I ever have been before.”
“I’m glad, baby. I just want you to be happy. It’s become my life’s mission, in fact.”
“My
abuelita
says I need to forgive my father in order to be happy. For the first time, I’m really considering that and wondering if I’m a strong enough person to do that. I hope so.”
Chapter Thirteen
Sitting at the breakfast table, Summer couldn’t stop thinking about how wonderful her life was shaping up to be. She smiled over at Marisol. Gabe caught her eye and winked at her as he smiled that slow, sexy smile he reserved just for her, still capable of making her blush, even after all they’d experienced last night in bed, not to mention this morning. Spending the entire night together for the first time had been extremely … memorable.