The Honeymoon Period (The Austin Series) (52 page)

I shrugged
it on and did up the black leather belt that it came with and looked in the
mirror, it stopped mid-thigh, but looked as if I was wearing nothing under it,
still it looked good and it was lovely and soft and warm. I headed down in the lift
and walked through the double doors to the bar, he was sitting at it sideways
on and again I was hit with a wave of desire for him. He was wearing his new
grey jeans and black leather bomber, with a black shirt and his favourite
square toed black oxfords. Add in his roughed up slightly gelled blond hair, well,
he looked so sexy. I wondered if it was possible for me to love him any more,
but when he looked up at me with his piercing blue eyes and his amazing, if
slightly restrained smile, I realised that it was. His smile soon faded as he
scanned down my coat and then looked back up at me and raised his eyebrows as I
walked over.

‘You’re
really working the bad boy in leather look, it’s incredibly hot,’ I smiled as I
leaned in and kissed his cheek.

‘You’re
really working the
I’m not wearing any clothes under my coat look,
Mia.
Do you actually have anything on under there?’ he scowled.

‘Yes, what’s
wrong? I thought you liked my legs and I’m wearing my lovely new coat you left
out for me,’ I hopped up onto the barstool and crossed my legs and watched his
eyes run up them. He frowned even more to see my coat had ridden up and he
still couldn’t see any clothing.

‘I do love
them, but do you need to show quite as much of them?’ he grumbled. I just smiled
at him and turned to the bartender and asked for a double archers and lemonade,
which earned me another dark look. Crap, if he was cross now what was he going
to be like when I took the coat off.

‘Gabe, I’m
only showing what hundreds of other girls my age show on a night out clubbing.’

‘I don’t
care Mia, I don’t care what other girls do, I don’t like my girl going out with
virtually nothing on,’ he snapped.

‘You’re out
with
me for goodness sake,’ I sighed with a roll of my eyes and he made
an annoyed grunting '
hmphhhh
’ noise.

‘Don’t get
any ideas of going out looking like that without me, because it’s never going
to bloody happen.’

‘Unacceptable
Gabe,’ I sighed. ‘You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t wear.’

‘Must you
challenge
every
fucking request I make, Mia?’ he glared.

‘O my God,’
I groaned and took a deep breath. I didn’t want to argue, but it seemed like he
wanted to pick a fight with me tonight and I’d no idea why. ‘You’ve been grumpy
ever since you woke up tonight, Gabe. First about coming out, then my food
selection, now my dress sense, drink choice and ability to make my own
decisions. What the hell’s going on?’

‘Nothing.’
He lifted his pint and drank most of it in one go.

‘
Gabe
,
even if I didn’t know you I’d know something was wrong. You have a crease in
your forehead from over frown. Talk to me, we aren’t in a rush.’

‘I said I’m
fine.’

‘Have I
done something to upset you?’ I asked as I ran my fingers through the side of
his hair. I smiled as he started to lean into it, but then he stopped abruptly
and picked up his beer and finished it.

‘No. Seriously,
are you wearing any clothes under there?’

I stuck my
tongue out at him and was rewarded with a brief smile before he got up off his
stool and announced he was going to the toilet. I thanked the bartender for my
drink and asked for another one, plus another for Gabe and settled the bill. I
quickly drained my first drink and passed the empty glass back so Gabe wouldn’t
know I was on my second. I’d a feeling I may need a few more if he was going to
stay so taciturn and moody for the rest of the night. I swivelled to face the
toilets and watched him walk out, he really was an incredibly handsome guy and
at six foot one, with his physique, he turned heads as he walked. I smiled, I
loved that he drew so much attention and paid none back, usually it was focussed
on me, but tonight it was on the floor.

I spun back
around as he walked past and sat back on his stool. I uncrossed my legs and
reached between his, grabbed his seat and pulled him closer to me so his legs
were either side of mine, clasped his chin, leaned in and kissed him. I sensed
some resistance initially, which cut me to the core, but I persisted nibbling
his lower lip until I heard a gentle sigh. His hand went up behind my head and
he opened his lips and let my tongue flit in and out. I ran my hand up his
thigh and tested he was hard with the tip of my finger, before pulling away as
he started to respond to my kiss more vigorously. I looked at his eyes and saw
some of the heat and lust had returned.

‘So I’ve
just established that you’re still turned on by me, so are you going to tell me
why you’re all grumpy and cold?’

‘Cold?’ he
asked, looking puzzled as he picked up his beer.

‘Yes,
yesterday you looked at me like you wanted to rip off my dress and take me on
the bar, tonight nothing until I just kissed you into showing some positive emotion
toward me.’

‘That’s
unfair, Mia.’ His brow creased heavily with a serious frown.

‘Is it?’

‘If you’re
saying I show no emotion toward you then yes, it’s fucking unfair,’ he snapped
talking a number of glugs from his pint glass.

‘Well, I
guess you getting angry is better than you being indifferent all night,’ I
replied as I picked up my drink.

‘Indifferent?’
he choked. ‘Are you deliberately trying to piss me off?’ he asked. I drank half
of my drink as I watched him over the rim of the glass and saw his eyes
blazing.

‘I’d rather
fight with you Gabe, than have you sit there telling me everything’s fine, when
I can clearly see that it’s not.’

‘Maybe I’m
just not in the mood for talking, Mia,’ he sighed as he ran his hand through
his hair, exasperated.

‘What
happened, Gabe? We were fine earlier, I turn up down here and you've turned all
miserable. ’

‘Christ, what
is it with women and needing to talk all the damn time?’

‘Are you in
the mood for clubbing or would you prefer to go back to bed?’

‘Bed,’ he
replied without hesitation and gave me a look that said he wasn’t talking about
going to sleep. Well, if he thought he could shut me out, ruin the night out
I’d been looking forward to, then fuck his annoyance out, he’d another think
coming. I knocked back my drink and stood up as he called for the bill. Shit,
that would get him even more cross. I started walking toward the hotel lobby, but
with his long strides he caught up with me in seconds. ‘You paid the bloody
bill, Mia? Jesus, you’re really pushing my buttons tonight,’ he grabbed my hand
and pulled me quite roughly toward the lifts until I dug my heels in and
snatched my hand out of his. He snapped his head around to look at me.

‘You wanted
to go to bed Gabe, I never said I was coming with you. I’ve been looking
forward to going out all day, I’m dressed up and I’m going. Go and sleep off
whatever’s eating at you, because I give up if you’re not going to talk to me.’

‘If you
think for a minute I’m letting you out without me, let alone dressed like …
like …’

‘Like what,
Gabe?’ I stood with my hands on my hips, he was really rattling
my
cage
now and I could feel the steam building up. We’d just had an amazing couple of
days with no arguments and now he was like bear with a sore head. ‘Go on, say
what you really think. Please, I’m dying to hear
exactly
what you think
I look like.’

‘Don’t make
a scene, we’re in public,’ he hissed.

‘Too late,
you started it. What’s wrong? You embarrassed your girlfriend looks like a hooker?’

‘I never
said that, Mia.’

‘You didn’t
need to, Gabe. So it’s fine for me to be dirty and sexy when it suits you, but
when you aren’t in the mood I have to toe the line and reign it in?’

‘Mia, not
here, please,’ he snapped. ‘Up in the room, now.’

‘No, I’m
going clubbing.’

‘Mia,’ he
snarled and I saw a warning flash across his face.

‘No, you’re
angry and I can see you’ve got a hard on. You’ll try and give me one of your
punishment fucks and make me forget I’m mad with you and distract me from
whatever’s going on with you. I thought we were over this, I thought you were
over whatever had been bugging you at home. Unless you talk to me and tell me
why you’re so upset and angry with me then I’m not going up there.’

‘Yes you
fucking
are,’ he growled. He grabbed my arm, yanked me to him and before I knew it I
was over his bloody shoulder again, kicking my legs as he strode to the lifts
and pressed the call button.

‘Put. Me. Down,’
I shouted slapping his bottom ineffectually with my bag. ‘How
dare
you,’
I hissed. We were in a posh hotel lobby, which was littered with well to do
people and he was man handling me like a sack of potatoes. He walked forward as
I struggled and only set me down as the lift doors closed, I was so angry I whipped
my hand back and slapped him across the face. I don’t know if I was more
shocked at doing it, or him as he glowered open mouthed at me and rubbed his cheek.
I gulped at the look on his face, it scared me. I retreated to the opposite
corner, looking down at my feet until we approached the top floor and he
grabbed my arm, steered me into our suite and slammed the door.

He pushed
me down onto the sofa and I landed sprawled on my back and quickly scrambled up
into the corner and looked up at him, wishing I hadn’t. He had the same furious
face Kai used to have, when he flew into a rage. He stood over me glaring with
both hands on his hips and I looked down at the floor. I wasn’t apologising, he
was out of order, he could apologise first. I heard him throw himself in the
armchair and sigh and we sat in silence for ages before he got up and helped
himself to a drink from the minibar and headed into the bedroom. I made an on
the spot rash decision and bolted to the main door, shutting it quietly behind
me and called the lift, cursing as I watched the numbers slowly climbing up as
I glanced back at our door. I hopped in when it arrived, pressed for the lobby
and quickly strode to the main door, just in time to see a black taxi dropping
someone off and asked the driver if he’d take me to Obsession. I jumped in and
leaned back on the seat and closed my eyes and exhaled heavily.

‘All right
love?’

‘I will be
with a few drinks and a dance in me,’ I sighed as I opened them and smiled at
him in the rear view mirror. I pondered sending Gabe a text, but I was so upset
at him I decided to let him stew, it wasn’t like he couldn’t find me if he
really wanted to anyway. I paid the cabbie and joined the queue outside the
club and looked up at the dark sky. What the hell was I thinking, coming to a
club on my own, in a strange city? I wouldn’t even go out on my own in my own small
home town, let alone Westhampton, but to do it here? I pondered getting a taxi
back, but when faced with the prospect of either sitting in seething silence
with him or having a blazing row, neither option seemed preferable to having a
few drinks and dancing out my frustration so I decided to stay.

I checked my
watch, it was nearly midnight and I wondered if it was too late to call Lexi. I
dug my phone out and saw seven missed calls from Gabe and it started ringing
again as I looked at it. I swore and pressed ignore and rang Lexi’s mobile, but
it went to answer machine, so I hung up without leaving a message and turned
off the ringer. I shivered as I worked my way up to the door and smiled as I
was let in and felt my stomach twist in nervous knots at how Gabe was going to
react. I shrugged off my new jacket and left it with the cloakroom attendant,
carefully zipping up the receipt in my wristlet. I could feel my skin starting
to vibrate with the noise of the music and gasped as I made my way in and it
hit me. At least I no longer felt cold as I joined the throngs and made my way
to the bar. I leaned on it lifting up one heel after another as I waited
patiently for my turn. A young guy on my left looked at me and smiled, so I
smiled politely back.

‘Hi, Dylan,’
he said, outstretching his hand.

‘Ermmm, Mia,’
I replied holding out mine. What was it up here with all the handshaking with
strangers?

‘Can I get
you a drink, Mia?’

‘No, I’m
good, thanks.’

‘You’re not
good. You don’t have one and you’re queuing at a bar,’ he smiled. ‘Let me get
you one.’

‘Honestly
it’s ok, I can get my own. I don’t want you to feel taken advantage of when you
realise that I’m not available.’

‘Now I’m
definitely getting you one. A girl who’s honest and doesn’t want to take a guy
for a free ride is a rarity in this club.’

‘That bad?’
I laughed.

‘Like you
wouldn’t believe, most girls flirt and get you to buy them drinks and then
bugger off.’

‘That’s
awful,’ I uttered, shocked.

‘So
unavailable Mia, who are you here with? Boyfriend? Or the girls?’ he asked as
he signalled the bartender that we were still waiting. I studied him and
decided to go with the easy option and lie to put him off. I didn’t want him to
know I was alone, but equally I didn’t want to be mean, he seemed quite sweet.