The Honeymoon Period (The Austin Series) (53 page)

‘Actually I’m
here with my partner and her name’s Lexi.’

‘Wow,’ he gasped
as he coughed and choked.

‘You’re
getting a visual right now, aren’t you?’ I laughed. What was it about men
loving the idea of two women together? When I thought of two men together it
really didn’t do it for me.

‘Yes, yes I
am,’ he nodded vigorously. ‘Sorry. Seriously you’re a … a …’

‘Lesbian
rug munching muff diver? Yes, that’s me,’ I nodded.

‘O my God,’
he replied with a slight groan. ‘Have you always been?’

‘Yes, just
never seen a guy that made me want to swing the other way, Dylan.’

‘I take it
she’s the butch one then as you’re … obviously not.’ His cheeks were scarlet as
he ran his eyes over my outfit, which I found quite amusing.

‘No, she’s
not butch either, tall and very attractive.’ I signalled the bartender again
and when he caught sight of my cleavage as I leaned on the bar he headed straight
over. ‘An Archers and lemonade please and another bottle of whatever he’s
having,’ I said as I nodded at Dylan, who was still standing with his mouth
open, gawping at me. I got my purse out and as I paid I asked for another for
me and knocked back the first and shook my head as the alcohol burned my
throat. I pocketed my change and smiled at Dylan as I picked up my second
drink.

‘It’s so
not my night. A hot girl who drinks
and
talks to me and she turns out to
be gay?’

‘Keep
trying Dylan, you seem sweet. It’ll happen one day.’ I knocked back my second
drink and kissed him on the cheek, which earned him a round of cheers from his
mates and I headed off for the dance floor, feeling a little tipsy with a warm
belly. I blushed as I saw some of the guys checking me out and just headed
straight onto the floor, found a space and started to dance, closing my eyes
and feeling the beat. Within a minute I felt a hand rub over my backside and
spun around and glared at the dark haired guy trying to gyrate behind me, he
held up his hands and moved away and a girl dancing next to me laughed.

‘Wow, you
need to show me how to pull off that scowl, I’m so sick of guys trying it on
without me giving them the green light,’ she shouted as she carried on dancing.

‘I know,
just because you’re dancing sexily it’s like they think you’re up for it,’ I
shouted back.

‘Great
outfit.’

‘Thanks,’ I
smiled. I carried on dancing and as the alcohol started taking its effect and became
slightly less inhibited and more pissed off as guys tried to come and grind on
me. By the time I’d given a fifth one a mouthful, I was beginning to think I
needed to pack it in and head back to the hotel and face the music. As I felt
another hand run along the small of my back I lost it, spun round and slapped
the guy and stepped back covering my mouth, horrified. It was Gabe, who stood
teeth gritted rubbing his face, again.

‘Is this
going to be a theme of the evening, Mia?’ he growled.

‘Shit, I’m
so
sorry, I thought you were another pervert,’ I yelled over the music.

‘Another?’

‘Yes,’ I
grimaced. ‘How mad are you?’

‘About what,
Mia? At you slapping me, twice, running off without telling me where you were
going, or ignoring my phone calls?’

‘Hand me a
number two pencil and I’ll answer D, all of the above. I’m still mad too though
you know, you shut me out, called me a hooker and threw me over your shoulder
in public.’

‘I didn’t
call you a hooker.’

‘You
implied it.’

‘You didn’t
let me finish, I was going to say like sex on legs.’

‘Really?’ I
asked with my hands on my hips as I scowled at him.

‘Yes, but I
need to upgrade that now I see what you’re actually wearing.’ He stepped
forward purposefully and grabbed me by the waist, yanking me tightly against
him. I sighed as I breathed him in and felt this toned body under his tightly
fitted black shirt pressing against me. He ran a hand up my bare back and lay
his cheek against mine and I felt my body go to jelly. ‘I’m so sorry baby, I
was an ass. Please forgive me and dance with me.’

‘No, happy
as I am that you’re here, I don’t know what I’m forgiving, Gabe. What did I do?’

‘Nothing
baby, it’s me. Don’t be mad at me,’ he begged as he looked at me and smoothed
my hair back behind my ear.

‘You shut
me out Gabe,
again
, then you embarrassed me and scared me with your
temper and I still don’t understand why.’

‘Because I
love you so much, Mia. I’ve just loved having this time alone with you and the
thought of it ending and me taking you back somewhere that’s not safe, where I
can’t protect you twenty-four-seven has really hit me hard. I was watching the
news in the bar before you came down and they showed the latest murder at home and
it has me really scared.’

‘So instead
of enjoying our last night together, you decided to get all grumpy and
controlling?’

‘Yes,’ he
said in a low voice looking sheepishly at me.

‘You’re an
arse, Gabe. How can we live together if you can’t even talk to me when you’re
having a freak out? You agreed we’d share stuff and you were dragging me back
up to that room to fuck me into submission to try and avoid that, that’s not
playing fair. You have a go at me when I try and do that.’

‘You said I
was cold, I wasn’t cold inside, Mia. I constantly burn on the inside I want you
that badly, that’ll never change.’ He put his forehead on mine and rubbed my
nose and I could feel the heat of his breath on my lips.

‘Whatever
you feel on the inside you need to show me Gabe, I’m not a mind reader. You’re
normally so open with me and can’t keep your eyes or your hands off me, how did
you think I’d react when I found you like that, when you acted like that? It
hurt me.’

‘I’m so
sorry. I’m here now, what can I do to make it up to you? Don’t let me ruin an
otherwise perfect weekend,’ he pleaded. I pulled his arm off me and stepped
back and looked at him. People were gyrating all around us, the heat in the
club was intense, but I could feel a wall of it shimmering between the two of
us as he stood there, his broad chest expanding and contracting as he looked at
me.

He was drop
dead gorgeous with his smouldering eyes burning right through me. This time I
could see how much he wanted me, he was desperate, he looked like a starved man
at a banquet and I was his all you can eat buffet. It made my insides ignite, I
didn’t care how much of an arse he could be, I just wanted his arms around me,
his lips on mine, his body pressed up against me. I launched myself at him,
jumping up onto his hips, gripping him around the neck and our teeth clashed as
we locked lips. I felt his hands gripping my buttocks and his erection pressed
so tightly into my crotch I could swear he was actually almost inside me. I
groaned in his mouth, partly in frustration that I could let him sway me so
easily with his raw sex appeal.

‘O God
baby, I love you, I love you so much,’ he groaned as he lay waste to my mouth,
I was going to pass out if he carried on. I unhooked my legs and sunk back to
the floor and spun around in his arms and started to grind my backside into him,
as I moved to the pounding rhythm. I sighed happily as he splayed his hands on
my hips and moved with me. He buried his face in my neck as we danced, his
breathing heavy and ragged, it was hot, so hot, I could feel his desire
radiating off him. The fact that he could dance like this, so sexily, made me
want him even more.

‘God, you
can dance well,’ I sighed.

‘You too,
and just like our first time,’ he whispered in my ear. We’d danced like this,
after all the foreplay outside of Fazeleys and I’d wanted him just as badly
then. I reached behind me and grabbed his buttocks pulling him onto me even
tighter and he sighed as I worked my backside over his erection.

‘Seriously,
you’ve knickers with more material baby, you’re so damn hot,’ he groaned. ‘I
went commando for you.’

‘O God,’ I
whimpered. ‘I need a drink.’

‘I need you,’
he snarled, spinning me around and thrusting one leg between mine, making me
ride it as his hips circled against me. The friction of his leg through the
thin material was stimulating me and I closed my eyes and parted my lips.

‘Gabe,’ I
whispered.

‘I know
baby, I can see it all over your face. Feel it, give into it, I can tell you
want to.’

I started
to flex my pelvis as we moved, I rode his thigh up and down and left to right
as he directed the rest of my body to follow his in perfect rhythm with the
pounding music. I reached up and clasped the back of his neck and let him slip
his tongue into my mouth again and his kiss tipped me over the edge. As I climaxed
he lowered me backwards, bent over me, then swung me back up again as I shook
in his arms. He held me tightly against him and I lay my head on his shoulder,
stroking his neck over and over until he started groaning, let go of me and
grabbed my hand and took me to the bar. He pressed my back into it and anchored
me with his hips as his thumb stroked the side of my breast. I pressed my cheek
to his chest as he ordered two bottles of water, before tugging on my hair to
force me to look up at him so he could kiss me vigorously again. I still felt
slightly limp and intoxicated from his proximity as we moved out of the way of
the people waiting to be served and Gabe opened both bottles and handed one to
me.

‘You ok
baby?’

‘I think so.’

‘You think
so? Are you still mad with me?’

‘I’m going
to be mad with you for days, Gabe,’ I replied as I glugged back a load of
water.

‘Well, me
too. What were you thinking coming out on your own? And wearing nearly nothing?
You want me to trust you and then you go and do something stupid like this.’ He
surveyed me as he drank some of his water waiting for my reaction.

‘Do we have
to fight again? We’d gone all weekend without fighting until you got all
miserable.’

‘I don’t want
to fight either Mia, but we need to talk and I’m not doing it here where I’m
being bumped into and guys are brazen enough to try coping a feel of your arse
as you stand here with me.’

‘We could
try the VIP area, I have the card from that woman last night.’

‘Fine, take
my hand and bring your water,’ he ordered. I walked behind him, his hand
clutching mine tightly as we weaved through the crowds. As we approached the
VIP area I rummaged for the woman’s business card, Etta, that was her name. One
of the three bouncers at the entrance looked us up and down and smiled when I showed
him her card and said that we’d been invited and he let us straight through.
She must have some serious pull in here and it seemed a bit excessive to have
so many bouncers on the door. It was a two storey section and on the ground
floor all of the seats were taken, so Gabe lead me upstairs where we found
another very plush area with a long bar and a glass balustrade overlooking the
dance floor below. He found an empty seat as far from everyone else as he
could. He sat down and pulled me onto his lap, his arms tightly around my waist
and rubbed his nose up and down my arm.

‘So,’ I
said as I drank some more water.

‘So,’ he
replied as he looked at me. His gaze was so intense, it felt like someone had
sucked all of the air out of the room. We sat looking at each other and I could
feel the sexual tension arcing between us.

‘Someone
needs to say something,’ I whispered breathlessly.

‘I worry
about you baby. I worry so much and you don’t seem to get how your behaviour
causes me so much distress.’

‘I don’t
want to play the childish you started it game Gabe, but I hadn’t done anything
wrong when I came down to the bar, you were being really mean for no reason,’ I
countered. He closed his eyes and chewed on his lip, I could tell he was trying
to stay calm as his fingers stretched and stroked my side before he looked back
at me.

‘Not
without reason Mia, you proved that tonight by running off on your own. You
seem to have a total disregard for your own safety. If you were single that
would be fine, but you aren’t, we’re a couple and we need to think about the
impact of our actions on each other.’

‘You
weren’t thinking about that when you closed me out earlier, you can’t lecture
me when you don’t follow your own rules, Gabe.’

‘Ok, I
accept that I was out of order, so how about we draw a line under tonight and
agree how we move forward.’

‘I’m
listening.’ I was listening, but I was also finding his fingers on my skin and
his sensuous lips so close to mine very distracting. I tucked my hair behind my
ear and took a few deep breaths.

‘I need you
to understand how much I worry about you baby. I can’t change that, it is what
it is and I need you to accept that and do as I ask when it comes to taking
care of yourself.’

‘Ok,’ I
swigged some more water and absentmindedly starting playing with the buttons on
his tight black shirt. His shoulders and arms looked so good in it, so strong,
and I loved the way he left a few buttons undone, just enough to give me a
glimpse down to the top of his smooth firm chest. I wanted to undo those
buttons and run my tongue over one of his solid pecs, kiss the hollow in his
throat and lick all the way …