The Honeymoon Period (The Austin Series) (57 page)

‘I love you
too, so much that I don’t want this weekend to end.’

‘Neither do
I baby. I can always change the flights and we could stay longer.’

‘No,’ I
sighed heavily. ‘I only have a couple of weeks of classes left and then we have
three weeks off. We can spend it at home instead of you spending all this
money, besides I want to see how the apartment’s getting on and I
really
miss Lexi and can’t wait to see her tonight. What time do we need to leave the
room?’

‘Not until
the driver comes at one-thirty, I made sure we could stay in the room longer.’

‘Thank you,
other than the arguments last night it’s been a magical few days,’ I kissed his
chest again and ran my fingers over his heart, feeling my core clenching,
desperate to do more.

‘You’re
welcome baby and it really has, but we can have more holidays together,’ he
said as he kissed my hair and suddenly pulled away and got up. I watched him
walk to the lounge and then return, my eyes were instantly drawn to his
erection, tenting his boxers. ‘Here Mia, cover your lustful eyes with these chilled
spoons while I go and order food and then have a cold shower to calm myself
down.’

‘Thanks,’ I
smiled and sighed and lay down and held them as instructed and tried to put the
image of his wet, naked, perfect body out of my mind.

We spent
the rest of the morning in bed. We ate breakfast and then lay on our sides
facing each other and holding hands while we talked, before reluctantly packing
and heading back to the airport. I fell asleep on his shoulder during the
flight and he woke me up just before landing, playing with my stack rings on my
fingers.

‘Hi,’ he
smiled.

‘Hi, sorry
have I been out long?’

‘Since take
off, I enjoyed watching you sleep. You need more of it baby to recharge. No
more late nights until you’re feeling better, ok?’ he said and I nodded. ‘I
notice that you wear these rings a lot, what do you like so much about them?’

I looked
down at the four rings on my right hand that he was swivelling around my
finger. ‘I don’t know, I like that they have really thin bands and I just love
that they’re so sparkly.’

‘You love
sparkly things?’

‘Of course,
what girl doesn’t?’ I smiled as I looked back at him. ‘Sparkly jewellery,
makeup, fairy lights, Christmas trees. Sparkle’s just magical.’

He laughed
and hugged me to him as we touched down. I looked up at his handsome face, we’d
not even kissed on the lips since last night and I was finding it really hard.

Riley was waiting
for us with a warm welcome and loaded the bags in the car and whisked us, at
Riley’s version of whisking, which was actually below average speed, back to my
apartment. Gabe and I stood on the pavement and looked up at the building, the
scaffolding was still up, but the yellow tube and skip had gone. He squeezed my
hand tightly and smiled at me and we headed in and slowly made our way upstairs
dragging our cases behind us.

‘Shit, I’ll
be glad when I can use both arms again,’ he moaned as we reached the top. ‘You
ok baby?’

‘Yes
thanks, I packed light.’

‘Come on
then, let’s go in and unpack and say hi to Lexi, then I want to look at the
apartment and see what’s happened.’

‘Ok, then
I’ll need to have a shower and get ready.’

‘You’re
still going out?’ he asked and I could hear the bristle in his tone.

‘Yes,
please don’t start,’ I said giving him a look as I unlocked the door. I was
nearly bowled over by Lexi hurtling from the lounge and launching herself at
me. ‘Lex,’ I laughed as she clutched me.

‘What? I
missed
you.’

‘I missed
you too. I have a present in my case for you.’ I hugged her back tightly and
was surprised when she let me go and went and gave Gabe a hug too. He looked
equally surprised as he hugged her back and looked at me over her shoulder.

‘You ok,
Lex?’ I asked as she let him go.

‘What, I
can’t miss both of you? He’s here most of the time and I’ve not had a decent
meal since you went away, Doug can’t bloody cook either. I’m so looking forward
to catching up, Mia. We’re still going out tonight, right?’ she asked looking
at me. I looked at Gabe and Lexi looked around at him too. ‘Right Gabe, she’s
still coming out with me?’

‘Yes,’ he
sighed. ‘But you keep your phones on, stick together and let me know when you’re
ready to come home and I’ll pick you up, ok?’

‘Deal,’ she
grinned and grabbed my case off me and took it into my bedroom.

‘Thank
you,’ I tiptoed up and kissed his cheek. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘I’ll drop
you in then go back to mine and take some of my stuff back.’

‘You aren’t
going to stay with me?’ I asked dreading the answer.

‘Of course
I am, try stopping me,’ he replied making me smile again.

We unpacked
and I loaded up the washing machine, amazed to see the laundry basket was
empty, it seemed Lexi had actually done some, then Gabe and I went to have a
look at the new apartment. The windows had been removed and boards put over the
holes and the stud walls were up creating the bedroom, dressing room, bathroom
and the utility and larder. It cheered me up to walk around and have Gabe holding
my hand, talking excitedly about where our furniture was going to go. I left
him making notes and went to shower and get ready to go out.

I left my
hair in loose waves and just put on some mascara and very thin eyeliner. My
eyes were still a bit swollen so I didn’t want to draw too much attention to
them, so I put on a tightly fitted, short black shirt dress leaving the top
buttons daringly low, a wide brown buckle belt, my black over the knee socks
and my black leather ankle military boots and a brown trilby and knocked on
Lexi’s door.

‘Ready when
you are, Lex.’

‘Ok, give
me five,’ she called. I headed into the lounge and found him on the Xbox.

‘Hi, we’re
nearly ready to go if that’s ok with you?’

‘Sure.’ He
turned around and stood up really quickly and put his hands on his hips. I
tensed up knowing what was coming. ‘You seem to have forgotten some trousers and
lost some buttons, Mia,’ he scowled.

‘No, this
is my going out outfit,’ I said firmly.

‘If you think
I’m letting you out dressed like that without me, you’ve got another think
coming.’

‘You may be
my boyfriend Gabe, but as an individual in my own right I get to choose what I
wear, not you, and I’m not going to have another argument about it. Just because
we’re dating, I’m not going to stop dressing the way I’ve always dressed. I
promise you that men will look at me, men may even chat me up, just as I’m sure
women try to do to you when you’re out without me, but I won’t do anything
about it because I’m in love with you, so end of discussion.’

‘
Mia,’
he growled, the anger showing in his eyes. ‘I want you to go and change.’

‘Or what?
You’ll ground me, lock me in the house and banish me to my room?’ I replied,
with a roll of my eyes.

‘Don’t
bloody tempt me.’

‘Ok I’ll
make you deal. I’ll go and put some jeans on to hide my legs and do up a few
buttons on my shirt if you promise to wear a full wet suit every time you go
swimming so women can’t see your legs or chest either. How does that sound?’ I gave
him a fake smile, knowing he’d have difficulty in arguing that logic. His eyes
flashed and I heard him mutter something under his breath. ‘So do I need to
book a taxi if you’re going to refuse to take us?’ I asked. He just stood
looking at me and I could see he was trying to breathe slowly to calm himself
down as he ran his hands through his hair.

‘No, but if
I find out
one
fucker has laid a finger on you, Mia … so help me God,
I’ll … I’ll …
fuck,
you infuriate me sometimes.’

‘So can we
go then, please?’ I asked with a sweet smile. He stalked past me and grabbed
his case.

‘I’ll pull
up at the front,’ he snapped and marched off.

‘Great,’ I sighed.
So much for the no arguments agreement. The bliss of Edinburgh and my happy
relaxed Gabe seemed well and truly behind us. I smiled as Lexi came out in her
tight black jeans and an emerald green shirt that really set off her eyes,
which she’d done really dark. ‘You look good, Lex.’

‘You too. The
skimpy shirt, eh? Pulling out the big seduction guns. Didn’t you get enough sex
all weekend?’

‘So much
I’m amazed I can still walk Lex, but we’ve some serious catching up to do. We’d
better go down, he’s pulling up the car and he’s seriously unhappy about us
going out, let alone my outfit.’

‘O my God,’
she gasped as she clutched my chin and lifted my face to hers. ‘What’s wrong
with your eyes? Have you been crying?’

‘All night.
You’ve only just noticed?’

‘I was too
excited to see you before to notice. What’s happened?’

‘That’s the
serious catching up part, Lex. Do they look that bad?’ I asked with a nervous
nibble of my lower lip.

‘Probably
not to someone who doesn’t know you. Do I need to punch him?’

‘No,’ I
laughed. ‘We just had a big fight and I was just as much to blame as him, so no
punching required, but he’s not in the best of moods so please don’t antagonise
him.’

‘Fine, but
I want the whole story as soon as we’re alone.’

I could
feel the tension all the way to Princes Street where he dropped us off. Lexi
walked further up the road to give us some privacy and I turned to look at him
as he shut the passenger door.

‘I can get
a taxi home if you need a rest, Gabe? You’re obviously tired as you’re exceptionally
grumpy again.’

‘I
am
tired, tired and bloody frustrated, Mia. Why not just go out in your nipple
tassels and crotchless knickers and let everyone know you’re available?’ he
grumbled, looking like a sulky child.

‘
Gabe,
I’m
not
available, I’m yours. You’d prefer I go out in a sack and feel
bad about myself?’

‘I’d prefer
you don’t go out at all Mia, but you never listen to anything I tell you.’

‘Please
don’t start,’ I sighed. ‘Am I allowed to kiss you goodbye or is that breaking
one of your new rules?’

‘Cheek
only.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Yes, you
look hot and I’m stiff so I’m already frustrated enough without you kissing me
into a frenzy,’ he said with another glare at me. I sighed shaking my head and
kissed his cheek and he pulled me to him tightly, burying his face in my neck.

‘Gabe, I’m
only out for a few hours, I’ll see you later.’

‘No going
off on your own Mia, you ring me if you need me and you …’

‘Gabe, I
know the drill, ok,’ I interrupted. ‘I’m going to be fine. Lexi and I need a long
overdue catch up so we’ll probably hunker down somewhere comfortable to talk.
I’ll ring you when we’re ready to come home, ok?’

‘I love you,’
he said as he looked at me sadly. At least some of the anger had gone.

‘I love you
too, now go, and no lifting your case with your right arm, ok?’ I kissed his
cheek again, pulled away and caught up with Lexi and waved as he drove past.

‘Ok?’

‘I need
alcohol Lex, and
lots
of it,’ I replied as I linked arms and we headed
into the nearest cocktail bar. We found a small booth and Lexi ordered a pint
of beer and I ordered a jug of Pina Colada. I updated her on my weekend,
including the argument and sex ban.

‘You’re
joking, right?’ she spluttered through her second pint.

‘No, he’s
deadly serious. We haven’t even kissed since last night.’

‘How the
hell does he think he’s going to manage that? I mean you had sex about twenty
times in three bloody days and then that’s it? Nothing until he says it’s time
again?’

‘I know,’ I
shrugged and shook my head as I huffed out, exasperated.

‘I give it
one day,
at max
, no way he can keep it in his pants,’ she said shaking
her head.

‘Don’t,
you’re just depressing me even more. I mean, I know why he’s doing it. I’m the
one panicking it’s all about sex so he’s taking it out of the equation. I get
it, I just don’t like it. Talk to me, where are you at with Doug?’

‘Well,
since we started fucking we’ve virtually done every position in the Kama Sutra,
on every surface in the apartment, with the exception of your bedroom,’ she
added quickly, ‘but still no orgasm without stimulation.’

‘Really?
You’re not still faking it are you?’

‘Of course
I am. It’s been a whole month of sex, I can’t not fake it.’

‘O God,
Lexi.’

‘It’s so bloody
frustrating. We get on great, I really enjoy spending time with him. Kissing’s
amazing, foreplay and oral’s great, but nothing during.’

‘Is it his
size?’ I asked as I emptied my jug.