It was late Sunday afternoon, the storm was long over and Gabe's mission for the day was convincing his homebody girl to go out for dinner. They had been pleasantly cooped up for much of the weekend, getting to know each other in ways that hadn't been possible before. But they needed to have a real conversation without getting distracted by each other.
"I need to pick up some clothes. Are we going out or are we going out out?" Natalia asked with a hand on her hip.
"Is this a weird British thing? Why do you think saying the same thing twice makes it clearer?"
She rolled her eyes. "Can we order in, then?"
"No. We're going out. Just throw something on and don't take hours."
"You still haven't answered my question."
"Because you didn't ask a real question. Now, go before we lose our reservation."
"Reservation? Okay, that's all you had to say," Natalia said excitedly, rushing out of the room.
She found her keys on the hallway table, where Gabe had put them after locking the house up.
"Where are you going?" She asked him as he followed behind her, with an arch of her eyebrow. She usually pencilled her brows in, but Gabe preferred seeing her lighter, natural brows. Her fresh face devoid of makeup was heartachingly beautiful.
Gabe looked pointedly at her feet and he watched her as she remembered with a blossoming blush that he had carried her to his place. He was surprised that she would blush around him, given that he had seen her in all manner of states in the last 36 hours. It was unbelievably cute. He found himself smiling goofily at her.
"Ugh! You're so annoying, do you know that?" She pushed her feet into his size 11 sneakers by the door and marched out of the house.
Gabe watched her with great amusement, as he often did, as she stomped with difficulty down the street walking in shoes that dwarfed her. She looked like a clown. A beautiful clown. His clown. His laugh carried down towards her, only making her stomp with more vigour. He hoped she didn't trip.
Gabe took a shower as he waited for Natalia to return. He'd suggested that they go out for a meal so that they could talk away from the temptation of being alone with each other. Currently, there hasn't been much conversation going on. He wanted a chance to clear the air and make sure that they were good. He wanted wholeheartedly for this relationship to work out, and he was going to try by starting with healthy communication.
Natalia appeared about an hour later, letting herself in through the unlocked front door, finding Gabe in front of the television, channel hopping as he waited for her.
He smelled her first, the scent of her vanilla body wash, body lotion and her perfume swirling in the room around her.
She was dressed in a white off the shoulder blouse and light wash blue jeans. Her hair was up in a high fluffy bun with ringlets cascading down her face, pulled back by a multicolored scarf. She was still fresh faced, Gabe could only pick out that she was wearing lipgloss, but then again he wasn't an expert on makeup. He stared, transfixed, still getting used to the many versions of her beauty.
"You ready?" He asked.
She nodded. Gabe moved off the couch and grabbed his wallet and keys, pulling Natalia with him by the hand.
"This feels like a first date." She commented in the truck as he drove them to their destination. She had picked out the music for their ride, some hipster, breathy R&B that she swore by. If it kept the dreamy grin on her face, Gabe couldn't say that he minded.
"Except tonight's a sure thing." Gabe grinned at her with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows. Their banter was light, lighter than it had ever been. A comfortable give and take. It made the conversation that they needed to have much harder, he didn't want to lose how easy it was being together.
She laughed, rolling her eyes but he saw the hitch of her breath, when she thought that he wasn't looking. She was so responsive to him. His touches, his words. She accepted everything that he gave, so easily and magnified it.
Parking up outside the restaurant, he helped her exit the cab of his car, using that as an excuse to wrap his arms around her waist and sniff her scent, straight from the source. He kissed her neck and she melted into his arms, her breathy gasps blowing hot air into his ear. Suddenly he was regretting his insistence on going out. They should have stayed at home so he could memorise and codify all her reactions each time he touched her.
"You might have been right," Gabe said, adjusting himself in his new uncomfortable state.
"We've discussed this, I'm always right," she sniffed.
"And humble too." Gabe turned her around in his arms so she was tucked into his side with an arm slung around her shoulder.
The hostess seated them in the Italian restaurant. It was decorated in a Mediterranean theme, with tiles, terracotta walls and plants everywhere. Gabe took in Natalia's pleased survey of the establishment, he had been a little nervous bringing her here, he wasn't even sure she liked Italian food.
"I'm having all the carbs," Natalia announced, perusing the menu. "I love Italian food."
Gabe snickered to himself knowing she was allowing herself free reign with the starch based food due to all the exercise she had been getting, sponsored by him of course. He looked over the menu himself to make a choice on what he wanted to eat.
The waitress arrived before they had a chance to pick their food. She stood close to Gabe and only addressed him with her greeting and introduction to the restaurant, her smile big and flirtatious.
"Are you ready to order?" Gabe asked Natalia. She answered that she had. The waitress's eyes did not budge from his face, even as Natalia spoke.
Once they had both ordered, the waitress left. She had hardly spoken a word to Natalia. Gabe knew that there was an undercurrent of something there. Both he and Natalia could pick up on it, but he didn't have the vocabulary to give it a name but it was very similar to what had gone down with Agnes.
Whilst objectively, Gabe knew that he was an attractive man. He was in good shape, tall and with average features, women always flirted and gravitated towards him. It was something he had gotten used to since puberty. But relentlessly flirting, despite being in the company of a woman he was clearly involved with and ignoring her was something new that he hadn't experienced before.
"I...owe you an apology."
Natalia paused taking a sip from her drink, she folded her hands on her lap and leaned back to listen.
Gabe fidgeted in his seat, knowing all her attention was on him and the words he was going to say. He wanted to make them pretty and meaningful, but he was also not used to apologising and in particular, baring his soul like this. His palms were actually sweaty.
"I should have recognised what was happening with Agnes and put a stop to it. I know we've never discussed what we are...." He sighed, that was also another conversation waiting to happen.
"I'm a lot of things, Nat, but a cheat isn't one of them. I'm sorry and I'll make sure it never happens again."
She looked pensive for a couple of moments. "Okay. Apology accepted."
"That's it?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Yeah. That's it. What, do you want a punishment?"
"No, it was just a lot simpler than I thought."
"I'm a reasonable person, Gabe. I won't unnecessarily hold on to a grudge, as long as you don't insult my intelligence."
"That's fair," Gabe conceded.
Their food arrived moments later, Gabe was used to Natalia commandeering his food as hers it came as no surprise when she abandoned her plate for his. He watched her with an indulgent smile, as she moaned around her fork, claiming the food was on par with the real Italian food she's had in Italy. He was glad that they had cleared the air. He had been nervous for nothing.
In the car, Natalia grumbled about tipping their rude waitress, as Gabe pulled out of their parking spot.
"It's just plain rude not to tip, babe," Gabe commented offhand, he wasn't really paying attention as he manoeuvred the car out of the weekend traffic that had built up.
"It's ruder still, to flirt with someone's man..."
" — your man?" Gabe pressed with a smirk, returning to the conversation with renewed interest.
"— in front of them and completely ignore their existence..." She swivelled her head round to address him. "Yes. My man. Is that okay with you?" She said like she was stating an indisputable fact and was offended at the very thought of having to make it.
"It's perfect."
"Good," She huffed, but he could see the corners of her full mouth turn up in a small hidden smile that played on her lips until they arrived back home in their neighborhood. The evening couldn't have gotten better. They were back on track and Gabe was pretty sure he had acquired a girlfriend.
"I've got some school work to do, why don't I catch up with you a bit later?"
"No." Came Gabe's reply. He had a bad case of the Sunday blues. Leaving their bubble was going to be hard enough come Monday, he wanted to stay as they were just a bit longer, with just them and without the outside world peeking in.
Natalia cocked her head to the side with a wry little smile and a full body shrug. "Well what do you propose we do?"
"Bring your stuff over and do whatever you need to do at mine."
"Really, you want me marking assignments with a face mask at your place?"
"I'd love nothing more."
She eyed him sceptically, but agreed. "Okay, I'll be back in a jiffy."
She found him in the kitchen making tea for her return. Gabe felt her arms around his midsection and her palms caressing his chest, her much shorter stature only coming up to the top middle of his back.
He pushed off the counter turning around in her arms, pulling her into a hug. She stood on her tip-toes with a sensual smile on her face and pressed a searing kiss to his lips. The kind that could resuscitate the clinically dead. Gabe didn't think he'd ever been on the receiving end of that much passion.
"Thank you for clearing up my living room and taping up the door," she said when she pulled away.
He'd completely forgotten about that. He had gone round to her house on early Saturday morning before she had woken up and he cleaned the broken glass, wet floor and had taped up the garden door with masking tape and cardboard. Then he slid back into bed, grateful to have a warm body to return to.
"Yeah? If that's all I had to do to get one of those kisses, I'd have broken it myself a long time ago," Gabe laughed, pulling her against him again.
Natalia giggled girlishly. "Now you know one of my love languages, my world is your oyster."
"Right, there has been one act of service that has been playing on my mind."
"What's that?" Natalia asked. He liked the look of mild apprehension on her expressive face.
"It's more a show than a tell," he smirked, leading her away from the kitchen. The mugs of tea lay cold and forgotten on the counter. They never came back for them.
"It's creepy to watch someone sleep," Natalia murmured sleepily mirroring a similar conversation they had a couple of days ago. She had become aware of his eyes on her a few moments ago, through the hazy fog of sleep.
"Not if you're in bed together," Gabe answered, far too alert for so early in the morning.
She was one of those people that could go right back to sleep if they just switched to a more comfortable position and could sleep the whole day away if she was allowed to. She looked at the bedside clock and it showed that it was 4 am. She still had hours before she had to get ready for work.
"Why are you awake right now?" She asked, closing her eyes back again and rolling over to find a better position, intending to go back to sleep. She hadn't gotten much last night and her eyes were burning with fatigue.
"This is when I usually get up."
She snuggled into his body burying her face into his bare chest. "You're living life wrong," her voice was muffled by his body and the covers.
"I guess I am," Gabe sighed, he ran a hand down her shoulders to the small of her back and rubbed small circles onto her skin. She heard the resignation in his voice and that caught her attention.
Natalia emerged from their cocoon. Propping herself up on her elbow, she gathered the covers around her to hide her breasts from his naked gaze. She couldn't concentrate when he looked at her like that, with green eyes darkened by lust and unfulfilled promises.
"Why can't you sleep, Gabi?" She ran her fingers over his stubbly cheek and his plump pink lips.
"Memories," he whispered, like the admission pained him.
"From the Marines?" Natalia's guessed. She knew he had deployed several times, but he never talked about his time in the military.
"Yeah."
"Do you want to talk about it?" She didn't have much experience with the military but she was a good listener. She knew behind the jovial, sarcastic man that she had been drawn to, lay real darkness. His eyes were haunted.
"Your little liberal heart wouldn't want to hear this."
"Don't. Don't do —"
"— it's true," he cut her off. "I've done some real bad things, none that I want to tell you about."
"Were those bad things done to survive?"
She saw his eyes drift to the corner of the room, and glaze over with a distant look, like he was trapped in a memory. He swallowed. "More or less."
"I don't care. I don't care what you did to survive in a dangerous place far from home. As long as you made it back here. To this moment. With me." She got quite teary in her impassioned speech, her voice taking on a quiver. The thought of Gabriel being in danger and dying in a faraway land made her heart seize with an intense emotion.
"C'mere, sweetheart." He pulled her down to lie on top of him, blanketing her body over his and wrapping his arms around her completely.
"You don't need to shield the ugly parts of you away from me, Gabe. I can take it."
"I know." He kissed her, long and deep, tonguing her mouth like it was the last morsel of a dessert.
His hands gripped her fleshy bottom, pressing her into his sizable length. She could feel it long and hard under her stomach. Her insides clenched at the memory of him, sliding deep into her, reaching places that she thought were beyond reach and making her feel immeasurable pleasure.
She needed him, again. Despite feeling sore from the previous nights. She would never get enough of him.
She gripped his erection in her hand, feeling the smooth, hot skin covering the thick hardness. He grunted into her neck, caught by surprise, his hips flexing into her hand. The tip was wet and she used that to lubricate her motions up and down.
Gabe covered her hand with his, stilling her motions mid stroke. "I need to be inside you," he told her.
Since she was closest, she did the honours of grabbing a rubber from the drawer, the box significantly emptier than it was before.
She watched his eyes flutter shut, his long eyelashes sweeping his cheekbones as she slowly slid the condom down him.
He slapped her arse cheek, the sound reverberated in the room, making her giggle. He did it again harder, making her gasp in surprise. "You're taking too long."
"Yes, Lieutenant." She laughed, her amusement cut short as she felt him at her entrance and as he began to stretch her for accommodation, lodging himself deep inside her.
"It's Captain, baby," he corrected with difficulty, as she started moving her hips back and forth. With deliberate slowness. She was starting to like this position, she felt in control and beautiful.
She liked watching the intense pleasure ripple across his face from this position, his gasps and moans, the jerk of his hips. The way that he grabbed her body, leaving marks, to cajole her into following his pace. Her big man, so used to being in control and being the one to give orders, falling apart under her. It was a drug.
She could feel herself climbing higher and higher up that totem pole of pleasure. Her insides clenched tightly around him as she violently orgasmed around his shaft and it was mirrored on his tightly clenched face. He pulled her down to smash their mouths together, when she had stopped contracting. His groans of pleasure dying on her lips.
One of his huge arms was around her back, whilst the other was around her waist, he had brought his knees up, and the pace now belonged solely to him. Quick, hard thrusts pistoned into her from below. He was done playing around.
Her pleasure was building up again a second time, she felt herself shaking in anticipation, feeling like she was standing under a tidal wave, waiting to be swept away into oblivion. And when it hit it was like nothing she had ever felt before. Every muscle of her lower body bowed and she convulsed in his arms for what felt like hours. Could you die from an orgasm? Why did the French call it a small death when in fact it felt like the most dramatic death of all?
She opened her eyes moments later. She was on her back, her breathing had returned back to normal but she felt dizzy and exhausted.
"Oh good, I thought I had broken you." She found Gabe peering down at her with a self-satisfied smirk.
She smiled, lazily. "I think you might have Captain Mercier."