Authors: Lesley Jones
He
strokes my face and kisses my nose.
“Who’d
of thought, I've found myself a hot cougar, who's practically still a virgin”
I
shake my head again. Cougar ehh? Well Yeah, I suppose that's what I am. Oh well, I can live with that.
We
both smile. I am so relaxed after our busy day, the wine, our dinner, I actually feel quite sleepy.
“Would
you do me a favour babe?” I ask him
“Anything
for you princess”
“Go
and run me a bath please, your insatiable sexual appetite and your very perfect dick have given me a very sore noonie”
“A
very sore noonie ehh? Well in that case, of course I will run you a bath because we don't want your noonie in anything other than tip top working condition, do we”
I
nod my head in agreeance as he kisses my nose and jumps off the couch.
Well
that was another deeply intense heart to heart. I love the fact he never mocks me and how he encourages me to open up and tell him stuff that ordinarily, I wouldn't tell a soul. I love the fact that in return he is so open with me. At the same time, it makes me sad that I have never had this before, I thought I had such a good marriage and I am realising, that actually, my marriage wasn’t so great after all.
I
wander into the bathroom where my bath is running, it smells divine, he has poured in my favorite Molton Brown bubble bath, when did he buy that, I wonder?
I
turn to go back into the bedroom and realise he is sitting on the toilette, trousers around his ankles, watching me.
I
have learnt this past week or so, Gabe has no issues with bodily functions. Where I can have nobody in the room to be able to go, Gabe couldn’t care less if he had an audience numbering in size the population of Tasmania, and he never closes the door.
“Gabe,
really, can you not shut the door, I really do not want to lay in the bath with the smell of your arse wafting through the room”
He
smiles at me and shrugs. “Oh come on Lauren, it won’t kill you”
I
go back into the bedroom to get undressed and laugh to myself, there are some occasions when he is just too open and willing to share. I take off my clothes, I've noticed I've had a few spots of blood in my underwear the past few days and can only assume it’s due to all the sex but I will try and make time to see my doctor this week and get myself checked out. I haven't had a period in over a year so I'm hoping that is the end of those. One part of being a woman I have never enjoyed.
~
I have a long leisurely soak in the bubble bath Gabe runs for me. He hovers for a bit, until I eventually ask him to join me. He walks into the bathroom already stark bollock naked, with his erect cock sticking up past his belly button. What is he going to do with that I wonder?
CHAPTER TWELVE
After our early night, we wake Monday morning, bright and refreshed. Gabe has to be in the city by nine so I get up and make coffee while he heads to the bathroom. I lean against the bench as I hold my cup, after about five minutes Gabe walks into the room and I feel like the world has either stopped spinning or has sped up. It's done something to make me sway and wobble. He's wearing a suit and fuck me is he wearing it well.
“Wow.
I don't think I want you leaving the house like that”
“Why
, what's wrong?”
He
looks down at himself. I watch, feeling old and inadequate beside him, standing there in a vest and sleep shorts. I close my arms around myself and cross my legs, trying to hide and make myself invisible.
“You
look fantastic, I was joking” I reply
He
looks at me, in that way and uncrosses my arms; he pulls up my vest and takes my nipple in his mouth and sucks, his hand slides into the front of my shorts. My hands are in his hair, pushing his mouth down on me.
“Gabriel
you are going to be late”
He
looks up at me, pulls his hands out of my shorts and stands up straight. He smiles before saying “I’m gonna keep sniffing these, to help get me through the day”
I
shake my head. Ewww!
“You
need help”
“Oh
I'm a lost cause Lauren; I became a hopeless case the instant I set eyes on you”
I
pull away and breathe. I pour him a coffee as he gets his briefcase and laptop bag together.
“Thanks
baby” he says as I pass him a cup “I’ll take the car today but I’ll leave you the keys to the UTE, so if you need to go anywhere you can. I should be finished with this meeting by lunchtime. By the time I pick up the girls I should be back here before three. Don't worry about dinner we'll eat out and next week we’ll go and get you a car sorted out; right I need to shoot before I drag you back to bed. If anyone needs to get in they have to be buzzed in, don't let anyone in unless you know them”
He
kisses me on the mouth and passes me his empty cup, my mind is whirring with all the information he's just given me.
“What
car?”
“What
do you mean what car?”
“What
car are you taking?”
“My
car, the Beamer that's in the garage”
I
haven't been in the garage; I didn't know there was another car in there. I walk down with him and watch as he goes through the internal door to the garage, where there is a sleek red BMW parked. He presses a clicker to open the garage door, gives me a wave and says “I'll call you later baby, have a good day”
He
gets in, the gates to the drive slide open, he reverses out and is gone. I close and lock the door as I hear the gates and garage closing.
Nice
car. No idea what it is, other than a BMW did he say? Not good with cars, other than driving them. I don't have time to dwell on this, I have shit to do!
I
go up to the study, Gabe’s written down the password to the desk top for me and I go straight to his pictures. I scroll through, I don't want to be nosey, okay I do, but I resist, it's the ones of Ava I want. I print off various pictures of Ava, and of Ava and Gabriel together, everything from baby pics to more recent ones and then I get down on the floor and start cutting around them. I make a collage of the pair of them, pictures taken all around the world by the looks of things, Disney Land, New York, Thailand, Bali and London, Sydney, Queensland, Melbourne and some taken at the snow but that could be anywhere. She's a lucky girl and from what I can see from the pictures, she is the image of her dad. I fix the pics into the Perspex frame we bought yesterday and seal the two halves together. Next I go online and down load pictures of 1 Direction, then Photoshop pictures of Ava in with them and print them off in sizes to fit the rest of the frames. I take all of these down to Ava's room; I hang the big frame above her bed and scatter the others around her chest of drawers and bedside table and in little groups on the walls. I put on the new doona covers that I washed and dried last night so they are nice and soft and smell good. I set up the iPod doc and her lamp and scatter her new cushions around. The last thing is a little pink bar fridge, which I fill with Coke, lemonade, Pepsi and water, all sugar free I might add and leaving on just the lava lamp I close the door. Shit I hope she likes it, my stomach is churning. By the time I'm done its 1.30 and when I get upstairs I realise I've left my phone on silent. I have twelve missed calls and three texts from Gabe.
Pick
up Lauren
Lauren,
wtf r u doin pick up
FFS
PICK UP THE FUCKIN FONE
Shit
, I call him back straight away.
“Lauren
, thank fuck”
“Sorry
, sorry, sorry I've been busy, I forgot my phone was on silent from last night”
“As
long as you’re alright, I was gonna send Jemma over to check on you, I've been ringing your old phone and the landline, you must have heard that”
“Yeah
, sorry, the old mobi is on silent too and I didn’t like to pick up the landline. I'm fine tho, sorry, how was your meeting”
“
Lauren, when the home phone rings, pick it up please, it’s your home too remember, and the meeting was pretty shit actually; the company is based in South Australia and we are bidding to build a hospital but they're really trying to screw us down on the price but we'll get there. I'm just pulling up at Nina's now so we'll be home soon. I've missed you today”
“I’ve
missed you too”
My
stomach flips when I think about how much and there's something that's bothering me and I have to say it. “Gabe”
“Yes
babe?”
“Do
you have to go in?”
“Go
in where?”
“Go
into Nina’s, you’re wearing your suit, and you look so fucking hot. I just don't want… I don't want you in there, near her?” He laughs into the phone.
“
Lauren, Nina is married to someone else and is about eight months pregnant with her third child and even if she wasn't, she holds absolutely no interest for me, it’s only you now baby, only you”
“It’s
not you I'm worried about Gabe, I trust you, its other women I don't trust”
“Ha
, thanks for the compliment but there's still no need to worry, let’s just say Nina isn’t my biggest fan, right, let me go get these girls so I can get back home to you, Ciao baby, see ya after”
He
hangs up. That's another Aussie term I've never got my head around 'See ya after'. After what I always wonder?
I
shower and straighten my hair and put on just a little bit of makeup. My bruises have faded to a yellowish colour and are now barely visible. I put on a pair of hammer style yoga pants, a vest and a skinny cardigan, all in black, I spray on some perfume and look in the mirror. All the years of dieting and who knew, all I had to do was leave my husband to drop a few K's. I look okay, I don't want to look frumpy but I don't want to look like I'm trying too hard either. I go out to the family room to wait. I put on some music and pour myself a drink just as I hear the gates and the garage door opening. Ed Sheeran is singing about a Lego house as I sip my wine, cooling my sweaty palms on either side of the glass. The internal door opens and all I can hear is chatter. Gabe comes up the stairs first, his eyes lock straight onto mine, and I flush instantly, burn even, everywhere. He's carrying his lap top bag and briefcase, his jacket is off and he's holding it over one shoulder, the sleeves of his crisp white city shirt are rolled up. He lets out such a deep breath it makes his hair move. He gives me such a beautiful smile I almost cry.
“Get
me a beer please, now and ear plugs, cotton wool, anything”
I
smile and pass him a beer, as I do we hear an almighty scream from downstairs, Gabe’s gone, taking the stairs two and three at a time, I follow. He goes down the hallway into Ava's room and I enter just in time to see her throw herself at him saying
“
OMG Daddy, Love, love, love this, it is so, so cool. O.M.G. O.M.G. O.M.G, just look at all these photos, how did you do this, and the lamp is so like, totes adorbs and the fridge, I just love it all. Thank you, thank you so, so much, this is better than my bedroom at mums”
Gabe
is still holding her as he looks around the room, her friend, Sophie, I assume, is sitting on the bed, and stroking the face of Harry from 1D. Gabriel turns and looks at me. He's beaming as he beckons me in.
“Ava
, this is Lauren, Lauren this is my daughter Ava. It was Lauren that did all of this for you bubby, we went out and bought all the stuff together but Lauren did your collage and all your pictures and set everything up for you today”
He
doesn't take his eyes off me as he speaks, still smiling that million dollar smile.
“Thanks
so much Lauren. Cool pants. I love it, I love it all, I wouldn't change a thing, it’s so cool, thank you”
Sophie
pipes up with
“Yeah
Lauren, it’s awesome really awesome and these doona covers are just the bomb. Love your yoga pants too”
Gabe
raises his eyebrows at me and mouths 'The Bomb?' and shrugs. I'm mesmerized watching him stroke Ava's hair. They are clones of each other, so alike, watch out Gabe, she is gonna grow up to be a stunner!
She
looks up at him, smiles and puts her arms around his waist. “Thanks for all the stuff Dad, I love you” he kisses the top her head and says “right back at ya bubby”
Sh
e turns back around to me, smiling “Thanks again Lauren”
“You’re
welcome” I call out as I walk back along the hallway and up the stairs. I feel a little emotional, watching them together, I really need to speak to my kids, I am a mum before anything else in my life, and I am missing them so much. I hear Gabe tell them that we will be going out for dinner at six so they had better be ready. It's only 3.30 but he’s very wise telling them now, I know how long 13 year old girls take to get ready, especially when there are two of them sharing the bathroom.
I
top up my wine so that it’s nicely chilled again and because I need the alcohol for the extra courage required if I am going to carry out my little fantasy I have been working on all afternoon. I can still hear the girls screaming and giggling as he comes up the stairs.
“Come
here” he orders from around the bench. Shit, what have I done, did I over step the mark with the pictures? I stand in front of him and swallow hard; he weaves his fingers through mine and pulls me towards him.
“That
was a really, really nice thing to do, I really can't thank you enough”
“Oh
you can” I say into his mouth as he kisses me, relieved that he’s not mad. “And I know just how you can do it”
“You
do?”
He
kisses my neck.
“I
so do”
My
throat.
“You
going to tell me?”
His
teeth, on my jaw
“No”
My mouth again.
“
No. Why not?”
M
y cardigan is off my shoulders and his teeth are grazing up and down the curve of my neck, across my shoulder.
“Because
I'm going to show you”
“You
’re going to show me are you?”
“Yes
”
“And
when do you plan on showing me?”
He
kisses in the hollow of my throat.
“Now”
He licks from the same spot, up my throat, over my chin, then flicks his tongue into my mouth. Oh God.
“Come
on then let's go” He literally drags me to the bedroom.
“Don’t
take your suit off” I order. I feel so embarrassed to ask, but I've been thinking about this all day.
“
Go into your office and wait for me”
“Why
, Lauren, what are you doing?”
“Just
go and wait, I'll be two minutes tops”
He
heads off to the office; I quickly pull on the hold ups, black pencil skirt and white blouse that I put out earlier. No underwear, that will just slow us down. I Pull my hair up and wind it in a lose bun and put on my glasses and a pair of killer hills, grab my note pad and pen and head into the office. I walk in and lean back against the door as I close it, sucking on my pen. Gabe’s sitting in the big leather office chair, facing away from me, he spins around, as I say “you wanted me to take something down for you, Mr Wilde Sir?”