Second Chances (57 page)

“No, my Bella,” Gabriel began solemnly, “You won’t be calling home a few times.”  Isabella sucked in a breath.  He reached out to her.  “I insist you call home every night.  Rebecca and Kyle need you to tuck them in.”

For several minutes Isabella laid back and marveled at the man she was with.  He had no children, yet he was incredibly sensitive to both their needs and hers.  She sighed blissfully.  He was someone she could definitely fall in love with.  But the moment she allowed that thought to appear, she shook her head as though to empty it from her mind.  She was done with hopeless relationships. 

It wasn’t until after their intimate candlelit dinner and their moonlit walk on the beach that Isabella and Gabriel sat down to talk seriously.  “You surprise me, Gabriel,” she began, sinking onto their balcony love seat as they wound down before bed. 

“What?  Because of that?”  He asked, reaching out and touching the silk gown that she wore.  “That is nothing.  I saw what you seem to be comfortable in and
I wanted to give you some nightclothes that would be cooler for Aruba.  You don’t have to wear them all, but I wanted you to have a variety of options available.”

“Well, thank you,” Isabella said, kissing his cheek, and feeling a bit relieved.  She had found the drawer full of pajamas earlier and noted that some of them were pretty skimpy.  “But I meant about the insisting that I call the kids every night part.  You’re not used to these kinds of responsibilities.  It surprises me that you would be so sensitive to my needs, the kids’ needs.”  She sat rubbing lotion all over her exposed parts as they spoke.

Gabriel grasped her hand for a moment, turned it over, and sniffed her wrist appreciatively.  “I just want you to be happy.  And I know how much I would have liked to have heard from my parents when they were on trips; and from my mother after she left...” He looked out at the ocean, then wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Isabella recognized his remark for what it truly was.  He might try to behave as though it was a simple comment, but she saw beneath it to the hurt he had suffered.  She found a kindred spirit in him.  It was reassuring.  It made him seem so much more human, so real, so tangible.  With his money and influence, his incomparable looks, and his background, Gabriel seemed like an impossible dream.  Many a night lately, she had wondered what she had done to catch his eye.  How could she ever hope to keep his interest?  She knew she was nothing like the women from his past.  He had alluded to as much early on in their relationship.  Merely thinking that word shocked her.  She was in a relationship!

Slowly, so that it might not be so obvious, she leaned closer to Gabriel.  Already, she loved the way it felt to be near him, like nothing could ever go wrong with him close by.  She loved the warmth he emanated.  Her eyes closed as she allowed feelings she had hoped were dormant washed over her. They sat in silence until Gabriel gently slid her onto his lap and then, when he had received no objections, verbal or physical, he carried her to bed.

While coming out of her hazy sleep, Isabella stretched slightly and felt an arm tighten around her mid section.  She happily reached down to touch him and slowly opened her eyes to find Gabriel staring at her, propped on his side.  “How long have you been awake?” She asked self-consciously.

“I don’t know.  I’ve just been lying here studying you,” he said with a lazy smile that caused her to blush then leaned down to graze her cheek with his lips, sending a ripple down her spine.  She looked away, giving him the perfect opportunity to run his fingers down her neck.  She shivered again.

Covering herself with the sheet, she hastily sat up.  “So, what shall we do today?”  She tried to change the subject in order to pull herself back together.  It had been so long since she had been touched, cherished.  And it wasn’t as though she wasn’t attracted to him, but she felt anxious over the prospect of intimacy with someone new.  More than that, she had never taken sex or any of the acts leading up to it lightly.  For her to share her body with someone also meant she was sharing her heart.  Unfortunately, her body definitely wanted him, but her heart and mind told her to postpone giving in to these urges.  As perfect as he seemed, he also seemed temporary, fleeting.  Giving her heart to him was unwise.

“Well,” he began, interrupting her thoughts, “what if we go out and about every day after breakfast, then as the day
grows  hotter we can come back and do water time?”  The suggestion not only appealed to her but made perfect sense as well.

From that moment on they developed a routine.  Isabella would barricade herself in the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day.  When she emerged, alert and fresh as a daisy, with her hair in a towel turban, she would find Gabriel on their balcony with a breakfast tray.  Every morning she discovered a tray with fresh fruits, and some mornings she found crepes, or croissants, or even egg dishes to accompany it.  Always a steaming mug helped awaken her senses, whether it was tea, coffee, hot chocolate, or cappuccino.  It seemed as if the staff had been dying to have something to do to earn their pay.

Then, following breakfast, Gabriel would head into the bathroom.  He never locked Isabella out, but seemed to enjoy her sneaking in to blow dry her hair and put on what little makeup she wore.  Always he tried to be careful when emerging from the shower so as not to embarrass her with his naked form.  Soon after, they would leave the house holding hands and talking excitedly on the way to the jeep. 

They spent several mornings exploring the Arikok caverns and caves.  Each one seemed to hold a new mystery for Isabella.  Gabriel watched her in delight as she studied the walls of some for fossils; in others the cave drawings caught her eye.  They laughed and giggled as they made their way through the labyrinths of the The Tunnel of Love, the largest cave.

On another day they climbed the Ayo rock formations and sat and talked while looking over the cactus studded landscape.  It seemed strange and yet perfectly natural to go from that desert area to the beaches where he taught her to snorkel at Baby Beach Reef.  Isabella found the experience so exhilarating that she still chattered on about it even at dinner that evening.  All the while, Gabriel sat with his eyes twinkling in awe of her. 

“What?” she asked, suddenly self-
conscious.

“Oh, don’t mind me,” Gabriel said leaning across the table to look her in the eye, “I just can’t help but admire how beautiful you look tonight.”  Isabella blushed and looked down.  “I’m serious,” he continued, taking her hand in his.  “You positively glow tonight.  You look so...vivacious.  It makes me happy just to be around you.”  He kissed her hand affectionately.

The warmth of his touch wound up her arm and spread throughout her entire body.  And if she had glowed before, now she was positively ablaze with wonder and maybe even something else, if only she didn’t fight it so hard.  She sighed and wondered what she had done in her life to deserve him.

On the fifth day they hiked Hooiberg, a mere 541 feet high.  “This is nothing compared to the Adirondacks,” Isabella scoffed.  “Some day we’ll climb Poco Moonshine.  Or better yet, I’ll drive you to Whiteface and we’ll ride the chair lifts.  Maybe this fall, when the foliage is stunning?”

“I’d love to,” Gabriel nodded seriously.

And then Isabella realized that she had done something she never would have expected.  She actually believed that Gabriel would be a relatively permanent fixture in her life, that he wasn’t someone just passing through.  Struck by fear, and yet at the same time pleased, Isabella hid behind her camera and starting snapping pictures of the beauty surrounding her.

By day six, feeling a little tired, the two agreed to stay closer to home during the day.  Instead, they took out one wave runner, as Isabella would rather just ride than be responsible for the expensive piece of machinery.  Gabriel didn’t seem to mind.  On the contrary, he relished having Isabella holding tightly around his body, laying her head upon his back, and squealing in delight.  Most of all, he loved the feel of her straddling the seat behind him and knew that it was best she was behind him because if she were in front, it would be sheer torture.

That night, he took her out on a dinner cruise.  They ate an exquisite meal under the stars, and then danced until they were ready to drop from exhaustion.  That didn’t stop them from their customary walk along the beach that night.  They had grown to love their quiet moonlit nights together.  They always divided their time between the beach and the balcony before bed.  This night, feeling a little more daring, and a lot more secure about her body, Isabella dressed much differently before she wandered out to the balcony to sit and talk with Gabriel after getting changed for bed.

“Aren’t you going to be too warm tonight?”  He asked, yanking on her bathrobe tie.  “What do you have on under there anyway?”  He jokingly tried to peek under the bathrobe.

In the past, Isabella would have been nervous and scared; tonight she simply giggled, pulled out of reach, and flashed him, exposing for the briefest of moments that she had on a camisole top and matching French cut bikini.  “The bathrobe is just until bed,” she explained, wandering over to sit at his side.