Unveiling The Sky (25 page)

“What changed?”

“About a month later I heard her crying in the bathroom. I looked under the stall and saw her bright pink sneakers—I had been obsessing over them all day, so I knew it was Naomi. When I asked her if she was okay, she got dead quiet and pulled her legs up so I couldn’t see her shoes anymore. It was like she was trying to disappear.” I frowned remembering how hard she had tried to contain her sobs. At first I thought she was crying over something dumb, like maybe her mom forgot to put a Twinkie in her lunch. But the second her feet disappeared and the cries softened, I knew it wasn’t that. Somehow even my seven-year-old self understood that it was something serious, and I didn’t have the courage to ask her about it until years later, when it was already too late.
 

I shook my head clear and continued like there hadn’t been an awkward and unexplainable pause. “I left her alone at the time, but after that I always made sure to smile whenever I saw her. At first she was pretty suspicious, but eventually she started smiling back. A week later we were having lunch together, and we’ve been inseparable ever since.”

“What about Sherry? How’d you become friends with her?”

“Naomi and I had an intro class with her during our freshman year of college. She was pretty distant at first; I don’t think she wanted to be friends with anyone. But if you haven’t noticed, Naomi doesn’t like the word ‘no,’ and she definitely won’t go down without a fight. Sherry says she still doesn’t understand why we wanted to be friends with her when she was such a bitch.”

Gabe shrugged. “She seems like a really good friend to me.”

“She is. I don’t know why she doesn’t think so.”

We finished dinner, him drinking two more glasses of wine, and me sticking to just water like I promised Naomi. And I was relieved at how comfortable I was. We talked about everything and anything. He asked about my favorite flowers and candy, just like he promised he would. And I asked more about his childhood, trying to focus on memories that didn’t involve his father.

The dishes were clean in no time, and as we made our way to the couch I was surprised to find I wasn’t worried at all. When we stood by the sink, all those accidental grazes and innocent smiles seemed to be a kind of foreplay, and now all I really wanted was more. His gaze moved over my face and I could tell he was feeling the same way. But I couldn’t seem to find the words to get us from one place to the next. Everything in my head was coming out awkward and stupid and cheesy.

My debate over what to say quickly became irrelevant, because as soon as my butt hit the couch, my mouth was too busy doing other things.
 

…

I had just sat down when his hands weaved through my hair and he pulled me toward him. I startled and my hands immediately flew to his biceps in surprise. After a few soft kisses, I relaxed and smiled against his mouth before opening up to him. He wasted no time, and in seconds our tongues were slowly stroking and teasing one another. I moaned into his mouth as his fingers started rubbing slow circles throughout my hair, and by the time he reached my nape I was panting.

I had never felt this way before. So encompassed in my emotions that nothing else seemed to exist. The world felt like it began and ended in his kiss. I suddenly felt unsure of myself. Things were moving so fast and there was still so much he didn’t know, so much I couldn’t—

My racing mind was silenced as I suddenly found myself lying on my back. Without separating our lips, he quickly moved over me and settled between my open legs.

Oh, God, that felt good.

I swallowed back an embarrassing moan as he shuddered above me and started kissing me harder. Gabe continued kissing me until I couldn’t breathe and I was forced to rip my mouth away. Without missing a beat he moved to my neck, alternating between warm kisses and gentle bites. He slowly started rolling his hips into mine as his mouth reached my ear.

“Is this okay?” he asked. I was so enraptured I couldn’t answer; the yes in my head was so loud I would have sworn that a dead person all the way across the country could hear me. When he stopped and looked down at me, I whimpered.
Legit whimpered
. “Is this too fast?

“Yes. I mean no… I mean… yes, this is okay. No, it’s not too fast.” My face warmed at the lust-filled look he was giving me. I purposefully moved my hands around his neck and urged him back down. I tentatively lifted my hips and rubbed against him. And then there was no more hesitation; his hips rocked against me with such force that I shifted back a little. Grasping his cheeks, I brought his lips to mine as we found a steady rhythm. We were still fully dressed, and I probably should have been embarrassed by the fact that we were dry humping like teenagers. But as we continued our climb, I forgot all about any other feeling other than the pleasure.

He broke our kiss and lifted his head to stare into my eyes. I could see his arms shaking as he held himself above me and quickened his pace. The moans coming from me should have been embarrassing; they probably would have been if I weren’t so certain of my impending orgasm.

“Oh God, oh God, oh…” I chanted as my back arched and my nails dug into his biceps. It hit me fast and hard, and I shuddered as the tingles radiated throughout my body. Moments later Gabe stilled as he put his face into my neck and groaned. My face felt like it was on fire as I felt his rough jeans against the inside of my thighs, my dress bunched up around my waist revealing my damp panties. I couldn’t imagine how amazing it’d feel without his jeans in the way.

Several minutes and a dozen soft kisses later, he lifted his head and stared down at me with a soft smile on his face. “I think I should be embarrassed.”

I arched an eyebrow and smoothed my hands up his arms until they linked behind his neck. “Why? Is giving girls mind-blowing orgasms embarrassing?”
 

He laughed before giving me a quick peck. “No, but I should be able to last a little longer than that.”

I shrugged. “I take it as a compliment that you can’t.”

“Well don’t get used to it.” At my pout, he laughed and pulled me up until we were both sitting and adjusting our clothes. “I meant the quick part, not the orgasm part. That you should definitely get used to.”

“Lunges,” Naomi said.

“Missionary,” Sherry countered.

Naomi tapped her finger to her chin and screwed up her eyebrows. “I’m gonna use my skip for this one.”

Sherry nodded. “Octupus.”

“Pearly gates.”

“How the hell do you guys know this stuff?” I asked.
 

They both ignored me and Sherry took her turn. “Q… I’m obviously skipping this one.” That was when Derek and Gabe walked in carrying everything we needed for dessert. Derek took the bags from Gabe and walked into the kitchen. Sherry and Naomi mumbled quick and distracted hellos.

“Reverse cowgirl,” Naomi said.

Gabe’s eyebrows rose as his gaze shifted between them. “What the hell is going on?” Gabe whispered just before he kissed my temple and settled in next to me.

“Shh…”

Derek rolled his eyes as he walked in from the kitchen. “This is how they make decisions. So what is it this time?”
 

“They’re trying to figure out who’s going do the dishes,” I said with a nod of my head to the disaster area he just came from.

“Scissors,” Sherry countered.

“Twister.” Naomi raised her eyebrow in challenged.

“And why aren’t you in this game?” Gabe asked as he nibbled my ear.

Laughing, I pushed him away. “Because I cooked. The cook doesn’t have to clean up.”

“Under the hood.” Sherry grinned.

“Victory.”

“Washing machine.”

“X… dammit,” Naomi muttered and slammed her hand on the wall behind her. “It’s always the motherfucking X that gets you,” Naomi grumbled as she moved into the kitchen to start cleaning up.

Sherry lifted her arms and proceeded to do an obnoxious victory dance around the living room. I let out an obnoxious laugh, quickly bringing my hand up to cover it, but it was there for only a second. Gabe’s hand grazed my lips as he pulled mine away, and I definitely wasn’t laughing anymore. “Don't,” he said. He was staring at me with nothing but sincerity, but I wasn’t sure what I wasn’t supposed to be doing. “I don’t like it when you do that.” I continued to stare at him with a frown slowly forming, still not understanding what he didn’t like and all too aware that he was still holding my hand. “Your smile is too beautiful to cover up.” And then he was the one smiling.

“You two are nauseating,” Sherry said as she sat on the floor.

Gabe shrugged before standing and pulling me up with him. “Well we’d hate to make you feel uncomfortable in any way. So we’ll just…” He trailed off as he headed to my bedroom. I laughed as I followed behind him.

“It’s been like two weeks since their first date, right? Isn’t the honeymoon phase…?” Sherry’s voice faded as we moved into my room.

The second the door closed I was pushed up against it and his mouth was on mine. “Hey,” he whispered into my neck a few minutes later.

“Hi.”

“How was your day?” he asked as his hands moved to my waist and his lips moved down my neck.

“It was…” I gulped as his tongue traced my collarbone. “Good,” I rasped out as my head fell back against the door. “So good.”

“Hmmm…” he said as his hands slid under my shirt. I shivered at the contact as he slowly inched toward my bra. He pulled back to look at me as his hands molded over my breasts. I froze; it had been so long since someone saw me this way, felt me this way. I was generally satisfied with my body, but I couldn’t help but see things through his eyes. Would my boobs be too small? My butt too big? My stomach too soft?

“God, you’re so beautiful.” He punctuated this with a squeeze and I moaned in response, scattering all my worries to the far recesses of my brain.

It’d been two weeks since Sherry’s Halloween party and our first kiss, and only a little over a week since our first date. And we were ridiculous. I mean make-fun-of-and-punch-us-in-the-face-repeatedly ridiculous. I’d hate us too… if I weren’t so damn happy.
 

I took a deep breath as I made the decision to let him really see me. “Off.” I mentally patted myself on the back for keeping my voice level before I lifted my arms so he could raise the shirt over my head. His hands immediately returned to their previous spot, kneading my breasts as he licked his lips. Breathing in deeply once more, I leaned forward and quickly slipped my arms behind my back and undid my bra before I could change my mind. As I pulled down the straps, Gabe moved his hands so my bra fell away, leaving me completely naked from the waist up. His eyes flared and my breathing picked up as he stared with clear lust in his eyes.

Okay, this is fine…

No, this is good…

Minutes passed and he made no move to touch me. And while part of me was still worried I was disappointing him, I’d honestly never been this turned on before, and I didn’t know how much longer I could stand there without his hands on me. I closed my eyes, disbelieving I was actually about to do what I was thinking.

Taking a deep breath, I placed my hand on my stomach and slowly started traveling upward. I opened my eyes to see Gabe’s immediately zoned in on the movement. I stopped within an inch of touching myself, almost daring him to stop me, but he must have been testing how strong he was because he still made no move. I had just started pinching my nipple when his control snapped.

He eyes grew hotter as he shoved my hand out of the way, replacing it with his own and squeezing roughly. I jerked against the door when I felt his breath against my other nipple, and a second later it was completely covered in the warmth of his mouth.

“Gabe,” I panted as my hands grabbed on to his shoulders. I felt his grin against my skin a second before he pinched one nipple while biting the other at the same time. Moving my hands to his waist, I gripped his shirt and started tugging until he understood. He quickly stepped back and ripped his shirt over his head before coming back to me. Gabe roughly grasped my cheeks and took my mouth in a hard, claiming kiss. Our bodies came together and—