Unveiling The Sky (45 page)

“My father isn’t sending her anywhere, he relented.” I smiled as a thought occurred to me. “Sam came busting into his office, I’ve never seen her like that. She said there was no way she’d let me leave you; she said she’d send herself to Wendy if she had to.”

“Wow.”

“She loves you too.”

She smiled as she moved to lie back down next to me. “You know that was the only reason I suggested we take a break.”

“Huh?” My mind was temporarily short-circuited. In the process of moving off me Alara had gotten tangled in the sheet, baring her gorgeous tits. Somehow I managed to restrain myself even though they were only a foot away from my mouth.

“I knew how much it hurt you to leave Samantha the first time,” Alara started, and the mention of Sam brought my gaze up to hers. “I didn’t want you to have to go through that again. That was the only reason; it was never about me trying to push you away.” She gave me a small smile and started running her fingers through my hair. We fell into a comfortable silence as I returned her smile and wrapped her in my arms, holding her tight.

I woke up the next morning lying on my stomach with my head facing the window. My eyes slowly fluttered open to see Gabe unlocking and sliding back the windowpane. I was still naked and the sheet had slipped down to the top of my thighs, leaving my backside bare against the chilled morning air blowing in from the now open window.

“Hey,” he murmured as he carefully put the drapes back in place, ensuring the room stayed dark. He walked over and dropped to his knees in front of me before kissing the tip of my nose.

“Morning, beautiful.” I smiled and my eyes closed reflexively as his kisses traveled up the bridge of my nose before ending on my forehead. He grabbed the sheet and brought it up until it rested at the middle of my back before he climbed over me and back into bed. I was still facing the window when he brushed my hair to the side and started dropping kisses on my nape.

“Are you sore?” Gabe asked as his hand rubbed my shoulders and his lips trailed down my spine.

“Hmmm…”

He lightly bit my hip before crawling up and straddling my waist. “Do you need a break?” he whispered in my ear, and I smiled at the memories. His hands were fisted, his knuckles pressing down lightly on each shoulder as he made circular moments that had me sighing in pleasure.

“God, that feels good.”

“What do you want to do today?”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said quietly.

“C’mon, it’s your first Saturday of winter break, right? We need to celebrate.” He paused in his movements and I moved my head toward him.

“Really, it doesn’t matter. As long as I’m with you, I’m good.”

Gabe smiled softly before leaning forward and placing several gentle kisses on my lips. When he pulled back his eyes roamed my face like he was trying to memorize every feature, but he didn’t need to—I wasn’t going anywhere.

We ended up spending the day in bed. Her idea, I swear. When we finally made it out at seven o’clock that night Naomi was sitting on the couch, grinning like the Cheshire cat.
 

“You know,” she mumbled around a mouthful of food. “For someone who always complained about all the noise I make, you sure are loud.”

“What?” Alara squeaked.

Naomi’s smile grew. “You’re a little bit of a screamer, babe.”

“No, I’m not.” She turned toward me and lowered her voice. “Am I?”

I pursed my lips as if in thought. “Well…”

She groaned and moved to hide behind my back.

“I’m kidding.” Naomi laughed and I joined her. “But, God, I really miss sex.”

“It’s only been a week,” Alara pointed out.

“A long ass freaking week.”

My girlfriend rolled her eyes before responding, “Go eat some cheesecake, then.”

Chuckling, I kissed her temple and ran my hand down her back until it settled just above her ass. Naomi tried to glare, but there was an unmistakable display of amusement in her eyes.

Alara stepped out of my hold before going back into her bedroom and grabbing her phone. “I’m gonna have Derek bring over some food from Poison. You guys want anything?” After we told her what we wanted, she headed to the kitchen while I walked over to the couch to join Naomi. She was practically bouncing in her seat as I flipped through the channels; she was seconds away from bursting—

“I’m so happy for you guys!”

“Thanks, Naomi.” I chuckled, but it tapered off quickly as I turned toward her. “For everything.”

“Of course.”

Alara came in several minutes later and sat down between us. Just as I lifted my arm and she snuggled into my side, I heard my phone ringing from her bedroom. Gently unwrapping myself from around Alara, I got up and jogged down the hall, barely answering it in time.

“Hello?”

“Gabe!”

I laughed. “Yeah, Sam. What’s up?” My expression immediately dropped as I thought of why she might be calling. “Is it Dad? Has he—”

“No, no. Nothing’s happened. Actually… he left for work. He’s going to be gone till at least March.” Her voice drifted to a whisper, almost like she still couldn’t believe he’d backed off. Frankly, I felt the same way.

“Are you okay with that? With being alone?”

“Yeah, Gabe.” Maybe if I saw her face she’d have been able to convince me—her ability to control her facial expressions was unparalleled. But I heard the slight break in her voice and I knew it was all a front. But I also knew now was
not
the time to address it.

“Is everything okay with Alara yet?” The false sentiment from moments ago was replaced by nothing but genuine concern.

“Everything’s perfect.”

Five minutes later I was still smiling when I hung up and walked back toward the living room to find Alara and Naomi laughing loudly on the couch. Both gesturing wildly with their hands, almost exactly like the first time I saw them. But this time Alara was just as animated as her friend. She was just as enthusiastic, just as uninhibited, just as… happy.

We’re told perfection doesn’t exist, but that couldn’t be true. Maybe perfection couldn’t
last
, but it certainly could occur. It had to, because as I stood there staring at this beautiful, flawed girl and realized that she was mine, no moment had ever felt so perfect.

“I hate Christmas shopping,” Sherry grumbled as a group of teenage girls almost ran her over while they giggled and swung shopping bags.

“Ditto,” Naomi agreed. “I never really cared that Santa wasn’t real when I was a kid, but
now
? I’d give anything to see that fat, red ass sticking outta my chimney if it meant avoiding this shit.”

We all started laughing as we reached the food court. Sherry and Naomi went off in search of Chinese while Sam and I headed toward the deli counter.

“Thanks again for inviting me.”

“I was happy to.” As we waited in line I began wringing my hands through the handles of the giant bag that contained Gabe’s gift. “So you really think he’ll like it?” I cringed as I asked for the fourth time.

But Sam didn’t seem annoyed at all; she simply smiled and reassured me
again
that he’d love it. When I entered the mall this afternoon I honestly had no idea what I’d be getting him; I didn’t even know what store I’d be getting it at. It wasn’t until we passed a toy store and Sam mentioned how much Gabe had always wanted a train set, but his father refused to buy him one, that I got an idea. By about the fifth question about Gabe’s childhood and what toys he played with, Sam started to understand and began smiling. Apparently even though their mother was very present and very attuned to her children’s needs, Gabe was also good at hiding things. He was good at pretending he didn’t want a certain toy and even when he did get something he wanted, he was always guarded with how he played with it.

So I was going to recreate some of the childhood he missed out on. It felt stupid and really, really cheesy. Like so cheesy I wanted to punch myself in the face. But all three girls insisted he’d love it and that it was a great idea.

And that was how I found myself standing in the food court holding a bag filled with Play-Doh, Legos, Don’t Break the Ice, Bop-It, a Magic 8-Ball, water guns, and of course, a train set, all for my twenty-five-year-old boyfriend.

“Our father, financially, could give Gabe anything he wanted. So he’s never really been one to care about fancy, expensive things. He always just wanted the freedom of being able to do what he wanted, and I think as a kid he got so used to settling that he wasn’t aware his entire life had become that way until our mother got sick.” Sam paused, apparently becoming fascinated by the menu above our heads. After a few strained minutes she spoke again, “This will mean a lot to him. It’ll be like a do-over.” She smiled as she faced me once more.

…

I barely contained my groan as I woke up at five a.m. on Christmas morning. Two hours of sleep after four hours of sex does
not
make a very productive person. Luckily I was able to slip out without Gabe stirring. Naomi already promised that I’d have the apartment to myself, so I was surprised when I walked out to her sitting on the kitchen counter with two mugs of coffee.

I gave her a strange look as I grabbed the proffered mug and took a small sip. “Damn that’s good, thank you. But, and don’t take this the wrong way, what the hell are you doing here?”

She laughed into her cup before setting it down and jumping off the counter. “I thought I’d help.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “’Course. Plus what if he wakes up and you need to go back and distract him, but it’s not finished?”

I paused with my cup halfway to my mouth. “Good point. You’re going to be a kick-ass lawyer.”

Naomi rolled her eyes as her smile widened. “Yes, I’ll be sure to put Christmas gift engineer/conspirator on my list of accomplishments and cite you as a reference for law school.”

“I’m sure once they realize what a smart-ass you are, they’ll accept you right away… that’s a big part of being a lawyer, no?”

We both laughed softly as we made our way into the common room. “So, how do you want to do this?” she whispered now that we were closer to my bedroom door.

After a quick discussion about where and how to do what, we silently got to work. We had to pause a couple times when it seemed like Gabe might be stirring, but each time was a false alarm. It was just nearing half past six when we finished and I walked Naomi to the front door.