LAUREN

 

 

I decided to leave Gabe sleeping in the basement and crept up the stairs to the bedroom. But when I woke the next morning, Gabe’s hand was under the material of my nightshirt and gently cupping my breast. He didn’t do anything further, he didn’t move, just rested his hand on my breast, holding it protectively as the rest of his body warmed the side of mine. I was still tired from the night before, unsure what time it was when I had finally fallen asleep. After a few minutes of stillness, Gabe’s thumb moved across my nipple and my breath caught as it hardened in response. Gabe toyed with my nipple, gently caressing it with his thumb until he moved down in the bed and lifted the sheet so he could bring his mouth to my breast. His tongue took the place of his thumb as he teased and tugged, gently biting when I responded by arching my chest closer to his mouth. He moved over me, his face still shielded by the sheet and urged my legs apart with his knee, his mouth still fixed on my breast. He lay over me, the hardness of him pressing into my stomach as he took more of my sensitive flesh into his mouth, sucking and pulling. A moan escaped as he moved to my other breast and, after that sign of encouragement, he reached down and his fingers sought out the wetness that seeped between my legs.

Lifting his head, Gabe brought his fingers to his mouth. “I love how wet you get,” he said, putting one finger to his mouth and sucking it from end to tip. “I want to taste you.” He started to trail down my body with his mouth, but I stopped him, knowing that I would only last seconds once he reached his destination.

“No,” I panted, squirming with the intensity of the feelings that had risen. I pulled him back up and whispered in his ear. “I need you inside me.”

Gabe didn’t need any further invitation and guided himself to sink into me gratefully. He kissed the tip of my nose as he rested, his cock hard and warm inside me. I felt full and content and stopped him when he started to move.

“No,” I said. “Just let me feel you.”

Gabe stilled and brought his mouth to mine, hungrily devouring me as we lay still and connected. The more we kissed the harder he got.

“I’m not sure how much longer I can do this,” he moaned as I gripped onto his backside, stilling the small grinding movements he had begun. I moved my hips slowly in a circle and Gabe sunk to my mouth again, letting groans of frustration and pleasure pepper his kisses. Gabe rocked, moving his length up my body, the base of him pressing hard against my sensitive flesh. He rocked gently at first, encouraged that I didn’t restrict his movements, but the more he rocked the more I responded until he withdrew from me and thrust back down forcefully, my head getting shoved into the pillow.

“Lauren,” he panted. “Lauren, I’m not going to last much longer. I need you to come. Let me taste you.” He began to withdraw so he could move down my body but I gripped onto his shoulders, holding him in place and digging my nails into his skin. Unable to control himself any longer, Gabe pounded into me. My head hit the headboard, but he didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop. His body was covered in a fine sheen of sweat, his hair was slicked to the side of his face, and his lip was caught between his teeth. I reached behind and grabbed the headboard, holding it tight, as my head rammed against it time and time again until I saw the familiar tension creep into Gabe’s expression, and I let myself surrender at the same time he did.   

Gabe rolled off and lay beside me, arms resting under his head and his chest rising and falling with exertion. “And good morning to you too, Mrs Robinson.”

I took the pillow from under my head and whacked him across the face. Gabe laughed and tugged it from me, throwing it aside before twisting to grab my wrists. “Care to play again?” he asked, a twinkle in his eye as he climbed over me, pinning my arms above my head and kneeling with a leg either side of me. His cock lay on my stomach. It swelled a little as his eyes fell to my breasts.

I shook my head. “No way, Gabe Thornton. You seriously cannot recover that quickly.”

Gabe let go of my hands and moved to touch himself. His eyes roamed my body. “Give me a minute.”

I bucked my hips. “Get off,” I teased.

He closed his eyes as I bucked under him. “That’s really not helping you,” he said. I looked down and saw him hardening, though his hands were now pressed over each of my breasts. Gabe moved up my body, straddling my sides with his legs until his cock rested between my breasts. He pushed them together until they engulfed his hardness, and then he began moving back and forth, rocking gently as he slid between them.

A loud knock sounded on the door and I laughed as Gabe scrambled from me, pulling the sheet back up to cover us both. The knock sounded again.

“Get up. Billie’s cooked breakfast.” Jake’s voice wasn’t tainted with tiredness like I had thought it would be.

“Give us a minute?” Gabe called back to him.

“Is that all it will take?” Jake joked.

“Is he gone?” I whispered a few seconds later when there were no other words exchanged.

Gabe threw the blanket off, his cock standing loud and proud. “Now,” he said scrambling back over me. “Where were we?”

I pushed him off playfully. “This can be resumed later,” I said rising from the bed. “I believe breakfast is ready.”

Gabe watched as I walked into the bathroom. “I don’t believe they will be serving what I want to eat.”

I turned on the shower, ignoring his comments. Leaving the door open slightly, I knew he had the perfect view when I lifted my nightshirt and walked naked into the glass covered shower.

Gabe flopped back onto the bed. “You’re killing me over here,” he yelled out.

It wasn’t until my hair was covered in shampoo and I was rinsing it under the water that I felt Gabe’s arms slip around my waist.

“Gabe,” I said, laughing.

“I just need you once more,” he said, pressing me against the tiled wall. His hands roamed over me. His mouth pressed against my neck. “Just once more, okay?” He lifted his head. “Please?” He batted his eyelashes. “I’ll be quick.”

For an answer, I threaded my hands around the back of his neck and widened my stance. Gabe reached behind, cupping the cheeks of my backside and lifted me to gain better access. He entered me, his thrusts plastering my back to the wall, his fingers gripping into my backside as he fucked me until he shuddered and came, his head falling to my shoulder and nuzzling my neck once he was done.

When we walked to the dining table, I didn’t meet anyone’s eyes. To be honest, our little meeting in the shower although satisfying Gabe, had only served to wake me again, and I was afraid my cheeks were flushed with desire.

“About time you joined us,” Hamish Thornton greeted his son. The plate in front of him was empty, as was Billie’s and Tyler’s.

Gabe’s eyes flicked to mine. “I was busy,” he said with a smirk.

Tyler cleared his throat and Jake muffled a laugh around the mouthful of food he was chewing.

“In this house, we prefer to serve breakfast before ten o’clock,” Hamish said sternly, tossing back the remainder of his coffee.

Gabe ignored him and reached over the table to select a couple of pieces of French toast to put on his plate.

“Did you sleep well?” Billie asked as she brought over a tray of bacon and sat next to me.

“Quite, thank you,” I replied. The table was laden with every sort of breakfast food available. There were cereals, and fresh fruit, a rack of toast with every spread imaginable, bacon and even a little jug of maple syrup. “This looks delicious,” I said to Billie. “You must have been up super early to prepare all this.”

Billie laughed, waving her hand as if to dismiss my comment. “The bakery opens very early,” she said. “But there is a motive for all of this.” She looked hopefully over at Gabe who was shovelling food into his mouth at a rate that rivalled Jake.

“What?” he asked, mouth full of French toast and a slight frown between his eyes.

“Don’t speak with your mouth full,” Hamish said.

Tyler sat opposite his father, nothing but a long black sitting in front of him. “How’s the coffee?” I asked, eluding to our conversation the night before.

Tyler looked up at me, no amusement or acknowledgement crossing his face. “It is adequate, thank you,” he replied.

“You do know that Lauren and I are leaving today,” Gabe said to Billie.

“Well…” Billie took the napkin from her lap and draped it across her plate. “The thing is, I’ve got the fashion show tonight and—”

“We really can’t stay,” Gabe said, biting down on the toast again. “We’ve got to go back to Lauren’s parents’ to pick up her car before driving home. We’ve got around seven hours of travel ahead of us.”

“Oh, I’m not asking you to stay simply to watch and I wouldn’t ask unless I absolutely had to.”

Gabe braced himself, his expression holding a pained wince.

“You don’t need to pull that face while your step-mother is talking to you, Gable,” Hamish said, clearly annoyed.

Gabe’s shoulders slumped. “How can I help?” he asked Billie.

Billie clapped her hands together. “One of the models has come down with this terrible stomach bug or something. It really is quite terrible.”

“And?” Gabe asked.

“And I need you to fill in.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you,” Billie said. “You’d be simply perfect.”

Gabe held up his hand. “No fucking way,” he stated. “I’m not dressing up in some stupid costume and strutting my stuff in front of people.”

A small flutter of annoyance crossed over Billie’s expression. “My clothing line does not feature any ‘stupid costumes’,” she said.

“That’s not what I meant,” Gabe replied, trying to backtrack.

“Why can’t Jake or Tyler do it?”

Jake just about choked on his food. “I don’t think I have the look she’s going for.”

Hamish pushed his chair back from the table and stood. “So you’re happy to pour other people’s coffee, but you’re too proud to help out your family by strutting down a runway? You will do this, Gable. You will help out your step-mother.”

Gabe tensed and I reached out and place my hand on his thigh under the table. Gabe turned to me. “Lauren, would you mind if we stayed another night?”

Tyler’s phone rang and he excused himself from the table.

I smiled tightly, unsure of how Gabe wished me to respond. Hamish Thornton looked at me expectantly, Billie looked at me hopefully and Jake kept shovelling food into his mouth. “Of course not,” I said finally, hoping that Gabe hadn’t been looking to me to protest on his behalf.

“It’s decided then,” Hamish said, looking at his watch. “I will see you all later. I’ve got to meet someone at the show home.” He walked around the table to plant a kiss on Billie’s head. She looked up at him adoringly.

“Wait,” Tyler said, walking back into the room. “That was the photographer. It looks as though he’s come back with the same illness your model has, Billie. They both attended the same party last night and a few of the guests are reporting the same symptoms today. It looks as though it’s a bout of food poisoning.”

“Well, instead of raining it is pouring,” Billie exclaimed.

Jake stopped chewing. “I’m pretty sure that’s not how the saying goes.”

Billie just did the flapping thing with her hand again, dismissing his comment.

“Fuck,” Hamish Thornton said forcefully. It was strange having that word come out of his mouth. Everything about Hamish Thornton spoke of control and calm and the way he said the word defied that image. “Fuck,” he said again, sitting back down at the table. “Those images must be sent by tomorrow afternoon. Tyler, do you know of someone who could fill in?”

Tyler looked across the table at me and tilted his head. “Lauren,” he said.

“Lauren?” Hamish echoed, looking over at me with a confused expression. “You’re a photographer?”

“She’s a great photographer,” Gabe said proudly.

“Forgive me if this comes across as rude, but do you have any experience? These days everyone claims to be a photographer and there’s a lot more to it than simply cropping and shoving a filter on.”

I swallowed the nervous knot at the back of my throat. Every person at the table looked at me expectantly. “Some,” I offered weakly. “I used to shoot weddings and I did all the photography for the real estate company I used to work for.”

Hamish’s head snapped up. “You worked in real estate?”

“Yes, I was Derek Lee’s personal assistant.”

“I know Derek,” Hamish said, a small wave of relief passing over his face. “Good man. How come you don’t work there anymore? What made you give up being a personal assistant for working in a coffee shop?”

Billie reached over and patted her husband’s hand, whispering loudly, “He was her high school sweetheart.”

My eyes dropped to my lap, but not before I caught Tyler’s burning glare. “Working relationships aren’t always the best with ex-boyfriends.”

“No,” Hamish said. “I suppose they are not. Will you do it?”

“I haven’t got any of my equipment with me.”

“You have a camera though, correct?” Tyler more stated, than asked.

I nodded.

“Right,” he said, getting to his feet. “I can take Lauren to the showroom if you like?” He looked to his father.

“Perfect. I had double booked myself anyway and would have had to spend the entire shoot on a conference call. If you could oversee Lauren that would be wonderful.”

“I can take her,” Gabe interjected.

Billie shook her head. “You’re with me. We’ve got to get you ready for the show and I’ll need to let you know what’s expected. There’s a dress rehearsal on later today so the rest of the morning will be spent getting you ready.”

“Ready?” Gabe replied. “Whatever for? Aren’t I already perfect?”

Tyler moved behind me and rested his hand on my shoulder. I tried not to let his touch affect me, but my skin burned. It was like the parts of me that he wasn’t touching didn’t exist. There was nothing but him and his hand resting on my shoulder. I drew in a shaky breath.

“Are you ready, Lauren?” Tyler asked.

“I guess so,” I replied, pleased that the shakiness hadn’t extended to my voice. I stood, brushing off Tyler’s hand and leaving the rest of my breakfast uneaten.

Hurriedly, Gabe got to his feet. He pressed his lips to me at the same time Tyler’s hand brushed against mine. I could have sworn his fingers danced with mine for a fraction, but then he walked out the door, instructing me to gather my camera even as Gabe’s mouth kissed mine urgently.

“I’m sorry,” he mouthed against my ear, drawing me in for an embrace. “We’ll be home tomorrow and it will just be the two of us.”

I smiled and moved to follow Tyler up the stairs to collect my camera.