20
Gabriela
I checked my lipstick in the dressing room mirror. Gray paced back and forth and shrugged his big shoulders inside his coat. “You look fine. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
I straightened up and turned around to face him. “I know. I’m just checking.”
He put out his hand. “Come on. Let’s go knock ‘em dead.”
I had to smile. We could always knock ‘em dead as long as we did it together.
After Gray had proposed to me, he called his PR team and fired every single one of them. He was sick of how they were dictating his life, and I couldn’t blame him for it. A week later he had an entirely new team in place, a team that he trusted and understood how important I was to him. The team worked tirelessly to spin the gala in our favor.
Gray also had worked everything out with his brother. He explained to him that I was pregnant and how this would only help his re-election campaign. After some thought, his brother had finally backed off as well.
Gray strode down the hall and out from behind the partition. A long table spread out on the other side, and floodlights glared down on the microphones set there. He pulled out my chair until I got settled into place. Then he took the chair next to me.
Cameras clicked, and microphones whined in the sea of indistinct silhouettes beyond the floodlights. Voices boiled out of the crowd. “Can you confirm you were messing around in the gala coat room? Are you pregnant or not? When’s the big day?”
Gray held up his hand for quiet. I didn’t have to stoop to answer these questions with him around. He would always protect me. “We called this press conference to answer all your questions. You’ll leave here with no more innuendos or mysteries to sling around. I can confirm that Gabi is pregnant. As soon as we know the due date, we’ll let you know, too, so you can start counting down the days.”
A titter of laughter rippled through the crowd. I bit back a smile. He always knew how to work an audience.
“I also want to dispel any myths about the gala,” he went on. “We went into the coat closet to get some privacy and quiet. Gabi wanted to tell me the great news that she was pregnant without a lot of strangers overhearing. I admit I kissed her a few times when I found out.”
I couldn’t stop myself from glancing over at him. He turned at the same moment and smiled at me. Our hands migrated across the table to interlock our fingers. A mystical hush fell over the room, all except the clicking cameras.
Gray snapped out of his trance. “Anyways, now you know exactly what we were doing in there. You know why we left suddenly when we came out. I think that’s probably all you need to know.”
Excited talking broke out on all sides, but Gray pushed back his chair. He raised me to my feet, and in sight of everyone, put his hand behind my back and kissed me. Then he steered me back around the partition and away.
The press conference exploded the minute we disappeared. Voices shouted. One reported stuffed his head into the corner and dictated copy into his phone pressed against his ear. “Gabi Landon looks better than ever, and the couple remains rock solid in their commitment to each other and their future family.”
I didn’t hear any more. Gray hustled me down the hall, past the dressing room, and out the back door. The limo stood in the alley behind the building, but no screaming fans clustered around it. Gray yanked the door open, and I ducked inside. The next minute, the limo whispered away from the curb and disappeared into Manhattan traffic.
I sank back in the seat. Gray gazed out the window for a minute, but as soon as the other cars swallowed us up and no one followed us, he turned his piercing eyes on me in a way I couldn’t deny. I knew what that look meant. He was coming after me.
He slid across the seat and cast one thick arm over my shoulders to draw me into his embrace. His lips hovered before me, so inviting, so warm and tingly and exciting. I could let myself get drawn into his magnetic presence. I didn’t have to play the good girl part anymore. Everybody knew about us, and we knew about us, too.
He was my husband, and I was his pregnant wife, and we were going home and….to our home. What could be more perfect than that? He turned me on like I couldn’t believe, and being pregnant awoke hidden powers in my soul I never knew were there. An insatiable hunger for him shattered all my thinking. I couldn’t do anything but respond.
He inched nearer, nearer. His breath filled my nostrils with his manly scent. Even before he kissed me, I slipped my hand inside his blazer against his crisp new shirt. His muscles tensed when I dragged my fingertips over his sides. I loved the way he shivered all over in aching delight. Was he hard right now? All I had to do was feel a little bit lower, and I would find out.
I liked to tease myself. I liked to wallow in the anticipation. He excited me so much I wanted to explode screaming right that minute. My pussy twitched under my dress. When would he caress up my thigh to find the sweet patch of moistness inside my panties? When would he finger my clit to make me moan into his mouth?
How would he play it? Would he make me get on my knees to suck him hard in the back of the limo? Would he bend me backward to lick me to flaming orgasm? All the thousand ways he could do me enchanted my dreams.
His lips touched mine, and my blood burst into flame. He tilted his giant bulk over on top of me to pin me to the seat. My knee hitched up around his waist, and he scooped me toward him full of his animal kisses and his unstoppable passion.
Just kissing him tormented me in brutal ecstasy. I could kiss him forever, and now that I wore his ring, I could. We could fall into bed and never leave it. We could kiss morning, noon, and night, and only stop when Antonio brought us our meals. We never had to get out of bed for the next nine months.
Before that kiss reached its apogee, the limo parked in front of our building. The time came for us to put our weight on our own feet and walk. Just a little bit farther, and we would be home. HOME! How that word melted my heart now. This penthouse, this palace in the sky, gave me more of a home than I ever knew in my life. My heart sobbed in gratitude for Gray’s love, for all the years to come.
Just before the elevator stopped at our floor, Gray’s hand shot out. He popped out the emergency stop button, and the car braked in mid-air.
“What are you doing?” I cried.
He shot me a wicked grin. “We’re not finished yet. There’s still one more thing to do.”
“What?”
He descended on me faster than the eye could see. He scooped me up into his arms and kicked the button with his knee.
I screamed out loud. “What are you doing to me?”
“I’m carrying you across the threshold,” he rumbled. “We won’t be officially married until I do that. Now keep still. I don’t want to drop you.”
I couldn’t stop screaming maniac laughter. He couldn’t be doing this. The car vibrated the rest of the way to our floor. When the doors slid open, Gray stumbled into the apartment.
I screamed louder than ever. “Put me down! You’re insane.”
“I’ll put you down, all right.” He gave a demonic laugh and headed for the bedroom.
I shrieked with glee, but he wouldn’t stop until he got the bedroom door open. He pushed the bed curtains aside and laid me on the bed. Our lips locked, and he let out his breath. “There. Now we’re married.”
I sank back on the pillows, out of breath. “We were married before.”
He shook his head. “No, we weren’t, but we can make up for lost time now.”
He inched forward to kiss me one more time.
“Gray?”
“Yeah, babe.”
I slithered my arms around his neck. “Thanks.”
“Hush, baby. It’s all right now.”