“Just had a drink of water,” I replied.
She opened her eyes slowly to look at me. “Do you have any left?”
I took the bottle from where I’d placed it and handed it to her. She sat up slightly and took a sip.
She smiled at me. “Will you hold me?” she whispered.
When we lay back down, I wrapped her in my arms, and she drifted back to sleep. I stayed awake long enough to see the sun rise and to get my fill of the sunlight bouncing off her delicate features.
* * *
I didn’t hear anything from Harry for a couple of days and Mackenzie had no joy in getting an answer from the detectives that interviewed Gabriella, either. I went about my day, and Mackenzie and Gabriella about theirs. Each night I spent with Gabriella a dread set in that I was going to have to go home at some point. It was three days later then the subject came up.
“I’m guessing you’re going to need to head home at some point, aren’t you?” Gabriella asked. I had just left the en suite and she was sitting on the bed.
“I guess so. I’m certainly out of some toiletries,” I replied, wondering if that was her asking me to go home. “Perhaps I should do that tomorrow.”
She nodded slowly and I felt deflated. Our relationship hadn’t taken a normal route, I thought. We’d had sex before we really knew each other, I had her stay with me, then I stayed with her. We hadn’t been out on a date for a few days because we were both tired from work. We were like a married couple that had skipped the courting.
“How about I take you for dinner?” I asked.
“Now?”
“Why not?”
She smiled and leapt from the bed. “I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes.”
The one thing I liked about Gabriella was that she was true to her word. Whether she wore jeans with her hair piled on her head and no make-up, or a ball gown with a full face, it didn’t take her long. I guessed her natural beauty aided that.
I called my cousin. “I know it’s opening night, but are you fully booked?”
Much to our surprise, Veronica had completed a lot of the internal renovations at the club faster than expected. She had sourced a top-ranking chef and opened the restaurant. Five of the ten speciality bedrooms were complete, and planning was underway for the cottages.
“I’ll make space for you. Or you could dine with Mackenzie and me, we have a table.”
“You do?”
“We’ve been…seeinga lot of each other lately,” she said. Mackenzie hadn’t mentioned anything and knowing my cousin, it wouldn’t be for dating. She didn’t do that. “I’ve been teaching him mylikesand although a reluctant student, he’s taken to it like a swan to a lake.” She chuckled at the analogy, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. I ignored it.
“I don’t want to gate crash your party, a table for two on our own would be lovely.”
“Eight o’clock?”
I confirmed and disconnected the call. I had been invited, as had Gabriella, to the opening of the restaurant and I’d originally declined. I had thought that perhaps Gabriella might like a few nights at home for comfort and safety, I was wrong. I think she had grown restless, maybe even bored. We had great sex, we talked for hours, she slept in my arms, but I wasn’t sure it was enough.
That was the driving reason most of my relationships failed—I was never sure I was enough.
“Dress code?” Gabriella shouted from the bathroom.
“Smart,” I replied, slipping on a shirt and selecting a tie. I really did have limited clothes at her place, I decided, as I threw a tie to the floor that sported a food stain.
“Wonderful, I have a lovely new red dress to wear,” she called back.
I was downstairs when she joined me. I had a glass of cold white wine poured for her and as she walked towards me, my stomach curled in on itself. I stood from the stool I perched on and smiled. She returned the smile and curtseyed, then turned slowly.
“You look divine. I’m going to be all over the place tonight. I’m sure all the men will be watching you,” I said.
She patted my cheek and picked up her wine. “There will only be one man taking me home, though, won’t there?”
