by K Larsen
Shaking the thoughts from her head she laughed.
“What’s so funny?” he asked sliding into the driver’s seat.
“Nothing,” she laughed again.
“Something!”
“I was thinking I want to skip Italy and spend the weekend in your bed. You look delicious.”
Gabriel groaned. “The things you do to me Celeste. If you only knew.”
“Oh, I think I have an idea,” she responded.
The flight from Paris to Rome was a short two hours. Gabriel spoiled her with champagne on the flight and first class tickets. She knew he was doing well for himself but this seemed like too much to spend on a weekend getaway. From there they rented a car and drove another hour to the Garden of Ninfa. Described as a place that had inspired artists, she was longing to see the secluded, picturesque garden set in fairy tale like surroundings and Gabriel knew it.
Instead of locking themselves away together in a fancy hotel for two nights he was taking her to a garden and she couldn’t have loved him more for it. Breath hissed out of her when they entered the stunning microclimate that allowed plants of all varieties to thrive in the location’s natural greenhouse environment. The roses, maple trees and lavenders lining paths, a spectacular bamboo pavilion and even tropical plants such as banana trees. Add the ruins with creeping vegetation, the hypnotizing crystal clear river. It was almost too much beauty to take in.
“My god Gabriel, it’s heaven,” she breathed.
“It’s better than I’d thought, and the look on your face is priceless, mon amour.” She grinned and grabbed his hand anxious to wander further.
Greeted by a tour guide, they waited with a group of about thirty others before starting the tour. Celeste felt as though she was in a catatonic trance. She barely heard anything the guide mentioned as they went. The place was simply magical.
“Alright,” Gabriel started, “start telling me what the plants really mean.” She smiled at him before looking around.
“That,” she said, then pointed, “is lupine. It represents imagination. And there!” She again pointed excitedly. “Gloxinia; love at first sight.” She gazed up into Gabriel’s eyes. His smile reached ear to ear. It seemed he got endless pleasure from making her happy. He cupped her chin and kissed her briefly.
“And those?” he asked, pointing to a patch of irises.
“Irises. Faith, hope, wisdom, courage, and admiration. The purple iris is considered the emblem of France,” she informed him. He laughed and scooped her up in his arms.
“My little flower brainiac, I do love you.”
“I love you too Gabriel. So much. This is fantastic.” She kissed his jaw before nuzzling her face into his neck while he held her. She loved the smell of him. She loved everything about the man.
“One last one. What’re those?” Gabriel asked pointing to a blue flower.
“Ahh, those are Himalayan blue poppies. They are supposed to represent sleep, peace, and death: sleep because of the opium extracted from them, and death because of the common blood-red color.”
“Sounds dangerous, like those bleeding hearts you first told me about.”
“They are. Harmless to view, but don’t go picking them,” she said and winked.
They toured the garden for a little over an hour. Celeste was in her element. Excitement swept through her at every turn, at every new marvel. The garden was enchanting. When they’d viewed all they could, they left for dinner.
Gabriel picked a small restaurant in Prato di Coppola. Their table overlooked Lago di Fogliano. The spectacular orange sunset was shared with sexy man, delectable wine and witty banter. By the time they arrived at their hotel for the evening it took all of Celeste’s energy to even think of removing her shoes. It had been whirlwind day.
As she plummeted to the bed Gabriel laughed.
“Tired?”
“Exhausted,” she blew out, feeling the day’s activities catch up to her.
“Not too tired I hope.” He smirked while looming over her.
She knew that tone. She knew that innuendo. Suddenly her body came alive. “I suppose if you can help me remove my shoes I might get my energy back.” She smiled coyly at him.
“I’m certain that can be arranged.”
He knelt at the end of the bed where her feet dangled and softly pulled each shoe off of her. His hands worked methodical circles into her arches, kneading the stress of walking the day away little by little. Bit by bit she relaxed into his touch. If he kept it up, she’d pass out, and she didn’t want to miss the fun.
As if reading her mind, Gabriel’s hands moved north. His fingers ascended, their progress achingly slow, over her calves and thighs. A gasp flew from her mouth at the teasing pleasure. He continued to trail his fingertips in a straight line up the insides of her thighs. Grabbing at his wrists with both hands, she tried to stop him . . . or urge him on. She didn’t know. What she did know was when he touched her, the sky and the ground switched places.
He pushed her dress up slowly, exposing her belly, before hooking his thumbs into her panties and sliding them down over her legs.
“I need to taste you Celeste.” She felt her cheeks heat. He was a professional at making her blush.
“Yes,” she urged. “Please.”
“Please what, Celeste?”
He loved to hear her use her voice. In the bedroom, she still didn’t have a confident voice of her own.
“Please, Gabriel, taste me.”
He spread her legs, and kissed the inside of her thighs. Each kiss moved closer and closer to her core. When his mouth worked its magic she moaned deeply. She was lust-drunk and weak. He took his time as he discovered every place on her body. He turned her inside out with his reverence. Her insides ached with need as he worked the sensitive bundle of nerves. Gabriel wasn’t rushing and she wasn’t sure how much she could sustain. He definitely raised the bar for any other man to be compared to. With a bewitching flick of his tongue, the graze of his teeth in just the right spot she was lost. His touch ignited her skin.
Gabriel’s head and hands came up. His hot breath on her skin set her soul on fire. He worshipped every inch of her skin before raising himself above her. She wove her fingers through his hair and pulled his mouth to hers.
“I love you.”
“Ditto, mon amour.”
“I . . .” His lips captured her words as he sank into her. Her breathing labored as she neared the precipice and stars began to dance behind her closed eyes. Every muscle in her body tightened and was set on the brink of imploding when she buried her face against his wide chest. It built slowly, flickering in low but powerful waves of fire through her entire body until she ignited underneath him. Splintering into a wildfire that blazed to life. She was lost in her pleasure, lost to the sensations holding her body captive. She clung to the edge, never wanting the moment to end until she no longer could. They came together, came apart, free fell through space and became one. Sounds escaped them but were incoherent. Each wave moved from her breast to her core.
As they laid in a tangled, sweaty mess, nose-to-nose, toes brushing and hands tucked between their bodies, they talked. They talked about music and food and movies. They traded dreams and history until their voices were scratchy and their eyelids dropped shut.
~***~
Celeste woke to Gabriel nuzzling her neck, his leg between hers as he slid his cheek across her back. His arm draped over her hip, fingers splaying on her stomach possessively. She smiled as shivers trickled across her skin when his warm, soft tongue licked the sensitive skin below her ear.
“Good morning,” she breathed, the blood in her veins burned and every inch of her flushed hot, her skin stinging at his touch.
“Morning, mon amour.”
“Sleep well?” she hedged.
“Always do when it’s with you.” He kissed the shell of her ear. She sighed.
Her smile grew. She wanted to finish college before she agreed to move in with him. He’d recently
asked and she’d found it ridiculously hard to deny him, but she had. She had three semesters left. It wasn’t that long to wait. His little comments didn’t go unnoticed. He took every chance he could to slip something in about spending long nights together, especially when their schedules didn’t jive, which was often lately. She settled into the feeling of his arms around her, of his breath at her ear, and reveled in it.
Hours later, they finally unraveled from each other. Celeste couldn’t stand a moment longer without coffee. She had thrown on a shift dress to run to the lobby and secure two cups of the liquid gold. Returning to the room she heard the shower running so she set Gabriel’s coffee on the table and curled up in the chair at the window. They had a spectacular view overlooking the lake. The coffee slid down her throat and started to instantly work its magic. In no time at all she would be ready for the day.
The downside of coffee, she found, was that it ran right through her. After fifteen minutes of blissful peace, a breathtaking view and delicious coffee, she required the bathroom. Knocking on the door first, she waited for Gabriel’s grunt of approval before opening it. Steam and the smell of men’s aftershave filled the thick air. Gabriel stood in front of the mirror, towel wrapped around his waist, chest bare. Water dripped down his skin, giving it a glistening effect.
“I . . . need to use the room,” she stuttered out.
“Go ahead.” He stepped aside.
“Gabriel!”
“What? Is it, you know?” A slight tug of a smile on his lips.
Her hand came up to her mouth and her cheeks felt inflamed. She was definitely nowhere near the peeing with him in the room phase, nor the other thing he was suggesting.
“Aww, mon amour, you’re so sweet. So innocent.” He walked to her and cupped her chin, lifting her gaze to meet his. “I know girls use the bathroom.” Again her cheeks heated. She pursed her lips.
“Yeah, and I know you do too, but I don’t want to see it.” She deadpanned.
Gabriel’s face broke into a cat-ate-the-canary grin, laughter rumbled from his mouth, his chest shook and his shoulders rounded. Celeste shuffled left, slowly maneuvering him, as he laughed, toward the door. When he was just far enough through, she smiled at him. He looked at where he stood and a mischievous gleam shone in his eye.
“Oh no. I really have to go!” she squealed, thinking he was going to come back in. She started to close the door on him. He fisted the fabric of the towel at his waist and yanked. She stopped moving. He stood naked and proud as her jaw dropped to the floor. Reaching forward, with a sated smile, he put his hand on the door and pulled it closed, leaving Celeste gawking at the painted door. She snapped out of her daze and hurried to accomplish what she had set out to, so she could hurry to the dashing male prowess that waited for her.
The flight home was quick on Sunday. The drive from the airport even shorter. As he pulled up to her dormitory she frowned not wanting the weekend to be over yet. Saturday had been picture perfect in her opinion. After finally leaving the hotel room around noon, they’d rented bikes and peddled for miles exploring. By the time they returned from their exploration, they were both tired and ate together in their room instead of going out.
~***~
Waking in Gabriel’s arms this morning, again, had set her belly aflutter. She felt as though she had won the lottery with each look he gave her, each lingering touch, each quiet moment spent together. Now they were home.
“Why the frown?” he asked.
She turned her head to him, reached out and cupped his cheek. “I’m sad the weekend’s over. I had so much fun.”
“It doesn’t have to be, mon amour. Come home with me. We can have all the mornings and all the nights.”
She smiled as she rubbed the pad of her thumb over his five o’clock shadow. “I’d never get any studying done. You distract me. Always.”
“Celeste,” he started.
“No, Gabriel. It’s only three semesters. Three semesters and I’m yours.”
“I don’t like waiting,” he complained.
“Don’t I know it.” She threw her head back and laughed at his little boy pout. He was sexy even when throwing a tantrum.
Turning the car off, he exited and ran around the hood to get her door for her. She took his hand and stepped out. They lingered a moment, chest to chest, before he stepped backward. She watched as he closed her door and then retrieved her bag for her.
“Want me to carry it up?” he asked.
“Sly, Gabriel, real sly,” she teased.
“A man can try, can’t he?”
“I hope you never stop.”
He walked her up the steps to the door and set her bag down before lifting her into his arms and peppering her face with light kisses.
“I love you. I’ll miss you tonight,” he whispered in her ear.
She placed her mouth next to his ear. “I’ll sleep with you in my heart tonight.”
One passionate kiss and lingering hug later he was gone. Celeste pushed through her bedroom door, plodded to her bed and set her bag down.
“You’re back!” Mara squealed from the doorway. Matteo stood behind her but quickly pushed past beating Mara to her and wrapping his arms around her in a firm embrace.
“We missed you this weekend,” he said.
“I missed you guys too,” she said before laughing, “okay, I was a little too . . . preoccupied to miss anyone,” she admitted. Mara mock gasped before a laugh tumbled out while Matteo watched her a moment too long before joining in. Briefly she wondered what his issue was before pushing the thought aside.
“You’re such a brat.” Matteo gave her an exaggerated smile.
“Yes, but that’s why you love me,” she teased.
“Yeah, that’s why I love you all right.”
Matteo plopped down on her bed causing her overnight bag to bounce and fall. He lunged to catch it in time but the bag hit the floor upside down with a thud.
“Well thank god it was zipped.” Mara quirked.
“Sorry, mio fiore,” Matteo muttered bending at the waist to retrieve her bag for her. As he did a long black velvet box fell from the front pocket to the floor.
“What’s that?” Mara asked bounding from her perch on her bed. Celeste watched as Mara scooped it up from the floor before she could.
“I don’t know, give it here.” She held her hand out expectantly. Mara opened the box just a smidge before snapping it shut. A huge grin spread across her face.
“I knew you guys were getting serious,” Mara said with assurance.
“What?”
“He’s buying you jewelry! What says serious more than jewelry?” Mara asked.
“I assure you there was no jewelry given this weekend.”
Mara forked over the rectangular box to Celeste. She took a minute to look it over. Where had it come from? She peeked inside and saw a note. Opening the box fully she pulled the note from atop a stunning gold locket.
It read; Je suis à vous. I am yours.
She picked up the locket and turned it over in her hand. The cool gold chain snaked between her fingers as she inspected it. The locket was tasteful, heart-shaped with a keyhole emblem on the face of it. She opened it. Vous êtes la clé. You’re the key, was engraved inside. Her heart felt swollen. She couldn’t contain the smile that blossomed across her face. Celeste had never received anything of value from a man before. Her insides grew warm and she was sure her cheeks flushed. How’d he manage to slip that into her bag without her noticing? And furthermore, what if she hadn’t found it straight away? Would he have said something? Celeste turned it over again and stroked the precious metal between her index finger and thumb.
“What’s it say?” Matteo asked peering over her shoulder. Celeste held the locket out for him and Mara to read.
“Damn,” Mara breathed. “He is like the king of romance. You are one lucky bitch Celeste Fogarty.” Celeste didn’t know what to feel. She didn’t know what to say. She was lucky and she knew it but Gab
riel was different from anyone she’d encountered before. He was vines of honeysuckle and clematis growing up along a trellis, extra-sweet, ripening the surrounding air. He was a house that smelled of potpourri and homemade candles and fresh baked cookies. He was so much more than anything she could imagine. She bit her lip in thought.
“What are you the key to?” Matteo chimed in.
Mara and Celeste shoulder bumped him at the same time while emphatically saying, “His heart!”
“That’s cheesy.” Matteo chuckled. “And so are you two.”
Mara made a face at him but Celeste didn’t bother to respond. Matteo was romantic at heart. They’d shared many conversations over the last three years about love and life and she knew that he would gladly give his heart away when the time came, cheesy or not. Instead she held out the locket to him and asked, “Would you?”
Without hesitation he took the necklace from her. Celeste turned her back to him and lifted her hair from her neck. The locket dropped in front of her until it rested in her décolletage. Matteo’s warm fingers worked deftly at the nape of her neck securing the clasp. Her skin tingled at the contact and goose bumps broke out down her arms.
“There. Let’s see.” He asked turning her to face him and Mara. He trailed his hands down her arms, hiding the goose bumps until they were gone.
“It really is beautiful,” Mara said. “Simple but stunning.”
“It suits you perfectly,” Matteo agreed.
“I think maybe I need to make a thank you phone call,” she trilled with a flutter in her belly.
Chapter 7
Annabelle
“You left me empty on the floor. Without even looking back.”
~ L’ame Immortelle—Betrayal
“Listen, I have to run. My parents get all bent out of shape if I’m late and the bus never seems to be on time,” Annabelle complained. She pulled her hair into a ponytail as she stood.
“Yes, yes. We don’t want you getting in any more trouble.” Jezebel gave her a wry smile. Annabelle could not help but think it held a secret. There was something endlessly intriguing about Jezebel.
