I sighed impatiently. “Yes, Micah. The fat, frumpy girl you’ve been trying to get your leg over with, probably as some sort of bet, is dumping you. I realise it’s probably a huge knock to your inflated ego. Tell people what you like; I’ll go along with it. I deserve it for being such a fucking idiot and falling into the trap…I mean did I seriously think someone like you would pick me out of that bunch?” I stuck my thumb in the direction of all the girls outside, with their big hair, short skirts and perfect bodies. “No, believe me I learned my lesson. I can’t dump you, because as far as I’m aware we aren’t exactly together, but yes I’m ending this, whatever this is.”
His frowned deepened but he still looked amused and that hurt me all the more.
“Jewls…”
“You can pick and choose and you seriously think I’ll believe you picked me? No one would believe that! You don’t want me, why would you?”
He considered that and let out a sigh, and then walked to me. He put his hands on my face and shook his head.
“You really can’t see it?”
“See what?” I said, as my tears rolled down and over his fingers. God his hands were so warm, his touch so tender I wished he could have real, genuine feelings for me, like I had for him. I wanted that fairy tale and this hurt so much.
“My God. Has it occurred to you…I like that you’re different? That I actually think you’re uniquely beautiful? Mostly because you can’t see that for yourself? That I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the first day you fell into my life. That I have an actual, real attraction to you?”
I opened my mouth a few times before I was able to speak. I wanted it to be true, but I knew it couldn’t be. “It’s impossible…”
He groaned and took a step back. “Christ, Jewls. What have I got to say to make you believe me? Why is it so hard to believe, why can’t you just…trust me?”
“Because…if you go through with this…whatever it is…you will finish me, Micah. And I’m trying so hard to build a new life; I don’t want it broken down. You can break me, and I don’t want you to. Cause I’m only just beginning to mend.”
It was the most honest with anyone I had ever been and it had come out as naturally as breathing. There it was, my heart on my sleeve.
He looked around him for a minute, as though seeking inspiration and nodded to himself.
“Right…enough…” with that he reached down, grabbed me around my thighs and literally threw me over his shoulder as though I weighed nothing at all.
“Micah!” I squealed, “What the hell are you doing?” To my utter horror, he was headed back to the park and straight for the big wheel.
Chapter Nine
~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~
Jewls
“We’re sorting this. Somewhere you have no choice but to listen to me.” With that, he dropped me in one of the seats and climbed in beside me, slamming the metal bar down in front of us. “Take us up to the top, Steve. And don’t let us down until I say so, no matter what this one says.” Steve grinned and nodded. “Righto, Mic.” And with that he pressed the button and we began the ascent.
My panic mode kicked in almost immediately. “Micah, seriously, I don’t like heights! You gotta let me off this thing, I swear to God!”
“I will…when you’ve listened to me, properly.”
“Micah, I’m not kidding! Let me down, please! You’ve had your fun, now enough!”
He was just smiling at me and I burst into full on sobs as we reached the top and jolted to a stop. I thought that would be enough for him, that he would finally decide he had gone too far and let me down. He didn’t. Instead he pulled me to his side – practically onto his lap – and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, holding me close.
“What are you scared of, Jewls?”
“Heights…” I sniffed and he put a hand on my chin, forcing me to look at him. I didn’t want to take my face out of his chest, didn’t want to look at how high we were, how dangerous this was, in every sense. It felt like my life was in the balance – literally and metaphorically.
“No,” he said with a smile, “what are you scared of?”
I swallowed and looked into his brown eyes. “You…”
He shook his head, as though finding the thought distasteful. “You shouldn’t be. You’re perfectly safe. I will not hurt you, Jewls. Give me one chance, just one. And you’ll see…I’m a good person. A hammer, and maybe I’ve been a tart in the past…” he smirked and I couldn’t help but smile, in spite of the terrified state I was in, “…but since I laid eyes on you, I don’t know…I just want to know you. I don’t expect you to instantly trust me, or…I dunno…do you even like me? Cause you act sometimes like you hate me…”
“I like you…” I croaked, “too much…”
“Let me kiss you…” he said suddenly. Micah was, I guessed correctly, not a man who would ever have to ask a girl for a kiss. I’d seen with my own eyes how the girls fell over themselves to get near him, seen the effect he had, that he knew he had. And yet here we were, at the top of a death trap, with him asking if he could kiss me. Me. Jewls Isabelle Dempsey.
“Why would you wanna do that…?” I mumbled, the words slipping out before I could stop them.
“Because actions speak louder than words, and if I can’t convince you of my intentions with words, I am pretty sure I can with a kiss.”
“You can fake a good kiss…” I said, again my brain to mouth filter majorly malfunctioning.
He grinned and shook his head, already leaning in for the kiss, “I can’t…”
And then his lips were on mine, and they were every bit as moist and warm as I had always thought they would be. He kissed like a dream, putting everything behind it, as though he were using every available resource to back up his words and convey his feelings. His hands slipped around my waist, pulling me closer still, and I placed my left palm across his cheek, on his beard. The only sounds were our lips smacking together and our heavy breaths. I could have sworn I could hear our hearts beating too, in sync with each other. I slipped my hand behind his neck and my fingers into his hair, pulling him closer still. I couldn’t get close enough to him. I realised at some point I was going to have to come up for air, but not yet. I wasn’t ready for the kiss to end. He opened his mouth a little wider, his tongue slipping into my mouth and dancing with mine in the sexiest, sweetest kiss I had ever experienced in all my life.
Up to that point, anyway.
For those minutes we were kissing I was able to forget that I was at the highest point on a big wheel, probably the most terrifying thing I could have imaged just half an hour before. I was able to forget that I was Miss Not Quite Good Enough, that I was way out of my depth and that the punchline to whatever this was just had to be imminent now. I expected when we were finally let off this monstrous contraption, that on the ground everyone would be waiting to point and laugh, make my humiliation complete. But in the moment, kissing him…I just didn’t care about any of that. It was worth it, worth anything.
He pulled away first – probably wise, because I was in no hurry to let go – and then in a display of tenderness and – dare I say it, love – he placed a kiss on the end of my nose and tucked my hair behind my ear.
“So…did that seem to you like a kiss from someone who’s just…messing about?”
I swallowed. “Uh…um…” was all I could get out. He grinned at me.
“I think I’ve made my point. Where’s your phone, Jewls?”
I scrambled in my pocket and pulled it out, handing it to him wordlessly. He took it, played around with it, and held it up in front of us. He put a finger on my chin, turning me to face him again and kissed me again, this time a slow, deliberate kiss. He pulled away and played with the phone again, then handed it to me. The home screen was now a photo of us kissing.
“I want you to see this every day. And know that it’s real. That it happened, and that it’s gonna happen again, and again…and again…”
/>
I smiled as he did, suddenly feeling ridiculously shy. I think I was acutely aware that I had, at last, well and truly laid myself bare. It was scary, but not as scary as I had expected it to be. I felt surprisingly calm in that moment.
Then I made the mistake of looking around, and remembered where we were. “Fuck, Micah!”
He laughed a little. “We only just kissed…one thing at a time, Miss Dempsey!”
I raised my eyebrows but then smiled when I realised that, of course, he was teasing. “Micah…we have to get down from here.”
He sat back casually, and the seat swung a little, making my heart leap into my mouth. I instinctively gripped my hand on the nearest thing, which just happened to be his thigh.
“I think it’s romantic, babe.” He said with a smile.
“Will it be romantic when I throw up on you?” I snapped. I was about five seconds from full on hysteria.
He laughed a little and sighed. “I don’t wanna go down yet; I like it up here, just me and you. I like being alone with you.”
“There are plenty of places we can be alone that don’t involve swinging on a death wheel a hundred foot in the air.”
He laughed again. “It’s not that high…”
“All the same…”
He groaned and nodded. “Okay.”
He leaned over the front, making my stomach lurch and put two fingers in his mouth, whistling once, loud. “Steve!”
With a jolt we were on the move again. I shrieked and leapt into his arms, and he wrapped me up. “I told you, you’re safe. Look. Just look, please.”
I pulled my face away from his arm and forced myself to look out and over the park. And I’ll be honest; the view took my breath away. Colour and lights as far as the eye could see, flashing and twinkling in the night sky. The moon high reflecting on the waves of the sea. It was a beautiful sight alright, but nowhere near as wonderful a sight as the one sitting next to me.
“See? Beautiful, huh?”
I slipped my hand into his, and nodded. “Yeah…”
“So are you. Don’t forget it.”
At last, the ride hit the deck and Micah pushed the bar up, getting to his feet and pulling me with him, not letting go of my hand. “Cheers, Stephen.”
Steve saluted him, grinning at us both. “No trouble, Mic.”
I shot him a look that said he was in big trouble but I was filing it for now and allowed Micah to walk me away from the wheel of death and through the park. He never let go of my hand. He walked – no, stalked – through the park, and I sort of half jogged to keep up with him. As we reached the Hall Of Mirrors by the gate he tugged me behind it and back into his arms, slamming his lips into mine again. It took me all of a second to respond. God I absolutely loved kissing him, I felt like I could spend all day and all night, every day for the rest of my life kissing him and never grow tired of it.
He pulled his mouth from mine and closed his eyes. “God, I have been wanting to kiss you since the first moment I laid eyes on you, Jewls. I could kiss you forever. Can I walk you home?”
I smiled and nodded, kissing his cheek. “Yeah…”
He took my hand again and led me out of the park and into the street.
~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~
Micah
We walked in silence for a while. Personally, I was just enjoying her hand in mine like that, it felt so right there.
I had planned to drop into Carousel and introduce her to Nic but as I walked past a quick glance inside and I could see he was too busy for a proper introduction and I wanted to do it right, so I kept walking. I slipped my arm around Jewls’ waist, pulling her to me, half expecting her to go stiff on me like she had a tendency to do, but she surprised me by putting her arm around my waist too. I smiled broadly and kissed the top of her head, and was rewarded with a deep, satisfied sigh from her.
All too soon we reached her flat and I turned and kissed her quickly, before she had time to think, to start babbling and to talk her way out of whatever we were to each other now. I had sensed her mind working overtime on the way home, convincing herself no doubt that this was a bad idea, not real or not going to last. I wanted to remind her – again – that I meant it. Kissing had become the best way I had of showing her how I felt. Later on, when she was ready, I knew of many other ways I could show her too. The thought of that day, whenever it might happen, sent a tingle through my spine because I already knew it would be like no other experience I had ever had. I knew that the first time I shared a bed with Jewls, took her into my arms and made love to her, it would be an experience neither one of us would ever forget.
I pulled away and kept my hands on her face, letting out a groan of frustration. “I wish I could stay longer, feels like we need to talk properly, we need to…” I sighed, “But it’s family night, and I have to be there. Two nights a week we have to all sit together, eat and talk. Because we’re all always so busy. It’s important, you know? To my sister, and to Nic, and-”
Jewls nodded, grinning at me as I realised that for once, it was me who couldn’t stop babbling. “Micah, it’s fine. I’ll see you uh…ooh, I’m off for another two days, are you?”
“I’m off tomorrow from the park, but working at the restaurant from early until…well, late.” I thought for a minute. “Damn it…”
“Micah, I told you it’s fine. A day to process might not be a bad thing.”
“A day to talk yourself out of this, you mean. Dangerous.”
She grinned again. “Out of what?”
“Being my girlfriend.”
“I don’t think I ever said I would be your girlfriend…”
I searched her expression, finding her eyes alive with mischief and scowled. “You are though, right? My girlfriend now?”
She didn’t answer, simply leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Goodnight, Micah.”
And with that, she turned on her heel and headed inside, leaving me standing on her doorstep well and truly put in my place.
I stood there in shock for a minute and then laughed to myself.
Fucking infuriating woman. God I loved her.
~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~
Jewls
I lay in my bed looking up at the ceiling, knowing fine well I would never in a million years be sleeping that night.
My lips were numb, and burning with the friction from Micah’s beard. I could almost still feel his mouth on mine, and I could still smell him all over me.
I flicked my home screen on my phone on and looked at the photo. Micah Machvaya, kissing me – me! Wanting to call me his girlfriend. There had been no people on the ground waiting to point and laugh, no punchline as yet, just me and Micah kissing. A lot.
Oh my holy God.
This was real, it actually was. It felt like…the universe trying to make amends for the shit I had been through with Andrew. I felt like I was finally being rewarded with some happiness. I was daring to believe that for the first time and I could not wipe the smile from my face. God he made me so bloody happy.
I hoped and prayed with all my heart that this feeling would never go away.
My phone buzzed in my hand and I grinned when I saw it was a message from Micah.
It’s real, Jewls. It really happened. Gonna miss you tomorrow, but I will text when I can and call you at lunch time. P.S. That first kiss? Wow. The kisses that followed. Double wow. Can still feel you on me. Never washing my mouth again. Goodnight beautiful xx M xx
I laughed to myself and hugged the phone to my chest. Jewls Dempsey. Miss Good Enough, and I had the sexiest, most gorgeous man on the planet.
Who would have thought it?
~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~
Micah
“Will you put that phone down?” Marisol said, smiling at me as she set yet another bowl on the table, this one full of salad. “Who are you texting at half ten at night anyway?”
“No one…” I said, knowing fine well she wouldn’t buy that.
She looked up at me suddenly. “
Jewls?”
I let out an exaggerated sigh. “Where are the others?”
“Luca and Kris are upstairs. Marco is in the shower. Nic…Nic is on his way, says he’ll be ten minutes, he’s just making sure that John is okay to shut up the restaurant, you know how he worries when he leaves someone outside the family to do it.” I nodded in agreement, “And you’re here, but your head is elsewhere. Or maybe it’s your heart. Is she your girlfriend yet?”
I shrugged. “I think so.” Marco picked that moment to walk in, and I glared at him. “No thanks to this fucking idiot.”
He held his hands up, grinning but moved around the back of the sofa, keeping a safe distance. “Not my fault!”
“What happened?” Mari asked with a confused smile.
I turned to her. “Jewls came to see me at work tonight. Walking through the park she stumbled across fuckwit here, getting cosy with Amy off the dodgems. She thought it was me. I got one hell of a slap from that, nearly lost her before I even had her.”
“Not my fault you didn’t tell her you have a slightly better looking twin brother, Micah.” Marco said, still grinning.
“How many times do I have to tell you? Be a slut all you like bro, but not in my place of work! I ought to knock you out, damn it!”
“Well bring it on, twinny!” he said, laughing. I was smiling now too, in spite of myself. I never could stay mad at him for long. He was, after all, practically a part of me, the other half of me. To be mad at him was to be mad at myself and well, that made no sense, did it?
I chased him around the sofa a couple of times before diving over the back, landing on him and sending us both toppling to the ground with a thud. Kris and Luca had joined us and stood over us laughing as we wrestling around on the floor.
“Keep it in your pants from now on, Marco.” I warned and he laughed.
“You’re just jealous, cause you’re so smitten with this girl and you aint had none for weeks! Pussy whipped, Micah. That’s what you are! You haven’t even kissed her yet!”
Gypsy Kiss: Book 1: Micah (The Gypsy Kiss Series) Page 13
