“Shhh, it’s okay.” It’s not entirely true, but I know better than to make him explain at this very moment.
“No, it’s not fine. Unfortunately, Rachael’s her best friend. The second we left the meeting room she must have been on the phone to her. Rebecca seems to think it’s fine for her to have a life outside of what we were, but apparently, it doesn’t work the same for me.”
“She’s a bitch.” I regret the words the second they fall from my lips but I was powerless to stop them. “Shit, I’m—”
“Don’t apologize, it’s true. Enough about her; let’s get out of here.”
Grabbing my hand, Harrison gently pulls me from the room and then back out of the building. We see a couple of people on the way down but he doesn’t hang around long enough to chat.
“What about Danni?” I ask when I spot her car parked by the sidewalk full of my shopping.
“She can look after herself.” That wasn’t quite what I meant, but the second we’re standing next to his Aston Martin, I’m gently ushered inside before the door shuts behind me.
“What do you want to do?”
“Don’t you have work?”
“Nope, that meeting you walked in on was me telling everyone that I’m not going to be around as much. My life doesn’t just revolve around work now; I intend on spending plenty of time with my wife.”
“Sounds good to me. Can we go and look at some possible art schools?”
“We can do whatever you want.”
Harrison
I’m fascinated by the look on Summer’s face as I drive around the streets of central London. Every now and then she’ll point something out like it’s the most incredible sight in the world. I make all the right noises, not wanting to ruin her fun by telling her I see most of this stuff on a daily basis. I drive her to a couple of different universities and sit in the car while she runs into reception to get some information. I can’t help the wide smile that stretches across my face every time she reappears with an armful of stuff and a smile plastered on her face. I know how nervous she was about coming here and starting over once again, so seeing her delight means everything to me.
Watching her is a welcome distraction from that phone call earlier. I knew it wouldn’t take long for Rebecca to find out I’d remarried, but I wasn’t quite expecting Rachael to be that efficient. It’s a shame she’s so bloody good at her job, or I would have got rid of her by now, because she’s almost equally as good at sticking her nose in where it’s not wanted. Rebecca has no right to criticise me for getting married again so soon, let alone having the audacity to be worried about how it might affect her. She was always so lovely, and even now, when I think back to our childhood, I never remember her as anything other than kind and caring. I guess it’s why the change in her was so obvious.
“What’s all that?” Summer asks the second we step foot inside our house and find boxes scattered around the hallway. “Oh my god, is it the stuff from our honeymoon?” she asks excitedly as she starts pulling the boxes open. “Yesss…I’ll be back in a minute.” She turns on her heel and dashes out the front door before I have a chance to say anything.
Watching her head towards Danni’s place, I put the door on the latch and make my way further into the house after shrugging off my jacket and loosening my tie. The tension Rebecca caused still has the muscles in my shoulders pulled tight. Deciding I need to banish her from my head, I walk straight up to the bedroom and change before marching to my home gym. I need to get her out of my system.
I know Summer’s back in the house as I hear her banging around, but it doesn’t stop me pounding the treadmill. I lose myself while I exercise and that’s exactly what I need right now so that when I walk back out of this room I can focus on the one thing that’s important: Summer.
We still have so much we need to talk about and I know I’m putting it off, but I can’t help it. I don’t want to lose what we have, and one way or another everything’s going to change when she finds out the truth. I just wish I knew if it was going to be for the better.
I feel her eyes on me before I see her. Looking up to the mirrored wall in front of me, I find her standing in the doorway watching my every movement intently. When she realises I’ve seen her, her eyes come to mine and our contact holds. Her usually bright blue eyes darken and her mouth drops open. My pulse races even more and my cock stirs in my shorts.
Ripping my eyes from hers, I slow the treadmill and step off. She’s expecting me to walk over to her and when she realises I’m not, her face drops. That is, until I push my shorts from my hips and leave them in a pile on the floor behind me as I make my way over the bench press.
“What are you—” Her words are cut off when I drop down on the leather seat and begin working on my arms. Her gaze runs the length of my naked body before climbing back up again. “Often work out naked, do you?”
“Only when I’ve got a beautiful woman watching. I was kind of hoping she’d join me.”
“Sorry, but I’m not a gym kind of girl.”
“I’m sure I could change your mind.”
“Is that right?” Pushing herself from the door, she slowly makes her way over, her hips swaying hypnotically. Breaking my stare from her movements, I slowly make my way up over her slim waist and perfectly round tits covered in her vest.
“Take it off,” I demand, my voice deep and rough.
“What?”
“All. Of. It.”
I watch as she swallows, my words registering in her head. It takes a second but she’s soon toeing off her trainers and grasping the bottom of her vest.
My cock’s already hard for her but as she reveals more of her creamy skin to me, I have to stop attempting to work out in favour of watching her every movement. My arms still but I continue to hold onto the handle of the weights as she slowly reveals her lace bra. It’s see-through enough to give me just a hint of the dusky pink nipples hiding beneath.
Pulling the fabric over her head, she drops it to the floor as her blonde waves settle around her shoulders. Every muscle in my body tenses with my need to walk over and rip the rest of her clothing from her body. Squeezing the metal beneath my hands, I force myself to stay put and enjoy watching my gorgeous wife stripping for me.
I can still see a little of her shyness from when we first met, but every day I see her confidence grow a little as she truly starts to believe that she’s the only thing I want. I don’t think she’ll ever totally appreciate how beautiful and sexy she is to me, but I’ll make it my life’s mission to make her understand the best I can. She never needs to look nervous or self-conscious about her body around me.
My eyes drop as she pops the button on her shorts and shimmies them down her legs. I just about hold in a groan when she’s standing in one of the underwear sets I chose for her. I trusted someone else with her clothes but there was no way I was allowing anyone else to have any input on the items only I would be seeing.
“You found your drawers this morning, I see,” I grunt out as she reaches behind her to unclasp her bra.
“I did. That’s a lot of lace for one man to have in his bachelor pad, don’t you think?”
“Uh huh,” I mutter as she slowly peels the lace from her breasts.
Her knickers soon join the rest of her clothing on the floor and she stands before me gloriously naked, trying her hardest not to cover herself up if the flinching in her arms is anything to go by.
“Get over here, beautiful.”
Her eyes hold mine as she walks over, her teeth attacking her bottom lip. My cock twitches with thoughts of how her mouth will feel wrapped around me.
“Get on your knees.”
She does exactly as she’s told. Reaching out, she grasps my cock in her dainty hand and looks up at me, a little apprehensively. Slowly, she leans forward and licks the very tip.
“Fuck,” I grate out, my hips lifting from the seat beneath me just from that tiny amount of contact alone.
Her eyes shine with my re
action and it gives her a little more confidence. She licks at me a few more times before she slowly sucks me into her hot little mouth. Fuck, if the sight of her rosy lips wrapped around my cock doesn’t have me on the verge of coming.
Letting go of the bench press for the first time, I thread my fingers into her hair at the base of her neck so I can control her speed, afraid that if she ups her pace I’ll come before I’ve had the chance to touch her.
When my need to up the ante gets the better of me, I pull her from my cock. Her eyes widen in surprise, but she rises on her feet as I gently guide her.
“Straddle me.” She looks down at my lap and does exactly as I ask. When her tits are in my face, I grab them both in my hands and suck her peaked nipples into my mouth. The second she begins to lower I release her in favour of lining myself up with her entrance.
“Ugh, shit,” I grunt when she drops herself right down on me. “Hold on to that bar,” I say, nodding above us, “and fuck me.”
She stills for a second but one small thrust of my hips has her reaching above her head so she can get more movement and find us our releases.
Since the moment she crashed into me, I knew she was meant to be mine. Something in my soul clicked into place that day. But having her here with me feels so right. I feel like I once again have a home, and not just a house, with her in it. My life feels full in a way I never thought I’d feel again. My heart swells as I look at her with her head resting on my chest as she pants out her rapid breaths, coming down from her high.
She must feel my attention because she turns her giant blue eyes on me. “You okay?”
“Incredible, beautiful. You?”
“Good, but…I can’t feel my legs,” she admits with a laugh.
Smiling, I encircle her waist with my hands and slowly lift her from me before carrying her down the hallway and into our bedroom.
“Whoa…what happened in here?”
7
Summer
The little bit of confidence I did have about putting my own mark on Harrison’s home vanishes the moment he comes to a stop in the doorway to our bedroom.
“I’m sorry,” I say in a rush. “We can put it back the way it was if you don’t like it.”
“Summer,” he soothes as he puts me down on my feet and pulls me so I’m directly in front of him. He stares deep into my eyes. “This is our home. It’s just as much yours now as it is mine. You can do whatever it is you want to the place.”
“Really?” I whisper.
“Really.” Looking up from my face, I watch as he casts his eyes back around the room again. Gone are the white curtains, matching bedding and bare walls, and in their place are gorgeous burnt orange and dark blue fabrics which compliment the canvas of the sunset I painted on our honeymoon that’s waiting to be hung pride of place above our bed. “It’s stunning.”
“Really?” I ask again, like it’s the only word I can remember.
“Yes. Really.” Grabbing me by the shoulders and pulling me into his chest, I can’t help but let out a large sigh of relief.
“That’s good, because there’s more,” I admit.
“I can’t wait to see it, beautiful.”
It’s almost an hour later when we emerge from the en suite with our previous sweaty bodies all clean and smelling like the raspberry shower gel I found in a bright pink bottle—not wanting to leave the bathrooms out during my color explosion.
Harrison looks into every room we pass, expecting to find it covered in new stuff, but he’s disappointed until he looks in the living room. That’s had similar treatment to the bedroom. There are now cushions on the plain black couch, new curtains and a rug to soften the room a little.
The kitchen wasn’t ignored either, with new colorful utensils on the counter along with a green kettle and toaster.
Coming to a stop behind me, he wraps his arms around my waist and rests his head on my shoulder. “It looks amazing. Thank you.”
“Are you sure? You’re not just saying that because you have to?”
“No, I mean it. It looks like a home all of a sudden, although I think that has more to do with you than it does the stuff.”
“Aw,” I say, turning in his arms so I can look at him.
“I really love having you here.”
After dropping a kiss to the end of my nose, he releases me and walks into the kitchen. “Dinner?”
“Yes!”
Sitting on the bar stool, I watch as he effortlessly moves around, gathering everything he’ll need. My heart races as I watch him looking so relaxed, dressed in only a tight-fitting white t-shirt that stretches across his wide shoulders and chest along with a loose-fitting grey pair of sweatpants and bare feet. I’ve never seen him looking so happy in his own skin as right this second. It looks very sexy on him.
“Why are you blushing?” he asks, putting a stop to my thoughts.
“Uh…” I stutter as I think about how I was just undressing him with my eyes.
“Summer,” he warns, the deep rumble of his voice sending tingles around my body.
“I was just thinking how hot my husband looks while he’s cooking.”
“I’ll remember that,” he says with a cheeky wink before turning back to the fish he’s preparing.
True to his word, apart from the odd call here and there, I get him all to myself for the next three days. He takes me to see a couple of universities and I get the chance to talk to the professors about the courses I’m interested, as well as seeing some of the sights London has to offer. I get to experience the places my grandad used to tell me about as a kid. He’s been gone over four years now but just being here, where he grew up, makes me feel closer to him than I can ever remember. I was always desperate to experience what his early years were like and as I walk around the city he loved so much with my hand tightly grasped in my husband’s, I can’t help but smile at how my life has turned out.
I never would have predicted this in a million years. I thought attempting to get into art school was a dream that would never happen. But to be able to call London my home and have this incredible man by my side who’s offering me the world is just beyond my imagination. I’m still waiting to wake up and for it all to be a dream, or for the other shoe to drop, because all this is just too good to be true.
It’s late afternoon when we make it back home. The second we walk through the door, Harrison’s cell rings. Groaning, he pulls it from his pocket and swipes to connect the call as he walks into the house.
“Yes,” he barks. “What? Now?”
Those two words have disappointment flooding my body. I’ve enjoyed having him here with me a little too much.
I’m getting myself a glass of water when he reappears.
“I’m really sorry, beautiful. I’ve got to pop to the office for a bit.”
“That’s okay,” I say, plastering a smile on my face. I need to remember that just because I have nothing to do here, doesn’t mean he does too. He has a company to run. “I’ll look at the courses.” He might think I’m good enough to sell my art, and he might be right, but art school is something I just really want to experience. I want to try to make my own connections, try to carve my own way in the art world and not just rely on Harrison’s contacts. Plus, I need to make some friends, and being with people who have the same interests as me seems like a good place to start.
“Perfect. I promise not to be too long. I’ll bring back dinner.”
“Sounds good.”
Giving me a sweet kiss, he leaves me standing in the kitchen nursing my glass of water. I miss him the second the front door shuts, and I feel ridiculous.
Heading to his office, I grab his laptop and a notebook before pulling his top drawer open to find a pen. With everything in hand, I settle myself on the couch and power the laptop up. I’m scrolling through the array of courses to choose from when the phone rings.
“Hello?” I ask, still feeling a little weird about answering his home phone.
“Summer.
It’s good to finally speak to you,” a saccharine sweet, female voice says.
“Uh…who’s this?” I ask, but something tells me I already know.
“The one who had him first.”
“What do you want, Rebecca?” The harshness in my tone shocks me.
“I just wanted to make sure you were settling into my life okay.”
Anger has my hands trembling to the point I’m worried I might drop the phone.
“You made your choice and you chose to leave. The only person whose life I’m living is my own…with my husband.”
“For how long, though?”
“I haven’t got time for this,” I spit, pulling the phone away from my ear, ready to hang up. That is until her next words filter through to me.
“How long until you find out he’s lying to you?”
All my fears about him not being totally honest with me about why he left Vegas resurface. I fight to swallow them down. I don’t want a quiver in my voice to give me away.
“He’s not. It was nice chatting to you, but I don’t think it’s an experience I’d like to repeat. Have a nice life, Rebecca.”
“Oh, I will. Have a good evening, Summer.”
Finally slamming the phone down on the counter, I lean forward on my shaking hands and suck in a giant breath of air.
Who the fuck does she think she is? Deciding to forego my water, I pull a new bottle of wine from the cooler and pour myself a giant glass. It does little to relax me.
At no point have I forgotten that I still don’t know the real reason for Harrison’s disappearance or that he’s obviously hiding something from me, but everything’s so perfect that I allowed myself to push it to one side, believing that he would tell me when he was ready. But Rebecca knows he’s lying to me, a little voice says. How would she know? They don’t talk. He hates her. How would she know?
The sound of the doorbell followed by a series of knocks on the front door pull me from my turmoil. Placing the glass down on the counter, my hands still trembling, I make my way to the hallway.
Their Vegas Gamble Page 13