by Holly Martin
He paused as he released her hands and she wrapped them round his neck, gathering him as close as she could. But as the feelings in her subsided and she felt her body go soft and pliant, it seemed that Gabe was far from finished.
* * *
Gabe woke and stared up at the sky above them as the first hints of a candyfloss sunrise started to appear. Pip was lying fast asleep sprawled out on his chest. Though he wasn’t surprised she was sleeping, they had made love for hours the night before. They’d stop and kiss and talk for a while, but he found he just couldn’t lie in bed with her naked and not make love to her until she screamed out his name again. He was never going to get enough of her. Sex had never been like that before. How could he ever think that he could fill the void she had left with those other women when nothing would ever feel as good or as right as being with Pip?
They would have to get up soon. He had promised Wren he would have breakfast with her and there was still a lot to be done to prepare for the guests’ arrival the next day. His parents were arriving too, but locked in the warmth of Pip’s embrace he could forget, just for a moment, that there were all these stresses to worry about.
He breathed her in and sighed.
He shifted out of her arms and she moaned slightly as he got out of bed and then re-covered her with a blanket. He used the bathroom and then came back out to the bedroom. She was lying face down with her bare shoulders showing and as he climbed back into bed with her, she opened one eye to look at him.
He stroked her hair. ‘Did you have any more nightmares last night?’
She shook her head. ‘You really must be my cure. Though there wasn’t much time for sleeping. It’s not time to get up yet, surely?’
‘We’ve probably got half an hour before we need to get ready.’
‘A half hour more sleep sounds lovely,’ she mumbled, sleepily, closing her eyes again.
‘Who said anything about sleeping?’ Gabe said as he moved on top of her, sweeping her hair off her shoulders and kissing the very top of her spine.
‘Gabe, I can’t move, I don’t have it in me to do it again,’ Pip said, though when she opened one eye to look at him over her shoulder, he could see she was far from sleepy any more.
‘Lucky for you, I have enough stamina for both of us. You just have to lie there, angel, and I’ll take care of everything.’
He grabbed the last condom and then trailed kisses down her spine, nudging her legs open as he knelt between them. He slid his fingers between her legs and let out a breath of need when he felt how ready she was for him. He lifted her hips slightly and slid inside her in one swift movement. She felt so good, so hot, and she fitted him perfectly. She let out a moan that was urgent and animalistic and it turned him on so much.
He leaned over her, his arms either side of her head, caging her in his embrace as he kissed her spine again. He thrust into her again and she writhed under him, very quickly falling into a rhythm as they moved against each other in perfect sync. He was surprised though when he could feel her body quickening, getting closer to her orgasm. She was so responsive and it took so little time to send her over the edge. He had never been with a woman who had multiple orgasms during sex, but Pip seemed to be the expert, and every time she looked shocked, like she couldn’t believe it was happening again, that her body was capable of it. For Gabe, he saw it as a challenge; he liked to see how many times he could make her come before he gave in to his own release.
As her body tightened around his and she moaned and clawed at the pillow, he reached up and took her hands in his, holding her to the bed as she screamed and shook beneath him. No sooner had her body stopped trembling, he pulled out and rolled her onto her back before sliding back into her again. She looped her arms round his neck and looked at him in shock as he continued to move against her. He kissed her softly and smiled against her lips as he felt her building again. He pulled back to stare into those beautiful golden, vulnerable eyes and knew he was falling in love with her all over again.
* * *
Pip stared up at the empty tree. Hanging just above where the star would be was a gigantic spider. This thing was practically a tarantula, with thick black hairy legs. She swore she could actually see its eight eyes staring at her. She hated spiders.
After breakfast with Wren and feeding the reindeer – with thankfully no sexual antics from Rudolph this time – she had spent the morning decorating the houses in the village. Everything had gone smoothly until she had to face this monster. She couldn’t kill spiders, they grossed her out too much, and she certainly couldn’t pick them up. But she couldn’t decorate the tree with it hanging over her either.
She climbed the three stairs up the stepladder and reached up towards the monster, swiping just above it with a piece of paper to try to catch the web. The spider flinched and she leapt back a bit, but still he hung there as if he was floating in the air. She swiped again and the spider suddenly fell from its web, slithered down the piece of paper towards her and straight down the sleeve of her top.
Pip screamed and yanked her top off, throwing it across the room and straight into Luke’s face as he came through the door holding what looked like lunch. She yelped at him seeing her in just a bra, tried to cover herself, and as the stepladder wobbled precariously she toppled backwards into the tree, hitting the branches and feeling the stab of the tiny needles against her bare skin as she fell to the floor.
‘Christ, Pip, are you OK?’ Luke said, rushing over to help her.
He grabbed her hand and retrieved her from the tree, but one of the branches caught on her bra strap and as she was pulled up, her bra was yanked up too. She grabbed her bra just in time to stop it from coming off and Luke, realising what had happened, immediately dropped her, slamming a hand over his eyes.
She yelped as she hit the floor again.
‘Sorry.’
He quickly handed her back her T-shirt which he was still holding in the other hand and when she struggled to put it back on from her upended position inside the tree, the bloody tarantula climbed out of the head hole towards her.
Pip squealed and threw the T-shirt out of the tree.
Luke chanced a glance through his fingers. ‘What happened?’
‘Don’t look.’
Luke clamped his hand over his eyes again and as Pip untangled herself from the branches she could distinctly hear him chuckling.
‘It’s not funny,’ Pip said, trying to stand up.
Luke must have known she was struggling, because he offered out his free hand and when she took it, he pulled her out. ‘It really is. I only came in here to see if you wanted a sandwich, I didn’t expect to get a strip show.’
Pip felt the laugh bubble from her throat too.
She marched over to her T-shirt and, seeing the tarantula scuttle underneath a chest of drawers, she picked her top up and pulled it on.
‘OK, you can look now,’ Pip said and smiled when Luke was still laughing. He didn’t laugh or smile very often and it made her feel good that she had helped to ease some of his pain, albeit temporarily. He tossed her a sandwich and went to sit down on the sofa. She sat down opposite him.
‘You’re the second person I’ve rescued from a tree today. Well, I say person, it was Blaze. Stupid puppy escaped again and got himself wedged in a tree, I have no idea how, but his howls and yelps made him pretty easy to find.’
‘He’s a handful then?’ Pip said, unwrapping her sandwich.
‘Blaze is certainly a character. I love him, but he’s completely useless for what I got him for. We bought them to pull sleds for the tourists; dog sledding is hugely popular and I’m going to train them in the summer to do it, but Blaze has no discipline at all. I might as well send him back to the breeder but Wren would kill me if I did, she absolutely adores him.’
‘Aw, poor Blaze, he just needs a little love.’
‘Believe me, he has that in bucket loads. At the moment, me spoiling him with love is not working and he’s corrupting the
other puppies too. I can teach him to sit, stay and come when called, but beyond the basics he’s useless. You can have him if you want.’
Pip stopped chewing. A puppy would require commitment and stability. She couldn’t take responsibility for a puppy and then leave it in a few months’ time. She had always just been responsible for herself, but suddenly the thought of looking after someone or something else appealed. If she stayed she’d have Wren to look after too and although that was an even bigger responsibility than a puppy that didn’t scare her off, either. She wanted the family that she’d never had and the bigger the better – puppies, cats, maybe even children of her own one day – and she wanted that with Gabe.
She glanced over at Luke who was watching her with a slight smile, clearly knowing what she was thinking. That was a big statement from him. Offering her a puppy when he knew she couldn’t take Blaze with her was almost equivalent to asking her to stay, which was a bit of a U-turn from the day before.
Luke shrugged. ‘Think about it.’
‘I will.’
* * *
Pip stretched as she looked at the finished tree in the final house that she’d decorated. It had taken her all day to do the last three houses but now it was done. Although Gabe had helped with the outside of the houses in the morning, he’d disappeared back to the hotel before lunch and she hadn’t seen him since.
She had seen the red plane arrive on the island several times throughout the day, bringing with it all the staff and probably Gabe’s parents too. She knew she would have to face them at some point, but she wasn’t looking forward to the conversation that she knew she would have to have with them. They had been under no obligation to take her in when she was seventeen years old, they had every right to turn down the five thousand pounds that her dad had offered them, but she still couldn’t help feeling hurt over the rejection. She needed to know whether it was true and, if it was, the reason why. In hindsight, and with the maturity of age, Pip could understand that the lack of space and money could have been an issue, but she still couldn’t help feeling let down as they were always more of a family to her than her own family had been. In truth, part of the reason she had run away was not just Gabe’s rejection but the rejection from his parents too.
She quickly tidied up any of the debris left over from decorating and left the box by the door to be collected by the maintenance team later. She stepped outside into the cold. It was just starting to get dark and it was clear that the men working on the houses had finished and packed away some time before. But as with the previous night, Luke was waiting for her on the snowmobile.
‘Thanks for waiting,’ Pip said as she approached.
Luke shrugged. ‘Are all the houses finished now?’
‘Yes, that’s the last one. Hopefully we won’t need them, but if the power goes out again then we have a back-up plan.’
‘It’s good of you to help.’
Pip climbed on the snowmobile behind him, wrapping her arms around his chest. ‘I want to help Gabe, he’s worked so hard for this, you all have. I want it to be a success. If things work out between me and Gabe, then I’ll be staying here. I’m not sure what skills I have to offer, but I want to contribute.’
‘Do you think it will work out between you? It’s no secret that you spent the night together last night.’
‘We’ve spent every night together since I’ve arrived here, last night was no different.’ Apart from the hours of incredible, mind-blowing sex, but she wasn’t going to tell Luke that.
Luke was silent for a moment. ‘The boy is falling in love with you, anybody can see that. Just be careful with him.’
‘I will. I don’t want to hurt him, that’s the last thing I want.’
Luke nodded as he pulled into the drive. There was a flurry of activity around the hotel and lodges. Pip had got used to the place being quiet and empty, but Gabe had said there were nearly fifty staff returning that day and it seemed they all suddenly had jobs to do.
‘Dad and Lizzie are here, I know they’re keen to see you,’ Luke said, interrupting her thoughts.
Pip didn’t know what to say. It was the weirdest feeling of being so desperate to see them again after all this time and dreading seeing them too.
Luke seemed to sense this. ‘They loved you, Pip, don’t ever think otherwise.’
They stopped outside Gabe’s lodge and Pip climbed off.
‘We’re having a big family dinner later, I suspect I’ll see you then,’ Luke said.
‘I’m not family. I doubt they will want me there.’
‘You are family, you always have been.’
Luke roared off into the darkness before Pip could answer. She turned and walked up the stairs into Gabe’s lodge. If she was going to dinner with the Whitakers later she needed to speak to Gabe’s parents before then.
She pushed open the door and before she had even stepped one foot inside, Wren launched herself at her from across the room, throwing her arms around Pip and squealing with delight that she was home. Pip kneeled down and hugged Wren to her. Wren stroked Pip’s hair, soothingly, almost as if she knew that Pip was worried. Pip had never really thought about having children before – having children meant trusting someone enough to be in a serious relationship and she had vowed many years ago that that was never going to happen. But with Wren’s tiny warm body wrapped in her arms, right then Pip could think of nothing better than being a part of this little girl’s life, being there for her and watching her grow up.
‘It’s four days until Christmas, Pip. I’m so excited. Daddy says I might burst with excitement.’
‘We don’t want that, there would be bits of you everywhere.’
Wren giggled.
Gabe wandered in from the kitchen, smiling broadly. He had a tea towel thrown over his shoulder and as Wren let her go and went back to playing with Winston, and Gabe came over to greet her, she smiled at the idyllic image of domestic bliss that Gabe and Wren presented.
Without any hesitation, Gabe took her face in his hands and kissed her. Pip jumped a little that he would display such affection in front of Wren, but because Gabe didn’t seem bothered by it Pip closed her eyes and enjoyed the kiss. Wren let out a little giggle at seeing them together, but after a second she carried on playing with Winston as if her daddy kissing Pip was completely the norm.
‘Well, that’s a lovely welcome,’ Pip said, smiling up at him when he eventually pulled back. ‘I certainly didn’t expect that.’
‘I missed you, we both did. Wren has been asking when you were coming home.’
‘Well, I’m home now and I’m yours all evening, Wren.’ She looked back at Gabe. ‘I know you’re going to dinner tonight with your family. I can look after Wren if you want me to.’
Gabe looked confused. ‘But you’re coming to dinner too, we all are. Mum and Dad are dying to see you again.’
‘It doesn’t seem right, Gabe. I’m not part of your family. I don’t want to be in the way.’
‘Of course you’re part of the family. It wouldn’t be right if you weren’t there.’
He looked down at her, trying to understand what she was worried about. His face cleared a little. ‘I’m just making some hot chocolate for Wren in the kitchen. Why don’t you come through and talk to me about your day and Wren can play in here with Winston.’
Pip nodded and Gabe took her hand and led her through to the kitchen. ‘What’s wrong? Do you not want to have dinner with them tonight?’
‘I need to talk to them before I sit down to dinner with them like one big happy family. It’ll be awkward otherwise.’
‘Then let’s go talk to them. They’re staying in your old lodge. We can go now. We still have a few hours until dinner.’
‘I think I need to do this by myself.’
Gabe nodded. ‘OK, if you’re sure.’
‘I’ll go now.’
Gabe kissed her on the cheek. ‘They adore you Pip, you have nothing to worry about.’
Pip smile
d and walked back out through the lounge.
‘Are you leaving already?’ Wren asked, sadly, as she looked up from playing with Winston.
‘I’m just going over to see your grandparents, I won’t be long.’
‘Can I come?’
Gabe came in with a mug of steaming hot chocolate. ‘I just made you this. Do you not want it now?’
‘Did you make it with cream and marshmallows, Daddy?’
‘Of course I did. You can see Nanny and Pops again later at dinner. You need to have a bath first.’
‘OK, can Winston have a bath too?’
‘Maybe not tonight, but we can bath him another day.’
While Wren was distracted by the hot chocolate and the prospect of bathing Winston, Pip slipped out and crunched across the snow to the lodge where Gabe’s parents were staying.
She stood outside the door for a few moments before plucking up the courage to knock on the door. She could hear Lizzie and David laughing and talking inside and her heart jolted with a recognition and an ache for them that she didn’t even know she had.
A second later the door was flung open and she stared into the familiar eyes of Gabe’s mum. They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before Lizzie threw her arms around Pip and held her tight.
‘Oh my darling, we have missed you so much. Come in out of the cold and let me have a look at you.’
Before Pip could protest, Lizzie had dragged her into the lounge and closed the door behind her. David was standing by the fire and his face split into a huge smile when he saw her.
‘Pip, it’s so good to see you,’ David said, walking towards her and grabbing her into a big hug.
Pip felt a lump of emotion lodge in her throat at the warm welcome from both of them. Where Neve and Luke had both been guarded, protective and somewhat hostile towards her at first, Lizzie and David welcomed her with open arms.
David released her and held Pip at arm’s length. ‘How have you been?’
‘You grew up to be so beautiful,’ Lizzie said. ‘It’s no wonder Gabe is falling in love with you all over again. God, I can’t believe you’re here after all this time. Broke my heart when you left, I felt like I had lost one of my own children. Gabe told us what happened, that you were in the car with your dad when it crashed. Why didn’t you come to us?’