Undertaking Love Page 0,75
in the mirror.
‘Having fun with a drop dead gorgeous man. It is my birthday, after all,’ her reflection wheedled right back. If reflections could stick their tongues out, Marla had no doubt that hers would have at that moment.
‘You’re drunk!’
‘And you’re boring!’
Ouch. The slur pierced right through to the heart of Marla’s biggest hang up. She was mostly content with her life choices, with her decision to turn her back on love in order to protect her heart and her business, but it came at a cost. Life could be incredibly dull, and occasionally she battled with the urge to cut loose of her self-imposed rules and run amok for a few hours.
Evil twin sensed a chink in Marla’s resolve and pounced.
‘Come on! Where’s the harm? He’s handsome, he’s available, and he’s gagging for it.’
Marla closed her eyes, but she could still hear evil twin’s words just as clearly.
‘Just tell him up front that it’s a no strings attached, one day only, never to be repeated or spoken about again, special birthday deal, and that it’s back to daggers at dawn in the morning.’
Marla’s eyes flew open and she gasped in shock at the flame-haired harlot’s outrageous suggestion.
‘Who’s to know, Marla? And aren’t you just dying to know how his kiss feels?’
Marla all but whimpered.
‘Wouldn’t you love to feel him hard between your thighs? You would, wouldn’t you?’
‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘God, yes. I really, really would.’
Her reflection winked at her. ‘Why are you skulking around in the bathroom, then? Get out there!’ Marla swallowed hard, then opened the bathroom cabinet and shook a condom out of the box.
She found Gabe flat out on the stars and stripes with a contrite look on his face and two freshly opened bottles of Bud on the grass beside him. He sat up as she skirted the edge of the blanket. ‘Marla, look … I’m sorry about just now. It was a stupid thing to say.’
She appreciated his apology, and let his silence hang in the air for a second as she quickly hid the condom in the basket and settled down alongside him. She reached out for her beer and clinked the bottle against his, then took a long swig for Dutch courage and looked him square in the eyes.
‘I’ve been thinking, Gabe. If you were a sandwich, I’d say you were Marmite.’
He did the tiniest of double takes at her abrupt shift in gear. ‘Yeah?’
‘Uh-huh.’ Marla nodded gravely. ‘People either love you or hate you.’
Gabe stepped up to the mark without missing a beat. ‘I see. And you, Marla? What’s your position on Marmite?’
‘You know what? That’s the funny thing.’ She propped herself up on her elbow and gesticulated towards him with the neck of her beer bottle. ‘Most days I can’t stand the stuff, and then very occasionally, I have to have it.’ She licked her lips. ‘I crave it, in fact, and nothing else will do.’
Gabe leaned in just close enough for Marla to feel his breath on her cheek. ‘And is today one of those days?’
‘I’m not sure,’ she said, breathless and powerful. ‘I’d probably need a tiny taste to help me make my mind up.’
He laughed softly, closing the space between them. Marla glimpsed the sweep of his dark lashes against his cheekbone as his eyes closed a second before hers, another second before his lips found hers.
Gabe’s warm fingers bumped along her jaw, their bodies aligning hip to hip as he kissed her long, slow and easy. He tasted of beer and sunshine, and the touch of his tongue against her lips turned Marla’s blood to liquid lust. She opened her mouth to welcome him in, but he nipped her bottom lip and pulled back. ‘So? Did you make your mind up?’ He soothed her lip with his thumb. ‘Is today a Marmite kind of day?’
Marla lifted her eyelids and looked into his eyes, which, interestingly enough, were the exact colour of Marmite. She saw raw desire that he made no effort to hide, and an erotic intensity that shrank the world down to a bubble just for them. The bottom dropped out of her stomach with need as she snagged her leg over his thigh and rolled him on top of her, her hands already beneath the edge of his T-shirt. She felt his stomach muscles jump with shock at the touch of her fingers. He felt like hard, warm silk. ‘This is one of those days when I want to eat the whole damn jar.’
Gabe’s