Page 100 of Saving Ren

“And that’s all we need. Right now,fornow, that’s all we need. I know it’s quick, I get everything’s happened fast, but that just means there’s been no fucking about. We just know, we’ve both known from the beginning that if we went there, we’d be in deep, and that’s exactly what’s happened.”

He lets out a long slow breath, the heat from it brushes my cheeks, right along with the gentle sweep of his eyes.

“I’ll get you an appointment with our family lawyer next week. You can talk to him about getting your divorce sorted. Unless the laws have changed, I think it takes around a year. Once that happens,thenwe’ll talk about changing things and maybe adding some labels.”

I say nothing to that because I’m not entirely sure what he means or whether I will ever be ready for anything more than what we already have.

I spend the rest of the day taking my time getting ready for our date. Gabe takes me to an Italian restaurant in Sorrento, down at the end of the peninsula. We eat good food, we drink far too much good wine, we talk nonstop. Everything about the night isnormal. It’s drama-free. It’s exactly what we need—what I need—to make us feel like arealcouple.

I pass out in the taxi on the way home, I don’t remember getting back to the house or Gabe putting me to bed. I can’t remember if I told Gabe exactly what he means to me or if I even needed to after showing him this morning.

* * *

I wakeon Sunday morning to a banging headache, the sound of Gabe singing along to Coldplay, and the smell of bacon.

It’s a beautiful, bright, sunny morning, and as I lay there, smiling up at the ceiling, listening to Gabe sing, I realise that for the first time in a long time, that’s exactly the way I would describe how I’m feeling: Bright and sunny.

Gabe’s voice is actually pretty good. I’d noticed a couple of acoustic guitars in one of the guestrooms downstairs, and I’d been meaning to ask him if he played.

I decide to take a quick shower in an attempt to help ease my alcohol-induced headache. Showering and moisturising, I wrap myself in my robe and head quietly out to the kitchen, where Gabe’s now singing along to an Alex Clare song.

He has his back to me as he stands at the cooktop. At the same time he moves something around in the pan, he moves his hips and arse to the music.

He’s wearing boardies, his top half naked, hair still wet from his shower.

He looks delicious.

Mesmerised, I watch the muscles beneath the tanned skin of his back and shoulders work as he moves. He’s so fucking gorgeous it causes a tangible ache in my chest and belly to think that for right now, this man is mine.

The way he’s looked out for me, said and done all the right things to reassure me that what we’ve got is real and not just a quick fling all adds to that ache.

Even if we don’t last forever, right now, this is what I need. Not someonelikehim, but him. Just him.

I’m not a religious person, but with a name like Gabriel, I could almost believe he’s a gift sent from heaven, an angel sent to guide and help me through some of the worst weeks of my life.

“Ahhh, here she is. Awake are you, princess?”

I jolt at his voice, wondering if I am in fact awake because the man of my dreams is standing in front of me, half-naked and cooking me breakfast.

I stare mindlessly. The only thing registering is the trail of dark hair leading down inside the shorts that are sitting indecently low on his hips.

“You sleep okay? You snored well.”

My head jerks up, and my eyes meet his as my mouth drops open to protest, but it’s pointless. I know I snore. I wake myself up doing it sometimes, and I know it’s worse when I’ve had a drink.

“Shit, did I? I'm sorry.”

Far out, how embarrassing!

“No worries, you didn’t wake me. I set my alarm so I could go for a surf as soon as the sun came up, that’s the only reason I heard you.”

I return the smile he offers, thinking what a perfect combination of cute and sexy he looks standing there, bare-chested with a spatula in his hand.

“Don’t look so worried, I’ve gotten used to it over the past month. Compared to some nights, you were pretty quiet this morning.”

It’s at that moment I consider just throwing myself off his deck.

“I much prefer you sleeping deep and soundly enough you snore, than waking and having nightmares. You hungry?”