Gypsy Kiss: Micah Part 24

I noticed two things, one after the other. First, he was still stark naked, as though all he'd done since I went in the bathroom was sit on the bed.

And then my heart literally leapt into my throat as I realised he was holding my notebook, reading it, one hand on the book, the other on his...oh no, he was not. Oh my G.o.d!

"What. The. Actual. f.u.c.k!" I shouted before I could stop the words escaping.

He jumped up like he had been burned, turning to me, the tip of his erection actually knocking my mobile off my bedside cabinet something I probably would have found funny in other circ.u.mstances and almost fell over his own feet.

"Jewls..." he started, and I s.n.a.t.c.hed the book from him, mortified at the very thought of him having read even just a small part of it.

"That's private!" I snapped.

"You wrote it?" he asked, ignoring my obvious embarra.s.sment, or choosing not to see it. "It's very good. Very...erotic."

"It's not meant to be masturbation material!" I protested. G.o.d, where was my brain to mouth filter. He smirked at that, and it made me want to punch him.

I was, above all else, embarra.s.sed and I just wanted to get the h.e.l.l out of there. Unfortunately, I was only wearing my underwear and a dressing gown. Intending to make it clear how p.i.s.sed off at him I was though probably looking something more like a petulant, sulky teenager I set about stomping around the room, finding the various clothes that I needed socks, black trousers, Pleasureland s.h.i.+rt and putting them on.

Micah followed suit, first finding his boxers and stepping into them, then his trousers before stopping to watch me. He was s.h.i.+rtless, barefoot and s.e.xy as sin.

"Sometimes you are f.u.c.king unbelievable!" I hissed between gritted teeth. He just watched me, amus.e.m.e.nt clear on his face.

"Calm down, Jewls. It's not like I read your diary. Well, not as such..."

I narrowed my eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He shook his head. "Nothing...look...c'mere."

He reached out for my hand, and I made a point of staying just far enough away that he couldn't reach me as I continued to furiously dress myself. He wasn't having that. He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him.

"Did I ever tell you how incredibly s.e.xy you are when you're mad? This, fighting with you...it's kind of a turn on if I'm honest..."

I frowned again. "Wha...?" I managed to get out.

And in a moment his lips were on mine, his hands grabbed my hips pulling me to him, the length of my body pressed against the length of his, tight. When he had said that fighting with me turned him on, he wasn't kidding. I could feel his arousal pressed against my hip. d.a.m.n his s.e.xy self I was upset, humiliated that he had read my stuff, and seen himself in it, that he had...argh I was just furious. And he, the immature, inconsiderate selfish b.a.s.t.a.r.d, was h.o.r.n.y as usual.

And just like that, I was mad again. I put my hands on his chest, shoving him as hard as I could, trying to create some distance between us. His breath on me, the sheer heat from his body had my senses in a whirl and I had to clear my head, remind myself that d.a.m.n it, I was mad. It was like suffocating, but the most delicious sensation at the same time.

"No, d.a.m.n it, Micah! You've got to stop kissing me every time we argue!"

He frowned, his expression an odd mix of annoyance and disappointment. "Why? I like kissing you..."

"Because...!" I started, frustrated and fl.u.s.tered, "every time you kiss me it fuzzes my brain. It's like it wipes the thoughts right out of my d.a.m.n head! I can't think straight when your lips are on mine! I forget everything, why I'm so mad h.e.l.l, I forget my own f.u.c.king name!"

He frowned again and then his face cleared into a brilliant, perfect smile. "You know...I'm sure it wasn't meant to be, but I'm gonna take that as a compliment. And if all it takes is a kiss for you to forget you're mad at me, then it can't have been a major thing in the first place, right?"

"No! Yes, yes it was a major thing. I have every right and reason to be mad at you, Micah!"

He held his hands up and nodded. "Okay...yeah, maybe you do. I was in the wrong, and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have looked at your book."

"Too right!"

"But then it is about me, so..."

I frowned, feeling my face flush with embarra.s.sment. "It's...it's not about you..." I stammered and he rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on, Jewls. Jess and Michael? You know...I don't know why you're even embarra.s.sed, you're a wonderful writer. And when it comes to your...s.e.xual self...you shouldn't be so guarded and private about what you what. You shouldn't be embarra.s.sed; it's a normal, wonderful part of life. If I know what you want which I now think I do I can give it to you. I can try to anyway. I'm not embarra.s.sed, and I didn't read it and sit giggling like a child. I'm an adult Jewls, even when I'm being playful and cheeky...I'm not a boy, I'm a man. I was genuinely moved by what I read. And turned on, like you wouldn't believe. Don't fight that side of you, Jewls and don't confine it to a fantasy on a piece of paper when I can make it real for you."

I narrowed my eyes. I'm sure my face was by now bright purple. I guess I knew he was right and I believed he wasn't embarra.s.sed by all this, but I still was. I had never felt so horribly exposed and I was covering it with an anger that frankly I didn't really feel anymore. But it was easier to be mad than confront what he was saying.

"Arrogant thing aren't you?" I snapped and he smiled again.

"You're not the first to point that out. I prefer confident though."

"I think you're arrogant. And I have good reason to be mad at you. Quit undermining me and making light of how I feel, it's f.u.c.king annoying!"

"As I've said, you probably do have every reason. But as long as I know you can't stay mad for long, I'm still not gonna worry. Because I know something you don't. I know you love me."

"Of course I do!" I yelled, "I know that, everyone knows that!"

"Ah, but I know that I love you too. You don't believe that yet. But you will, sooner or later I'll convince you."

That stopped me in my tracks. We had just said we loved each other. In the middle of a fight. Awkward. Did I stay mad or concede this one to him? I know what I wanted to do, but at the same time I didn't want him to win the fight. He always won the d.a.m.n fights. And just like that, it was as if he had erased my thoughts. Again.

"Okay!" I said, with none of the gusto I'd had at the start of the fight about...what had we been arguing about again? "Okay, so we're agreed on that. We love each other! You're still a f.u.c.king annoying piece of s.h.i.+t!"

He half grinned and nodded. "Yes I am."

"Good!" I screeched, not sure why I was still shouting, "Then that's settled! You're a w.a.n.ker and we love each other!"

He nodded again. "We do..."

"Okay then..." I exhaled, emotionally spent and took a moment to let all that sink in. I was about to say something else what, I have no idea and he was on me in a flash, knocking me back against the wall, his lips on mine kissing me furiously and the whole world and everything in it faded away. And there was only him. Us. Loving each other. Holy f.u.c.k, Micah Machvaya loved me.

Micah She was quiet with me all the way on the walk to work, and I watched her out of the corner of my eye, trying to decide if I should be worried or not. I came to the conclusion that I had nothing to worry about. She was just reeling from us saying we loved each other, maybe a little embarra.s.sed still, and well...sulking as only Jewls knew how.

I slipped my hand around her waist and leaned in close to her. "Still mad at me?" she didn't answer me yep, definitely still sulking so I stopped walking and pulled her into my arms. "Jewls...talk to me. Are you still mad?"

She let out an exaggerated sigh and shrugged. "I don't know." She thought for a minute. "But you know what I'm not? Embarra.s.sed, not any more. If anyone should be embarra.s.sed after all it's not me...it's you."

I frowned. "Me? Why me?"

"I may be the secret author of something you might call...risque. I might have written that, but you...you are the grown man that got caught masturbating to it like a spotty teenager with a dirty magazine."

I smirked and nodded. "I suppose that's one way of looking at it. But I'm not embarra.s.sed Jewls. I read something that turned me on. My body responded and I responded to my body's needs. That's a perfectly natural thing to do, in my opinion. I'm comfortable with my s.e.xual needs, with my body and with who I am...and so I'm not ashamed. And nor should you be. You should be proud because I meant what I said. You are an incredible writer and a talent like that...should not be hidden. You're a smart, s.e.xy girl, Jewls. And that's why I love you. So...are we gonna have one of those days where you punish me all day for being a bit of a p.r.i.c.k, sulk and then fall into my arms later when you realise that you just can't get through a day without kissing me...or are we gonna have a day where you know you can't get through a day without kissing me and start the day embracing that realisation and saving us both a lot of aggro? What do you say, sweetheart? Forgiven?"

She didn't look impressed in the slightest with my arrogance, so I pulled out the big guns and stuck my bottom lip out, pouting. She rolled her eyes and I knew I had her back with me. She reached up on her tip toes and kissed me, just on the corner of my mouth a kiss, but not quite a full kiss. A delicious and slightly cruel tease that had me desperate for more. She was learning how to play me, and getting d.a.m.ned good at it.

A tiny smile appeared on her face, almost a smirk and she shrugged. "We're gonna be late."

d.a.m.n her.

Jewls MAY.

What birthday present do you get a man who seemingly has everything? That was the problem I had as Micah's birthday rolled around. The man was one thousand percent content in his life and seemed to neither want nor need anything more than what he already had. When I asked him, he said all he wanted was me to come to his birthday barbeque. As if it wasn't enough that I had to buy for Micah, of course it was Marco's birthday too. And I didn't know him well enough to know what he might want or need. A box of condoms seemed apt for someone like him, the s.l.u.ttier version of Micah.

In the end I finally came up with something for Marco while browsing online and something for Micah the morning of his birthday, talk about cutting it fine. It worked in my favour, rus.h.i.+ng around all morning, because it meant I didn't have time to sit around fretting about the Machvaya family barbeque. I had never been to Micah's house, never seen his other brothers again since that night at the park apart from Nic a couple of times at the restaurant when meeting Micah from work and I still had one brother to meet, the elusive Eli. Mari and I had become good friends, we texted a lot, I asked advice on Micah and she was always happy to oblige. I thanked G.o.d every day that she had turned out to be so nice in every book I had ever read the sister had always been the catty one, the one giving the new girlfriend grief but not Mari. She seemed to look to me as a new sister, someone to even out a very unbalanced family dominated by boys.

Still the idea of spending the afternoon in the company of the entire Machvaya clan made my stomach flip with almost unbearable nerves. Worst of it was, Micah had given me the address to make my own way there. So I was going to have to walk in there on my own. Where was I going to find the guts to do that?

I spent the morning sorting out the presents and obsessing over my stupid crazy hair and agonising over what to wear. It was a scorching hot day and I desperately wanted to put some shorts on or G.o.d forbid a skirt, but in the end settled on cropped leggings and one of my almost trademark long summer tee-s.h.i.+rts with flat sandals. I thought I looked okay, casual but neat and tidy. It was after all, just a family barbeque, not a formal ball.

Standing outside the house at five to twelve, I could not believe my eyes. I checked the address Micah had given me several times to make sure I had it right. The house before me was...spectacular. I knew they had to live somewhere big, there were just so many of them, but this place was beautiful and so modern. With an immaculate front garden that stretched around the left side too, it was well looked after to the point that it looked almost brand new. I imaged rooms to the back would have incredible views of the sea. The house was white, the woodwork painted pale blue, giving it a nautical, almost Mediterranean feel. I could only imagine what the interior was like. I had a newfound, or rather renewed respect for Nic. To have stepped up at a young age to provide for his abandoned siblings was one thing, to have provided them with this was just...above and beyond. It took my breath away.

I swallowed the familiar rising feeling of being way out of my depth and made my feet move forward, through the gate and towards the front door, ringing the doorbell and stepping back to wait.

There was no answer and I waited what I felt was long enough before trying again. Still nothing. I debated calling him, and then decided to have a sneaky look round the back first.

I made my way round to the side of the house, trying the gate there and opening it up to be met with a sight that took my breath away, literally. Before my nerve left me, I stepped into the back garden, closing the gate behind me.

Oh my G.o.d. I couldn't speak, and I couldn't move. My feet were rooted to the spot. We were on a normal street in the North East of England, but looking around we could easily have been on a beach in Miami, or somewhere equally as exotic. I felt like a tourist who had wandered onto the set of a music video for one of those dance tracks that's always playing on the rides at the fair.

In the corner there was a barbeque on the go, and blasting from the stereo playing from the open dining room window David Guetta and Akon were singing about a s.e.xy chick, which had an irony all of its own. I felt like a fish trying to learn to live on dry land. Sc.r.a.p fish whale and I was never going to make it there. In short, I was way out of my depth. More than I had ever thought possible.

It was a beautiful summer's day and the sun was blazing. I had only recently become accustomed to seeing Micah s.h.i.+rtless and being able to function around him like that without tripping over my own tongue.

And there I was in the Machvaya back garden, and there were six of them, just idly wandering about, all s.h.i.+rtless, all wearing shorts and nothing else. Bare feet, tattoos, muscles and tanned skin were everywhere I looked, and my legs just went to jelly beneath me.

It was like the set of a very expensive, and frankly very good p.o.r.n film, like the stuff of dreams. Luca and Kris were wrestling on the gra.s.s, and though it looked aggressive, I reckoned they were just messing about. Marco lay face down on a sun lounger, a straw hat perched on his head, snoring surprisingly loudly. How he was sleeping, I didn't know. Eli I guessed it must be Eli was bouncing on the trampoline like a kid if kids had rock hard pecs, that is and Nic and Micah were at the barbeque.

Micah turned at my arrival and smiled a dazzling smile, beckoning me to go to him, but I still couldn't move. Was I meant to sit there all afternoon, drinking beer and eating burgers and be able to think straight? That was never gonna happen, I was completely flummoxed beyond belief, this was madness.

I so totally did not belong there amongst the beautiful people. And yet there was nowhere else in the world I wanted be.

"Jewls..." Micah said, coming to me, enveloping me in his big arms and kissing me pa.s.sionately. I was acutely aware of all the eyes on me, and a little embarra.s.sed at Micah's very public, very pa.s.sionate display in front of them. He pulled away, rubbing his nose on mine. "You made it."

"Happy birthday, gorgeous." I said with a smile.

"Thank you baby," he said, kissing my nose. "There's someone I want you to meet."

He took my hand and led me over to the trampoline. The man I had already gathered was Eli jumped down and came to us, smiling and squinting in the sunlight.

"Jewls this is my brother, Eli. Eli, this is Jewls, my girlfriend."

Eli extended his hand to me, and smiled a stunning megawatt smile. "Jewls, pleasure." And then he took my hand and kissed the back of it like Nic had.

"Nice to meet you," I heard myself say.

"Yeah, sorry it's been so long coming."

Eli was different in some way to the others, although I couldn't put my finger on how. He just seemed more...weathered somehow, a little rougher round the edges. That's not to say he wasn't absolutely gorgeous, just like the others. He was, he really was.

He had those familiar deep brown eyes, dark hair, ridiculously toned chest. His hair was longer, which for some reason I hadn't expected, I don't know why, long enough to be tied back in a ponytail and he had a beard longer than Micah's, rough and a little untidy. He had a charm all of his own, not quite so perfectly groomed but still a knockout of a man. It was really hard to talk to him and keep my focus on his face with his huge chest at eye height to me. He had a scar on his cheek that kept catching my attention and I couldn't help but wonder how he got it.

"That's okay..." I said.

"My wife and sprogs will be along soon, so you can meet them then. Nice to see you, Jewls. Micah, get your girl a drink and a seat."

"Jewls!" a familiar voice shouted from behind me and I turned just in time to catch Mari as she leapt into my arms for a familiar, predictable over the top hug. "Thank G.o.d you're here; I'm surrounded by sweaty boys! How are you?"

"I'm good," I said, as she finally released me.

Mari's scream had roused Marco from his sleep and he crawled to his feet, grinning when he saw me. "Jewls! It's me, Micah. Why are you all over Marco?"

I narrowed my eyes playfully at him, shaking my head. "There is not a chance I would ever mistake you for Micah...again."

He smirked at that. "Really? And how can you tell us apart."

I shrugged. "Because my man has hair on his chest. And as I understand it...you uh...shave yours?"

All the boys laughed at that and Marco grinned. "I'm saying nothing. You're cruel to me, Jewls." He looked at the bag I was carrying. "Ooh, presents? You know it's my birthday too, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "Is it? d.a.m.n, sorry I forgot about you. Ah well...you'll have to have this."

Grinning, I handed him his present. He tore through the wrapping and held up the tee s.h.i.+rt, so it was facing everyone else, and they all burst out laughing, seeing it before he did.

Micah shook his head. "Ah, that's perfect!"

Marco frowned and turned it round to look at it. His face broke into a smile and I let out a small sigh of relief that they were all taking it as the joke it was intended to be.

It was a black tee s.h.i.+rt, and on the front written in white it said Evil Twin.

Micah laughed. "That's awesome, Jewls. Try it on, bro."

Marco did just that, holding both arms out as if to say ta da! "Thank you, Jewls. It's very...me. Love a girl with a sense of humour." He winked at Micah. "This one's a keeper, bro."

Micah looked at me, his expression serious and filled with love. "I know she is." he kissed me again. "Love you, babe."

I beamed as I nodded. "Love ya too. You want yours now? Or later?"

I think he knew me well enough to sense that I'd had the attention on me for longer than I was comfortable with, and he winked. "Later, babe. You want a drink?"

I nodded eagerly. "Oh, please."

"I'm on it," Mari said, grabbing my hand and dragging me into the house.