Trusting Gibson (Last Score Book 2) (43 page)

Continuing to tease me with the wedding was beginning to give me an ache my heart and  a sinking feeling in my stomach, because I realized just how much I wanted that to be real.

“Okay go but one of these days joking with me about that is going to backfire, Gibson Barclay.”

Spinning around he moved swiftly back to my side, sweeping me up in his arms. “Chloe, I know it started out as a joke with Ruby, but I don’t expect you to have to ask me twice. Besides…I love you…fuck…I
really
love you. So are we doing this or are you gonna piss me off by saying you were only teasing me?”

Gibson gave me a look that resembled a minor lack of confidence then he continued to speak quickly, preventing me from saying my piece. “I mean you could have planned it better of course. If it had been me proposing I’d have put more effort into it—flowers, candlelight, ring, maybe even a tub with floating candles, but hell we’ve never done any of this courtship in a conventional way, so it’s kinda fitting that it was you and not me that took the initiative.”

Swallowing hard, my heart pounded in my chest as I watched Gibson’s face looking at me completely dead pan and I was struggling with how to answer. “Seriously?”

“Chloe since when have I joked about us being together? Fuck…I’d have married you yesterday when you asked me if I’d had my way.”

Hearing Gibson saying those words made me feel like it was all a dream. “When?”

“How does Saturday sound?” It was Wednesday already and I was thinking there would be no way I could figure anything out by then.

“Stop. Don’t do that.” Gibson’s brow creased.

“Do what?”

“All that complicated overthinking shit you do all the time. Roles reversed here. You made the proposal and I’m planning the wedding…with a little help of course. Just don’t get drunk at your bachelorette party and turn up at our gig handcuffed to a pole dancer with your eyebrows shaved off, and I’ll do the rest.”

I had to laugh. Gibson was still Gibson underneath the tender, sweet, wonderful guy, and his alpha male personality pushed its way to the top. Even if it was
our
wedding. Actually I found it very romantic that he wanted to take all the stress from me, but I was a little nervous about what he had in mind for my big day. Our big day.

Whatever Gibson decided would be fine with me because I wasn’t really into grand gestures; if we didn’t count the one last night, and anything that meant I spent the rest of my life with him was a small price to pay. Besides I trusted him.

Gibson left and me and the girls all went dress shopping, chatting excitedly about Gibson and me getting married.  At first I was feeling pretty clueless about what I was supposed to wear with his vague instructions about what not to buy. Several hours and about forty dresses later, I had decided I looked totally ugly in a long dress and as Gibson said it was going to be a warm climate, I decided on an ivory silk over satin above the knee dress with a sleeveless slightly plunging bodice with material that gathered around the low neckline. It was beautiful, classic and simple. When I described it like that to Ruby, she said, “It’s just like you then.”

My guess was our wedding was going to be in the hot sticky climate of LA. So I chose some ivory, toeless, sling-backed, strapped stiletto shoes, but I also bought some low strapless ones for the evening; in the event the new shoes weren’t comfortable to stay in for any length of time.

Nerves gripped my stomach while I was shopping and I became worried, because when Gibson’s fans learned he was getting married I’d have a bounty set on my head, or I’d most likely be lynched before I had the chance to say “I do.” I trusted Gibson and the girls he’d hired to protect me, but there was still a part of me that knew that my life was going to be very different as his wife.

When Friday night; the night before the wedding arrived, I was spending it with the girls in the cabin, with a feeling like I was hanging from a cliff by my fingernails. There was no doubt in my mind I’d found the right man this time to be with, but I still had no idea what to expect. All I knew was I had to be ready for take-off by four in the morning. Gibson had been very secretive with the rest.

He had chartered another jet for me and the girls, and Ruby was more excited than me that my wedding was shrouded in mystery. One thing I worried about more than anything, was my big day turning into a media circus with press alerting over exuberant fans wanting to see Gibson, and possibly to kill me. When I voiced this to Gibson, he snickered and was quick to dismiss my worries with a throw away phrase, “No chance, darlin’.”

Being approached by fans was one of the reasons I had preferred to have a quiet night at home. We had dinner delivered for us, and although Ruby was a bit peeved that I was spending my last night of freedom this way, and not living it up, she understood that living with Gibson was going to be all about high profile events and committing myself to living the life, not dissimilar to that of a goldfish in a bowl, where anyone could just peer in whenever they wanted to.

During the evening, Emma was bent double with laughter as she tried to tell us about a bad date she’d had when my phone beeped with a message. Seeing Paul’s ID come up on the screen still made my heart flip-flop and I turned away from the table for privacy.

Paul: Listening to ‘Something I Need’ by One Republic and I thought of you.

Tucking my hair behind my ear my thumb moved quickly over the keypad and I smiled warmly imagining Gibson’s fingers nimbly twitching like he was playing the chords and probably not even realizing he did that.

Me: Breathing and thinking of you.

It was true. Every breath I took was hard without him around. Gibson consumed my thoughts but as soon as I sent the text I felt it sounded mushy, and I was embarrassed I’d actually sent something that needy to him.

Paul: Jeez Chloe you’re getting cornier than I am! Take me to bed and text me back.

Gibson ended his text with a wink and I couldn’t help smirking at the thought of his naughty texts in the past. It was only 8:15 in the evening, but I needed some last minute encouragement from him more than I needed to be with the girls, so I excused myself saying I was going to relax in the bath and made my way upstairs.

Flinging myself heavily onto the bed I smiled in anticipation and texted him again.

Me: Lying on our bed. Lonely!

Paul: Want to play? *waggles eyebrows

Me: Whatever you want. *raised eyebrow

Paul: salacious grin hmm…

Paul: Photos…I want pictures.

ME: of…?

Paul: Body parts. Close ups and we have to guess what the picture is.

Paul sent a text with the caption “I have a burn here.” It was just a close up of skin.
How the hell do I know that is?
Then I saw just a tiny bit of definition which I recognized as one of his pecs and I recognized it as the center of his chest. For several minutes the game continued with us both taking pictures of ourselves in close up and I was surprised when Gibson recognized practically everything I sent him, and some of the ones. Mine were all general areas, but the ones he sent me made me blush.

On the last picture I was stumped for what to send so I took a picture of the back of my left hand. It was a close up of just two fingers and I giggled because from the angle I took it from, it looked like the seam of a butt. Gibson’s mind—which was frequently in the gutter went with that thought as well.

After a couple of minutes he conceded he didn’t know what it was, and when I told him it was the fingers on my left hand another text picture came straight back. When I opened it there was a beautiful white metal ring with a huge round solitaire diamond in the middle. My first thought was
it’s beautiful
, my second
it’s too expensive what if I lose it?
The caption that went with it said,

Paul: Guess you need to wear this so I can distinguish between your hand and your ass crack Chloe. Oh…this one goes on your finger.

The text finished with a wink, and it made me chuckle. Shaking my head in disbelief, I touched the screen in awe that he’d had the time to choose the perfect ring for me. Swiping the screen I called him, needing to hear his voice.

“Paul Lesley’s answering service how may I help you?” His playful, sexy tone made me giggle infectiously which made his low rumbly laugh squeeze at my heart.

“I hope you packed a sexy bikini because I’ll want to get a good look at my new wife on our honeymoon before I commit to consummating anything.”

“When are we going on honeymoon? I thought you had to work Tuesday?”

“I do, so it’s a two day break…the best I can manage right now, but I promise we’ll find time for a proper one later. Are you all set? Are you excited? I’m excited…I can’t wait for you to get here.”

Smiling in amusement at Gibson’s excited, enthusiastic questions, I had a little flashback to Beltz because he had sounded a lot like he had back then. Gibson the teenager was the quick talking, smooth, engaging teenager that I fought to hate, except now…there was no way I could ever hate him, because I knew the man behind the boy. “Yes, Gibson I can’t wait.”

“Cool…gotta go…see you tomorrow.” Click. Gibson was gone and I was left holding my cell to my heart, instantly missing him and it had only been seconds since I had felt he was right here with me in the room.

CHAPTER 39 - MEDIA EVASION

Gibson

Hearing the nerves in Chloe’s voice made me ache to hold her, but I knew she’d thank me when she found out what I had in mind. Lying in bed thinking about how my life was before I met her…well I was at a crossroads and I had found a window where I was feeling a void in my life and was given her number at just the right moment.

Chloe saved me. From myself, from a meaningless life full of excess and low morals, from a life where I never knew what it felt like to truly love someone. Since she’d been in my life, Chloe had taught me a huge amount about myself.

Before Chloe, I’d never given a fuck what anyone thought, or considered the feelings of anyone that came on to me.  Sure I cared about people…I cared a lot. I always tried to pay my success forward. All the money I earned was way too much for one man, and although I had a large payload of workers to keep, there was still tons left in the pot to help projects that really mattered.

Three weeks ago, I signed a deal on a new project that I wanted to share with Chloe and I was kind of nervous about that, but I get the feeling she’d be happy about it, so I’m excited to share it with her.

Privilege comes with status and there are a lot of perks to that as well. At first it was like Christmas every day when there were new threads or cell phones, tablets and shit arriving, then I got to thinking that a lot of people would never own some of that kind of stuff. That’s when I decided that instead of wearing it once and promoting it, I’d do something sensible with it.

Wonder what some of those designers and corporate executives who took the decision to send their stuff to me would think, if they knew half the shit was being worn in a third world country by people who had to wash their garments in a dirty river. Most of the goods were sold at auctions to provide medical supplies and sheets for the hospital programs in the third world that I supported.

One of the things I loved about Chloe was that she was kind of embarrassed by wealth. She was definitely not a gold digger that’s for sure. Accepting of the things that she needed to have, but she was financially solvent in her own right and low maintenance. She never seemed to need anything. I loved the simplicity about her, and how she looked with her casual dress code and her natural beauty.

Reaching for my cell I swiped the screen and her smiling face looked back at me. She had captured my heart before I’d even spoken to her properly and once I knew her, she’d blown my mind, body and soul apart when no one else had even scratched the surface.

Once the screen went black, I placed the phone back on the nightstand, turned on my side and punched my pillow. The travelling to get where I was had made me tired, so I fell into a fitful sleep.

“Whoop! Get you’re hairy ass out of bed and get in the shower, you’re a man with a plan and Chloe will be here in two hours. We’ve got to finish our preparations. The staff are arriving and Chloe’s parents are on the terrace being fed breakfast as we speak.”

Johnny was pulling the cord to open the heavy black out drapes and paradise inched into the room through the sheer glass in front of me. Clicking the latch, Johnny slid the pocket doors open and they disappeared into the walls. My morning started with an uninterrupted view of an incredible azure, blue expanse of water stretching out before me.

Swinging around to place my feet on the floor, I sat up and I stretched my arms in the air and then stood up. The marble floor felt cool under my feet as I padded my way naked onto the balcony. “Jeez Gib are you gonna put a bag over that or something? You’ll put me off my breakfast dude.”

Glancing down at my morning wood I snickered and turned giving Johnny as serious a face as I could, “Yeah, sorry Johnny. I forgot you got traumatized by the size of mine. Never mind, you’ve got a nice personality, buddy.” Slapping his back Johnny shrugged me off and started laughing hard.

“Fuck you, dude, just wait until you’re an old married man and you’re complaining your wife won’t put out when I’m out getting laid every night. You won’t be so smug then—when your big dick is just an annoying inconvenience in baggy-assed pants.”