Bittersweet

~~ Heading in the Right Direction ~~

~ ~ Gabriele ~ ~

Grabbing a crate of bottled beers, I walked through to the bar area. Dropping them next to the cooler, I made my way towards our sound system. A little music would go well with my happy mood, and I was the only one around for at least the next hour.

I couldn't help myself; I was in the mood to listen to my man, Frank and Jake wasn't here to give me shit—so Frank it was. I mean, who didn't love the classics? My Ma had practically fed it to us as kids.

Starting the re-stocking, it didn't take long for my head to be anywhere other than here. In fact, I was back to last night. Kissing Jenna. Getting naked with Jenna. Jenna underneath me, above me, and in front of me. Damn, that woman was built for lovin' —she had curves I could drown in, and hell if it killed me, then what a way to go. And I was going to do my darndest to be the one that loved her, at least until they buried me under six feet under dirt.

Pausing for a second, I never thought I'd end up here, wanting someone so much. Wanting to make them happy. Never believed in all that happy ever after BS. Partly because of my father and the way he treated my Ma and then my experience with Al.

But I wanted Jenna and the whole happily ever after deal. I wanted to be the one she saw herself growing old with because damn; I was already thinking ahead to our first wedding anniversary!

Its fair to say, I'd been in love with her since the moment her green eyes connected with mine.

This left me with one thing to accomplish—I had to work on convincing her to fall in love with me, which hopefully I was on the right track if last night was anything to go by. When I'd arrived, I honestly thought a battle would be on my hands to get her to agree to a committed relationship, picture a future for us.

But after hours of being wrapped up in each other, then eating pizza naked at three am. She had agreed we could see how it plays out.

Those words. I'd really like to try Gabe... made my day. Goddamn made my year! And thinking about it only made my smile widen and my heart-rate kick up a beat.

Not lack of sleep, or the accounts I needed to crack on with today would dampen my mood.

And waking up curled around Jenna was the best feeling. The smell of apples mixed with sex lingering between us was a mouthwatering combination. And dare I think it, but everything just felt right, slotting into place. And I was sure the more time we were around each other, the more she would understand that she was what I wanted—all I needed... and Ava too.

I could even put up with my shithead of a brother, for Ava's sake.

My mood took a minor hit as guilt took a vice-like grip of my muscles. Guilt's like a snow-globe, shake it up and look at it from every angle. But I still couldn't see any good coming from telling Jenna how I'd got Tony to back off. Or that I thought he was involved in an assault on one of my exes. I lacked concrete proof, although my gut was hardly ever wrong.