Because I Love You

Chapter Eleven: "Some Dream"

"Babe?"

"What?"

"Have you seen my notes?"

"What notes?"

Gino sighed and ruffled his hair.  He stalked over to the breakfast bar and snatched up the large pile of envelopes, bills and receipts, feverishly sifting through them.  "The ones with all my stocks and investments on them," he called to Alana, who was in the living room working on some charts and figures for EcoHomes.

"Ohh.  I... uh... recycled them."

"What?"

He dropped the stack he was holding; several plopped onto the breakfast bar while a few stray receipts fluttered to the floor.  Gino walked as quickly as he could over to the living room, where he saw his girlfriend sitting on the fluffy carpet, her fingers poised over the laptop in front of her.

"Why did you throw them away?" he rasped, disbelieving.

Alana stood up and sat on the suede couch behind her.  "There were a lot.  They were just all over the place.  You had so many notes on all the empty spaces; you even wrote them on napkins and on my magazines!"

"Well, of course I'd write them on your magazines, they're all over the place too!  There's one in the bathroom, two in the kitchen, and one on my desk!"

She bit her lip.  "But I need those magazines for work.  There aren't many good subscriptions that specialize in future and green tech."

Gino ran a hand over his face.  "I needed my notes, too, babe."

Alana stood up and slid her hands up his chest and rested them on his shoulders.  He clenched his jaw, determined to not let her get the better of him.  Not when all his notes were thrown away.

"You don't need to worry.  I took pictures of all your notes on my phone."

He stared into her eyes for a moment, searching her face.  "You did?"

"Yup."  She smiled up at him.  "I think you should just put all the notes on your phone, in the future.  Otherwise the apartment's going to be a mess."

Gino grinned and his gaze dipped to her soft, pink mouth.  "I'll do that.  But then I think you should put all of your future and green tech magazines on your desk instead of all over the place." 

Alana's smile grew wider.  "Alright."

He lowered his head and took possession of her mouth.  He was going to make her regret doing this to him: he sucked her bottom lip and teased the flesh with his tongue.  Gino felt her shiver against him and he deepened the kiss, licking and tasting her sweetness, as his hands moved to slip into her thick and silky dark hair.

Finally, he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers.  "Don't scare me like that again, babe."

"Mm," Alana said, sounding somewhat dazed.

The next morning, on Christmas day, Gino woke to find his arms wrapped around Alana.  He grinned to himself and began a trail of soft kisses up her neck, ending at her earlobe.  He nibbled and suckled the soft flesh and he felt her tremble beneath him.  She sighed, still half asleep, and turned her face deeper into the pillow.

His lips pulled into a wider smile.  Adorable.  Gino slid his left hand beneath her shirt and gently massaged the soft skin of her waist.  She shivered and moaned softly.  Slowly, he began to move his hand higher and higher...

Alana stopped his hand with a startled gasp and turned on her side to look at him. 

"Morning, babe," Gino said and kissed the tip of her nose.  "Merry Christmas.  Took you a while to wake up."