Let Me Love You | Toni Kroos

Chapter 8 - Behind Closed Doors

Gabi's POV

I was walking back home along the street, my head down, just thinking about the pile of schoolwork I had to do at home, when suddenly I walked straight into someone, my books crashing straight into his chest.

"Sorry," I muttered, moving aside and continuing down the street.

Suddenly, somebody grabbed my waist from the back and pulled me hard against him. "Kiss me better," Toni whispered in my ear.

"Toni," I turned around to face him, his arms still tightly around my waist. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you."

"You'll see me at dinner."

"But I can't do this at dinner," he said, his hands moving up to grab my face, leaning over to kiss me. A wave of electricity rushed from my head to my toes, just like every other time he'd kissed me over the past three months.

"Yeah," I whispered, letting go of my books and letting them fall to the ground. I ran my hands through his hair. "You can't."

After a few moments, he let go of me and bent over to pick up my books. "Come on," he said, grabbing my hand and dragging me in the opposite direction from our homes. "We've still got an hour before dinner."

He brought me to the park, where the swings were occupied by other people. So we found a nice shady area under a tree and sat down against it, his arm draped around me and my head resting on his shoulder, just watching the people flitting about around us.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Why?" he kissed the top of my head. I didn't answer him, but he knew exactly what I was talking about. "About your family? Don't worry about it, Gabi."

I stared straight ahead, not sure what to say. He'd been so patient, although I'd been so weird and irrational.

"Let's go," he said after a while, waking me up from my daze. "It's dinnertime."

We walked home silently, knowing that once we entered the house there wouldn't be any room for any sort of quietness. I stopped a few houses before ours, pulling his arm so that he'd turn to face me. I smiled at him, and he smiled back, putting his free hand on my waist.

"I love you," I said.

"I love you too, baby," he said, leaning over to kiss my head.

As expected, my house was full of noise as we entered, my sister jabbering away about her day and my parents busying themselves with the dishes. I went upstairs to put my things down and change into something more comfortable, returning downstairs to see that everyone was already in place at the dinner table, waiting for me. I sat down next to Toni, with my mum and Amelie opposite us and my dad at the foot of the table.

Toni's hand crept across and grabbed mine, his fingers interlocking gently with mine. I tried not to smile, but I couldn't stop the curl of my lips, so I started stuffing my mouth with food using my other hand.

"Are you that hungry?" Amelie asked. "Can't you act like a lady?"

"My lady," Toni whispered so softly that no one heard him except me.

I let go of his hand and pinched him on the thigh, and he laughed, pretending to be amused at Amelie's statement. I continued eating with both my hands, when suddenly I felt something moving gently up my thigh.

I looked down and saw Toni's hand creeping up my thigh slowly, higher and higher. I smacked at it, and it retreated back to his side, but I looked up to see my family staring at me curiously.