His Wife (A Contract Marriage Story) by Heer Mangtani

Chapter 29 It was late afternoon when we landed in Venice. When Gabriel said Italy, I thought Milan, Florence or even Bologna.

For sreason. I hadn't thought of Venice. I had only seen it in pictures and movies- the blue water flowing in tunnels, gondolas decorated with colourful flowers floating on it, houses built on both sides and bridges over it where lovers often walked holding hands I was enchanted to say the least.

We were staying in a villa. I had argued with Gabriel saying we didn't need a villa for just the two of us and we could've stayed at a hotel, but he shutup saying hotels were for people who weren't rich enough for a villa.

I had pouted because I actually loved hotels and their breakfast spreads, but didn't complain when I got inside our lodging for the next few days. It was two floors, with vintage architecture and a spiral stairs in the living room that led to a single bedroom upstairs, had a fully stocked kitchen, and even a small garden area on one side while the windows of the bedroom overlooked a water tunnel.

The best part of the house, however, was the painted ceilings, Stories of Roman Gods and Goddesses and epic battles depicted in colour on the ceiling of every room, with the one of the bedroom being that of two naked lovers with their hands almost touching, but not.

Gabriel had excused himself because of an unexpected issue that arose at work while we were on the way here, and it would take him over an hour. He askedto get srest since we were both severely jet lagged.

As soon as he left, I had ripped open the bag that Luna had packed for me, and it wasn't so bad. It had a lot of satin-satin dresses, satin nightwear, overcoats, jeans with a corset, slong dresses and sshort, sformal and scasual, and many comfort clothes. I had smiled, because Luna knewwell. The next bag, however, was just make-up and lingerie.

The lingerie....

There was so much. I didn't even own most of them. They all had tags on. She had shopped for me. Most of them were made of lace, with straps that I didn't even know went where, stoo tiny to cover even what they were supposed to, I gulped looking at them. The two times that I had been naked in front of Gabriel, I was in an unmatched cotton bra and underwear.

And now, there was this.

A part ofwas just giddy to see his reaction.

I took a quick hot shower and changed into sweats, and got into bed, letting my jet lag take the better of me. I don't know. what tit was when someone switched off the lamps and coveredwith a duvet.

I don't know how long I dozed off for because the next tI opened my eyes, the sunlight was gone. It was dark outside the blinds, and Gabriel was asleep on the other end of the bed, a respectable distance between us.

I searched for my phone on the night stand in the dark, dropping a water bottle I didn't know was there.

Gabriel stirred besideas I read the time. 3:37 A.M.

I had slept for almost twelve hours straight.

"You're awake?" Gabriel's groggy voice filled the silence and I turned to him as he struggled to open his eyes.

"You should call the doctor onif I slept any more than this, joked, getting up. "I'm sorry to wake you up. Please go back to sleep, I'm downstairs" 1/3 Chapter 29 "Nonsense." He mumbled. His voice was hoarse and grainy and so hot. "I'm waking up too." Before I could stop him, he was sitting on the bed, stretching.

I wondered if I should get into bed. "When did you sleep?" Just a couple hours after you. Figured we can roam around wherever you want if we get srest first." "Hm. Yes." I nodded while grabbing my toiletry pouch from where my bag was, and heading to the bathroom to brush and freshen up.

When I cout, was up on his toes. "Are you hungry?" He asked just in tas my stomach rumbled, I nodded. " "Who's going to deliver at this hour?" "Nobody. The kitchen is stocked. We'll cook." "You cook?" I raised an eyebrow.

"A little." That is how we found ourselves in the kitchen an hour later. I loved baking and basic cooking, not more. Between the two of us, we knew just about enough to not burn down the kitchen.

"You're rolling the bread wrong." Gabriel commented unimpressed while looking up from the stool where he was chopping bell peppers "Okay, Gordan Ramsey." I rolled my eyes at him, "If I'm doing it wrong, why don't you do it yourself?" "Gladly. In two long strides, Gabriel was standing behind me, his hands on either side ofand his chin touching my temple.

I froze. I asked you to do it... not to teach"Now what's the fun in that?" He held my hands over the rolling pin, helpingsoftly roll the dough into a circle that was much thicker than mine, but I barely focused on that. I could only make sense of one thing at a twhen he was around, and that thing right now happened to be his touch on me, and his breath fanning my face and neck.

"See. All done." He almost sounded proud as he moved away from me, makingmiss his touch onas I half hearted spread the pizza sauce.

Another hour later, we successfully had pizzas ready for breakfast. It wasn't something that an Italian chef would probably approve, but it was decent.

Having it by our window overlooking the waters below glimmering with the first rays of light as sun began rising overhead painting the sky in ethereal shades of a pastel blue interspersed with a blush of pink, forming its own cotton candy.

There was a certain magic in the air as we ate while Gabriel talked toabout work at his company and what my role would be if I agreed to take a spot there. If. I wanted to capture that moment forever, especially when we were done eating and Gabriel leaned over from his side, his thumb gently caressing my lower lip to wipe off the remnants of the sauce while his eyes bore into me.

For a moment there, it seemed like nothing else in the world mastered except the way he looked atand my desire for him to kiss me.

But he didn't He pulled away, and then the moment was broken At noon, Gabriel was dressed in a white shirt with rolled up sleeves and pants, while I was dressed in a matching white dress Chapter 29

that was completely backless, fitted till my body and then free flowing till my mid-thighs with pump. Keels as же we walked through an old basalica that was almost completely empty despite it's tall and lit up walls and hand paintings in every single corner.

Despite the house we were staying in being full of similar paintings, I was still fascinated by them "I figured you'd appreciate this place, being a painter and all" Gabriel whispered because even the lightest mumbles carried around the old structure we were standing in.

"I do, I barely spared him a glance. "This is so... unreal. They were painted centuries ago, and they still looked fresh in the form of their technique, their ideologies, the hidden meanings.

Gabriel stood besidequietly that afternoon as I wrapped my hands around his arm and dragged him to each corner, appreciating every little detail I could, even taking pictures of sthat I thought his mother would like.

We had lunch at a local café, spent our evening at another archeological structure. In the evening, we went shopping before we returned back to our villa.

The sun had set when we were back in our room and my heels ached when I removed them and threw them off, standing in front of the mirror to remove the gold chain around me.

I was busy trying to unhook it when my eyes catight Gabriel's through the mirror as he shut the door and turned to faceyou help me?" 1 froze. "Can you- Can He stood behind me, unhooking the chain with just one hand and keeping it on the dresser.

He was about to take a step back when my hands reached the zip of my dress and even though it was well within my reach.1 pretended I couldn't reach it.

"Can you helpwith my dress as well?" I asked, not breaking eye contact through the mirror.

He stepped closer to me, closer than he needed to, his fingers unnecessarily tracing the skin of my back till he reached the end of the zipper.

I could feel goosebumps on every inch of my skin as he looked into my eyes while unzipping my dress, but didn't stop there. He took its thin straps off my shoulder and pushed them down my arm till the dressed pooled at my feet, leaving in nothing but my lingerie.

I watched his reaction in the mirror, the way his muscles flexed, his eyes left mine and gazed down at down at mym body, stopping the lingerie, and with the way they darkened making him lose the self control that he had been keeping since the moment we landed in Venice, I knew wearing the red thong was the right choice.