I know some of you were expecting a different reaction from Gabi to finding her drawing in Troy's room, but well I figured her getting mad would have just been predictable and it's done a lot in these stories so I chose not to have the drama.

Leah- ah thank you! :D Always makes my day when someone declares their love for my work, it reminds me why I'm here lol

Marby88- I think I was having a senior moment when I changed it, there is M rated stuff to look forward to so I have changed it back!

Chapter 9

There was a small group steadily painting the hospital wall with the pale green background colour Gabi had chosen for her piece.

Troy took up a spot right beside her and they shared several grins and lasting looks while they worked.

Ryan took the odd picture, capturing some moments between the pair that he figured they may like to own afterwards and it was evident to everyone watching that there was chemistry between the two.

At afternoon break the corridor cleared while the doctor and a couple of the nurses volunteering headed for the café for refreshments.

Troy watched Gabi as she stood and stared at her wall, envisioning what she was going to put there. His lips twitched. He turned and dabbed her chest with his brush.

"You have paint on you," he smiled.

Gabi gasped, taking up his playful challenge. She striped his cheek.

"So do you," she arched a brow.

His smile told her exactly what would happen next. He dropped his brush on the sheet protecting the floor and quickly wrapped her up while he moved to kiss her, owning her completely with that kiss.

Gabi cupped his face and kissed him back, giving up to the moment even though she felt her cheek smudge his paint and his chest rubbed hers, no doubt absorbing her own mark.

He groaned and lifted her against him, subconsciously looking for somewhere to carry her; somewhere he could find friction to rub against her and show her just what she did to him.

He found it behind them where he placed his hands while her back hit the surface and allowed him the pleasure he sought. He lifted her thigh, she jumped up into his strong arms and he held her; all the while they kissed, strong and hard.

She whimpered as he ground against her; this public place providing a sexy danger of being caught. It was like making out in church. It was so quiet, so wrong and yet their moans of pleasure opposed the taboo of it.

"Oh god," she panted as he kissed along her jaw.

He looked her right in the eye, his pupils dilated, his breaths slowing. The gaze they shared turned her on more than his kisses, that look told her so much.

"What the heck..?" Dr Ryan Evans walked back down the corridor, clocking the scene before him with something akin to horror.

"Oops…" Troy muttered, letting Gabi down gently.

It was only then he realized why Ryan looked so horrified.

The surface that had supported their passion was the wall they had just painted and not only was it seriously smudged but they were both covered in pale green paint, too.

"I think I ruined your wall," Troy looked to his guilty hands, then to Gabi and finally to Ryan.

"Uhm, can you let the others know we're done for today?" Gabi asked her friend.

He nodded and turned back the way he came with no further comment.

"I'll paint it over," Troy said as the petite Latina turned her brown eyes on him.

"I'm not mad," she assured softly.

"No?" He arched a brow.

"No," she touched a hand to his paint-smeared chest. "This is pretty sexy."

Both his brows rose and his lips pursed. That was the first time she had vocalized her attraction. He felt her fingers grasp his neck and pull his head down where she kissed him, tenderly.

He slowly let that kiss develop, allowing her to lead him. He cupped her face, pulling away slowly.

"This paint will dry if we don't move," he husked, kissing her lips gently.

Her large brown eyes focused on his.

"Way to ruin the fun," she murmured, finally stepping back to clear up the mess they had made.

Troy surveyed the smeared wall and began repainting it, between them they soon had the job done and they were on their way home.

As Gabi pulled up at the end of her drive, she turned to Troy.

"Dinner?"

He smirked. "Sure."

They got out of the car and walked around the hood.

"I'll go shower," he said.

"Shower at mine," she offered.

"And wear what?" He arched a brow.

She pursed her lips. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

He touched her nose. "Cute."

"Look, I have something you can borrow," she offered.

"Dante's?" He enquired.

"No, my Dad's," she explained.

"The millionaire," he checked.

"The millionaire," she confirmed.

"You never did tell me about him," he commented as they walked up to the house, Gabi letting them inside.

"No," she mused. For good reason.

"I'm a good listener," he offered.

She turned and looked at him as they came inside.

"I'll tell you about him while I'm making dinner," she promised.

/

"Have you seen the Real Housewives of Orange County?" Gabi posed as she cooked off meat to make chili con carne.

Troy was leaning back against the counter beside her. She'd gotten him to chop the vegetables she was now adding.

"Spoiled women arguing?" He mused.

She gave him a look.

"I mean rich husbands and pampered wives," she explained. "That's my mom and dad."

Troy frowned, looking at Gabi for a moment while he tried to make sense of her statement. She didn't exactly look like an Orange country brat.

"As you can tell, I didn't exactly fit in," she broached. "I was always different. Always a disappointment."

Troy leaned off the counter.

"Why a disappointment?" He wondered.

She put her chili on the backburner and turned on the rice before she turned to him.

"My dad always wanted a boy to hand over his business to," she began. "The fact I was a girl meant he was never interested in me or my life."

"I'm sorry," he frowned, reaching out to take her hand.

She smiled weakly.

"When my mom realized I wasn't going to be her Barbie-doll either, she lost interest, too. When I came here it was clear I wasn't welcome back," she lifted her brows and swallowed hard. "Being an artist in my family is like having a disease," she mused.

"Hey," he wrapped her into his body. "It's their loss, okay? They're missing out on a beautiful, amazing girl."

Gabi clutched him tight and sighed out her pain and frustration, surprised that she could do this with him, that she could share this hurt she carried. Falling for Troy hadn't been such a slow process but moments like this made her fall a little harder. She pulled away with a wry smile.

"That's the story," she broached, wanting to lighten the mood.

Troy licked his lips and looked at her.

"You are an amazing artist and person. If your parents can't see that they must be crazy."

She nodded. "They are," she mused. "But everyone thought I was the crazy one for walking away from it all. The way my friends in New York saw it, I could have just been what my parents wanted me to be and taken their money…"

"Then they weren't real friends," he countered, garnering her deep brown gaze.

She smiled a little. "I never regretted coming here."

He smiled slowly. "If you hadn't, my house would be art-less," he teased.

She tilted her head. "We would never have met."

He lifted his brows. "Weird."

It was weird. It was weird remembering what her life was like before Troy came into it, it was weird how she used to think she'd never meet anyone who made her feel this way.

"Rice is done," Troy told her before she could think about kissing him.

He moved to rescue it and she saved the chili. They worked in tandem to dish up their meal which they enjoyed in comfortable silence.

"I'm going away again," Troy broached after dinner.

He and Gabi were swinging on her front porch seat, his arm around her knees that were bent in his lap as she sat sideways to him.

She nodded. "When do you go?"

"I go Friday and come back Tuesday," he explained. "College gave me time to visit dad."

"Send your family my love," she offered.

He nodded. "Thank you."

She burrowed closer as the cool night breeze puckered her skin. Troy ran his hand up and down her arm to warm her.

"You should get inside," he murmured.

"I like being here with you," she admitted.

Troy smiled. "Me, too. But you're cold…"

She shifted to look up at him.

"Will you stay?"

Troy pursed his lips. He had college tomorrow, he still had to pack his bag and he had laundry to do, too. But the brown eyes of his neighbour shot all of those thoughts from his head.

He smiled. "Okay."

/

"So dude, you got with that chick, huh?" Jay mused as Troy sat with him in class.

"How do you know?" Troy frowned.

Jay smirked. "Your picture is all over the papers," he explained.

"Oh," Troy frowned, hoping none of those pictures were taken unknowingly.

"You lucky dog," Jay teased him.

Troy smiled. "She's pretty amazing."

He'd woken up in her bed, with her in his arms and he wanted to spend more mornings that way, waking up with Gabi.

"So what's your status?" Jay wondered.

"Status?" Troy repeated.

Jay shrugged. "One night, dating or tied down?" He offered his youthful view on relationships.

"Dating I guess," Troy picked.

"Have you bought her jewellery?"

"No…" Troy frowned.

"Then it ain't dating," Jay stated.

Troy chuckled. "I get it. I need to make it official."

Jay nodded. "Yup."

"I've never bought a woman jewellery before," Troy admitted.

"Girl like that won't want something flashy," Jay warned.

Troy looked at him. "Then what do I get her?"

"She's your girlfriend." Jay mused.

Troy nodded. There was an ethnic shop in town; he could go in his lunch break. He smiled to himself. He'd give his gift to her before he went on Friday, it was perfect.

/

"Hey!" Gabi knocked on Troy's kitchen window and waved.

He opened his back door to let her in.

"Hi," he smiled, leaning down to kiss her lips.

"Hi," she broke away with a bemused smile.

"I missed doing that," he arched a brow.

She lifted up the painting that she was carrying.

"Can I put this down please?"

He grinned and took the canvas, propping it against the counter. It was a beautiful sunny yellow creation.

"For your dad," she explained.

"I'm sure he'll be very thankful," Troy smiled, reaching behind her to cup her butt with both of his hands.

She braced his bunched biceps, smiling up at him.

"Hi," she said again, tilting her head to accept his kiss, a longer, deeper kiss that pirouetted them around his kitchen until they found a surface and then he leaned on it, letting her slide between his thighs.

She ran her hands up his chest, over his shoulders and she spread her fingers into his hair. Troy followed her lead and ran his hands up her sides, caringly running his thumbs over her breasts to find the peaks there.

She swallowed a whimper and sucked in a breath as his large hands encompassed her mounds with room to spare.

"I'm not-"

Before she could even begin her denial of her attractiveness, he kissed her again, slow and tender; soft and intense, when he thumbed her peaks again, everything sparkled. Her wanton moan this time was swallowed by Troy.

"You're beautiful," he murmured as he broke away to kiss down her collarbone.

She cupped his head, feeling embarrassed.

"I'm small, that's all…I just-"

Troy pulled down the neck of her top to reach her bra. She barely knew it, but suddenly his tongue lathed upon her peak through her bra, making her cry out and arch for more.

He tucked a finger inside her bra to pull the material aside, allowing his tongue more impact on her needy breast.

Oh god. Oh god, this was amazing!

She quivered in his arms and widened her thighs, moving to use his thigh as friction between hers. She rubbed her femininity against him experimentally. The tingle there grew to an ache.

When his tongue swapped to her other breast every time he flicked it over her hard bud hot arrows shot down her body and pooled, heated, between her thighs.

"Troy," she said only when he brought his head up to look at her with intense eyes.

He captured her mouth in long lasting kisses that pressed his attraction into her lips. She felt his body respond in kind as she arched against his thigh to recreate some kind of intimacy as their foreplay escalated.

Troy tugged at the hem of her top, pulling it off but not dropping it as he cupped it against her back. He quickly began kissing her again, cradling her as she thrust closer against his thigh; now body to body with him.

He cupped her backside and brought her flush, making her whimper at the contact with her clit, something she still tried to aid by grinding into his muscled thigh.

He stroked her hair back, kissed against her pulse at her neck, lowered his lips until he was back to suckling her only this time he undid her bra and sent it flying along with her top he had originally handled with care.

Gabi peeled his tee top off to even the court, letting her hands enjoy his very muscled, very sexy body while she heightened her desire by humping his thigh. She leaned back, panting out noises of satisfied pleasure; biting her lip when she felt her cries might ruin the moment. She felt his fingers drop to her fly; she watched him unbutton the fastening and then pull down her zip.

She frowned, not sure she felt comfortable with this next step in their foreplay.

"Don't look so worried," he murmured, kissing her swollen lips. "If you don't want me to then I won't…"

She hitched a breath. She was practically hanging off his body, pleasuring herself. It seemed silly to get weird about him touching her. But it had been a while; she worried about how she was down there. She worried she wasn't like the other girls he had dated.

"I-"

"Shh," he thumbed her cheek. "It's okay," he circled his arms around her and cuddled her. They were so intimately wrapped together. His blood still pounded around his veins and his arousal still stood proud and tight in his jeans.

Gabi clung to his shoulders as the intensely erotic moment faded and her insecurity stopped them from taking the next step.

"Troy?" She called out with a timid voice as she quivered in his arms, still plastered against his thigh.

"Hmm?" He was raking his fingers through her hair.

"I-I'm sorry," she said. She had almost said the 'L' word then. She berated herself and sighed in relief that she hadn't.

"Don't be," he murmured, kissing her temple.

She relaxed a little and drew away so she could hug him around the middle and feel totally protected. He wrapped her close with a sigh.

"How about I make us some dinner?"

She smirked. The man was always hungry.

She nodded against his chest but didn't let go. Dinner could wait awhile.

/

Thanks to having to catch up with college work and organizing his weekend trip away, Troy didn't get a chance to spend time with Gabi- at least as much as he wanted to.

He stopped by each evening to check in on her but his visits were never extended beyond a quick chat and an even quicker kiss.

Luckily for him she was an understanding woman who was also independent. It was Thursday afternoon that she knocked on his door, finding him packing.

"Need help?" She asked as he brought her through to his room; which was strewn with clothes.

He gave her a look. "Yes, please."

She smiled and began to neatly fold the things already in his case.

"Okay, you'll need three t-shirts, spare jeans, and a couple of shirts just in case…" she reached for the items as she called them out.

"Panties," she picked up some boxers and showcased them with a smirk, they were red with white stars on. "Nice."

He had the grace to look awkward, if not to blush.

"I'm not planning on showing them off," he mused.

She flicked him a look. "I should hope not," she teased.

He twisted his lips.

"Look…ah…I might get asked about us," he squinted. "You know, my parents will have seen the papers…"

She ventured her eyes to his.

"They'll ask who I am?" She checked and he nodded.

He moved to his nightstand and pulled out a jewellery box. She frowned, her heart picking up pace. He lifted a brow as he came back toward her.

"I'd like to tell them we're dating," he broached. "That you're my girlfriend."

Gabi o'd her mouth and darted her eyes up, unable to speak.

"And so that you know I mean it, I'd like you to wear this…" He opened the box to reveal a charm bracelet. It had three charms already on it- a palette, a paint brush and some glasses frames.

She picked it up between her thumb and finger and watched mesmerised as the dainty chain lifted from its velvet cushion.

"Oh wow…Troy…" She sucked in a breath in awe.

"While I'm away, I don't want you to doubt what this is," he murmured of their new-found attraction.

She curled the chain into her palm while she hugged him about the neck.

"This is so beautiful, thank you!" She pulled away, smiling tearily.

He let out a relieved breath at her acceptance. He half expected her to refuse it but he fastened it for her while she gazed at the charms, clearly touched by his choices.

She swallowed back her emotions, willing herself not to cry. It was pathetic how happy she could be over one piece of jewellery but by god, he'd chosen well.

"It's perfect," she kissed him on the lips then touched the dangling charms with her fingertips.

"I can add to it," he arched a brow. "At least, I plan to…"

She stuck her lower lip out.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"What do I give you?" She posed, forlornly.

He quickly grinned. "Nothing."

She squinted. "But I have this and you have nothing…"

"I'm a guy, it's kinda how it works," he teased.

"I can drive you to the airport?" She offered hopefully.

He looked at her. "I have to leave at 4am."

She shrugged. "That's okay."

He wasn't happy that she intended to wake at twilight to drive him but he could see she wouldn't be content unless she felt she had given him something in return.

"Okay let's get this case done," he agreed finally.