Excerpt of GIRL ON A BABYMOON

Read an excerpt from chapter one of Girl On A Babymoon, a short novella included in Hot In The City: A Romantic Comedy Story Collection. Copyright Cassandra O'Leary, 2022.

Chapter One

Melbourne, Australia

Sinead had no hope of containing her giggles as she stared at her phone’s screen, but she slapped a hand over her mouth anyway. She half snorted, half coughed into her palm before shaking her head to get herself under control. The Uber driver would think she’d lost her mind, but who cared about that? Not today, she didn’t.

She clicked out of the amazing image on her phone screen and stared out the car's passenger side window instead, watching the streetscape whiz by in a blur of colours, sky blue, white and grey. The warm fuzzies in her belly settled, fluttered and subsided.

Gabriel was going to absolutely love her anniversary surprise. Love. Adore. Worship at her feet and hopefully worship every last nook and curve of her whole body in minute, sensual detail. Several times. Oh, yes. This anniversary trip had been an excellent idea. How could they have been married for five years already?

She didn’t know how her news would go down with Gabriel. Hopefully, he’d be on board. All she had to do was let him know what she wanted and fill him in on the plan. She sighed, exhausted suddenly. He would be pleased, wouldn’t he? Happy? It was a lot to take in. She’d had a minor freak out already.

He’d be okay, she was almost positive. He’d research this like he would with a business deal or an investment. He was good at details, her Gabriel. The best at everything he did. Having a man like him, so focused and determined in everything, work and play, had turned out very nicely in their relationship so far, especially in the bedroom. The only problem was, sometimes he was a wee bit put off by spontaneous changes of plan.

He'd love her surprise. And if he didn't bloody love it, she was possibly going to have him killed. Or at least torture him in a sexy way until he admitted he loved her and her surprise, and then he could do the minute detail worshipping of her body.

Yes, that was a plan. She grinned and rubbed her hands together with pure, undiluted, only slightly evil glee.

She gave a nod and word of thanks to the Uber driver, a very sweet man named Aziz who often drove her home from work at the luxury travel agency she ran at Gabriel’s office building in the city. She straightened out her shirt and threw her phone in her bag. The car rolled to a stop.

In one mostly elegant motion, she launched herself and her handbag out of the car and onto the footpath, then she was clacking along in her electric blue high heels. Her phone was in her hand, tapping on her husband’s name and he answered the call before she'd even taken five steps towards the front door of their beachfront townhouse.

“Hello, Irish.” His voice was gravelly and rumbly, pinging her pleasure centre and tugging at something in her abdomen. She bit her lower lip and almost tripped over the spiky plant near her front steps.

Sinead pressed her lips together before the exciting words exploded out of her in a great rush.

Control. Plan the announcement. Don’t freak him out. 

Sinead nearly peed herself from the effort of keeping it inside. She released her lower lip and took a shuddery breath. "Ah, it's the man himself. Are you looking especially handsome on this fine day? I’ll bet you are."

"I was just thinking about you."

She grinned so hard her cheeks ached. "All good thoughts, I hope. Maybe naked thoughts?"

He chuckled, deep and low in her ear. "Always good, and many naked thoughts of you, my love."

She sighed, leaning her right side against the front door as she fumbled for her keys in the depths of her bag. “I just got home. I hope you're ready for some news. But I can’t tell you right now, because we have to get ready to go.”

There was a slight pause from Gabriel. “Go? Ah, is there somewhere I’ve forgotten I should be right now?”

The trepidation in her husband’s voice gave her pause. Sinead knew of Gabriel’s one o’clock appointment with Dyer and Sons, the eco builders who would hopefully be working on their upcoming island resort project. She didn’t want to disrupt that meeting or their plans for a fabulous new business venture, but she’d definitely do just that if she hit Gabriel with her news over the phone.

“No, you’re good. I meant, we have to leave by five this afternoon for our surprise weekend getaway. Before you say anything else, it’s a surprise, so that’s why you didn’t know about it.”

She unlocked the front door, kicked off her shoes and crossed the living room, a welcoming open plan space dominated by a long sage green plush sofa that made her want to throw herself right on it and lie down. So, she did. She lay flat on her back, her head on the overstuffed silver cushion at one end, phone pressed to her ear.

Gabriel’s deep chuckle resonated in her ear, and somewhere deep in her belly. “Oh, is this one of those surprises where I’m going to suddenly find myself naked, tied to a chair and unable to move for days? Because if that’s the case, go ahead and pack my bag for me.”

The giggles rose from Sinead’s belly and escaped her lips with a kind of squeak. “Will do, husband mine.”

***

To read more, buy Hot In The City: A Romantic Comedy Story Collection!