<div class="floatleft">(https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/wikisuburra/images/8/8c/Lelemarchillisuburra.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180908174344&amp;path-prefix=it)</div>"Drinks sound good to me.  How about you, Lauren?  Why don't we wait on the tour -- we can explore later, after the first drink."<br/><br/>"I'm surprised you don't have a house full of your friends already ... but I'm glad you don't.  I like parties, but tonight, I'm in the mood for something ... a little more private."<br/><br/>Friends as in the cops? Had Monica seen through his and Brett's nefariousness? He gave her a skeptical glance for a second but there seemed no malice on Monica's face and so he relaxed. He was being ridiculous; there was no way that the women knew that the place didn't belong to one of their families or their friend's families. He and Brett had done a quick once-over before leaving it anyway to make sure that there were no obvious family photos lurking about to be discovered at a bad time later on. Of course they couldn't be one hundred percent sure that they'd found all of them but there didn't seem to be any that weren't innocuous.<br/><br/>"Private party with just the four of us? Best of both worlds?" He offered with a raise of his eyebrow.<br/><br/>He cast a quick glance at Lauren and Brett and got pretty much the same answer from them both about a drink before a tour. Lauren had already taken full ownership of Brett's bod and then when Brett kissed her - in full view of everyone else - Gabe realized that while this might be dream-like, it wasn't a dream.<br/><br/>Game on then. The smile redoubled at Monica and he announced "Rum and coke's all around then. Coming right up."<br/><br/>The drinks cabinet was in the main living room against the wall that that room shared with the entrance hall so it really was a matter of a few steps to walk to it. He expected that the others would follow him in in due course.<br/><br/>He pulled over four crystal tumblers - totally in keeping with the rest of the place as being of high quality - and then poured four shots of rum into them (with somewhat of a heavy hand it had to be said). The coke bottle gave a satisfying 'fizz' as he opened it telling him that it hadn't been left so long that it had gone flat.<br/><br/>He handed the glasses to Lauren and Monica first and then to Brett. He took the last one himself and then announced "To new friends and warm nights," offering his glass up to the rest of them and there was a short round of chinking.<br/><br/>He'd already turned the lights on, obviously, in the main living area so that he could see to the drinks. It was a very large ultra-modern open space with the wall overlooking the cliff-top balcony being entirely glass. In-between the drinks cabinet and the glass wall were two enormous L-shaped cream leather sectional sofas arranged around a large glass coffee-table that was artfully reflecting the glow from several of the numerous pot-lights in the ceiling. At a squeeze both sofas together could seat at least fifteen close friends around them in Gabe's calculation. For just the four of them they could all take a seat more than arm's length away from everyone else and then spend the evening passing handwritten notes between each other. Gabe rather hoped that it wouldn't come to that. The large and comfy looking spans of cushions could be put to much better use if they all put their minds to the task he was sure.<br/><br/>After his initial, large, nerve-calming chug he took a more measured sip of his drink and offered Monica his open arm in the hopes that she'd get the gist and allow him to put his arm around her waist again. He was in luck, and she did just that. Emboldened by his own kiss in the car - and Brett's with Lauren just now - he kissed Monica full on the lips again in a much extended version of the one in the car. He could taste rum and coke on her lips (or maybe it was just the rum and coke from his lips that had transferred to hers) and once again his 'free' hand explored her waist as the kiss continued. Perhaps unconsciously apeing Lauren he found that once he'd found the waistband of Monica's skirt he traced along it until it and the fabric of her top departed from each other and he found the skin beneath. That was much nicer to touch even though the skirt was very nice and scandalously tight on Monica's waist. The skin he found with just two of his fingertips was also tight without being at all scandalous - Monica herself had more than enough scandal about her that her skin didn't need to go the extra mile.<br/><br/>Gabe broke the kiss and pulled back just far enough to whisper into Monica's ear. "You feel nice. Do you work out? You must, surely, to keep so trim."<br/><br/>He hoped that there was just enough suggestion in that small statement that would allow some of that scandal that Monica had going on about her in spades to make a suggestion of her own. They'd reached the front of the second sofa by this point and it meant that they either had to walk around it to head out onto the balcony or stay where they were and think of something else to do. Right at the moment, Gabe would be entirely fine with either outcome.<br/>