Let Go

“Ladies and gentleman, we have now landed at Madrid-Barajas. You may now gather your belongings and exit the aircraft.”

My foot quit shaking and I quickly stood up, gathering my carry-on and purse before rushing off the plane. I had to remind myself I had to go through customs first and couldn’t just run out of the airport without having my passport checked and getting my suitcase.

An excruciatingly long twenty minutes later, I made it through customs and baggage claim, looking every which way for the face I had been longing to see. I found Sergio standing in the corner, a beanie covering his head, probably trying to remain as invisible as possible, and let a smile take over my face. His own lit up with a matching expression upon seeing me and I all but dropped my suitcase and ran straight into his arms.

“I missed you so much.” I said.

“I missed you too nena,” he responded before pressing his lips to mine.

We pulled away seconds later and I was amazed that his kisses could still take my breath away after four months. Sergio carefully set me back on my feet, making sure I wasn’t going to trip over thin air as I had a tendency to do.

“Come on, let’s go home.”

I nodded in reply as he laced our fingers together, pecking my lips once more before we started outside. He pulled my suitcase behind him with his free hand as he led me towards the car. I was surprised when we walked up to his less expensive Audi R8, one of his other ‘babies’ I convinced him to let me drive.

“Margarite’s mad that you came to get me and didn’t bring her.” I brought up.

“I haven’t seen my girlfriend in a month and a half so she can just deal with it. It’s not like she won’t come barging in at seven in the morning just to see you anyways.” he said, bringing my hand up to his lips and kissing the back of it as he sped down the road.

It had been just about four months since the team left California and after I spent another three weeks back in Spain I reluctantly left Madrid to head back to Los Angeles. Sergio flew me out every spare moment the two of us had, even if it was only for two or three days we were both more than happy to have that little time together.

“Odie!”

I giggled when the small dog ran from somewhere in the house and immediately began jumping up and down at my feet, begging for attention. I bent down to pick her up and laughed as she did her best to lick every square inch of my face she could reach.

“I think my dog loves my girlfriend more than me.” Sergio pouted.

“She just misses having a girl in the house. She gets tired of daddy and his manly ways.”

I smiled at the small animal and placed a kiss on her bed before setting her on the floor and heading up to Sergio’s bedroom. I jumped onto the bed I was more than familiar with and laid there for a few minutes until Sergio entered the room. He placed my suitcase in his closet, an area of the house I was beginning to think held more clothes than mine.

“I’m so glad you’re here.” he said, laying next to me.

“There’s nowhere else I would rather be spending my time.”

He grinned and pulled me over into his arms, a place I never grew tired of being, and pressed his lips to mine.

“Sergio, let’s go swimming.”

“Right now, Gab? It’s almost eleven.”

I nodded and stuck out my bottom lip, knowing the look I was giving him could get him to agree to anything under the sun.

“I hate it when you do that.”

“I’m taking that as a yes.” I laughed.

I hopped up from the bed and pulled my shirt over my head along with my shorts, throwing them at Sergio and looking at him with a smirk.

“Are you coming or not Ramos?”

I rushed off downstairs, hearing my boyfriend scrambling after me, as he tried to strip off his clothes while trailing behind me. I was almost out the back door when a pair of strong arms lifted me off my feet.

“You’re not getting away from me that easily Gabriella.”

I squealed and laughed as he carried me towards the pool, attempting to get out of Sergio’s grip but he didn’t show the slightest sign of a struggle as he continued on his quest. I didn’t even have a chance to protest before he jumped straight into the pool, taking me right to the bottom with him. When I surfaced I glared at Sergio who was a few feet away from me laughing silently.

“That was mean.” I whined.

He smiled and I saw over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck while he moved towards the wall.

“You said you wanted to go swimming.”

“Yeah, well you’re lucky I love you Ramos.” I teased.

“The luckiest man in the world.”

I shook my head and smiled at his cuteness, letting my legs wrap around his waist as our lips met. I wasn’t paying attention to anything but the feeling of Sergio’s lips against mine and was surprised when he sat down on the steps of the pool.

“God, I’ve missed you.” he growled.

I moaned when his lips traveled down my neck, skimming over my collarbone while his hands made quick work of the hook on my bra and threw it across the pool once it was separated from my body. It wasn’t long before I was putty in his hands, coming down from the best natural high in the world. My body fell limply against Sergio’s, the water stilling around us as I was still reeling from one of the best orgasms of my life. I probably had a goofy smile on my face, my eyes drooping closed sleepily, the feeling of Sergio’s hand running across my back lulling me to sleep.

“Let’s get you into bed.”

I let out a small whine when he stood up, detaching himself from me for a few seconds before pulling me back into his arms. I lavished in the feeling of his sheets wrapping around my body, snuggling up to Sergio after he slipped in beside me.

“I wish I didn’t ever have to go back home.” I confessed.

“Me too, nena, me too. I miss you as soon as you leave my arms.”

I smiled and kissed his throat, loving the feeling of his hands running through my hair, a sure sign way to make me fall asleep.

“I love you Gabriella.”

+ + + +

“Have a good practice baby.”

Sergio smiled and leaned down to peck my lips, slinging his practice bag over his shoulder and grabbing one of the muffins I had made for breakfast. He shouted an ‘I love you’ before walking out of the door and I let out a small laugh at how we seemed like a married couple just then.

I finished tidying up the kitchen, fed Odie and refilled her water dish, before heading upstairs. I changed out of Sergio’s shirt and boxers into a more acceptable outfit, quickly getting ready to meet Margarite. I skipped downstairs once I was done and grabbed the keys to the Lamborghini. It took a lot of . . . persuasion to get Sergio to give me a spare set of keys but he eventually caved in and handed them over.

I pulled up to Cristiano’s twenty minutes later, typed in the code to his gate, and pulled into the driveway. Margarite hadn’t officially moved in with Cristiano but from what I heard she only went to Iker’s when she was out of clothes.

“Hola! You’re best friend has arrived.” I shouted.

“I’m in the living room.”

I rolled my eyes and walked into the living room, finding my best friend sprawled across the couch watching TV.

“What’s the plan for today?” I asked sitting next to her.

“I figured we’d head downtown, do a little shopping, get some lunch, and head back home.”

I nodded and checked my phone after it beeped, smiling at the text Sergio had just sent.

‘I miss you already. I should be home around three. We’re just having one long practice today instead of two. I love you. Now I shall go to practice with thoughts of last night floating in my head.’

“You two make me want to throw up.” Margarite cringed.

“Shut up, you and Cristiano are exactly the same.”

“Actually we’re not, we don’t complain every second we’re away from each other.”

“Whatever, let’s just go. Are you driving or do you want me to?”

“You drive. I left my car at Iker’s and I don’t feel like having to hunt around for Cristiano’s keys.”

Thirty minutes later we were walking around the newly opened Victoria’s secret, looking for something to entice our men.

“Do you think Sergio will like this?” I asked, holding up a matching black bra and panty.

“I’m pretty sure if you wore that in front of him he would have it ripped off your body in less than five seconds.”

I laughed and decided to get it, knowing the effect I had on Sergio when I would pull of the simplest clothes in the world and have on lingerie underneath them. Margarite and I didn’t waste a lot of time in loading up our arms with numerous articles of clothing and lingerie, I think we had trouble stopping ourselves from picking up anything and everything that caught our attention.

“I need to leave before I max out my credit card.”

“Yeah, Cristiano probably wouldn’t be too happy with me if I did that.” Margarite agreed.

After wandering through a few more stores, we stopped at a small corner restaurant to grab a bite to eat before heading back home.

“So have you given any thought to moving to Madrid?” Margarite wondered.

“I never stop thinking about it. I just don’t know if Sergio and I are ready for that big of a step.”
“What are you talking about?”

“We’ve only been dating for four and a half months Margarite. What am I supposed to do when I move across the globe and we break up? I’ll end up looking like the stupid girl who packed up her whole life for love. Even thought I don’t consider Sergio just another fling in my life I can’t help but to think that way.”

“Gabriella, I really don’t see you two breaking up. Sergio is head over heels in love with you and I haven’t seen him even glance at another woman since he met you. Besides, if anything like that were to happen you wouldn’t be completely alone. You’d still have me, Iker, and Crisitano.

“I don’t know, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

She smiled like she was hiding something from me but I didn’t even question her about it. I had known Margarite Casillas for too long and when she had a secret she would never repeat it.

+ + + +

I rocked back and forth on my heels nervously, still freaking out over the phone call I had just received. Sergio was out doing an interview and I had been at home tidying up when I received the phone call that had the potential to change my life. Jose Mourinho, the last person in the world I expected to call me, had just gotten off the phone with me and I was trying to remain calm.

Mourinho had offered me the opportunity to be Real Madrid’s in-house photographer. He had said that with all of the publicity the team was receiving, he saw a need to have one main photographer that would travel with the team and photographer every game. He said after hearing Sergio and Cristiano talking about the pictures I had taken in Los Angeles he had taken a look at them and was impressed.

I was at a complete stand still, the sensible part of me wanting to weigh my options while the spastic side wanted to take the job and move to Madrid without a second thought. After making so many irrational decisions in my twenty-one years of life I had made a silent vow that I wouldn’t be irrational and would think of the consequences my actions were sure to have.

I didn’t even hear the kitchen door open, only looking up when Sergio walked into the room. Had it been any other time I would have jumped his bones at the sight of him dirty and still slightly sweaty but this was definitely not the time for that.

“Sergio, I think we need to talk.”