Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
“Y ou’d do that? For me?” Gabe asked. It was all he could do not to launch himself off the bed and across the room, fall to his knees, and cling to her while begging her never to leave him.
That song had undone him. Stolen his resolve. Flung him off the mountainside and left him hanging only by his own hope. She’d locked those electric blue eyes on him like she cared about him, like she meant the words she was singing about diving into love. He’d almost believed she was falling for him as hard as he’d already fallen for her. The last locks on his heart had failed, and the atrophied, desiccated thing was open to her, waiting for her to pick it up or step on it. Either way, it was hers.
And now she was offering to stay with him. Could a few more days be the start of forever?
“Yeah,” she said. “I would.” Gabe had lived without love, without hope long enough that he could pretend she’d answered yes to his unvoiced question.
She closed the suitcase over the pile of unfolded clothes and crossed to the bed, not stopping until she stood between his knees. Gabe shuddered when she dug her hands into his hair and scraped his scalp with her fingernails. She tilted up his face and lowered hers until they breathed the same air, until her face blurred in his vision. He fisted his hands in the comforter to keep from touching her.
“I can’t—I can’t do this and never see you again.” The words rumbled out of his chest. He had no illusions she’d stay with him until he figured his life out. She had her own life in California. But long-distance relationships weren’t so bad. Maybe he could get on a plane. There had to be some drugs that’d help him survive a flight from Columbus to LA.
She pressed her lips together, and he knew she’d walk away. Just like all the other women in his life. Better to know it now than after he’d given her his heart.
When her lips met his, all those swirling thoughts stilled. He didn’t think about cars or planes or Los Angeles or even his as-yet-unconfirmed family in Vegas. The soft press of her lips against his set off fireworks inside him, lighting him up like that karaoke bar.
He let go of the comforter and touched her then. Her soft hair. The back of her dress, the one that clung to her curves, same as his eyes had all night. Gracefully, she dropped into his lap without breaking their connection. With one arm behind her back, he pressed her to him. His other hand cradled her cheek.
She opened and ran her tongue across his lip until he opened, too. He explored the wet warmth of her mouth, tasting the sugar and lemon from her martini that mixed with the orange scent of her hair, growing an entire citrus orchard around them in his imagination. One he never wanted to leave.
She tugged her lips away and kissed along his jaw to his ear. “Gabe, I need you,” she whispered.
And with those words, she slayed him. His heart was already open to her, but that phrase was the password to his soul. Now when she went to LA, it’d follow her there, leaving him an empty husk.
She shifted to kneel over him, her slinky skirt lifting to the tops of her thighs. He gripped the round swell of her butt to steady her.
Who was going to steady him? When she arched her back, her breasts filled his vision, half-contained in the V-neck of her dress. He kissed the upper curve of one, then the other, making her moan out his name.
With trembling fingers, he reached behind her to locate the tab of her zipper. Slowly, he dragged it down as far as it’d go. He helped her shrug out of the top of the dress until it pooled at her waist, and then he took a moment to admire how the red lace of her bra cupped her breasts. Reverently, he ran his fingers along the lower cup, feeling her warmth through the raised texture of the lace.
He kissed over the curve of her breast until he found her nipple. Gazing up at her face, he met her heated stare, daring him to go farther, to take what he wanted, to give her what she needed. When he licked the nub through the lace, she gasped and arched, shoving it into his mouth. He licked and sucked until the fabric was wet like a second skin, clinging to her.
Trailing his hands down her back to her sweet curves, he tugged her close until her core nestled against his erection, straining toward her through his pants, just a tease so she could feel how much he wanted—needed—her, too.
Then he nipped her breast, and she arched again, sighing out his name. He moved both hands under her skirt to find her bare skin underneath. A thong. Was it red like her bra? His dick pulsed against his pants.
Tracing a finger up to her hip, he located the strap of her thong and followed it down in front. He ran his other index finger across the dampening satin that covered her core.
“Is this okay?” he asked.
“Mmm, yes.”
“Can I keep…going?”
“All night if you can. I want to feel your fingers on me.”
He wanted it, too. Slipping them under her thong where she was wet and warm, he circled her core once and then swept up her folds to her peak, where he found her clit swollen and waiting. He’d just barely touched it when she arched and stiffened.
“Oh, my God, Gabe, I’ve been waiting so long.”
He ran a deliberate figure-eight pattern over her. “We just got started.”
“We’ve been on this road trip for seven days, and at least the last four have been goddamn foreplay.” She lowered herself to grind on his hand. “I about went off in the car the other day when I fed you that donut.”
He flicked her clit, and she sucked in a breath. “Want me to suck your nipple or your finger while I do this?” he asked.
She shuddered. “Yes.”
She still had her hands buried in his hair, so he kept going on her breast, tonguing and nipping it through her lacy bra. At the same time, he thumbed her clit, learning what made her breath hitch, what made her stiffen, and, finally, what made her cry out his name. By then, his dick throbbed, but he held her up against his chest, easing her back from her orgasm.
After a minute, her eyelashes fluttered against his neck, and she sat up with a lazy grin. “Thank God for Paul’s wedding gift.” She leaned over to open her handbag, which she’d tossed onto the bedside table, and pulled out a condom. She set it on the bed next to Gabe and went to work on his belt.
He put his hand over hers. “I—I’m not sure I can last long.”
“Do that thing with your hand again, and I won’t care.” She unfastened his belt buckle and unzipped his pants. He stood, and she shimmied them down his legs, taking his boxers with them. It put her at eye level with his flushed penis, which pointed straight at the object of its desire. She only smiled and launched herself back onto the bed.
Gabe finished what she’d started, taking off his shoes before kicking out of his pants. He stripped off his socks and tossed them in the general direction of his pants. Right then, he didn’t care about trip hazards. Burying himself in the sexiest woman he’d ever met was worth a face-plant later. Finally, he turned to face her, lying with her dress half-off on the bed. He unbuttoned his shirt slowly and watched her sultry smile turn sulky.
“You fuck like you drive. Too slow.”
“Deliberate,” he said. “And you didn’t complain earlier.” He unbuttoned the cuffs and slid off his shirt, finally naked before her. He kneeled on the bed and crawled toward her. “Sit up.”
She shoved up on her elbows, and he reached behind her to unfasten her bra. He peeled it off her and then paused to admire her. Her nipples had pebbled and reddened from the attention he’d given them earlier. He’d come back to them later. He tugged her dress over her head, and then, at last, rolled off her black thong. Her naked skin glowed golden in the lamplight, and, at least for tonight, the most beautiful woman he’d ever known was his.
He stroked her from her shoulder, over one breast, across her ribs, over her hip, and down her leg all the way to her instep. God, every part of her was so small next to his big hand. “Any requests?”
“The thing with your hand again. And I want to watch this time.”
His dick gave another hopeful throb. He’d gladly take orders from this woman for the rest of his life. He pushed her legs so her knees bent and her feet were flat on the mattress. Ignoring his own painfully hard erection, he kneeled between her feet and touched her glistening pussy. Then he traced up to her clit and circled it. She propped herself up on her elbows and watched as he rubbed the nub again with his thumb. Her legs trembled.
But he wasn’t about to take her over the edge yet. With his other hand, he explored her opening before slipping a finger inside. He checked her face. Her eyes were glassy, but she didn’t take them off his hands. He switched from making circles to fluttering his thumb over her, and she arched up off the bed, her muscles squeezing the finger he still held inside her. He kept up the motion until she squirmed, and then he switched to pressing the heel of his hand against her. She surged against him once, twice, and then went boneless, her knees flopping off to either side.
“God, Gabe, if I’d known you were that good at this, I’d have jumped your bones that first day.”
He leaned over her and kissed her, gently. “After all your Driving Miss Daisy comments, I don’t think I’d have done such a good job.”
“In this context, that sounds like a porn flick.”
“Huh?”
She reached for the condom. “I think it’s time for you to drive Miss Daisy.” She nodded down at Gabe’s dick, swollen and straining toward her. “Let’s see that bad boy.”
He slid his finger out of her and straightened, as if presenting himself for inspection. He must’ve passed because, making an appreciative sound in the back of her throat, she sat up, tore open the condom wrapper, and placed it on him, slowly, tortuously rolling it over his length.
“Lie back,” she commanded.
He did, taking her place on the pillows and shoving the sheet and comforter out of the way. She straddled his hips and ran a finger down his length, over the latex. His dick jumped in response. Gabe groaned, desperate to be inside her. But he wanted her to take the next step. After that, he’d take back the driver’s seat.
She lifted and rubbed herself over his dick. He tried to imagine what it’d feel like without the rubber between them, and his dick jumped again. Any more teasing, and he’d shoot his load before he was even inside her. To distract himself, he started to name and visualize the parts of her Mercedes’s engine. Timing chain. Ignition coil. Crank. Shaft. His heart slammed against his chest.
When she finally lifted onto the head of his dick and started working herself down, he added the carburetor to his mental exercise. But the tight squeeze had all the blood rushing downstairs, and he couldn’t visualize whether Cinderella took the straight or tapered air filter. Sunny stopped when her hips met his.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “Your face is all squeezed up.”
He opened his eyes to find her biting her lip. “Just—just trying to hold off for a few minutes. You feel so good.”
She rolled her hips once, experimentally. “So do you.”
He gripped her bottom, his fingers splaying over her cheeks. “Wait. Just for a minute.” He wanted to savor the feeling. Even though she’d agreed to stay with him long enough to meet his family in Las Vegas, how long he could keep her? Women like Sunny didn’t date men like Gabe long. Tonight had to last as long as it could.
At last, he moved his hand around to rub her clit with his thumb. At the same time, he bucked his hips into her. And that’s all it took. He’d danced on the edge too long. When she shrieked and clenched around him, he went off, his brain fuzzing.
The next thing he knew, Sunny was draped over his chest, strands of her long golden hair in his face. He scraped it off to the side and tugged the covers up over them. He had to get up in a minute to take care of the condom, but for now, he wanted to luxuriate in her closeness. The silkiness of her skin. The mingling of their scents. He rubbed his hand over her smooth back, and she sighed.
“Was that all right?” he asked. “I warned you that?—”
“Gabe.” She levered herself up and put a finger over his mouth. “Stop fishing for compliments. You’re a sex god, and you know it. You’ve ruined me for all other men. Now be quiet and cuddle me, you big teddy bear.” She lay her cheek back on his chest.
Even her mention of other men couldn’t stop the grin that spread over Gabe’s face or the warmth that rose inside him.
For now, she was his, and he’d do whatever he could to make her want to stay.