Chapter 28 #2
Jake went in and registered for the group, collecting room keys.
The complex had several buildings. Gabe grabbed his and Olivia’s bags and led her along State Circle toward an imposing red brick building with a high-pitched roof sporting several dormer windows.
As they made their way along the brick sidewalk, she found herself waking up to the reality of what came next.
The closer they got to the entrance, the more her stomach knotted and her nerve endings sizzled.
She stole a quick glance at Gabe, but his gaze was fixed on the looming building, and his thoughts were sealed away from her.
After he unlocked the front door, she followed him down a short hall to their room. It turned out to be a small suite decorated in colonial style with dark wood furniture and formal draperies. Beyond the parlor was a bedroom with a king-sized bed and a luxury modernized bathroom.
Gabe focused on the king-sized bed. “You probably need to sleep,” he said. “I can take the sofa out here.”
“No,” she said, closing the distance between them and grasping his arm. Her touch made him jump, then turn slowly to face her. She lifted her chin so that she could meet his eyes.
“I’m not going to push you into anything,” he continued. “I know you need time to adjust to...” He stopped and shrugged. “If you can adjust,” he added, his tone barely audible.
“Don’t,” she said.
“Don’t what?”
“Put up barriers between us.”
He kept his tone even. “I’m not...the man you fell in love with.”
“Yes, you still are, and a lot more.”
When he stayed where he was, she took a step toward him, knowing she had to be the one to prove the point.
When she was only inches away, she reached for him, wrapping her arms around him, pulling him close, reveling in the feel of his solid masculine body.
When she had gotten close to Travis, she had longed for this kind of physical contact. Now she had it.
He stood for long moments, as though he were simply enduring her attentions. Then his arms came up to embrace her, and she let out the breath she’d been holding.
“Thank you,” she breathed.
He cleared his throat. “Before we go any further...if we go any further, you need to know what you’re getting into.”
She answered with a small nod.
His next words were not spoken aloud. I’m Gabe Bowman.
I have all his memories, all his skills, and all his aspirations.
But I’m also Travis Carson. I have his memories and his skills.
He swallowed. And his needs and desires.
He found you when he was lost. You brought him back to life, and you bonded like the other couples who were children of the Solomon clinic.
You’re still bonded. Only Gabe Bowman is part of that equation now.
Stop talking about yourself in the third person. I found out who you are in no uncertain terms when we went back to Smith’s estate to make sure he couldn’t do to anyone else what he’d done to us.
As she felt some of the tension ease out of him, she tightened her hold. I don’t have any doubts about what I want and what I need...from you.
At the same time, her hands began to slide up and down his back, pulling him close.
He lowered his head. She raised hers, and their mouths came together with a mutual expression of need.
His lips moved against hers, caressing and questing. She was doing the same, reveling in all the sensations she had craved.
He didn’t have to speak for her to know what he was thinking. They had been in a rather messy battle, and they would turn any bed into a pigsty now.
The shower.
Their mouths broke apart so they could watch where they were going, but they didn’t turn each other loose.
Together, they stumbled into the bathroom, which thankfully had a large walk-in shower.
He reached behind her to turn on the hot water, fumbling to adjust it as she began to pull off his clothing.
She dispatched his shirt and started on his zipper while he did the same for her, both frantic to shed what had become encumbrances.
They left a pile of muddy, grass-stained clothing on the floor as they stepped under the spray, clinging together because they needed the stability.
His hands moved everywhere they could reach, over her arms, across her shoulders, down her back to the swell of her butt, raising a firestorm everywhere they touched.
She was doing the same, reveling in the feel of his slick skin under her fingertips.
He tilted her away from himself so that he could lower his head to find her breasts with his mouth, licking and sucking and bringing her nipples to hard points of sensation.
She wanted to wrap her fingers around his penis, but he warned her against it, silently telling her that he wanted this to last.
He might want that, but she knew it was an impossible goal.
They were both too needy, too greedy to postpone fulfillment for long.
He leaned back against the wall, lifting her up so that he could slide into her.
There was no fumbling, no call for her to help him find the right place.
He knew. And he knew exactly what she needed to reach climax.
He moved her body forward and away, the rhythm quickly growing frantic.
She knew he was judging her reactions, following her progress toward completion.
When her inner muscles began to contract, she felt him let go, both of them exploding in a burst of satisfaction that took them to the moon and back.
She collapsed against him, still hardly able to believe that they had just done this together. Her body responded to his, and he gave back everything he took.
When he eased her down, they clung together under the spray, swaying slightly, trying to take it in.
In the afterglow, she sensed Travis with her the way he had been with her before everything had changed. And she knew they had lost nothing, only gained more than she could ever have imagined.
As the water sluiced over them, she let herself open to his thoughts. He had been two different men who had somehow merged into one—were still merging in ways they were still exploring.
There won’t be hot water left for anyone else in the hotel, she finally whispered in his mind. Maybe we’d better use the shower for its primary purpose.
The suggestion led to hands slick with soap and bodies that heated again, never mind the water temperature. This time, they had more restraint. They washed each other, dried each other, and stepped out of the shower ready for round two.
Sorry. I have to dry my hair, or we’ll get the pillows wet.
Not a problem.
She watched him watching her, his expression greedy as she did a quick and dirty job on her long, thick mane.
When it was almost dry, they staggered across the bedroom together and climbed under the covers, rocking in each other’s arms before making love again.
This time it was slow and delicious rather than frantic.
She felt his smile as his mouth traveled down her body, finding her center and teasing her until she was begging for release.
But not this way, I want you inside me again.
He wrapped her in his arms, and at the same time, she felt his hands in places on her body he shouldn’t be able to reach.
How are you doing?
Don’t know. But I like it.
Me too.
Words became impossible as they climbed together above the earth’s atmosphere, then streaking back like a meteor to land in this lovely, comfortable bed.
The miracle of Travis bringing Gabe back would never be lost on either of them.
As they lay tangled together, she tried to absorb the reality of the man who held her close. It was still a wonderment.
For me too. But the thing I know best is that I love you.
She knitted her fingers with his. He could read her thoughts. She didn’t have to say that she loved Travis. And she felt the joy of having Gabe, too. The totality of what she had with this man was just beginning.
She read his silent response, all his feelings open to her. She waited a beat before asking, You’re sure you want me to call you Gabe?
He laughed softly. That’s an easy decision. All the people in my life already know me as Gabe.
Are we going to join the others in...Lafayette?
Decorah Security has a New Orleans office, but what about your business? You have a reputation here.
I think I can build one in Louisiana. I want to be with the rest of the group, at least for a while. They saved us. We wouldn’t be here without them.
And they wouldn’t be free of the threat of Mr. Smith hanging over them—without us.
Yes. But I need to stop in at my office and tell Frank what happened.
Will he believe you?
Frank...yeah. He collects agents with talents you couldn’t imagine.
Like what?
He hesitated for a moment, and she knew the answer to the question wasn’t something he spoke of with outsiders.
I’m not an outsider.
Right. Okay, like, the Marshall cousins are all werewolves.
She might have thought he was joking, but she knew from his thoughts that it was true.
I’ll fit right in. He made a dismissive sound. In fact, I used to feel jealous of their powers. Wait till they see what I’ve got.
She laughed, liking the sound and the new sense of freedom enveloping her. They had gone through hell in the past few days, but they had come out together, and she knew the future would be glorious.
“Something else we have to take care of,” he said aloud.
She caught the thought in his mind.
“Your aunt. She hired Gabe to find out what happened to Travis.” She paused for a moment. “Does she give any credence to the paranormal? Would she believe...” She lifted one shoulder. “That you were dead, but you found me and held on, and then Gabe gave you a body again?”
“She’d probably think I was trying to get out of admitting failure at not saving him.”
The scene when Gabe interviewed the feisty old woman made her shake her head. But she wasn’t going to give up on the idea. “What if you told her something that Gabe Bowman couldn’t possibly know?”
“That might work.”
“Is the guy who rented Jake the boat going to remember him?”
“I don’t think so.”
“It’s gonna be hard to explain how it ended up in pieces at Smith’s estate.”
“Maybe one of the others will have some ideas about that.”
“Or it’s gonna be the St. Stephens mystery of the century.”
They talked for a few more minutes, warm and cozy in bed. But they were both too tired to keep their eyes open. As Olivia drifted off, she found Gabe’s hand again, secure in the knowledge that he would be there when she woke beside him.