Chapter 36 #2
His mouth lowered to my neck, dragging over my shoulder as he pushed the strap of my dress down.
“You don’t know how many times I’ve pictured this.
Pictured your body.” His mouth draped down my arm.
“Remembered your taste.” My stomach trembled.
“Heard your cries.” His hand slipped my zipper down.
“Your moans.” Butterflies snapped their wings in my lower body.
“I’ve waited years to touch you again, luna mia.
” His mouth trailed the dress as he pushed it from my body.
Kissing every spot, every curve, every dip, every freckle.
Worshipping even the stretch marks that now graced my lower belly.
“You’re still as perfect as I remember.”
My back arched as he kissed my inner thigh, his fingers working my underwear off as his mouth traveled down my legs.
“Gabe,” I moaned when he followed their path back up, ending with kisses that burned their way through my body, his fingers and his tongue working magic that left me crumbling within minutes.
He slid his mouth down my leg and rose, standing over me with the look of a starving predator. I bent my leg, watching as he pulled his shirt off the rest of the way. His eyes never left mine, and when he unhooked his belt, he asked, “Are you sure?”
Permission. A question of no regrets, giving me the chance to hesitate. But I didn’t. “Positive.”
A mischievous grin preceded the dropping of his pants, and as he crawled back over me, his lips tracing the path they’d first made, anticipation hummed through me.
Mouth crashing over mine, he wrapped his arm around me and drew me into his chest. I sucked in a breath as he nudged my legs open further and entered me.
Slow and paced, letting me feel every inch until he filled me completely.
Our bodies moved in tandem, a rhythm that reflected the emotions that cascaded over us.
His touches scored me, branded me, claimed me. Reawakening the parts that recognized that ownership. My body was alive because Gabe had been the only one with the power to wake it. And he was mine again.
“Come for me again, luna mia,” he rasped in my ear.
His hand moved between us, his mouth draping down my throat until he sucked my nipple into his mouth.
Heat blossomed in my core, my climax rising until it crashed through me like waves demolishing the shore.
Thrusts increasing, one hand digging into my waist, the other into the bed, Gabe followed my release.
Breaths synched, we came down from our ecstasy high, and he brought his other hand up and pushed my hair from my face.
“Just as gorgeous as you were our first time.” Caging me in, his eyes now a blend of hues, he asked, “Still okay? No regrets?”
Cupping his cheek, I lifted my head and kissed him. “Not a single one.”
“Good, because I was looking forward to satiating my hunger for you a few more times.”
“Making up for lost time?” I asked, winding my arms around his neck.
“Damn right I am.”
“Then let’s not miss another minute.” I dragged his head down, my body coming alive again. He lit every cell on fire, reminding me of why I’d never even considered another man. Because there was no one who rivaled him.
My body hadn’t been so satisfied and blissful since the night Gabe had left me. Now that I knew the truth, I understood why he’d seemed so desperate and famished. Gabe’s sex drive was demanding, but the two nights before he’d left, it had been endless.
Sitting on the side of the bed, I realized it had been the same way last night.
Relentless but in all the perfect ways. I took a robe from the bathroom and tied it closed.
Wobbling out of the bedroom, I froze. Reid was awake, sitting with Gabe at the table, telling him all about his teacher at the daycare center.
His little hands were gesturing, and Gabe was listening intently.
I observed them like I did any time they were together, marveling at their similarities as pressure built in my chest. This was how it should have been, and now it was happening. Years without feeling complete, with an empty space in our family, and now it was whole.
And now I had to explain why Gabe and I were sleeping in the same room and in the same bed. I drew my robe tighter, contemplating the best way to approach the conversation when Gabe looked up at me. Warmth blazed through my cheeks at the heated gaze he gave me, and my insides jumbled into knots.
“Morning,” he said, giving me a cocky grin.
“Morning, Mommy. Gabe said you had a sleepover last night. Can I come next time?”
The snort that came from me was loud, and I covered my mouth, the heat in my cheeks almost scalding.
“Somebody woke up extra early today. Good thing I’m a light sleeper and heard him sneaking up on us.” Gabe threw me a wink, and I let out a relieved sigh. “We went out and picked up breakfast. There’s coffee for you on the counter.”
Planting a kiss on Reid’s head, I tussled his hair.
“Can I, Mommy?”
“What, honey?” I gave Gabe a kiss on the cheek, but he didn’t let me go so easily. He grabbed my waist and pulled me into a kiss that almost made me forget Reid was even in the room.
“Sleep over next time.”
If Gabe’s display of affection bothered him, he didn’t say, and maybe he had just grown accustomed to us kissing, but this kiss reminded me of the power Gabe held over my body. His kisses were like brands that sizzled through my insides and left a mark too far to ever consider removing.
“Maybe. Why don’t you go play until Gabe and I are ready to go? You can watch TV if you’d prefer.”
He hopped down and ran to the couch, turning on the television and flicking to a cartoon channel.
“Sleepover, huh?” I teased, rubbing my hand up Gabe’s chest.
“Yeah.” He pulled me closer, nuzzling my neck, his stubble a gentle scratch on my skin. “I think we should have more of them.”
“How often?”
“Very often.” Head lifting, he wiped a sleeper from my eye. “I forgot how gorgeous you are in the morning.”
Laughing, I replied, “Do you need your eyes checked?”
“No, I’m serious.” With his fingers drifting through my knotted hair, he said, “Are you still okay with last night?”
Okay? I was still coming down from my high; my addiction to Gabe’s touches was almost overwhelming. Running my hand over his jaw, I nodded. “Absolutely.”
His smile returned, lighting his eyes to a golden hue.
“But…” I started, hating how the smile faltered.
I inched closer to him, stepping between his legs.
“You didn’t ask if I was on birth control again.
” I’d gone off it for years, subconsciously knowing I wouldn’t need it.
There was no replacing Gabe. But I’d started taking it again after I’d accepted him back into my life, something he didn’t know.
“Are you?” he asked, sweeping a strand of my hair back.
“What if I’m not?”
Laying a kiss on my nose, he gave me a grin that had sparks flaring through me.
“It doesn’t matter.” I gaped at him as he stood and tipped my chin up.
“I plan to have you in my life until there’s no life left in me, Tori.
If that includes more children, then it does.
I’m not going anywhere, so it shouldn’t matter as long as we both agree, and since you didn’t ask if I had a condom, that tells me you’re on birth control or as willing to make our family bigger as I am. ”
My chest shouldn’t have burned as much as it did. I rubbed it, saying, “Did you have a condom?”
His brow lifted. “I haven’t carried one since the day I met you.” That burning turned into pressure that made it hard to breathe. “There was no need because there was never anyone but you.”
I swallowed, the sound loud enough that his grin turned even more mischievous.
“I am,” I said. A slight frown had me explaining.
“I started back when I let you back in.” And the grin returned.
“And…I think I should stay on it until…” Until what?
I was afraid to say the words because the last time they had dominated my life, I had lost him.
“Until we exchange vows and rings?”
A torrent of flutters raced through me. Excitement, nerves, fear. I nodded. “And we’ll talk about it first to make sure we’re both ready.”
“That sounds like the perfect plan.” Thumb brushing over my cheek, he brought my mouth to his. The kiss charged through me like all his kisses did. “Until then, I will take every chance to practice.” His mouth raced down my chin and over my neck. “Starting with you joining me in the shower.”
This time, my stomach did a series of flips that left me unbalanced. I glanced over to where Reid was watching television.
“I think there’s a strong possibility I could partake in that.”
A devious gleam sparkled in his eyes as he rose. Pulling me into his arms, he dragged his cheek over mine, his teeth nibbling at my ear. “I’ll meet you in there, luna mia.”
He lifted his shirt over his head as he walked away, and I watched his tight back muscles, thoughts of what he was about to do to me leaving me grasping for words.
I gave Reid another kiss on the head and told him I was going to use Gabe’s shower because the one in our room wasn’t as big.
“Is Gabe going to help you?”
I stifled my laugh and heard Gabe yell from the room. “If there’s a spot she can’t reach, I’ve got her covered.”
“I guess that’s a yes,” I answered Reid, shaking my head as I looked up to see Gabe’s sexy smirk peering around the door.
“Gabe’s a good helper, Mommy.”
“I know he is. Keep watching your show. I’ll be out in…” A few minutes would have been my usual estimate, but Gabe’s appetite ensured it would be longer. “…soon.”
I hurried after Gabe, closing the bedroom door and hearing the water running. Dropping my robe, I joined him under the water where he pinned me to the tiled wall and reminded me again of all the ways my body belonged to him.