Chapter 37
Gabe
This is the one.” Reid put his hands on his hips as if readying himself for an argument.
I looked over at Tori, who was trying to hide her smile.
“Is that your final decision?” I asked him, giving her a wink.
“Final.”
Folding my arms, I walked around the tree, pretending to evaluate it. “Good structure. Sturdy.” I bent and peeked through the branches. “Space for plenty of decorations.” I rose and eyed the top. “And a nice spot for a topper. I think that decision is a wise one.”
“So we can take it home?”
I laughed and gave him a nod. “It’s all ours.”
He bounced on his toes, grabbing Tori’s hand.
“Let me pay and have it loaded onto the car. Then we can shop for decorations.”
Tori gnawed at her lip, and my brow creased as I questioned whether I’d said something wrong.
I’d had to change the regulations regarding the top floor suites of the hotel to allow for a live tree and was still trying to figure out how to avoid violating any fire codes.
Getting it up to the suite was going to be its own feat, but for Tori and Reid, I would make it work.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
She looked from me to the tree to Reid and back to me. “I have decorations,” she said with hesitation. “The ones you bought me in Jacksonville.”
The admission left me dumbfounded. I had never considered she would keep them.
“I couldn’t part with them. They held too many memories.”
Swallowing, I said, “They’re not here, though.” I was certain she had them stored at her parents’ house like her wedding dress.
“I… They’re in my closet. When the movers brought our things from my parents’ house, I had them include the two bins.”
The way my heart jumped was almost painful. She’d brought them here like she had known we would shop for a tree together, and the decorations would no longer remind her of a past that had left her broken. They were reminders of our story.
Reid kicked the snow with his boot, and I knew he was anxious to move, but Tori’s admission had me wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her. “I love you, Victoria Abigail Hent.”
She giggled against my mouth, and Reid tugged her hand. “All you do is kiss.”
I joined her laugh and kissed her once more before saying, “And you’re going to get used to it because I plan to kiss your mother every day that I can.”
She stepped out of my hold and took my hand. “Do you think…” That serious expression returned. “Well, the house in the Hamptons is so empty and…” This time my heart expanded threefold, making it difficult to breathe. “…maybe next Christmas we can have the tree there?”
I loved her more every day.
“If that would be okay. I know it holds unpleasant memories.”
I stopped her by pressing my finger to her lips. “I told you. I bought it from my father so we could make new memories and bring joy to it again.”
“You couldn’t have known we would get back together,” she said.
“I always knew that you were mine, luna mia. I had planned to seek you out once we closed the deal with my father. That house is for us. If you hadn’t come back to me, it would have sat empty like my heart and my life because it’s always been you.”
She dragged in a sharp inhale just as Reid pulled on a branch, sending snow splattering over us. Her laughter filled the air, and I pulled her to me.
“Let’s bring it back to life,” she said as I kissed her again. I drew back and searched her eyes. “If that’s okay.”
“You mean now?”
Her head bobbed. “Take the tree there and decorate it.”
“And then?”
She shrugged. “A house needs love to bring it back to life. Maybe we spend the weekends there and stay in the city during the week.”
I had never thought it possible to love her any more than I did, but she kept surprising me.
“That sounds perfect. Ready to decorate this tree, Reid?”
“Finally,” he said with an exaggerated eye roll.
We stopped by the hotel and retrieved the bins of decorations, drove to the house, and spent the rest of the day decorating. Reid burned out after three bites of the pizza I ordered.
“Should we just stay here tonight?” Tori asked as I carried him up to my old bedroom. She tugged the covering off as I laid him down, pulling the comforter over him. A cleaning service maintained the house, ensuring there was no dust, so I didn’t worry about settling him there.
“There’s no bed in my parents’ room,” I admitted. It was the only room that had no furniture. While I’d had the house renovated and the furniture updated in all the rooms, I had only repainted and updated their room.
“Why not? The entire house is furnished.”
“I wanted to wait for you.” My eyes fell to the floor, but she forced them back to her.
“You really never gave up the hope that I’d return?”
Shaking my head, I asked, “Did you?”
Her eyes saddened. “No. Although I won’t share the number of scenarios that involved me giving you a piece of my mind.”
“Deserved,” I said, curling my fingers around the back of her neck. “You want to christen a few parts of the house?”
"Marking our territory?" she asked with a sexy arch of her brow.
“Absolutely.” I backed her out of the room, closing the door before leading her to my parents’ room—our room now—where I pinned her against the wall and worshipped every inch of her until touching her had my release so frenzied that I crashed, spiraling over the cliffs of ecstasy with her.
Something I then did in several more rooms until we ended up sprawled on the couch, the cream furniture sheet covering our tangled bodies.
“I missed this,” she said, kissing my chest.
“Me, too.”
She leaned up on her elbow, her blue eyes a dusty navy. “Did you really wait for me? I mean, you’re a man, and I know that’s a lot to ask.”
I moved my hand behind my head to prop it some. “Why is that a lot to ask?”
“Well, we weren’t together, Gabe. There was nothing stopping you.”
“There was you, Tori. Always you. Although I didn’t want to think about it, I expected you to move on and find someone else.
” I winced at the thought. “But I wanted no one else. And just because I’m a man, doesn’t mean I can’t control myself or that I need to have sex all the time.
My hand sufficed.” I gave her a wink, loving how her cheeks grew an alluring shade of pink.
“And plenty of memories of this unforgettable body to get me by.”
“It’s not the same,” she said, curving her hand over my jaw.
“No, it wasn’t because it wasn’t you, but sleeping with another woman wouldn’t have been you either. Every part of me has been yours since the moment we met, and if we had never crossed paths again, it would have remained yours.”
Tears made her eyes shimmer, and I brought her mouth to mine, relishing the sensation of having her so close to me, her lips to mine, her skin on mine.
“There was never another, Gabe. I wanted no one else, and the two dates I went on were blind dates, and I hated them because they weren’t you.”
I kissed her forehead, hating how jealous I was that another man had held her attention for even a few hours but content that she’d never gone beyond that.
I’d tormented myself with thoughts of her with another man too many times over the years, almost tempted to give up on my obsessive need to wait until I could find her again.
But the thought of touching anyone else, of having their body replace hers, was never tempting enough to give that hope up, and so I’d remained faithful to her all those years.
“I love you, luna mia,” I whispered as I brought her head to my chest.
“I love you, Gabe.”
I held her until the steady rise and fall of her chest lulled me to sleep, which was disrupted the next morning when small fingers lifted my eyelids. I jerked back, blinking my eyes open to see Reid standing over us.
“Were you having another sleepover?” he asked. “Why are your clothes off?”
“Oh God.” Tori groaned. “I’m not ready for this conversation yet.” Grogginess muffled her words.
“It’s a game your mommy and I were playing.”
“Can I play?”
“No!” we said in unison.
“I tell you what, buddy,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “That room you were in. That’s going to be yours soon.”
“It is?” His hazel eyes were large.
“Yup. Why don’t you go up and think about how you want to decorate it while your mommy and I find our clothes?”
He was off, running too quickly to say more.
“Good diversion,” Tori said, peeking up at me, ebony strands falling over her eyes.
“Years of practice in boardrooms.” I kissed her nose just as Reid came running back into the room.
Tori groaned and pulled the sheet up higher. The armful of clothes Reid held dropped on the floor next to us.
“Here you go.” He ran off again, and I couldn’t hold my laughter in. It shook my entire body and Tori’s with it.
“This is not funny,” she said, smacking my chest.
I snatched her hand, saying, “It’s hysterical.”
“We need to be more careful,” she hissed. “No more of this.”
I yanked her over, so that she was on top of me. Bad move because it only made me more aware of how much I wanted to take her again. “There will be plenty more of this, and we will mark every room in this house.”
My hand threaded into her hair, forcing her mouth to mine before she could respond. She moaned as my hand slid down her body.
“Gabe,” she murmured. “We can’t. Not here.”
“Then let’s find someplace else because I want you.”
I maneuvered her from me and stood, lifting her up. She squeaked and wrapped her legs around me, keeping the sheet around us. As I walked us through the house, passing through the kitchen and considering the pantry, I remembered the office.
“We’ll save the pantry for next time.”
“You’re impossible,” she said between kisses. “And insatiable.”
“Only for you.” I kicked the office door closed and dropped her on the desk.
“But Reid,” she argued as I draped my mouth down her neck.
“Will be busy playing in his room. The closet is full of my old toys and model sets.”
She pushed me back, her eyes questioning me.
“I told you this house was waiting for you,” I said, my fingers twisting into her hair as those on my other hand drove into her. I captured her gasp with my mouth, muttering, “And that room was waiting for our future child. Now, it and everything in it is his.”
I worked her body the way I knew only I could until her climax had her clamping down on my fingers.
Pushing her legs apart, I grasped her bottom, nudging myself into her warmth and shoving her forward just as I penetrated her.
She bit her lip to dampen her cry which I stole with a kiss that had her melting into me.
Thrusts and moans. Goosebumps that pebbled her skin and trembles that only encouraged me to go deeper and harder.
Until her climax claimed her and mine chased it, cascading through me and depleting me entirely.
I clung to her, riding out the waves that threatened to bury me so deep only she could ever bring me back. Her body shook, her muscles still convulsing as our panting filled the space.
“You’re naughty,” she said, her voice a broken rasp.
I nuzzled her cheek. “But I’m all yours.”
“Thank God, because I’m not a violent person, but I would tear someone apart if there was any competition.”
Drawing back, I searched her eyes, seeing the fierce claim in them. “It’s a good thing there is no competition then. My lawyers are excellent, but I doubt they could get you off for murder. Or me, for that matter.”
“You?” she asked, laying kisses on my cheek as her hands wrapped around my neck.
“Damn right. You’re mine, Tori. Don’t think for a minute that if someone else had touched you while we were apart, I wouldn’t hunt them down and make their lives miserable but if anyone dared touch you now…I would do extremely violent things that my lawyers would have a hard time defending.”
Blue irises widened, and I caught her bottom lip between my teeth as her mouth fell open.
Dragging my teeth over her lip, I said, “Get dressed before I devour you again.” I dropped my head, luring another moan from her as I pulled her nipple into my mouth. That pantry was looking good, and if I didn’t stop, I’d carry her in and shake the foundation as I forced more orgasms from her.
Against my body’s cravings, I stepped from her.
Picking the sheet up, I wrapped it around my waist, letting my eyes drift over her body before I walked out to retrieve our clothes.
Keeping myself restrained was going to be difficult.
Tori brought out a hunger in me I couldn’t contain.
It had been that way in our past, and it hadn’t changed.
I needed to touch her like an addict needs a fix.
The years without her had been excruciating, and no amount of resorting to my hand had satisfied the need for her.
Now that I had her again, I wouldn’t hesitate to take her.
I’d gone too long without her, and I was ready to satiate my hunger.