Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
ADAM
Ididn’t think that I ever wanted to live with someone.
Hell, I didn’t think that I’d ever want to be in a committed relationship.
I watched my parents’ farce of a marriage my whole life, and I knew that I never wanted that for myself.
I’d rather be alone than endure the company of someone I would grow to hate.
But then I met Gabe, and I knew within just a few days of dating him that I didn’t want to be without him, even for one minute. I wanted to share a home and build a life with him.
He’s everything my parents weren’t. He’s everything I didn’t know I needed. My best friend, the one who gets me and loves me anyway.
Damn, he loves me so fucking well.
And until last night, I would have said our family was complete and that I was perfectly content with Gabe.
But now that’s changed, and I need to have a serious talk with my man to make sure we’re on the same page.
I find him outside in our screened-in patio, sitting at the table with a sweaty beer bottle by his elbow. We’ve only been home for about thirty minutes, and we haven’t said much to each other since we left Alex’s shitty apartment.
I need to get her out of there.
Sitting next to him, I pick up his beer and take a sip, then set it back on the table.
“Hey,” he says, reaching for my hand and linking our fingers.
Something I had to get used to with Gabe is that he’s a toucher. He’s the definition of physically affectionate. I’ve always been the opposite because my parents didn’t hug. There was no affection in my home growing up at all.
And that’s something else that I didn’t know I needed until I met him. His touch soothes me like nothing else in this world. He’s my drug. My addiction.
Gabriel Blackwell is the love of my fucking life.
But a certain Princess is quickly wiggling her way into my heart.
I reach for his chair and pull him closer to me, palm the back of his neck, and draw him in for a kiss. Then I tip my forehead against his and simply breathe him in.
“Are you okay?” he whispers.
“Yeah, but we need to talk.” I sit back in the chair and link our fingers again. “I was not expecting her.”
“That makes two of us.” Gabe sips his beer, watching me. “We’ve said a couple of times that we want to pursue something serious with her, but that was in the heat of the moment. So now that our dicks aren’t engaged in the decision, I need to know what you’re thinking.”
I smirk and bring his hand up so I can kiss it. “You were the best surprise to ever come into my life. I love you so much, my heart aches with it, and I fall more in love with you every day.”
My man’s eyes soften.
“So it feels ungrateful to say that I want her, too.”
“It’s not ungrateful,” he says, shaking his head.
“Because I’m in the same fucking boat. It’s been twenty-four hours since we met her in the bar, and it already feels odd to be here without her.
She fits like a puzzle piece we didn’t know was missing.
It feels natural. I don’t feel like I’m competing with her for your love and attention, and I hope you don’t feel that way either. ”
“I don’t.” I shake my head and sip his beer. “I’m not in any way jealous of her when we’re all together. She’s the first woman we’ve shared since we got serious.”
He nods slowly. Twice before Gabe and I moved in together and became committed to each other, we shared a woman for sex. But once this became permanent, we put a stop to that.
Until Alex.
Just thinking about her makes my stomach clench. She’s so sweet, so soft. But she has a spine and a sense of humor as well, and every fucking inch of her is absolute perfection.
I want to burn her childhood to the fucking ground.
And I want to protect her with my life. I want to protect them both.
“I can tell she doesn’t favor one of us,” Gabe continues. “She’s totally into both of us.”
“Agreed.”
He nibbles his lip, and I reach out to tug it free with my thumb.
“We live in a small town,” I remind him. “So if we pursue Alex, if we make her ours, we’ll get looks. People will talk. I hate that we have to think about that, but we do, Gabe. I want to protect both of you from any kind of bullshit that might hurt you.”
“Same goes,” he says, pulling his hand down his face the way he does whenever he’s agitated. “My family wouldn’t have an issue. They might raise an eyebrow at first, but as long as I’m happy, they’re happy.”
“Your parents are fucking saints,” I tell him, thinking fondly of my man’s parents. They’ve welcomed me right into their family, no questions asked. It’s a beautiful thing and less common than I’d like to admit.
My parents never would have welcomed Gabe. And they sure as fuck would never have been okay with me loving two people.
Assholes.
“They’d love Alex. I mean, they know her already, but they’d love her for us.”
What my parents would think doesn’t matter. They’ve been dead for years, and I don’t have siblings.
“What about her family?” I ask him, loving the way his thumb circles over the back of my hand. “I mean, I know we should be having this conversation with her, and we will, but what does your gut say?”
He blows out a breath. “Holden will punch me in the face for touching his baby sister. But I don’t think that Alex being with the two of us will be a huge issue for her siblings. Like you said, we’d have to discuss it with her if we want to move forward.”
“You know the answer to that.”
He smiles and squeezes my hand.
“As long as you and I are solid, then yeah. We need to move forward. Maybe it dead ends, but I think having her with us will only make us better. She’s fucking amazing, A.”
“Yeah, she is. We have to make sure we communicate, Gabe. That’s the only way this works.”
“You and I don’t have issues with that,” he reminds me. “It’s one of the things I love about you.”
Lifting a brow, I stand and tug him to his feet, cup his face, and brush my nose back and forth against his.
“What else do you love about me, baby?”
Gabe tugs my shirt out of my shorts and brushes his hand up my back. I love the feel of his calloused palm on my skin, the way it sends electricity through me. My man works his ass off, and he’s fucking amazing at his job.
It’s sexy as fuck.
“I love everything about you,” he whispers against my lips, making my cock pulse with need. “Every scar. Every bruise. Your happiness, your baggage, the way you fuck me, the way you love me. There isn’t anything about you that I would change.”
Crashing my mouth to his, our tongues brush and tangle, and then we’re tugging at clothes until we’re both naked and pressed to each other, skin on skin.
He’s so fucking warm, his muscles rigid and toned, his cock hard, and I can’t resist him.
I wrap my hand around his cock, and he groans, pumping his hips into my grip as I fuck his mouth with my tongue.
“Bedroom,” I growl against his mouth. Without another word, he takes my hand in his and leads me through the house to our room, where he tosses me the lube, then goes back to kissing me, as if he can’t get enough of my mouth. “I’m going to fuck you, baby.”
We move onto the bed, and I don’t flip him onto his stomach. I want to look into his gorgeous eyes as I sink inside his perfect ass.
On our sides, Gabe hitches his leg up on my hip, and I coat my fingers with lube before I work them down below his balls, over his taint, and find that puckered hole that drives me to fucking distraction.
“Is this where you need me, Gabriel?”
He groans, his hips moving back and forth, searching for more of my fingers while simultaneously rubbing his cock against mine.
“You’re so fucking sexy,” he says against my lips. “Everything about you turns me the fuck on, A. I never get enough of you.”
I grin and bite his chin as I push one finger inside him, stretching him for me.
“You’re so damn perfect for me.” I add another finger, and he groans. “You take me so well, baby.”
I lube up my dick, line the crown up with his entrance, and push inside nice and easy, making us both moan.
“Fuuuuck, yes,” he growls before clutching my hair in his fist and kissing me senseless. I start to move, loving not only the way it feels to be inside him but also the way he’s wrapped around me as if he just can’t get close enough.
His cock rubs against my stomach as we move, and his breath gets choppy. I know he’s getting close to coming.
“Not yet.” I bite his lower lip and grip onto his ass so hard, he’ll have bruises later. “Don’t you fucking come yet.”
“Adam,” he mutters, his eyes closing.
“You’ll look at me while I’m fucking you.”
Those orbs open and pin to mine as I pick up the tempo. I can feel my own climax building, running down my spine to my cock.
“Shit, I need to come,” he says. “Come with me, babe. Fucking come with me.”
That’s all it takes. I pull him against me, tight and hard, and we come apart together, a tangle of limbs, of moans, and ragged breaths.
And when we’ve started to recover, I press my lips to his forehead.
Yeah, I’m ready to explore what we’ve started with Alex. I miss having her here with us already.
But fuck, if I don’t love this man.
“You’re everything,” I whisper to him before kissing him tenderly. “Never forget that.”