Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
GABE
Her beautiful blue eyes widen as I push into Alex’s apartment and feel rage fill my veins. It’s so fucking hot in here, I can barely pull a breath into my lungs.
“What do you mean, no?” she asks.
“You’re not staying here for another fucking minute.” Jesus, the heat is oppressive. She’s sweaty, her cheeks are red, her eyes half closed from exhaustion, and she’s so fucking beautiful it takes my breath away in those little shorts and tank top.
But it’s clear she’s miserable.
And I won’t have that. Not for my girl.
“I live here—”
“Pack a bag.” I frame her sweet face in my hands and kiss her softly. I’ve been waiting to do that all day. “You’re coming home with me, Shorty.”
Alex sighs and grips my wrists in her hands, leaning into me. “I’ll be okay, you know.”
“You’ll be better with us. I don’t want you up here anymore, dammit. It can’t be safe for you, and we want you with us anyway. So be a good girl and pack that bag. Fuck, pack everything. You’re staying with us for the foreseeable future.”
Now her eyes narrow. “Are you telling me what to do, Gabe Blackwell?”
“Yeah, I fucking am, Alex Lexington.” I bite her lower lip. “Now, before I boost you against this wall and fuck you, giving us both a heatstroke up here, go get your things so I can take you home and fuck you where it’s much cooler.”
She laughs, then shrugs a shoulder. “I guess when you put it like that, how can I refuse you? It’ll take me about ten minutes.”
Twenty minutes later, I have her bags, including her computer and entire workstation, in the back seat of my truck and my girl in the passenger side.
“I thought you said you’re restoring a classic truck,” she says.
“I am.”
“This is brand new.”
“I also have this one,” I reply and wink over at her.
“Maybe I should have driven my car and followed you home,” she says. “Wait. Where is my car?”
“It’s still at the shop.” I reach over and take her hand. “I was stopping by to tell you that I need one more day with it. I had to overnight the part for your AC.”
“Oh, okay.”
“I have to stop at the store on our way home. It’s my turn to cook tonight, and I need to grab some things.”
“Good, because I do, too. My brother and Millie are hosting the family dinner tomorrow night, and I’m taking my famous baked beans.”
“Your baked beans are famous?” I smile over at her and rub my thumb over her knuckles. It feels damn good to have her with me.
“Well, it was my mom’s recipe. I found it after I grabbed her recipe box from our old house. Anyway, it’s a good one. Everyone seems to love it.”
“So you like to cook, huh?”
She nods as I pull into the parking lot of the grocery store. “I love it. I don’t do much of it in my tiny kitchen, though.”
“You don’t have a kitchen, baby. You have a hotplate.”
She gasps as if I’ve just offended her, and then shrugs as if to say, you’re not wrong.
“You can cook all you want from now on.”
Her jaw drops as I climb out of the truck and circle around to open her door for her.
“I’m just staying with you for a few days until this heat wave is over.”
“We’ll see.” I kiss her cheek and take her hand in mine, squeezing it as I lead her into the store.
“Gabe—”
I turn and drop my face to her ear, keeping my voice low so only she can hear me. “Unless you want me to spank your fine ass in front of everyone in this store, you won’t argue with me about this, Shorty.”
She blinks rapidly and bites that plump lip, and I know that if she hadn’t changed into another of her flowy sundresses, I’d see her thighs clench.
I kiss her cheek, then grab a cart. We make our way through the store, both of us grabbing what we need.
Alex tries to keep her things separate, and after a little while, I just smile and kiss her forehead.
“You’re cute.”
“You’re not paying for my groceries.”
I smirk and run my hand down her back. Of course I’m buying her groceries. Adam would spank my ass if I let her get away with paying for anything.
So when we reach the checkout, I combine all our items, tap my card, and pay for everything, making her glare at me.
“Do you have a hearing problem, Gabe?”
“I heard you just fine, Shorty. Doesn’t mean I’ll do what you say.”
After I get the bags into the vehicle, we’re on our way home.
“Wait.” Alex reaches out and grabs my arm.
“Did you forget something?” I take my foot off the accelerator, ready to turn around.
“No, it’s not that. Does Adam know you’re bringing me home? Is he okay with it? I don’t want to intrude.”
I take a breath and pull her hand up to my lips, kissing her knuckles.
“You’re not intruding, you’re invited. I haven’t told him yet that you’re coming with me because he’s on an important call with someone in Hawaii in his home office, and I don’t want to interrupt him.
But trust me when I tell you that he’s going to be fucking excited to see you. ”
“As long as you’re sure.”
“Where is all of this insecurity coming from, Shorty? Did we not make it clear all weekend that we’re completely into you? That we enjoy spending time with you?”
“You definitely did. It’s not that. I just … I don’t know.” She tips her head back against the seat in frustration. “I don’t want to be a pain in the ass. I don’t want to get in the way. I don’t want to get in the middle of you two. I’m just a one-night stand, and you guys—”
I pull over to the side of the road, only a few blocks away from our house. After cutting the engine, I get out of the truck and march around to her side, open the door, unbuckle her, and turn her to face me.
“I won’t listen to you talk like that anymore. Do you understand? You’re not just anything, Alex. It might have started that way in the bar, but trust me when I tell you that it’s way more than that now. Yes, Adam and I are in a committed relationship—”
“I know, and—”
“But that doesn’t mean that we don’t want the same thing with you, Alex.”
Her mouth snaps shut, and she blinks up at me.
“What?”
“Our man and I have done a good job of communicating with each other, and a really shitty job of talking to you about how we feel and what we’re thinking. So let’s go home, get dinner started, and then we can all talk together.”
We’ve really fucked this up.
Jesus, she thinks I’m taking her home because I feel sorry for her.
“Okay,” she whispers. I lean in to kiss her softly, licking into her sweet mouth before I get back into the truck and drive the rest of the way home.
Alex helps me with some of the bags, and when we’re in the kitchen, we can hear Adam murmuring behind his office door.
“What exactly does Adam do?” she asks me.
“He’s a financial adviser,” I reply. “Actually, it’s way more than that, but I’m not a numbers guy. He has clients all over the world, so he’s in his office at all hours of the day due to time differences. It’s past closing time for most of us, but in Hawaii, it’s still early afternoon.”
“Ah, that makes sense,” she says, nodding as she helps me put the groceries away. “What are you making for dinner, anyway? I can get it started.”
“I’m grilling some steaks and making a salad.” I boost her up onto the counter and step between her thighs. Cupping her ass in my hands, I brush my nose against hers. “You can help me chop vegetables.”
“Okay.” Her hand moves under my shirt. Brooks has a shower at the shop, but I typically don’t use it. I did today, though, because I knew I’d be seeing my girl, and I didn’t want to be greasy. “Are you in a hurry for dinner?”
With a grin, I lean down to nip at her lips. “No, Shorty, I’m not in a hurry.”
Nudging her skirt up around her hips, I slip my fingers into her panties and kiss my way down her neck.
“You smell fucking delicious,” I growl in her ear.
“You feel delicious,” she says. “Jesus, your muscles are insane.”
I’ll never stop going to the gym.
“You’re already so wet for me, baby.” She tugs my shirt up. I yank it over my head, let it drop to the floor, and moan when her little hands roam over my skin. “I want this dress off you.”
With a little effort, the dress joins my shirt on the floor, and I unfasten her bra, letting it fall as well.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I murmur against her skin as I leave open-mouthed kisses down to her spectacular tits and pull one nipple into my mouth. Alex’s hands slide into my hair, holding me to her, and I nudge her panties aside so I can drive her wild.
“Jesus, Gabe.”
“Just me.” I grin and nibble over to the other breast and slip a finger inside her wet heat. “God, you’re sopping. What got you so wet, baby?”
“You.” She clenches around my finger, making me groan. “Just being near you. Fuck.”
“Is that what you need? You need me to fuck you?”
She’s nodding, her eyes closed, and I fist my other hand in the hair at her nape.
“Look at me. You need my cock, Alex?”
“Fuck yes.”
She’s made quick work of unfastening my pants and nudging them down my hips. When my cock is free, I lean my forehead on hers and swear.
“I don’t have a condom.”
Alex swallows hard, her bright blue eyes pinned to mine. “I’m on birth control, and I know that I’m good to go medically. But if you don’t—”
“Oh, I do.” I rest my hard cock in her folds, not pushing inside her yet, and frame her face, kissing the hell out of her. “But Adam—”
“Is right here.”