Melanie watched Gabe return to the truck where she waited for him in front of Jacob’s lovely brick house. Though most of Gabe’s face was concealed by shadows, she could tell by the firm line of his lips that things had not gone as planned. He climbed inside the truck and curled around the steering column, pressing his forehead against the wheel’s upper curve.

“Fuck!” He took a swing at the dashboard, his knuckles hitting the plastic with a loud thud.

Melanie took his wrist and kissed his damaged knuckles. Her heart ached for him. She knew what it was like to have a friend who didn’t make good decisions.

“Everything okay?” she asked, rubbing his firm-muscled back with one hand, clinging to his fingers with the other.

“He doesn’t care that Amanda was basically blackmailed into dumping him. The knowledge wasn’t even important to him.”

“Poor Amanda,” Melanie said. She could tell that the woman was hopelessly in love with Jacob Silverton, and though Melanie did not understand the man’s appeal, she did understand heartache and wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

Gabe shifted in his seat and leaned over the central console so he could wrap his arms loosely around her. Melanie wondered if he hated the piece of functional plastic between them as much as she did at that moment.

“You’re the only thing sane in my life right now, Mel,” he whispered, seeking her lips for a tender yet rousing kiss. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Well,” she said, “you’re not about to find out. I’m here for you. Always.”

He held her a moment longer, his breath slowing and becoming more regular. “You better start needing me more,” he said with a half-hearted chuckle. “I’m starting to feel like a leech.”

“I need you,” she said, kissing his jaw, his lips, his chin, and the tip of his nose. She wished there was more light in the truck than that coming in from a distant street lamp so that she could gaze into his gorgeous green eyes. “This feeling you give me? I can’t do without it. Not ever.”

“Is this what they call a codependent relationship?”

She shook her head slightly. “This is what they call a perfect match.”

“Let’s go home and be alone together. I need to feel you against me. All of you. Inside and out. All of you.”

“All of you,” she echoed, sliding a hand over his slightly scruffy jaw.

He drew away and started the truck, and after putting it in gear, reached over and took her hand. He kissed the backs of her fingers, her engagement ring, and the inside of her wrist.

“Maybe,” he murmured against her rapidly thrumming pulse, “we should stay home. Never leave again.” He lowered her hand to rest against his thigh, and she didn’t need any encouragement to keep it there.

Becoming hermits sounded like a perfect plan to her, but she worried that such a life wouldn’t be enough to satisfy him. He had a busy mind, an energetic body, and wicked creativity. Could she keep up with him? Make him happy? Inspire him to be all he was capable of being? She couldn’t know for sure until she tried.

“We’ll eventually run out of toilet paper,” she joked. The weight of the responsibility to make such a complex man happy made her a tad uncomfortable.

“They do sell toilet paper online.”

“But what if I want to try it before I buy it?”

He snorted. “I’d pay money to watch that.”

He turned onto a now familiar road that led away from Austin and toward home.

“I promise you’ll be okay, Gabe,” she said, hoping those were the words he needed to hear. “Just let things happen.”

“You make it sound so easy.” He rolled his eyes, and she giggled, squeezing his thigh.

“Has anyone ever accused you of being a control freak?”

“Guilty as charged,” he said. “And the next thing I plan to control is the frequency and duration of your orgasms.”

She squirmed, her hand sliding up his thigh until her pinkie rested against his crotch. “Whatever makes you happy,” she said, grinning to herself.

“Do you want to go to the lake tomorrow? Supposed to be a nice day. We’ll take the dogs and Nikki. Unless, like you, she’s afraid of bait. Then she stays home. I can only bait so many lines.”

Melanie snorted, remembering their fishing trip to the lake last weekend and the squirmy pink larva he’d expected her to pierce with a hook. “I have no idea how she feels about fishing, but I’m still not touching maggots.”

As soon as they pulled into the drive, the front door opened and Beau came bounding off the porch and across the yard to greet them. Lady and Nikki waited just outside the front door.

When they reached the bottom of the steps, Nikki asked, “Did you have a nice time? Any news about the band?”

“Yep,” Gabe said, “and nope.”

Melanie handed the bag of leftovers from the restaurant to Nikki. “Some delicious food in there, but I’m sure it’s all cold by now.”

“That’s what microwaves are for.”

“I’ll worry about installing the dishwasher tomorrow,” Gabe said, wrapping an arm around Melanie’s back as soon as they entered the house. “I think it’s time for bed.” He kissed her neck and whispered, “Unless you’d rather ride the Stallion.”

“You’re the only stallion I want to ride tonight.”

Nikki coughed and then headed through the great room and toward the kitchen. Melanie couldn’t help but notice Nikki was walking a bit gingerly.

“Are you limping?” Melanie asked.

Nikki turned to look at her, her eyes wide and overly innocent. “Who, me? Or Lady?”

“You.”

“Overdid my workout a bit.” Nikki shrugged. “I’m fine. You two go on to bed. I’ll just talk to the dogs some more.”

She muttered something that Melanie couldn’t quite make out, most likely about having to spend time alone. Nikki had never done well by herself.

“Want to go to the lake with me, Gabe, and the dogs tomorrow?”

Nikki closed the microwave door and spun around, her face brightening with an excited smile. “That sounds like fun.”

“You’d better get to bed soon. We’ll be rising early,” Gabe said.

“Goodnight,” Melanie said, tugging at the hem of Gabe’s shirt. Lucky for her, he could take a hint.

Gabe steered Melanie toward the bedroom and soundly shut the door behind them. “Undress,” he said, the command in his tone making her thighs quiver.

She presented her back to him and shifted her heavy curls over her shoulder. “Unzip me,” she requested.

He bent to brush his lips against the sensitive skin just under her nape as he slowly lowered the zipper at her back. She was trembling with anticipation by the time her dress fell loose at her waist. She slid the straps from her shoulders and let the garment drop to her feet.

“I’ve been thinking about what you were wearing under that dress all evening,” he murmured in her ear.

With Gabe’s flick of the light switch, the lamps beside the bed came on, and she heard him blow out a slow breath. She stood perfectly still as he checked out her backside. She knew the lace that hung from the narrow strip of black satin circling her hips did more to show off her ass than to conceal it. And she did enjoy wearing sexy underwear, even when she didn’t have a man to show it off to. She liked wearing it almost as much as she liked Gabe picking it out and then taking it off her.

“I was hoping you were wearing your belly chain.” His finger slid beneath the slender chain that was attached to a piercing in her belly button. She only wore the chain when she was feeling particularly bold and sexy. Gabe made her feel both. “So glad you never disappoint.”

His fingers pinched the back fastening of her bra and it sprang loose. He kissed her spine as he brushed the bra straps from her shoulders, and her bra hit the floor without him taking so much as a second glance at it. So he liked panties. She made a mental note to surprise him by going braless on occasion. He moved her hair to rest it against her bare back again, then gave her ass a swat that made her jump.

“Now walk away, baby,” he whispered. “Real slow.”

Smiling to herself, she stepped over the puddle of her black dress and crossed the large master bedroom toward the en suite bathroom, loving the way her high heels made her feel when she wore nothing else but a pair of panties, a belly chain, and a grin.

“Fuck me,” he muttered.

“We’ll get to that.”

“You’re exquisite,” he said. “Those legs of yours . . . Dear God.”

She had thousands of squats and lunges to thank for those legs. She was glad someone appreciated her hard work.

“Turn around,” he said. “Slowly now, so you don’t make my heart stop.”

She laughed, delighted by his compliment, and started to turn.

“Okay, stop,” he said, throwing up a hand when she hadn’t managed even a quarter of a revolution. “I need to be naked for this.”

God, she loved this man. Every fucking thing about him. She stopped in midturn and watched over her shoulder as his shirt, shoes, jeans, and underwear went flying. He even removed his Texas Rangers cap. She pressed her lips together around her tongue to hold in her amusement as he took a deep breath and planted his hands on both bare hips.

“Okay, continue,” he said. “But slowly.”

As she turned—slowly—she watched his already hard cock thicken even more and point upward at a sharp angle. Her hips tilted reflexively to accept all he had to offer.

“I can’t decide if I like your back or front better,” he said, his eyes searching her nearly nude body. “Or the top or the bottom.”

“You don’t have to pick. It’s all yours.”

His belly tightened, making his cock jerk. She didn’t bother to squelch the shudder of desire that pulsed through her.

“Would you like me to take my panties off now?” she asked, shifting her shoulders back to lift her bare breasts.

He bit his lip, and then after a few seconds, gave a curt nod. She lowered her panties slowly, sliding the fabric over the curve of her hips, down her thighs, calves, and ankles, before stepping out of them. She lifted the sexy underwear and held them out in front of her. “I also have this design in red, in white, and in pink, if you’d like me to model them all.”

“You’ll have to show them to me some other time,” he said, taking one step closer and then another.

Her heart rate kicked up. What was it about being stalked by the man she loved that was such a turn-on? When other men showed her the same attention, it might creep her out or frighten her or even make her angry. But when Gabe looked at her like he wanted to devour her whole, she handed him a fork.

She swallowed hard and licked her lips when he stopped moving to stand directly in front of her. The head of his cock was a fraction of an inch from her bare skin, and she didn’t have the willpower to keep from swaying toward him so that it brushed her lower belly. Even though Melanie was in heels and almost five foot ten, Gabe was too tall to slide his cock between her thighs without certain adjustments.

“You can see that I want you,” he said, shifting his hips slightly to rub his tip against her. “But do you want me as much?”

“You can’t tell by looking at me?” Though the room was warm, her nipples were hard and swollen, and the flush on her skin had nothing to do with embarrassment.

He bent his knees and used his hand to slide his cock between her slightly parted thighs, rubbing against the hot, achy, slippery flesh between her legs. Her breath erupted in an excited huff.

“I think maybe you do want me,” he said, staring into her eyes.

“Maybe?” She squirmed against him, hoping he might slip inside her. “There’s no maybe. I want you. I always want you.”

“But not as much as I want you.”

“How can you possibly know that?”

“You’re not moaning my name.”

She straightened and pressed her hands against his hard chest, the barbell that pierced his nipple impossible to ignore. “And you’re not moaning mine.”

“Melanie,” he moaned, sounding more like a ghost than an enthusiastic lover. “Melanieeeee.”

Giggling, she slapped his chest. “How can anyone get into the mood with you joking around all the time?”

He turned his head and lifted one eyebrow. “You don’t like to have fun in bed?”

“I love to have fun in bed.”

“Then we’d better get in there and start having fun.” He made suggestive eyes in the direction of the mattress.

Instead of making a wild leap for the bed, Melanie grabbed him firmly by the jaw and turned his face toward hers. His gorgeous green eyes blurred out of focus as she drew close enough to claim his mouth in a heated kiss. He groaned, his hands sliding to her ass to shift their bodies closer together.

She wasn’t sure how she ended up on the bed, but the next thing she knew, she was sprawled on her back, and Gabe was kneeling on the floor between her legs, sucking and licking and rubbing his lips over her swollen clit until she was writhing in ecstasy.

“Oh God, I’m close,” she said. “Don’t stop. Don’t—”

He didn’t listen, damn him. Instead he rose to his feet and guided himself into her with one hand. Her few seconds of disappointment as her impending orgasm slipped away were entirely forgotten as he pounded into her, deep and hard, starting at a slow, grinding tempo and increasing his speed until she shattered in exquisite bliss. He didn’t follow her over the edge but kept her suspended in shuddering aftershocks for eternal moments before slowing his tempo again. She quickly began to ride his next wave to the stars and pried opened her eyelids to watch him. His eyes were squeezed shut, and his brow was tight with intense concentration. He worked so hard to please her, and it always paid off. Sweat trickled down his hard chest and the sharp valley between his flexing abs as he worked his pelvis against her clit with every deep, churning stroke.

“Yes, Gabe, just like that,” she encouraged as the first sparks of orgasm danced along her nerve endings. “Don’t stop. So close. So cl—”

And he pulled out, dropping to his knees and sending her over the edge with his mouth. She clung to the covers, her back arching off the mattress, a shout of triumph escaping her lips. He leaned back to catch his breath and to allow her to tumble back down to earth. When she reached for him, he pressed a hand against her belly to keep her on her back and then returned to feasting on her overstimulated pussy. She doubted it was possible to reach orgasm again, but Gabe was relentless. Not wanting him to stop before she hit her peak this time, she didn’t tell him when she was close, but something in the way her body was twitching must have provided sufficient evidence because just as she broke, he pulled his mouth away and stood again, finding her, claiming her orgasm with his cock. Her internal muscles gripped him hard, tugging at him, inviting him to follow her to nirvana.

“Fuck,” he muttered and pulled out.

She felt the first pulse of his cum against her clit.

“Fuck,” he said again, and pushed back inside her.

His thumb rubbed his cum into her tingling skin as he pumped his hips, and then he stiffened before shuddering against her. He collapsed forward, squashing her into the mattress, and she wrapped her arms and legs around him, pulling him closer. He could never be close enough, not even if they merged into one being.

“I love you,” she whispered, and kissed his neck.

“Your pussy wrecked me,” he murmured. “I wanted you to have more.”

She grinned. Such a giving lover, even if his pillow talk was often less than romantic. “You wrecked my pussy,” she said. “I couldn’t take anymore.”

“Give me an hour to recover and we’ll see about that.”

“One hour?” She kissed his neck again. “I’ll probably need around eight, but you can try.”

After a few minutes, she made him move to the bed so she could use the bathroom. When she returned, he was already asleep. She climbed in next to him, and he immediately spooned up against her, one hand cupping her breast, showing he wasn’t quite asleep after all.

“I love you,” he murmured. “I want to make sure I tell you that often.”

“I love you,” she returned, reaching behind her to get a hand on some bare skin.

“Wake me in an hour.”

She might have if she hadn’t been bone weary and completely satisfied. Neither of them stirred until sunlight streamed in from the triangular-shaped windows above the bed and a very excited black dog jumped on the bed to lick their faces.

“I thought we were leaving early,” Nikki said from the foot of the bed.

Melanie lifted her head from the pillow, only to get pummeled in the face by a wagging tail. She lay back and lifted her hand to shield herself from the dog’s enthusiastic assault.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Beau,” Gabe said sharply. “Down.”

Beau got in a few extra licks and wags before he hopped off the bed and sat on his haunches next to Lady, who was staring at them from the floor beside the bed.

“Time to go to the lake,” Nikki said.

“We’ll be out in a while,” Gabe said, drawing Melanie’s body beneath him and settling between her hips.

She smiled up at him, wondering how a man so sleep tousled and with over a day’s growth of beard could look so fucking sexy.

“How long is a while?” Nikki asked.

“Depends on how long it takes me to convince your friend here that she needs a morning quickie.”

Melanie grinned up at him, her heart threatening to burst with overflowing love and happiness. “Not long then, Nikki,” she said.

Nikki released an exasperated breath. “The newly in love are so annoying. All they want to do is fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Beau barked as if in agreement.

“Twenty minutes,” Gabe said, his hands sliding beneath the covers to prepare Melanie’s body for the already hard dick that was poking her in the thigh. “Take the dogs out with you. They don’t need to see this.”

“I don’t need to see this,” Nikki said. She whistled at the dogs so they’d follow her out of the room.

Gabe peered over his shoulder at the shut door. “I figured she was the type who’d like to watch.”

“More the type who’d like to participate,” Melanie said.

“I’d never let her put her hands on you,” he said. “You’re mine.”

“I am,” she agreed. “And I’m not going to get my full twenty minutes if you don’t stop talking.”

“I just said that to get rid of her. It will be an hour at least.” He leaned over her and opened the top drawer of the nightstand beside the bed. Within minutes, several of the toys he’d designed were laid out beside her like surgical instruments. “I’m in the mood to play this morning.” He drew the flat of his tongue over one of her nipples, and she shuddered. “Are you game?”

“Hmm,” she said, trying to make her face look serious. “Play with my gorgeous fiancé and his bangin’ toys—both of which give me orgasm after orgasm—or sit on a hot boat and poke poor defenseless baby flies with fishing hooks? Decisions, decisions.”

Gabe correctly presumed she preferred the first option. By the time they left the bedroom—thoroughly funned out, recently showered, and wearing matching smiles—it was near noon. Nikki had apparently given up on them hours ago and was sitting on the back deck with her laptop.

“We thought you’d be ready to go by now,” Melanie teased as she peeked out the sliding door. Melanie had never explored the back yard of Gabe’s house. They always sat on the front porch, so when she heard the sound of running water, she ventured out onto the deck to investigate. Nikki closed her laptop and hopped up to join Melanie at the deck railing.

“There’s a creek down there,” Nikki said, pointing Melanie’s attention to its source. “And a little waterfall that feeds it.”

“Oh wow!” Melanie said. “How did I miss this?”

“Probably because when you’re with Gabe, you spend all your time on your back.”

Melanie swatted at her, but Nikki dodged the playful slap.

“We should set up the wedding over there, under those trees,” Nikki said, pointing out a small clearing next to the waterfall that wasn’t exactly level but might hold a few dozen chairs.

“Yes, yes, yes! It’s perfect.” She gave Nikki an enthusiastic hug. “Is that what you’ve been working on all morning? Wedding plans?”

“Uh . . . sure,” Nikki said. “Did you really not know this gorgeous area was back here?”

Melanie flushed. “Nope. Guess I have been spending too much time on my back.”

Nikki laughed. “And who can blame you?”

“Are you ladies ready?” Gabe asked from the open patio door. “I got the boat hitched to the truck.”

“You didn’t tell me you had your own waterfall,” Melanie accused, holding her hand out to him so he’d join her at the railing.

“That little thing,” Gabe said. “It’s hardly a trickle.”

“It’s magnificent.” She pointed to the clearing Nikki had brought to her attention. “And I want to marry you right there.”

“Right there, huh?” he said, drawing her against him and kissing her. “I could go for that. Or right here. Or anywhere you’ll have me.”

A pair of hands wedged between them and pushed them apart. “Don’t you two start that again,” Nikki said, “or we’ll never make it to the lake, and I’ve been promising Beau all morning that he could go swimming.”

“Are you sure Lady will be okay to go with us?” Melanie asked Gabe. “What if she gets her cast wet?”

“Good point. I’ll have to bring her leash to keep her on the boat.”

The five of them had a wonderful afternoon together. Nikki spent most of her time sunbathing and swimming with Beau. Poor Lady was stuck on the boat, but seemed happy to rest at Gabe’s side while he baited his hook and Melanie’s. They caught a few largemouth bass, which Gabe insisted they’d have for supper. Melanie was fine with eating their catch as long as she didn’t have to clean them. In her opinion, fish guts were even less appealing than putting maggots on hooks.

The next few days passed in a blur, like they were on a carefree vacation. They hiked the woods around Gabe’s house, visited with his parents, rode ATVs, tested several prototypes—including the New-And-Improved Sex Stallion—and had dinner out at the Oasis to enjoy the spectacular sunset over Lake Travis. Nikki often accompanied them, but she’d been spending quite a bit of time on her computer. When Melanie asked what she was up to, Nikki told her she was making plans. For the wedding, Melanie presumed, but Nikki wouldn’t share any of them with her.

“A surprise,” she said.

Melanie was so enjoying her new life with the man she loved, the friend she adored, and the two dogs who liked her almost as much as they adored Nikki that she had completely forgotten about Gabe’s paternity test until one afternoon when they were sitting on the porch swing and his phone rang. As he read his phone’s screen, he said, “Guess I’m about to find out if I’m going to be a father.”

And before Melanie could steel her nerves for the news to come, Gabe took a deep, steadying breath and accepted the call.