“Oh my god.” She laughed, extending her toned legs over my thighs.

She was sprawled out on my couch completely beneath the throw blanket my mom had brought over once and never took home. After waking up in bed with her, I’d made sure to wake her, and I’d been creative. After we had both worked up a sweat, we took a shower and I’d changed back into my dress slacks and white under tee and had forced her to spend the rest of the day with me. Not that I had to work too hard to talk her into it. With the promise of food and more naked time, she had willingly joined me at my place.

“I can’t believe you did that.” She grinned, shaking her head slightly, and I didn’t think she could look more beautiful. She was comfortable in my space, and I was dying to have her here more than not. There was something about having her in my space that had made me insatiable and pawing at the tight-as-fuck yoga pants she’d worn.

I’d just told her about how I’d officially found out about my sister with my best friend and the obligatory punch I’d given Maverick.

“It’s a guy thing.” I shrugged.

“Hmm, like a bro code?” Her hand moved up my thigh. My smile stilled as her hand got dangerously close to the scar I now donned.

“Something like that.”

“I can understand that, I guess.” She shrugged. “Ruby and Karina had a similar thing this year.”

“Titan’s daughter and your other friend?” I guessed, and her eyes warmed.

“Yeah.” She traced the scar with her fingertips, never taking her eyes off mine. “It could have been worse. Thankfully, Ruby is Ruby.”

“You saying you wouldn’t have been as understanding?”

“That’s an affirmative.” She smiled. “But because there is also the whole thing with the fact my dad is very married to my mom and they’ve been in love for, like, ever.”

“I can see that being an issue.”

“Does it hurt?”

“My thigh?” I asked, swallowing hard.

“Yeah.”

“The muscles sometimes cramp up more than they used to before.” I shrugged closing my eyes when she started to rub it just right. Damn, her hands are like magic.

“What happened?”

“We were on a call, floor gave out, and I was in the wrong spot at the wrong time and fell through. My thigh got pierced by a metal rod on the floor below.”

“Hmm…” she said, her eyes now on my bare thigh. “What was recovery like?”

“Painful,” I answered like a smartass, and she glared at me until I broke and gave her more. “Long. Scary. I didn’t know if I was going to make it through.”

“What do you mean?” She frowned, still rubbing.

“My dad died during a call. I knew I’d lost a lot of blood. So much shit runs through your mind at a moment like that. Will I make it to the hospital? And when you get there, you wonder if you’ll make it through surgery and if you do, how many pieces will you be in? Shit like that.”

“What else?” she asked as if sensing I was holding something back, and I was. Shit I hadn’t spoken to anyone about. Not out loud. Not like this.

“Just…” I hesitated, and I met her eyes, open, not judging me, just trying to get to know me. “This. What we’re doing?”

“Yeah?”

“I was in that fucking building, fire around me, breathing hard, looking into the glass shattered, blood-splattered mask of my helmet, and all I could think about was how I didn’t have more.”

“More?”

“Not materialistic things. Shit wears out or fades away. I mean something priceless. Moments that happen with someone who makes you smile. Even after—” I swallowed hard wondering if I sounded too much like a pansy. “In the hospital, in fucking pain, I wondered if I’d met the right girl, fucked her, and never bothered to do more than say thanks.”

“Wow.”

“I wasn’t a choir boy,” I shared though I was positive she knew this.

“I picked up on that from Monica,” she reminded me. Her lips twitched.

“Right.”

“So, after your fall and rehab, you went on what? A road of redemption?”

“I wish I could tell you I did. Men aren’t that quick on the uptake.”

“Ahh.” She grinned, thankfully amused and not disgusted by my honesty.

“Maybe you were at the right place,” she finally said, moving, taking the throw blanket off her body before lying on top of me.

“How do you figure?” I asked, curious to what she was going to say.

“Whatever choices and roads you took brought you here,” she said softly, her hand cupping my jaw. “What if you had fallen lower and you wouldn’t have made it out that building? Or what if nothing happened and you just kept manwhoring around, not looking for more.”

“You looking for more?” I asked and immediately relaxed as she gave me more of her weight. The greatest sense of contentment washed over me.

“Honestly?” Her voice squeaked, and my lips quirked upward.

“Always.”

“Up until a couple months ago, I would have said no,” she admitted. I didn’t want to think of her with anyone else, so I didn’t let my mind go there. “I would have been good just having fun and you not calling tomorrow.”

“That’s not gonna happen.”

“I’m glad.”

“What changed for you?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged, playing with my hair, then tracing the line of my nose. “I think it was a couple of things. Seeing Karina and Frank, how they make sense together. Watching Ruby and Rocco interact, though I doubt that’s gonna happen now.” She laughed, the ring of it warming my chest. “I think I’ve reached a point in my life where more sounds… good.”

“I’m glad, baby.”

“Though I have to admit, things going as fast as they have with us, feelings wise, has me a little…”

“Dizzy?”

“Just a smidge.”

“Good. I’m gonna keep you that way, so you don’t realize you’re probably slumming with a guy like me,” I shared my devious plan.

“Shut up.” She laughed, and when her laughter died down, her lips hovered over mine and her face had gone soft and dewy.

“Gabe?”

“Yeah?”

“Kiss me?”

“You never have to ask twice,” I growled before my mouth touched hers.

Kissing Gabe was incredible.

I got lost in everything about him. Every kiss different and better than the last.

New Year’s Day was a fuck-a-thon that lasted past the first. It went on until the third, actually. We both had to work the fourth, and coming up for air was probably a good idea.

“I should get going,” I muttered against his chest.

I was sore and tired but only in the best way possible. I also didn’t want to go. The realist in me was screaming this whole thing was too good to be true. We both had demanding city jobs with quirky hours.

“Let me pack a bag, and I’ll take you home.” My head popped up, his hands in my hair. I love when he does that.

“Pack a bag?” I questioned.

“Yeah. I’ll spend the night at your place. I’m on for three days this week, but first night off, I want you back here.”

“Back here,” I repeated, my eyes wide.

“Or your place if you prefer. I don’t care.” His hands moved to my upper thighs, spreading me wider over him.

“Gabe.”

“Need you again.”

“Again?” I squealed, biting my lip. “Don’t guys your age take a while between rounds?”

“My age?”

“Not in their twenties.” I laughed, and his eyes narrowed.

“You’re gonna pay for that, my pretty little flower,” he threatened, and my sex clenched. Suddenly, I felt too empty.

“Mmm… punish me at my house,” I suggested before adding, “Right now, I just wanna ride you.” I admired his eyes darkening as he processed my words.

“Hop on, baby.”

“Mmm,” I moaned, placing him just where I needed him. “Love your long hose,” I teased. His laughter sounded strangled as I lowered myself on his beautiful shaft.

“We need to work on your dirty talk,” he huffed, inhaling, his nose flaring as I sunk lower, taking him completely.

“Good thing we have time.” I whimpered.

“We have forever. Hold on, Daisy, it’s about to be a bumpy ride,” he warned.

My hands gripped his shoulders, and I grinned.

The girl who had walked into planning the Firemen’s Ball a couple of days ago would have frowned at the idea of a bumpy road ahead of her. The woman I was finding within me would just hold on and enjoy the journey as long as kissing Gabe was always on the horizon.