Standing at the sink, Steph scrubbed stuck-on eggplant from a plate, a welcome distraction from her heated thoughts. Gabe had ambushed her. His gifts had been sweet. To know he’d thought about her over the years, that he hadn’t just dropped her and moved on, had carved a chink out of her armor.
Dinner had been interesting. She and Gabe had made small talk, mostly chitchat consisting of “This is really good,” and “Yeah, it turned out well.” Gabe had gone a little too quiet over the course of the meal, but he’d tossed some steamy glances across the table. In the span of half an hour, he had everything below the belt throbbing. She had to resist the urge to press her thighs together for some relief.
Now he stood at the stove, putting the leftovers into a plastic container. Since she’d started cleaning the kitchen five minutes ago, he’d quietly helped, but he hovered beyond her peripherals. She couldn’t tell if he was giving her space…or keeping his own. All the same, her senses homed in on him, following the sounds of his movements.
The fridge snapped shut, the sound almost a boom in the silence. When his soft footsteps headed in her direction, every muscle in her body tensed in anticipation of his touch. He didn’t disappoint but pressed against her back, encompassing her in his warmth and the luscious strength of his body. Steph couldn’t stop the blissful sigh that left her. His scent curled around her, masculine and clean and all Gabe.
A heady shiver shot down her spine, and her hands froze beneath the running water as she waited for his next move.
“I promised myself I’d behave. I had every intention of giving you time to adjust to this, to take this at your pace.” His soft lips skimmed her shoulder as his big, warm hands caressed over the curve of her ass and down the backs of her thighs. “But I can’t stand it. Knowing you’re mine for the next month and that you aren’t wearing panties beneath this skirt is driving me insane.”
He continued his assault, sliding his hands beneath the hem of her skirt and lifting it. He pressed against her, pushing his erection into the cleft between her cheeks. They both groaned. Steph pushed back against him, legs already shaking, clit throbbing.
“Do you have any idea how much I want you right now?” His voice was a hot pulse against her neck as his soft lips skimmed her jaw, teeth lightly scraping her skin.
The second she’d agreed to spend an entire month with him, everything had changed. That fact alone seemed to have the wall she’d spent the last several weeks building against him crashing down around her. She hadn’t a damn clue what happened next, but she knew one thing for certain: she’d never wanted another man the way she wanted him right then.
Instead of unzipping and pushing into her, though, he followed the curve of her ass with his warm hands. His long fingers dipped between her thighs to graze her center, and a needy moan slid out of her. In reaction to his silent question, she pressed her ass into his hands.
His quiet chuckle rumbled against her throat. “Is that a yes?”
Desperate now to feel all of him, she pushed back harder into the ridge of his erection, and one calloused fingertip grazed her aching clit. Pleasure exploded along sensitive nerve endings, and she moaned again. God, he was the only man who did this to her, who made her lose herself in his touch.
“Yes.” She rocked her hips, riding that luscious finger, trying to quench the unbelievable hunger he sent spiraling through her. “God, yes.”
He held himself just out of reach, his finger grazing everything but connecting with nothing. Frustration wound through her system. She pushed back harder, widened her stance, and offered herself to him. When he finally obliged and slid that wicked finger inside, Steph let out a needy, desperate moan.
Gabe groaned against her throat. “Say my name, baby. Christ, I love it when you moan my name.”
Shaking all over now, breaths coming in erratic pants, she let her head fall forward in abandon. “Gabe…”
He pushed that finger in deeper and found a rhythm, sliding all the way in, pulling all the way out, only to push back in with the same agonizing slowness. He ramped up her yearning to a frenzy, fanning the sweet fire within. All the while his mouth skimmed the skin of her neck and his other hand curved around her left breast, fingers pinching the tightened nipple. “Tell me what you want, Steph.”
“You. I need you.” She groped behind her, reaching for any part of him she could get a hand on, but only managed to connect with his hip. “Gabe, please.”
He pulled his finger from her. His body shook against her back, his breaths soughing against her skin. “Jesus. I can’t stand it. I wanted to tease, to make you come, but, Christ, when you say my name like that…”
He fumbled behind her, and the rasp of a zipper sounded in the silence. Every inch of her trembled with anticipation, and Steph widened her stance, just the promise of him sliding into her enough to loosen her joints.
Seconds later he gripped her hips and pushed into her in one long, slow wet stroke. Pleasure erupted along her nerve endings. A wildfire seeped along her skin. Steph let out a long, shuddering breath.
Gabe bent over her back, pressed his cheek to hers, his breaths harsh against her ear. One hand splayed over her left hip, holding her firmly to him. The other hand braced against the counter’s edge as he began a punishing rhythm, pushing into her to the hilt so hard all the breath left her lungs. Every hard thrust jarred through her, ramping up the unbelievable pleasure.
She gripped the sink’s edge and pushed back. She needed this as much as he did.
The sound of flesh slapping flesh filled the room around them. His groans mixed with the soft cries she couldn’t contain. He’d struck a match and lit her whole body on fire. His thick cock rubbed all the right places inside, and every stroke sent her careening toward oblivion so quickly she couldn’t catch her breath.
Another quick, hard thrust and a shower of pleasure erupted along her nerve endings. The dam inside of her burst, her orgasm tearing through her.
“Gabe…” She curled her fingers around the edge of the counter until her nails hurt, shaking and panting, her hips bucking against him as she rode that luscious wave.
Seconds later he swore softly in her ear, then let out a low groan. His thrusts grew a jerky hitch, slowing as he found his own release deep inside of her.
Like a marionette with his strings cut, he went limp, his body warm and deliciously heavy against her back. Steph blew out her held breath. Long moments passed before either of them did much more than tremble quietly together, both gulping in deep lungfuls of air.
Gabe moved first. He straightened, pulling her up with him, but didn’t step back. Instead, his arms banded around her waist, drawing her back against him.
“We’re going to kill each other before this month is over.” His voice was a husky rumble, still breathless but full of amusement. “I’m going to die of exhaustion.”
She let her head fall back against his shoulder. “Is there a better way to go?”
“Than buried deep inside of you?” He ducked his head, his voice a husky rumble against her throat as he skimmed his mouth up the side of her neck. “Nope.”
She slid her hands along his arms, fingers skimming the downy hairs. Gabe continued to nuzzle her neck and her ear, and Steph couldn’t bring herself to break the intimate connection. The sweet lull of satiated fatigue made her limbs deliciously heavy, but she rode a high nothing could touch. Her heart would end up broken at the end of this month—of that she was now certain—but she couldn’t bring herself to care. She couldn’t stay away from him if she tried.
Lauren was right. Gabe was exactly what she needed, and when it was all said and done, she’d walk away with memories she’d treasure.
He turned his head, his nose nudging her earlobe, then let out a heavy sigh. “We forgot the condom, babe.”
She peered over her shoulder as far as their position would allow. Given how his marriage had started, she couldn’t blame him for worrying. She wasn’t ready to be a parent yet, and getting pregnant would be a complication neither of them needed.
“It’s okay. Condoms are always safer, but I’m on the pill.” She shrugged. “Have been for a while now.”
He turned his head, his voice a husky murmur against her throat. “Just remember, you’re mine for the next month.”
His quiet statement landed its punch…right in her heart. With any other man, that possessiveness would have pissed her off. Steph Mason belonged to no man. She’d worked damn hard to maintain her freedom.
Coming from him, however, it made her chest ache. He had no idea exactly how much she was already his.
She pulled away, a soft shiver moving through her as he slipped out of her. Then she turned in his arms and brushed a kiss across his mouth. “I’ll be right back. I need to go clean up.”
He nodded, and she moved around him, heading for the bathroom around the corner. By the time she returned, he had his pants fixed and stood leaning back against the counter. Hands trembling with nerves, she came to a stop in front of him. She drew a deep breath, gathering her courage.
“For the record, I’m not seeing anybody else, nor do I plan to.” She dropped her gaze to his chest, vulnerability moving over her. He needed to hear the truth, and some part of her wanted him to know. She needed the intimate connection sharing with him would give her. Neither could she look him in the eye when she said the words. “Truth is, I haven’t seen anybody in a while.”
She hadn’t gone clubbing in months, at least not with the intention of picking up a date. The desire had worn thin. Now here was Gabe. Once their fling ended, she suspected it would be a while before she’d want to see anyone else. How the heck could she possibly top him? She’d be left empty and bereft for the umpteenth time in her life, but she could never regret this time with him.
Then and there the decision made itself. For this month, she’d allow herself to enjoy being with him and damn the consequences to her heart.
So she lifted her gaze, offered him a soft smile, and closed the distance between them. She leaned into him and slid her hands up his back, gathering him closer. “I’m yours, Gabe.”
His hands slid to her ass, holding her loosely, as if somehow they belonged there. He dropped his forehead to hers. “Good.”
“So you’ll stay?” Yeah, she was wearing heart on her sleeve with this one, but she needed him to stay, to spend the night wrapped in his embrace. He made her feel sheltered. Adored. More than she could possibly tell him. She was tired of sleeping alone, and he was everything her soul craved.
His forehead rocked against hers as he nodded. “I’ll stay. I’ll need to go get my crutches from the car, though.”
He’d brought his crutches with him. From their weekend together, she knew Gabe took his prosthetic off at night, using his crutches until he got up in the morning. If he’d brought his crutches with him, it meant he’d already planned to spend the night. That fact awed her. That, along with the gifts he’d brought, had a foreign emotion curling through her chest. It felt an awful lot like admiration and joy and bliss. Which was about two steps from love.
She stood firmly on the nose of a sinking ship.
“Showering will be tough. I’m afraid I don’t have a seat in mine.” She rubbed a hand over his chest, her stomach clenching. Her tiny little apartment wasn’t anything he needed, but it meant the world to her that he’d stay anyway. And she hadn’t a damn clue how to tell him that.
She looked up at him, more open and exposed than she’d been in a long damn time, and gave a helpless, apologetic shrug.
He lifted a hand, thumb gently sweeping her chin, voice quiet and gentle. “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out.”
She smiled again, relieved, and nodded, then slid her hands up his back, gathering him closer. “So, what now? What was in your arsenal for tonight?”
He cocked an amused brow, eyes glimmering with playful impishness. “Since you waylaid my plans tonight…”
She dropped her gaze to his chest, her cheeks heating. “I hadn’t intended to. I’d intended to hold out.”
His hands stroked her back, slow and somehow reassuring. “So why did you?”
She shrugged. “I talked to Lauren. She and Trent did something similar, and she told me she didn’t regret her time with him.” She peeked up at him, one corner of her mouth hitching. “And then you show up with all this stuff. Not a single man in the last two years has gone through that much trouble for me. What woman in her right mind could resist?”
Amusement glinted in his eyes. “It’s a good thing I found you, then. You were spending time with all the wrong kinds of men.”
She let out a quiet laugh. “There’s that cocky guy I know. Thought maybe you’d gone soft over the years.”
“Not a chance.” He leaned down, caught her bottom lip in his teeth and tugged gently. “Shall we go watch a movie?”
She nodded, offering him a soft smile. “I’d love to.”
It was so simple and something they might have done eleven years ago, enjoyed spending time together. Having spent eleven years apart, the time seemed all the more finite and that much more…precious.
He stepped back and offered his hand, then led her into the living room and took a seat. As she settled onto the couch beside him, he looked over at her and lifted his arm. The vulnerability in his gaze, the bare need, had her scooting over. As she snuggled against his side, tucking her forehead into the crook of his neck, the bliss settled over her.
Feet tucked up on the couch beside her, she wrapped an arm over his belly. “I’ve really missed this, Gabe.”
She was one hundred percent immersed in and surrounded by him. And she had no desire to be anywhere else.
He pressed a tender kiss to the top of her head, murmuring into her hair, “Me too.”
* * *
Steph came awake the next morning to tangled limbs and a luscious, warm, male body tucked against her side. She opened her eyes slowly, blinking against the bright sunlight that flooded the room. Her gaze landed on Gabe. He lay facing her, eyes closed, mouth slack in peaceful slumber.
She couldn’t help the hitch to her heart. She’d slept wrapped in his embrace, peaceful and content for the first time in years. Oddly enough, they hadn’t made love again last night. She’d fallen asleep in her pj’s, him in his boxers, tucked against the warmth and solidity of his big body. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt that close to a man. Certainly not Alec.
Gabe seemed to feel the intimacy between them as well. He’d stayed by her side all night. The beefy arm currently flung over her belly had remained there. He’d made sure of it. She’d woken more than once last night when, having drifted away from her during their sleep, he snagged her side and tugged her back against him. Though she couldn’t be sure whether he was conscious of it or if it was something he’d done instinctively.
Not that she cared.
She reached up, tracing his features with her fingertip. Over his dark brows. Down his long nose. Along his full bottom lip. For the next three weeks, she could pretend she was his and he was hers. When it ended, she had no idea what would become of their relationship. Would they even stay friends? Or would they go their separate ways again?
The thought brought with it a heartbreaking new question. Namely, how would she handle being only his friend, knowing she loved him?
Because she did. Lying there with him, watching him sleep, her heart swelled and ached at the same time. She couldn’t deny it anymore. She’d always loved him. Nothing had changed in that respect. And she loved the man he’d become. He was the stuff dreams were made of.
She pressed a kiss to his forehead, then carefully slid out from beneath his arm and crept from the bed. After a quick trip to the bathroom, she made her way to the kitchen. Ten minutes later, when Gabe came around the corner, dressed only in his jeans, the coffee began to sputter into the pot, filling the kitchen with its rich aroma.
“Morning.” She tossed him a smile and turned to lean back against the counter, watching as he shuffled, eyes still half closed, across the kitchen to her.
He slid his hands onto her hips, and leaned into her. His scent and the warmth of his body enveloped her as he bent his head, nose skimming the side of her neck. “Woke without you.”
The deep gravelly rumble of his voice sent hot little shivers chasing one another over the surface of her skin. His soft lips moved, skimming across her shoulder and up her neck. His hips shifted, rocked into her, and his erection pressed into her belly.
Her breathing hitched, and just that fast, her head fell back on a shuddering breath. God, he was potent like this, turned on and taking what he wanted. She could barely get her tongue to form words. “Sorry. I…wanted to let you sleep.”
He growled low in his throat, a sound of frustrated, aroused male, and his teeth closed gently over her earlobe. “Would’ve rather you’d woken me up.”
Her hands automatically reached for him, sliding up his back. God, he was still warm, too, skin luxuriously smooth. Apparently not done tormenting her, those big hands burrowed beneath the T-shirt she’d donned before bed last night, slid over her hips and straight into the back of her panties. He cupped her ass, dragging her hard against him, then pushed her panties down.
The satin dropped to her feet with a swish of fabric, then Gabe cupped her ass and lifted. He set her on the counter and edged between her thighs. They were face-to-face now, his mouth a scant inch from hers, his warm breaths fanning her skin. Electricity arced between them. “Know what I missed the most about you?”
Her heart skipped a beat. She was afraid to ask. Almost.
Breathing harsh and erratic, she forced herself to hold his gaze. “What’s that?”
“Being able to do this…” He bent his head again, his lips brushing hers. The tenderness of the touch contradicted the take-charge mood he seemed to be in, and a soft, shuddering breath left her. “Whenever I feel like it. Just because I feel like it.”
His lips brushed hers again. Once. Twice. Then he covered her mouth with his. What started as a tease became an erotic yet incredibly tender play of lips. He didn’t seem in much of a hurry, but sipped and tasted like he had all the time in the world.
Except his hands hadn’t stopped moving. They caressed up her thighs. His thumbs grazed her heat, enough to light a fire in her belly, only to skirt away, leaving her panting and squirming on the counter. Warm, work-roughened skin provided a delicious contrast of sensation as those hands skimmed over her hips and tugged her to the edge of the counter. His erection now settled exactly where she wanted him, only his jeans separating them. Her clit lit up as surely as if he’d stroked her with his oh-so-talented tongue.
“For the next month, you’re mine, and I can take you whenever I want you.”
The possessiveness in his tone made her throb with almost painful pleasure. Her hands curled around the nape of his neck, holding on for dear life. Steph gave up any semblance of protest and let her head fall back in abandon. She couldn’t stop the blasted tremors. So turned on, she couldn’t think properly, and her tongue refused to cooperate.
“Do you w-want me now?” She needed to hear him say the words. He had a penchant for telling her exactly what he wanted seconds before he took it. It was so goddamn sexy. She needed those words more than the coffee she’d just brewed.
Using his purchase on her ass, he pulled her the tiniest bit closer, rocking his erection against her heat, and flicked his tongue against her sensitive earlobe. “You tell me.”
Her clit throbbed in eager anticipation, and a quiet moan escaped her. She rocked her hips into him, fingernails digging into his skin with the combination of frustration and need winding through her. “Say the words, Gabe. I need to hear the words.”
His hands released her. Seconds later the rasp of a zipper sounded in the silence.
Steph shivered in anticipation.
His hands regained their hold on her hips as his hot mouth skimmed her throat. The tip of his cock pressed at her entrance, but he didn’t push forward. Instead, his voice came warm and husky in her ear. “You. I want to bury myself so damn deep inside of you you’ll be feeling me there for weeks. I want to feel your body clamp around my cock and your hips push into mine because you can’t help yourself. But you know what I want the most, baby?”
Heat prickled over the surface of her skin. “What’s that?”
“I want to hear you moan my name when you come.” Hands gripping her hips, he surged forward, sliding into her in one delicious quick thrust.
Her body bowed into the intense connection, her hips pushing into his. “Ohhh!”
She wasn’t sure if he meant to stake his claim by taking her that way, or if he was just as lost in the need as she was, but right then she felt wholly claimed.
When he didn’t move but seemed to sit there for a moment, reminiscent of the first time they’d made love, she groaned in frustration.
“Gabe, please. I need you to move.” She thrust against him as much as the position would allow. His cock slid deeper by only a fraction, but nudged a sweet spot inside, and her thighs fell open on a quiet, needy moan. “Oh God, please.”
He turned his head, mouth skimming over hers. “I’m sorry. You just feel so fucking incredible.”
He finally began to move, but once again seemed to be taking it as his own pace. She’d expected hard and fast. Despite the tension straining the muscles of his arms and shoulders, he moved slow and steady. Sliding inch by inch all the way out. Pushing back in the same way.
“I just want to stay here.”
The awe in his voice had the same emotion moving over her. His scent filled her lungs with every desperate gasp of air she managed to drag in as he filled her, retreated, filled her again. Never once did his gaze shift from her.
That hot gaze rooted her, caught her like a fly in a spiderweb, and sucked her in. Until she took every breath with him, watched his pleasure and let it fuel her own. It was delicious and torturous and the most intimacy she’d ever shared with one person. She wanted to wrap herself around him and somehow take him deeper, to climb inside of him.
Her orgasm hit out of nowhere, a bone-melting rush of pleasure that flooded every cell. Her eyes slammed shut and a choked cry escaped her. “Gabe!”
“Fuck.”
Gabe’s quiet curse came seconds later. His fingers dug almost painfully into her skin as his body shook against her, his hips jerking as he emptied himself deep inside of her.
When the spasms finally ended, his arms banded around her back, crushing her to him, and he dropped his forehead onto her shoulder. His breaths sawed in and out of his mouth, hot against her neck.
Her chest squeezed and tears she couldn’t begin to explain or even understand pricked at her eyes. She hadn’t made love to a man since Alec. Oh, she’d been with enough men to know the difference. The connection to Gabe was intense. She’d wanted the whole cliché, to be so close they fused.
She turned her head and buried her face in his throat, let his scent wash over her and calm the choking haze of panic gripping her in a vise.
Something Gabe must have caught, for his hands stroked her back, gentle and soothing. He pressed a soft kiss to the side of her neck, murmuring against her skin, “You okay?”
“No.” She tightened her hold on his shoulders and burrowed deeper into his neck. “Don’t let go. Please. Not yet.”
Gabe stiffened against her and went so still his thoughts hung heavy in the air. She couldn’t decide if she wanted him to voice them or keep them to himself. Things had clearly changed between them. They hadn’t needed each other quite this much before.
In three weeks, she’d have to let him go. It was all she’d thought about while lying in bed beside him last night. Despite the closeness that had developed between them, Gabe’s heart was still under lock and key. He would never really be hers.
All of which meant she had a difficult decision on her plate. When their time together ended, could she let him walk away from her again? Or take him as he was?