Chapter 21
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She said yes.
That was all Gabe could think about as he tore off the clothes that he’d asked her to wear. His fingers stroked the newly exposed skin that they encountered as he stripped her like he was in the grip of a fever. He was acting entirely on instinct. His mind was completely consumed with one thought. There was no room left for any room for planning some kind of smooth seduction, and that one thought was: she said yes.
He heard the groans coming from him, but he wasn’t aware of making them. He felt her hot skin under his palms, but he wasn’t conscious of pressing his hands against her. He felt her body pressing against his, but he hadn’t thought about pulling her to him beforehand. This was just his natural reaction to the joy and love he felt welling up inside, knowing that one day soon, she would be his wife. Then they would have the rest of their lives to touch, and to kiss, and to love.
It occurred to him then, when that thought jumped into his head, that they would have the rest of their lives. All the time in the world. So, there was no rush. They didn’t have to devour each other like starving people. They could take their time and savor every single bite.
Deliberately, and with great effort, he slowed the pace of his frantic kisses, and calmed his frenetic caresses. It wasn’t easy. It was damn hard. Still he forced himself to do it.
This was the first time he was going to make love to Adriana, the woman that would be his wife, in the house that would be their home.
It wasn’t going to be a quickie.
No, they were gonna take it slow and easy, explore each other inch by inch and top to bottom. Not just their bodies, either. They were on an exploratory mission to map the contours of each other’s souls.
“I love being in your arms.” Adriana murmured in his ear as they moved against each other. “I feel so safe.”
“You are safe,” he breathed. “I will never let anything happen to you. Protecting you and the kids and giving all of us the best life possible is my number one priority. And it always will be.”
She pulled back a little and looked into his eyes, and he felt all of the familiar fireworks go off inside of him. She reached up and ran her fingertips lightly over his cheeks and lips, and a rosy blush spread across her cheeks.
Her lips were red and plump from kissing and her eyes sparked with emotion and lust. She looked more alive than he’d ever seen her, more beautiful than any woman had ever looked.
And she was going to be his wife. He couldn’t quite get over that, couldn’t really wrap his mind around it. Maybe he never would be able to. Hell, maybe he never wanted to. Something as amazing as being blessed with Adriana should be viewed perpetually with wonder and awe. It shouldn’t be something that he ever took for granted.
He leaned down and lowered his head to her neck and peppered light kisses down her soft skin. She tasted so sweet, as if her skin had been sprinkled with honey and citrus. And sunshine. Basically, like every good thing he could think of in the world.
He took her clothes off as slowly as he could manage. His muscles ached to go faster. It was the same every time they were together.
Until their bodies were pressed against one another, skin against skin so that their heat and energy had no barrier, he would never be satisfied.
When he’d finally tossed aside the very last article of clothing that had been on her body, he took a step back to admire her.
With a sly smile on her face, she ran her hands up her body and through her hair, letting it tumble back down over her shoulders like a waterfall. It was so glossy as it moved through her fingers. His cock stiffened, watching her work her body for his benefit.
Then, his dick got even harder as she let her hands travel down the return path over her body, because this time she didn’t just run them smoothly over the surface of her skin. This time she made strategic stops at her erogenous zones to stimulate herself.
She looked right into his eyes for every single sexy moment.
Her fingers nimbly flicked her nipples, causing them to darken and stiffen. They doubled in size right before his eyes as she worked them. She cupped her breasts in her hands as her fingers did their work, holding them out to him as if they were a gift she was offering him.
How could he say no to that?
He stepped forward and lowered his head to her nipples, sucking them in turn and running his tongue all over the surface of those taut nubs. She moaned and slid her fingers around the side of his head to tangle them in his hair. She arched her back and pushed his head down with gentle pressure.
He took her hard nipples even further into his mouth, reveling in the groans and whimpers she let out as he applied suction and pressure to those sweet little buttons of pleasure that topped her breasts.
She melted under his touch, so much so that he had to loop one strong arm around her waist to keep her knees from giving out from under her entirely. His dick twitched at the moment she sank. He liked that he had the power to weaken her knees, just like she weakened his. He loved knowing that he could give her the same pleasure she gave him.
He slid his other hand down the flat expanse of her torso until it was nestled in between her legs, his fingers slipping into the wet V located there and he stroked back and forth, slowly and deliberately.
He took the time to trace the outline of her lips, to explore all of the slick crevices contained within her folds. God, she was sexy. If it killed him, he was going to resist the temptation to rush this encounter. He couldn’t let this opportunity pass him by. Uninterrupted naked time with the woman he loved, in the privacy of the house that was now theirs.
Priceless.
As he moved his fingers steadily up and down her slit, he took great pleasure in noticing the oversized thrills that ran the length of her body every time his fingers brushed against the stiff and distended button at the top.
It would’ve been easy to concentrate his efforts there. It would’ve been effective, too. But Gabe had never gotten where he was in life by taking the easy road. He’d learned through many years of trial and error that things were so much sweeter when they were earned.
He wasn’t here to get Adriana off quick and dirty. There would be plenty of times when that would be exactly what they needed. They had a lifetime ahead of them and he planned to get her off in every possible combination of ways that existed—quick and dirty being one of them.
However, right now was not that time. Today was not that day. He was going to take his time with his caresses to give her a nuanced and multilayered experience.
He was going to send so many shades and hues of sensations spinning through her that it would take her a week to get her head on straight again. By the time he was done with her, he didn’t even want her to be able to remember her own name. Only his.
He lowered her down on the sofa.
As he settled himself onto the fabric and gently nestled her there next to him, he smiled, “Are you ready to christen the new place?”
She groaned. “Yes, you have no idea how ready I am.”
He kissed his way down her body until he had reached that juicy and fragrant mecca of her womanhood. He wanted her to be weak and drained from climax, starry-eyed and dizzy and full of emotion and sensation when he drove himself into her.
Her sex was covered in her arousal and as he moved his mouth, tasting her in that most intimate of places, he realized how lucky he was to get to spend the rest of his life feasting on her, loving her, caring for her, and just being with her.
He’d say things were damn near perfect. She’d come into his life unexpectedly, and then proceeded to change it in ways he never could’ve predicted.
He pushed two fingers inside of her as he moved his tongue ever more intensely over the hard little button that he knew he had to concentrate on to get the explosive reaction he was looking for. He curved his fingers again and again, massaging her inner walls and doing everything in his power to drive her toward climax.
He knew the instant that she was on the edge of scaling that peak. Her muscles clenched in preparation, her fists knotted tighter in his hair, and her moans took on a desperate quality that they only contained when she was begging for the release of an orgasm.
He pulled his head back just long enough to growl, “Are you ready? Are you gonna come?”
She lifted her head from the balled-up shirt that it was resting on and met his eyes. Her gaze was frantic and sparking with chaotic lust. She opened her mouth but was only able to suck in air. No words came out. Instead, she just nodded, as quickly and as firmly as she could.
“Then come for me baby.”
*
Even as the most powerful orgasm she could ever have imagined crashed over her, Adriana made a point to keep her head upright and her eyes open. She didn’t want to lose eye contact with Gabe, not even for one second. It was so powerful, the energy flowing between them through their steel-locked gazes. She didn’t want to be the one to break that connection.
After the intense pleasure had peaked and crested, it waned slowly, bringing her gently back down to earth. Still, she didn’t let Gabe’s eyes go, and he didn’t set hers free, either.
Finally, though, when the waves of sensation had washed her to shore and she was exhausted and panting in the aftermath, she allowed herself at last to let her eyes drop and her head fall back on the soft clothing pile. She was utterly spent, every last drop of energy that her muscles had contained—it felt like ever—drained out of her.
She lay there feeling as if her limbs were glued to the cushions they rested on, as if gravity held twenty times its normal power. Her breath was slow, deep and even. It flowed through her like warm chocolate syrup dripping down the sides of a sundae, melting her muscles like the chocolate melted the scoops of vanilla.
She knew this wasn’t over. Not even close to being over. And she didn’t want it to be. There was a lot more she wanted to do to this man before the night was through. Before they got to all of that naughty deliciousness, she needed to catch her breath and replenish her strength.
So she lay still and content, like a cat luxuriating in a warm beam of sunlight. She didn’t allow herself to think about what was going to come next—either in this encounter, or in life. She was taking all the self-help gurus’ advice for once. She was going to live in the moment and truly enjoy it.
All of that Zen philosophy got thrown right out the window, though, when she was snapped back to reality by the delicious feeling of Gabe’s fingertips trailing over her skin like tiny, insistent feathers.
He moved them up and down the outside of her legs, and then the inside. All over her hips, her belly, and her sides. Over her shoulders and up and down her arms. On her neck, and finally, around her breasts, coming methodically closer to her nipples until he was massaging them.
Now, his touch bore no resemblance to the light brushes they’d started out as. No, now they were rough and demanding, and she felt herself start to rise up that mountain of arousal again, toward another inevitable peak of climax.
It seemed, when it came to Gabe, one orgasm was never enough for her body. Maybe she would turn it into a game. See how many times he could bring her over that peak, and then see how often they could approach that record.
She smiled to herself. Implicit in that plan was knowing that they were going to be together for many years to come. There were going to be plenty of opportunities to test the limits of how much pleasure they could bring to each other, and she knew that they would never waste even one of them.
A sudden, visceral urge seized her with such ferocity that it took her breath away. She knew what she needed. She hoped that it was the same thing that Gabe needed too.
She opened her eyes and looked up at him with a clear and direct gaze. When she spoke, her voice had none of the high, tremulous, and whimpering quality that it often had when Gabe put his hands on her. Now she sounded like a strong and confident woman who knew exactly what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to ask for it.
“Gabe, I want you. Now. If not sooner.”
The wolfish grin that immediately appeared on his face, combined with the hot sparks of lust that fired behind his eyes, told her that he was completely fine with her order.
Without saying a word, he leaned down and grabbed her waist, lifting her up and then he flipped her over onto her belly. She groaned as a rush of arousal buffeted her. It really paid to date a guy who had athletic training. He knew the physics of movement and contact, how one touch or nudge would cause a body to react, how to handle maneuvers. She didn’t have to do anything; she was putty in his hands.
It was incredibly hot.
She slid her arms underneath her and pressed her palms flat as she lay on her stomach. Gabe’s hands slid up the inside of her legs to just above the knee and he pushed her thighs apart.
She felt so open and exposed, completely spread open and exposed.
Yet at the same time, she felt completely secure. Her vulnerability was tempered by the sense of the absolute safety she felt with Gabe. He really was all in. He’d proven by buying her this house that he wanted her to know that he’d take care of her. No matter what.
She was so safe with him that she didn’t feel self-conscious at all. Never, under any other circumstances, would she have been able to handle this level of uncertainty while this vulnerable.
She trusted him implicitly.
So, with bated breath, she waited. And waited. Until finally, she felt the couch dip beneath her as he knelt between her knees, and she felt the pressure from his legs pushing hers even further apart than they already were. She groaned in anticipation.
He ran his fingers down the flat of her back, tracing the curve of her waist and then cupping her butt cheeks, giving them a good squeeze before moving down to her legs. “God, your ass is so gorgeous. It’s perfect.”
He leaned down and stretched himself out over her, pressing his chest to her back. She felt his hot breath on the back of her neck and it sent tingles racing through her entire body.
She knew that in just one moment, he would be inside of her, and she couldn’t wait. The anticipation built until she felt the exquisite pressure of his engorged tip press against her opening.
“Oh, yes. Yes,” she whispered, just on the cusp of a deep gasp that took control of her lungs.
He didn’t need any more encouragement than that. He plunged inside of her with a breathtaking power that caused every muscle in her torso to clench. A visceral cry tore from her throat, the likes of which she had never heard coming from herself before. She liked it, though. She liked the way that Gabe turned her into a frenzied animal when they were naked together.
He pumped in and out of her, over and over again. The pressure of his erection stretching out her inner walls was so delicious that she almost came right then. She did her absolute best to stretch it out as long as possible, though.
As he moved inside of her, making love to her, a series of images flashed through her head.
She closed her eyes tight and allowed herself to get lost in that future world as Gabe made love to her. It stirred up emotions in her that she’d never experienced. Not simple emotions like happy or fulfilled. Instead they were complex and abstract like, forever and heaven.
She squeezed her inner walls tighter and tighter around Gabe’s throbbing sex as he plunged powerfully into her. She wanted to feel every bit of movement, every hard inch of him as he plunged his member into her velvet canal.
As he drove in and out of her she reveled in the friction and pressure of their bodies being one. She felt Gabe’s abs tightened against her back as his arm whipped around her belly and pulled her close to him. He held her tight and she felt totally wrapped up by him and in him. She was a butterfly waiting to burst free. He was her cocoon.
With so many of his muscles pressed tightly against her body as he lost himself in orgasm, she couldn’t help but be affected, too. The hot, intense explosion rocked her to the very core, triggering her own release. She went off like a rocket at the same time he did, the two of them going up and over the edge at the same time.
As her breathing slowed in time with his and the sweat cooled on their skin, she melted and into the cushions. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so wonderfully relaxed.
It was all because of Gabe. She didn’t even have the words to express what that meant to her deep down. So instead of even trying, she simply turned to face him and he moved so he was hovering above her.
She smiled and ran her fingers down his jawline, letting her eyes rake over his features and take them in. She felt as if she was memorizing him with her gaze and her fingers, setting every detail of him permanently in her memory.
Then a question popped up in her mind. “Why did you ask me to wear that?”
She motioned to her clothes that were beside her in a pile.
“I figured your lucky shirt might rub off on me.”
“What about the bra and panties?”
“That was in case I got lucky.” he wagged his brows.
She laughed as he leaned in to kiss her.
“Which I did,” he whispered against her lips. “I think we can consider our home christened.”
Our home.
Two of the sweetest words she’d ever heard.