The sun was low in the sky, just kissing the tops of the trees, when Gabriel and Stella rolled to a stop in the On A Roll parking lot. He was hurting…badly. Most people he could take out of a fight in seconds without even mussing his clothes, but Tony had been different. He’d damn near dislocated or broken several bones, not to mention nearly breaking his back on the fucking dresser. He didn’t know how long they’d fought. It felt like hours, and Stella said it went on for a long time, which meant it probably lasted five or six minutes. That’s a hugely long fight, but at least two or three of those minutes had been when they were stuck behind the bed, unable to damn thing with each other except try to break the other man’s will.
“Are you okay?” Stella asked as he grimaced when dismounting his bike.
“Yeah,” he grunted.
“Liar,” she said with a smile. “Let’s get you home and cleaned up.”
He followed her to her apartment, then trudged up the stairs carrying the bundle of clothes he’d taken with him to High Point. Inside he slid out of his vest and pants and she inventoried the damage. He had a few small cuts, but he was already beginning to bruise over the bulk of his upper body.
“My hero,” she said softly, kissing him softly as she handed him a fresh shirt. “I really thought you were giving me up again.”
He pulled her into a gentle kiss. “Never. I was already in town when he called. I just had to wait for the right moment. I couldn’t risk you getting hurt or losing you again, so I was stalling him.”
“Does the safe really need a key?”
He smiled, then flinched, as he shrugged into his shirt. “Yes.”
“And you knew he didn’t have it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“There are two,” he said as he reached into his pocket, pulled his keys out, and held them out in the palm of his hand. His Harley key, and what appeared to be three regular door keys, were on the ring, but there was a fifth, an odd looking circular thing with a jagged edge and a hole in the center. “I have mine and Doc has his.”
“How did he not notice that?”
Gabriel shrugged. “It’s not obvious, especially if you are working in the dark and are in a hurry.”
“So you had the key all along? Was that the real combination?”
“No. I made it up on the spot. The real combination wouldn’t have done him any good, and now we don’t have to change it.”
She looked at him, her eyes narrowing. “If he’d thought to ask you for the key, would you have given it to him?”
“If he knew I had it, yes,” he said softly. “The real combination, too, if he would have let me take you away.”
“Was there really only a hundred thousand in the safe?”
“Less than that, actually. More like eighty-five.”
“Why did he think there was a million? He was so sure.”
Gabriel shrugged. “Most people have no idea what a million dollars looks like. I don’t, do you? I know it’s not that big a pile of money. I could have easily put all the money in the safe in my pockets, and that was a hundred thousand. Ten times that amount?” He shrugged. “I’m not sure it would even fill one of those plastic grocery sacks.”
“Would you have traded a million for me?” she asked. She didn’t know why it was important to her, but she had to know.
“I would have given him any amount.” He watched her eyes fill with tears, trying to read her. “Did you mean what you said?”
“What?” she asked, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
“That you loved me.”
She wiped her eyes again. “I don’t know! I’m afraid you will hurt me again, but at the same time…” She wiped her eyes again in anger.
“I’ll never hurt you.”
“You said that before, then you left.”
“I’m not that person anymore.”
“I know that, too. Or at least you don’t seem to be.”
He pulled her gently to him and gave her a slow and gentle kiss. “I’ll give my life for you. Letting you go was the stupidest thing I ever did. I won’t make that mistake again.”
“I’m hoping you mean that.” She nodded and wiped her eyes one last time. “Let’s go get our daughter.”
***
“You look like hell,” Hot Rod chuckled as Royal stepped into the kitchen. “I heard what happened. Good work, brother,” he said giving Royal a thump on the back then laughing as Royal grimaced.
“Mommy!” Katrina shouted as she ran to Stella. She scooped up her daughter and held her tight. “You’re squishing me!” Katrina complained squirming in her mother’s arms.
Stella giggled, then sniffed as she relaxed her embrace. “Have you been a good girl for Grammy?”
“Gabriel took me to the zoo. You didn’t go.”
“I know. Mommy was busy, but I’m back now. Maybe we can go again this weekend if you want. How’s that sound?”
“Good.”
“Are you okay?” Connie asked, stepping in and giving her granddaughter a hug.
“I’m fine, Grammy.”
“What’s that on your neck?”
“Just a little cut place,” Stella said with a slight nod at Katrina.
Connie’s eyes went wide, then glanced at Gabriel. “Tony. She’s okay. We’ll fill you in later,” he said softly.
She released Stella and gave Gabriel a long hug. “Thank you,” she whispered.
He gritted his teeth against the ache of her embrace and returned it. “I would do anything for her,” he whispered in return.
She released him then stepped back and wiped her eyes. “I want you to stop by and have dinner with us someday.”
He smiled and nodded. “I would like that.” He turned Hot Rod. “I think you’re done here. Thank you, brother.”
Hot Rod made like he was going to slap Royal on the back again, laughing when he flinched. “I think you have a great family.” He grinned. “You’re going to have problems with that one,” he said, pointing a finger at Katrina, or maybe it was Stella, Royal wasn’t sure.
Royal grinned. “Probably, but she’s worth it.”
***
It took almost an hour before they could escape Connie. Gabriel could see she was itching to hear the story, and though he tried, he couldn’t get Katrina away from Stella for more than a minute or two at a time.
“I’ll call you tonight,” Stella promised when Katrina interrupted her story yet again.
“Okay. Obviously you two, three, need some alone time.”
Connie gave Stella a long hug as they rose from the kitchen table. “I’m glad you’re back safe,” she said softly.
“Me too,” Stella replied, holding her grandmother tight until Connie relaxed her embrace.
Connie turned to Gabriel and pulled him into an equally long embrace, and Stella smiled as his face scrunched in discomfort. Grammy had been there for her when she needed someone, a rock she could cling to when the oceans of life tried to sweep her away, but as Gabriel hugged her, she realized if she would just believe, she may have another rock she could cling to.
“Take care of her,” Connie whispered as she backed out of Gabriel’s embrace. “Both of them.”
“You have my promise.”
Stella’s eyes filled with tears. She wasn’t meant to overhear the soft exchange between Connie and Gabriel, but she had. Grammy was obviously putting her trust in him, and with a small smile, she decided it was time she did the same.
***
“They have the safe,” Stella said as Gabriel drove them home. “He said Tony told them the location less than five minutes after you left. They’re spending the night because the rental place was closed, whatever that means.”
“We have to have a hoist, a crane, to lift the safe. I guess Doc didn’t make it before the place we rented it from closed.” He paused for a moment. “That will put them arriving back here between two and three tomorrow. Want to go see what all the fuss was about?”
She smiled. “Yeah, I think I would. I didn’t have a chance to thank the, brothers you call them?”
“Brothers,” Gabriel confirmed. “Did they say what happened to Tony?”
“He didn’t say anything other than he started talking right after we left.”
Gabriel nodded. “They didn’t kill him,” he assured her.
She snorted and looked out her window. “I don’t care if they did.”
***
Gabriel groaned as he settled into the bed. He was hurting all over, and having Stella leaning into his ribs as the three of them watched Winnie the Pooh hadn’t helped, but he could stand a lot more pain than that if it meant she was curled up next to him.
She settled into the bed next to him. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Just stiff and sore.”
“Mmm…” she purred, sliding her hand under the linens to caress him. “Not that stiff. Not yet.”
“Stella, I don’t—”
“Shhh…” she breathed, taking his lips with her own. “Let me take care of everything.” She began kissing down his body, caressing his skin with her lips, wanting to take away his aches and ease his pains. He’d come for her, fought for her, risked injury or death to free her from her captor, and ultimately won her freedom by kicking the shit out of Tony. She’d said she loved him when she was terrified of dying. Now that her fear had passed, she once again felt the reluctance to say those three little words.
She moved lower while kissing him softly, her lips dancing over his body with feather lightness as she continued to push the linens back, exposing more of him for her exploration. She smiled as she neared her goal, his muscles no longer the only thing that was stiff. He could have let Tony leave with her, could have either washed his hands of her or tried again later, but he’d attacked a man armed with both a knife and a gun barehanded. It wasn’t for the money he’d risked his life; it was for her. If he could risk his life, she could risk her heart.
She swallowed him, her lips pinched tight around his shaft as she slid down, taking him as deep as she could, then a bit more, fighting her gag before pulling back, then plunging down him again. He hissed, then groaned, the soft sounds of his pleasure delighting her in a way that went beyond the physical, touching her soul. She wanted to please him, not so he would please her in return, but because pleasing him filled her with pleasure.
He popped from her mouth with a wet slurp before she turned and brought her lips to his, her tongue dancing with his as she swung her leg over him and took him inside with a soft moan that made his blood surge.
“I love you,” she whispered as she draped herself across him, her lips brushing his. She felt a rush of dread as she spoke the three little words, then smiled as the fear faded. She no longer feared the words or what they meant. “I love you and I want you in Katrina’s life, in my life.”
His heart soared with her words, igniting a passion in him unlike any he felt before. “I love you, too, and I’ll be there for you, for her, always.” He pulled her in, drawing her lips to his, wrapping her up, desperate to taste her, wanting, needing, to show her what she meant to him.
He seemed to come alive under her, his passion, his desire, yes, even his love, washing over her like a wave, his kiss electrifying in its intensity. She had tried to deny it, refused to acknowledge even to herself she still cared for him, but she could no longer lie to him or herself. She did care him and she could feel herself falling for him again. He was Gabriel Prince, her Gabriel Prince, the same Gabriel Prince who had stolen her heart once, and was doing so again. He was everything she ever wanted in a man, a partner, a father and a lover, but he was more now. More caring, more loving, more confident and steady. Gone was the boy she’d loved, replaced by this strong, secure, confident, man. He was a man who knew what he wanted, and what he wanted was her. He’d fought for her, not only with his fists, but also with his heart and soul, opening himself up to her, allowing her to see him, to know him, as he patiently, gently, broke down her resistance. He’d been in town for less than two weeks, and already the four years between them were fading, disappearing like smoke in a breeze as feelings for him she long thought dead burst into life, as radiant and powerful as though he’d never left.
He began to move under her, thrusting into her as they kissed, his cock plunging into her slowly, deeply, his body pleasing hers as his soul once again joined with hers and they became one. She moaned into his mouth, needing more, tingling with passion, making the leap of faith and lowering the walls around her heart.
She tightened down, drawing herself tighter to him, wanting him to hold her tighter, to fuck her hard, to please her like only he could. “Harder,” she breathed, burying her face in his neck as she began to burn in pre-orgasmic fire.
He began to pound into her, his passions spooling up and running wild, his aches forgotten, his pain gone, burned away in the heat of this perfect moment. He could sense the change in her, that unidentifiable something that made their joining more than just fucking, more than physical pleasure. He’d glimpsed flashes of it before as they made love, but tonight it washed over him, deep, rich and unending. She was finally giving herself to him without reservation, holding nothing back, and he filled to overflowing with his love for her.
She whimpered, her orgasm twisting her up, his passion fueling her own. He began driving into her harder, then harder and faster still, his embrace almost crushing in its tightness, but she reveled in it, feeling safe and protected, his love a shelter in the storms of life. She felt him splash into her, his soft bark of completion snipping the thread of her control and she tumbled into the maelstrom of her climax.
She whimpered, her fingers biting hard into his neck and scalp as he came, holding to him as if she were to release him she would be lost. They held each other, besieged with tender anguish, until their rapture released them, leaving them breathless and panting.
Slowly she rose, feeling alive in a way she hadn’t in years, making her want to cry out her joy to the world. He gently pushed her hair out of her face as he smiled up at her.
“I love you,” they breathed at the same time, their smiles growing broader as their whispers mingled between them.
He pulled her lips to his again as he began to thrust, the furnace of his desire roaring hot and unquenchable. He smiled as she began to move with him, her kisses slow and deep as her eyes spoke of her own need. The walls that had constrained their love were gone, crushed to dust and allowing their hearts to be free. He held her, watching her, losing himself in the infinite depths of her gaze, making love to the woman he would cherish the rest of his life until long in the night.