And what? See that they were all over each other, the way an engaged couple might be? She sank into the kiss, losing herself a little bit more. It wasn’t right that they were wearing so many clothes. It wasn’t right at all. Anna ran one hand down the front of Gabe’s shirt, feeling the hard plane of his chest and the ridges of his abs underneath. Tear off the buttons, shrug it down his shoulders—
His grasp tightened on her hips, and he brought her close, so close, and then let go. In the dim light from the hall she could see the fire in his eyes.
That wasn’t for show. None of this was for show.
It had been for the two of them, and only the two of them.
The line between acting and reality blurred, becoming hard to see. What was she going to do about the thudding in her heart and the desire burning hot in her belly? Because there was nothing acted about her reaction.
Gabe took her hand. “I had to.” It sounded like a confession. “Let’s go to dinner.”
8
When dinner was over, Gabe’s grandmother led them to the sitting room and pulled a familiar book from the shelves. A photo album—a scrapbook really, one that she’d been keeping for years. She patted the sofa next to her. “Whenever someone new comes to the family, we go through the old memories.” That was his cue, along with Anna, to sit with her so they could have the best view.
Anna tucked in next to him, and he put an arm around her. It was getting harder to resist stroking her skin or playing with her hair or planting quick kisses on her cheeks. A lot harder. And yes, he’d given in to the desire to haul her into his arms and kiss her senseless—but he hadn’t known how to get through dinner otherwise. His reward was the satisfied smile she wore for the entire meal.
Just enough to help him stay in control.
Everything was different with Anna. Gabe had never had to focus on keeping his hands off a woman before. And he’d never craved the softness of a woman’s skin or the sensation of her curves under his palms like he did with her.
“Now,” his grandmother began, “this is Chase and Gabe.” The two boys had carefree smiles in the photographs as if they didn’t have a care in the world.
“It was a little before my parents were killed in a car accident.”
Anna took his hand and squeezed. “I’m so sorry,” she murmured. She turned her head and kissed his cheek.
Out of the corner of his eye, Gabe caught his grandmother watching.
“You’re good for him,” she told Anna. “Much more demonstrative than some of the others.” She cleared her throat, letting out a little laugh. “Not that everyone needs to be demonstrative every minute, but...it’s lovely to see.”
Pride and guilt rushed through him, but he pushed them down in favor of pulling Anna close. “You’re right,” he said, smiling at his grandmother. “She is good for me.”
“But how?” Jonas chimed in. “How did you learn to be good for our high-powered businessman of a brother? Does your family move in the same circles?”
Anna tensed in his arms. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that, no.”
“Ah. What do your parents do, Anna? I don’t think you’ve mentioned it.”
Gabe wouldn’t have noticed the stiffness in her shoulders if he didn’t know her—if he wasn’t sitting so close. “Chase, I’d rather hear about your plans. You’re definitely going to stick around, right?” he said, hoping to divert the conversation.
“Oh, yeah.” Chase beamed. “I’m going to work with my friend’s company from the Elk Lodge and direct the athletic program. It’ll be the best of both worlds.”
Anna relaxed as the conversation turned to work plans and stories from their childhood, and Gabe let out a breath. He’d done it. He’d protected her. Of all his achievements in life, this ranked pretty high.
The conversation rose and fell around them. It settled into a rhythm Gabe recognized from his younger days—Chase telling an old story about learning to ski, and Jonas telling one about the first night managing the hotel on his own. The evening reached the end of its cycle when his grandmother stood. “Time for bed,” she said. “I’ll see all of you tomorrow.” Everyone responded with a chorus of goodbyes.
Anna stuck tight to his side on the way to their room. “You’re quiet,” he said, as she kicked off her shoes and put away their coats. “I hope—I hope we’re all right.”
She looked at him, an instant of warning before she was on him, backing him up against the wall for a change and kissing him with desperate, hungry little noises. “Thank you,” she murmured against his mouth. “I didn’t want to talk about my family, and you... you... thank you.” Her hands worked at the buttons of his shirt and then lower, lower. Anna sank to her knees on the carpet in front of him, and he gripped the waist-high chair rail. Every inch of him came alive, the feeling made even more intense by the sound of his belt coming undone in her hands and his zipper slipping down.
Gabe was already hard, and it was the sweetest relief when Anna unleashed him from the cage of his boxers and pants, her hand wrapped around him. She kissed the tip of him, and it was so unbearably sexy that he let his head fall back against the wall.
And when she took him into her mouth...
Heaven. A wet, warm heaven with a rhythm he settled into, his body arching toward her with every long pull of her tongue. The rest of the world fell away. All the acting, all the stolen kisses, they were elsewhere. Gabe only existed here, at this moment.
He ran his fingers through Anna’s hair, feeling them catch and tangle, and allowed himself a few more moments of pleasure so intense it was almost pain. Then he coaxed her up with his hands and with urgent whispers. “Here.”
Gabe took her to the bedroom and went for her clothes. Her pants came off first, then panties, leaving her shirt intact. Anna was ready in seconds, and he perched her on the edge of the bed and spread her legs. It wasn’t enough to have her mouth on him—he needed his mouth on her delicate folds. Now.
The first gentle kiss of his lips made her shiver. The first lick made her shudder, and suddenly she was gripping the covers and moaning as he devoured her. Delicious. Soft. Pink. Wet. He licked along her core with a full-on fantasy in his mind.
This, repeatedly, for the rest of his life. Anna coming home to him each night so he could please her. She writhed a little, and his tongue contacted new, undiscovered places between her legs. Oh, he needed this. It wasn’t until now that he realized how much he’d been aching for it. His need for her crept over every inch of his skin and suffused him down to his bones. More. More.
“I have to have you.” He’d pulled his face from between her legs, and Anna pulled him up onto the bed, her shirt tangled, and her face flushed. “I can’t wait another minute.”
“Don’t wait.” Those two words were the sexiest he’d ever heard.
Gabe fumbled in a drawer for a condom—thank God he’d had the foresight to put them there—while Anna repeated them in his ear, her arm thrown around his neck. He should get undressed, he knew, but that would take time, and he wasn’t going to spend time on that. Gabe settled for shoving his own pants out of the way and crawling between her legs, desperate for contact.