Gabe bent his head and kissed her an inch below her belly button. Anna was so ready for him that she arched upward, getting caught up in another demanding kiss. He kept kissing her in between his efforts to undo his pants, rid himself of his shirt, and roll on a condom. Then he was nudging between her legs. Oh, she wanted more of that. He let out a low groan at the way she tilted her hips up, begging with her body, and pushed inside.
It felt like coming home.
All the air went out of her lungs and flooded back in with a hundred times the oxygen, making everything seem bright and fresh. Gabe filled her in all the ways she needed. He drove out everything but him, and when he moved into a slow, patient rhythm, it was like being rocked by the ocean. Inevitable and sexy and so much bigger than she was. Bigger than her past, bigger than the future—the moment surrounded her.
Something broke within her as desire wound tighter and tighter at her core. A slow progression that nearly drove her crazy with how deliberate he was. Gabe was completely focused on her—a master in control who constantly adjusted so that her clit got maximum attention. Tears slipped out from the corners of her eyes.
This was the closest they’d ever been.
She’d thought it had been earlier when they’d made the bed a tangle of sheets and shut the world out with pure physical frenzy. But this was different. There was no looking away from Gabe. No feeling anything but him.
And he saw her.
His eyes raked over her again and again. “Yes,” he murmured. “That’s it.” Anna knew he’d been watching her so intently that he knew, he knew, that the pleasure had built to a peak and was about to crest.
Her orgasm tumbled over her in a tidal wave of sensation. Gabe kept moving, and before she’d even come down from the high, another one was building. Anna dug her nails into his shoulders, and only then did he pick up the pace. Only then did his expression shift, becoming fiercer and almost elemental somehow.
Her second orgasm came quicker, like it was moving at a dead sprint, and Gabe tensed above her, driving in deep. Deeper. She could hardly breathe and didn’t want to. She just wanted him. She wanted more of him, until her shuddering finally stopped, and he dropped his head onto her shoulder.
She wasn’t sure how much longer it was when they lay back against the pillows and pulled up the blanket. Delicious tiredness enveloped her along with Gabe’s arm. She could drift off right now if it weren’t for one thought.
Borrowed time.
This moment with him, in bed, his warm, hard body next to hers—it was all on borrowed time. It was easy enough for him to say that Anna didn’t have to be ashamed of her past and that Freddie had been wrong, but that didn’t mean his family would ever agree. And Gabe seemed to dance along the edges of communication with them. He didn’t want to let them in, just like she hadn’t wanted to let him in on this, either.
Stay with me, she wanted to say, breaking apart the agreement they’d made and putting it out there that she wanted more from him. But what would the outcome be? If he had the choice between a relationship with her and maintaining a relationship with his family, he might choose them. Gabe had admitted he didn’t fit in and admitted he’d had to buck their pressure to start his own career, but the pull of family was strong. A man couldn’t stand up to it forever.
She wouldn’t risk it now.
Gabe’s breathing evened out. Too late, anyway. Besides, with her muscles so tired and pleasure still clinging to her veins, it was difficult to stay awake.
15
The knock at the door of the suite the next morning startled Anna awake. She threw back the covers on instinct, but Gabe’s arm was still around her, holding her close. She let out a little groan that was half excitement and half disappointment that someone wanted their attention. Anna blinked a few times. She couldn’t answer the door naked, that was for sure. She rubbed a hand up and down Gabe’s arm, coaxing him awake. Goosebumps rose on his skin at her touch.
The knock sounded again.
“There’s somebody at the door,” she whispered, feeling suddenly like they’d been caught doing something illicit. It was a thrill, in a way—her heart raced, and adrenaline rushed in, making her breath come quickly. That was the fun kind of thrill. They were supposed to be doing this. Gabe’s phone buzzed on the bedside table. Another knock.
Gabe sat up next to her, his face red from the pillow where he slept. He made a small noise of protest as he registered her words. “Who’s here?”
“Your brother?”
Irritation flashed across his face, and then he was out of bed, grabbing for his pajama bottoms.
Anna admired how they displayed his body to utter perfection, forgetting she needed to get dressed as well. She only started moving when Gabe pulled his shirt over his head and went for the door. Ooh, he looked good.
Anna would much rather think about how good he looked than the fact that she’d hadn’t been entirely honest with him last night. Everything she said was true, but she had left things out.
That didn’t matter now. Anna moved down the hall to listen. “What’s going on?”
“There’s a storm,” she heard Chase say, his voice muffled by the space between the bedroom and the door. “We’re short-handed because some of our staff got stuck at home, and we’ve got people who showed up just before the storm hit.”
“Okay?” Gabe sounded confused and still sleepy. Anna slowed down the pace of getting dressed. Maybe he’d come back to bed. That would be the ideal situation. Gabe back in bed, and the rest of the world far away. She hadn’t heard anything about a storm coming to the area, either. How bad could it be?
“The booking system’s also down. And nobody knows how to fix it. Except you.”
Okay, so they weren’t going back to bed.
“We’ll be there in twenty minutes. Just let us get dressed.”
“Get dressed? What have you been doing in here? You weren’t sleeping, were you...” Gabe shut the door, cutting off Chase’s joke. His footsteps came quickly back to the bedroom.
Gabe’s eyes were filled with a determined light when he came back into the room. “It’s all hands on deck downstairs. Jump in the shower—we’ve got to get ready.”
Just over twenty minutes later, they descended into the lobby.
“Chase really undersold this,” Anna said, taking Gabe’s hand. “I thought he meant a couple of families.” There were at least thirty people in the lobby, all milling around at the front desk while the staff clicked at their computers. A general grumbling filled the space, none of the guests happy with the delay.
The mood in the air was familiar to her—and not a welcome one. It was the mood of a group of people who were inconvenienced, and they were not going to be happy unless something was done. Right now.
“Jonas is up there,” Gabe said, pointing out his brother at the reception desk. “But he looks like he’s in over his head.”
They made a beeline for the desk. If Anna knew anything about people with reservations and commitments, it was that the unhappiest of them would look for anyone to unload on.
“Jonas,” she said, moving to stand next to him. “Let me help.”