And he sounded so certain.
But that was all he said before his focus returned to the road and the view.
“I wouldn’t have regretted it,” I blurted.
Yup. Smooth, Gabby. Real smooth.
“Excuse me?”
I shifted in my oversized leather chair, fully reclinable if we wanted to sleep in it and adjusted my seat belt over my shoulder. We needed to face last night, move on from it.
“Last night. I wouldn’t have regretted it.” It was all I’d thought about since last night. Perhaps, before he gave his reply and stopped us as soon as I doubted myself, I would have. When I replayed those brief moments while I ate breakfast, though, I’d considered how he’d behaved. How he handled it.
He stopped immediately. Respected me, and yet was still kind and still sweet.
There would never be a moment I regretted anything happening with this man next to me, even if it ended in heartbreak.
“I told you last night I was worried about that.”
He nodded once, grip tightened on the steering wheel. “You did.”
“I wouldn’t have. This morning, I wouldn’t have regretted anything.”
He glanced at me then, a slow, sly smirk curled the corners of his mouth into a smile… only more wicked. It sent a shock to my core, that look.
“Good.”
Joey turned back to the road, and that was it.
Good.
But that look said a whole lot more.
Hours later, after a quick stop near a lookout point we spotted where we stopped for a quick bite to eat of sandwiches and chips, we pulled into our campsite near the Arches National Park. We’d already decided to ease ourselves into the primitive tent camping, and since we had this crazy awesome RV, I was looking forward to spending some time enjoying it. And even though it was June, and it was hot during the day, the nights could still be cool.
After checking in to our reserved site, we followed the narrow dirt lane road past other sites already set up with travel trailers hitched to trucks, RVs larger than ours, and tent camping only sites. Most people were dressed for the day, hiking boots and thick socks and clothes for the hot sun, and my knee bounced wildly, anticipating what this trip would bring.
For someone who’d always traveled, taken off for weekend trips on the spur of the moment with little to zero planning, all of this was new to me.
So was having a travel partner I was attracted to.
Joey backed into our spot so we could hook up the electricity and water, and as soon as the gear shifter was in park, his seat belt was off and his hands were at my chair, flipping the lever to spin the chair toward him. His hands braced on the armrests, I could only gape in surprise at his sudden movement.
“What?”
Oh. He was bent over me, eyes aflame, black hair dipping down over his eyes. He was shadowed, blocking the sun, but there was no mistaking the heat coursing through him, the restraint making his arms shake and a map of veins appear, twisting and trailing up the backs of his hands until they disappeared beneath his short-sleeved black shirt.
“Did you mean it?”
I wasn't connecting the dots he was drawing. “Mean what?”
“That you wouldn’t regret what happened with us?”
“Yes. I meant it.”
Dear Jesus, he was scrambling my brain, making everything else inside of me thick with need and want.
“Do you want this?”
Him. Did I want him?
I barely nodded before he lunged. His mouth was on mine, his hand at the buckle to my seat belt. He wrestled it over my shoulder, grunting, grabbing, and then his hands were at my armpits, pulling me out of my seat and we were moving.
My back hit cold leather—the couch, I realized as my eyes flickered open in surprise and I saw the upper storage cabinets right before Joey’s face, that dark thick hair and his newly shaved and close-cropped beard came into view.
“Do you want this now?”
As if he needed to make certain I understood the innuendo, he rolled his hips.
His dick, hard, nudged against my center, sending my eyes rolling to the back of my head. “Yes,” I groaned and grabbed his shirt, the waistband of his hiking shorts. My fingers slid into his belt loops and I pulled him against me, arched into him.
Holy shit.
We needed to be naked. Immediately.
“That’s the plan, wife,” he said against my mouth.
I laughed against him. “I didn’t realize I said it.”
“I’m glad you did.” He grinned down at me with that gleam in his eyes, the twist of his lips that set my body on fire for him.
In a blink, all humor vanished, as he kissed me again, dug hands into my hair with one hand and clasped on to my hip with his other. His hips rolled again, hitting that perfect spot, pulling a groan from my throat as he kissed me like he’d been dying to do it for so much longer than a few days.
I returned the kiss, hands sliding to the button of his shorts. I undid it easily and then shoved my hands beneath his shirt and met his rock-hard stomach and heated flesh.
“Fuck.” He groaned into my mouth as soon as my hands began exploring his body. He was ripped, and his muscles quivered where I touched, flexed, and eased as I shoved his shirt higher to press against his chest.
Joey ripped his mouth off mine, staring down at me with harsh breaths and tore his shirt off him. He was straddling me, and sat up, giving me the full view of him in all his glory. The hair that spattered over his chest, trimmed short, and perfect.
“Wow.” He was just…
“Same,” he said, and climbed off the couch, leaving me there, laying down, shirt askew. “We need more room.” He held out his hand and his brows rose. A silent question, waiting for consent. He stood there patiently but in the blink of an eye, I knew—if I stopped it, said this couldn’t work or happen, he’d drop his hand and walk away.
He would do that for me to ensure I was comfortable and ready.
Which made it so easy to place my hand in his, let him pull me to my feet where I kicked off my sandals, and with my gaze on him, I gripped the bottom of my shirt and pulled it off, only briefly losing eye contact with him, until my shirt joined his in a pile on the floor.
His dark eyes flared with want, sending a shiver of delight dancing down my spine. “I want to touch you everywhere,” he said, and his gaze fell, scanning every inch of my exposed body and the still clothed areas, mapping out his plan of attack with his eyes.
I felt that gaze like his touch, which would be firm but tender, confident and comforting.
I lifted my hands to my sides. “So do it.”
And then he lunged.
18
Joey
In all the ways I wanted to get my hands on Gabby, in all the things I’d already thought about, having her right in front of me, naked save her shorts and a satin pink bra, scrambled every plan I had.
My plans to seduce her slowly, to give her time to come to me when we hadn’t been drinking. When we’d gotten to know each other more. A ridiculous thought, considering we were married, but I’d been content to wait.
Until she told me earlier she wouldn’t have regretted last night.
All the plans I’d made flew out the window and I reacted like a beast, and even now, as I slid my hands to her cheeks, tilted her head and kissed her, she took it. There wasn’t enough damn room in this RV to do all the things I wanted, but first and foremost I needed to make room for us, to recline the couches into the bed so I could take her the right way, not rushed on the too-small couch.