“Gabe, I’m on the pill.”
He pauses.
“I’m on the pill, you don’t have to.”
He looks conflicted.
“I want to feel you,” I say, pulling his mouth back to mine.
He hesitates, then tosses the condom on the floor. “I’ve always been safe,” he mutters as he kisses me again. He raises up slightly and pushes my legs apart with his knees. His warm honey-and-chocolate eyes are gazing down at me and his messy hair is hanging over his forehead. I reach up and run my fingers through it, watching his full lips part as he rubs himself over my entrance. I can barely breathe, waiting for him to sink into me. My back arches with anticipation and I lick my lips, watching his.
He pushes into me and I cry out with relief and joy and ecstasy. I’ve wanted this for so long. I’ve longed for him, pined for him, for so many years, and now I have him in this perfect, euphoric moment.
I savor the feeling of him buried deep inside me, stretching me, filling me, sending electricity to the tips of my fingers and the ends of my toes. He pulls back and I gasp with need and anticipation, wanting to feel him inside me. He pushes into me again, making an audible mmph, and I cry out again as a tear falls from my closed eye. “Gabe,” I whisper, gripping his shoulders. He begins to move in and out of me, kissing me slow and deep, holding my face in his hand, and I feel him wipe the tear with his thumb. He nudges my cheek with his and whispers, “I love you, Liv. Je t'ai toujours aimée.” I’ve always loved you.
This is the first time Gabe has spoken French to me in seven years. I close my eyes and soak in his beautiful words, which I understand perfectly. They wrap around my heart, filling the hole as if it was never there at all.
“Je t'aime aussi. Tu es tout pour moi, Gabriel. Mon coeur ne bat que pour toi.”
Gabe pauses and stares at me with a look of surprise and wonderment, and my heart swells, because I know that he understood every word I just spoke to him. I love you too. You are my everything, Gabriel. My heart beats only for you.
He smiles and kisses me hard, and whispers in my ear, “Je ai été tellement perdu sans toi.” He doesn’t translate, because he knows I understand him now. I’ve been so lost without you.
I wrap my arms and legs around him, wanting to be as close as I possibly can to him. He runs his hand down my thigh, holding it against him as he sinks into me deeper. Ahh. I moan loudly.
He moves a little faster now. Oh, God. “Gabe,” I pant. He sits up and falls back on his heels, pulling me into his lap with one smooth motion, never breaking our connection. He holds me close and lifts me up and down on him, until I take over, moving at my own pace, taking as little or as much of him as I want. I wrap my hands behind his neck and take as much as I can get.
He lowers his head to my breasts and gives them the utmost attention, kissing and squeezing them gently in his hands. The fire starts to build deep inside me, spiking each time his lips touch my skin. It sears through my veins and burns across my thighs as I fall against him harder, taking him deeper.
Ohh, yesss. “Gabe,” I cry as I tighten around him and a million little explosions ignite throughout my body.
He leans forward, laying me back on the pillows, and holds my hands, pressing them into the mattress as he thrusts into me hard...again and again...sending tremors through my body until I explode again, moaning and calling his name as the embers settle. He makes a deep, guttural, groaning sound and buries himself inside me as he finds his release. Then he collapses on top of me.
A few seconds later, he leans up on his elbow before I have to tell him that he’s crushing me. He kisses my swollen lips and flashes an exhausted, satiated smile. He pulls out of me slowly, giving me one last morsel of pleasure, and I let out a soft, contented sigh.
“That was amazing,” I breathe.
“You’re amazing,” he pants, pulling me onto his chest, and I listen to his heartbeat slow to a steady pace. “After everything that happened, you still went back and minored in French,” he says, bewildered.
“It made me feel close to you.”
He smiles and rolls on top of me again, and kisses me softly. He lowers his head to my neck and trails light kisses across my collarbone and breasts that tickle me. He leans up on his elbow again and rubs his hand over my breast, giving it a soft squeeze. “You’re curvier”—he smiles softly—“softer.”
“Yeah, I guess I’ve filled out a little.”
“I like it.” His finger gently traces the delicate chain that’s draped across my chest, until he gets to the small gold ring that’s attached to it. He picks it up and rubs his thumb over the engraved compass. “You found your way back to me.”
I smile and say softly, “My true north.”
He unclasps the chain and the ring falls softly onto my breast. He picks it up and slides it onto my finger, where it once belonged. Where it still belongs. And my heart swells.
“Always wear it,” he says softly, “so you’ll always find your way back to me.”
“Okay.”
He presses his lips to mine and kisses me firmly. Then he runs his teeth across his bottom lip and lowers his head to my breasts again, tickling me with light kisses.
I laugh and squirm beneath him. “Gabe!”
Roxy’s watching us from the kitchen, whining.
“She probably thought I was killing you.” Gabe laughs.
“Ah, Roxy. It’s okay.” I sit up and pat the bed. “Come here, girl.”
She comes running toward us and leaps onto the bed, excitedly wagging her long, shaggy tail and licking us all over. “Ahh!” I squeal.
“No, Roxy! Down!” Gabe points to the floor, trying to cover himself with the sheet.
She does as she’s told and sits at the foot of the bed, resting her head on the mattress.
I lean forward, stretching across the bed to pat her head. “You’re a good girl, Roxy.”
Gabe lets out a sexy moan and I realize that my bare bottom is up in the air. He reaches for my hips, pulling me back to him, and whispers in my ear, “I want you...again.”
* * *
I wake from a satiated, sex-induced coma to the sound of Roxy whining. She’s sitting by the door, nudging it with her paw.
“You need to go out, Rox?”
She prances around in a circle.
I get up to let her out and then climb back into Gabe’s bed. I gaze at him sleeping beside me. His muscles are relaxed and his scruffy face is smushed against the pillow. He looks younger when he’s sleeping, like the Gabe I fell in love with all those years ago. I stare at his broad chest, watching it rise and fall in peaceful sleep. It’s hard not to be in awe of the man he’s become since then. So strong and capable. And he definitely knows his way around the bedroom. I sigh, smiling down at him, but then I wonder who he’s had so much practice with and my face falls.
I’ve always been safe, I remember him saying, though it quickly evaporated into the haze of desire. The condoms in his drawer weren’t for me, so who were they for? My mind runs rampant with possibilities. Stacey McGillis had her arm around him at the bar last night. I didn’t have a chance to ask him about it.
I pull in a worried breath. We just had unprotected sex.
He did not sleep with Stacey McGillis, my conscious reassures me.