Mine

“Well, I usually like you.”

Andy didn’t let Gabe laugh this off. Not after so many years of playing it cool with women and holding them at a distance. “Could be you more than like when it comes to her.”

Gabe’s mood sobered. “I want her safe.”

They weren’t saying the same thing, but Andy was pretty sure Gabe knew that. Felt like a pretty calculated move. “Okay.”

“She drives me insane.”

That sounded about right. “After years living with you I can say with some certainty that’s probably a mutual thing.”

“Is it so weird that I don’t want anything to change? From right now. Right here forward. I love where my relationship is with Brandon. I want Natalie here.”

Andy took that for the huge admission it was. Gabe might throw around talk about keeping Natalie safe, but he really wanted to keep her by his side. No doubt about it. Good thing Andy liked her because, unless Gabe or Natalie screwed up, she might be around for a while.

“No, but I think you should be telling her that.” Andy started to wonder what other secrets Gabe had trapped inside that head of his. “And then you need to talk to Brandon.”

“I still hate those options.”

“Being a grown-up sucks.” Andy knew from the kick-in-the-teeth drive over here with Wade and Eli in the car. Neither talked much, but when they did they finished each other’s sentences and talked almost in code, about things only they understood because they lived through them together.

The hour had amounted to pure torture. Andy made the drive in record time.

Gabe nodded. “Sure as hell does.”

TWENTY-FOUR

Gabe slid his hand up the center of Natalie’s bare back to her shoulders and used his palm to press her upper body even deeper into the mattress. Her hair fell over her arms and across the sheets. With every plunge he enjoyed a front row seat to her ass. On her elbows and knees, she opened for him, and he couldn’t take much more.

His gaze shifted to the mirror that ran along the wall, parallel to the bed. In this position he could watch her body buck as he entered her then retreated. See those full breasts bounce as he ached to touch them. The lean muscles of her arms clenched in time with his thrusts. Those fingers grabbed fistfuls of his sheets.

The way she moved, so sensual and graceful. Drawn out, as if every shift was picked for his pleasure. Pure magic.

Every second pushed him closer to the edge. Not that he had far to go. He’d prolonged the tasting, touring his mouth over her until they both shook. When he finally entered her a few minutes ago he nearly sighed with relief. Now he bit back a groan as his body begged to come.

The last two days had been like this. Alone in the house, lost in a haze. They ate then they had sex. They’d watch a movie then have sex. Walk the grounds for some air then rush back inside to rip their clothes off. Talk, sex, eat. He’d check in and scan the grounds, but mostly he’d focused on her. He’d never experienced the combination of wild and comfort before.

But in this moment, as his breath clogged his throat and his rapid heartbeat threatened to knock him over, all he wanted was to feel her clamp around him one more time. One of his hands slipped down and over her hip, then lower, until he could touch her. Feel her wetness as she clung to him. Touch off the spiraling inside her.

One brush of his finger and her head flew back. He wanted to lean in and kiss her neck, but his body had other ideas. The burning inside him had taken over. He needed release and couldn’t hold back the rush one second longer.

Her tightening touched off steady thumping deep inside him. He curled around her, desperate to be closer, to push in deeper. His chest lay against her back. The heat from their bodies mixed but they kept moving.

She made a noise that sounded like a “guh” as her head finally dropped forward, and her elbows shook and her upper body collapsed into the mattress. Her hair hung around her except for the strands he’d clutched in his hand. He could feel the tiny pulses inside her as the pounding continued to hold him in its grip.

When he finally came, the release felt as if it had been ripped from him, taking every ounce of his strength along with it. The energy buzzing around the room faded and his muscles gave out. He had to balance his palms against the bed to keep from flattening her. Still, he rested against her, anchoring her underneath him. Skin against skin as the harsh breaths rocked his lungs.

With both of them spent, he eased out of her. Fell to his side and watched her. She stretched out her legs until she lay on her stomach. Her hands slid up the bed to land close to her head before slipping under the pillow. But she kept her face turned away from him.

The sex had rubbed him raw. He couldn’t even call it sex anymore. The term felt too cold and distant. The intimacy that wrapped around them reached deeper than two bodies slapping together. He’d crossed over into lovemaking, which made something twist in his gut. After a lifetime of protecting his sanity by keeping relationships with women light and away from Brandon, he’d broken both personal rules. With her. Because of her.

Conflicting emotions bombarded him. He still wanted her safe, but not as part of any job. This need to tuck her close and talk things over with her was so new he didn’t even know how to handle it. He kept mentally chalking up the change in him to a strong attraction to her, but that didn’t make much sense. He’d found other women beautiful before her and wanted to sleep with them. This didn’t feel like those. This came with thoughts about a future and a dread over the idea of her leaving the house with that bag and never looking back.

The need to coddle her, protect her, spoil her, learn from her—every sensation hit him as he lay there. The last time he’d known love for a woman was as a teenager. Back then it came in this overwhelming burst. So dramatic and intense, but it burned out fast. A crying baby had a way of putting love to the test, and theirs failed. It actually failed before that when she said she wanted out of it all—the relationship with him and motherhood.

With Natalie he experienced the slow burn, the gentle creeping up on him. Jesus, if he loved her he truly was fucked because Natalie would not rush in with him. She’d be difficult and insist he had the flu or something and would get over it. He ran the risk of her shutting down, or worse, shutting him out. No matter what she would not give an inch. She’d make him prove it.

And he wouldn’t expect her to act any other way. That’s who she was and part of what drove his attraction to her—her strength and independence.

He reached out and ran a hand over her hair. “You okay?”

That quick, she turned around and she smiled at him. A stray strand of hair fell over her mouth and he pushed it away. Brushed his hand over her cheek and loved the smoothness under his fingers.

“You promised I’d be a panting mess by the time we were done.” Her lips were wet as she licked her tongue across the bottom one.

If he said half of the naughty things that went through his head she might just slap him. Though, maybe not. Natalie embraced her sexuality. Of the many things he found so hot about her, that was near the top.

“That wasn’t very chivalrous of me,” he said, not feeling one ounce of guilt over any of it.

“I’m not complaining.” A bit of her southern accent snuck in as she talked.

Good thing she’d worn him out or he’d be all over her again, and right now he just wanted to look at her. To memorize every inch of her stu

He didn’t fight the question playing in his mind. The same one he’d been biting back since Brandon went back to school. “Any chance I can convince you to stop keeping your stuff in the extra bedroom and just move it in here with me?”