“Relax.” He breathed.
I let out a breath and felt my shoulders lower.
“You are so beautiful. I haven’t been able to think of anything but you, right here, for weeks.” His voice made me quiver in a way I only read about in my young adult books. “But I can’t do this.” My eyes must have given away my disappointment because he winked joyfully. “Not until I know your name.”
I blushed at the thought of being half naked on a bed with a guy who didn’t know my name. “Kathryn.”
He repeated my name and I felt his breath hit my skin. Gabe moved his hands around my back and unhooked my bra. The straps fell to the sides so I was completely exposed. He leaned forward and trailed soft kisses on my neck, stopping for a second at my clavicle before continuing his delicious journey south.
I let out a moan and grabbed his arms. I didn’t know what else to do with my body. I wanted—needed—to feel him, all of him. And I told him so.
After an endless amount of foreplay, my heart raced a mile a minute from the incredible feeling of having him all over my body, from anticipation of what was about to happen. He leaned over and grabbed a foil packet from his end table. I nearly stopped breathing at the thought of what was about to happen.
Easing his weight onto my body, Gabriel slowly lowered himself down and into me. I took him in, welcoming, widening, and accepting him into my body as one. He slowly pulled himself out before slashing his weight back into me, forcing my body to convulse, taking the pain and pleasure at the same time.
“Do that again!” I begged.
And he did, again, faster and faster. Our mouths found each other and we were all lips and tongues, taking breaks only to say each other’s names, names we just learned, yet we said them over and over again like they were a mantra, until we were breathing so hard we couldn’t speak.
“You’re going to be the end of me,” he said as he rolled over to place a soft kiss on my forehead. His hands laced in my hair and swirled the soft tendrils along his fingers.
I nuzzled closer to him, nesting myself in his arm. “I’ve never felt that before.”
He looked down at me, confused. “Felt what?”
“An orgasm. That was… I can’t even describe…”
Gabe let out a chuckle. “I’m sure that’s what you tell all the guys to make them feel good.”
“That would be impossible.”
“You don’t…” He looked puzzled, and I suddenly felt so self-conscious.
Should I have told him that? Is that something I possibly should have told him before I got naked in his bed?
“Were you a virgin?”
Half hiding myself under the sheet, I nodded in slow mortification.
He looked down at me and smiled, pulling the sheet off my face, and leaned down to kiss me with the most tender kiss I’d ever felt in my life.
“You are the greatest surprise I’ve had in a long time. Who are you and where have you been these last three years?”
I giggled. “Saving myself for the right moment, I guess.”
“Stay the night. I don’t want you to go.”
“I won’t.”
A look of alarm crossed his face. “You won’t stay?”
I laughed again. “I won’t leave. I’ll stay as long as you want.”
And I never left.
“Shit. You scared me,” he says, taking a step back when he sees me.
Not the reaction I was hoping for. I lean over and pull down the duvet on his side of the bed. Gabriel climbs in and adjusts his pillow.
“What are you still doing up?” he asks.
“Waiting for you. What time is it?”
“After midnight.” Gabriel rolls over, facing away from me. “I’m beat, baby. Go back to sleep.” He adjusts his pillow one more time and settles his body into the mattress.
I roll toward him and press my chest against his back and drape my right arm around him. My head is buried between his shoulder blades, so I take the opportunity to place soft kisses along his back.
The action causes Gabriel to roll over toward me, onto his back. As Gabriel’s arm snakes around me, I find my new home in the crook, lying with my arm across his stomach.
Raising my hand, I gently run my fingers through the sprinkle of hairs on his belly that lead to a very happy place. My fingers draw small circles from his navel and start their descent down to the elastic of his boxer shorts.
My fingers cross the barrier, and as I am about to grab hold of my prize, Gabriel’s hand lands on top of mine and lifts it up and out of his shorts.
“No, baby. I’m tired. Not tonight,” Gabriel says as he rolls back over away from me.
What kind of man refuses sex with his wife? After his office visit today, I was sure he would want to make love tonight. Instead, it’s the same story. I feel like Jackson’s building blocks.
Build them up. Knock them down. Repeat.
I arrive at the office later than expected. I overslept, and of course, Gabriel was already gone. Gwen is still there, so I left her with Carmen. I couldn’t deal with her this morning.
And those goddamn flowers are blocking the redhead!
“Trish, is Malory in yet?” I scowl.
“Yes, she’s in her office.” Trish rises and rounds the reception area. “Kat, I have to talk to you.”
“Not a good time.” I walk past reception and head down the concrete hallway.
“Listen, I was reading emails this morning and…” Trish follows me. She has a frantic tone to her voice.
“No!” I condescend, stopping in the hallway to put the little redhead in her place. “Trish, what have I told you about reading other people’s email?”
She looks me square in the eye, remorseful yet determined. “I know, but listen. I was looking for—”
“Say one more word about emails and I am marching right into Erik’s office.”
“But I—” She tries to plead her case.
“Enough!” I turn on my heel and head down to Malory’s office. She’s sitting at her desk in head-to-toe red. She looks exquisite, her jet-black hair smooth, silky, and falling just below her chin. The phone is to her ear, but when she sees me enter, she puts it down.
Her office looks like mine but bigger and professionally decorated. Okay, it looks nothing like mine except for the view.
I close the door behind me and take a seat on the black-and-white loveseat in the corner.
“I need to talk to you,” I plead. If anyone knows how to win a man over in bed it’s Malory. She’s eluded many times over to her sexual prowess in the bedroom. As often as I thought she was brash and tried to shy away from the conversation, I always felt myself keeping little mental notes.
“And I need to talk to you. What’s going on with you and Asher?” She swivels her chair to face me, seeming eager to talk.