Unexpected Love (Timid Souls Book 3)

by Melanie Munton

  He yanked one cup down and took my breast into his mouth for the first time, licking and sucking on the nipple until he was satisfied and then he moved to the next one. Every time he got a reaction out of me that he was pleased with, he would moan deeply, sending tingles throughout my body and causing goosebumps to cover my skin.

  “We both know what we like and you can handle what I have to give you,” he said, laying kisses on my chest, moving upward to my neck and jawline. “You need me to be rough. Don’t you, Felicity? You don’t want slow and gentle. You want to be fucked. Right, baby?”

  “Yes.” I needed him to do that before my insides imploded. “Yes, yes, yes.”

  Our mouths met in another frenzy, another battle for domination. I was more than happy to give him that control but it was this game of back-and-forth that made it fun. He made quick work of his pants and was soon hovering at my entrance. He entered me without pause and it sent a jolt of arousal through me, stealing all my oxygen from me for a few indescribable seconds.

  When he started moving, it wasn’t long before our movements became frantic, our bodies chasing our climaxes so desperately that everything else around us faded into the background. Nothing was as important or as necessary as our impending pleasure in those moments. But even with my legs wrapped around his waist, the angle wasn’t doing it for me, wasn’t allowing him to go deep enough.

  I unwound my legs and brought them up to rest on his shoulders, the new position immediately making a difference as Gabe sunk further into me, penetrating me deeper.

  “Have I ever told you that I’m a former gymnast?” I asked as I pulled his body closer to mine, pushing my legs back to the point that my heels were practically touching the table above my head. I was once again bent in half, my body contorted like a pretzel.

  His forehead scrunched and he picked up his pace inside of me. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  I smirked, my confidence building. “Oh, yeah. I can show you positions you’ve probably never even thought of before.” I pulled him even closer, pushing my legs back farther, and my grin spread when he muttered “no fucking way” under his breath.

  He dropped his head, his arm muscles straining as he fought to keep himself propped up above me. “Shit, you’re going to kill me, woman.” I could feel him grow harder inside me and knew that comment had just about pushed him over the edge.

  I leaned up and brought my face inches from his, making his eyes snap open, fire lighting in his. “I can give it to you hard too, ya know,” I said. “I’ve got pretty strong legs. I could go for a long, long time and all you’d have to do would be to lay there and watch.”

  “Fuck me.”

  He let go out of nowhere, releasing inside me with a thunderous roar. The fierceness of his voice and the intensity of his body’s pleasure set me off to achieve my own powerful orgasm. My nails scraped along his shoulders as I fought to not scream at the top of my lungs. I couldn’t even comprehend what had just happened for several seconds after Gabe collapsed on top of me. We both seemed content to just lay there on the table, allowing our heavy breathing to fill the otherwise silent void.

  Then, just like last time, reality slowly came back into focus.

  He shifted his body and gently eased out of me, making me already miss his proximity. Neither one of us said anything as we dressed and my apprehension built. Thankfully, he decided to take mercy on both of us and address what just happened.

  He ran his hand through his hair as if to straighten it but I recognized it as a nervous gesture. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on here.” He was looking at me like a man who had zero answers and I was sure that my expression mirrored his. “All I do know is that I can’t seem to control myself around you.”

  So don’t.

  He sighed and continued before I had a chance to come up with a response. “I don’t want to make any promises to you right now—”

  I held up my hand. “I’m not askin’ you to. I don’t expect that.”

  His face turned serious. “I don’t want you to think I’m using you.” I shook my head in protest but he went on. “I like you, Felicity. I really do. It’s just…with Penny and everything that’s going on, I don’t know if I can commit to anything right now.”

  I offered him a comforting smile, trying to reassure him. “Why don’t we just take things slow for now? We don’t have to talk commitments or anything serious, okay? We’re havin’ fun, right?” The corners of his mouth quirked up in a grin and he gave a small nod. “So, let’s just leave it at that until it stops workin’ for us.”

  It probably wasn’t the best plan in the world, but it was the only one I could come up with to ease both of our anxieties. The truth was I didn’t want to stop whatever it was we were doing. And if he didn’t want to take the next step, I was fine with staying where we were. For now.

  Sure, I had developed feelings for him a long time ago, but it wasn’t like he needed to know that right away.

  This time when he smiled, he flashed all of his teeth and I breathed a sigh of relief. “I think I can do that,” he replied.

  ##

  I had made it sound so easy, the whole “staying where we were at” thing with Gabe.

  The problem with that was that the only times we were ever around each other on purpose was for work, meaning at his house or at my office. And now that his house was pretty much completed, there weren’t a lot of reasons for us to have regular conversations or meetings. Meaning, there weren’t frequent calls or texts. Nothing to sate my need to be around him or at least hear his voice.

  It really sucked.

  I hadn’t thought about the fact that us working together was about to come to an end when I had said that to him and he probably hadn’t either. I wanted to contact him so badly, but the last thing I needed was to make him think that I had changed my mind and did want that commitment from him.

  That was the quickest way to lose a man you were trying to reel in.

  I had even added an extra hour to my evening yoga ritual every night, in addition to my morning sessions, to distract myself from my urge to chase Gabe down. So far, they hadn’t done jack to tamp down my lust.

  The doorbell of our townhouse rang and I went to answer it since Bea was still in the shower. Our friend Gwen’s gorgeous smiling face greeted me in a flash of long blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

  “Hey, hon,” I said as she stepped forward to give me a hug.

  “Hey, girl,” she said and I closed the door behind her. “How are you?”

  Sad and pathetic because I want Gabe and can’t have him.

  “Peachy. Whatcha got there?” I asked, looking down at the two bottles of wine in her hands.

  She held them up with a big grin. “Figured Bea would appreciate this. Clay and I went wine tasting last weekend and found the cutest little winery in West Virginia. This stuff is pretty potent.”

  I chuckled and took one bottle from her, reading the label. It was one I had never heard of before. “You sure you didn’t purchase moonshine instead? Those West Virginia boys know how to brew some strong stuff.”

  She giggled and headed for the kitchen. “No, it’s definitely wine but it’ll get you good and tipsy. Clay and I found that out pretty quickly.”

  As she collected the wine glasses and bottle opener, I took a moment to appreciate the progress our friend had made over the past several months. She had been in a pretty bad relationship with her ex-fiancé William Callahan, until last summer when she met Clay Masterson during the mayoral election campaign when William was running against Clay. She and Clay had become close during that time, fell in love, and William hadn’t appreciated it. Needless to say, he went psycho when she left him for Clay and he attacked her. Thank God Clay had intervened when he had because I didn’t want to even think about what could have happened.

  Now, William was in prison for attempted murder and some other charges, Clay was Mayor of Washington, D.C., and she and Clay were living out their happily
ever after. Gwen hadn’t had an easy way of it, that was for sure, but she was doing so well now and I couldn’t have been happier for her.

  “How’s the foundation doin’?” I asked.

  She and Clay had started the One Heart One Hand Foundation that assisted homeless and other impoverished individuals, including underprivileged youth, get on their feet. They offered job training and placement programs for adults, as well as financial advisement, in addition to various programs for the youth, such as reading comprehension classes and other educational seminars.

  “It’s going great.” Her voice was so animated when she spoke of the foundation; you could tell it was her passion. “We just got the funding approved to build that new youth center over on 16th Street.”

  “Congratulations!” I wrapped her up in a hug. I knew she had been worried about that funding not going through. “That’s amazing. I’m so happy for you.”

  “Thanks,” she said and took a sip of her wine. “That’s another reason I brought the wine over. So we could celebrate. Or at least so I could.”

  “Pssh. You know Bea never needs a reason to celebrate.”

  “What are you mouthin’ about, little one?” my big sister asked as she entered the kitchen, her wet hair tied up in a knot on top of her head.

  “I never mouth,” I said and squeezed past her before she could attempt to tackle me and get at my feet. It was her one form of torture against me. She knew I absolutely hated having my feet tickled, so that was her go-to whenever she was annoyed with me. “Come on. It’s almost nine.”

  It was Saturday night, which was when the three of us gathered around our television for our weekly viewing session of Outlander on Starz. We had all read and loved the book series by Diana Gabaldon, but we were also ridiculously obsessed with Sam Heughan. The man was a Scottish god and could model a kilt just as well as he could a pair of Calvin Klein underwear.

  “Uh-huh, it’s almost nine,” Bea said as we all settled into our spots on the couch. “Which means I’ve got time to ask how things are goin’ with your new sex toy.”

  Gwen choked on her wine and spun around to face me. “What? What sex toy? Who? How’d you meet him?”

  I glared daggers at Bea but she just smiled that deceptively sweet smile that she had perfected over the years. “I can answer that,” she announced. Gwen looked over her shoulder at her, waiting. “Gabe Wexler.”

  Gwen whipped back around with wide eyes. “Oh my God! He finally asked you out?”

  I cringed. “Not exactly.”

  “They screwed on the bathroom counter,” Bea offered.

  I bit my lip and debated on revealing this piece of information but decided I wasn’t ashamed of it so it couldn’t hurt. “Actually, this time it was the dining room table.”

  Gwen’s eyes lit up mischievously. “Felicity Paxton! Look at you!”

  “It’s always the quiet ones,” Bea murmured into her wine glass.

  “He and I are not makin’ a big deal out of it right now, so I’d appreciate it if we didn’t either. Alright?”

  Gwen nodded and Bea held her hands up in surrender. Gwen’s face then morphed into one of concern. “But don’t you like him? Like, actually have feelings for him?”

  I shrugged and kept my attention on the pillow in my lap instead of on their faces. “Doesn’t matter. I’m fine with the situation the way it is.”

  Bea snorted. “Sure you are,” she said under her breath and I shot her another look.

  “I’m not talkin’ about this right now,” I told them firmly. “We’re here to watch the show.”

  “Agreed,” Gwen chimed in. “The only man we’re going to talk about for the next hour is Sam, The Hottie Scottie, Heughan.”

  “Yeah, because that’ll help suppress Felicity’s overactive sex drive.”

  My sister really just didn’t know when to shut her mouth.

  ##

  Chapter Five

  Gabe

  Should I ask her out on a date?

  It was the one and only question that had been on my mind these past several days. I had told Felicity I couldn’t promise her anything and I’d meant it, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to spend time with her. And not just time having sex, although I would never be opposed to that. I just wanted to be around the woman, talk to her. I had always enjoyed her company.

  I just wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do. If I couldn’t guarantee that I would call her, or take her out on a second date, or have one hundred percent of my attention devoted to her. If I couldn’t do any of those things, I didn’t know if it was fair of me to ask her out and lead her on like that.

  Maybe we should just stick to the having fun thing she suggested.

  It wasn’t as if that were any kind of hardship. But I also couldn’t deny that I had been thinking a lot about having more with her, wanting more than just that physical intimacy.

  I wanted companionship, a partnership. I wanted someone I could talk to, rely on. Someone I could trust and someone who made me smile and made the bad days better with a simple hug. Was it wrong of me to want that? I had been struggling to come up with a good answer for days.

  At two o’clock my cell phone rang and I was so distracted that I barely glanced at the caller ID. “Gabe Wexler.”

  “I need you to pick up Penny today,” Vanessa’s smoker voice said through the line. “My agent scheduled a meeting for me tonight that I can’t miss.”

  I looked down at my wristwatch and grunted in frustration. “Well, I’ve got a meeting too, Vanessa. I’m meeting with my biggest client in half an hour and I can’t cancel it.”

  She scoffed, like my job was in no way as important as hers, even though it had certainly kept her anorexic ass in the lap of luxury for years. “This could mean a job in New York Fashion Week if I make the right impression. It’s important.”

  “More important than taking care of your daughter?” My patience for her flakiness was really wearing thin.

  “Don’t give me that shit,” she gritted out. “You can’t complain about taking her when you’re fighting me in court on this very issue.”

  I breathed deeply through my nose. “If I’d known about this ahead of time, I could have arranged for a babysitter. And you’re only strengthening my case when you pull shit like this.”

  “Kiss my ass,” she said and hung up. I don’t think we had actually said “goodbye” to each other over the phone since we divorced.

  Great.

  Now I had to find someone to watch Penny. I couldn’t bring her to the office because this meeting with my client could run late and Penny didn’t have any of her toys or anything here to keep her occupied. Plus, it probably wouldn’t be very professional to have her here.

  First, I tried the elderly woman who lived across the hall from me in my apartment building. She watched Penny every now and then when situations like this arose. The phone rang and rang and I finally hung up when the answering machine picked up. I looked at the calendar and remembered that she had told me she was going to be out of town visiting her sister all week.

  Cross her off the list.

  Next, I tried the seventeen-year-old daughter of one of my clients who had also watched Penny in the past. And wouldn’t you know it? She had gone to the lake this weekend with her friends, so she couldn’t watch her. I would have tried the after-school program at Penny’s school, but she had to be enrolled for that and she wasn’t.

  I could usually rearrange my schedule whenever Vanessa decided to this, so I had never been in real need of a regular babysitter. I was essentially a financial consultant after all. I was in demand and companies wanted to hire me to run their analyses, so I could often set my own schedule.

  But this meeting today wasn’t something I could just blow off. I couldn’t afford to piss off my biggest client.

  There was only one other person I could think of whom I could trust with my daughter’s well-being. She picked up on the second ring.

  “Hi, Gab
e,” Felicity said, sounding surprised. I guess I couldn’t blame her. I hadn’t called her since that first time we had sex in the bathroom. “How’s it goin’?”

  Hearing her sweet southern voice made me momentarily forget my entire reason for calling. “Um, good.” I mentally shook my head and recalled my current problem. “Actually, not so great. I sort of have a big favor to ask you.”

  “Okay,” she said self-assuredly but with a hint of caution.

  I sighed. “My ex was supposed to pick Penny up from school today and keep her for the weekend, but she just called and bailed on me again. I’ve tried every babysitter I know and nobody’s available.” I hesitated for a minute, not sure how this request could affect our relationship. “Would you by any chance be able to pick her up for me and just watch her for a little bit until I get out of a meeting? It would only be for a couple of hours at most.”

  I may have hesitated in my question, but Felicity didn’t hesitate for even a second with her answer. “Of course. I don’t mind at all. There isn’t anything goin’ on today that I can’t move around.”

  I blew out the breath I had been holding. “Oh, wow, thank you. This really helps me out a lot.”

  She chuckled, the sound easing the tension in my shoulders. “It’s no problem at all.”

  “She can have a snack around three-thirty, just nothing too heavy,” I explained. “And she probably has some coloring books in her backpack that she could play with until I get out of here, so she shouldn’t bother you.”

  “She’s not goin’ to bother me, Gabe,” she chided softly. “Penny and I always have fun together. I think she sees me as more of a friend than an adult because I’m closer to her size.”

  I laughed. Penny did really seem to like Felicity. Anytime I had gone to her office or the new house to discuss plans and I’d had Penny with me, Felicity had been able to make a game out of everything to keep my daughter entertained. Afterwards, Penny would always talk about wanting to see the “pretty blonde lady” again for an entire week before her mind became preoccupied with something else.