by Regina Kyle
“Please,” she moaned against his mouth, lifting her hips so that the tip of his erection, already wet with pre-come, brushed her equally slick folds.
Fuck. She felt so damned good beneath him, the perfect combination of strength and softness, round curves and lean muscle. It took all his restraint not to bury himself inside her.
“Condom.” He raised his head and searched for his discarded pants, mentally congratulating himself for remembering to slip a fresh Trojan in his wallet before leaving for work that morning.
“I’m on the pill.” She pulled his head back down. “And I’m clean.”
“I am, too.” He took a dusky nipple into his mouth and gave it a quick, teasing swipe with his tongue before releasing it. “Clean, that is.”
“I trust you.” She gazed up at him, her eyes narrowed with lust. “I want to feel you. Only you.”
He dropped his head back and groaned low in his throat as he entered her, feeling her legs wrap around his waist, her heels digging into his back. Shifting so he could go even deeper.
“Oh, yes.” She clutched his shoulders, urging him to go faster, harder. Only too happy to oblige, he picked up the pace, thrusting into her with short, stabbing strokes.
“Can’t hold out much longer,” he panted. She was too hot, too tight, too sweet.
“Then don’t.” She met him thrust for thrust, her heat melding with his steel.
“Come with me.” He lowered his head to the valley between her breasts, licking a path to one nipple and sucking it into the warm wetness of his mouth.
“So close.”
“Yes.”
“Now.”
“Please.”
Her body shuddered and she ground against him, her fingernails pressing half circles into his back as she climaxed, shouting his name. With one last, powerful thrust he joined her a few seconds later.
Sweat-soaked, Gabe flopped forward.
“You’re squashing me.” Devin squirmed underneath him. Impossibly, he felt himself hardening all over again inside her.
“Sorry.” He started to roll away.
“Don’t be.” Her arms tightened around him. “I like it.”
“I’m not hurting you?” He propped himself up on his elbows.
“Not hurting.” Her voice was slurred, her body starting to slacken. “Healing.”
Her eyes drifted shut and her breathing evened. He stared down at her, more relaxed in sleep than he’d ever seen her, with her lips slightly parted and her long, ebony lashes resting like wispy shadows against her delicate cheeks. A low moan escaped her as she stretched under him like a cat, and he felt a strange, unfamiliar stirring in the region of his heart.
And that’s when he knew.
He wasn’t healing her. She was healing him.
* * *
“WHAT ABOUT THIS ONE?” Gabe crossed the room to flip around another canvas, rewarding Devin with a spectacular view of his tight ass. Damn, the man was fine. And remarkably unself-conscious in his nudity as he ambled about her apartment. Looked like Operation Loosey Goosey was paying off. “It’s different from the rest.”
A knot tightened in her belly as she stared at the canvas. She sat up and pulled the sheet to her chin, concealing her bare breasts, as if she could disappear.
Gabe was right. Like the old Sesame Street song, that one painting was most definitely not like her others. She usually painted nudes. Some representational, some abstract. Studies of the human form, in all its beauty, with all its imperfections.
A shaft of morning sunlight cut across the canvas Gabe had chosen, bisecting its subject—a stuffed armadillo, love-worn, with an eye missing and his tail dangling by a thread.
Victor’s armadillo. Tex.
Telling Gabe about the painting meant telling him the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about her shitty childhood. Exposing a wound she hadn’t uncovered since high school. But in a moment of weakness, she’d promised him—and herself—that she’d let him inside her, not just her body but her soul. Maybe even her heart.
“That was Victor’s favorite stuffy,” she whispered. Her fingers clenched around the sheet. “Tex. He loved that disgusting thing. Wouldn’t go anywhere without it. When our last foster family sent him back, it got left behind. I’ve always wondered how he managed without it.”
Gabe leaned the painting back against the wall, face out this time so Tex’s one eye was staring at her, and strode to the foot of the bed, where his boxer briefs lay on the floor. “Sent him back?”
“Victor was...difficult. They couldn’t handle him. The social worker said she’d try to find a place that would take us both, but...” She looked down at her lap. “I never saw him after that.”
“Maybe his adoptive parents bought him a new one.” Gabe scooped up his boxers, stepped into them and sat beside her, putting a hand on her thigh.
“Maybe.” She focused on the warmth of his hand bleeding through the sheet, calming her, helping her form the words she knew she’d have to say. Fuck, this was hard. “But it wouldn’t have been the same. Victor was really attached to Tex.”
“I know what you mean. Holly had this nappy fleece blanket she carried everywhere until second grade. She wailed whenever someone tried to take it from her.”
“I’m sure she’ll appreciate you sharing that with me.” Devin lifted her head and met his soft gray eyes, wide with anxiety. “But imagine that times ten.”
“That bad?”
“That bad.” She took a deep breath, put a hand over his and plunged on. “Autistic kids can develop an unusual attachment to certain toys or books or stuffed animals.”
“Autistic?”
She nodded, swallowing. “Victor was diagnosed when he was two and a half.”
“That’s why finding him is so important to you.” He turned his hand over to squeeze hers, lacing their fingers together in that way he had, the way that made her feel as if she was the center of his universe.
“You don’t understand.” Her bottom lip trembled and she fought to control it. She might be about to spill her secrets, but she wasn’t ready to let him see her get all upset and emotional. Crying was for kids, and Devin hadn’t been a kid for a long, long time. “It’s my fault we got separated. I promised I’d take care of him. And I did until that social worker took him away.”
“How old were you? Ten? Twelve?”
“Thirteen.”
“You were just a child. Protecting him wasn’t your responsibility. That’s what adults are for.”
“Yeah, well, Victor and I drew the short straw in the adult department.”
“Your parents...?”
She relaxed her death grip on the sheet. “My so-called dad took off when Victor was diagnosed. My mom couldn’t deal with the pressure of raising us alone. She started using when I was seven.”
Gabe didn’t say a word, just gathered her to him, his warm, male scent enveloping her. The simple gesture opened a floodgate inside her, words spilling through like blood from a freshly cut artery.
“Pot. Heroin. Crack. Whatever she could get her hands on. I’d catch her shooting up in the bathroom. Got rid of her needles so Victor wouldn’t hurt himself. Stole food from the bodega on the corner so we wouldn’t go hungry. Which we did anyway.”
He swore under his breath. “I wish you had told me sooner.”
She froze and he swore again. “That didn’t come out right. It’s just if I had known what you went through I could have...I don’t know. Done...something.”
“What’s the point?” She squeezed her eyes shut as the tension drained from her muscles. “The past is past.”
“The point is you shouldn’t have to bear that kind of burden alone. There are people in your life—me, Holly, Leo—who you can lean on.”
“I’m not so great at the whole leaning thing.”
“I can see that. Fortunately, I’ve got really broad shoulders. Perfect for leaning on.”
She opened her eyes to find him peering down
at her, his gaze an alluring mix of concern and heat. Her heart did a little tap dance.
“Tell you what.” He stroked a finger down her arm. “How about we get dressed and head out for some breakfast?”
“I’ve got a better idea.” She took his hand and moved it to her breast. “The deli on the next block delivers, and they’ve got the best country ham, egg and cheese croissant south of Houston Street. Then we can spend the day in bed. Undressed.”
“Sounds great.” He cupped one plump mound through the sheet and squeezed. “Mind if I use your shower? Dressed or not, I stink.”
She pressed her nose to his chest and inhaled. “I like the way you smell. Sweaty, like a real man. But help yourself. I’ll join you once I’ve ordered the food.”
He gave her a quick kiss and headed to the bathroom, giving her another chance to ogle him from behind. When he’d closed the door and she’d stopped drooling, she dropped the sheet and scrambled for her cell phone.
“Hey, Mateo. It’s Devin. Can I have two of the usual and a couple of large French roasts, black? With milk and sugar on the side,” she added at the last minute, realizing she had no clue how Gabe took his coffee.
“Two?” Mateo’s surprised voice crackled over the line. “You must be mucha hambre this morning.”
“Damn skippy. How fast can you get here?”
“Fifteen minutes. Twenty, tops.”
“Thanks, bonito.”
She ended the call, tossed her phone on the bed next to her and swung her feet onto the floor. The sound of running water told her Gabe was already in the shower, and she licked her lips at the thought of his magnificent, wet nakedness, slick and soapy, ready to play.
Oh, yeah.
She was about to ditch the sheet in favor of some smexy shower action when someone pounded on the door.
Shit.
No way was that Mateo so quickly. Either someone had the wrong apartment or one of her neighbors needed to borrow something.
“Hang on,” she called. “I’ll be right there.”
She threw on a tank top and shorts, not bothering with anything underneath, and answered the door.
“Surprise!”
Holly wrapped Devin in a bear hug, her just-showing baby bump grazing Devin’s stomach.
“You’re home.” Devin cast a panicked glance around the apartment, her eyes falling on Gabe’s khakis in a heap by the television, his shirt hanging over the bookshelf, one of his shoes peeking out from under the bed. “Early.”
Holly released her and brushed past through the door. “Nick finished filming ahead of schedule.”
“Where is your handsome husband?” Devin followed, kicking the offending khakis behind the TV and stuffing the shirt between two books. “You’re usually inseparable. Nauseatingly so.”
“His agent’s in town. They’re meeting at Pastis for a business breakfast, and I’ve been meaning to return my spare key to the super.” Holly sank into the armchair in the corner. “Man, I’m beat. I don’t even want to think about what this little bugger’s going to do to me in the third trimester.”
Holly toed off her espadrilles and lifted one foot to massage the arch, and Devin groaned inwardly. She’d never get her friend out now. And it was only a matter of time before Holly noticed the water running in the bathroom. Or Gabe’s loafer, which Devin couldn’t shove under the bed now without rousing suspicion.
Her only option was to come clean, admit she had a guy stashed in the can and get Holly out the door before she figured out it was Gabe. Not that she was embarrassed, but this was so not how she wanted Holly to find out she was boffing her brother.
“Listen, Holls, I’m dying to catch up with you, but I’m kind of in the middle of something right now.” She eyed the bathroom door. As if on cue, the water stopped.
“Ohmigod, you’ve got a man in there.” Holly squealed. “I can’t believe it. The love-’em-and-kick-’em-to-the-curb queen actually let a guy spend the night. Who is it?”
“Just...a guy. We’re keeping it on the down-low.”
“Oh, please,” Holly huffed. “As I recall you practically shouted to an entire coffee shop that I was doing Nick.”
“I promise I’ll tell you. Let me deal with him and I’ll meet you at the deli up the block in ten.” Maybe she could intercept Mateo on the way over and grab her sandwich and coffee.
“Fine, be that way.” Holly slipped on her espadrilles and stood, rubbing her belly. “For now. But I’m warning you, I want to meet this paragon who got you to break your no-sleepovers rule. Soon.”
As though they were living in a bad sitcom, the bathroom door creaked open and Gabe stepped out, his hair still wet from the shower and a towel fastened around his waist.
“I heard voices. Is breakfast here?”
“Gabe?” Holly’s mouth fell open and she pressed a hand to her chest.
“Holly.” He hiked up the towel, which had slipped to his hips. “You’re supposed to be in Istanbul.”
Devin shrugged a shoulder and gave her friend a wry smile.
“Surprise.”
12
“SORRY I’M LATE.” Devin slid into the seat across from Holly at the café table, plunking down her French roast and unwrapping her sandwich. She’d showered and changed in record time, but as hungry as she was, she wasn’t about to miss out on breakfast. Plus, she didn’t want to stick Gabe with the tab. Her place. Her treat. “I couldn’t leave without...”
“Please.” Holly held up a hand, palm out. “Spare me the intimate details of your sex life with my brother.”
“As if I’d share that.” Devin crossed one leg over the other and adjusted the hem of her shorts. “I was going to say I had to intercept the delivery guy with my croissant, but whatever.”
“Don’t ‘whatever’ me.” Holly sipped her iced chai latte—decaf, Devin was sure, given Holly’s current state. “You know what they say about payback. Remember when you made Gabe drive all the way to Connecticut so you could interrogate me about Nick? It’s my turn to give you the third degree.”
Oh, yeah, Devin remembered, all right. Two and a half hours in a car with Gabe. She’d always found him attractive, but that trip was when she’d really become aware of him as a man. His thigh had been inches from hers for the duration, his scent surrounding her.
Christ, it had been fun needling him. And man, oh, man, was he hot when he was bothered.
Not that she was confessing any of that to his sister.
“I’m an open book,” Devin bluffed, taking a hit of strong coffee. “What do you want to know?”
“You can start with how you and Gabe went from loathing to lovey-dovey in the little time I’ve been gone.”
Devin averted her eyes, staring at a cheap framed poster on the opposite wall with the slogan Coffee Solves Everything in bold red letters. If only it did. “I wouldn’t exactly call us lovey-dovey.”
“Then what would you call it?”
“We’re—” Devin paused, not exactly sure what they were. More than fuck buddies, but not quite lovers “—getting to know each other.”
“Looked like you knew each other pretty well to me.”
Devin’s attention snapped back to her friend. “I didn’t mean physically. Obviously, we’ve crossed that bridge.”
“TMI.” Holly blushed and shook her head, sending her brown bob flying. “I’m sorry. That was snarky. It’s just...he’s my baby brother. And he’s coming off a bad breakup. I don’t want to see him get hurt again.”
“You mean Kara?” Devin took a bite of her sandwich, savoring the buttery, cheesy goodness.
Holly nodded. “I helped him pick out the ring, thanks to email and Skype.”
Devin coughed, almost spewing croissant across the table. “Ring?”
Holly went on like she didn’t notice Devin was three seconds from needing the Heimlich maneuver.
“Two carats, emerald cut. Not my style.” She waved her hand, flashing a simple white-gold band with a small, bezel-set diamon
d. “But from what Gabe told me, definitely Kara’s speed.”
“I didn’t realize they were that serious.” Devin gulped her coffee. It scalded her throat but even that didn’t dull the shock of Holly’s news.
“Oh, crap.” Holly buried her face in her hands. “Me and my big mouth. I should have figured my tight-lipped brother wouldn’t say anything.”
“Don’t stop now.” Devin leaned back and crossed her arms. “She turned him down?”
Holly’s words were muffled through her fingers. “I don’t know what happened. He just told me it didn’t work out.”
“When?”
“When what?”
“When did he tell you?”
“A couple of weeks ago, I guess.” Holly lifted her head. “About a month after Nick and I arrived in Istanbul.”
Shit. A couple of weeks. Right around the time he’d found her in the park with Fast Fingers Freddie.
“He didn’t say why they broke up?” Devin cringed. She sounded like a fucking teenage girl.
“Only that the relationship had run its course.” Holly added another creamer to her latte and stirred. “Something about Kara being bored with him.”
Gabe’s words on the cab ride home and on Devin’s doorstep that night came rushing back at her.
Do you think I’m boring? How’s this for boring?
“She didn’t deserve him,” Devin snapped with more intensity than she intended.
“I know. Gabe brought her to see The Lesser Vessel and Nick and I met them afterward for drinks. She told me my nails were a mess, my skin was ashy and my hair was ‘holding me back.’” Holly put air quotes around the last three words. “From what I don’t know. But Gabe loved her. Or at least he thought he did. It couldn’t have been easy for him having his proposal thrown back in his face.”
Do you think I’m boring? How’s this for boring?
“No. It wasn’t.”
“So you can see why I’m worried about him jumping into another relationship.”
Was that what they had? A relationship? Not much of one if Gabe wasn’t willing to be up front with her, especially after he’d pushed her to reveal her demons.
