Josie arched an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“The very intricate network of busybodies that carry forth the town gossip.”
“Ah,” she smiled. “They’re curious about—” she pointed at the space between us.
“Absolutely.”
“Do you gossip too?”
I opened my mouth to lie but couldn’t. “Unfortunately… yes.”
Josie shoved me a little.
I laughed again. “Comes with the job, I’m afraid. It’s basically inherited. My grandfather was the Town Gossip. Then my dad and Cal’s grandfather, Robert. They knew every single thing that happened in this town.”
“People always talk too much to the bartender,” Josie mused. “You must hear a lot of secrets.”
“I do,” I said. “Will you tell me some of yours?”
Something dark and mysterious flashed through her eyes. “Maybe. I’m not sure yet.”
“That’s okay,” I said, wanting this night to go on forever, “I’ll tell you some of mine.”
Chapter 10
Josie
“If you spill your secrets to a near-stranger, are they still secrets?” I asked, finally allowing my thigh to press against his. A steady hum of sensation pulsed where our bodies touched.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I don’t know… if you feel comfortable enough to share them with someone you don’t know, doesn’t that take away the secretive part?”
He narrowed his eyes, thought for a second. “I don’t know. Why don’t we drink and not worry about it?”
I laughed and responded by knocking back the shot I’d been carefully sipping. Massive head-rush, warmth pooling between my legs, nerve endings sparking to life under his gaze.
Gabe wasn’t eye-fucking me.
No. It was more sensual than that. Just a continual, lingering perusal of every inch of my body. Over and over again. And somehow during the course of the evening, I’d flown past general arousal, flown past mild attraction and a way to pass the time—the two criteria I usually looked for in a one-night-stand.
This was something else entirely.
“I didn’t have my first kiss until I was eighteen, the summer after high school,” he said, blushing just a little.
“Um… what?”
“My first kiss. When did you have yours?”
“Fourteen.”
“Who was it?”
“Ricky Something,” I said. “He was actually two years older than me. We were at the mall, probably Hot Topic, and he said I had pretty eyes. Then he kissed me.”
“And it was?”
“Absolutely awful,” I groaned.
Gabe laughed.
“Tell me about yours.”
“The first girl I ever kissed, Sasha, was actually the girl I ended up dating for almost seven years. Our last year of high school. All through college. A couple years after, here in Big Sur.”
“Why so late?” I asked. “I guess I pictured you having a ton of girlfriends. You’re… you know, massive. And handsome. And the beard…” I clamped my mouth shut, suddenly very aware that I was dropping my cool exterior.
“Late bloomer,” he smiled. “I shot up six inches right before I left for college. Had nothing to do with lack of interest on my part, that’s for sure. Although I don’t know what girls in high school thought about me until Sasha. I’d just get so nervous. You know, in Big Sur, the one good thing is you can always underage-drink in the woods. Plenty of frisky business happened beneath these redwoods. Couples would pair off to awkwardly smash their mouths together, and I’d just be sitting on a log with my braces, trying not to throw up on the girl next to me.”
I tried not to smile, thinking of this bearded hunk in front of me, as a scared, awkward teenager. “What changed? Why was eighteen different?”
He thought for a second. “She kissed me, I guess.”
“You liked that she took the lead?” I asked before I could stop myself. An idea flared in my mind.
“I did,” he said simply, gaze open and searching. “I really did.”
His thumb landed on the inside of my wrist, and he stroked gently along the delicate skin. Up and then down.
“I bet you were cute with braces,” I finally said, a distinct shake in my voice.
“I bet you were cute with braces,” he grinned.
“Braces,” I said, pointing at my teeth. “Bowl cut. Huge glasses. And I had no control over my artistic impulses, so I just wore, like, all of the colors. All at once. Always. Like I’d wear this hot yellow sweater I had with daisies on it with this polka-dot skirt and purple rain boots.”
Another swipe of his thumb.
“I bet you were magnificent,” he murmured, and my heart did this odd thump-thump I hadn’t felt in two years.
“Weird,” I corrected. “I was weird. Still kind of am.”
“I like weird,” he smiled. “And tell me more, please.”
“I just told you all about my bowl cut,” I teased.
But he shook his head. “Make it… I don’t know, the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you. Bare your soul, Josefine.”
Gabe was grinning and joking, but Big Sur was making me feel reckless, and his kindness was pressing on all the delicate, tender spots of my life that I kept hidden. I wanted to slip up, to deliver the ultimate mood-killer:
The most embarrassing thing to ever happen to me? Try being stood up at your own wedding. Not months before or even weeks before. No. At the fucking altar, in the dress, as your parents are about to walk you down the aisle. The memory caused a swirl of nausea—it always did, even two years later—and I wanted to spill my secrets to this Viking. Cry against his barrel chest and let him sweep me to safety.
But I didn’t. And I wouldn’t.
“I hate macaroni and cheese,” I finally said.
Gabe pointed his finger toward the woods. “Get out,” he said.
I grinned, wiggling my shoulders. “You said secrets. And I never tell people that one.”
“So you made fun of me for liking cream in my coffee? But you fucking hate macaroni and cheese?”
I sighed, looked away for a second. “Okay. If you asked me what my favorite music was, I’d tell you old-school hip-hop and punk rock. But secretly… I want to dance to Top 40 all night long.”
“Pop music? You sell-out.”
“Beyoncé just gets me,” I said, placing a hand on my chest, and his laughter was like a drug. “Now you go. That’s all of my secrets.”
Liar.
“I don’t have any social media pages,” he said.
“Why not?”
A shrug. “The longer you go without the internet, especially social media, the more you realize you don’t need them. The more you realize how distracting it is. Or for me, I was slowly shifting my decision-making to try and impress people online. People I didn’t even really care about, like, old high school friends or acquaintances from college. But I don’t want to live my life like that. Does that make sense?”
I thought about Lucia, whose followers sometimes dictated what color she dyed her hair or criticized every single flaw they found on her body. “It does. And I think you’re right. Social media can contribute to this pressure to… conform. Do what everyone else is doing. I’m sure at least half of the decisions I make are automatic.”
Gabe was nodding. “Exactly. And the longer I stayed away, the more liberating it became. And maybe part of it is living in Big Sur versus a big city like Los Angeles, but it is easier to avoid toxic shit up here. When I’m not at The Bar, I spend a lot of time hiking. And this place is so awe-inspiring; the scenery is so overpowering, it takes you out of your immediate anxieties or worries about ‘measuring up’ to other people. I’ve had a lot of sudden realizations on long hikes because my thoughts are free to roam without distraction.”
He paused, suddenly looking embarrassed. “Again… not really romantic conversation.” His thumb stroked my wrist in a wide circle b
ut more deliberately.
I shook my head. “Nature as therapy. I’d like to try that, actually.”
“Yeah?” he asked, looking hopeful.
“I mean… sometime. Not on this trip,” I said lightly, directing us away from the future. We only had this night. This time. “Tell me one more secret.”
Gabe looked down where his thumb kept circling my wrist. We watched the movement together, and then he slowly dragged his thumb up the inside of my arm and then back down again. My eyes briefly fluttered closed.
Such a reverent touch. Except every stroke, every drag, I felt between my legs. As if his thumb was on my clit, gently and slowly working me to climax.
There was no one else left on the patio. I had no concept of time. Only sensation.
“I’ve always wanted to be married. Always wanted to be a husband,” Gabe finally said, looking up at me. I swallowed hard.
“A true romantic,” I said, wondering how this was possible. Since Clarke, I avoided men like Gabe, men who wanted to sweep me off my feet, overwhelm me with romantic gestures. And yet here I was, desperately trying to fuck this man who loved romance.
“Do you believe in love at first sight?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he said with a wry smile. “My parents were high school sweethearts, and I always loved the idea of growing old with someone you’d known for your entire life. Falling in love with someone and then watching them change and grow, discover themselves over the course of a lifetime.” He paused. “I always thought a relationship like that would be beautiful.”
“But?” I asked, sensing his hesitation.
“But… I thought that was Sasha. Really thought that was her. And then we broke up, and I despaired of ever finding…” he trailed off, looked away. “Of ever finding the person I’m supposed to be with.”
Gabe replaced his thumb with two fingers, trailed them down my palm. Up and down my fingers. In a trance, I watched as my Viking lifted my hand to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss against the inside of my wrist.
“Do you believe in love at first sight?” He asked.
“No,” I said. “I’m not sure I believe in love, at least not for me.” A look of shock came over his face, but he recovered quickly. “I think love is for other people. I want love for other people. But I plan on living my life one amazing, earth-shattering one-night stand at a time. Fucking is what I believe in.”
The tension between us shifted from flirtatious to urgent need. I flipped my hand over, the one he’d been touching, and laid it high on his muscular thigh. His eyes darkened.
“Let’s keep talking secrets then,” he said, a new scrape to his voice. “Secret fantasies.”
“You go first,” I said, letting my fingers dance up his thigh. I could already see the hard outline of his cock, straining against his jeans.
“I want to fuck a woman in public.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Because you want to get caught? Or you like the idea of people watching you as you fuck?”
“Both,” he said but didn’t elaborate.
My fingers danced higher. “I want two men to fuck me at once.” I threw whatever remaining caution I had to the wind.
This night was happening.
“How?” he asked but didn’t demand.
“At the same time. I want double penetration. A cock in my pussy. A cock in my ass.”
“I’d like to watch that,” he whispered, his hands tightening on the bench.
“Yeah?”
“Yes,” he growled. “I want to watch your fantasy come true. See your pleasure.” He swallowed. “Watch you take two cocks at once.”
“I’d allow it,” I teased. “Now you go.”
“I want to fuck two women at once,” he said, eyes tracking the movements of my fingers. His thigh was flexing beneath my touch.
“Can I be one of those women?”
“Fuck yes,” he said, that tight leash unraveling right before my eyes. I was pushing him, and I loved it.
“What would you do?”
“Let you ride me while some sexy little tease sat on my face. I’d want you to watch her.”
“Watch her what?” I taunted.
“Come.”
We were both panting, leaning closer and closer. Not touching except for my wandering hands. His cock looked huge and so fucking hard, and I’d never wanted to grip something more in my entire life.
“I’ve always wanted to fuck a woman with nipple piercings,” he said.
I grinned lazily. Tossed my hair. Because he noticed, and I fucking loved it.
“You’ve got a real eye for detail,” I purred. “And you’re in luck since I got my nipples pierced the day after I turned 18.”
His eyes were back on mine, locked in a battle of wills. We were two predators, circling the other. Looking for weaknesses.
“What does it feel like? What does it feel like when they’re sucked on?”
“Heaven on Earth,” I said.
He groaned audibly, the sound hitting me in the gut. Christ, he was sexy. I was waiting for him to demand another secret from me, but I realized he wasn’t going to.
He was waiting.
On me.
I thought about my ultimate fantasy. The one I’d never tried, never attempted, but that captivated my imagination, burning me up in my dreams.
I’d said it out loud to Clarke, only once, and he’d laughed at me. Cruelly. You don’t have what it takes, he’d said, and that mean voice was lodged somewhere in my brain.
I wanted to crush it.
“I’ve always wanted to dominate a man,” I said firmly, chin tilted, expecting Gabe to brush it off too. He was big and confident, and my gut instinct was that he was a total alpha in bed, dominating the women he fucked, yanking their hair back as he took them on their hands and knees.
Gabe stared at me for a long time.
“That’s interesting,” he finally said. “Because I’ve always wanted to be dominated.”
Chapter 11
Gabe
The images came back to me. Those middle-of-the-night-fantasies I’d never told anyone about. A bite of pain. My knees pressed to the floor. Sharp commands.
And now here was Josie, fingers an inch from my cock, expressing a secret desire for the exact same thing. My brain fought to catch up with my reality.
“How long have you… how long have you thought about this?” I asked.
“For as long as I can remember,” she whispered. “Too long, Gabe.”
Josie nudged the tip of her shoe up the side of my calf. Then flexed, her spike heel digging into my skin.
I didn’t think it was possible. But my cock grew harder.
I hissed in a breath. Josie noticed. Her fingers slid higher, just brushing my cock.
“How about you?” she asked.
I nodded slowly, more aroused than I’d ever been. More fucking alive. “I think about it every day.”
And suddenly Josie was on her knees, leaning toward me. Hovering those gorgeous lips over mine. “Then I think we should explore this fantasy. Don’t you?”
On pure instinct, I reached forward, curling my fingers around the base of her neck. Our eyes were locked intimately, breath synced. Tension about to snap.
I wanted to explore this fantasy. I fucking needed to.
But just as quickly, a memory slid harshly through my thoughts. Taking home that woman for lackluster, impersonal sex. The lingering loneliness of the next morning. Already, Josie felt like something more than that. Right now, we were a fire about to spark. A match about to be struck.
And the thought of losing that was more painful than delaying this pleasure.
“Wait,” I said, removing my fingers.
She stopped. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I assured. “Absolutely nothing. But I… aren’t you here for one more night?”
She looked startled at the abrupt change in tone. “Um… yeah. Tomorrow night, then we leave.”
I nodde
d, a plan forming in my mind. “Then let’s wait until tomorrow.”
Josie sank further back, brow furrowed. “Why?”
My cock couldn’t believe what I was saying, but it felt right.
“Let me chase you, Josie. Just for tomorrow. Just for one day.”
“Chase me?” she asked, disbelieving.
“Yes. Chase you. Make it more like… a date.”
Josie stood up, reaching for her purse. “I don’t date, Gabe. I fuck, and that’s it.”
I reached for her wrist, stilling her. “Then, shit, okay, we won’t call it a date. But… come hang out with me on your last night. At The Bar. We can spend all night acting out this fantasy we’ve both had for years.”
Josie looked like she wanted to say something. Started to. Stopped. Bit her lip and looked away.
So I stood up, backing her against the nearest wall, both hands on either side of her head. Not touching but almost.
“I’m not blowing you off, Josie,” I promised, ghosting my lips over her ear. She shuddered, arching toward me. “Not at all. Just the opposite, in fact. I don’t want to rush this.”
And then I pulled back. “Don’t you think waiting makes it that much better? That much sweeter?”
I wanted her to see. Wanted her to see that she might just be a stranger passing through but she deserved more.
A myriad of expressions flooded her gaze. Disbelief. Annoyance. Worry, although I couldn’t figure out why. Had something happened to put her guard up?
“Josie,” I whispered, waiting for her answer. She swallowed, shifting from unsure to decisive. Gave me a long look, eyes trailing down my body. Landing on my cock. With deft skill, she reached down and palmed me through my jeans. Gripped tightly and slowly jerked her fingers up.
I almost broke the wall in half.
“Waiting,” she repeated, giving me a half-stroke.
“Yes,” I growled. “Please.”
It was the please that did it. Josie stroked me again, and my eyes closed with pleasure.
“Look at me,” she snapped, and they flew open.
“We can delay,” she said slowly as she worked my aching cock. “We can delay all night, Gabriel. Because tomorrow?” Josie leaned closer, lips hovering over mine. “Tomorrow I’m going to put you on your knees for hours. Make you eat this pussy until I tell you to stop. And if you think I’m going to let you come…”
Fall in Love Book Bundle: Small Town Romance Box Set Page 203
