LOUDER: A Contemporary Romance
Page 7
“Do you like it?” He whispered in her ear, his breath cool and full of the scent of the sea.
“I want it now,” she moaned, and he pushed himself a little further inside.
“Damn,” he hissed appreciatively as she arched to greet him. “All of it?”
“All of it,” Gabby commanded, and he sank into her to the hilt. His cock was wide and long, and she cried out as he filled her. His strong arms wound beneath her and lifted her back off of the bed, her thighs landing on his thighs. Carefully, Echo took her with powerful strokes, and Gabby bit his shoulder to keep from screaming. The lovely stir of lightening in her belly returned...His hands held her ass as he began to pound her, and her head rocked on her neck like a leaf in a storm. “Give it to me, Echo--please, please please--” All of her cleverness and arrogance melted away as she begged him to fuck her senseless, her mouth forming wordless pleas of sheer sound and desire. Sweat spattered her chest as he held her close, smearing himself into her. Echo kept her suspended in the air as he rammed into her, harder, faster, faster, harder, feeling her pussy clench with an undeniable hunger. He opened his eyes and looked at her with his stormy gaze. The intensity pushed her over the edge and she came, screaming his name, her legs tight around him as he filled her. Echo grunted as he stiffened inside, preparing to follow her lead, and came as her aftershocks squeezed him. They were both gasping for air when it was over.
For a while, neither of them could move. Finally, Echo rolled over to watch her face. Her eyes were closed, her breath rhythmic; he wasn’t sure she was awake. Then she spoke. “Please...” Gabby whispered, “no more tricks. No surprises.”
“Hmm,” Echo said, reaching over to trace her lips with one of his fingertips.
“I mean it,” Gabby said, intending to sound fierce but coming off as exhausted. “Promise me. Pinky swear.”
“No surprises ever?” His mouth quirked into that small half-smile, but his eyes were no longer blank. They drank her face in with a shine that could only be... “Can’t promise that.”
Gabby rolled onto her belly to try and glare at him; it didn’t really work. “Why not?”
“I don’t like lying,” he said slowly, letting his fingers now spread across her back, tracing lazy hieroglyphs. “And I like surprises. So.”
“Come on, Echo,” Gabby said sadly. “All this stuff about checking me out, and talking to people I know...”
“A lot of that was strictly professional,” Echo said, keeping his hand where it was. “Some of it might’ve been a little...”
“Hypocritical, considering all the shit you were giving me when you thought I might be eavesdropping on you.”
“Maybe.” Echo met her eyes again. “I was gonna go with ‘obsessive.’ ‘Infatuated.’” She stared at him. “I never imagined you would be so good, Gabby. I never thought you would be everything you are, and even after I knew, I didn’t think it would be smart...” Suddenly he sat up. “You know I have a daughter? And you know she is everything to me?” Gabby nodded. “Darris and Casey are my family,” he said darkly, “and if anyone...Anything...Ever...”
“I understand,” Gabby said.
He sighed. “A lot of women have said that. And then, they start getting crazy about my money. They don’t understand the time I spend on the road. They don’t know the worst of themselves, till they see all that gold.” His eyes narrowed.
“I don’t want your damn gold,” Gabby said, frowning.
“I know,” Echo said, and his face slowly lit with the smile she loved. “You wanna make your own damn gold. I know.” He leaned in and kissed her slowly. “Old habits die hard.”
“That habit sucks,” Gabby said, seriously. “If you want to be…” She lapsed, unable to make herself finish the sentence.
“I want to be with you,” he said softly, and there was a tenderness in his eyes she’d never seen before. Moonlight on the stormy sea. “If you’re telling me I need to learn how to trust you, I’m going to try. I’ll try most anything to be with you, Gabby, if you want me to.”
She nodded.
His eyes flashed—that same instantaneous mix of hurt from before—and she knew what he needed. Tell me if you like it. “Yes. Yes, I want to be with you, too.”
He gazed at her for a long moment. “I think I could fall in love with you, Gabby,” he said softly, but his eyes were suddenly fierce, as if this time he were daring himself to say it. “I want to fall in love with you. I been crazy about your talent for years, I have mad respect for you, and I just, I think I…”
“I think I love you too, Echo,” she whispered, kissing his palm. His eyes shut tightly, and when he opened again he moved even closer to her, so that their breath mingled.
“Michael,” he said quietly. He couldn’t feel anything, see anything, that wasn’t her. It felt like…Heaven.
“I think I love you too, Michael,” she whispered.