His Inspiration

by Tanya Gallagher

  She nodded and looked at him through her lashes. “I’m going to need that, too.”

  Chapter 17

  Gabe lowered the camera, his gaze on hers so hungry that Bex had to close her own eyes for a moment to steady herself. She had read, once, that a hummingbird’s heart can beat over twelve hundred times per minute, while a human’s only beats around eighty times. But her heart pounded in her chest so quickly right now that she was pretty sure she had a hummingbird heart of her own.

  “Are you sure, Bex?”

  Was she going to do this?

  She was.

  She wanted Gabe more than she had wanted anything—anyone—for a long, long time. And he stood there quietly, radiating with sensual promise and offering her everything she’d denied herself.

  She had brought lingerie to change into for today’s shoot, but when she’d slipped off her dress a few moments ago, putting on fancy underwear hadn’t felt right. She hadn’t wanted artifice in these pictures. She’d just wanted nature. And there was nothing more natural than fucking Gabe, than letting him into her inch by glorious inch.

  God, she was drenched just thinking about it.

  Bex opened her eyes to find his heated gaze on hers. “I’m sure. I guess it’s a good thing I’m already naked for you.”

  Gabe tucked his camera into his shoulder bag and lowered the case to the ground. “Guess it’s a good thing I’m already hard for you.” His voice scraped every nerve. And he was hard—she could see it from here—the outline of his cock straining the fabric of his shorts.

  God, yes, please.

  “Come here,” Gabe said, and she stood on trembling legs. Maybe there was something to what he’d said earlier about control. Maybe letting him take charge today would be what she needed. Because he knew so damn well how to make her body sing. She remembered. She missed the feeling.

  She walked across the rocks to him, her hair floating out on the breeze. The air smelled like plants, like warming stone, like sunlight.

  Gabe reached for her, slanting his mouth over hers and taking her. She yielded, her eyes fluttering closed and her pulse skyrocketing. She felt like a fragile thing in his arms—so naked while he was clothed—but so fucking powerful, too.

  Gabe reached a hand between them and tested her swollen skin. His breath hissed out. “Wet for me, too?”

  She moaned in response and threw back her head. He took the opportunity to trail a line of kisses over her collarbone, up her throat, and below her ear. Every sensation felt amplified by her exposure to the elements. She was so vulnerable, so totally in his control.

  Gabe dipped a finger inside of her, and another moan ripped from her mouth. He breathed heavily as he spread her arousal onto her clit, circling tight so the whole world coiled down into this bundle of nerves. It didn’t matter that she was naked outside and anyone could see them. It mattered that he kept going, kept touching her, bringing her higher and higher. Fuck, she needed this. She needed him. How had she ever thought differently?

  “Please Gabe,” she moaned, and he smiled.

  “Please what?”

  “Please fuck me.” Bex reached for his shorts, unbuttoning them and helping him loose from his boxer briefs.

  “I’ve waited a long time to hear you say that to me.” He grinned. “Sober.”

  “Well, I’m saying it now.”

  Gabe pressed a kiss against her hair and stepped back to reach into his camera bag. A flash of sunlight reflected off the foil.

  “Lucky condom,” he breathed.

  “Lucky indeed.”

  He stalked forward and lifted her, carrying her until her back pressed against the stone. She kept her hand wrapped around him as they walked, stroking him into his own oblivion.

  “Oh, gorgeous,” he groaned. “What are you doing to me?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?”

  They smiled at each other, here together. Gabe dropped Bex only long enough for her to roll on the condom before he lifted her again. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, and he pushed into her—fuck—an inhale, Gabe groaning in her ear.

  “Holy shit, Bex.”

  “I know,” she whispered. She took a quiet minute, breathing a shallow exhale as she adjusted to his size.

  This was everything.

  Gabe withdrew, and she felt bereft. She rocked her hips against him, asking, pleading with her body.

  More. More. Please.

  He drove into her again, and her ass hit the stone wall behind them. She was at his mercy as he held her, his arms protecting her from the stone. And it was only them, together in the desert—his body filling her, fucking her, loving her. Their mouths together, filled with heat and light, and the sounds of their ragged breath, their bodies coming together. Somewhere a bird called. Somewhere the earth spun.

  But right here, her heart cracked open.

  Gabe took a step back, supporting Bex’s body, and she whimpered. “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “You’re getting scratched.”

  Was she? She hadn’t felt it. All she could feel was him.

  Oh god, she was going to beg him if he didn’t start fucking her again.

  But Gabe set her on her feet and lay on the ground, pulling her down on top of him. She straddled him with a smile, knees on either side of his body, and sank onto him. His cock pushed at her from the inside, and he held his hands on her hips to guide her.

  Bex leaned down to kiss him, and he framed her face with his hands like she was a portrait. “Let’s do a lot more of this, okay?” he asked, and she smiled against his mouth, nodding because they fit. Because somehow this—here, with him—felt like coming home.

  Bex leaned back, and Gabe lifted her by the hips, bringing her up and down on his fantastic cock, guiding her until they found their rhythm.

  In and out, up and down, her body so close to coming. The sun rose on her skin, and her heart pounded in her chest.

  Gabe moved one hand to her breast and flicked her nipple, while he kept his other hand between her thighs. He stroked her clit as she rode him, and her muscles, her muscles wouldn’t hold, and she trembled, so close to pieces she was going to shatter apart.

  “Gabe,” she moaned.

  “I’m here with you, honey. It’s okay to let go.” He kept up his barrage, his fingers flying over her clit, effortless, his breath coming heavy, her breath coming heavy, until finally she shattered, coming and coming and coming.

  “Fuck, Bex, I’m going to lose it,” Gabe whispered. She clenched her inner muscles, and his eyes screwed shut, his mouth opening in a soundless gasp as he filled her with heat, his cum pulsing into her, her body still riding on a high.

  She collapsed onto Gabe’s chest. Her heart and his. This day. This everything.

  “Oh god, Bex,” he whispered into her hair. It sounded like a prayer. Like a thank you.

  They lay like that for a long minute, her cheek pressed against his solid chest. Bex didn’t want to ruin this quiet moment, but she couldn’t help the tear rolling down her cheek, the feeling of everything breaking at the same time that it came together in her mind.

  She could taste the tears in her mouth—salty like the ocean she hadn’t visited in years.

  “Oh, no, beautiful.” Gabe’s voice was like a heartbreak.

  “I’m no good at this,” she whispered.

  “At sex?” He groaned. “You just about blew my sorry mind.”

  She gave a shaky laugh. “At relationships. And that’s what you want, isn’t it? Everyone in my life gets hurt.” It was easier to say the words when she wasn’t looking him in the eye.

  Gabe’s body stilled underneath her cheek. “Look at me,” he commanded.

  Bex lifted her head, and he caught her hands, kissing her fingertips before tracing them along the tiny silver scar at the base of his throat.

  “You can’t hurt me, Bex. Life’s already done that for me. We’re both going to be okay.”

  “Promise?” she asked, and
he nodded like he wanted to give her the whole world.

  “We’re going to be okay.”

  “Okay,” she whispered back. She trusted him, she wanted him. And maybe that was enough. “Okay.”

  Chapter 18

  Gabe pushed his chair back from his desk, and Bex smiled at him from his computer screen. He’d pulled the images from their photo shoot into his computer to select the best shots for processing, and staring at her, here—naked and gorgeous, with the morning light glowing on her skin—felt like sharing an intimate moment with her. Only she wasn’t here right now, and she should be.

  He tossed his phone from hand to hand before dialing. It was only yesterday that he’d dropped her back at her place, made love to her again on the couch in her living room, shadows spilling across the wall. He felt like the whole thing was one long date, yesterday blending into today. Was that how people built a life together—day by day?

  A vision of Bex in her white dress sang to him. He was going to sound too eager if he called her now. Except he was eager. So why the hell lie about it?

  “Hello?” Bex’s voice on the line was like a light in the morning.

  “I’m about to look at your pictures.”

  The purr of her voice. “Is that so?”

  “Yes, but I keep feeling like it’s not fair that I get to look at these alone.”

  “Well, I’d love to come look at them. But I have a thing at my house at noon. Want to come over and show me them here?”

  Yes, he did.

  “There’s nothing I’d like more.”

  Bex opened the door wearing a pair of cutoff jean shorts and an emerald green tank top, her hair piled on her head in a bun.

  “Morning, gorgeous,” Gabe said. Bex hadn’t told him when to come over, so he’d arrived early. He was going to drink in every moment with her. Why the hell not?

  “Morning,” came her smile back.

  She held the door open for him. “Maybe you can set up in my office?”

  Gabe nodded and carried his laptop into her house. Most of the time he avoided showing his images raw, and he waited until the photographs were perfect before he displayed them for anyone. The processing you did was half the magic of photography. In post-production you could manipulate colors and make everything seem like real life, but better.

  But he pulled out a chair for Bex and located the images of her on his computer. The laptop screen cast its glow onto her skin, and she looked luminous and content as she sat beside him.

  They flipped through the photographs, and Gabe grew more and more nervous because she didn’t say anything and her pretty eyes filled with tears.

  At last, they reached one of the final images from the shoot. It was a photograph that Gabe had taken after they’d had sex—a picture just for him. Her body was relaxed, and her face was soft in those moments just before she’d pulled her dress back on.

  “I look…” Bex’s voice trailed off. She started again. “I look adored.” She pressed a hand against her lips, and her voice wavered. “How come you look at everything like it’s beautiful?”

  He pressed a kiss to the soft curve of her shoulder. “Because everything is beautiful. Even the dark, ugly parts you want to hide. They’re proof of a life you’re living.”

  “I want to live,” she said, scraping her hands through his hair. “Maybe I’ve spent all this time just existing because it felt safer.”

  He nodded with his lips still on her skin. “There are no guarantees in life. I think we both know that to be true.”

  A raw laugh burst from her. “Yes.”

  Gabe pulled back and captured her eyes. “So live with me, Bex.” He spun her chair to face him, letting Bex see his face, so open for her. She looked terrified, but also half in love. “Love with me. And I’ll show you how beautiful it all is, too.”

  She smiled and reached for him, pressing a kiss on his lips. “You sure know how to talk pretty, Gabriel Marx.”

  “I know,” he teased. “Speaking of pretty. I can’t wait to show these off.”

  She bit her lip. “Even the naked ones?”

  “I’m going to be honest with you, honey. I don’t really want to share you with the world. But these pictures…” They could make my career.

  “No, it’s okay.” She nodded at him. “Just maybe not the last one.”

  His shoulders loosened, and he kissed her forehead. “Deal. You are an angel.”

  She smiled. “So where are they going to be shown?”

  “The Illusion Arts Gallery. I was hoping to take you there today.”

  “Sounds like a date, Gabe.” There was a smile in her voice, on her lips.

  Gabe shook his head and teased her back. “It’s not a date. It’s a business meeting.”

  Bex snorted. “Right. How is it that you can sound so convinced when you’re talking out of your ass?”

  He dropped his hands to her bare knees. “Is that a yes, then?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Okay. If you can wait until after lunch. There’s a crowd coming if you’re okay hanging around.”

  “It would be my pleasure.”

  Bex led him into the kitchen and hauled an old waffle iron onto the counter with a thunk.

  “Waffles?” he asked.

  “And bacon.” She lifted a shoulder. “It’s a thing.”

  “Okay, then.”

  Gabe sliced strawberries while Bex manned the waffle iron, and somehow, when Sam and Aderyn and Emma and Colton piled into her house, he wasn’t surprised. For as much as Bex claimed to keep her heart to herself, it was wide open—filled to the brim with loving her friends and family.

  She deserved that kind of open love back. He was going to give it to her. They were already getting so much closer. After yesterday in the desert, everything had shifted. Everything was starting to mean more.

  “You again,” Sam said without heat as he ambled into the kitchen. Bex had moved into the dining room to set the table, leaving Gabe and Sam alone.

  “Me again.”

  “You better take good care of my sister.”

  “Oh, god. Stop it, you two,” Bex shouted from the other room. Gabe grinned, picturing her cringe and the way she would be rolling her eyes.

  He looked back at her brother. “It’s nice that you’re so protective of her.” His stomach clenched. “I’m not used to having people to answer to.”

  “No?”

  Gabe stiffened. “I’ve only been in Vegas a few years, so I’m more of a lone wolf at this point.”

  Sam’s hand landed on his shoulder. “We’re sort of a pack, here, Gabe.”

  “I can see that. And for the record, I don’t plan to hurt her.” But what if he did? Bex was terrified of bad things happening, but he knew as well as anyone that there were things he couldn’t control. Like the possibility of getting sick again.

  Sam nodded. “Good man.”

  Gabe followed Sam into the dining room, but his chest felt tight. What if he became the thing she was so scared of?

  Bex smiled at him from across the table and pulled out a chair for him. He forced the thought away and took his seat.

  They all sat, elbow to elbow at Bex’s dining room table, eating waffles and drinking mimosas and beer. Gabe remembered the uneaten pancakes he had cooked for Bex. Maybe this was a breakfast-food truce. So far, today had brought him much, much better results.

  At two o’clock, Bex started cleaning the table, which didn’t seem that unusual until Emma called her out on it. “Is this a sign that we should be leaving? Are you kicking us out?”

  Bex blew a hair out of her face. “No, just, Gabe was going to take me on a business meeting. And I don’t know what time we’re supposed to get there.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Bex blushed, which made Gabe smile.

  “We’re good until five,” he told her.

  “So you guys can stay,” Bex announced.

  Emma rolled her eyes and drained her mimosa. “We’re taking the hint.”

&nbs
p; “Are we?” Sam asked.

  Aderyn steered him by the elbow toward the door. “We are.”

  “Same time, same place, next week?” Colton asked.

  “Of course.”

  Bex gave her friends a round of kisses and hugs, and then she was Gabe’s again.

  “You still want to see the gallery?” he asked.

  “Well, that’s why I really invited you to stay for lunch. Not for your talent or your amazing body. For your insider status.”

  “My amazing body?” he teased.

  Bex shook her head. “Let’s go.”

  The gallery, to Gabe’s relief, did not disappoint. Bex’s mouth rounded in an O as she stepped inside the Illusion Arts gallery.

  “I have to admit, you are good at surprises.”

  His chest warmed, and he whispered down by her ear, “I know. Although, I think your surprise in the desert was the best one yet.” He nibbled her ear, and she squealed, her laughter like sunlight.

  “Gabriel Marx.”

  The two of them spun to see Kevin descending the stairs from the gallery’s upper level. Kevin sure did like a power play, didn’t he?

  “And who is this young lady?”

  Smart ass. Kevin knew who Bex was. He’d seen the pictures, and she didn’t have the kind of face you forgot.

  Gabe kept his hand on the small of Bex’s back. “My friend, Bex Kingsley.”

  An uncomfortable look crossed Bex’s face, and he wasn’t sure if it was because Kevin pressed a kiss on the back of her hand or because of what he’d said.

  “Always a pleasure to meet such a beautiful woman.” Kevin laid it on thick and oily, and Gabe swallowed a spike of anger.

  “Any chance you have a moment to talk in the back, Kevin?”

  The gallery owner looked between him and Bex. “Yeah, okay.”

  They strode toward the back room, but even though this meeting was Gabe’s idea, Kevin was the one to speak first. He slouched against the back wall of his storage room. On the shelf at his back lay a stack of mats, a coiled measuring tape, and extra brochures to fill the caddy out front. “That’s the girl. You sleeping with her?”