His Inspiration

by Tanya Gallagher

  The food truck vendor handed over two slices of pizza, and Gabe carried the soggy plates toward the Illusion Arts gallery. He planned to wait outside for Bex, but when he glanced inside the front window, his stomach dropped.

  Bex stood, pressed into a corner, while Kevin brushed the back of his meaty hand against her face. She shuddered, and even from here Gabe could see her mouth form the word, “no.”

  He dropped the pizza—did he, did he not?—and he couldn’t even be sure because he was running toward them, his chest tight.

  “No!” Bex shouted again as he burst through the door. She shoved back against Kevin’s imposing frame, but the man didn’t budge.

  Gabe grabbed the gallery owner by the collar and yanked hard enough to throw him off balance. Kevin stumbled to the floor.

  “What the fuck, man?” Gabe shouted.

  Kevin held up his hands. “It was all a misunderstanding, bud.”

  Gabe’s face contorted with rage. “How the hell do you misunderstand a no?”

  Bex’s hands dropped onto his shoulders and pulled him back, but he could barely feel her. “I’m okay,” she said in his ear.

  He shook himself, and his mind snapped back into his body. He glanced at Bex, who nodded her reassurance. “Are you sure, honey?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  He pulled her to his side and hugged his arm around her, and the two of them turned as one toward the door.

  But then Kevin sealed his own fate. “She asked for it,” he called at Gabe’s back. What a stupid fucking man.

  Gabe’s fist swung out, connecting with Kevin’s jaw before he even realized he was moving. Kevin’s head snapped sideways with a sound like a watermelon hitting the floor.

  “No, bud,” Gabe spat. “You asked for it.”

  He led Bex outside and guided her to a bench around the corner, pulling them both down onto the seat so he could wrap his good arm around her. Her body trembled, and her hands balled into fists in her lap.

  “You okay, honey?” Gabe kissed the side of her face.

  “I’m okay.” Bex’s face was pale, and shock widened her eyes.

  “Well, consider your honor defended.” He shook out his hand, wincing at the sting on his knuckles.

  She gave a shaky laugh. “You just hit your gallery owner.” Then her mouth pulled into a frown of disbelief.

  He couldn’t help the way he cringed. “Probably not my gallery owner anymore.”

  Bex’s frown deepened. “You can’t just do things like that.”

  Was she serious right now? “I can’t defend you?”

  She shrugged. “You can’t beat up a guy just because he got handsy with me.”

  Gabe dropped his hand from her shoulders. “You don’t think he deserved it?”

  She cracked a smile. “Oh no, he did. He was ten seconds away from having his eyeballs pepper-sprayed out of his head.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  Bex’s eyes pled with him, and a bitter tone underscored her voice. “I’ve spent my whole grown-up life convinced I was going to do this thing alone. And I’ve gotten pretty damn good at taking care of myself. I don’t need you to do it for me.”

  Gabe shook his head. “Are you—Are you mad at me? For protecting you? I thought we were in this together.”

  Bex frowned. “We are. It’s just not worth what you lost for me.”

  Was she saying what he thought she was saying?

  He captured her eyes. “You mean you’re not worth it?” His voice came out gruff. “That’s what you mean, isn’t it?”

  Bex looked away.

  “Oh, honey, no. Don’t, for a second, believe that. You’re worth everything.”

  She looked back at him, and a sheen of tears coated her eyes. “That’s a lot of pressure, Gabe. It’s a lot of weight to put on this. This is new to me.”

  “I get it.” He dropped a hand to her knee and squeezed gently. “I’m terrified, too.”

  She snorted. “No, you’re not. You’re always so sure.”

  “I’m terrified of a life that’s not fully-lived. I’m terrified of scaring you off.”

  Bex sighed. “You’re not going to scare me off.”

  “Promise?”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re really something, you know?”

  “I know.” He nudged her shoulder with his. “But wasn’t it a little hot when I kicked his ass?”

  She smiled wider, tilting her head in acknowledgment. “Okay. It was a lot hot, actually.”

  Gabe reached for her waist and pulled her close. “Oh yeah?” He drew his nose next to hers, his mouth an inch away from forgiveness.

  “And he did deserve it,” she conceded.

  “He did.”

  He kissed Bex, long and slow, to steady both of them. The crowd streamed in the background, and the smell of freshly fried food wafted all around them—french fries, funnel cakes, and hamburgers on the grill. As the noise blurred in the background and the world fell away, the kiss turned into something hotter, making desire flare in his blood.

  “I think we just had our first fight,” Bex whispered.

  “Does that mean we get to have our first makeup sex?”

  She smiled and climbed to her feet. Then she put her hand in his and tugged him through the crowd.

  Gabe woke up in his bed, alone, with a throbbing headache and a cut across his knuckles from where he’d hit Kevin last night.

  What the hell had he done?

  It wasn’t just that he had lost this gallery show, but punching Kevin at First Friday where all of the gallery owners could see the commotion? It was just plain stupid. Gabe was going to pay.

  As if the events of last night weren’t crystal clear, the voicemail from Kevin sealed the deal. “Show’s off, bud.”

  Obviously.

  Gabe slammed his fist into his mattress, rolling over to think. He’d needed this show—wanted a way to set himself apart from every other aspiring photographer. Maybe it should be enough to be able to make a living doing what he loved. But for him, there was a difference between doing commercial work and doing personal projects. He wanted to make an impact, leave a legacy larger than himself.

  His brother’s name appeared on the screen of his phone as he was busy deleting Kevin’s message.

  “Is it reasonable for me to live in downtown Vegas or should I aim more towards the suburbs?”

  That’s how Vinny started phone conversations—no preamble, no hello. Just straight to the point. Gabe had learned to accept it over time, but it could still be disorienting if you weren’t prepared.

  “Back up,” Gabe said. “You want to move to Las Vegas?”

  “What can I say, I just miss my big brother too much.”

  “Or you miss the easy ass too much.”

  Gabe could picture Vinny’s grin. “Either way. I’m thinking I can pick up a bartending gig, make some cash, the works. You can help me find a place to live when I come out for your show.”

  Were the fates fucking with him? Gabe closed his eyes for a long beat. “The show’s off, Vinny.” His voice sounded so weary, so resigned.

  “So book a new one. My tickets are non-refundable.”

  “I bet they are.”

  “Jesus, who crawled into your panties and died? Not getting laid enough, my friend?”

  Gabe gritted his teeth. He’d gotten laid last night, actually, pulling Bex into a bar on the way home to fuck her in the bathroom. “That’s not the problem,” he told his brother.

  “Well, I’m coming out either way, so you might as well be prepared for me. Give me something good to tell the people back home about when I start talking about you. Mom keeps asking when you’re going to get your big break.”

  Gabe pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sure thing.”

  “Okay.” Vinny clicked off with no real warning. As he did.

  Gabe should have gone back to bed when Vinny hung up, but his brother had a point. It was Saturday morning, and still too ea
rly for the galleries to be open. First, Gabe would help himself to a giant cup of coffee. Then he’d pick up the phone and start calling to find a home for his show.

  Someone was going to say yes.

  They had to.

  Chapter 21

  Bex looked at Gabe, who stood at her kitchen sink washing dishes from lunch. “Maybe you need to think bigger,” she said.

  He gave her a wicked smirk. “Well, gorgeous, I thought I was thinking bigger.” His voice came out in a husky growl, and he lowered the dish into the sink.

  Bex swatted Gabe’s arm. “I’m not talking about my new present.”

  It still felt weird to say it out loud—my new butt plug—but that’s exactly what Gabe had delivered this afternoon. A string of glass pleasure beads, inspired by their trip to the Trailblazer Gallery and all those glass flowers. He’d brought it over today, wrapped in a velvet bag, and placed it in the refrigerator to cool it down to fight the heat.

  “Artisan-made,” Gabe had whispered. If that’s how he wanted to use his art-world connections, she wasn’t going to complain.

  The beads felt foreign inside her now—bigger than a pinky finger, that’s for sure—but wearing them around her house in just a lacy bra and a pair of cheeky underwear was fun. Risqué and delicious.

  When had it gotten so comfortable to wear almost nothing around Gabe? To let him in on the deep root of her desire?

  The beads pushed against Bex every time she walked, and a low roll of sensation rippled through her. They needed to finish putting away these dishes so she could hurry up and fuck him, but first, she needed him to understand what she was saying.

  “You know I meant about the galleries,” Bex said. She still felt bad about the way things had gone down with Kevin. Not that the bastard didn’t deserve to get hit, but it wasn’t fair that Gabe had to suffer, too. She’d seen Gabe’s art. He was phenomenal. He deserved a chance to show what he could really do. “If the downtown galleries are being assholes, find a different one. Think outside the box. Isn’t that what you’ve been telling me?”

  Gabe grinned. “Yeah. Speaking of boxes and putting things in them…” Bex rolled her eyes. “How about we go find out just how much you can take?”

  He drew her in for a kiss and cupped one hand to the side of her face. He held her chin as his lips brushed fire into hers. Her skin heated, and blood flowed to her core.

  This was a good idea. She never in her life imagined that she’d be standing in her kitchen doing the dishes with a man she’d been intimate with for over a month now. She’d always had a take-it-or-leave-it attitude about getting pleasure from men, but this companionship was a new level for her. Bex was grateful that she’d said yes and given this relationship a chance. Because with Gabe her whole world lit up and became something that much more beautiful. She shouldn’t have let herself run scared for so long.

  “Thought you’d never ask,” she whispered. “If you don’t fuck me soon, I’m going to combust.”

  “I take it the beads are doing their job?” Gabe reached behind her, cupping an ass cheek in each hand and massaging them, the circular motions pushing the beads inside her.

  Bex’s body clenched tight. “Yes,” she moaned, breathless. “They’re doing their job very well.”

  She dropped a hand between them, feeling for Gabe, and her eyes widened at the strength of his arousal.

  The doorbell rang, breaking the moment.

  Seriously?

  Gabe pulled back with a disappointed sound. “You expecting someone?”

  Bex shook her head, her breath shallow. “Maybe it’s just UPS. Leave it.”

  She gave him another deep kiss, and Gabe lifted her onto the kitchen counter, her ass banging down and a spear of pleasure rippling through her from the inside out. He stepped between her legs and circled a thumb high on her clit.

  The doorbell rang again, and then a third time.

  “Fuck,” she hissed.

  “I’m guessing it’s not UPS.”

  She let out a huff of air.

  “I’ll answer it,” Gabe offered. He nibbled her earlobe before he walked away, and Bex took the opportunity to admire the way the clothes pulled over the muscles of his shoulders and his ass as he sauntered to the front door.

  “Get rid of them quick,” she panted.

  Gabe’s toned darkened as he called from the front room, “You expecting Sam?”

  Hearing her brother’s name was like throwing a bucket of water on her desire. Ice water. From the Arctic.

  Dammit, Sam.

  “No,” she called back and dropped off the counter. “Let him in, and I’ll grab some clothes.”

  Bex could hear the two men talking in low voices in the living room as she slipped on a sundress over her underwear. Her frustration kicked up a notch as the butt plug made her quiver with arousal.

  Gabe was most likely getting the third degree out there, and she needed to rescue him. Hell, she needed to rescue herself from this orgasm, which was building and demanding to be felt.

  She strode into the living room as fast as her wobbling legs allowed her and pressed a breathless kiss on Sam’s cheek. Then she stepped back fast, as though he could smell the sex on her.

  “You could have called,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  Sam looked half frozen, darting glances between her and Gabe. “Bad time?”

  She should cut Sam some slack—after all, him interrupting sex hadn’t been a real possibility before because she’d never had a long-term relationship before—but it was still pretty hard to forgive him right now. She was changing. Her friends and family needed to catch up.

  “It’s okay,” Bex said. It wasn’t okay. “I just…need to flip the laundry.”

  “I’ll help,” Gabe volunteered.

  Judging from the hard-on he was trying to hide behind his hands, he had the same idea as her.

  “O-kay,” Sam drawled. “I’ll just help myself to a drink.”

  “You do that,” she called over her shoulder, already walking away. Slowly. So as not to make any incriminating sounds.

  The moment Bex closed the laundry room door behind her, Gabe pounced, wild and feral, finishing what they had started in the kitchen. He pressed her against the wall, kissing her, kissing her, one hand behind the back of her right knee, lifting it so he could access her clit with the other hand.

  “You are so fucking sexy, Bex. I need to fuck you so bad.”

  She nodded, and Gabe spun her around. She managed to turn on the dryer—empty—and the heat and the noise filled the small room as Gabe bent her over, her chest against the rumbling machine, his hard, hot body at her back.

  Gabe slipped a hand up the back of her thighs, higher and higher, into the promised land, pushing her underwear aside and dipping a finger into her slit.

  Bex gasped against the pressure, and her hips circled against his hand. His low groan told her just how very pleased he was with the situation.

  “Hurry, Gabe,” she panted, needing him inside her, needing to be filled. She was so empty without him, and the idea of getting caught made everything that much more urgent, more exciting. Her body responded with a slick wash of arousal. She was soaked for him. Again.

  Gabe gripped her hips, positioning her ass in the air, and she felt so exposed and naked even though she still wore those cheeky panties. Her breath came out in short spurts, and the tumbling racket of the empty dryer just barely covered the sounds she was making.

  Gabe slipped her underwear down her legs, and she stepped out of them. Then he hitched her dress up her back and rubbed a reverent hand over her ass. “Oh, gorgeous.” He rubbed a thumb over the base of the pleasure beads and twirled them gently, and the sensation shot through her body, everything on fire. “This is going to be my cock soon, honey,” Gabe said. “When your ass is all stretched and ready for me.”

  Bex moaned, too loud, and the sensual promise made her even wetter than before.

  Gabe leaned over her body—ha
rd, muscular—and his erection strained between her ass cheeks. “Quiet,” he whispered in her ear.

  She couldn’t help herself, her body so filled with lust, this insatiable desire to fuck. “Please come inside me.”

  He obeyed her, going slow at first so she could adjust to the feeling of him in her cunt, her ass full. He was big anyway, and she was always just stretched to the brim by him, but this was so much more—sensation everywhere, her whole body swept in a wave of goosebumps. It was their first time without a condom, and the feel of him in the hot grip of her body was electric.

  “You okay, honey?”

  “Never better,” she panted, circling her hips back and getting a feel for this fullness and pleasure. Her body was made of stars. Just light and energy. A whole universe of secrets.

  “I’m going to go faster now,” Gabe promised, drawing out and letting her sheath him again. “You’re so tight and wet for me.”

  Oh fuck, it was so, so good. “Keep going,” Bex moaned, a light sweat building on her skin, and he guided her hips, bringing her back onto him so he could fuck her hard. He picked up the pace and the two of them moved like nature, his thrusts pounding into her—hard, hot—her body so very full—his cock, the pleasure beads, her hand stroking her clit.

  “Oh fuck, Gabe, I’m going to come so hard.” Every time he thrust into her, the pleasure beads pushed in deeper, and the double penetration brought her a rush of ecstasy. She was making animal noises now, pants and moans that she couldn’t help, and Gabe groaned into her ear, “Fuck,” his breath hissing out.

  She swirled her hips in his hands, at his touch. From this angle he stroked her from the inside with his cock, a sweet spot inside of her so stimulated she could feel her muscles tightening, the sensation building. She was afraid of this orgasm, of how intense it would be. She was going to explode all over him, she was going to become a supernova of light.

  “Come for me honey,” Gabe commanded.

  Bex kept her fingers circling on her clit, the other hand braced on the dryer, and he thrust into her, and she shattered.

  “Oh god, Gabe,” she moaned, her inner muscles clenching hard around him, rippling, and pulling him over the edge along with her.