Page 15

“Yes, Carter.” It was so typical of her to push his buttons in all the right ways to almost tip him into it with an innocent question. He was already forgetting his hesitation, his need to drive all that doubt out of her body overriding his discomfort.

She nodded, almost to herself, and then said something unexpected. “You like to take care of me.”

It didn’t seem to be a question, so he didn’t answer. Of course he liked to take care of her. When she was hurt or upset, no other thought occupied his brain than the urge to make it better for her.

She pushed up onto her knees and tugged her fingers from his to place both of her hands on his chest. If she had done something seductive or tried to slide her touch lower, he might have panicked, but she didn’t do that.

She just leaned into him, her head nestling just below his, her breath a soft caress against his skin.

He stepped forward instinctively, his hands shaping to her waist, his erection wedged between them, twitching for attention in a rebellion against his mind.

She tilted her head up into the crook of his neck. “I’m aching,” she whispered, her husky voice washing over him. “I hurt so much. You made me feel so good and then left me empty. You said you wanted to be my boyfriend and then rejected me. Again . My heart hurts, Gabe.”

She was telling the truth, but she was lying. He could feel the pain of her heart through the bond, but he was sure it wasn’t rejection. His mind slowly went blank as she pressed desperately against him, her skin almost feverish.

“I need it,” she whined, breaking him.

He didn’t even consciously start kissing her again, but suddenly their tongues were tangled and his hands were gripping the soft flesh of her ass, picking her up to use her body for the friction he needed. They both groaned and he lifted her up higher, needing to taste her skin again .

His mind was blank of anything except the need to hear her pant and scream into that pillow again, but Isobel apparently wasn’t done.

“G-Gabe,” she gasped, tugging at his hair until he raised his eyes to hers again. “You don’t have to do this. If you don’t want to. I have … other … I mean, I have other options.”

He tossed her onto the bed, his eyes narrowed as he crawled over her. His body was on fire, his patience evaporated in a scorching blaze. He bent up her leg and caught her throat with his other hand.

“Tease,” he accused darkly, pausing with his cock notched at her entrance, so silky and wet he slipped in an inch before he caught himself and stopped, clenching his jaw so hard it hurt. “You’ll pay for that.”

“No, I won’t.” She was pawing at his chest, just as lost as him, trying to urge him in all the way. “You love it when I’m smart.” She closed her eyes on a frustrated sigh. “I’m going crazy here.”

She wasn’t even trying to pull him out of his mind anymore, and he groaned, forcing himself another inch deeper, enjoying the way she rippled and clenched against him.

He cursed. “You’re fucking tight.”

“You’re just oversized,” she accused, though there was a small wrinkle of pain in her forehead.

Her pout was adorable, and he flexed another inch deeper on instinct.

His poor girl’s body might have been perfect in every way, but it wasn’t exactly designed to accommodate Alpha sizes.

He turned his attention to her clit, rubbing until she was squirming all over the place, her skin flushed, rose petals sprinkled over cream, shallow pants falling from her swollen lips like frustrated little puffs.

His dick lurched, urging him to sink deep and claim this vision beneath him before she slipped away, but he kept a leash on his control, flexing in only another inch.

The more desperate she became, the more the tension loosened from his body, replaced by a burning urge to drive her further and further until she shattered.

He dragged his other hand along her body as he continued with increasing pressure on her clit, digging his fingers into the firm swell of her breast and scraping his nails over her ribs.

At the first catch of sound breaking from her throat, he fell forward, covering her mouth with his and smothering the loud moan.

The orgasm ripped through her, and he drove himself all the way into her at the same time, thrusting all the way through it and doing his best to cover her sounds.

It felt like she was sucking him in, trying to massage the orgasm out of him, but he forced it back, driving into her body at a punishing pace.

“Fuck, sorry,” he growled, aware that he was pouring too much emotion into this.

It wasn’t a build-up of months for them.

It was years. It was the first time he saw her dance, and the day she pulled herself naked from the lake looking like a sad little painting.

It was her wet skin in the shower and her maddening little moans in his ear.

It was the way she had responded to Kalen’s hands and ropes, like a secret place inside her heart had been unlocked, turning her into a moving piece of art that only they were allowed to touch.

It was the way she gyrated on Oscar with all of them watching. The way she got off on it, like the little brat she was. It was her clever, beautiful brain and her soft, iron-clad heart.

It was the fact she still hadn’t said it back, even though he had said it to her several times now.

He fucked all of his pent-up emotion into her body, and she accepted all of it, welcoming it with soft touches and tear-stained eyes. Her moans turned broken as she reached another peak, her body tightening and arching into him, her nails scoring his sides.

She pulled his face down to hers and gasped the words he needed against his lips, “I love you, Gabe.”

He groaned, the release exploding through his body, his hands fisting in the twisted sheets so that he didn’t hurt her as he kissed her over and over, trying to taste those words again.