Page 15

Chapter

Fourteen

GABE

W rapping my arms around Tara, I hold her as she crumbles emotionally.

For the millionth time, I marvel at how strong my girl is.

Yes, she might be breaking just a little right now, but she will pull herself together, just like she has had to do over and over the past year.

Tara clings to my arms wrapped around her stomach as I slowly rock us side to side.

I hope that Carlos can find this Ned guy and whoever targeted Elio soon so we can end this and my girl can finally start living her life again.

“Thank you,” Tara whispers after a couple of minutes.

She leans her head back against my shoulder.

I kiss the tip of her nose and taste the salt left behind.

“You never have to thank me for supporting you. In fact, it should be me thanking you, Princess.”

Tara sighs and wraps her left arm around my neck.

“For what?”

“Forgiving me.”

Her eyes fly open, and I breathe a sigh of relief when I see a flame in them.

There’s my girl. “Gabe, if Dean and Ned had not raped me or left me for dead, our little fight wouldn’t have seemed so big. I would have eventually found my way back home, or you would have come and got me. We would have talked it out like we did earlier, and I would have forgiven you. The fight became much bigger due to their actions, not yours.”

“I logically know that, but?—”

“No buts Gabe. I’m so damn tired of dealing with all of this. I don’t want to think about any of this for the next twenty-four hours.”

“Then that’s what you are going to do. Come on,” I say, linking my hand with hers.

I pull her behind me toward the front door.

“Better call Reaper unless you want to leave him here.”

She clicks her tongue, and Reaper starts following us.

“Where are we going?”

“Home.”

Sitting outside our home, I watch Tara as she takes in the house.

There is a wistful look on her face.

“What are you thinking about?” Reaching across the console, I take her hand in mine and kiss the back of it before laying it on my thigh.

“How much I missed this place over the year.” She turns her face to look at me.

Her full lips pull up into a smile.

It doesn’t reach her eyes, but it’s better than nothing.

“It hasn’t felt the same since that night.” With another kiss on her hand, I let her go and get out.

Rounding the front of the SUV, I head toward the passenger door.

I reach inside and scoop Tara up into my arms.

“Put me down,” she demands with a laugh.

“Nope,” I say, popping the ‘p.’ I open the back door to let Reaper out of the SUV.

I enter the code that unlocks the front door and kick off my shoes without putting Tara down.

“What are you doing?” she asks when I take the stairs two at a time.

“You said you didn’t want to think about anything for the next twenty-four hours.” I shoulder the door to our bedroom open and straight into the master bathroom.

I place Tara on the sink counter and frame her face with my hands.

“I’m planning to make love to you until your brain turns off and your bones turn to jelly.” Her sky-blue eyes darken, and her thighs tighten, squeezing my upper thighs.

“Gabe,” Tara moans. Lust and need coats my name like snow coats the ground in winter.

Her husky tone and the look in her eyes make me want to abandon the plan and take her right here.

Leaning in, I nip her bottom lip, then lick away the sting.

“But first,” I say, walking backward toward the claw foot tub sitting under the bay window.

Reaching down, I turn on the water until it’s the perfect temperature for her.

“We are going to take a relaxing bath.” Opening the floor-to-ceiling cabinet next to the bath, I grab Tara’s favorite bubble bath and pour a good amount under the stream of water.

I feel her coming up behind me more than I hear or see her.

“I can’t believe you still have all my stuff here.” She plucks the bottle out of my hand and sits it back on the shelf.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” I say while my hands go to the hem of her shirt.

I know she doesn’t want to talk or think about anything that happened last year, but she will figure it out when she notices that all the clothes in the closet are brand new and different from what she had before.

Tara’s right eyebrow raises as she says, “What is it?”

Tossing her shirt to the floor, I squat down and unlace her boots, then slide her pants and panties down her legs.

I keep my gaze on her eyes instead of the expanse of skin I’m exposing.

I quickly strip off all of my clothes before I continue.

Grabbing her hand, I help Tara enter the bath and shut off the water.

After sliding in behind her, I pull her to rest in between my spread thighs.

When I was building the house, I had this tub specially made.

I’m a tall guy who loves to take a bath now and then, but the standard bath is too small for me to be comfortable.

I wrap my arms around her, laying one hand over her heart and the other on her stomach.

Tara places her hands over mine and lays her head on my chest. “After the police declared you dead. Valarie came over and took all of your stuff.”

Tara goes rigid in my embrace.

“What the fuck? Why?”

I pick up the clean wash rag I grabbed earlier and run it over her shoulders, hoping it helps her relax.

“I don’t know. I’m not even sure how she found out where we lived. She didn’t show up at the memorial we held, but the day after, she showed up here. I wasn’t in the right headspace,” I sigh, kissing her wet shoulder.

“I wished I had stopped her, Princess. It wasn’t until a couple of hours after she left that I found my anger, but she was long gone by that time.”

Tara twists in my arms and lays her forehead against mine.

“It was just stuff. All of that is replaceable. All that matters is that I’m back where I belong. I’m here with you.”

A shuddering breath comes from my parted lips as I let myself truly feel all the emotions I’ve been keeping at bay since the moment Tara showed up.

“I almost lost you.” Those words come out broken and low.

“But you didn’t. I’m right here,” Tara moves to straddle my lap and takes my hands in hers.

She presses them to her chest. “I’m right here. Alive. Feel that,” she presses hard against the hand that is over her heart.

“My heart is beating. You didn’t lose me.”

“I don’t ever want to go through that again. Tara?—”

“Oh, my love. Neither of us is going to live forever, but I promise that while this heart beats, I will always be right beside you.”

Needing to be as close as I can get to Tara, I fuse my lips with hers.

Without hesitation, she opens up to me and lets me in.

I soak in the fact that she is here with me.

My hands roam her body.

My lips move to kiss all over her face, down her neck, and across her chest. “I need to be inside you,” I groan as I lick around her ear.

Tara shifts onto her knees, using my shoulders to help keep her steady.

Reaching between us, I line up my dick with her opening.

As she drops slowly down, her tight heat envelops me, squeezing me, and I almost black out from the sensation.

“Mine,” she moans, licking up my neck before biting my pulse point.

I throw my head back and slowly start thrusting.

Thanks to the depth of the tub, most of the water stays inside, lapping gently against us.

I’m positive I’m going to have a hickey when she releases my neck with a pop, but I don’t fucking care.

I will wear her mark proudly, and once it starts to fade, I just might beg her to put another one there.

My hand slides up from her hip, stopping for a second when I get to the scar on her side, but I push on until my palm is over her heart.

I press against her chest to feel the fast pace of its beating.

My thrust never slows as I bring us closer and closer to that pinnacle edge.

“I love you so fucking much,” I say through my pants.

Tara’s head falls back as her channel gets tighter, and her walls flutter around me.

“I love you.” The fire raging through me burns hotter and hotter until my balls draw up tightly, and her walls squeeze me so tightly that I’m barely able to thrust shallowly in and out of her.

Tara falls limply against my chest as we both catch our breath and come down from our shared high.

“Hold on.” I lean forward, hitting the switch that will activate the drain, and stand up.

Making sure to be careful, I step over the lip of the tub and head into the bedroom.

I toss Tara on the bed, not caring that we both are dripping water and bubbles are still clinging to our bodies.

My dick slips out of her, and I already miss her tight heat.

A gasp of surprise and a giggle fall from her parted lips.

She stares up at me through half-closed eyes, but I’m not ready for this to be over.

Leaning over, I grip her ankles and flip her over.

“On your hands and knees,” I demand.

“Yes, Sir.” Tara looks over her shoulder and smirks, knowing precisely what that word does to me.

My dick hardens and twitches.

I wrap a hand around it, giving it a slow pull.

My eyes drink in her body.

Her breasts are just centimeters away from the cover.

Her wet hair is clinging to her shoulders while her back is arched.

She wiggles her ass that is pushed in the air.

Finally, my eyes land on her pink, glinting pussy that is begging to be filled again by me.

“Princess, the dirty things I want to do to you…” I groan and stroke my dick again.

“Do them. I’m not going to break.” Her voice is just as husky as mine, and her breathing is just as labored.

“You don’t know what you’re doing by giving me permission like that.”

The look in Tara’s eyes and smirk tells me she has an idea of what I want to do to her.

“I think I do.”

Instead of kneeling on the bed and sinking back into Tara like I want, I lean over and open the top drawer of the bedside table.

In the past, Tara and I have been adventurous in our sex life, but there wasn’t enough time before she was gone to test all of our limits.

My hand closes over the small bottle, and I toss it onto the bed beside Tara.

When her eyes land on the lube, they grow wide, and I worry that I overstepped her boundaries with my plans to take her ass.

Guess my first thought that she might know what I was thinking is off.

Instantly, I’m on the bed beside her, running my hand up her back.

The heat radiating from her earlier is fading.

“Princess, we don’t have to do anything you aren’t ready for.”

“I’ve…” Her eyes close, and I watch her chest as she takes a deep breath before they open.

Determination swirls in them, making pride grow inside my chest. “I’ve always wanted to try anal with you before?—”

“But?”

“Ned—”

Anger burns away all the lingering lust, leaving nothing behind but the need to see the blood drain from Ned’s body.

I flip Tara over onto her side and pull her to my chest. “Don’t say anything else.” Last night, when she was telling us her story, I thought they might have hurt her there as well based on what she said, but I hoped I was wrong.

Tara buries her face in my chest. She doesn’t cry, but she isn’t relaxed either.

“I hate that they are still taking things from me. From us.”

“Who says they are taking this from us?” I plunge my hands into her wet hair and pull her head back.

I kiss her lips but don’t move to deepen it.

“Make no mistake, there will come a day where I take your ass. But that day isn’t today. There are other things we can do until you are ready for that.”

“You’re too good for me.”

“No, I’m not good enough for you, but I’m selfish enough to never let you go.” Tightening my hold on her hair, I press my lips to hers and prove to her with actions that she belongs to me.