Page 76 of This Kind of Forever

Surprise etches itself in his expression, but it quickly gives way to satisfaction. That almost makes him…happy?

“Say the word and I won’t, but if you’ll let me, I want to make you feel good, baby. Show you what all those other guys have been stupid enough to miss.”

I have the urge to laugh at that.Allis generous. I’ve slept with two men in my entire adult life.

“And if you don’t like it,” Gabe continues, “then I keep exploring until I find something you do like.”

Cheeks flaming, hands fisting the sheets beneath me, I nod. “Okay. You can…proceed.”

I can’t look at him, so I stare at the ceiling. I feel his hair brushing the insides of my thighs, and I squirm as it tickles. But I soon stop moving altogether as he spreads me open and traces a path up my slit with his tongue.

“Relax, baby,” Gabe says. “Let me make this good for you.”

I try to do as he says. Try to force my muscles to unclench. But it isn’t until he does another pass with his tongue that my hips buck involuntarily, and I let out a surprised gasp, fisting the sheets once again.

Holy shit.

He laps and sucks, and I fall victim to the intensity of my building orgasm. Although it’s getting closer, it still feels out of reach.

“Gabe,” I whisper.

“Yeah, baby?”

“I… I need something, um, more?”

Voicing my needs like this is new, but I feel safe doing that with Gabe. He makes me feel safe.

With his thumb, he circles my clit. “Better?”

“Mhm.” I pinch my eyes closed. “Just a little more.”

He slips two fingers inside me, and I bite my lip at the stretch. I try to shift, my instinct being to squirm, but he has me pinned down, which only excites me more.

“How’s that?” he asks.

I nod. “Yes. Good,” I croak.So good.

With his fingers now pumping into me, when he returns his mouth to my clit, my hips buck again. My cheeks flame, but Gabe doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seems to be enjoying himself.

“Oh, God, Gabe. I can’t— I?—”

I squeeze my eyes shut as my orgasm slams into me, covering me in pleasure from head to toe. My thighs tremble, and my hips protest at being held open at this angle, but I don’t care. Because that feltotherworldly.

Or maybe it’s not even the fact that he went down on me. Maybe it’s just that after so many years of thinking I won’t ever get to experience this, sex with Gabe is actuallyhappening, so my body is overwhelmed with pleasure and a giddy kind of euphoria.

Gabe sits up, licking his lips. Lickingmefrom his lips. My knees knock together as I close my legs and push up onto my elbows. I almost ask,What now?But my question is already answered when Gabe slides from the bed and starts removing his pants. Then his underwear.

And then,oh my God, I’m seeing my best friend’s brother naked.

I’ve fantasized about this moment far more than I care to admit, but nothing could have prepared me for the way I would feel when I saw Gabriel Bowman’s cock for the first time.

My thighs press closer together, and the nerves suddenly hit me full-force. This is something we can’t come back from. I mean, he’s seen me.Allof me. More than that, though, I think I’m scared by how much I want this. And I want ita lot.

“Hey.” Gabe’s voice is gentle, and my worried gaze meets his. “We can stop, Hallie. If this is too much, we won’t do anything else.”

Moving forward is scary, but… My eyes trail down his body, admiring the muscles he maintains for work, and land on his hard cock. That ache in me grows, and I know that as much as I’m nervous about going all the way, stopping right now would be an absolutecrime.

“I don’t want to stop,” I tell him. “I need you.”