A Question of Love (4 page)

A wave of dizziness washed over her. Never mind the powers of speech, she couldn’t think straight.

“Dreamed of touching you.” His thumb traced the curve of her upper lip. “Tasting you.”

Her breath caught in her throat.

“I’ve dreamed of you. Every night for four years.” Even as he said it he bent forward. She watched, spellbound, as he closed the distance between them. With a soft groan, he pressed his mouth to hers.

She turned to mush. Standing on the footpath beside his car, with his lips on hers, she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think or talk. She could hardly hold herself upright. Her bones dissolved in her legs and her arms lost all structure. Gabe’s lips were on hers—warm, soft and seductive. Gabe. Oh, dear Lord, Gabe.

He drew back to stare into her eyes. “Christ…” he whispered. “I’ve wanted you for four years.” And then his mouth was on hers again, his tongue slipping between her lips, and she melted into him.

God help her, she hadn’t meant to respond, but how could she resist the temptation that was Gabe Carter?

Sensing her capitulation, his arms closed around her, pulling her in even closer, and she lost herself in his immense size, in his taste, in his familiar, spicy scent. Had anyone ever made her feel the way Gabe and Connor did?

All it had taken with them was one kiss, and she was reduced to a trembling wreck. Nothing had changed. Shivers raced through her as Gabe deepened the kiss, reminding her how each cell in her body had always responded to the two men, how every nerve fiber had stood to attention when they touched her.

He lifted her up, curving her body into his. His chest was a solid mass against her breasts, his legs thick and muscled against her thighs. In this position it was impossible to ignore the girth of his erection straining against her belly. Its very presence made her weak-kneed and lightheaded. It also made her horny. Very, very horny.

His tongue danced with hers. His taste filled her mouth. Sex and man.

No one had tasted quite so enticing as Gabe or Connor.

And no one had hurt her quite as profoundly as Gabe.

The thought knocked a little sense into her, giving her the strength to pull away. His arms might have been firm as steel rings around her waist, but the second she struggled against them they relaxed, allowing her to step down. Yet again, Tina was reminded of just how safe she’d always felt with him. No matter his size or his strength, he would never use it against her.

Just like that she was free. Released from the all-consuming embrace that fogged her mind and clouded her body with desire. Her breasts were heavy within the tight constraints of her bra, and her chest heaved in a futile attempt to draw breath.

No one had hurt her quite as profoundly as Gabe.

“You can take me home, thank you.” She stepped back, squared her shoulders and glared at him. Then wished she hadn’t. Glaring at Gabe meant staring him straight in the face. And what a face. His lips, full and succulent at the most platonic of times, were now swollen from their kiss. His eyes were dark and even more hooded than before. Desire seeped from beneath his heavy lids.

Christ, he looked edible. More than edible, he looked downright fuckable. If she didn’t wrap her head around the fact that this was the very man who had stomped all over her heart and her trust, she would jump him. Right here, outside the house of the woman who had just offered her the chance of a lifetime.

“Ah, T, there is nothing I would like more than to take you home.” His words were draped in velvet and served to her with a light sprinkling of breathlessness and a thick promise of sex. “Take you home, strip you of your clothes and your inhibitions and make love to you for the rest of the day.” He swallowed. “The rest of the week.”

Shit. She was gawking again. Staring all bug-eyed at him. And why couldn’t she hold her darn mouth shut? Why’d her jaw have to hang open like some speechless moron who couldn’t put a sentence together? And please, someone—anyone—tell her she wasn’t drooling. Please.

“Take me home and leave me there,” she corrected in a cold voice, embracing her inner bitch. “You’re right. Your thirty minutes is long over.”

Gabe drew back as though she’d slapped him.

For an instant she regretted her unkind words. But just for an instant. “You were true to your word. You did change my life today. And I thank you for that. But…” She bit her lip. “But you’re four years too late, and my sketches were never the part of my life that needed changing.” Her vision blurred, and she had to feign an interest in her sketch pad. She’d be damned if she’d let Gabe know he was still worthy of her tears.

A minute passed, then another. The silence stretched out, fraught with unspoken memories. Neither of them moved.

As though it was the last thing in the world he wanted to do, Gabe nodded. He stepped away from her and opened the passenger door of his car. Tina climbed in.

“Are you still in the same flat?” he asked in a stilted voice once he was in the driver’s seat.

She nodded. Four years and very little had changed. Her address was still the same. Her life was still the same, her feelings for Gabe and Connor were still the same, and the hurt cut just as deeply as it always had.

The five-minute car ride home seemed to stretch into five hours. Several times Gabe opened his mouth as if to speak, and several times he closed it again without saying a word. His hands clenched the steering wheel, the skin over his fists stretched taut and white. Muscles bulged in his arms as he flexed his biceps over and over.

Tina turned her attention to the road and pretended not to notice. She would not weaken her resolve. It didn’t matter how strong the physical attraction still was between her and Gabe, or how much she wanted to invite him home for the week. She would not make herself vulnerable to him again.

“Thank you,” she said formally when he pulled up outside her unit. “Introducing me to Valerie was…thoughtful of you.” She kept her voice restrained. Her earlier excitement about meeting Val had gotten her into trouble. The hot, sensual kind of trouble of which she did not need more. “Would…would you be interested in coming to the exhibition?” How could she not invite him? Without him there wouldn’t even be a show. “Perhaps you could bring Connor along. And Maggie.”

“Maddie,” Gabe corrected, his voice even quieter than it had been earlier. He shrugged. “Perhaps. Send me an invitation?”

Tina gave a short, sharp nod and snapped open her seatbelt.

“I’m sorry, T,” Gabe said before she moved. “I never meant to hurt you, ever.”

She couldn’t deal with the tone she heard in his voice. Was it anger? Frustration? Pain? She didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to give Gabe any more of her time. It would only crack open her heart further and let him creep inside all over again. She had to get away from him.

“Look, no worries,” she said with a casualness she did not feel. “What was, was. Let’s just leave it in the past, shall we?” She braved a glance in his direction and immediately wished she hadn’t.

Gabe looked at her with much the same expression he’d worn when they’d made love—alone—for the first time. Connor had been away for the weekend, and he’d given them his blessing to “have fun”.

Gabe’s brown eyes had burned with a molten fire when he’d laid her down on the carpet and kissed her until her logic receded to the furthest recesses of her mind, and all she could contemplate was Gabe. He’d kissed her until she writhed beneath him, begging for more, and then he’d undressed her, removing each item of clothing with exquisite tenderness. He’d made love to her that day. That day she’d
felt
loved by him—and it was the first time she’d realized she loved him. Him and Connor.

And just look where that dumb emotion had gotten her.

Tina came tumbling back to the present with a resounding crash. She shoved the door open and scrambled out the car. It was time to shove Gabe and her memories back into the past.

“Thank you again. I’ll be sure to get the invitation out to you.” Then she closed the door behind her, turned and walked away.

Chapter Four

Gabe tore away from the footpath, tires screeching. The needle of the speedometer hit over eighty kilometers per hour in less than a minute.

Fuck!

Checking his rearview mirror long enough to ensure there was no one behind him, he veered to the side of the road, slammed on his brakes and stalled the car.

Good fucking thing too, because in this mood he might kill some unsuspecting pedestrian—or himself, overstepping the curves at Bronte and sending the car careening through the barriers and over the sheer rock face of the cliffs into the raging ocean below.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

That had gone about as well as a baby ’roo thrown to a pack of starving dingoes. She’d chewed him up and spat him out. He grimaced. At least she hadn’t spat
at
him. If the look on her face as she climbed out the car had been anything to go by, that was sheer luck on his part.

God, she must despise him. Think him the biggest shit on earth. He’d known he’d hurt when he left her. He hadn’t guessed at how much he’d hurt her. Christ, he’d just wanted to do the right thing. By her and by Connor. She was Connor’s. He’d met her first. He’d told Gabe how much he dug her. No. Connor had never loved her, nor had he intimated that he loved her. But rules were rules. It was either sacrifice a lifetime of friendship with Connor and express his true feelings to Tina, or give up Tina and protect all three of them in the process.

When rules got broken, people got hurt. Connor was his best mate, and Tina was the woman he loved. No way he’d hurt either of them. Easier to just pull away and leave Connor and Tina alone to be happy together. Let him be the only one to experience the pain.

Only that wasn’t how it had played out. His abrupt departure
had
hurt Tina. Badly. Badly enough that she wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Yes, she was grateful for the introduction to Valerie today, but that was where it ended. She didn’t want anything else from him.

She had a boyfriend now, just like she’d had one three and a half years ago when he’d gone in search of her the first time. The man in the coffee shop was one lucky fuck. Sharp blades of jealousy cut at Gabe’s gut. Was it the same guy? Had they been together all this time?

Gabe rubbed his hand over his face, contempt for himself and for Tina’s man souring his mouth. Which was a damn pity, because the last thing he’d tasted was Tina’s sweet breath. Her hot tongue. Just thinking about the kiss they’d shared outside Valerie’s house made him hard all over again. The way she’d collapsed against him, her curves branding his muscles.

Gabe froze.

She’d kissed him back. Opened her soft lips and given as much as she’d taken. She’d fused her mouth to his and kissed him with all the passion and heat of four years ago. Yes, she’d pulled away, come to her senses. That didn’t change the fact that she’d kissed him back.

Gabe threw the car into neutral and turned the key. He’d loved the woman for over four years. He’d finally allowed himself the pleasure of talking to her again, of kissing her again—and she’d kissed him back. No matter how much she might despise him, there was still something somewhere inside her that responded to him. And damned if he wasn’t going to explore it further.

***

Tina slumped when the doorbell rang. Not company. Not now. Please. Her day had gone from bad to worse to unbelievable to nerve-wracking to heartbreaking all in one morning. She had no strength to make small talk with visitors.

One failed relationship in the morning, followed by a surprise visit from an old lover, topped off by an offer of an exhibition was enough excitement to push any woman over the edge.

She put her pad and granite stick aside and stood reluctantly. With a bit of luck it would be someone spreading the word of God, and she could make some polite excuse and get this over and done with. She opened the door.

“Do you love him?”

Shit.

“Do you?”

Her heart performed a series of erratic somersaults. “Love who?”

“The guy I saw you with earlier. The one who kissed you in the coffee bar.”

Anthony?
“I told you already. It’s none of your business.”

“You kissed him, T. For a long time.”

He filled the doorway. His shoulders seemed to reach from one side of the doorjamb to the other. God, how she’d loved running her hands over those shoulders. Loved the feel of his muscles tensing beneath her touch. “You kissed me, Gabe. For a long time. Does it mean you love me?”

His upper lip twisted. “I’ll answer that question later. I just want to know if you love him.”

“Why? What difference does it make?”

“It makes a shitload of difference. If you don’t love him, I won’t regret doing this.”

“Doing wh—?”

Her question was cut off mid-word. Gabe swooped forward and caught her mouth in a fierce kiss. He gave her not a second to object. She was aware of three things. The slamming of a door, a sense of weightlessness as he hauled her off the ground and held her in a tight, all-encompassing embrace, and the sheer glory of his tongue sweeping past her lips.

God, he tasted good. Like the long-forgotten sugar of a childhood treat. Now that she’d sampled it again she wanted more. More, more, more.

Instinct took over. She wound her legs around his waist and kissed him back, licking into his mouth, desperate to devour every last ounce of sweetness. Her nipples tightened as they pressed against the solidness of his chest, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Her groin clenched as her clit ground against him, making her whimper.

He wrenched his lips from hers. “Say it,” he rasped. “Tell me you don’t love him.”

She was incapable of speech. All she wanted was the heat of his mouth back on hers. She sought his lips blindly, found them and locked her mouth to his. His hands were on her ass, molded to her cheeks. The heat from his palms scorched her straight through her jeans. He kneaded her butt, pulling her cheeks apart as far as they’d go within the confines of the denim and then pushing them back together so the string of her thong scraped against her skin. As he kneaded he pushed harder against her, massaging her intimately.

Again he pulled back from her kiss. “Damn it. Tell me you don’t love him.” His eyes were scrunched closed.

She nipped his jaw.

“S-say it.” He dipped her lower, introducing her clit to his rock-hard erection, rubbing her against it until she yelped and heat flooded her pussy.

Shit, she could climax just like this.

“W-want to make you come, T.” He thrust his groin against hers, over and over, sending flaming darts of pleasure shooting straight into her. “Want you to explode in my arms. Just tell me you don’t love the fucker. Please.”

“Don’t…don’t love…him.” She ground down hard against his cock, her clit a mass of sensitive nerve endings. “Ended things…this…oh, God…morning.”

His growl of satisfaction echoed through her ears, and he bucked wildly against her. “Now,” he ordered as his denim-encased cock seemed to grow against her. “Come…” he continued his frenzied thrusting, driving her insane beyond comprehension, “…now.”

She fragmented in his arms, a million pleasure points pulsing through her pussy. Tremors wracked her body as the release tore through her.

“One.” Gabe’s voice echoed through her ears. He walked her backwards and leaned over. Her back touched something soft, and just like that she was sprawled on her couch with Gabe kneeling on the floor before her.

“At least another three,” he told her and stripped off her jeans. Her sodden thong followed seconds later.

God, Gabe was counting. Which meant he wasn’t done making her come. Not by a long shot. Dimly she told herself to get up. To show a little backbone. But her breathing hadn’t yet regulated, and her legs were paralyzed. She couldn’t move now even if she wanted to.

“Gabe!” She groaned as he leaned over her and buried his face between her legs. His tongue was hot and wet against her, soothing. Jeans were not the softest of material, and mashing her pussy against her pants and his, while most erotic, left her requiring just a bit of recovery time. Or better yet—treatment. Warm, moist treatment, that took away the tenderness and replaced it once again with blazing lust. He licked her with a gentleness that touched her heart, and he licked her with a possessiveness that tingled down her spine. Then he licked her with a lust that jarred through her belly and sent shudders shivering through her.

His tongue seduced and teased. It laved and calmed while it caressed and excited. It drove her halfway to heaven, then withdrew, leaving her hanging on the precipice, desperate for release.

“Come for me, Tina,” he said, his breath teasing the lips of her pussy. “Now.” He licked her again, and she dissolved around his tongue, tremors of ecstasy flowing through her.

He gave her no recovery time. As the waves of her orgasm shuddered through her, he dipped two fingers inside her. Her inner walls reacted on instinct, clamping down around them. Christ, it shouldn’t feel so familiar after four years. So right. But it did. So right, her body tumbled into a fresh set of tremors.

Her head was a jumble of confusion. Chaos reigned supreme. She couldn’t think straight, couldn’t remember why it was so important she keep her distance from Gabe. Why on earth would she want to stay away from a man who could bring her to climax three times in minutes? What had he done that was so bad?

She knew he’d done something, knew it was serious enough that the pain had not subsided for a very long time, but details eluded her. Most everything escaped her now, apart from the play of his tongue against her pussy lips.

He turned her, seating her upright so she leaned against the back of the couch. He spread her legs and propped her feet up on his shoulders, exposing her core completely to his invading tongue. He made love to her with his mouth, adored her, played symphonies on her inner lips. And then he cupped his hands beneath her ass and lifted her hips higher, dragging his tongue just a couple of millimeters lower. He tickled the crevice between her butt cheeks before dipping in to taste her ass.

The breath left her body in a loud sigh. God knew Gabe was gifted with his mouth. Vestal virgins couldn’t—wouldn’t—resist his sweet assault. Bright light flooded through her closed eyes, exploding in tiny bursts of white. Sensation pooled and built between her legs. His tongue sampled and seduced, bringing her to new heights of pleasure. If her pussy had swelled and shuddered, her ass tingled and trembled. His tongue felt like hot liquid teasing its way past the tight ring of muscle to dazzle her inner walls. If she could have pulled him in deeper, trapped him there, she would have. But the sensation was too exquisite, the fever running too high. He pushed one finger inside her ass and one inside her pussy, intensifying the pleasure a thousandfold. The ceiling above her spiraled out of sight, and the couch below her vanished. He chose that moment to run his tongue over her clit, and once again she broke around him. Her body spasmed out of control. The air was whipped from her lungs. She spun weightless in the air, connected to earth only by the sinful hand and mouth of Gabriel Carter, lover extraordinaire.

And when the climax receded she collapsed backward onto the couch, bamboozled.

Strong arms lifted her from her resting place and carried her through her flat. The soft cotton of her bedspread cushioned her butt as Gabe laid her on the bed.

She pushed herself up into a sitting position, trying to make sense of the last few minutes, but Gabe was having none of it.

“I’m not done yet,” he told her, his voice deeper than usual and a little breathless. “I intend to make you come again. At least twice more. But this time I won’t use my fingers or my mouth. This time you’ll find your pleasure in a very different way.”

As he spoke, he unbuttoned her blouse and pushed it off her. Then he unclipped her bra and tossed that aside so she lay naked before him. He swallowed as he took in her naked body, his eyes sweeping over her.

“Gabe…” Her voice trailed off. She had no idea what to say to him. She should tell him to stop, but God help her, she didn’t want him to. What she wanted were those other orgasms he promised her.

“Christ, T. You’ve got me so aroused I’m ready to burst a nut here.” He undid the buttons of his jeans and twisted the waist. “Pants…too bloody…tight,” he gasped. “I want so badly to fuck you. I want to slide into your pussy and lose myself in your body. Like I used to. Want it so bad I can almost feel your wet heat around my dick.” Gabe closed his eyes for a second and grimaced.

Tina moaned. God, she wanted that too. Wanted Gabe to press his glorious cock inside her. Wanted him to fuck her like he used to, until she came, screaming his name—or Connor’s—in sheer ecstasy. She bent her knees and drew her thighs apart, her legs preparing for the sensual onslaught.

Gabe ran his finger over her engorged clit and swore. “Not gonna do it,” he said in a strained voice. “Not gonna hurt you again.”

Tina’s heart dropped even as sensation charged through her pussy. He’d promised her more orgasms!

He played with her clit, tracing tiny circles around it with his huge finger. “But I am gonna make you come. And I’m going to watch as every tremor wracks your body. I’m going to watch as your nipples harden into tight buds and your skin breaks out in goose bumps.”

Tina gulped. When it came to sex she had no doubt Gabe would follow through on every promise. But if he wasn’t going to fuck her then how—

“May I open the drawer beside your bed?” He dipped his finger between her pussy lips and drew it back up over her clit.

Ah! Waves of heat flooded through her as she nodded. The goose bumps he’d just mentioned began to creep up her back and over her arms.

“Close your eyes, T,” he instructed, his fingers still seducing her.

Her lids drifted shut.

Gabe pulled away from her, leaving behind a dull, empty ache where his hand had been. She heard the soft rumble of the drawer opening and then the sounds of plastic knocking against wood and glass pinging against glass.

And then there was silence.