Accompanying Alice (38 page)

Realization dawned slowly. A low animal growl emanated from deep in Gabriel’s throat, and he laced his fingers in her hair, pulling her head back where he could see her. Love and passion filled her face, but there was something else, too. Invitation, fierce and joyful; surety and expectation. Gabriel’s lungs constricted.

“Are you sure you want this?” he asked carefully. “You’re not just doing this for me? You’re sure?”

Instead of replying, Alice rolled her hips around him once more, eliciting another groan from him as her body took him deeper. With the last shred of his self-control, Gabriel wrapped his arms about her waist and held her motionless. “Alice. Please. I need to know.”

She brushed his face with the palm of her hand, an act of love. “I’m sure, Gabriel. This is for me, too. I want everything with you, you know, the whole shot. Parenthood, midnight feedings, diapers, sleepless nights, toddlers and teenagers. I want—” she grinned and touched her mouth to
his “—to wash baby spit out of your shirts and watch baby fingers pull your hair. And I want to see your face while you watch our baby born, see you hold him, see you...”

Her breath faltered when Gabriel cradled her in his arms and laid her back on the bed, bending over to unbutton her dress with his fingers, lips, teeth. Alice pressed him to her, feeling the coil of heat begin to expand and swell inside her, wanting to hold it in, wanting to explode. Her throat made sharp unintelligible sounds of excitement, her body moved, her hands tightened in his hair. Gabriel held her still.

“What else?” His voice was an erotic stroke against her fevered skin; his tongue provoked, teased, withdrew. “What else do you want, Alice?”

“I want to see your eyes in his face,” she whispered thickly. “I want to share everything with you that I did with Allyn and Rebecca alone. And I—” She gasped and her entire body convulsed when he clutched her hips and came into her hard, at the same time dipping his head and finding
a nipple, suckling it deep. “Gabriel, please,” she pleaded, her train of thought lost as the volcano began to erupt inside her. “I want you there, too. Don’t let me go alone. Come with me. Come
…
”

“I am, love. I will,” Gabriel assured her fiercely. “Always, anywhere you want to go. I’m with you.”

And then there was no more talk, only breath and movement and hot sweet sensation, the song of their future being born.

*