Mind Over Matter (23 page)

"For not letting me make another mistake," he said against her lips. A kiss brushed them. "For being honest with me." Another kiss, deeper and hungrier, reminding him of what he'd been missing all this time. "Mmm... and thank you for wearing that dress tonight..."

Her breath caught in her throat when he kissed her with the fullness of his gratitude and pulled her close to the arousal springing up between them.

"Mmm... you are so welcome... I can’t wait for you to take it off me," she whispered before nibbling on his bottom lip.

It was just a teaser, a gauge to see how fast they would hurdle into calling their own bluff on Fate. The answer to that question was in a heartbeat. Kissing her deeply, he spun her around until her back was against the brick wall closest to them. His fingers teased the soft flesh of her thighs, lifting her dress up until he was cupping her just under her ample ass and lifting her up in his arms. His body pressed tightly to hers, she gasped for breath while he licked over her neck, her jaw, then kissed her eager mouth again. He ground his pelvis into her and a feral whimper he hadn’t heard in months surfaced between their conjoined mouths.

"Gabriel," she hissed as she pumped against him. "Fuck, Gabriel, I missed you!"

He groaned in her ear, hungrily reaching between them to stroke her. His fingers jerked against the apex of their joined bodies, struggling to free himself from his jeans. Then suddenly, he cursed and pulled away.

"So much for not having an audience... Fuck..."

She turned to the side he was facing and then covered her face with an embarrassed giggle. "Shit."

A group of girls and guys passing the alley were giggling and whistling. One guy waggled his tongue at her while one of the girls stumbled a bit and said, "Go 'head, girl!! Get some. He's fine as hell!" Then she dipped forward and squinted a bit, before standing upright and screaming, "Oh, my God, is that Gabriel Roberts?! That's him right?! Look!"

"Shit!” Gabriel huffed. “And that's our cue. Pull yourself together, woman, we're gonna have to pick this up later."

As he set her down, she slid her hand between them and gripped the prominent bulge in his jeans. He groaned then grabbed her hand and laced his fingers through hers.

"I'm trying to calm down before we go back in there, sweetheart. You know you're being bad."

"Am I?" She laughed and leaned up to kiss him. "I thought you liked it when I was bad. Dirty even. Did that change?"

His jaw twitched even as he smiled down at her, tugging her towards the door. "I'll show you tonight when I wear you out, Nic. That's a promise."

He pulled her to him, kissing her to the brink of insanity, until her nails were digging into his arms and she was practically gyrating against him. When he pulled away from her, her eyes were unfocused, and her breathing harsh. He leaned down and whispered, "I'm looking forward to keeping my promise."

They hurried back inside just as the group started advancing toward them to see if it was, in fact, Gabriel from Fool the World. They laughed, huddling against the door to give Gabriel's noticeable erection a chance to go down. Their eyes were locked on one another's. When Nicole started to head back into the crowd, Gabriel held her hand and pulled her to him.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked with a grin she was so happy to see, she thought she'd melt. He was happy, proud. He was the man she'd fallen in love with. He stood beside her, staring at the crowd they would soon approach, and then back at her to signal he was ready to greet the scrutiny of their friends.

Only a slight hesitation stretched between them when Nicole tugged him backwards and asked, "You sure you want to do this now? We can try and play it cool, give ourselves time to let everyone know slowly, if that's what you want."

"No more waiting," he said. "And no more hiding. You're mine. I'm yours. I want everyone to know."

She grinned, marveling at the lack of hesitation, the lack of questioning in him. This was right and they weren't turning back. He pulled her out onto the dance floor and in full view of the club kissed her until she nearly forgot her first name.

Whistles and cheers sounded from the second floor. When they came up for air, Trish was there to hug the life out of her and say the words the entire universe seemed to be screaming for them to hear.

"Finally!!!! What the
fuck
took you two so long?!"

Chapter Twenty-Three

Three years later...

Nicole stirred in her sleep. She was coming out of a dream about flying high over the city skyline, into the clouds. Her stomach was doing loops, and she wanted to look down, but instead she looked up. Up... up... and stars spun against her fingertips. She knew she should be scared. It was a long way to fall. But the longer she was up there, the more she realized the only way she would drop is if she ceased to believe she could survive in the sky.

The stars against her fingertips turned into soft skin. Lips caressed her earlobe, her neck. She felt the scrape of teeth, and her ass moved gently against the hips pressed against it...

She woke with a smile on her face. She felt the bed shift slightly, felt hands roving over her already alert body. A large, sturdy hand cupped her breast. When she gasped, the hand lifted to cradle her face, and her smile broadened when turned into Gabriel's waiting mouth.

"Welcome home, babe," she whispered against his lips.

"Missed you, sweetheart," he murmured before sliding his tongue over hers eagerly. "Mmm... Can't you tell?" He pumped his hips against hers. He was hard and ready for her and thanks to his penchant for waking her up with arousal, her pussy was soaked and her body was nearly feverish with need.

"Yeah, I can tell," she whispered with a smile that matched his, before gripping him tightly for just a moment. He growled and turned her onto her back so that he could pin her down fully with his kisses. Her body was covered in a flush of heat and she teased him with a question of her own.

"You wanna feel how much I missed you too, Gabriel?" She gripped his hand and slid it along the inside of her left thigh, higher and higher, slowly so she could draw out the anticipation. Not that it needed to be drawn out. She hadn't seen him in months. Still, he followed her lead, alternating between her sparkling eyes and the steady progress of his eager fingers. She moaned softly and arched into him when he cupped her through the smooth cotton of her sky-blue panties.

His fingers flexed and relaxed rhythmically, inviting her hips to mimic the motion. She nodded when he swirled his hand in circles, silently thanking him for the friction against the slick heat between her quivering thighs.

She gripped his arm and used her other hand to pull him closer to her, to close the circle of their bodies with her lips. But he was in the mood to tease her. He smiled and flicked his tongue against her upper lip but didn't give in to the long deep kiss she wanted. Just a swift graze of her tongue and the taste of her shaky gasp when he pushed aside her panties and plunged his middle finger inside of her. She clenched him reflexively and let her head fall backwards. His thumb was circling her clit in time with his middle finger, strumming her as thoroughly has he did his guitar.

"Look at me, sweetheart. I haven't seen my dirty girl come for me in a long time..."

She did as she was commanded and did so willingly. There was no pleasure greater than the one she got from his eyes, the look of rapt concentration centered on her face and body as she succumbed to him. She could see his hunger mounting, could feel him straining against his jeans when she reached over and cupped him again. He bucked into her hand without delay. It was just too bad her orgasm was still being teased into fruition.

"Please, Gabe. Please..."

"Take that off," he said gruffly, seemingly ignoring her pleas.

She arched and shuddered as he hit a particularly sweet spot, then ripped her blue nightgown off as quickly as humanly possible.

"Now," he taunted, his breath fanning out over her left breast. "What's that you were asking me?"

She bit down on her lip harder and exhaled sharply as he gave her taut nipple a firm lick before sucking it between his full lips. "Please, Gabriel. You know what I want... F-ffuck..."

"You're a big girl now, Mrs. Roberts," he said with a soft smile. He kissed the hand that stroked his hair and face. She caught sight of the white gold and diamond promise of forever he'd made to her, its matching counterpart on the hand stroking her into a frenzy. "You want something from me, you know how to ask, don't you?"

He slid two fingers into her and quickened his pace. From a distance she heard a soft, quiet chuckle. God, she loved this game, almost as much as she loved her husband.

She turned to face him again, needing to look at him. "Please, fuck me. I want to feel you inside me." This part was as much her pleasure as it was his. The begging, the pleading, the heightened sense of need in her words.

Faster still his fingers worked, with her hips following just a second behind.

"Ahh, God, please, Gabriel, p-please give it to me, please give me that big, hard..." nothing but a gasp followed.

"But you're so close. You sure you want to switch it up now?"

"Fuck me," she managed to hiss. "Now."

He slowly pulled his fingers out of the slick, clenching heat of her pussy and slid them into his mouth. He smiled at how she melted for him and her hands ran down her body to tug her panties off.

Gabriel reached behind his neck and peeled off his t-shirt. The second it was lifted off his torso, her mouth was on his chest and her hands were undoing his belt.

"Shit," he groaned and cupped the back of her head when her tongue began tracing the tattoos swirling on either side of his torso.

She turned him over, pressing his back to the bed and stepping off of it just long enough to pull his shoes, socks, jeans and boxer briefs off. Before he could think or push himself further up the bed, she was straddling his hips and guiding him to her entrance. Her body had clenched preemptively, tightening around the head before it was all the way in. Finally, with a moan of triumph, she settled on him, buried to the hilt in two strokes he couldn’t help driving into her.

"Ungh... fuck, Nic, I missed this tight pussy..." he groaned when she rotated her hips and dug her nails into his chest. "That's it sweetheart, grind on it..."

"How do you mean?" she teased. "You mean like this?" She moved her hips forward and backward, like the lower half of her body was a rowing machine. "Or like this?" she asked, making tight circles and squeezing him from within.

He bit down on his bottom lip and grasped the curve of her hips to pull her tighter to him.

"Can't hear you, babe. Which one do you like? Or maybe," she purred, "you like it better when I go up and down?"

Her body demonstrated, sliding up to the tip of his bursting cock and then sitting back down, taking him completely into her body. He took her full breasts in his hands, thumbing the nipples and then squeezing them the way her tight body was squeezing him. His hips rocked into hers, so that soon their bodies were crashing into each other with the practiced precision of longtime lovers.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes... fuck me back, babe, make me come, make me feel it..."

He sat up, balancing on an arm braced behind him, while he grabbed her ass firmly with his free hand. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rode him faster, harder, the bed bouncing beneath their weight. Her rhythm only faltered when he sucked hard and deep on her breasts, alternating between the two with a growing fervor as his orgasm raced hers to the finish line.

"Motherfucker," he groaned into her neck, pulling her closer still, trying to merge with her down to her very cells. His biceps flexed to full capacity as he crushed her to him. He hoped she could breathe. He could hear little more than shallow, desperate pants in his ear, but he couldn’t let her go.

"Close," she moaned. "Almost there, almost there, almost..."

Never one to miss a good opportunity, Gabriel flipped her over, pinning her to the bed with his weight and relentless thrusts. His arms were still wrapped around her, holding her fast to him. One hand raked through her hair and tugged her head back so he could attack her neck with licks and bites. Her shaking legs lifted and wrapped around his waist, one hand slapped the space above her head, the fingers of her other hand twisted in the sheets so hard she thought she might rip out a chunk of the mattress.

"Come on!" he hissed in her ear. "That's it dirty girl, show me. Show me how much you missed me..."

She growled and her back arched as much as it could under his weight and the pounding he was giving her. He watched her eyes roll back in her head; her mouth parted but no sound came out. It didn't matter. She didn't need to make a sound for him to know he'd done his job. Her body stilled, clenched him from within. She pumped against his with a tremulous moan, and then relaxed into a series of sporadic tremors that pushed him to the edge. With her pleasure secured he could move towards his own.

He tucked his head into her neck, breathing in the scent of lilacs, listening to the sound of their slick bodies joining and separating with increasing speed, while she panted desperately in his ear. He pushed faster, pumped hard, and jumped off the ledge of pleasure. Suspended in air he stilled, trembling, only a groan and a plaintive cry escaping his throat.

"Fuck, sweetheart, fffuck! Oh, fuck..."

Then he fell, loop after loop of pleasure spilling out of him and into her still pulsing core. He died and was reborn again within her, shuddering to completion the way only she could make him.

He came back to earth when he felt her nipping at his ear. Still inside of her, still rocking against the last remnants of pleasure, he lifted his head and kissed his wife gently. The play of her tongue over his was a dance they knew well, but one that never got tired or old like he'd once feared it could. This was the woman who had made this house he'd returned to a home for nearly two years and it only got better.

"I love you," he said softly between kisses that were tender and hungry, just like his love for her.

"I love you," she answered, merging her words with a smile that touched his lips. "God, I missed you..."

They showed each other how much for several hours that night, until they both fell asleep exhausted and full from feeding their repressed longing. Feeling how much he still wanted and loved her was one of the perks of being separated by his touring schedule. She couldn’t travel with him as readily as she used to, but they made do with the distance and made up for lost time thoroughly in the interim.

In the morning, Nicole woke alone to the sight of sunshine batting against the hardwood floor and bouncing off the white curtains Gabriel had pulled open. She'd picked those out, the first thing she'd chosen in their house. It still took some getting used to, and she would always miss their first apartment together. But this was the real deal. Their home.

She smiled and sat up, stretching her well-earned sore muscles and kicking the sheets off her naked body. She grabbed her robe, popped her feet into her fluffy slippers and yawned. She might need to take a nap today. Knowing her husband, she wasn't going to get much sleep for the next couple of weeks until he became accustomed to having her whenever he wanted again.

She ran her fingers through her disheveled hair and walked out of the bedroom and down the hall. She could smell breakfast downstairs, but the kitchen wasn't her first stop. Her office was down this hall, where her latest book was waiting for her, but she passed it. Instead, she continued to the bedroom farther down. She crept up quietly, and leaned against the doorway, watching.

Gabriel was humming along to a song that was playing in the background, then singing as the lyrics filled the room softly. The words to "Laila's Song" filled the air. In his arms, the song's namesake, their daughter, sneezed and then wrapped a tiny hand in the fabric of her father's shirt. A sleepy smile that matched Gabriel's spread her tiny lips.

He’d only looked at one other woman the way he was looking at Laila now. Love and adoration, that awe, and the feeling he was blessed: he’d given all of that to her and their daughter. They'd shared so many firsts together, starting the day he took her back to the place he'd said the words “I love you”. That's where he'd proposed to her. In spite of his fear about what kind of husband and father he would be, he pushed it aside and traded uncertainty for his true path with her.

He'd done what he'd never thought he would, what he'd always said he was scared to do. And in the end, he was standing in a home they'd built together, with the music that had first made their daughter kick in her womb playing, music he’d made because he'd taken a chance on creating his life instead of just living it. The fragile bundle in his arms, staring up at him with perfect trust, wasn't a fear anymore. This was the dream. This was what they jumped into with both eyes and arms wide open.

Nicole, who had always felt so aimless and lost, who had worried if she was good enough for her own dreams of happiness, was now the heroine in a story of her own making. Not a victim of the past, or just an awkward girl with a penchant for clumsiness and mistakes. She was a writer, a mother, a wife. She was growing and yet complete. She knew that when Gabriel looked up at her and smiled. The joy of being reunited with her and his baby girl lit his face like the morning sunshine.

And Gabriel, a man who'd decided long ago that he couldn't have love and passion, trust and fire, had found both. He'd found it in his music, and in a pretty girl who wouldn't let him lie to himself about what he truly wanted out of life. He was a father, a musician, a man unafraid to love with his whole heart.