Chapter20
Sebastian’s hand found its way to her face, stroking her skin and trailing across her cheek to her lips. His thumb grazed across her mouth.
She turned on the pillows to face him. Lust blazed through her body. She’d started something that she wasn’t sure she could finish, even though every part of her was damn determined to see it through. She wanted this man more than she thought it was possible to want another person. She longed for his touch, his kiss, his cock ramming inside her. She was too horny to be embarrassed by the fantasies playing in her mind. Fantasies that crowded out all thoughts of Damian Hester dying and the bloody ominous message left in the beach cottage. Those memories were fleeting and fading as her mind was consumed with Sebastian Luttrell.
Sebastian licked his lips slowly, then leaned in to kiss her.
“Wait, Sebastian,” Gabrielle pressed her hands against his chest. A look of confusion crossed his face. Heart pounding wildly, she wasn’t trying to play games or jerk him around. “There’s something you should know.”
He paused and shut his eyes as if the hesitation was causing him physical pain. “What is it?” His voice was tender and low, full of care and concern … for her.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been with anyone.”
His eyes flung open and locked onto hers. “How long?”
She tried to move away, but he pressed a hand against her hip, rooting her firmly in place. She couldn’t move even if she wanted to. “Years.”
“How many, Gabrielle?”
She looked away. The cavalier discussion she’d had about her sex life made it sound like she was hooking up with men every week when that couldn’t be further from the truth. The reason she’d kept men at a distance had everything to do with Damian Hester. The secret of what happened between them. Her fear that someone would find out or that it could happen again. But Damian was dead now, and that fear felt irrational and misplaced. At least where Sebastian was concerned.
“Gabs,” he moved closer, brushing his lips against hers. “How long?”
“Two or maybe, three years. I can’t remember,” she admitted.
He pulled back, unable to hide his shock. Or was it suspicion?
Gabrielle fumbled over her words. “I know you heard the stories about me. How I slept around with every Tom, Dick, and Harry in high school. Desperate to feel loved by anyone.” She’d stopped being ashamed of her past long ago, but she had to address the reason he might have for doubting her. “But I’m not that same person …”
Her words trailed off as his finger stroked her chin, lifting her face. She had no choice but to look at him. To lose herself in those perfect brown pools. She was surprised to find his eyebrow raised and a smug, satisfied expression in his eyes.
“You’re telling me no man has been inside your gorgeous body in three fucking years?”
“That’s right.”
“Can’t say I’m mad about that,” Sebastian admitted. His fingers stroked in circles below her navel, moving toward the waistband of her yoga pants. “You want me inside you?”
“Yes,” Gabrielle said, then paused. “I mean. I don’t know. I think. I’m not sure if I’m ready or not. This is so embarrassing.”
“You never need to be embarrassed in front of me, Gabs. I want all of you. The sophisticated, the messy, and everything in between,” Sebastian said. “Fuck, it’ll drive me insane, but I will stop if you’re not ready for this. We don’t have to do anything. You’re safe with me. Every part of you, including your heart.”
The words had barely left his mouth when she pressed her lips to his. A mind-blowing sensation ricocheted between them. The kiss was intense, hungry, and full of all the passion that had built within her for this man.
She slid her hands under his shirt, stroking the defined muscles of his chest, then pulled him on top of her. He took control, hovering to stop from crushing her with his weight, as he sucked along her neck, up her earlobe, and licked the sensitive spot behind her ears. She moaned in delight as pleasure shot from her head to her throbbing core.
She arched and rocked against his cock, thick and hard, as it fought to be free from his pants. Wrapping her legs around his hips, she rubbed against him, enthralled by the waves of pleasure the movement sent coursing through her. Her body melted into his embrace as if it had come home.
“Gabs,” he pulled away from her. “You sure you want this?”
She responded the only way she could—with a feeble nod as she couldn’t force words from her lips. He rocked back on his knees as he yanked her t-shirt over her head. He looked like a kid in a candy store as he stared down at her breasts in the thin lace bra. Slipping calloused fingers along her chest, he unhooked her bra and sent it flying across the deck.
Cupping one breast in each hand, he massaged and caressed them gently. Her nipples constricted into tight buds as his fingers stroked and squeezed her. She longed to feel his mouth on her, but he was taking his sweet time enjoying her body like a playground built for one.
His erection grew heavier in his pants. A massive length and thickness that intrigued and frightened her. She yearned to peek but stopped short of reaching for him.
“It’s a damn crime for you to be so fucking gorgeous,” Sebastian said through gritted teeth. He lowered his mouth to press soft kisses around her right breast, then the left. She pushed her chest against his face. He took the cue, replacing his kisses with long strokes of his tongue, flicking and teasing her hard nipples. She gasped and panted as jolts of pleasure zipped over her skin. She stroked her hands through his hair and held him close. When she thought the intense pleasure couldn’t get any better, he took her entire breast into his mouth, sucking hard and leaving his mark on her.
His focus intensified with her every moan, raising the stakes as her pleasure reached new heights. He alternated between breasts, ensuring that neither was neglected. Her body awakened to feelings she’d never felt before. An intense, blissful joyride that was long overdue.
