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“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I missed your ego.” I loop my arms around his neck and pull him back down toward my lips. “Almost as much as your kisses.”
“Jess.” His eyes dance. “You’ve gotten very aggressive while I’ve been gone. Does that mean the swimsuit rules are up for negotiation?”
“Not a chance.”
“That’s a damn deal breaker. Now I have to start all over looking for a girlfriend.” His face goes over-the-top put out.
It’s funny. But it’s not. “How many times will you say no to girls who offer you their hotel room keys when I’m saying no to you?”
He doesn’t even pause before he says, “All the times.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I have a proven track record. Since you dumped my ass, I haven’t even looked at anyone else.” He frames my waist with hands I missed so much it almost hurts.
I tip my head into his chest. “When you got back together with Kim after that night with me, it hurt. A lot. And we didn’t even...you know. What if we do and then you leave me?”
“I’m super certain if weyou know,” he teases, “I’mneverleaving you.” He grabs my hand before I can smack his gut. Pushing my chin up, he tucks my hair behind my ears. He runs a finger down my throat and meets my eyes, all teasing gone. “But I can wait till you’re ready.” He leans close to my ear. “Here’s another secret for you. I have a longer attention span than you think.”
His words cover me in a flush. His touch leaves me spinning. I wrap my arms around his waist and breathe against his neck.
“I told you at The Oasis that you’re safe with me.” He rubs my back.
I am safe with Gabe. Not just my body, but the rest of me too. He gets me in a way no one else does. He listens when I talk. He remembers what I say. He’s tuned into what’s important to me. I matter to him... so I trust him with me.
That’s why we lay on his bed facing each other, talking and touching and holding hands for the next two hours. That’s why after he catches me up on his life, I share every single thing that’s happened in mine. And when we’re finished, that’s why I let him rest a knee between my legs, and hover over me. Why I press his shoulders down for the kind of kiss I really want. One that starts gentle at the corners of my mouth and sparks a slow fire inside me, then picks up pace.
When we pause for a breath, I whisper against his mouth, “You’re safe with me too.”
“No more bailing?” He strokes my cheek.
I run my hands under his shirt, across his back, over the perfection that is hot skin over hard muscle. “I’d be stupid to give up TV’s Hottest Hairball.”
Sealing his lips over mine, he covers me with his body and quits holding back. His tongue touches mine while his hands touch me. He runs his fingers over my hip, my thigh, my waist and under my shirt, where he glides over the sensitive skin on my side.
“Damn, I missed you.” He nips my neck, then licks it better.
I melt. Into the bed. Into him. Into his mouth where he leaves a trail of warm kisses down my throat and across my stomach. When he reaches my belly button, I’m pretty sure I moan.
We touch. We kiss. We make up for four very long weeks. He loses his shirt. I mostly keep mine. For now, it’s enough. It has to be.
chapter 70
Gabe
“Once you decide to do something, go all in.”
~ Meredith Morgan
(played by the award-winning Meredith Wade)
Raising Ryder: Series Finale
A full revolution of the ball on top of Reunion Tower should move so slow the spin is undetectable. My stomach calls bullshit.
When I approached the Alzheimer’s event committee, I only had two requests. No reporters fromThe Dallas Daily Dishand this venue. I did both for Jess. The foundation asked Channel 5 to cover the event and jumped on the idea Reunion Tower, hoping the revolving restaurant would coax out a larger crowd. Too bad it’s also coaxing out my dinner.
As the fundraiser wraps and people trickle toward the elevators, a gray-haired lady in a red dress finds me between theRaising Ryderposters and screens playing old clips of the show. “You might be all grown up, but those dimples are pure Ryder.” She hugs me like we’re long-lost relatives. “And you know, I’d do anything for your mom.”
