Completely wiped out, Olivia dozed off on the way to Annapolis. She opened her eyes as they pulled up at the hotel complex. But she was still on the wrong side of coherent.
Jake went in and registered for the group, collecting room keys. The complex had several buildings. Gabe grabbed his and Olivia’s bags and led her along State Circle toward an imposing red brick building with a high-pitched roof sporting several dormer windows. As they made their way along the brick sidewalk, she found herself waking up to the reality of what came next. The closer they got to the entrance, the more her stomach knotted and her nerve endings sizzled. She stole a quick glance at Gabe, but his gaze was fixed on the looming building, and his thoughts were sealed away from her.
After he unlocked the front door, she followed him down a short hall to their room. It turned out to be a small suite decorated in colonial style with dark wood furniture and formal draperies. Beyond the parlor was a bedroom with a king-sized bed and a luxury modernized bathroom.
Gabe focused on the king-sized bed. “You probably need to sleep,” he said. “I can take the sofa out here.”
“No,” she said, closing the distance between them and grasping his arm. Her touch made him jump, then turn slowly to face her. She lifted her chin so that she could meet his eyes.
“I’m not going to push you into anything,” he continued. “I know you need time to adjust to...” He stopped and shrugged. “If youcanadjust,” he added, his tone barely audible.
“Don’t,” she said.
“Don’t what?”
“Put up barriers between us.”
He kept his tone even. “I’m not...the man you fell in love with.”
“Yes, you still are, and a lot more.”
When he stayed where he was, she took a step toward him, knowing she had to be the one to prove the point. When she was only inches away, she reached for him, wrapping her arms around him, pulling him close, reveling in the feel of his solid masculine body. When she had gotten close to Travis, she had longed for this kind of physical contact. Now she had it.
He stood for long moments, as though he were simply enduring her attentions. Then his arms came up to embrace her, and she let out the breath she’d been holding.
“Thank you,” she breathed.
He cleared his throat. “Before we go any further...ifwe go any further, you need to know what you’re getting into.”
She answered with a small nod.
His next words were not spoken aloud.I’m Gabe Bowman. I have all his memories, all his skills, and all his aspirations. But I’m also Travis Carson. I have his memories and his skills.He swallowed.And his needs and desires. He found you when he was lost. You brought him back to life, and you bonded like the other couples who were children of the Solomon clinic. You’re still bonded. Only Gabe Bowman is part of that equation now.
Stop talking about yourself in the third person. I found out who you are in no uncertain terms when we went back to Smith’s estate to make sure he couldn’t do to anyone else what he’d done to us.
As she felt some of the tension ease out of him, she tightened her hold.I don’t have any doubts about what I want and what I need...from you.
At the same time, her hands began to slide up and down his back, pulling him close.
He lowered his head. She raised hers, and their mouths came together with a mutual expression of need.
His lips moved against hers, caressing and questing. She was doing the same, reveling in all the sensations she had craved.
He didn’t have to speak for her to know what he was thinking. They had been in a rather messy battle, and they would turn any bed into a pigsty now.
The shower.
Their mouths broke apart so they could watch where they were going, but they didn’t turn each other loose. Together, they stumbled into the bathroom, which thankfully had a large walk-in shower. He reached behind her to turn on the hot water, fumbling to adjust it as she began to pull off his clothing. She dispatched his shirt and started on his zipper while he did the same for her, both frantic to shed what had become encumbrances.
They left a pile of muddy, grass-stained clothing on the floor as they stepped under the spray, clinging together because they needed the stability. His hands moved everywhere they could reach, over her arms, across her shoulders, down her back to the swell of her butt, raising a firestorm everywhere they touched. She was doing the same, reveling in the feel of his slick skin under her fingertips.
He tilted her away from himself so that he could lower his head to find her breasts with his mouth, licking and sucking and bringing her nipples to hard points of sensation.
She wanted to wrap her fingers around his penis, but he warned her against it, silently telling her that he wanted this to last.
He might want that, but she knew it was an impossible goal. They were both too needy, too greedy to postpone fulfillment for long. He leaned back against the wall, lifting her up so that he could slide into her. There was no fumbling, no call for her to help him find the right place. Heknew.And he knew exactly what she needed to reach climax.
He moved her body forward and away, the rhythm quickly growing frantic. She knew he was judging her reactions, following her progress toward completion. When her inner muscles began to contract, she felt him let go, both of them exploding in a burst of satisfaction that took them to the moon and back.
