“Love you.” He returns to the stage, and I glance up at Rhys. “Thank you.”

***

This evening has been nothing short of a fantasy. After the show, Rhys walked me back down Royal Street to a bed and breakfast and led me up the stairs, where our luggage was already waiting in our room.

The room is beautifully decorated with antique furniture, lovely, bold colored linens and a huge bathroom is attached.

“This is charming,” I murmur and turn to see Rhys’s eyes on me.

“I watch you move and I can’t think straight,” he says as he slowly walks toward me. “Do you have any idea how beautiful you are in this dress and heels?”

“Charly says they’re fuck-me heels.” I swallow and watch his lips as they tip up in that half-smile that always does me in.

“She’s right,” he says on a sigh. “I think we’ll leave them on for a few minutes.”

“Okay. She also gave me condoms.” Jesus, shut up, Gabby!

“Well, she’s a planner. We’re going to take this dress off.”

I swallow again. “Okay.”

He slowly turns me away from him and pushes my hair over my shoulder, out of his way, and then lowers the zipper of my dress and pushes it down my arms, and lets it simply fall in a heap around my feet.

“Holy fuck,” he hisses between his teeth. His fingertips trace the straps of my bra, then the elastic of my panties around my waist and my whole body is on fire. Just the lightest touch sends goose bumps all over me.

His lips graze my shoulder, then up my neck to my ear. “You take my breath away, Gabrielle.”

I turn to face him and slide my palms up his torso, on either side of the buttons of his black button-down. When I reach the top, I unbutton the shirt, then push it down his arms and off, admiring the smooth, tanned skin that covers his muscled body. His abs are ridiculous. It should be illegal to look like this in slacks. I stick my fingertip in the waist of his pants, right over the zipper, and can feel the tip of his already-hard cock.

“Gabby—”

“You make me crazy too,” I whisper and lean in to kiss his chest, right over his heart. “You’ve kept me crazy for days.”

“You were so tired last night, baby.”

“I know.” I smile softly and look up into his deep green eyes. “But I’m not so tired now.”

He cocks a brow before lifting me into his arms and laying me back on the bed that’s already been turned down.

Hmm…maybe I should offer turn-down service at the inn. I bet guests would appreciate it, for moments like this.

“No thinking about work.”

I glance up in surprise. “How did you know?”

“You get a crease between your eyebrows.” He rubs the spot with the pad of his thumb, then gently brushes it down the bridge of my nose and settles beside me.

“When did you take your pants off?” I glance around. “And grab condoms?”

“While you were daydreaming about work.” He smirks and kisses my shoulder again, then drags the tip of his tongue up my neck and turns my face to meet his. “If, at any time, you need or want me to stop, all you have to do is say so.”

I nod, fully trusting him.

“How long has it been?”

He wants to talk about this now?

He simply raises a brow when I hesitate.

“Since I got pregnant,” I whisper. His eyes widen, and then narrow with pure male possessiveness. “How long has it been for you?”

And then he frowns.

“Hey, I get to know too.”

“More than a year. Maybe close to two.”

“Right.” I roll my eyes, but he pins me beneath him, my hands in his, pressed to the bed above my head, and he kisses me deeply, until I am gasping for breath, then pulls back.

“I don’t lie, Gabby. No one has interested me in a very long time. And I no longer waste my time with anything that doesn’t interest me.”

I bite my lip and nod. “Okay.”

“And I’m not going to take this fast.” He plants those full lips at the side of my mouth and nibbles, then drags his nose down my jaw to my ear. “I’m going to take my time. Your body will burn.”

He tugs on my earlobe with his teeth.

“You’ll be drenched.”

“I already am,” I reply and wiggle under him, earning a deep chuckle.

“You will beg for me.”

“I don’t beg for anything.” But my voice doesn’t sound as sure as I’d like it to.

“Oh, baby,” he whispers as he releases one of my hands and pulls his fingertips down my arm to my breast, still covered in the sexy underwear the girls talked me into. “Challenge accepted.”

I think I’m in trouble.

Or I’m in for the best experience of my life.

His mouth wanders down my torso, leaving a wet trail. He sucks my nipples through the lace, then tugs it down and licks them some more, teasing them into tight nubs. Finally, he rips the last of my underwear off and tosses them over his shoulder.

“The shoes stay.”

It’s not a request.

And damn if it isn’t sexy as hell.

He nuzzles my belly on his way downtown, but rather than kiss me there, he flips me over onto my belly and continues the assault on the backs of my legs, alternating wet kisses and light touches over the delicate skin behind my knees and inner thighs. Finally, he grips my ass in both hands, spreads me apart and laps at my core, from my clit to my anus and back down again.

“Oh my God!”

“Jesus, you’re wet.”