Page 50 of Tangled in His Embrace

He stopped what he was doing and focused on her. “Are you ready for that?”

“I asked you to move in, didn’t I?”

“Yes. But if you’d rather me keep the apartment for a while, I can. There’s no rush.” He made sure he was looking her in the eye when he said, “I’m not going anywhere.”

For the first time, she didn’t have that voice in the back of her head pinging her with doubts. “I know. And, yes, I’m ready. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have asked you in the first place. Taylor needs stability. It would be confusing for her if you moved in one day and then moved out the next.”

Jax hung the dish towel on the front of the oven and came to stand in front of her. The look in his eyes was full of love—a love that her heart echoed. He took both her hands and began walking backward, toward the bedroom.

“Where’re we going?” she asked.

“To bed.”

“We should turn off the lights, then.”

He looked around and nodded. “You’re right.”

As swiftly as he could, he ran to every light and switched it off before returning to her. But this time, he picked her up and swung her around. “Now, where were we?”

Gabby giggled. “I do believe you said we were heading to bed.”

“Ah. Yes. Bed.” With that, he swung her up into his arms and carried her down the hall toward their bedroom. She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. She didn’t want to wake Taylor.

***

Bright and early Saturday morning, they dropped Taylor off at Jax’s parents’ house and drove to his apartment to pack things up. He’d already started loading the boxes during his trips home over the last two days, so there wasn’t all that much to pack. It didn’t take more than a few hours to gather up his belongings and load them into his vehicle.

They headed back to her house—what would now be their house—and carried the boxes inside. As they were sorting through his things and putting them away, Gabby noticed he had very few books, a huge contrast to when he’d left. Jax used to have an extensive science fiction collection. She broke down the box she’d been working on, the last one apart from the one Jax was unpacking, and asked, “What happened to all your books?”

He looked up at her for a brief moment and then went back to what he was doing. “I gave most of them to a community center.”

“Why would you do that?” He’d loved his books. She couldn’t understand why he’d given them away.

“I was in a rehab facility for a while after my surgery. It didn’t make sense to keep them when I didn’t really have a place for them. I kept five of my favorites. The rest I gave away.” There was sadness in his voice and she didn’t know if it was because of the books he’d given up or because recalling that time in his life caused him as much pain as it did her.

Not wanting to go there again, even though that’s exactly where her mind went, she turned her attention to his clothes that they’d draped over the bed. Going to her closet, she moved everything to one side, creating room. “Do you think this will be enough space for you?”

Jax walked over to where she stood. He put his arms around her waist, pulling her back against him. “I don’t have all that much to hang up, so I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

She nodded as the heat from his body already had her girl parts standing at attention.

“Why don’t we take a break and go grab some lunch? All this work has made me hungry.”

Twisting around so she could face him, Gabby stood on her tiptoes to give him a soft yet lingering kiss on the lips. “I’ve worked up quite an appetite as well.”

By the tone of her voice it was obvious she wasn’t talking about food. Jax closed his eyes and groaned. “You’re killing me.”

“What? Not in the mood?” She stared up at him with a mischievous look on her face.

He opened his eyes again and backed her against the nearest wall. Pressing their lower bodies together, she could feel every inch of him against her belly. “I think you’ll agree that’s not an issue.”

She reached for the button on his jeans.

His hand covered hers, halting her movements. “Tell me what you were thinking about before.”

Gabby knew what he was referring to and it wasn’t how much she wanted him. As much as she didn’t want to talk about it, she knew if they had any hope of making this relationship work long term they couldn’t keep secrets. That was what had gotten them in trouble the last time. His secrets. But that didn’t matter at this point. She’d agreed to move forward. “I hadn’t thought about what it was like for you when you left.”

Her voice cracked on the last syllable.

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