Page 52 of A Little More Forgiveness

I eyeballed him. “Gooey?”

“Yeah.” And he stood on his toes to place a kiss on my cheek. “Gooey.”

I blushed, feeling the heat on my face, not sure I had the wherewithal to handle him being so sweet. Sarcastic-and-cocky Gabe I had a pretty good idea how to deal with. Sweet-and-playful Gabe? I had no damn clue.

“Let’s go,” I said but heard how gravelly my voice sounded. I cleared my throat as there must have been something lodged there, making swallowing difficult. “The sooner we get the horses cleaned up and fed, the sooner we can get back to Leo.”

Gabe nodded his agreement, and after giving my cheek a quick stroke, he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Lead on, Mr. Houghton.”

Yeah, no idea who this guy was at all.

Chapter Twenty-One

Leo

Snuggling under the covers, enjoying the toasty warm bed, and being sexed out and drowsy, I didn’t want to wake up yet. Gabe or Mitch snored loudly in my ear. Flopping my head to the side, I willed my eyes to open. When I eventually managed to prize the lids apart, my bed buddy came into view, and it wasn’t either of them, but Chuck, with his head right next to my face, his jowls rippling as he snored in my ear.

I jerked away and Chuck opened his bleary eyes. “Gross, Chuck. Really gross.” The dog ignored me, licked his teeth, and went back to sleep.

So not the scenario I anticipated after waking up.

Pushing down the covers the best I could with one doggy lump beside me and another further down the bed on the other side, I let the cooler air caress my skin as I studied the bedroom. Mitch’s bedroom. Log walls surrounded me on all sides, while antique pine made up most of the furniture, along with a huge rug underneath the bed to prevent cold feet in the mornings. There were two windows on my left, and on my right, a cupboard and the bathroom. The room screamed male and had the deliciously distinctive Mitch scent of earth and smoke and the store-bought pine shower gel he used. Pulling the covers to my nose, I took a long, deep sniff. He smelled heavenly.

I checked the time on the old-style brass alarm clock with twin bells on top, wondering if Mitch used it as such, or whether it was only there for show: 6:30 p.m. Wow. I’d been asleep for over six hours, only briefly waking a few times when Mitch came in to check I was still all right. I never napped during the day, let alone zoned out for so long. The stresses of this morning and my subsequently passing out must have taken a bigger toll on my body than I suspected.

Wide awake, my bodily functions decided to make themselves known, telling me loud and clear I needed to use the bathroom, rather urgently. The only problem I had now was actually getting out of the bed due to being stuck with two big lumps pinning me down. I still felt sluggish and out of sorts from being so cold, so I should have shouted for one of the guys to help me, but I didn’t want to see the pity on their faces as they watched me struggle, or heaven forbid, help me go to the bathroom.

The en suite was right there, the toilet visible through the partially closed door, so surely I’d be perfectly okay to take a pee on my own? I wiggled the covers to try to shift the animals off the bed, but their only response was to issue two separate, disgruntled doggy groans. “You two need to let me get up.” I shifted the blankets some more, but the dogs still refused to budge. “Come on guys. I’m gonna make a mess if you two don’t move your asses.” After a few more attempts, they finally got the message, and stood, stretched their long frames in a lazy way, then sloped off the bed. Norris used his claws to pry open the bedroom door, and they both disappeared into the living room.

One hurdle down. Now to get to the bathroom. Pushing the covers off fully, I sat up and swiveled my legs off the side of the bed and scooted forward. Using my hands to help push me up and off the mattress, I wobbled a bit as I stood and immediately felt lightheaded from being upright. Gritting my teeth, I tottered toward the bathroom, the stars appearing in front of my eyes beginning to swirl a bit faster, causing me to lose my balance and pitch forward. Luckily, I was close enough to grab hold of the doorjamb, but doing so had me stuck at a forty-five-degree angle with no chance of moving until I regained my equilibrium.

“Great. Just great.”

Gradually, my dizziness began to subside, as my body got used to standing vertical once again.

“Hey, hey,” Mitch’s deep voice rumbled behind me as he entered the room. He stopped at my side and immediately wrapped his arm around my waist, offering me his support. “I’m sure you have an explanation for doing yoga when you should be in bed, so I’m all ears.”

“Ha-ha, very funny. I needed to pee but got dizzier than expected when I got out of bed. I lost my balance, and now, here I am.”

“You’re sure it’s not some hippie yoga?”

I threw him the dirtiest look I had, which only succeeded in making him smile and me almost swallow my tongue. So damn handsome when he didn’t have the perma-scowl on his face, his hazel eyes sparkled and his lips, nestled in his beard, appeared to plump up more than usual. But the most amazing thing making my heart race was how much younger he looked without the creases in his brow and the sternness of his features.

“Are you going to stand there being an ass all night or are you going to help me? Because if it’s the former, please can you go and stand somewhere else?” To hell with feeling embarrassed or uncomfortable about taking any help. My full bladder had reached its limit, and so had I.

He laughed and the rich sound wrapped around my senses and squeezed tight.

“All right, all right.” With one hand still firmly on my waist, he slid the other around my chest to effortlessly stand me upright. I wasn’t a small guy, but the ease with which he maneuvered me about, and the gentleness of his touch made me giddy, which I totally blamed on the lightheadedness from getting up too quickly, and not on the rush of emotion currently flowing through my system. Add in me being completely naked while he was fully dressed, and the scenario sent all sorts of erotic fantasies running around in my head.

He didn’t stop there though, and before I had time to protest, he’d dropped his left arm under my knees, lifted me off my feet, and cradled me against his massive chest.

“What are you doing?” I gasped, even as my hand automatically snaked around his broad shoulders and gripped tight. “This is silly, Mitch. Please put me down.” He didn’t, and now I was not only giddy but also had a host of butterflies fluttering around inside my stomach, and the first stirrings of an erection I’d soon be unable to hide.

“Hush,” he gently scolded. “Let me help you.”

God, he would be my complete undoing. All my life, no one had ever helped me or looked after me. It had invariably been me helping everyone else, my family, usually. I never got anything right, of course, which only spurred me on to try harder, to finally get a modicum of praise from Malcolm, my mother, or even my brother.

It rarely worked.

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