Page 37 of Always Been Mine

“It should’ve been me.”

“Gabe—”

“There was only a small window of opportunity to insert myself into the op, otherwise, we would have lost the chance.”

“You blamed yourself that night—”

He shook his head.

Beatrice’s face contorted in anguish. “You blamed me?”

She tried to pull her hands away, but Gabe held on. “It was a fucked up night, babe. As soon as I drove off, I blamed myself and did for a while. What I regretted these past three years was every single hurtful word I said to you that night, because they were a lie. I cared for you more than the mission. I could walk away from it—all things being equal. But a friend died because I chose to be with you, and I knewif I didn’t see this mission through, I could never live with myself.”

“If you only told me, Gabe—” Beatrice choked.

“What?” Gabe snapped, letting go of her hands and pushing out of the chair. He paced the room. “Ask you to wait for me? I wasn’t even sure I was coming out of this alive. As much as I regretted saying those words to you, in the end, I felt it was best for you to forget me. I just wish I handled it differently.”

“You have no idea how damaging those words were.” The expression in her eyes chilled him.

He walked back to the table, bracing his hands across, he leaned in. “They were a lie.”

“The words festered inside me, you know,” Beatrice said softly.

Gabe’s heart rate quickened with the direction the conversation was taking.

“Babe—”

“That I will never be worth more than a job. That I was so pathetic I almost begged you to stay.”

His chest was hurting with the pain his words had inflicted on her all those years ago.

He couldn’t take it anymore. He walked to her side and hauled her to her feet. He needed to kiss the pain away, so he pressed his mouth against hers. He tasted the salt of her tears, so he pushed his tongue between her lips and she opened beneath him. He devoured her, wanting to absorb her hurt into him.

“I’m so sorry, Beatrice,” Gabe whispered hoarsely against her lips. “So fucking sorry.”

Her arms came up around his neck as he lifted her and spread her on the table. His hands sought her heat. Finding her bare almost short-circuited his brain. He bent over her and continued kissing her, rubbing his hardness against her core. She moaned into his mouth, so he quickened histhrusting until she convulsed against him as he swallowed her cries. He swept her up from the table and headed straight for his bedroom. Kicking the door shut so Rhino wouldn’t follow, he carefully lowered Beatrice on the bed.

“I don’t think—” she protested.

“Shh . . . let me show you just how much you mean to me.” Gabe pushed her legs apart and buried his face between her thighs. He hungrily licked, stroking her from the base of her sex and hovering just around her clit. Her hands dug into his hair. “Please, Gabe.”

He stimulated the bundle of nerves with his tongue, fastening his lips, and gently sucking the tender flesh. When she undulated her hips to shove her pussy closer, he knew she was close. Her taste was heaven and he wanted more. He wanted every last drop of her arousal. He released her clit and licked down to her entrance, plunging his tongue inside, seeking the source of his addiction. She shrieked, screamed, and moaned. He welcomed the warm gush of sweetness into his mouth. The starvation of the past three years for her taste came to a fore in this moment where he had her.

“You taste so fucking good,” he growled as he crawled up her body, pulled the waistband of his sweats down and thrust into her. “Fuck, babe.” He leaned his forehead on hers as he savored the initial sheathing of her warmth around his cock. He started to move. “So good, so good. Fucking tight. So slick . . .”

Shit, condom.

Gabe was tempted to blow his load inside her, but he didn’t want to push his luck. He pulled out reluctantly. Beatrice’s whimper of protest almost made him want to thrust back inside her. His fingers shook as he ripped the foil of the condom.

Fuck. Fuck.

He quickly rolled it on. Lifting her hips, he punched forward, burying himself so deep inside her; a feral soundescaped him. He wouldn’t last. He would never get enough of her. Beatrice’s hands came up his shoulders. He grabbed her wrists and slammed them above her head as the need to dominate surged inside him. Their eyes locked, watching each other as he moved above her. He lost himself once again in her emerald depths. When her eyes shut, the grip of her silken channel tightened around his girth. “I can’t hold back . . . FUCK!”

It started from the base of his spine, the pleasure shooting up his back, his neck muscles tensing as his astounding climax took over. He continued pumping his hips furiously until he was spent, and all he could do was collapse on top of her.

He rubbed his cheek against hers, their faces slick with sweat. He was overtaken with contentment. She was back. She was once again his Beatrice.

There was a deep indrawn breath that sounded suspiciously like a sob. Frowning, Gabe levered himself on his elbows, and what he saw splintered his heart.

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