Gabe was already hard, and it was the sweetest relief when Anna pulled his dick free from his boxers and pants, her hand wrapped around his growing erection. She kissed the tip, her warm lips against his skin was so unbearably sexy that he let his head fall back against the wall.

And when she took him into her mouth...

Heaven. A wet, warm heaven with a rhythm he settled into, his body arching toward her with every long pull of her tongue. The rest of the world fell away. All the acting, all the stolen kisses, they were elsewhere. Gabe only existed here, in this moment.

He ran his fingers through Anna’s hair, feeling them catch and tangle, and allowed himself a few more moments of pleasure so intense it was almost painful. Then he coaxed her up with his hands and with urgent whispers. “Here.”

Gabe took her to the bedroom and went for her clothes. Her pants came off first, then panties, leaving her shirt intact. Anna was ready in seconds, and he perched her on the edge of the bed and spread her legs. It wasn’t enough to have her mouth on him—he neededhismouth on her delicate folds. Now.

The first gentle kiss of his lips made her shiver. The first lick made her shudder, and suddenly she was gripping the covers and moaning as he devoured her. Delicious. Soft. Pink. Wet. He licked along her core with a full-on fantasy in his mind.

This, repeatedly, for the rest of his life. Anna coming home to him each night so he could please her. She writhed beneath him, and his tongue contacted new, undiscovered places between her legs. Oh, he needed this. It wasn’t until now that he realized how much he’d been aching for it. His need for her crept over every inch of his skin and suffused him down to his bones. More.More.

“I have to have you.” He lifted his head from between her legs, and Anna pulled him up onto the bed, her shirt tangled, and her face flushed. “I can’t wait another minute.”

“Don’t wait.” Those two words were the sexiest he’d ever heard.

Gabe fumbled in a drawer for a condom—thank God he’d had the foresight to put them there—while Anna repeated them in his ear, her arm thrown around his neck. He should get undressed, he knew, but that would take time,and he didn’t want to waste a minute. Gabe settled for shoving his own pants out of the way and crawling between her legs, desperate for contact.

Anna opened for him, hooking her feet around the back of his thighs, and his crown nudged into her slick entrance. “Good,” she murmured, almost feverishly. “So good.”

He pushed himself into her with a powerful stroke, and Anna bit down on his shoulder.There.That was it. She was so tight and ready as he put a hand under her chin and tipped her head up to kiss her while she squeezed and rocked around him. Harder, harder. He let himself fall into a steady pace, taking her again and again.

She came up for air a minute later and pushed on his chest, enough to get the momentum she needed to turn them both over. Oh, God, it was a sight—her neck exposed to him, her back arched, the shirt barely hanging on. Anna planted her hands on his chest and rode him, rocking her hips in a sensuous pattern that had desire sparking all the way up and down every nerve.

He gripped her hips and pulled her down with more force, needing to bury himself deep inside her.

Yes.

The pad of his thumb brushed against her clit, and she clenched around his thickness, pulling him close to the edge of release. He drew slow circles around her sensitive nub until she gasped and fell forward onto his neck.

“Gabe, I’m—”

“Come for me,” he hissed in her ear, and then followed her over when she let go.

Anna pushed herself up and rode him through his orgasm, collapsing to the pillow afterward—her breath fast and labored.

For once, he didn’t have to live with an expanse of empty mattress between them. Gabe curled himself up around her and waited for his racing heart to settle. He didn’t know how long it had been when he finally had the urge to speak. “I was wrong,” he told her. “Last night, I was wrong.”

“You’re never wrong.” She felt languid and sleepy underneath him. He would have given any amount of money to make the moment last forever.

“I should have been more...caring about how stressed you looked last night. Is everything all right with your friend?”

Anna shifted against him and gave a little sigh. “My best friend Elena—that’s who I was talking to. We usually spend Christmas together.”

Gabe waited, saying nothing, but continued to stroke his hand over her hip.

“She was worried,” Anna continued, “because my last relationship was with a pretty-boy socialite from LA. Not that you’re a pretty-boy socialite. Just—he had a lot of money and influence, but I only ever saw him when he came to Vegas. He never invited me out to LA. When it came down to it, I wasn’t good enough for him, and he let me know that. I was just a side piece he kept on hand when he wanted sex without any complications.”

For the life of him, Gabe couldn’t understand how any man could think Anna wasn’t good enough for anything. She was gorgeous, brilliant, and accomplished. It was why he’d asked her to come to the resort with him in the first place. The jerk had beendatingher, and getting to do all the things that Gabe wanted to do.

Bitter jealousy sliced through him, and Gabe fought to tamp it down. At least the man was gone now. But none of this explained the tension at dinner when Jonas asked about her family.

“Youaregood enough. No matter what might have happened in your past.”

Anna stiffened for a fraction of a second, and if she hadn’t been wrapped up in his arms, he might have missed it. “You know I’m not close with my family,” she offered by way of explanation. “There are certain things about them I’d rather not talk about.”

It was vague enough to make him curious, but at the same moment, he felt it—the hurt behind her words.Certain thingscould mean a lot. It wasn’t up to him to pry or press. Gabe cuddled her closer, hoping to soothe her. Hopefully,hewould be enough.