Page 47 of Forever Yours
“I haven’t showered yet,” he joked.
Her eyes lit as she gestured to his ejaculate on her abdomen. “As it happens, I could use another shower. Lead the way.”
They lay in bed post shower, naked and nestled together under the covers, and Gabe reflected on earlier, when he realized he had started down the path he needed to be on and that path included Devlin. Now, despite any of her earlier protestations, he needed to convince her that whatever happened with the proposal they could deal with but, damn, she was caressing him and making it very hard to concentrate on what he wanted to say to her.
“Hey, Dev.” He took her hand in his, and shifted so he could see her face.
“Mhmmm?” came the unintelligible and sleepy reply.
“Can we talk?”
At these words, Devlin was awake and aware. “I shouldn’t have done that in the shower without asking, but I guessed you’d like it.”
Gabe laughed at this. “No, not that, you can do that whenever you want.” He moved again, sitting up this time, and he felt exposed both emotionally and physically. “I’ve been thinking about where this is going—where this came from.”
Devlin sat, pulling the sheet up to cover her body in the process. She looked so lovely that his concentration faltered for a moment.
“You see, I had this thought earlier, about how much I liked being with you, and that I don’t want this to end after we leave here.”
“Gabe—” Devlin started, but he had to keep going.
“I think we should still see each other when we get back to Amber Falls.”
He could see the wheels turning in her head, going over what they’d already talked about, how they were supposed to have a one-night thing, but the storm had turned it into multiple blissful days. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if she didn’t want the same thing he did, if what they’d had these last few days had been enough for her and she would be content with going back to a lonely existence. When she nodded, he almost wept with relief.
“I’m not ready for this to end yet,” she agreed, “but we have to be honest with ourselves that it will end at some point, and we can’t deny the reason why.”
This time he nodded, despite the little voice screaming in his mind that he would give up everything just to make her happy. She didn’t need that from him. She didn’t want that from him, and he had to respect that. Right now, he needed to be content with the concession she gave him.
His stomach chose this moment to give a loud rumble, reminding them both they hadn’t eaten since the evening before.
“That’s one way to break the tension.” Devlin swung her legs off the bed and started to get dressed. “I don’t think we have a prayer of hiding this from the group anymore, not after holing up in here all morning.”
“I hate to break it to you, but I think everyone already knew.”
Gabe made quick work of his clothes and followed Devlin downstairs where the others were setting up a game of Monopoly on the kitchen table.
“About damn time,” Annabelle stated.
“Hey, guys.” Gabe ignored her. “So, we have something to tell you.”
“Don’t bother, bro. You’ve been very obvious,” Greyson pointed out.
“Congrats,” Prudence added.
Gabe looked at the group, waiting for Sebastian to say something as well. When he stayed silent he couldn’t help but ask, “What, you don’t have anything to say?”
Sebastian shrugged. “Nope. I was clueless.” He shot a look at Annabelle. “I guess I’m clueless about a lot of things.”
“What does this mean about the proposals and the art gallery?” Prudence asked.
Gabe didn’t want to say the wrong thing here, so he waited for Devlin to answer.
“I think we’ll worry about that when the time comes. For now, we’re just going to be casual.”
They sat silent at this, and it stretched until it verged on becoming uncomfortable when Sebastian chimed in. “We’re just setting up Monopoly, do you guys want to play?”
Gabe sighed at the reprieve. There would be more questions later and he hoped they’d come when he didn’t have an empty stomach. “Sure, we’ll play. I’m going to grab something to eat first.”