Safe from Harm (Protect & Serve #2)(90)
She nodded, her eyelids drooping as the exhaustion dragged her down. The next thing she knew, she was waking up in Gabe’s arms as he carried her into his house and down the hall to his bedroom.
“Hey there, handsome,” she drawled sleepily.
“Hey there, beautiful.” The dimpled smile he gave her was so sultry, warmth began to spread through her body, pooling in all the right womanly places and bringing her fully awake and alive.
“I seem to recall we had some plans for the evening,” she mused.
He lifted a single brow. “Oh yeah?”
She nodded. “Mmm-hmm. I believe there was a hot bubble bath involved.”
“I might be a little low on bubble bath at the old bachelor pad,” he told her, his aqua eyes growing darker as he peered down at her, “but I think I can handle the hot part.”
“Oh, honey,” she said with a grin, “I have no doubt about that…”
Gabe set her on her feet, then removed his gun, laying it on his dresser before taking off his gun belt and setting it aside. She watched him with hungry eyes as he removed the clips from his uniform buttons, placing them in a neat little pile.
The pace he was undressing at was maddeningly slow.
“Here,” she murmured, stepping closer, slipping her hands beneath his shirt and sliding it off his broad shoulders. “Let me help you with that.”
Next was his T-shirt. She untucked it and drew it over his head, tossing it aside. Then she leaned in and pressed a kiss to his bare chest, grinning at the low moan it elicited.
Then she slid her hand down between them, cupping him through his pants. “I think the bath can wait just a little while,” she said, giving him a slow grin. “Don’t you?”
*
Gabe didn’t answer. Couldn’t. His powers of speech had left him. All he knew was need—the need to be inside Elle, to lose himself in her love, to reassure himself that she was safe in his arms.
He pulled off her T-shirt, then popped the button on her jeans, slipping his hand inside and finding her already slick with desire. And at that moment, any restraint he possibly maintained left him. He captured her lips with his in a savage kiss, his fingers stroking her with demanding caresses as she moaned and arched against him.
When he felt her muscles begin to spasm, he finally broke their kiss and peered down at her, bracing her with his other arm as her release rocked her, loving the way her rapture played over her face.
“Oh God, Gabe!” she gasped, her fingers digging into his arms. “Please.”
Seconds later, they had shed the rest of their clothes and were falling onto his bed together in a blissful tangle. He joined their bodies in one rough thrust, making love to her with the same savage, life-affirming abandon. She rose to meet him, drawing him in, clutching at his back, demanding all he had to give.
When she came again, his name on her lips in a breathless gasp, he let go with a ragged cry. Then his mouth found hers in a slow, languid kiss as her hands smoothed over his skin, soothing him with the tenderness of her touch.
*
“Mind if I ask you something?” Gabe said sometime later as they lay in his bed, their arms and legs entwined, her head resting on his chest as he held her close. “Why did you go out to the Monroes’ farm on your own? Don’t take this the wrong way, but what the hell were you thinking?”
Elle explained about the call she’d received from Janice Monroe. “She needed help. Even if it was a ruse to get me out there, her cry for help was genuine at the heart of it. Would you have reacted any differently if she’d called you?”
She has a point, but still…
“It’s my job to rush in when people need help, Elle,” he reminded her. “I’m trained to handle myself.”
She sighed. “Well, I’ve decided helping women like Janice Monroe is where my heart is. I’m taking the job at the foundation.”
His brows shot up. “Are you sure? I know how much being a prosecutor has meant to you.”
“I went into law so I could make a positive impact,” she told him. “After seeing firsthand the terror this family experienced…”
“There are going to be a lot of people you can’t help, Elle,” he told her, knowing all too well the challenges she might face.
She sighed and shook her head. “If I can help just one woman have a better life, help one child escape that kind of situation before it comes to what happened today…”
Gabe’s heart swelled with pride for the woman in his arms. He’d never known anyone quite as strong or resilient. She’d been through hell, and instead of dwelling on her own trauma, all she could think about was how she might continue to help others.
When she fell silent, snuggling in tighter against him, he smoothed his fingertips along her arm, trying to push away the images of just how wrong things could’ve gone earlier that day, how close he’d come to losing this incredible woman, how close the world had come to being deprived of the light she brought to the lives of so many.
He sighed, realizing he’d completely underestimated her. “I’m sorry, Elle.”
She frowned at him. “For what?”
“For thinking you needed a knight in shining armor.” He brushed her hair from her face. “You were right when you said I can’t constantly worry that something could happen to you, that I might not be able to protect you.”