Angel's Rest(90)

Pam sank down on the glider beside her. “I don’t think it’s me. I think it’s you. I admit that, in a way, it’s hard to see him with someone other than my sister. However, it’s not as difficult as I thought it would be. You’ve helped him, Nic.”

“Do you really think so?” she asked, the catch in her heart betraying her vulnerability.

“Yes, I do. I was worried about him. Last year was horrible. Just horrible. Having Matty linger on like he did drained Gabe. I think that despite what the doctors told us, Gabe believed he could will his son well. The weeks after the funeral …” She shook her head. “I couldn’t reach him. No one could. When he came to Colorado, I was honestly afraid I’d never see him again. I’m glad he found Eternity Springs and I’m glad he found you. I like you, Nic. I think my sister would like you, too.”

Nic basked in the glow of the warmth of Pam’s words long after Gabe’s family took their leave. When he returned a half hour later, he was surprised to find her still outside. “I figured the cold would have chased you in by now.”

“What, you think I’m a Texan or something? This isn’t cold.”

“Hey now, no ragging on Texans. You’ll alienate half of the property owners around here.”

She nodded. “I think we’re starting to speak with a drawl. How’s the pump situation?”

“Fixed.” Gabe sat beside her and casually draped his arm around her shoulders. “It was a valve problem I’ve had experience with before, so it was an easy repair.”

They sat silently for a few minutes in a relaxed, companionable state. He smelled of sawdust and sandalwood, and Nic allowed herself to snuggle against him and relish the contact. Eventually Gabe said, “It was a great evening, wasn’t it?”

“It was.”

Gabe looked up to the star-filled indigo sky, then said, “I love it here.”

“You do?”

He looked at her and smiled. “Yeah. I do. I really do.”

Then he leaned forward and kissed her.





SIXTEEN





Gabe suspected that kissing her was a mistake, but his body didn’t care. He felt great. Spectacular.

He felt horny.

Something had changed between him and Nic during these weeks they’d lived in the same house, but not together. He didn’t have a term for it, or if he did, he wasn’t prepared to admit what it was. All he knew for certain was that against what had seemed like insurmountable odds, springtime had returned to his soul. Like the cottonwoods and aspen blooming on the mountainside, he’d survived the long, harsh winter. He wanted to live again. And, he wanted to do that living with her.

Beneath the starlit sky and surrounded by the clean, fresh scent of a mountain springtime, Gabe kissed her, a kiss different from any he’d shared with her before. It was passionate yet gentle. It was a kiss from his heart.

Nic responded in kind. She was so sweet. Warm. Welcoming. She was light. Brightness, when he’d lived in darkness for so long.

He broke the kiss and drew back, watching her closed eyes, the way her tongue snaked out and licked her lips as though she savored the taste of him. It was then, in that moment, that he knew. No, no mistake. It was time. It was right. She was right.

She opened her eyes, and their gazes met and held. “Nicole? Can I take you to bed?”

Her smile bloomed slow and sweet and soft. “Take me here, Gabriel. It’s a beautiful, quiet night. Spread the blanket on the grass.”

He grinned. “You sure? We’ll freeze our asses off.”

“Something tells me heat won’t be a problem.”

He laughed out loud at that, then rose and spread out a blanket and quilts. Then he held his hand out to her and she took it, rising and moving naturally, gracefully into his arms. He bent down to her and they kissed. She tasted of lemon bars and smelled of a Rocky Mountain spring.

His hand stroked down her back, over the curve of her hip, then up again. When she made a soft sigh of pleasure into his mouth, he groaned in reply. Then, careful of her knee, he scooped her into his arms and knelt. He lowered her onto her back as if she were the most precious of jewels, then smiled down into the deep, blue depths of her eyes and allowed himself to fall. He took the moment for himself and for her and it was … good.

Tender, yet erotic. Physical, yet gentle. They took their time this time, learning each other, enjoying each other, giving pleasure and receiving pleasure in return. It was more than simply sex. It was rebirth for Gabe and a new beginning for them both.