A Question of Love: Sequel to A Question of Trust Read online

  “Thank you again. I’ll be sure to get the invitation out to you.” Then she closed the door behind her, turned and walked away.

  Chapter Four

  Gabe tore away from the footpath, tires screeching. The needle of the speedometer hit over eighty kilometers per hour in less than a minute.

  Fuck!

  Checking his rearview mirror long enough to ensure there was no one behind him, he veered to the side of the road, slammed on his brakes and stalled the car.

  Good fucking thing too, because in this mood he might kill some unsuspecting pedestrian—or himself, overstepping the curves at Bronte and sending the car careening through the barriers and over the sheer rock face of the cliffs into the raging ocean below.

  Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  That had gone about as well as a baby ’roo thrown to a pack of starving dingoes. She’d chewed him up and spat him out. He grimaced. At least she hadn’t spat at him. If the look on her face as she climbed out the car had been anything to go by, that was sheer luck on his part.

  God, she must despise him. Think him the biggest shit on earth. He’d known he’d hurt when he left her. He hadn’t guessed at how much he’d hurt her. Christ, he’d just wanted to do the right thing. By her and by Connor. She was Connor’s. He’d met her first. He’d told Gabe how much he dug her. No. Connor had never loved her, nor had he intimated that he loved her. But rules were rules. It was either sacrifice a lifetime of friendship with Connor and express his true feelings to Tina, or give up Tina and protect all three of them in the process.

  When rules got broken, people got hurt. Connor was his best mate, and Tina was the woman he loved. No way he’d hurt either of them. Easier to just pull away and leave Connor and Tina alone to be happy together. Let him be the only one to experience the pain.

  Only that wasn’t how it had played out. His abrupt departure had hurt Tina. Badly. Badly enough that she wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Yes, she was grateful for the introduction to Valerie today, but that was where it ended. She didn’t want anything else from him.

  She had a boyfriend now, just like she’d had one three and a half years ago when he’d gone in search of her the first time. The man in the coffee shop was one lucky fuck. Sharp blades of jealousy cut at Gabe’s gut. Was it the same guy? Had they been together all this time?

  Gabe rubbed his hand over his face, contempt for himself and for Tina’s man souring his mouth. Which was a damn pity, because the last thing he’d tasted was Tina’s sweet breath. Her hot tongue. Just thinking about the kiss they’d shared outside Valerie’s house made him hard all over again. The way she’d collapsed against him, her curves branding his muscles.

  Gabe froze.

  She’d kissed him back. Opened her soft lips and given as much as she’d taken. She’d fused her mouth to his and kissed him with all the passion and heat of four years ago. Yes, she’d pulled away, come to her senses. That didn’t change the fact that she’d kissed him back.

  Gabe threw the car into neutral and turned the key. He’d loved the woman for over four years. He’d finally allowed himself the pleasure of talking to her again, of kissing her again—and she’d kissed him back. No matter how much she might despise him, there was still something somewhere inside her that responded to him. And damned if he wasn’t going to explore it further.

  ***

  Tina slumped when the doorbell rang. Not company. Not now. Please. Her day had gone from bad to worse to unbelievable to nerve-wracking to heartbreaking all in one morning. She had no strength to make small talk with visitors.

  One failed relationship in the morning, followed by a surprise visit from an old lover, topped off by an offer of an exhibition was enough excitement to push any woman over the edge.

  She put her pad and granite stick aside and stood reluctantly. With a bit of luck it would be someone spreading the word of God, and she could make some polite excuse and get this over and done with. She opened the door.

  “Do you love him?”

  Shit.

  “Do you?”

  Her heart performed a series of erratic somersaults. “Love who?”

  “The guy I saw you with earlier. The one who kissed you in the coffee bar.”

  Anthony? “I told you already. It’s none of your business.”

  “You kissed him, T. For a long time.”

  He filled the doorway. His shoulders seemed to reach from one side of the doorjamb to the other. God, how she’d loved running her hands over those shoulders. Loved the feel of his muscles tensing beneath her touch. “You kissed me, Gabe. For a long time. Does it mean you love me?”

  His upper lip twisted. “I’ll answer that question later. I just want to know if you love him.”

  “Why? What difference does it make?”

  “It makes a shitload of difference. If you don’t love him, I won’t regret doing this.”

  “Doing wh—?”

  Her question was cut off mid-word. Gabe swooped forward and caught her mouth in a fierce kiss. He gave her not a second to object. She was aware of three things. The slamming of a door, a sense of weightlessness as he hauled her off the ground and held her in a tight, all-encompassing embrace, and the sheer glory of his tongue sweeping past her lips.

  God, he tasted good. Like the long-forgotten sugar of a childhood treat. Now that she’d sampled it again she wanted more. More, more, more.

  Instinct took over. She wound her legs around his waist and kissed him back, licking into his mouth, desperate to devour every last ounce of sweetness. Her nipples tightened as they pressed against the solidness of his chest, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

  Her groin clenched as her clit ground against him, making her whimper.

  He wrenched his lips from hers. “Say it,” he rasped. “Tell me you don’t love him.”

  She was incapable of speech. All she wanted was the heat of his mouth back on hers. She sought his lips blindly, found them and locked her mouth to his. His hands were on her ass, molded to her cheeks. The heat from his palms scorched her straight through her jeans. He kneaded her butt, pulling her cheeks apart as far as they’d go within the confines of the denim and then pushing them back together so the string of her thong scraped against her skin. As he kneaded he pushed harder against her, massaging her intimately.

  Again he pulled back from her kiss. “Damn it. Tell me you don’t love him.” His eyes were scrunched closed.

  She nipped his jaw.

  “S-say it.” He dipped her lower, introducing her clit to his rock-hard erection, rubbing her against it until she yelped and heat flooded her pussy.

  Shit, she could climax just like this.

  “W-want to make you come, T.” He thrust his groin against hers, over and over, sending flaming darts of pleasure shooting straight into her. “Want you to explode in my arms. Just tell me you don’t love the fucker. Please.”

  “Don’t…don’t love…him.” She ground down hard against his cock, her clit a mass of sensitive nerve endings. “Ended things…this…oh, God…morning.”

  His growl of satisfaction echoed through her ears, and he bucked wildly against her. “Now,” he ordered as his denim-encased cock seemed to grow against her. “Come…” he continued his frenzied thrusting, driving her insane beyond comprehension, “…now.”

  She fragmented in his arms, a million pleasure points pulsing through her pussy. Tremors wracked her body as the release tore through her.

  “One.” Gabe’s voice echoed through her ears. He walked her backwards and leaned over. Her back touched something soft, and just like that she was sprawled on her couch with Gabe kneeling on the floor before her.

  “At least another three,” he told her and stripped off her jeans. Her sodden thong followed seconds later.

  God, Gabe was counting. Which meant he wasn’t done making her come. Not by a long shot. Dimly she told herself to get up. To show a little backbone. But her breathing hadn’t yet regulated, and her legs were paralyzed. She
couldn’t move now even if she wanted to.

  “Gabe!” She groaned as he leaned over her and buried his face between her legs. His tongue was hot and wet against her, soothing. Jeans were not the softest of material, and mashing her pussy against her pants and his, while most erotic, left her requiring just a bit of recovery time. Or better yet—treatment. Warm, moist treatment, that took away the tenderness and replaced it once again with blazing lust. He licked her with a gentleness that touched her heart, and he licked her with a possessiveness that tingled down her spine. Then he licked her with a lust that jarred through her belly and sent shudders shivering through her.

  His tongue seduced and teased. It laved and calmed while it caressed and excited. It drove her halfway to heaven, then withdrew, leaving her hanging on the precipice, desperate for release.

  “Come for me, Tina,” he said, his breath teasing the lips of her pussy. “Now.” He licked her again, and she dissolved around his tongue, tremors of ecstasy flowing through her.

  He gave her no recovery time. As the waves of her orgasm shuddered through her, he dipped two fingers inside her. Her inner walls reacted on instinct, clamping down around them. Christ, it shouldn’t feel so familiar after four years. So right. But it did. So right, her body tumbled into a fresh set of tremors.

  Her head was a jumble of confusion. Chaos reigned supreme. She couldn’t think straight, couldn’t remember why it was so important she keep her distance from Gabe. Why on earth would she want to stay away from a man who could bring her to climax three times in minutes? What had he done that was so bad?

  She knew he’d done something, knew it was serious enough that the pain had not subsided for a very long time, but details eluded her. Most everything escaped her now, apart from the play of his tongue against her pussy lips.

  He turned her, seating her upright so she leaned against the back of the couch. He spread her legs and propped her feet up on his shoulders, exposing her core completely to his invading tongue. He made love to her with his mouth, adored her, played symphonies on her inner lips. And then he cupped his hands beneath her ass and lifted her hips higher, dragging his tongue just a couple of millimeters lower. He tickled the crevice between her butt cheeks before dipping in to taste her ass.

  The breath left her body in a loud sigh. God knew Gabe was gifted with his mouth. Vestal virgins couldn’t—wouldn’t—resist his sweet assault. Bright light flooded through her closed eyes, exploding in tiny bursts of white. Sensation pooled and built between her legs. His tongue sampled and seduced, bringing her to new heights of pleasure. If her pussy had swelled and shuddered, her ass tingled and trembled. His tongue felt like hot liquid teasing its way past the tight ring of muscle to dazzle her inner walls. If she could have pulled him in deeper, trapped him there, she would have. But the sensation was too exquisite, the fever running too high. He pushed one finger inside her ass and one inside her pussy, intensifying the pleasure a thousandfold. The ceiling above her spiraled out of sight, and the couch below her vanished. He chose that moment to run his tongue over her clit, and once again she broke around him. Her body spasmed out of control. The air was whipped from her lungs. She spun weightless in the air, connected to earth only by the sinful hand and mouth of Gabriel Carter, lover extraordinaire.

  And when the climax receded she collapsed backward onto the couch, bamboozled.

  Strong arms lifted her from her resting place and carried her through her flat. The soft cotton of her bedspread cushioned her butt as Gabe laid her on the bed.

  She pushed herself up into a sitting position, trying to make sense of the last few minutes, but Gabe was having none of it.

  “I’m not done yet,” he told her, his voice deeper than usual and a little breathless. “I intend to make you come again. At least twice more. But this time I won’t use my fingers or my mouth. This time you’ll find your pleasure in a very different way.”

  As he spoke, he unbuttoned her blouse and pushed it off her. Then he unclipped her bra and tossed that aside so she lay naked before him. He swallowed as he took in her naked body, his eyes sweeping over her.

  “Gabe…” Her voice trailed off. She had no idea what to say to him. She should tell him to stop, but God help her, she didn’t want him to. What she wanted were those other orgasms he promised her.

  “Christ, T. You’ve got me so aroused I’m ready to burst a nut here.” He undid the buttons of his jeans and twisted the waist. “Pants…too bloody…tight,” he gasped. “I want so badly to fuck you. I want to slide into your pussy and lose myself in your body. Like I used to. Want it so bad I can almost feel your wet heat around my dick.” Gabe closed his eyes for a second and grimaced.

  Tina moaned. God, she wanted that too. Wanted Gabe to press his glorious cock inside her. Wanted him to fuck her like he used to, until she came, screaming his name—or Connor’s—in sheer ecstasy. She bent her knees and drew her thighs apart, her legs preparing for the sensual onslaught.

  Gabe ran his finger over her engorged clit and swore. “Not gonna do it,” he said in a strained voice. “Not gonna hurt you again.”

  Tina’s heart dropped even as sensation charged through her pussy. He’d promised her more orgasms!

  He played with her clit, tracing tiny circles around it with his huge finger. “But I am gonna make you come. And I’m going to watch as every tremor wracks your body. I’m going to watch as your nipples harden into tight buds and your skin breaks out in goose bumps.”

  Tina gulped. When it came to sex she had no doubt Gabe would follow through on every promise. But if he wasn’t going to fuck her then how—

  “May I open the drawer beside your bed?” He dipped his finger between her pussy lips and drew it back up over her clit.

  Ah! Waves of heat flooded through her as she nodded. The goose bumps he’d just mentioned began to creep up her back and over her arms.

  “Close your eyes, T,” he instructed, his fingers still seducing her.

  Her lids drifted shut.

  Gabe pulled away from her, leaving behind a dull, empty ache where his hand had been. She heard the soft rumble of the drawer opening and then the sounds of plastic knocking against wood and glass pinging against glass.

  And then there was silence.

  “Perfect,” he whispered.

  She did not need to look to know he wore a satisfied smile. She clenched her thighs together as her pussy began to throb. Oh, Lord. What had he found? What had he chosen?

  “Your collection has grown,” he said, clearly impressed. The mattress dipped, and denim brushed against her leg. “But I think for today we can settle on your old friend.”

  Tina shivered. She knew exactly who the old friend was. Her trusted rabbit pal. Not the very same one Gabe and Connor had used on her before, but a close relative nevertheless. Moisture gathered between her legs, her body preparing itself for the exquisite torture she knew would follow.

  A hand on her knee pushed her legs apart again. “Because sometimes,” he whispered, “it’s the old friends who bring you the most pleasure.” Something cool and wet brushed over her groin, and her muscles clenched. Then came the soft whirring.

  Tina shuddered as a vibrating jellied tip touched her clit, sending sharp sparks of delight shooting through her. She groaned and then sagged as the rabbit was pulled away. The vibrations ceased, although the soft whir did not. Less than a second later her body convulsed as the tip touched her lower lips. The tremors tantalized her, leaving her achy and needy. She wanted more. Wanted the rabbit inside. She moaned and twisted her hips, and Gabe obliged.

  He slid the toy into her channel, pushing and stretching her, teasing and taunting her. The gentle buzzing drove her crazy, sweet torment against the walls of her pussy. Sweet that was, until the vibrations increased in speed. And then need overcame her. She pushed back down on the rabbit, pushed against Gabe’s hand, wanting more, needing release.

  “Ah, T.” Gabe’s voice felt like a million prickles down her spine. “Always so respon
sive.”

  Another change. Different movement. He’d turned on the beads, and they rotated around and around, pulsating through her pussy, making her cry out.

  “That’s it, sweetness,” Gabe urged. “Take all the pleasure you need.”

  She clenched her muscles around the toy, squeezing as hard as she could, slowing the movement down. And then she relaxed again, giving the rabbit free rein. It was all she could take. Blood thrummed in her ears, her legs shook and an orgasm blindsided her, leaving her breathless.

  “Ah, Christ!” Gabe sounded as breathless as she felt. “God, I love to watch you come. Love when…your pussy…shudders. Your clit…” He moaned. “Fuck, I want to lick your clit.”

  Her hips buckled as he drove the rabbit higher, increasing the speed of rotation. Silver light ripped through her as the tiny quivering ears touched her swollen bud, and a fresh set of tremors shook her. Still he didn’t stop, just kept the toy whirring, kept her body flying until she turned her head and sobbed into her pillow, the pleasure too intense—almost painful. Just when she thought she couldn’t stand it anymore, he slipped a finger in her ass and bit the tender skin of her inner thigh.

  Tina dissolved. She knew nothing but the torrents of wicked rapture flooding her veins.

  ***

  Gabe sat statue still at base of the bed, forcing himself not to move. If he so much as breathed now, he would not be able to stem the tide of his desire. He would rip of his clothes, lunge at Tina and drive himself—unprotected—into the writhing depths of her pussy.

  He clenched his eyes shut, bit down hard on his tongue and counted to thirty. Sweat beaded on his forehead and dripped down his back. His balls smarted with unreleased tension, his dick so hard the pain cut through him.

  Christ, he needed relief. He needed to come.

  Not here. Not now.

  This was not about him. It was about Tina. About proving to her that even though he’d left her once, he was back now. Back to prove he would do anything, everything for her. He would shift the world if he could to please her. Move planets. Realign the stars.