Fall Away Read online

  “Is everything okay?” She didn’t know a lot about his job, but she was pretty sure he wasn’t usually done at the end of the school day.

  He shrugged, dropping his gaze to the papers they were still picking up.

  “I’m pretty much done here, I just need to run some copies of worksheets for tomorrow. Give me ten minutes, okay?”

  She kissed his cheek as she stood up, then grabbed her spelling handouts for the next day and headed to the office to make some copies.

  The school receptionist, Nadia, was filing the day’s attendance reports and blushed when Gaby came into view.

  “Oh, so he sweet-talked his way past you, huh?”

  “There aren’t any kids here.” Nadia stuck out her tongue. “Please don’t try to tell me you didn’t want that hunk of man to surprise you. Because if you didn’t—”

  Gaby laughed. “Oh no, I did. Thank you.”

  “Is it serious?”

  Gaby shook her head. “It’s new. And he’s way out of my league, so I’m sure it won’t last, but as long as it does…”

  Nadia frowned. “Don’t sell yourself short. Does he give you that impression?”

  “No!” The retort stormed out of her, because it was the truth. “No, he’s lovely.”

  “Military?”

  She nodded. “Navy.”

  “Hot.”

  “Mmm-hmmm.” They giggled together as Gaby waited for the last of her copies to spool off the printer. “Okay, I’m out of here.”

  “If you call in sick tomorrow, I’ll cover for you!”

  “I won’t.”

  “Foolish girl.” Nadia sighed and leaned against the filing cabinet. “If he has any friends. Or brothers. Or hunky acquaintances….”

  “I’ll be sure to point them in your direction.”

  Gaby wiggled her fingers and stepped into the hall—and into Trick’s chest. Big, broad, hard…and shaking with laughter. She groaned and tipped her head against his shirt. “How much did you hear?”

  “Hot, mmm-hmmm. And apparently I’m not sick-day worthy.”

  “Are you going to call in sick tomorrow?”

  “Fair point.” He slid his fingers through hers. “Is this okay?”

  She grinned. “Sure, everyone’s pretty much gone.”

  “For the record, you are sick-day worthy. There’s just shit going on right now.”

  “Ah.” That explained the visit. “So…dinner?”

  “I thought I’d take you out.”

  “Let’s swing by my place so I can get changed.” She steered them back into her classroom.

  Trick swung her around, pressing her back to the interior wall, so they were safely out of view if anyone glanced in the window on the door. He sucked her lower lip into his mouth as he ghosted his hands down her hips. “I like this dress, though.”

  “And it likes you, too.” She opened for him and he thrust his tongue hungrily against hers, zooming her blood straight to the boiling point. She panted as he moved his mouth down her neck. “Maybe I just wanted a polite excuse to grab an overnight bag for your place.”

  He groaned. “I thought we were past niceties. And here I thought I’d have to grovel to get you in my bed in the middle of the week.”

  She grabbed his cheeks and pulled his head to hers. “Hey. You need some company, I want you to ask. Parameters be damned.”

  The look on his face made her heart melt—starkly serious, totally surprised. “Yeah?”

  “Of course.” She curled up on her toes, pressing her lips to his. “Now, where are you going to feed me?”

  — —

  They settled on Mexican pretty quickly. Trick wanted to take her to a fancy place near the beach, but Gaby suggested something more casual, just off Orange Ave, and rightly pointed out that then they could have a few beers and walk back to her place.

  Trick didn’t ask her if Lila was home tonight. For one thing, he didn’t care, and he didn’t want Gaby to care or worry about why he was asking. He followed her home, then upstairs to her empty apartment. She scrawled a note on the whiteboard on the fridge and took three minutes to freshen up before they headed for the restaurant on foot.

  They talked about the pros and cons of living in Coronado Beach and what Gaby’s class was learning for the week. They talked about current affairs and reality television and social media, pausing only to order food. After finishing a shared skillet of queso fundido, Trick was finally feeling more comfortable with the state of his head when Gaby slid her hand over his and dragged an unexpected truth out of him.

  “How was your day?”

  “Rough.”

  She paused, eyebrows slightly raised like she’d been expecting a nothing answer. It was all he usually gave her.

  He shook his head. “Sorry. That’s cryptic, I know.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “I don’t mind cryptic.”

  Screwing up his face against the onslaught of sound he had racing through his head—the audio recording of a SEAL fire team caught in the middle of an artillery strike—Trick looked out the window at the sidewalk of happy civilians strolling past. “I’m here, and the team I usually work with…isn’t. The disconnect between what they’re doing—what I usually do—and the cushy life is….”

  Gaby just looked at him, her eyes soft as she waited for him to start talking again. Or not. She really looked like she’d take whatever he could share and not ask for more.

  She deserved more.

  Not the state secrets stuff, but…she didn’t deserve a boyfriend who might be more fucked up than he thought.

  “Do you have someone at work you can talk to about this stuff? Talk freely, I mean?”

  He nodded. “I do. And I do talk to them. Lots of them, actually.”

  “So what’s the deal…they tell you that you’re reacting normally and you don’t believe them?”

  He didn’t, actually. He huffed a laugh. “How’d you know?”

  “Lucky guess. And a few psych classes in my undergrad.” She leaned forward and held out her hand, wiggling her fingers until he took them. “So sleeping with me tonight might help?”

  “Is that okay?”

  She nodded. “More than okay. Thank you for asking.”

  They were interrupted then by the arrival of their fish taco plates, but Gaby didn’t immediately let go of his hand. She smiled a polite thanks to the waiter, then slid her attention right back to him.

  “Last week you said you don’t sleep well alone. Is this what you meant?”

  His skin prickled with discomfort. He wanted to leap up from the table and run far away, but he’d started the conversation and she wasn’t wrong.

  “I’m sorry. Now’s not the time.” She squeezed his fingers and let go, pointing at the tacos. “These look amazing.”

  “They do.” Fresh white fish, bright cabbage, and the best salsa on the island—this had been the right call for where to go, and he told Gaby as much. She winked at him and told him to dig in.

  They took their time over a shared dish of ice cream, and by the time they were walking back to her place in the unseasonably warm spring night, his tension had eased.

  It threatened to come slamming back when she unlocked her apartment door and music greeted them on the other side.

  “Ah, Lila’s home,” Gaby murmured. He couldn’t see her face, but her back pulled up a little straighter than usual.

  He moved closer, wrapping his arm around her waist. Leaning in, he brushed his lips against the curve of her ear. “Do you want to meet me over at my place?”

  She shook her head, then twisted and kissed his jaw. “Come on.”

  Holding hands, they walked into the living room. Gaby’s roommate was sitting on the floor, CDs spread all around her. She glanced up for half a second, smiled, then returned her attention to the case in her hand. “How was dinner?”

  “Great,” Gaby said. “Are you sorting or hunting for a specific album?”

  “Hunting. I can’t find the Jamiroqu
ai CD, and I’m heading out to Kyra’s place soon. But it’s sort of turned into alphabetizing. Sorry. I’ll be cleared out of here in a few minutes.”

  Trick wasn’t sure how that was possible. Plastic cases littered the room, stacked on every available surface.

  Gaby glanced up at him, then started laughing.

  “What?”

  “You don’t think she can tidy all of this up in a flash?”

  Had his doubt been that obvious? He smiled down at Gaby. “It’s just that…” He shook his head at her. “You know what? I know better than to argue with the woman I’m sleeping with.”

  It was like he’d pressed a button and frozen time. Gaby blinked silently up at him for a moment, and then Lila started coughing and couldn’t stop. Trick could feel himself turning bright read. Jesus. He’d stepped right into that one.

  “Uhhhh…” He shut his mouth, because all he had were incomprehensible noises.

  Gaby’s eyes crinkled. She turned to her roommate. “Are you okay?”

  The blonde wiped at the corners of her eyes. “Oh yeah.”

  Gaby turned back to him. “Are you okay?”

  “Really not sure,” he muttered. “Are you going to kick me out?”

  She laughed. “Oh, hell no.” She turned him and pointed him down the hall. “Night, Lila!” she called as she pressed her small hands into his back. “This way, Mr. Cool.”

  He vaguely remembered this hallway. Two bedrooms, the doors slightly offset. He’d already been in the one on the left, so the one on the right must be Gaby’s.

  She steered him into the dark, then flicked a switch which controlled the two lamps on either side of the bed.

  “Nice room.” Filler comment, but it was true. Dark furniture, red decorations. Not quite sleek, not quite funky, just modern and perfectly Gaby.

  “Nice cover.” He turned and found her smirking at him, arms crossed. The door clicked shut behind her.

  “Hey, I wasn’t even thinking about that.”

  “I know.” She trailed her gaze down his body and back up again. “You only had eyes for me out there.”

  “I only ever have eyes for you.” He swallowed hard. “I’m sorry that was awkward.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not. That was, like, the best kind of awkward. Embarrassing. Funny. And now it’s done.”

  Huh. How about that. She looked him up and down again, and Trick finally clued in. Notching his thumbs in his belt, he rocked on his heels. She could look her fill. He was hers to consume, with her eyes and her hands and her mouth, as much as she wanted.

  She sat on the edge of the bed and took off her shoes, then moved slowly around him to put them in the closet. He watched over his shoulder as she approached him, touching his waist, then his arm, her fingertips cool like marbles as she trailed them over his skin.

  Stopping in front of him again, barefoot in that pretty dress, she looked small but mighty. And never more beautiful.

  “Gaby…” He settled his hands on her waist. He wanted to pick her up and toss her on the bed. Show her how much he wanted her, but she was doing something here and he had to be patient.

  “We’ve been silly, Patrick.” She tipped her head to the side and gave him a look he couldn’t quite figure out. “Or maybe just me.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I’ve been so, so silly.”

  “Never, pretty girl.”

  “All that fear. All that noise. When you came to see me today…it all just fell away.” She ran her hands up his chest and around his neck, tugging his head down so she could kiss him. “I want you, Trick.”

  “You’ve got me.”

  She smiled against his lips. “No, I mean, I want you. Inside me.”

  — —

  Trick had been holding himself back, Gaby knew that, and she knew telling him she was ready for sex would get a reaction.

  She hadn’t prepared herself for how much of a reaction.

  The second her words processed through his brain, he took command of their kiss. Holding her face, he tugged her lower lip between his teeth, his tongue tracing the softness just inside her mouth as he moved her backward to the bed.

  Deepening the kiss, he simultaneously worked her skirt up to her waist and got her sitting on the bed, all without taking a breath. He didn’t break their embrace until he dropped to his knees, whipping off his boots and shirt before sliding his hands up her thighs and tugging her panties low on her hips.

  “Up,” he ordered, and she fell back, lifting her hips as ordered.

  As soon as they were both partially naked, he slowed down, crawling on top of her to kiss her senseless again. He carefully worked the row of buttons down the front of her dress, revealing the extra-pretty bra she’d changed into before dinner. The matching panties were now tossed on the floor somewhere, but it didn’t matter—she hadn’t needed to put on anything fancy.

  He still gazed down at her like she was everything he’d ever wanted, just like this—rough and raw and real. She didn’t need to excuse herself to put on something staged. He wanted her.

  Her breath caught in her throat as he ever so slowly worked her breasts out of the lace cups. He circled his fingertip around one nipple, then the other, before dipping his head and suckling on her.

  Her hips arched off the bed as flames of desire shot through her body, straight from his tongue to her soaking wet sex.

  “Please, Patrick. Please.” She wasn’t above begging.

  “Do you have condoms? I was tested after we started dating, but…”

  “In the drawer.” She was on the pill, but she’d never been tested, and fair was fair. There’d be time for that when they weren’t hazy with lust.

  He leaned over and grabbed one, then paused and grabbed two more. When she squeaked, he pounced back on top of her. “I’ve been waiting for months for this, Gaby. Once is not going to be enough.”

  “It hasn’t been months,” she protested, her voice eager and breathy.

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re right. I’ve been waiting for you for years. I just didn’t know it.”

  “Trick—” He cut her off with a hard kiss, all tongue and teeth and firm, strong lips that zinged her all over. Damn him, not giving her a chance to tell him she felt the same way.

  But she could show him.

  She wiggled her arms between them, working at his belt and his fly until she had enough play to shove his jeans down his hips. She had to reach to grab his ass, but as soon as she had a handful of him, she yanked them together.

  He groaned as she rolled against him, showing him how wet she was, and for a second she thought he’d just slide right inside—and oh, how she wanted that. She wanted him to take her and make her his. He was already branded on her heart, might as well make it official.

  But while he tightened his hold on her and rocked against her, he was more in control than she was. “Need this,” he ground out, ripping the wrapper open.

  Once sheathed, he pressed up on his elbows, watching between them as he slowly pressed his erection between the lips of her swollen, aching sex. She rocked her hips up to welcome him inside her body, but he wouldn’t be hurried, and as he pressed, then pulled back before slowly thrusting again, she understood why.

  She hadn’t been thinking about how big he was.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered as he stretched her. She’d never felt so full in her life. Full to the aching point.

  But she wanted even more.

  On his next thrust, she tipped her hips again, and he stroked against something inside her, that same place he’d already found with his fingers, and she felt herself grow even more slick around his shaft.

  He growled at the easier slide and picked up the pace, rocking in and out of her in ways that made her eyes roll back in her head and her nipples tighten to sharp little points.

  “So tight.” He stared down at her, his eyelids heavy and his lips wet. She reached up and wrapped her hand around his neck, holding his gaze as he thrust deep again, his
eyelids fluttering almost shut. “So good.”

  “So good,” she repeated, her breath hitching as he moved inside her. They didn’t even have their clothes off, and it was off-the-charts amazing.

  He shifted his weight to his right arm, sliding his left hand down her side, rumpling her dress into a narrow band of fabric around her waist. He slid his hand under her, lifting her bottom as he picked up his pace, fucking her harder and faster.

  She wasn’t sure what was going to happen first—orgasm or spontaneous combustion. She was okay with the latter if she got the former first. She’d never wanted that explosive release more.

  “Do you need to touch yourself? Want me to—”

  “No,” she gasped, dragging breath into her lungs. She was so close. “That’s perfect, just like that.”

  He surged into her again, rolling against her clit as he bottomed out, and she cried out for him to do it again.

  He did, his muscles bunching under her hands as he worked hard to get them both to that blissful peak.

  “Gaby…” He groaned her name, dropping his face into her neck as she locked her legs around his waist, trembling as she started to clench around him on the inside as well. “My pretty girl,” he whispered, his breath coming hard and fast as he jerked roughly above her, finishing nearly at the same time.

  They clung to each other, breathing hard, until Trick angled out of her and rolled to the side to ditch the condom. Then he shoved his pants all the way off and pulled her against him.

  “Best thing that’s ever happened to me,” he whispered.

  She kissed his chest, then pressed her cheek to the same spot. “You really are my superhero, you know that?”

  He huffed and settled his hand on her hair.

  I love you, she thought. It was blinding, the truth of her feelings now that all the boundaries had fallen away. She burrowed closer. She’d show him, again and again with her body, then hold him so he could sleep.

  And hopefully one day soon he’d be ready to hear the words themselves.

  He deserved them so much.