Never Enough (22 page)
“You don’t have to say anything. I get it. More than you can know.”
“There you are!” Adrian came out onto the terrace with Miles at his side. “Your son and my sister just trash-talked me. Can you imagine? Where’s the gratitude, Miles?”
Miles, laughing, poked Adrian in the ribs with his elbow, playfully.
Gillian couldn’t help but smile at them both, playing together the way they did. Adrian encouraged Miles’s roughhousing side.
“Like puppies, the both of you.”
Adrian looked up with a grin and then over to Todd. “He eats like one too. Christ, Todd, you should see how much this boy can put away. He’ll fit in here just fine.”
At dinner, sitting at a table in a dining room that ran the length of the windows south of the kitchen, Erin maneuvered herself next to Gillian. “How’s it going? This has to be a bit much.”
“Funny how a glass of wine can take the edge off.”
Erin laughed and Alexander looked up from where he sat with Adrian. “Mah!” He hopped down and toddled around, holding on here and there, taking whatever helping hand a nearby adult gave until he reached not Erin, but Gillian.
“Up.” He added something that sounded rather like please and automatically, Gillian picked him up, plopping him into her lap, careful not to let him too near cutlery or anyone’s drink.
“He loves the ladies, does our Alexander.” Erin cocked her head at her son, who blew her a kiss. “I’m afraid he’s just as terminally charming as the rest of the men in this family. Luckily, we’re a hearty bunch of womenfolk and can whip them into shape.”
She paused to look at her son with affection. And then back to Gillian. “I want you to like us. I can’t pretend I don’t. I’m weird that way, I guess, but when I meet people I enjoy I get excited. I promise I won’t call you at two in the morning to make you tell me I’m pretty though. I have Ben and Todd for that.” She laughed, Alexander mimicking her.
“I was telling your brother how impossible it was not to like you. You’re rather irresistible. It runs in your family. Charm.” Gillian looked to Adrian and Miles, heads bent close, up to some sort of mischief. “Adorable, the whole lot of you.”
Erin barked out a laugh, though no one seemed to notice over their own laughter and talk.
“As compliments go, that’s up there near the top. Thank you. I know we’re sort of like the Borg, sweeping in and taking over with our bright colors and loud voices.”
Gillian really did like Erin.
“Oh, you’re not as bad as that. You all certainly make Miles happy. Counts for a lot with me.”
Alexander leaned his head back into Gillian’s chest to look up at her. “You’re just as bad as the rest.” She dropped a kiss to his forehead and he grinned.
“He’s worse. He’s a hybrid. With all these bossy men around, he’s just as bad as they are. Rennie and I have decided that having you in the family makes it way better for us odds-wise. You see, we drown in all these big old alpha males around here. It’s all we can do to hold our own. You even the odds, though you do bring another boy to the table.”
“I like Rennie too.”
The little girl had set her sights on protecting and guiding Miles through the day. Miles was being sweet with her, as Gillian had no doubt he would be. But he was extra courtly with his manners and right as she watched, she saw so much of his father and uncle in him it made her stop and stare.
“I know. It’s insane. Never met his dad until a week ago and look how much alike those Brown boys are. So much Brody in him. Serious. He’s protective of you, which is very sweet.”
“I’m lucky to have a kid like him.”
Adrian looked up at her and sent all her hormones into action.
Erin looked between them, a mysterious smile on her face.
She’d been standing next to the doors looking out over the view when Adrian came to the door and tapped lightly.
She’d known he would come, and yet her heart skipped a beat as she headed to let him in.
“Hey. Can I come in?”
“Of course.” She stood aside and he came through the door, shutting it behind himself.
It had taken an extra two hours for Miles to finally drop off to sleep. He’d been so wound up and excited, and after they’d returned from Erin’s they’d hung out in Adrian’s studio, playing for several more hours.
A big day for her boy, and she was overjoyed for him. They welcomed him with open arms and open hearts. It warmed her to her toes to see these people so eager to love her son.
“You settled in all right?” He moved to stand next to her, both of them taking in the view.
“It’s a lovely room. Thank you. Your home is beautiful.”
He faced her and she wasn’t ready just yet, so she continued to watch moonlight dance on the water.
“I need you, Gillian.”
His words came in the dark, filled with emotions she didn’t know what to make of. She drowned in her own, unsure, off balance. Her reality was ill fitting, like a suit from the charity shops, and it sent her reeling.
She liked it when things made sense. Liked knowing exactly where she stood and what would happen next. She was not a woman who thrived on mystery or drama.
But that’s where she found herself. On uncertain ground with a man she wanted so much sometimes everything inside her ached. On uncertain ground about her future, her son’s future. It was good. Mostly. But not enough to push her to want to expose all the emotion in his simple statement.
She turned to him, letting her robe fall away.
His lips met hers with a brief gnash of teeth and tongue as they left words behind.
Silently, he eased her back to the bed, opening her pajama shirt with nimble fingers, sliding it off. The cool air bit against her bare skin, her nipples tightening, readying for that first brush of his thumbs.
She pulled his T-shirt off, sliding herself against him, skin to skin, bright lights against her closed eyes at the pleasure and warmth of contact.
She landed on her back and he made quick work of her pants and his own, and when he joined her, he was as naked as she, holding her for several long moments as tenderness scratched the back of her throat with the swell of emotion.
Not slow and finessed. That’s not what she needed. Not what she could bear just then.
“Hard and fast,” she murmured into his ear.
The muscles on his back tensed and bunched under her hands. He moved away just a moment and returned, ready.
She was wet, open to him as he guided the head of his cock to her gate and pressed in. She swiveled her hips, rolling them to get him inside all the way.
Now.
Now.
Now.
Her skin was on fire, sliding against his, sweat-slicked. The friction brought her system to near overload with so much sensation.
She bit his shoulder to keep the words where they belonged. Her nails dug in where she held on as he fucked into her pussy hard and fast. No sound but gasping for breath and the slick slide of cock in cunt.
The silence just made it more intense. All the tension of the unsaid swirled around them both as the frenzy of desire spiced it. She nearly drowned in how much she needed him just then. How intensely he made her feel, how much more she wanted.
He gave as good as he got. Not satisfied with her teeth in his shoulder, he wanted her mouth. So he took it. Possessing it with his own, his tongue barging in, assured and bold as you please. His taste incited her, his groan when she sucked his tongue lightly shot straight to her nipples and then her clit.
He was so sure then, aggressive there in the dark. Not just guiding, but taking, pushing, driving and grabbing just exactly what he wanted, how he wanted it. It was so breathtakingly alpha and in charge she was glad not to be standing on legs he regularly turned to jelly.
She arched and he flipped, rolling to put her on top. She tucked her feet beneath his thighs and braced her hands just behind her ass as she rose and fell on his cock.
This way her cunt was exposed to him. Open as he slid a fingertip over her clit as she swallowed back a groan of pleasure.
He touched her just right. Keeping her on the edge of climax as he filled her over and over.
And when it broke, it hit her hard, shattering all around her, pulling at her composure, threatening to unravel her.
So she threw herself into it. Into that very moment as desire ran wild through her veins as orgasm turned her inside out. He continued to thrust, his muscles tight as she knew he barreled toward his own climax.
Moonlight splayed over them, just enough for her to see the drive in his features. The relentless pursuit of pleasure as he flexed and filled her completely before retreating.
Just watching him then had wedged open doors she wanted to keep shut. But there was no way she could avert her gaze. He was beautiful there, sexy and earthy. Masculine and strong.
When he came, his fingers tangled with hers, his gaze locked on her face. His kiss then was slow and tender as he came back to bed, sliding in next to her body, moving to her mouth like it was all he’d been thinking of. And she wanted that to be true more than she really wanted to admit.
He stayed next to her in the bed until the sun began to creep over the horizon.
12
“I’m having sex with Adrian.”
She blurted it out, having to say it out loud and knowing Jules wouldn’t judge her.
“I knew it.” Jules shrugged. “Can’t imagine why you waited so long to tell me. I’d say, given the way he looked at you when you were here a few weeks ago, that you two have been fucking like minks since—” Jules’s eyes lit up and Gillian just waited for it.
“You have been doing naughty naked things with Adrian Brown since pretty much day one?” Jules tsked. “Wow, my estimation of you has risen even more.”
Gillian sat on a barstool at Tart, drinking coffee and eating something that would go straight to her bum and she did not care one bit.
“Yes. He’s just . . . I’m just . . . well, I don’t know what it is but we have something really intense. Still, how can you be so casual about it? He’s Miles’s dad! He’s wholly unsuitable for me for reasons you very well know. Talk me out of it.”
Jules only rolled her eyes. “It seems to me there are two issues here. First, the Miles thing. What does he think? Does he know?”
“We’ve been careful to keep it slow and subtle in front of him. We talked about it the first time, well, you know. Anyway, neither of us is seeing anyone else. It’s been a few weeks so the most Miles is going to see is a hand hold here and there, a quick kiss on the mouth, no tongues or anything. It’s clear he knows something is happening. We’re not keeping it a secret or anything.”
“Miles would tell you if he was bothered. Or worried. He talks to you. I bet Miles can see you’re happy and he obviously likes his dad, so why not? I just have total confidence that you handle it right.”
“I’m glad you do. Me? Not so sure.”
“Gillian, you are many things, and one of those things is an awesome mother. Just be happy. Miles wants that.”
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