Page 58 of Devotion

He sounds so gentle I shake with more tears. “Yes. It’s good. I’m sorry I fell apart.”

“You don’t have to be sorry. Believe it or not, I like to make you feel good too.”

I sniff and swallow and lift my head to look at his face. He means it. He’s watching me soberly.

I give him a little smile. “Thank you.”

My expression evidently relieves whatever anxiety he was feeling. His face relaxes. He murmurs, “You have no idea what it does to me when you smile at me like that.”

My breath hitches. I have to fight back another whimper—this one from emotional pleasure. I want to ask him about what exactly it does to him, but he’s already straightening up, carefully helping me up to my feet.

My knees buckle immediately. It’s disconcerting. I’m sure I’d be able to regain my balance on my own, but Gabriel scoops me up in his arms and carries me cradled like that to my window seat.

He’s smiling as he lays me down and pulls a blanket up over me. “Get some sleep” is all he says.

“You too. Don’t try to start working again.”

“I won’t.” He gives his head a little shake. “There’s no way I can work after that. I’m going to go to bed too.”

15

The followingSunday is my 150th day as Gabriel’s partner. Usually Sundays are quiet and uneventful, but he has an atypical early private meeting with the president and a few other administrators that’s supposed to last all morning.

I wake up slightly annoyed about the meeting since it means we won’t have as long as normal for our session after his swim this morning.

Last Sunday we had a leisurely time in bed together, and then we both fell asleep for a couple of hours. It would be nice to be able to do that again today. I feel closer to Gabriel than ever, and our sessions together have started to seem like an affirmation of that closeness.

Wishing for things to be different is a waste of energy and emotion. I learned that a long time ago. So I settle my mind around the reality of the day as I shower and then put my nightgown back on, brushing my hair out and leaving it loose since he prefers it that way when I’m not in public. Then I sit around to wait, relieved when he comes back after just an hour.

Just like me, he must want to leave us enough time before his meeting.

He takes a two-minute shower, and then we get going on the bed. I keep watching the clock during the massage so that I don’t spend all our time on it. By the time he turns over, he’s already hard and wants me to get right down to business, so I take him in my mouth and start sucking.

Breakfast arrives while I still have his cock in my mouth. It’s happened before. The staff is trained to knock briefly on the door and then let themselves in. There are too many meals to deliver to wait for residents’ preferred times, so most people simply ignore the staff’s presence.

Gabriel, however, isn’t comfortable intimately exposed, so when I hear the knock on the door, I pull the covers up over my head and the lower half of his body. I hold his penis in my mouth, but I don’t continue sucking until I hear the cart wheel back out of the room and the door quietly close with a click.

It takes some time to get Gabriel going again after the interruption of his momentum, but he gets there eventually, coming hard and shaking and moaning as he lets go of all his pent-up tension. When he’s recovered, he uses his hand to pleasure me and keeps fucking me with his fingers until I come twice.

We’ve both collapsed back onto the bed afterward, smiling at each other as we catch our breath.

“Shit,” Gabriel mutters at last. “Who the fuck calls a long meeting on a Sunday morning?”

“I don’t know. It’s a ridiculous time for a meeting. Do you know what it’s about?”

“No. Vincent probably has a new idea he wants to dump on us and expects us to make any necessary adjustments to implement.”

“You don’t have time for anything else. You barely have time to get your main project done on his timeline.”

“I know. But that’s not going to stop him from giving me more to do anyway.” He groans and then pushes himself into a sitting position on the side of the bed with obvious reluctance. “Okay. I’m getting up now.”

“Okay.” When Gabriel doesn’t move, I add, “I don’t see much evidence of getting up yet.”

He chuckles at that. “I’m trying not to fall back into bed. I don’t know why I’ve become so lazy lately.”

“Lazy?Lazy!You’re the least lazy person I’ve ever known in my life. You’re tired because you work too hard, so anytime you get to relax, your body fights being thrown back into work.”

He reaches behind him to squeeze one of my knees with a fond expression that goes right to my heart. “That’s exactly what it feels like. But I’m stronger than my body, so it must do what I say.” He hefts himself up to his feet, sways slightly like he’s trying to keep his balance, then strides naked into the bathroom to clean up and dress.

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