“You’re mine,” I growled, the statement coming out of its own volition, and she nodded, whimpering, completely wrecked.

She was so damn tight around me that I could barely think. Heat, slick and pulsing, surrounded every inch of me, and her body gripped me like it never wanted to let go. Every thrust was heaven and hell, and the pleasure was so sharp it almost hurt. Gabby clung to me, legs locked around my waist, hips rising to meet every roll of mine, pulling me deeper, tighter.

Her mouth found mine again, desperate and hungry, kissing me like she needed it to breathe. She moaned into me, her tongue sweeping mine and her lips soft and swollen. Every time I pulled back just enough to thrust in again, her body clenched, fluttering around me, and it took everything I had not to come right then and there.

“Fuck, Gabby,” I gasped, forehead pressed to hers, sweat starting to bead at the base of my spine. “You feel... goddamn, you feel unreal.”

She just whimpered and kissed me harder, her hands tangling in my hair, her entire body arching to keep me close. I angled my hips and drove in deeper, hitting a spot that made her cry out—her whole body tensing, muscles milking my cock like she was trying to pull the orgasm out of me by force.

I knew I wouldn’t last. I could feel it building, pressure burning low and tight, and the way she kept kissing me—wet and wild, like she couldn’t get enough—was pushing me closer and closer to the edge.

Then, in the middle of it, my brain scrambled back to reality just long enough for a thought to wedge itself into my fogged-up skull.

“Where the hell is your gun?” I rasped, barely able to get the words out, as I braced her against the wall.

Gabby blinked at me, eyes half-lidded, lips kiss-swollen. “Seriously? That’s what’s on your mind right now?”

I grinned, still moving inside her, deliberately grinding slow and deep as I answered, “I’ve checked all of you, baby.” I punctuated my words with another thrust, harder this time, enough to make her gasp and dig her nails back into my shoulders.

Her head fell back, and she started laughing—light and breathless. But as she laughed, her inner muscles tightened around me, fluttering and squeezing in rhythmic pulses that made me groan out loud, and my legs nearly buckled beneath us.

“Jesus, woman,” I choked, biting down on the curve of her neck to keep from falling apart.

“It’s in the drawer,” she suddenly rasped with a slight giggle, breath hitching as another pulse rolled through her, “next to the stove.”

Of course, it was. Hidden in plain sight. Typical Gabby.

I would’ve said something smart—maybe—but the aftershocks of her laughter and her teasing squeezes around my cock made it impossible to think. I came with a low, guttural groan, buried as deep as I could get inside her, every muscle in my body going taut before melting into hers.

We stayed like that, both of us trembling, with our chests heaving.

When my brain came back online, it was to the sensation of her fingers brushing the back of my neck, light and soothing. That’s when it hit me.

My eyes flew open. “Shit.”

Gabby tilted her head, still breathless and glowing. “What?”

“I didn’t use a condom.”

She stared at me for a beat, then rolled her eyes. “Webb, relax. I’m on birth control.”

I still felt like an idiot. “I didn’t even think?—”

She cut me off with a soft kiss, all warmth and calm now. “You were a little distracted. You’re good, there's no panic necessary.”

I exhaled slowly, forehead resting against hers again. “Next time,” I murmured, brushing my thumb along her cheek, “I want you on the damn counter...but the gun’s going somewhere else first.”

She laughed again, and I felt her clench around my cock one more time just to mess with me. I groaned as my head tipped forward, so my forehead was resting on her shoulder. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

She smiled with a glint of mischief in her eyes, like that was her plan.

Chapter Sixteen

Gabby

The morning air was warm and heavy with moisture and thick with the scent of grass and the wilderness of the bayou. The dew hadn't thoroughly dried yet, and it clung to my skin as I moved through slow stretches on a flat patch of grass near the edge of the clearing. Birds chirped lazily from the trees, and the world felt quiet in that sacred early-morning way.

I shifted into a downward dog, breathing deeply and letting the tension roll out of my spine. Every muscle in my body ached from this morning, but not in a bad way, in a very good way. I smiled to myself, moving into a low lunge, grounding my fingertips into the damp earth.