Page 97 of A Shot at Love
She nodded.
“But you need to cut yourself some slack here. You were an innocent kid, as were your sisters. It’s not your fault your father couldn’t live up to his responsibilities, or grow out of his selfishness. And that’s what he was: selfish. When you have kids, nothing else matters but them. Not what you want, what you need, even what you think you deserve. Just those kids, who are now dependent on you for everything. He walked away and truly, he doesn’t deserve a minute’s thought from you ever again.”
“It’s funny. I know that in my head, but just can’t accept it in my heart.”
He kissed her temple and sighed against her cheek. “You’ve made yourself into something any father would be proud of. The fact he doesn’t know it, know you, is his loss, not the other way around. Know that.”
“I do, but it’s really nice to hear it,” she said. “Thank you. For understanding and for saying that.”
He pulled back and stared down at her. “You know you can trust me, right? I’m not like your father, like the other men you’ve known. I won’t hurt you. I won’t leave you. Do you trust that? Trust me?”
When she didn’t respond, his brow pulled inward. “Gemma?”
Her mouth grew dry. She was unable to find the words to tell him, so instead, she decided to show him.
One hand snaked up and around his neck while she placed her mouth close to his. With a quick glance up at his still frowning face, she pressed into him and kissed him.
“Gemma.” His eyes darkened, heated, bringing to mind the ocean churning just before a storm. He whispered something in Greek while he slid his lips along her jaw again.
“I may not speak the language, but I can guess the meaning of those words.” She giggled and hugged him, tickled when his shoulders shook against her.
He pulled back and kissed the tip of her nose. “No translation will do it justice, anyway.”
He ran a finger tenderly along her cheek, down to her neck, where he put his lips.
Gemma’s head fell back, giving him all the access he wanted. In no time, he had her panting and primed.
“I want you so much,” she said against his lips. “So much.”
He held her head between his hands and shifted, deepening the kiss, reaching down into her soul.
Her hands were everywhere, all over his body, squeezing, scraping, pressing. She couldn’t get close enough to him.
Ky broke away from her suddenly and spun her around so her back was against the front of him.
“Put your hands, flat, on the counter.”
His beautiful voice had turned to flame-forged steel.
Without a word of protest, she did.
In the next heartbeat he tugged her yoga pants down to her ankles, her panties following.
“Wha—”
“No. Don’t turn around. Keep your hands on the counter.”
She felt him unbuckling his pants with one hand while the other slid down her butt, spread her cheeks, and cupped her.
Gamma’s gasp echoed in the room.
“Spread your legs for me,” he commanded, his breath hot near her ear, his voice tight.
More turned on by the sound of the just-barely controlled emotion in his voice than she ever thought she could be, she did as he commanded. When he slid his first two fingers inside her, she bucked and arched, falling forward on the counter.
“You’re so damn wet and ready for me.”
Only you, she wanted to say. Only you.
He pulled his fingers from her and the sound of a wrapper being torn filled her ears.
“Stay in this position,” he said. “Don’t move.”
It never even entered her mind to.
He slid himself along her dampness, then, in one powerful thrust, he was completely inside her.
Gemma screamed, the sound muffled by the blood drumming through her head. She gripped the counter edge, felt Ky’s hands spread over her hips, squeezing, anchoring, and met him, measure for measure as he moved in and out of her.
She came on another scream moments later, momentarily blinded when all the blood in her body rushed to where Ky had her completely under his control.
He followed her over the ledge, then collapsed across her back.
When he moved his hands to lie next to hers on the counter, she couldn’t help the tingle of egotistical pride that tumbled through her when she noticed they were shaking.
