Chapter 25

Everything that had gone before dissipatedlike morning dew on a hot summer’s day. All memories of the other women Gabe had shared her bed with retreated into the deepest recesses of her mind. All of that now seemed irrelevant, like it had served its purpose and led her to this moment, so now she should let it go. Because this right here, with Lori in her arms, was everything she would need from this moment on. And Gabe would share all of herself, lay bare her vulnerabilities, her fears, the essence of what made her who she was.

The sun had almost fully risen, chasing away the last vestiges of darkness and signaling the first day of the rest of her life—she hoped. Lori’s head rested on her chest, and she breathed slow and deep, still held fast in the arms of Morpheus. She laughed inwardly at Lori’s comment last night about her being poetic for a grease monkey—Gabe could only blame it on this new and euphoric feeling of being in love. And better yet, of being loved back for exactly who she was for the first time in her life.

She fought the desire to pull Lori from her sleep, particularly since they’d only paused their exploration of each other a couple of hours ago. Gabe should be tired, exhausted probably, after a non-stop first day at the garage followed by hours and hours of the most incredibly intimate and soulful sex. It wasn’t just sex though; they’d made love. The moment Lori had stopped Gabe from leaving was the moment she opened the door into what they could be together. If the last eight hours were any indication, they were going to be an epic love story. They’d laid the path to this possible reality over the past couple of months. Revelations, stories shared, and so many tender interactions were pieces of a puzzle waiting to be completed by this. By this connection, the final fragment of their future.

Gabe was drawn back to Lori when she became aware of Lori’s fingers tracing her abs. “Morning, beautiful,” she said and kissed the top of her head.

Lori shifted and placed her head on the pillow. “Morning, handsome.” She wiped her eyes. “Is it morning?”

“The sun just came up.” Gabe tucked Lori’s hair behind her ear and smiled.

“But I feel like we only just got to sleep.” Lori narrowed her eyes and prodded Gabe’s chest. “What time did you finally let me rest?”

Gabe chuckled. “You’re blaming me? I think we were equally reluctant to go to sleep, and it seemed like you were determined to suck the life out of me.”

Lori wiggled her eyebrows. “That’s your fault for tasting so good. Speaking of which,” she said, inching down the bed. She parted Gabe’s legs and settled between them again. “I think this is my new happy place.”

Gabe didn’t have time to respond before Lori locked her lips around Gabe’s clit again, robbing her of the ability to form a complete sentence. She dropped her head back onto the pillow and closed her eyes. Images of last night, of Lori’s naked body under her hands, played behind her eyelids like a private movie for an audience of one. Lori drew Gabe into her mouth and drove her to the brink of release within minutes. Gabe clutched the sheets as she fell over the precipice and tumbled into yet another wave of pleasure. Lori didn’t let up, pulling every drop of arousal from Gabe’s body until all her muscles relaxed, and she softened against the bed, fully spent.

Lori raised her head and smiled widely before climbing up Gabe’s body to lay on top of her.

“You look pleased with yourself,” Gabe whispered when her breathing evened out, and she regained the ability to communicate. Lori kissed her hard, and Gabe tasted herself on Lori’s lips.

“I am.” She sighed deeply. “I’ve finally discovered what all the fuss is about with this sex thing.”

Lori pushed herself up to straddle Gabe, and the heat and wetness of her core against Gabe’s stomach caused her to sigh in much the same way as Lori just had. Now she understood it was a contentment deeper than the Pacific Ocean. She placed her hands on Lori’s hips. “Have I told you how insanely gorgeous you are?”

“You did mention it a few times last night, but you could just have been saying it to have your way with me.” Lori dragged her nails along Gabe’s collarbone and down her chest. “I wouldn’t be averse to hearing it again in the aftermath of our lovemaking.”

Gabe grinned. “We were making love, were we?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s what it was.” Lori raked her nails a little harder over Gabe’s skin. “It did seem to get more intense after we both said those three little words, wouldn’t you agree?”

Gabe took Lori’s hand, but Lori pushed her arms above her head and pinned her to the bed. She eased down a little so her breast hovered over Gabe’s mouth. Gabe lifted her head to capture Lori’s nipple, but Lori pulled back.

“Nope, you don’t get anything else until you?—”

“I agree,” Gabe said.

Lori shook her head but leaned a little closer to Gabe’s mouth. “You could just be saying that to get what you want.”

“I do agree, and I’m saying it to get what I want.”

Lori lowered herself enough so that Gabe could kiss her nipple then she eased back up to her sitting position.

“You’re gorgeous,” Gabe said, remembering Lori’s small wobble in confidence last night. “Thank you for letting me see you.”

Lori blushed and glanced away briefly.

Gabe took the hint and ran her fingers over the small, inked symbol above her right hip. “So this is the bad tattoo you told me about. It’s good work; what’s the problem?”

Lori blinked and took a deep breath. “It’s not the art, it’s what it means. I also told you that it was a bad decision if you remember?”

Gabe nodded but didn’t want to pry into its meaning. “The lawyer?”

“The lawyer.” Lori caught Gabe’s fingers and held them in place over the tattoo. “Would you go with me to have it turned into something else?” She lifted Gabe’s hand to her mouth and kissed her knuckles. “It’s time.”

“I’d be happy to. I had my Metatron work done in New York, but Solo’s tattooist here is excellent.” Gabe paused, not wanting to push the issue, but she was also ecstatic that Lori wanted to remove any trace of the lawyer’s influence from her life and her body. “When would you like to do it?”

“As soon as possible. Do you think I could get it done before the auction?” She looked down at herself. “When this is done and that rust bucket is out of my life, I’ll feel like I can finally close that chapter for good.”

“I’ll give her a call and ask her to let me know if she gets any cancellations. She’ll likely be booked a couple of months ahead. The great tattooists always are.”

An alarm began to sound beyond the bedroom door, and Lori rolled her eyes. “That’s my wake-up alarm. I suppose we should get dressed so that I can take you back to the garage. Or home to change.”

“The garage’ll be fine. I’ve got spare clothes in my locker.”

Lori arched her eyebrow. “Because you were prepared for unplanned nights out like this?”

“Because I was a soldier, and we always plan for all eventualities: oil spills, paint accidents. It’s a dirty job.”

“Mm.” Lori winked and extricated herself then padded out of the bedroom to retrieve her phone.

Gabe instantly missed the feel of her sex against her skin. “Can we both call in sick? I bet your boss would let you take the day off.”

Lori returned, holding the clothes Gabe had strip-teased off in the bathroom, and tossed them onto the bed. “I don’t think so. But you should definitely come to my place as soon as you finish work tonight, and the next night, and the night after that.”

“I see.” Gabe crossed her arms and did her best to look indignant. “The fancy hotel treatment stops now that you’ve got me hooked, does it?”

“You haven’t seen it yet, but I have a wonderful, brand-new Cal king-size bed with a very interesting headboard.” Lori pulled on her underwear and linen trousers.

“Interesting how?” Gabe asked, stirring at the possibilities.

“You only get to find out if you swing by tonight…unless you’re already tied up?”

Gabe bit her bottom lip at the unsubtle clue. “Oh, I’ll be there,” she said. “No time to shower?”

“I’m afraid not.” She fastened her bra and picked up her shirt from the chair that she’d thrown it on. “I’m already running behind, and I wouldn’t want to shower alone. I have a feeling that would make me very late, and Ellery’s coming over to check on the clinic renovations this morning. And I’ve got lots of animals waiting for me as well. Including your boy.”

“Boring.” Gabe reluctantly dragged herself from the bed but still kept her eyes on Lori as she redressed, which she was somehow making almost as much of a turn-on as she did when she was undressing.

“I thought you’d be excited for the second day of work at your new garage.”

Gabe tugged on everything except her shorts, which she stuffed in the leg pocket of her pants—they were way too dirty to put back on. “And you would’ve been right yesterday, before all this happened. All I want to do is spend the day in bed, making love, talking, and ordering room service. Scratch that. I want to do all of those things for the rest of the week, minimum.”

Lori came closer and stood on her tiptoes to kiss her. “I assure you that’s exactly what I want to do too, but thinking about that all day is going to make tonight even sweeter.”

Gabe wrapped her arms around Lori’s waist and kissed her deep and hard. “It’s going to make concentrating on fixing engines damn near impossible.”

Lori pressed her fingers over Gabe’s lips then wriggled away. “You’ll figure it out.” She grabbed Gabe’s crotch and squeezed. “And then you’ll be so ready for me tonight. Right?”

Gabe growled and made a grab for her, but Lori was already out of reach and managed to scoot away.

Lori motioned to the door. “Come on, stud. I need to get on the road.”

Gabe glanced back at the bed and the satisfyingly crumpled sheets that told a story of their own. She took Lori’s hand and kissed her gently. “Thank you for giving me the chance to explain everything. You should know that I was going crazy not being able to talk to you. I missed you.”

Lori pressed her hand against Gabe’s chest. “You’ve got my mom to thank for that.” She laughed lightly. “And so do I. It hurt that you didn’t tell me about it earlier, but I understand now.”

Gabe covered Lori’s hand with her own. “I promise I’ll tell you everything from now on. No secrets,” she said and claimed a last kiss before they left the hotel room. Gabe took one last look around before she followed Lori up the hallway to the door. She might not have the memory Lori had, but she would never forget the special things that happened here last night.

“You’ve been practically floating around on a cloud all morning,” Solo said. “I take it Lori did more than just hear you out last night?”

Gabe nodded and grinned. “She did, yeah, and we’ve moved from friends to something entirely new to me.”

“You had sex all night, and for the first time, you want a repeat performance.” Solo took a bite from her bagel, and the cream cheese squeezed out onto her shirt. “Ah, shit.”

Seeing the mess Solo had just made, Gabe leaned over the engine block table before she munched into hers. “Not exactly. We made love all night, and I’m pretty sure I’d like to see the same show for the rest of my life.”

Solo widened her eyes. “You’re in love!”

“Looks like it,” Gabe said. “I’m starting to see why you’re such a big fan of it.”

Solo glanced away, busied herself with her lunch, and said nothing.

“You are still a big fan, aren’t you?”

They’d gotten straight to work this morning, so Gabe still hadn’t gotten to the bottom of Solo’s behavior at Lori’s birthday dinner.

“Sure I am,” Solo said after shoving the last piece of bagel into her mouth. She scrunched up the empty food bag and began to rise from the couch.

Gabe caught hold of her wrist and tugged her back down to the sofa. “What’s going on with you and Janie?”

“Everything’ll be fine. You don’t want to hear about my problems when you’re just starting out with Lori.”

“Hey, I’m always here for you, Solo. Nothing’s going to change that.”

Solo gave a short laugh. “We’ll see. When I was getting with Janie, I neglected everything else in my life. Ask Shay.”

Gabe tilted her head, remembering that she’d been the one to suggest that she and Lori played hooky today, even though the garage had only just opened. She could see how it might happen. “Well, I’m here now, and we only just sat down for lunch, so spill.”

Solo looked around as if she was expecting a huge audience of people, but the rest of the team were downstairs working.

“It’s just me and you.” Gabe patted Solo’s knee. “Tell me what’s happening.”

She rubbed her forehead and huffed out a long breath. “I feel so stupid. I’ve always known I was punching above my weight. I should’ve seen it coming.”

Gabe frowned. “Seen what coming?”

“Janie’s cheating on me.”

“She’s sleeping with someone else?”

Solo shrugged. “She says she hasn’t, that they’ve just been flirting, but I don’t know whether to believe her or not. She says they’ve just been talking, but when people say that now, it means they’re having sex.”

“Does it?”

“That’s what my brother’s twenty-year-old kid reckons.”

“For them, maybe, but it still just means talking for people our age, Solo.” Gabe put the rest of her bagel back in its wrapper, her appetite severely lessened by Solo’s news. “How did you find out?” She had a host of questions, but that seemed like a good starting place.

“She told me just before we left for dinner. Hence me getting weird about the cheating thing from your past and mentioning it like an asshole.” Solo sank into the couch and put her head in her hands. “It’s somebody at work.”

“Is it serious?”

Solo dropped her hands to the sofa and made eye contact with Gabe for the first time since they’d started this conversation. “I don’t know. She doesn’t know.”

Gabe couldn’t get her head around Janie’s actions. Everything she’d seen at Solo’s house had been picture-perfect. “She’s put your whole life together at risk.”

“She says that I don’t see her anymore, not since we had the kids.”

Gabe thought back to the night she and Lori babysat the triplets and how Solo didn’t register how beautiful Janie looked until she was prompted. It was a fair accusation if that was a regular occurrence. “Why didn’t she just talk to you and give you the chance to fix it?”

Solo shrugged and rubbed at the grease on the back of her hand. “If I’m honest, she probably did. I guess I haven’t been listening either.”

“I’m sorry, buddy.” Gabe tried to put herself in Solo’s shoes, but she just couldn’t imagine neglecting a wife as beautiful as Janie. Solo had clearly thrived in her role as a parent—she loved those little terrors—but it had been at the expense of her role as a lover and partner. Maybe that wasn’t unusual in the parenting world. “Is there any way back?”

Solo sighed. “I don’t know yet. We both need some time.” She looked at her watch and tapped the face. “Recess is over. We should get back to it.”

Gabe picked up her bagel and stood. She grabbed Solo’s shoulder with her other hand. “We’re all here for you. Whatever you need.”

“Thanks. And Gabe, I’m happy for you. I’m sorry I nearly messed that up,” Solo said and headed to the garage floor. “You just always have your shit so together, and I guess I was feeling jealous and…inept, I guess. It was shitty.”

“It’s all good, Solo.” Gabe still didn’t want food, but she needed the energy for the rest of the day, so she ate her lunch in three bites as she followed Solo down to the garage floor. Relationship troubles were difficult enough when they were just between two people but adding kids to the mix ramped up the complication levels to DEFCON 1. And in this case, there were business entanglements too. She couldn’t stop the selfish consideration of how Solo’s marriage issues might affect the garage. Their dream was finally happening; it couldn’t get torpedoed now.

Gabe stopped at the mezzanine and looked across the garage floor to the Brewster protected by a giant tarp. Woody said they’d gotten interest from collectors all over the world, and Saturday’s auction event had sold out within three days of the announcement that the car had originally belonged to Marie Zimmerman. It was a restoration project they were all proud of, and Gabe hoped it wouldn’t be their last.