“Are you talking to me or the pillow,” Gia asked.
Beckett rolled them both to the side and tugged her hips back against his. He was already hard again and Gia wondered if he had a genetic mutation that had him walking around with an erection all day every day.
Whatever it was, she thought as he guided his shaft between her legs, she was profoundly grateful for it.
He positioned himself against her entrance and slowly, inch by inch, eased inside her.
She sighed out her breath as he filled her. The angle didn’t allow for deep penetration, but it was enough to have her blood singing again. She moaned softly.
“Now, let’s talk,” Beckett said, whispering in her ear.
“Now?” She gasped as his hand traveled north to cup her breast.
“Now,” he said, his hips moving slowly, steadily.
“What do you want to talk about?” The words came out strangled.
“Us.”
“Beckett, you can’t seriously be trying to have a … conversation.” Her sentence ended in a gasp.
He nuzzled her neck and continued his onslaught on her senses. “What are we doing?” he asked, nibbling at her ear.
Gia tilted her head to give him better access to her neck. “Making love,” she whispered.
“And what are we?” His breath was hot on her throat.
She paused, lost in sensation. She waited too long and he pinched her sensitive peak.
“What are we?” he asked her again.
Her gaze focused on the fairy garden she kept on her nightstand. Home and family stared back at her. “Lovers.” She sighed out the word.
The growl low in his throat told her he liked her answer.
“Is that enough?” he asked, quickening his pace ever so slightly.
For now, she thought. “Yes. Please, Beckett,” she begged.
His hand slid from her breast across her belly to nestle between her thighs where he teased her to her end. As she began to come, she sobbed out his name and felt her release force his.
They lay in silence for several minutes, Beckett’s lips softly murmuring words too quiet to hear.
“Why do you call me Gianna?” she asked, finally breaking the silence.
She could feel his lips curve against her. “It’s your name, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but everyone else calls me Gia.” She rolled over in his arms to face him.
“I’m not everyone else. And Gianna is a beautiful name. You’re a beautiful woman.” He circled the silk of her throat with his hand. “Bewitching. Sexy. Breathtaking.” He kissed her with each word.
“I like when you say my name,” she confessed. “Especially when you’re shouting it.”
He had the face of a heartbreaker and Gia knew she was already in danger.
“I like hearing all the things you shout out when I’m inside you.” His grin was devastating.
“This whole ‘get each other out of our systems’ thing doesn’t seem to be working too well so far,” Gia said, threading her fingers through his hair.
“I guess we’ll just have to keep trying,” he said, before bringing his mouth to hers.
23
Gia opened the back door to her little hatchback and Aurora, having freed herself from the bonds of the car seat, hopped out. “Come on, Mama! Ponies!”
Evan was already out and heading toward the barn, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. His quick pace ruined the casual disinterest he was going for as he hustled over the gravel.
Joey and Carter had invited the kids over for an informal riding lesson while Gia and Summer spent a few hours in the newly finished office talking magazine details.
Joey appeared in the doorway of the barn and lifted a hand in greeting. Gia watched in amusement as Evan ambled up to her and scuffed his sneakers in the dirt while they chatted.
Gia and Aurora caught up just as Carter ambled out of the barn. “Hi!” Aurora said, greeting them as she skipped from one foot to the other. “I get to ride Princess today, right?”
“That’s right,” Joey said, hands on hips. “But first we’re going to get some helmets and go over some basic safety.”
“Basic safety,” Aurora repeated, fluttering her arms and spinning in a circle.
“You sure about this?” Gia asked Joey.
“Don’t worry, I’ve read all about how to give horseback lessons online. It’ll be fine. Now, someone just remind me which end is the front again?” Joey quipped.
“Smarty pants,” Gia said.
Carter ranged himself against the barn door. “Looks like we got more company,” he said, nodding at the sleek muscle car that rumbled to a stop next to Gia’s little red hatchback.
Gia caught Joey’s frown as Jax slid out from behind the wheel.
“This is a closed lesson,” she snipped at him.
“I’m not here for a lesson. Canon been out yet?”
Joey shrugged a shoulder. “Not yet.”
“Good.” Jax brushed past her into the stable. The look Joey shot him would have felled a lesser man. But Jax ignored it and stalked inside.