“Gideon cupped my face in his hands and kissed me, our flavors mingling. “Thank you.”“What are you thanking me for? You did all the work.”“There’s no work involved in fucking you, angel.” His slow smile was pure satiated male. “I’m grateful for the privilege.”I sank back onto my heels. “You’re killing me. You can’t be that gorgeous and sexy and say stuff like that. It’s overload. It fries my brain. Sends me into a meltdown.”His smile widened and he kissed me again. “I know the feeling.”

“He slid over to me and grabbed me closer to him. My smile fell from my face with the unexpectedness of it. His hands cupped my face, his lips hovering above mine.“You seriously want to know, Tess?”He closed the space and claimed my mouth with an urgent, hot, delving kiss.He smiled. “You are sexy, in your own goofball way, you’re sweet and beautiful and smart and funny and, although you kiss to the point where I feel like I want to go back for seconds, you’re my best friend, and that’s why I don’t want to tap that.”

“No," he said, leaning back to take my face in his hands and dropping another soft kiss on my lips. "All I've wanted since you limped out of my life the first day I met you was to have you back in it. Does that scare you?"I stood on tiptoe to return his kiss. "Not even a little bit. Thank you, Tanner Graham."He smiled. "For what?""For being patient. I'll make it worth it.""You've always been worth it," he said punctuating his opinion with another kiss...Tanner smiled down at me, tightening his hold. "Thank you.""For what?""for being you. I love you, Pepper.”

“What a woman you are,” he murmured, and she heard the emotion in it, theway the Irish thickened just a bit in his voice. And saw it in those vivid eyes when he drew back. “That you would think of this. That you would do this.”He shook his head, kissed her. Like the breath, long and quiet.“I can’t thank you enough. There isn’t enough thanks. I can’t say what this means to me, even to you. I don’t have the words for it.” He took her hands,brought them both to his lips. “A ghra. You stagger me.”He framed her face now, touched his lips to her brow. “You’re the beat of my heart, the breath in my body, the light in my soul.”

“He pulled my face up with his hand cupping my cheek and kissed me on my trembling mouth. He smoothed his hands down my arms, my back, my hair, my cheek, soothing me. “There’s a picture of you two in the dictionary under ‘get a room’,” Kyle said from behind me.”

“Yeah, you lose this attitude, I can help you work that hurt out.”Who was this man? He held onto his tragedy for seventeen fucking years, how could he stand there and tell mehe could help me work through mine?“Really, Joe? Like you helped me work out my grief at losing Tim?” I asked sarcastically.“That’s not what I was offerin’, buddy, but you want it like that I’ll give it to you.”“You’re unbelievable,” I snapped.“I’m yours.”That socked me in the gut too, so hard it winded me and all I could do was stare up at him.Taking advantage, his face dipped close and his hands curled around both sides of my head.“First fuckin’ time you smiled at me in my bed, that’s when it happened,” he murmured.”