She watched him sit in front of her, his own legs crossed. He dug into the basket without
answering.
“Gabe?”
The heated look he shot her sent shivers down her spine. Her nipples tightened in response to the
predatory gleam in his eyes. “Who says I’m playing?”
She opened her mouth to answer, startled when he popped something in her mouth. She bit down
without even thinking twice. Mmm. Chocolate-covered strawberries. She moaned around the
succulent fruit, her eyes closing in bliss. As far as Sarah was concerned there was no better sweet
treat to be had.
Wait a moment.
The beach, the moonlight, chocolate-covered strawberries… Uh-oh. She resisted the urge to roll
her eyes. Talk about cheesy seduction tropes. Any second now he’s going to break out champagne
or something and I’m going to lose it and earn another spanking. This was so not Gabe. He was
wild and bold and took what he wanted. It was one of the things she loved about him.
What was he thinking?
She opened her eyes to find Gabe studying her closely.
Testing out a theory, she pictured a big steaming bowl of spinach in the basket in place of the
strawberries.
“Like the strawberries, love?” He reached behind him and produced a bottle of champagne and
one crystal flute.
Here we go. She did her best to look as innocent as possible. “Yes, thank you.”
His smile was slow. “Good.” He put his hand into the basket, the smile quickly transforming into
something like horror. “What the…?” He pulled his fingers, now covered in warm spinach, out of
the basket. “What the hell?”
Sarah giggled.
He pulled a napkin out of the basket, his expression filled with amused disgust. “Why did you
turn my strawberries into spinach?”
Sarah zipped her lips and waited for him to open the “champagne”.
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His eyes narrowed. He pulled out a corkscrew and began opening the bottle. He lifted the cork to
his nose with a suspicious glare. “Ginger ale.” He sighed, his lips lifting into a rueful grin. “I
suppose I shouldn’t even bother with the violin music. See what happens when I try to do this
right?”
“Do what right?”
“Seduce you.”
“Ix-nay on the beach sex.” She shuddered. “Sand in very uncomfortable places, plus, hello!
Chafing much?”
His eyes turned gold. “How do you know that?”
Sarah smirked. “I’m sorry, Gabe. Were you a virgin when you came back to Halle?”
His cheeks flushed, the gold in his eyes dying down to sparkles. “Point taken, and we’ll never
mention it again.” He lifted the bottle. “You told me that you wanted me to take you on dates,
show you what you mean to me.”
Sarah nodded. “I did.”
“So what did I do wrong?”
“This, it just isn’t you.” She waved her hand at their surroundings. “It’s beautiful, and
wonderful, but…” She sighed. “I want the real Gabe to show me what I mean to him.”
One dark brow rose, his lips curving in a wicked smile that had her nipples hard in seconds. “Be
careful what you wish for, baby.”
She gasped as the ground shifted beneath her. Suddenly she was on her knees in the middle of a
wide bed, her arms cuffed over her head. A chain connected to those cuffs rose to a wood beam
high in the white ceiling. She still wore the red dress, but the straps were no longer on her
shoulders. Instead, it pooled at her hips, exposing her bared breasts to Gabe’s intense gaze.
“Much better,” he purred, picking up a leather-lined paddle. “I believe I owe you how many?”
Sarah’s pussy quivered at the question. Oh fuck. I should have stuck to champagne. But she could
no more resist answering than she could stop the arousal quivering through her body. But nothing
says I can’t play too. Besides, she had told him no sex. She lowered her head before he could see
the grin threatening to overtake her face. “Three, sir.”
“Good girl.”
She shivered as his palm caressed her cheek. “Trust me, love.”
Splat!
The expression on Gabe’s face was worth the slimy feel of the pasta. “Sarah.”
She bit her lip before responding. The cautious way he said her name told her he was fighting his
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own laughter. Thank God. She’d been afraid he would become angry. “Yes, sir?”
“Cooked spaghetti, Sarah? You had me whip you with wet noodles?”
She lost it, laughing so hard the chains rattled.
A hard hand grasped her chin. “Who’s playing games now?” He shook his head at her and
chuckled. “You win, love.” The room disappeared and suddenly it was just the two of them on
Gabe’s red sofa. He had his arm wrapped around her shoulders, his hand holding hers in his lap.
Their bare feet were up on his coffee table, the mug of coffee gone. “No more games.” He
brushed his cheek against her hair and purred.
She sighed and leaned against him, breathing in his scent, scarcely daring to believe he was
cuddling with her. All of their other dreams had been sensual buffets. This was nice. “What do you
want to do tomorrow?”
He toyed with her fingers. “We don’t have anything wedding-related tomorrow. I’d like to walk
around Disney, just the two of us.”
He sounded so wistful. How could she resist? “Epcot? Magic Kingdom?”
He smiled. From the vibe coming off him he already had an idea or two. “We’ll see.”
“I wanted to go shopping in the World Showcase.” Gabe grimaced and she laughed. “I’ll have to
see if I can bribe you, then.”
Quiet.
“Notice I’m being very good and not mentioning what my favorite bribe is.”
Sarah buried her face in his shoulder. She knew exactly what his favorite bribe was, but she was
sticking fast to her no-sex rule, at least for now. “I think you just did.”
“Damn. I’ll just have to come up with something else then.”
She lifted her head and smiled up at him, unable to hide the warmth she felt. It was just so right
to be sitting there holding hands and making plans. The fact that little purring noises kept slipping
from him while he nuzzled her hair had her damn near ready to break her rule. It was like he and
his Puma were wallowing in her scent. “I’m sure you will.”
His eyes glittered with gold. “So am I.” He captured her lips in a quick, hard kiss. “Now I think
it’s time we both rested before I’m tempted to try something again. I’ll pick you up for breakfast
around eight thirty.”
“All right.” She stood and headed for the front door, knowing it was the right thing to do in
order to leave their dream peacefully. He stood and followed, opening the door onto his front
lawn. “Good night, Gabe.”
He pulled her close, leaning in for a good-night kiss that started sweet but ended with her bent to
his will, his mouth devouring hers, tempting her to stay. The reluctance she felt when he pulled
away from her spoke volumes. “Good night, love.”
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He closed the door before she could find out if he really meant to call her that.
She turned and strolled down the walkway, fingering her lips and wondering if, just if, he really
did.
If only she could trust the dream.
He watched her bounce down the stairs of the Coronado Springs resort, her hair swinging, her full lips smiling, and her face filled with the joy of a new day. Dark sunglasses hid her eyes from him, but the brown shorts and dark blue tank top did little to hide her curves.
Hopefully she now knew how much he loved her.
He’d put everything he was into that last dream kiss, bending her, dominating her, leaving her breathless and panting and leaning against him weakly. And then he’d shut the door and let her walk away, fighting his instincts and his Puma the entire fucking time until he’d slipped out of their dream and into real, dreamless sleep. The blue balls that followed had not been his idea of fun, but he refused to take care of the problem without Sarah. The anticipation would make finally taking her all the sweeter, and today he had every intention of doing just that.
Today was going to be fun. The Pride was hitting the parks, enjoying being in Disney World before the wedding madness truly began. Tomorrow there were other activities planned, but today was all about being little kids again. Except the games Gabe wanted to play weren’t at all child-like.
He couldn’t wait to see Sarah’s reactions. He stood, smiling at her as she came to a stop at the shuttle stop in the parking lot of the hotel. “Ready?”
She frowned, looking around. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Magic Kingdom.” And hadn’t they laughed their asses off at him as he’d waved them on. They knew exactly what he was up to and approved of his plans. Hell, Emma had even added a suggestion of her own, something he knew Sarah would love to do with him. And she’d
definitely
approved of shopping the World Showcase, to no one’s surprise.
He took Sarah’s hand and led her to where the shuttle stop was. “I thought we might want to do Epcot.
Ride Mission Mars, see Soaring, maybe go shopping in World Showcase.”
She looked up at him with suspicion. “Shopping.”
He did his best to look innocent. “Yes. Shopping.”
“You seemed less than enthusiastic last night.”
“Hey, I can shop. You hunt down your purchase, club it to death with a credit card and drag it out of the store, right?”
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She sputtered.
“See? Men can shop just fine.” He puffed up his chest, hoping to get her to laugh. “And I have special training as a Hunter, so I should be extra good at it.”
She was trying her damndest to hide her grin, but it wasn’t working. “Did Emma put you up to this?”
“I plead the fifth.”
“Aren’t we supposed to meet the others for dinner?”
“That
might
have been the plan at some point.”
“Gabe.”
He watched, smug satisfaction on his face as one of the shuttles pulled up, her hand curled firmly in his.
“Sarah. Will you go out with me today?”
She bit her lip to keep from laughing as he helped her onto the shuttle marked Epcot. “Gee, I don’t know. Maybe I should think about it.”
He sat next to her, his arm going around the back of the bench. “You do that.”
She giggled. “Didn’t we already agree to spend the day together?”
“Mm-hmm.”
She eyed him sideways, a spark of mischief in her eyes. “So, where’s your date?”
He growled. “How sore do you want your ass to be?” He put on his most dominant face, the one that never failed to make her lashes lower and her breathing speed up. “Don’t make me tell you again, Sarah.
Nothing. Happened.
”
After a brief hesitation her lashes lowered, her head tilting down in submission.
Good.
Maybe he’d overreacted, but he was damn sick and tired of hearing her call Chloe his girlfriend. “Yes, sir.”
Her quiet whisper was music to his ears. “C’mere.” He pulled her close to him, as close as the molded plastic seats would let him, and watched the streets roll by, content just to breathe her in.
Sarah stifled a laugh as Gabe settled warily into the “cockpit” of Mission Space. “C’mon, Gabe, it’s not
that
bad.”
He shot her a lethal look as he pulled down the harness. “You had to pick the Orange team, didn’t you?” The Orange version of the ride was a lot more energetic than the Green version.
She coughed into her hand. “Wuss.” He opened his mouth to reply when the whine of the ride started.
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“Navigator. Cool. Don’t forget to stop and ask for directions.”
He grumbled as the woman seated next to her laughed. “Yours too? My husband never stops for directions.”
Sarah turned to answer just as the shuttle “lifted”, the G-force pushing her back in her seat. After that, she was too busy punching buttons and laughing like a loon to answer anything. Even better were Gabe’s muttered curses as the ride shook and shimmied, dived and soared.
“We are heading to Hollywood Studios and riding Tower of Terror.” Gabe helped her out of the shuttle when the ride ended, a fierce grin on his face.
“Is that the dropping elevator ride?”
“Yup.” He pulled her through the store and out the door, looking like an eager kid.
Sarah, however, was not so eager. “Nuh-uh. No way.”
“Yes, way.”
“Try no way in hell, then.”
He laughed. “I got on Mission Space for you. You can get on Tower of Terror for me.”
She thought quickly. She was
not
doing a falling-anything ride. “I thought we were going to go shopping in World Showcase and have an early dinner. Maybe we could watch the fireworks?” She gave him her best hopeful grin.
He didn’t buy it. “I tell you what. I’ll make you a deal. We head over to World Showcase now, have an early dinner, do a little shopping and then head to Hollywood Studios. If the Tower of Terror has more than a twenty minute wait, you’re off the hook. But, twenty minutes or less, and we ride. Deal?”
She looked around. This time of year there weren’t as many guests in the park. They hadn’t gone for a ride other than Mission Space that had a longer than twenty-minute wait.