"Yes, Gabe!" I cried.
And just as I orgasmed, I came awake with a start. As my gaze swung around my empty bedroom, both relief and mortification pulsed through me. First, I was thankful to see that Gabe Renard wasn't actually in my bed, and second, I was embarrassed as hell that I had just experienced an orgasm merely off his image.
The truth was, I often took a while to come with physical stimulation, but I seemed to be doing just fine without it this morning. Both my hands were above the covers and nowhere near my center. I was sure Gabe would find it amusing as hell that just me dreaming of his hands and mouth on my body had the ability to make me come. As cocky as he was, I knew he would have never doubted his ability with a woman.
"Dammit," I huffed as I kicked off the sheets. How could I have possibly just had a sex dream about someone I detested? Even if he was physically sex on a stick, Gabe was a complete asshole and egomaniac. He was exactly the kind of man I loathed to come in contact with both personally and professionally, the kind who thought a woman's true purpose was to be a life support system for a pussy.
The blaring of my alarm clock on the nightstand drew me out of my thoughts. Rising out of bed, I threw my arms over my head and stretched. After pulling my hair into a messy bun, I threw my robe on over my nightgown. When I opened my bedroom door, the deliciously decadent scent of espresso entered my nostrils. I padded down the hallway and into the kitchen, where Kennedy stood at the stove and Ellie sat at the counter, manning the espresso maker. Since we all needed caffeine running through our veins to not only survive but not throat punch someone, we'd all chipped in to buy the rather expensive appliance.
"Morning," I called as I walked over to the cabinet to get a coffee mug.
With spatula in hand, Kennedy glanced at me over her shoulder. "Morning."
"Were you running this morning?" Ellie asked, her dark hair swept up in a ponytail.
"No. Why?"
"Your face is all red, and you're sweaty."
My skin burned like a raging wildfire under her inspection. "Oh … must be a reaction from the nightmare that woke me up." I wasn't totally lying-any form of a sexual scenario with me and Gabe Renard was a nightmare, regardless of what my traitorous body wanted to think.
With a gasp, Ellie's hand flew to her mouth and her brown eyes widened.
"What?" I demanded at her reaction.
"Were you … " She waggled her brown brows.
Kennedy whirled around at the stove. "Seriously, Ellie, if you're going to talk about it, at least say the word: masturbating. Rae was masturbating."
"I was not!" I huffed.
She jabbed the spatula at me as her dark eyes narrowed on mine. "Then why did I hear moans coming from your bedroom?"
Ducking my head, I focused on pouring some espresso. "Because I was having a scary nightmare." Once I had filled my cup, I finally met Kennedy's intense stare. "Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay?"
"What's with you?"
"Nothing."
Kennedy shook her head as she flipped the omelet in the skillet onto a plate. "I call bullshit, little sis. You're never one to shy away from sex talk." After she passed the plate to me, she lowered her voice to ask, "You didn't sneak a man in here last night, did you?"
"No, I most certainly did not. You know how I feel about that with Linc." Since the time he was old enough to understand what was going on, I'd always feared Linc finding a strange man in my bed. Because of that, I'd always had sex at the guy's place or let Linc go spend the night with my dad and Stella.
Shrugging, Kennedy said, "You could always lock the door and sneak the guy out the window."
"Thank you. I'll remember that if the need ever arises."
Ellie eyed me thoughtfully as she chewed on a piece of bacon. "If a man wasn't in your room, then you must've been masturbating."
I sighed. "Fine. If you must know, I was having a sex dream." Shuddering, I added, "A very intense sex dream."
"Ha! I knew it was something sexual," Ellie replied as she gave me a triumphant look.
After handing me the omelet, Kennedy chewed her lip in thought. "Why are you so embarrassed about a sex dream?
"Because of who starred in it."
Wrinkling her nose, Ellie said, "Ew, it wasn't Vernon, wasn't it?"
I started choking on my omelet. After I threw back some coffee, I replied, "God no!" Vernon Neighbors was a sixty-year-old front-end specialist at Hart and Daughter Wreckers. With his greasy hair and wiry frame, he was no woman's fantasy lover.
"Ah, but he's a front-end specialist," Kennedy joked, waggling her brows.
"For the record, Vernon will never be allowed anywhere near my front end." When Kennedy opened her mouth, I shook my head. "That goes for my rear end as well."
While Kennedy laughed, Ellie slid into a chair across from me at the table. "Don't hold out on us-tell us who the mystery fucker was."
"Gabe Renard."
"Like the Gabe Renard, the drummer for Jacob's Ladder?" Ellie questioned.
"I'm pretty sure he's the only Gabe Renard I know."
"What brought that one on? Were you listening to some of their music before you went to bed or something?"
As Kennedy brought her plate over the table, she replied, "Nope. She answered the tow call when he got his Jeep stuck out on Cutler's Ridge yesterday."
Forget the old adage of saucers-Ellie's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates at this revelation. "You actually met Gabe Renard?"
"Yeah, I did."
"I cannot believe you told Kennedy but didn't tell me!"
Since I hadn't been able believe what had transpired between me and Gabe, I'd gone straight home to tell Kennedy about it, not even taking the time to drop the wrecker off. It was still parked outside in the driveway. "Just how was I to do that when you were gone all day?"
Huffing, Ellie replied, "Ever heard of a phone call or text? You two could have at least FaceTimed me."
I shook my head. "It wasn't the kind of story I wanted to tell over the phone or a text, least of all on FaceTime."
"What happened?"
After drawing in a deep breath, I filled Ellie in on my rendezvous with Gabe. She sat in such rapt attention, I wasn't sure she even stopped to blink. Once I finished, she slowly shook her head back and forth. "I cannot believe you turned him down."
Clanking her fork noisily on her plate, Kennedy huffed, "I swear, sometimes I think you would give a serial killer a chance if he was hot enough."
"Gabe Renard is not a serial killer," Ellie countered.
"No, but he's an arrogant dickhead," Kennedy shot back.
"That's an understatement," I murmured.
"Weren't you at least tempted to go out with him?" Ellie asked.
With a sigh, I ran my hands over my face. "Of course I was. I'm not blind-I saw perfectly well with my own eyes how good-looking he is."
Ellie nodded. "Not to mention rich and famous."
"Thanks for reminding me." The last thing I wanted was to ever be seen with Gabe. While being famous certainly had its perks, it also had a downside. I never wanted my face splashed across the internet, not to mention print magazines. Nasty memes created about my boobs or my ass, derogatory posts about me being a single mom-hell no. There was no way I would expose Linc to that.
I shook my head. "But at the end of the day, I do have my pride. He only wanted a one-night stand from me."
"You don't know that."
Kennedy groaned. "Stop being such a romantic. Do you actually think someone like Gabe Renard is looking for a relationship?"
"You never know. He tours with the guys in Runaway Train, and they're all married."
"Considering his twin brother is single also, I'd say the Renard brothers are commitment-phobes," Kennedy said.
Ellie frowned. "I just wish you'd given him a chance."
"The last time I gave a musician a chance, I got knocked up at seventeen." Eyeing the clock on the stove, I winced. "I don't have time to talk about this anymore. If I don't light a fire under Linc, he's going to be late for school."
"Just answer one thing for me before you go," Ellie said.
"What?"
With a wicked grin, she asked, "How good was Gabe in your dream?"
"Multiple Os."
"Oh yeah, my favorite kind of Os."
"What's an O?" Linc suddenly asked from the doorway.
As Ellie and I shrieked and jumped in our chairs at his appearance, Kennedy spewed out the espresso she'd just drank. When I finally recovered enough to find my voice, I said, "Nothing you need to know about. Hurry up and sit down for your breakfast."
Before he could question me any further, I popped out of my chair to give it to Linc. I then made a mad dash out of the kitchen to both grab a shower and escape my mortification.