Trust by Design (Colorado Trust 2)

He grit her name out between clenched teeth and spoke one word to go with each driving thrust. “Gina…now…please.”

His guttural plea triggered her release. As her muscles clenched around him and she cried out his name, he let go and hurtled over the edge with her.

* * *

Dean woke up slowly as details registered on his consciousness. Gina lay curled up against his side, soft and warm and gloriously naked in his new bed. The night had been beyond his wildest dreams and more than wort

h the wait, even though now that he’d slept he could feel the effects of the accident in every aching, stiff joint of his body.

With a press of his lips to her forehead, he softly finger-combed her hair from her face before turning his head toward the windows. On the nightstand, the numbers on his alarm clock blinked the wrong time. The power must’ve come on in the past couple hours because it wasn’t much before dawn that they’d fallen into exhausted slumber. The sun was shining outside, but it was definitely still morning.

Gina made a cute little mewling sound in her sleep, and turned away from him to snuggle into the thick comforter.

He lifted the covers a tiny bit and slid his gaze along the line of her spine, down to the dimples above her sweet ass cheeks. She’d alternately giggled and quivered last night when his tongue had traced that same path. Then he’d flipped her over and licked his way back up. Finally, he’d made good on his promise for her to be on top.

Biting back a groan, he dropped his head back to his pillow. Time to get moving before his growing hard-on demanded attention.

He eased from the bed, showered, shaved, and dressed, all without her moving. He would’ve loved to wake her up, but while he was used to nights of only a few hours of sleep, she probably wasn’t. Not to mention, his sore body protested each movement he made.

Downstairs, he started a pot of coffee and leaned against the counter as one specific memory surfaced in his fully-alert mind.

“I love it.” Almost as much as he loved her.

This morning, the thought didn’t even surprise him. Probably because of the soul deep connection he’d experienced with her last night. His mouth quirked at the corny, sappy notion…and yet, there it was.

He did love her. Couldn’t imagine going a day without her in his life. By his side. In his bed. Maybe someday their bed—she had picked it out, after all. That she was upstairs sleeping in it right now gave him every confidence the future would be theirs, and he smiled.

The gurgle of the pot signaled the brew cycle was done, so he poured a large cup and went straight to his office. Water dripped from the roof in front of the windows, evidence the temperature had warmed up again and the sunshine was making quick work of the ice outside. It was quarter after eight on a Saturday morning, but he had plenty of work to do inside until she woke up. Then he was taking the rest of the day off.

He sipped the steaming caffeine as his computer booted up, then clicked over to check his email before he became engrossed in code work.

Skim—delete. Skim—save for reply later. Skim—delete. He skipped over the Tech Industry News Briefs, but then came back to it after replying to something Mike had sent last night.

Opening the TI newsletter, he relaxed back in his chair to scan the latest software news as he enjoyed his coffee.

The very first headline fucked up his entire morning.

Technology Software announces new release!

His fingers tightened on his mug as he sat forward to read the highlights of his software, then read them a second time. Somehow the bastard had gotten hold of his program and done it again. Now he’d change just enough to be able to claim it as his own and anything Daley Solutions released would be secondary in the market.

How the hell had this happened?

He carefully set his coffee mug down before he gave in to the urge to hurl it across the room. Then he dialed Mike from his office phone and didn’t even care about the sleep-rough voice when his friend answered.

“The sonofabitch did it again,” he bit out. “It’s frickin’ right there in the TI News.”

“What?” Shock echoed in Mike’s suddenly alert voice. “You’re kidding.”

“Yes,” Dean replied with vicious sarcasm. “Because I’ve got nothing better to do on a Saturday morning than play practical jokes on you.”

“Whoa, man, I’m not the bad guy here. Look, I know you’re pissed, but—”

“Damn right, I’m pissed, Mike! Get Quinn on the phone and find out if Ty had anything to do with this. I want to know how the hell this happened. While you’re working on that, I have to call Wesley to find out if we have any legal recourse to get a look at the coding before it’s released so we can prove it’s my design, not his.”

“I’m on it. But, um, Dean…”

Mike’s grim voice stopped him from hanging up. “What?”