Chapter Eight
Mel
Gabriel carried me all the way to his BMW, cradling me to his chest like a baby. I marveled at his strength as he shifted all of my weight to one arm and stuck a hand in his trousers to press a button on the key fob that popped the passenger door open.
How in the world did he get so buff? Sure, he had a barbell set back home, but I did not see him use it nearly enough to constitute this kind of strength.
He bundled me inside, started the engine, and cranked up the heat. Warmth from the heated seats soaked into my skin, easing the pain in my aching muscles. It wasn’t until I was out of his embrace that I realized I was shaking. But it had very little to do with the chill in the air.
I watched behind my screen of soaking bangs as he ripped open the glove compartment and grabbed for a wad of napkins. Concentrating on his task, he began blotting at my thighs. He was…cleaning himself from me.
It might have been romantic and erotic as fuck if he hadn’t been acting like he was trying to hide the evidence, like a crime scene. “Um…Gabriel?” But before I could ask him what was up, he threw the soiled napkins on the side of the street, slammed my door shut and stomped around to the driver’s side.
As he got in, the seatbelts of the fancy car fastened themselves over us, their quietwhirthe only thing to fill the tense silence.
My stomach sank. Something was wrong.
He peeled away from the sidewalk and directed the car into traffic, still saying nothing.
I leaned my hot forehead against the cool glass of the passenger side window and watched the colorful lights of the Seattle streets blur by through the rain-streaked glass.
In the wake of tonight’s events, a myriad of emotions tumbled inside, my heart fluttering as fresh memories heated my core, a thrill of fresh desire lacing my body. But it was dampened by the way he was acting now. Like he regretted it.
My sex still throbbed from Gabe’s cock, that exquisite fullness a phantom sensation between my thighs, one I wouldn’t forget anytime soon.
What had just happened between us had been pure magic. So why was he pretending like it hadn’t just happened? Why weren’t we talking about it?
I stole a glance at him to see he gripped the steering wheel so tight it looked like it might break.
His expression was unreadable, his eyes hooded.
My gut cartwheeled with unease. What the hell was wrong with him? Had it beenthatbad? Sure it wasn’t what I had imagined at all, but I still had thought it was…incredible. Then again, I was the virgin in this outfit. What did I know?
“Are you…okay?” I finally asked.
A vein ticks in his jaw. He didn’t bother to look at me. “Are you?”
Was I okay? How could I not be? I was over the moon. I felt deeply sated, and that sensation stretched way beyond losing my V-card. As ridiculous as it sounded, it was like a void had been filled. That empty sensation that had always gnawed at me was gone, and now that it was, I didn’t know how I’d ever lived with it before.
It was like a decade old scratch had finally been itched, and the relief was paramount.
I had imagined my first time with Gabe a thousand times before, but reality was nothing compared to my fantasies, and I had averyactive imagination.
It was nothing like all those times I’d pleasured myself in the privacy of my own room.
My hands had nothing on Gabriel’s cock.
I gave him a small, cheeky smile. “I’m fine. Perfect birthday.”
Gabriel’s head slowly swiveled from the street, his blond brows knitting together. “Your perfect birthday involved almost getting…” He paused, a vein in his neck pulsing. His knuckles clenched tighter yet around the wheel. “Violated by those thugs in an alley?”
My heart crystallized in my chest, my smile dissolving in an instant. “No, of course not. They have nothing to do with it. It’s because of you.”
“Because of me?” he bit out with a scathing scoff. “A perfect birthday delivered by the asshole who actually violated you in an alley?”
Despite the heaters cranked to full blast, my entire body went numb.
“You didn’t ‘violate’ me,” I choked out. The word was a cruel slap to my face. How could he describe the magic that had just happened between us as a violation? “I wanted you to do it. Asked you. Hell, I practically had to beg you. If you didn’t want to, you should have just said no.”
