He huffs at me and slides his huge hands over my curves, squeezing his fingers in until dimples appear in my skin. “Woman, if you’re set on feeding me, I don’t think I’ll ever want to leave you here alone ever again.”
I swear I glow.
“So does that mean we’re okay?” I peek at him through my lashes.
“Fucking flirt,” he growls, dropping the comb. His hand cups my nape and he pulls me hard into him.
I gasp as he seals our mouths together, his tongue teasing mine in liquid kisses before he twists me in the tub. Sloshing water everywhere, Gabe pulls my legs to either side of his and pushes me down.
His cock nudges my entrance as I widen my eyes at him.
“Oh, no, Gabe. No. There's no way. I can’t?—”
His growl against my mouth shuts me up as his hips surge upward. “If I want to fuck the woman I love, then I’ll have her,” he grates against my lips, then pulls back. “Unless I’m hurting you?”
I nearly laugh out loud. After everything that we’ve done in the last twelve hours,hurtdoesn’t even come close. But I know what he means. There’s intentional pain and careless pain in sex. He’s talking about the latter. Real damage, tearing me because we didn’t prepare.
But the rest of his words catch up with my brain and I stop laughing.
The smile fades from his face.
“Sweetness?”
“You said that before. Last night. Didn’t you?” My brain is soup, but I know what I heard. I mean, I think I did.
Gabe sweeps wayward curls back from my face that spring back into my peripheral vision anyway. “I didn't think you heard me,” he says quietly. “You were pretty out of it by then.”
“I was, but I remember…” I frown. “This is fast.”
“It is,” he acknowledges. “But what we are isn’t normal, either." Gabe sighs, placing his hands on my hips and lifts me. His cock slides out of me.
I cry out at the sudden loss. “What are you doing?” I feel empty. Bereaved. “Gabe?”
He leans his head back against the edge of the tub and closes his eyes. One hand reaches over his head to a cabinet with a combination lock on it just within his reach. He spins a dial on it and pulls the small door open. A set of keys sit in his hand.
He opens his eyes, catches my hand and places the keys in them. “You know how I feel. For me, this is real. For you? This is yours. Your choice, Elena. Your freedom.”
Gabe closes his eyes and tips his head back again.
I stare at the keys in my hand, what he just gave me.
My heart beats that much faster.
CHAPTER SEVEN
GABE
Elena doesn’t move. She doesn’t breathe. I expect her to stumble her way out of the tub, dress and run her ass out of my house and back down the mountain. All the way back to Hope peak.
She does none of those things.
“Elena,” I warn her. “If you don’t move, that offer will expire. I’ll take those damn keys back and you’ll never leave this room again.”
“Like a princess in a tower,” she muses.
“What?” I can’t help the abrupt tone that snaps out of me. She’s absurd. So am I. This whole thing is a farce. It can’t be real no matter what I say.
“You can’t keep me, Gabe. I saw the combination.” She’s laughing at me.
