“I contributed to that. I was complicit. Maybe you would have done it anyway, if I’d said no. We'll never know. But I have to own my part.”
Gabriel leans his forehead to mine. His breath is a warm stream against my lips, the tip of his nose nuzzles mine. “I’ll never stop being sorry for what I did to us.”
“I know.”
We stay that way, absorbing one another’s emotions.
Apologies.
Sorrows.
And, eventually, desires.
It’s me. I move first. My palms find their way to his chest, then spread out to his arms, sliding up until my hands are running through his hair.
My heart settles in, returned to its rightful place at long last.
Gabriel takes a deep breath. His hands leave my shoulders, slipping down over my back, hauling me in until I’m flush against him. His lips hover over mine.
“Say the word, Avery.” The low growl of his voice washes over me. “Tell me this is what you want.”
“I want you. This. Us. I want it.”
He kisses me, and something inside me awakens. I thought I’d moved on, but I see how wrong that was. There is no moving on from Gabriel. There is only a reshaping, making room for today, this moment.
I press against him, desperate for every inch of me to touch every inch of him. All my waiting, all my wanting, at long last relieved. My fingers dig into his coiled back muscles as I settle into our kiss. He tastes like old times, and I cannot get enough of him.
He groans into my mouth, as equally famished for me as I am for him, and the reverberation travels down my throat.
All the way into my heart.
Deep down to my soul.
CHAPTER 12
GABRIEL
The only kindof addiction I’ll ever have again.
Avery. Her skin, her taste, her touch, her scent. I want to drown in it.
I know her by heart, but somehow she is new.
Her gasp when I tip her head back is committed to memory, but the first time I’ve heard it.
Her soft moan when I press my lips to her neck is imprinted on my soul, but the vibration has never been felt before.
Her heavy-lidded gaze when I bring my mouth down on her is tattooed on my heart, but the sight of it feels like another beginning.
I lift Avery, setting her down on the table without breaking our kiss. Her arms wrap around my neck, fingers dragging through my hair.
I work my way down to her jaw, kissing a path over the ridge that leads to her throat. She tilts her chin up, giving me access. Dragging my lips along the delicate length of her neck, I pause when I feel her pulse, racing beneath the tip of my tongue.
I groan at the feeling of this vital part of Avery, so exposed to me. Fuck. I fucking love this woman.
Avery responds to my groan by pushing into me, pressing her breasts against my chest, eliciting from me a groan that sounds half-crazed.
“I’m trying to take it slow,” I murmur, running my tongue over her collarbone. Honestly, I don’t know if I can. It doesn’t feel possible right now. I’ve waited so long for this moment I thought I’d never have again.
