"Is the sun the biggest object in space?" he asked me in an even, determined voice.
I had to think about that one for all of a split second before I shook my head, confused at what he was asking. "No."
"How do you explain to the sun that there are stars far away that dwarf it?" He lowered his face to mine. "I’ve liked you from the moment I met you.” He blinked, his eyebrows knitting together in surprise. “Damn, Gaby. I’m fucking crazy about you.”
Say what?
His eyes bore right into mine, drinking in the confusion that I’m sure was apparent in them. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“You’re—you—” I—what—
His fingers pinched my earlobes. “You haven’t been single for long. I didn’t want to rush you into anything, and I wasn’t about to let you out of my life even after the tour ends,” he explained in a low, even cadence. His voice was hypnotic and I was hooked. A small, frustrated smile covered his mouth. “You're an idiot if you think that you're no one special to me. You're the most special." His lips hovered over mine. "The most."
Dead. I was dead and this was the afterlife.
He slowly pulled me forward. His hand cupped my cheek; his soft lips were filled with purpose when they covered mine so tenderly I couldn't think to breathe. Sacha's mouth opened slowly, coaxing mine to do the same. Just as gradually, he angled his lips to kiss me as deeply as possible. He tasted faintly like mint.
Two hands cradled my face suddenly as he held us in one piece, like he was worried I'd try to pull away. He moaned deep in his throat when I kissed him back with the same intensity he kissed me. One of his palms drifted to the back of my neck, gripping it strongly while his other arm wrapped around my waist and brought my lower body flush against his. Every lean muscle of his upper body pressed against mine, bunching and flexing with the force of his actions.
Then he pulled away a fraction of an inch to give my cheek a wet, open-mouth kiss. "Do you need me to spell it out for you?"
I shivered and nodded, tilting my head more openly toward him. "I think so."
Chapter Twenty-Two
"You hurt my feelings," I told Sacha in a low voice after those awesomely wonderful first kisses.
I'd briefly thought about not telling him how much his words had bothered me, but I decided against it. I'd already jumped in with both feet by admitting that I liked him, and that it was him that made me feel stupid. At this point my dignity was around the block and it wasn’t going to return anytime soon.
"Gaby," he sighed, reaching forward to wrap his long fingers around my wrist. Tugging me toward him, he patted the open space between his extended legs. It didn't take a genius to understand that he wanted me to sit between them, but I couldn’t. At least not yet. Instead I sat a couple of inches away from his closest thigh. "That's the last thing I'd want to do."
I nodded. Something deep in my gut told me he was speaking the truth. "It's okay."
Turning his entire body toward me, one foot on the floor, his other leg bent and resting on the mattress, his hands landed on my shoulders and slowly inched their way down my arms. His smooth palms curved over my biceps and elbows. "It's not okay. I should have settled things when I saw her," Sacha replied. He leaned forward, wrapping his arms around me in a loose, comforting hug as one of his kneecaps pressed against mine. "I’ve been nuts about you. I guess I just assumed you knew.”
“Oh.” Knew? How? Okay, maybe the signs had been there but I hadn’t let myself get too attached to them.
"Gaby," he whispered, bringing one hand up to drape the end of my ponytail over my shoulder. "I don't know what I'm doing with you half the time." Sacha snickered almost lazily. "I like you so much it makes me stupid."
I couldn't help but snort, pulling back and glancing up at him. "I think you were already in that boat long before I came along, Sassy."
He chuckled softly, leaning forward a moment later to kiss my cheek. It might have made me snuck in a surprised breath. "See? Not liking you is like fighting gravity.”
This fucking guy was going to be the death of me.
"Lots of people don't like me, like Miles," I scoffed. "Everyone else just puts up with me because of Eli, probably."
Lips planted themselves high on my cheek twice and each time I had to battle the urge to crawl into his lap and ask for more. "You don't see things clearly." His nose made the trip down until he was nuzzling my throat. "You're special to a lot of people, but especially to me."
I looked at him, seeing those smoke-colored eyes much closer than I was used to. I wasn't fishing for compliments, or reassurance in the love that people like my brother and Mason had for me. I knew that they cared. Their love was easy and unconditional.
Whether this thing between us was just a whole lot of “like” or love—that I wasn't sure about. I'd grown up sharing things my entire life. There had never been a “mine” option with my siblings, everything belonged to the community, but with Sacha… there wasn't that option. There could never be that option.
"It's over, though?" I asked him, looking down at the bed. "Between you and Ron—I mean, Liz?"
Another slow kiss landed on my throat as he kept eye contact with me through his lashes, lingering the heat of a thousand fires. "I swear."
"I can smell your bullshit a mile away," I warned him, trying my best to focus on what I was saying and not how he was making me feel with all those kisses.
