He closes his eyes for a moment, his head dropped back on a low moan. Taking me in his arms, he lifts me off my feet and wraps my legs around him.
Then he walks me into the bedroom, where we have all night to express the endless and erotic depths of our mutual need for each other.
28
~ Gabriel ~
Evelyn yawns as I gather her close in the shower after we’ve washed each other. “I don’t want to Monday today.”
I kiss the top of her head, smiling as she burrows deep into my chest. “Unfortunately, I have some business at headquarters, so we need to get out of here in about an hour.”
She groans. “You’re no fun.”
I grunt, tweaking her nipple. “That’s not what you said last night.”
I don’t think either of us got more than a couple hours of sleep once we hit my bed. This morning came too damn early, but I can hardly complain when Evelyn woke me with soft, demanding kisses and questing hands.
We made love slowly as dawnilluminated the bedroom. After a night of seemingly unquenchable need, today my desire for her has calmed into a slow-burning, deep ache that I feel as intensely in my chest as I do in my blood.
Maybe even more.
She lifts her head, frowning up at me. “I thought you were coming to L’Opale with me this morning for a walk-through of the new security system with the staff?”
The smile I intend to be reassuring instead feels forced. “I’ll drop you there, and then I’ll come back later, once my business is finished with your brother and Nick.”
I’m not exactly comfortable with the idea of leaving her at the boutique without eyes on her, so as soon I have a minute alone, I’ll have to call O’Connor or another of my team to park a vehicle nearby and watch the shop until I return.
A playful light shines in Evelyn’s eyes as she kisses my chin. “A little timeout today is probably a good idea. I’m not sure I can be around you this morning without either smiling like a cat in the cream or wanting to tear your clothes off.”
“Believe me, the feeling is mutual, Ms. Beckham.”
Last night her complete surrender to me is a gift I’ll always cherish. She was the balm I needed after my confrontation with my father. Her acceptance of me—even at my weakest, even when I was trying to push her away—is the glue that’s keeping me together now, when I know I could be just a few hours away from losing everything.
Because I can’t go another day without telling her the truth.
No matter what that costs me with AndrewBeckham and Dominic Baine, today I need to explain to them that I’m involved with her.
And then I need to alert Evelyn about the danger I believe she’s in, and the fact that I have been assigned to watch over her.
There is so much more I need to tell her. Words I almost said last night.
Words I long to say now, as I hold her under the warm spray of the shower and feel her heartbeat drumming against my chest.
That I can’t imagine being with another woman now that I’ve found her.
That I want to build a future with her.
Most of all, that I love her.
I keep all of those words inside for now. It wouldn’t be fair to say them before she knows all the rest. Instead I lift her lips to mine and kiss her, wishing we didn’t have to start this day I’m already beginning to dread.
“Gabe,” she murmurs. “I don’t want to go.”
I swallow, smoothing my thumb over her cheek. “I know, baby.”
Does she feel the same sense of foreboding that I do? The worry that this weekend really was the unsustainable fantasy I tried to claim it was last night? She had refused to accept it then. Now, it seems like we’re both afraid to be the first to let go.
With the water still raining down on my back, I kiss her deeply, moving my mouth over hers in an unrushed joining of our lips and tongues and shallow breaths.
