“You lied to Bailey?” Valak asks. Like he’s surprised I’d actually lie to her. But there’s no way I’m ever telling her that I wasn’t quite safe like what I led her to believe, she’d freak the hell out.
“She’d just packed! She had sorted everything out so she could enjoy her life as an omega. I wasn’t going to steal a second of that from her.”
“So you put yourself at risk.” Lincoln clicks his tongue dismissively.
I shrug but counter back with the reasons I did what I did. “I wanted Bailey to get on with her life and enjoy her first heat in her pack house, in a nest that she built with her pack? Her falling in love is much more important than me telling her I hadn’t packed.”
“You still don’t recognise the risky situation you put yourself in, for the sake of being considerate to a friend?” Valak asks, taking a sip of his beer.
“No offence, I’m pretty sure I’m a better judge of what I consider is risky behaviour then you are. The reality is, as much as I love that woman, she has her life, and I have mine. Plus, I have lived by myself ever since Bailey made the move over here for work. I’d never go to her house, way too many bossy alphas there. Ares is always with me; I am skilled in guns and have an armoury that even you would crack a real smile at. I keep saying it, but I really don’t venture out often. I seriously was unlucky with what happened at the carpark. It’s the first time it’s happened and things turned out okay.”
“You were hurt!” Noah hisses, a flash of irritation darkening his eyes.
“They could easily have taken you, Lennon,” Lincoln growls, the both of them talking over each other.
“Apparently not. I am sitting here with you four, on one of the world’s most secret islands, drinking imported beer from Sicily and eating melt in your mouth chicken—and lobster soon, apparently. I know I’m doing okay. It’d be good for you to remember that too.”
16
LENNON
“Nothing hotter than an independent woman you’ve already fucked and want to fuck again. And again,” Gabriel murmurs, like he’s talking to himself as he climbs to his feet. He rests his hands on the back of my chair and tips the chair, me, and him until we’re defying gravity. And then he kisses me, not holding anything back. He growls into my lips, his tongue so deep in my mouth it’s nearly touching my dangly bit, but by fucking god, it’s a really good kiss.
His hand squeezes my breast, while his thumb flicks over my nipple, and he makes me forget we’re eating an early dinner, talking about packing. And only an idiot would push him away. Life can wait, this can’t.
I wrap my arms around his neck, and he makes a grab for me as the chair crashes to the ground, but he’s pretty much running away from our discussion. He stops though, a flush making his cheeks pink. “Sorry, that was a little uncalled for, but holy crap you reminding me like that was a real fucking turn on.”
“I don’t mind at all,” I say as I stretch up to kiss him softly again. “The others might though. And I’m kind of expecting a call. Can we do a rain check?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course.” He hovers in a weird state of distraction, warring with smouldering wanting; you can see his thoughts are scattered, and still scattering.
“Hey, Gabe,” I call him out of his head, making sure he knows I like this side of him. The impromptu need has made him a little unsure of himself, or maybe it’s just his reaction is throwing off his confidence. “What were you going to do to me, for the sake of clarity and all?”
He smirks, his cockiness overtaking his hesitation from a second ago. He leans down and nips playfully against my lips. “Ravish and worship you like the little star you are. I was going to start with an epic lick from slit to clit until you filled my mouth with your sweet sticky juices.” He grins before shaking his head, staying on track by the looks of it. “When I’m near you, I have to touch you, make sure you’re real. And then after everything you told us, I was full of that winning feeling. I’m so fucking proud of you, and want you to know it before I reward you right.”
He looks off into the distance and takes a big breath, filling his chest. I feel it shudder against mine as he reins in his possessiveness, that kind of matches mine. Gabe is a person I want to explore more. I pull his face back to mine. “What are you doing to me?”
Shaking his head, those lush lips of his pull up into a cocky smirk that would make people around the world swoon. His voice drops low, like you do when you talk to your lover in bed. “Me to you? Oh, no. You should try being a little less fucking tempting, and I’d be able to think of something else besides what I want to do to you, which is too explicit for polite conversation over grilled fucking lobster.”
“We were talking about our future,” I say, licking my way over to his ear lobe, where I flick my tongue, making him groan.
“You need to keep your tongue to yourself, or I won’t be able to sit around the table and adult. I’ll be snatching you and running to the nearest wall to have my wicked way with you.”
Someone coughs behind us, a gentle reminder that we have an audience. Although it makes my mind run in a completely different direction.
“And what about if they see?”
“You worried about that?’
“Not at all. You?”
He laughs, the sudden noise echoing around us before he rises up to standing and plonks me on his brother’s lap.
“Hold my woman a minute, Bro, I need to go jump in the pool and cool off before we continue what should be a very serious discussion.”
Gabe rights my chair then walks towards the pool, diving straight in, clothes, glasses, and all. He stays under the water until he reaches the other side.
“Is your brother usually like this?” Lincoln asks, and his question snaps my attention to him and the situation. And lastly, who I’m sitting on.
