The fire burning on my scalp returns when he bends me to the side for better access. “Still hate me or have you suddenly changed your mind?” Gabe’s breath is rough against the skin below my lobe.
“I want you inside me.” I fumble with his zipper before I’m stopped dead in my tracks, hands pinned behind my back by the wrists.
“You lost any control over the evening when you lied to me.” Securing my wrists with one hand, he pulls me into him with the other. The gentleness in his lips is surprising after the resistance I keep throwing his way—that’s not going to work tonight.
I pull away and make sure to give him my best smirk when I say, “And when exactly did I lie? When I said you’re an asshole or that I’m not one of your groupies?”
With his lips still resting against mine, he ignores my provoking and aims his words straight at my heart like an arrow headed straight for its target. “I won’t hate what I see…” I frantically search his gaze for any sign that he heard the rest of that confession so many nights ago. “And I won’t leave you for whatever it is in your past you’re running from… Just let me in, and I’ll protect your heart with all the love you deserve.”
Bullseye.
Gabe seals his lips firmly to mine and the volcano that has been simmering inside me for so long erupts. The thumping in my ribcage, almost in unison with the pounding under my palm, has me dizzy and reeling, starving for him to devour every piece of me.
“Goddamnit, Gabe!” I screech as he hauls me over his shoulder, marching up the stairs once again.
Instead of throwing me down on the bed like last time, he sets me down gently, his eyes locked on mine as he removes my clothes.
“You like carrying me to your bed, don’t you?” I laugh as I rise on my elbows to get a better view of him as his clothes fall to the floor.
“Ilikea lot of things, Ender, but carrying you to my bed isn’t one of them.”
My stomach instantly twists—until he climbs on the bed and rests all of his weight on top of me.
He pulls my hands above my head with his naked body heavy on top of mine, spreading my legs with his knees and settling between them. “Ilovecarrying you to my bed.”
Grind. Kiss.
“Ilovehaving you in my house.”
Grind. Kiss.
“Ilovehaving you in my life.”
No, no, no, please don’t say it. “Don’t!” Gabe freezes, staring at me with worried eyes. “Don’t tell me you love me, Gabe. You and I both know you’re not in love with me. We barely know each other. You don’t know me well enough to tell me you’re in love with me.” The words come out like hot lava, burning everything in their path, probably killing any chance we have of enjoying the rest of this night. Hiding behind closed lids, I huff out my final plea. “So, just don’t say it, okay?”
A tender caress from his thumb across my cheekbone, traveling down my jawline and finally landing on my lower lip, has me inhaling all the oxygen I can, just to keep me from blacking out.
“I wasn’t going to tell you I’m in love with you, Ender.” Kisses on my eyelids force them open to find Gabe’s softened gaze boring into the depths of my soul, discovering secrets I have yetto reveal. We share the air between our lips for a moment before he says, “I was going to tell you…”
Kiss.
“Iloveevery moment I spend with you…”
Kiss.
“And if you’ll let me…”
Kiss.
“I’llloveyou forwhoyou are…”
Kiss.
“Even if you don’t love yourself.”
Kiss.
Chapter Seventeen
