“Has anyone ever tasted this beautiful mouth before? Felt it against his own?” He hungrily kissed me again before pulling away again. “Tell me true.”
Temptation to lie didn’t even come into play. “You’re my first.”
Gabriel closed his eyes and whispered, “I knew it.”
“Why? Didn’t I do it well?” Despite my newness to kissing boys, like in all things, I wanted to be the best. Stupid but true.
“More than well. Perfectly.” He peppered my cheeks with tiny kisses. “You’re so sweet, Emma, did you know that? I imagined it but I could never really imagine how perfect you really are.”
My hand clutched the back of his head. “I’m not perfect, Gabriel. Far from it.”
“I know all your flaws and they don’t matter to me.”
I arched, exposing my neck to his clever mouth. “Flaws, huh? I do have a lot of those for sure.”
“No more than me, baby. And I know them because you weren’t the only one watching.”
Embarrassed, I bit my lip and tried to avoid eye contact. “That obvious?”
“No, only to me. But it’s okay.” Gabriel ran his lips up and down my neck, paying special attention to the pulse thrumming in excitement. “You know why?”
“Why?” I could barely keep my focus on him when my body was quickly becoming a mass of nerves all calling to become Gabriel’s personal switchboard.
“You’re my perfect match, Emma.”
Gabriel’s softly spoken words intoxicated me. He sounded almost like a man in love. My mind immediately skittered away from those dangerous thoughts.
Love?
Slow down. You’re moving too fast, Emma.
“Where’d you go, baby?”
The concern in his voice shook me from my cautious thoughts. “No where. I’m right here.”
Gabriel rubbed his thumbs across my cheeks. “Having second thoughts?”
All this time I thought him as a dilettante, prone to moments of brilliance. A boy who spent all his time sleeping in class in between spending time with a glittering set of jackals. Pretty. Harmless unless he chose otherwise.
I completely underestimated his keen powers of observation. In seeing Gabriel, I’d unwittingly allowed him to see me for four years. All of me.
This time I shook for different reasons.
I couldn’t imagine what Gabriel really thought of me and the idea that he wanted me so badly was because he had seen me created a potent concoction of giddiness and exhilaration.
“No.” I shook my head for good measure. “No second thoughts.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” My shaky smile managed to convince him.
“Good. I’m not sure I could let you go anyways.” His rakish grin was at odds with the darkness in his eyes.
Maybe I should’ve been scared, but I wasn’t. His darkness called to mine and it was impossible for me to resist.
“Gabriel?”
“Yes?”
“How much further to your house?”
Lust arched between us, charging the air. Gabriel’s open-mouthed kiss dominated for a long minute before he answered hoarsely, “Less than ten minutes.”
“Let’s go.”
He nodded and reached for my seatbelt. Once we were both fastened safely, I started up the car and pulled back onto the road quickly.
I knew what was going to happen and I wanted it.
For the first time, maybe ever, I wasn’t going to allow my logic and pride to dictate what happiness could or should mean to me.
At least for tonight.
FIVE
Gabriel held my hand. Our steps across the marble entryway echoed, emphasizing the emptiness surrounding us both. I’d been in many mausoleums like this with my mother during the summers, but never had I entered through the front door.
Cleaning alongside her and the crews, I didn’t allow myself to really look at the wealth displayed into the very bones of the house. They were objects to dust, to preserve, to tolerate.
Now I had a chance to see it from the other side.
Everywhere I looked I saw acquisitions beyond compare. Gilt frame paintings, antiques, greenery, and furniture better suited to a museum than house emphasized the difference between existing and thriving.
The Haves and the Have Nots.
“Would you like something to drink?”
I appreciated his politeness, somehow expecting Gabriel would simply drag me up the stairs and have his wicked way with me.
“That would be nice. Thank you.”
Gabriel nodded and still holding onto my hand, he wound his way back into the enormous, spotless kitchen. He pulled back a chair at the island and easily lifted me up.
“What would you like? We’ve got it all—water, juice, milk, soda, wine. Whatever you’d want, Emma.”