“Stop,” she gasped at last, her muscles aching. “I can’t take it.”
A husky chuckle, but he’d stopped the instant she asked. Leaving his hand between her legs, he curved it around her inner thigh. He was sticky with her and the feel of it made her shudder again. Burying her face against his neck, chest heaving, she tried to find words, but they’d all left her brain.
“Do you mind if I use your body to get myself off?” It was a hot question against her ear.
Charlotte moaned.
“Is that a yes to my using your body?”
She nodded.
The big, sexy man who’d turned her bones molten pulled up her dress, tugging it over her head before removing her bra. She barely had the strength to move her arms, but he managed. It left her totally naked for the first time, and she should’ve felt vulnerable, but Gabriel’s hands felt so lovely on her skin that she just let him do what he wanted.
He spread her thighs over him so she straddled him again, then cradling her against him, nibbled at her throat as he released himself from his pants. “I want your hand on my cock.” Taking her right hand, he slid it over his chest and down.
Charlotte curled her fingers around the hot steel of his erection, shivered when he said, “Kiss me, Ms. Baird.”
She did exactly that, part of her aware that had she been normal and not messed up as she was, he’d have hauled her aggressively into that kiss. Right now, that didn’t matter. What mattered was that he was kissing her all raw and deep again while using his hand on her own to show her how to caress him. Finding strength in his desire for her, she lifted off his chest enough to look down.
Seeing her fingers on him made her lower body tighten in a convulsive shudder.
There wasn’t much thinking after that.
GABRIEL REALLY DIDN’T WANT to drive home that night, but he got dressed and rose, both because he had no fresh clothes at Charlotte’s and because he knew she wasn’t ready. The last thing he wanted was for her to wake up in the middle of the night and panic at having a man in bed with her.
So he kissed her on the doorstep, leaving her all sleepy-eyed and sated. It was one of the hardest things he’d had to do—especially when she reached up on tiptoe to kiss him again at the instant he would’ve pulled back.
“Thank you, Gabriel.”
“I’m the one who should be giving thanks.” He’d never been so sexually satisfied in his life. Yeah, he’d had to hold back, but that was changing. He wasn’t sure she realized it, but he’d been pretty demanding on the sofa and she hadn’t flinched. Sex, however, wasn’t the key to Charlotte’s fear. Still, it was a start.
Leaving her with a final kiss, he made his way home.
CHARLOTTE SLEPT LIKE THE dead and woke early, feeling good from the tips of her toes to the ends of her hair. She probably should’ve showered before going to bed, but she hadn’t, not wanting to wash off Gabriel’s scent. Rolling around and basking in it for another few minutes, she finally made herself go and shower, then got dressed.
Having caught an earlier bus in, she got in well before her usual time. It was as she was going up the steps to the main doors of the Saxon & Archer building that she caught sight of the man she’d seen with Gabriel yesterday. He was hiding behind one of the pillars that fronted the next building over, looking out furtively every so often.
Charlotte didn’t hesitate to walk over. “Hello,” she said in a gentle tone once she was close enough. “You’re Gabriel’s father, aren’t you? Brian?”
The man, his eyes sunken and his clothes hanging off his frame, looked alarmed. “Don’t tell him I’m here,” he begged. “I just wanted to see him before I go to the hospital later today.”
Charlotte stepped off the sidewalk and joined Brian behind the pillars so they could talk privately. “He’s very angry with you,” she said, understanding that anger.
“I know.” Coughs wracking his frame, Brian Bishop took something out of his pocket. “Will you give him this? I don’t think he’d take it from me.”
Charlotte took the wrinkled envelope that she guessed contained a letter. “I will.” Gabriel might yell at her for interfering, but if they were to have a relationship, she had to be strong enough to face him down when necessary.
And it was necessary here. Gabriel might not want to talk about this, but she knew the situation wasn’t healthy, that he had to find a way to deal with the anger inside him. “You should go from here for now,” she said, touching her hand to Brian’s arm to take the sting out of the words. “I’ll make sure Gabriel gets this.”