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“I thought everyone knew we’d broken up, but I guess not because it was like a fucking CIA interrogation. All everyone kept asking is whether you were going to college with me... Or just assuming you were. It was as if nothing had happened. I started drinking more than I should’ve, and when I got fed up with being asked the same things over and over, I got behind the wheel of the car. I didn’t even make it off his estate before I wrapped the damn Lambo around a tree. I remember nothing else except waking up in the hospital and being told my athletic aspirations were over. I wouldn’t be cleared to play basketball or football, and I hated you even more for—”
She inched closer to me and laid her head against my shoulder. “I’m so so sorry. I—”
I cupped her face and kissed her forehead. “You weren’t responsible for any of that. I’d made a decision, and it’s one I’ve had to live with. There’s consequences for our actions. I’m just thankful no one else got hurt.”
I’d never driven even while intoxicated since that night, and I had done my fair share of prevention when it came to drinking and driving afterward. Losing my athletic career was the price I had to pay, and I would be forever thankful that it was the only thing lost that night. If I had hurt or killed someone else. No, I didn’t even want to think about that.
I gently pulled her on top of me, and I didn’t miss the way she tensed up. “Everything happens for a reason, Harper. I strongly believe that. Maybe we’d been torn apart because we needed the space. God knows we had never been away from one another before. We—”
“We were inseparable. It was why it hurt so bad to end things between us. I’d wracked my mind trying to figure out what else I could do. I went to my uncle who I thought would protect me, but he didn’t. No one there would listen. I hated my life, and I had even thought a few times about taking my own.”
“You did?” I asked, unaware of that. My anger toward Jayson was only intensifying, and I didn’t think that was possible after everything earlier in the day. “What stopped you?” I then realized how that sounded and shook my head. “I don’t mean it like that. I—”
“I know what you meant,” she told me, then pressed a kiss on the top of my chest. “I knew if I did that I’d never see your face again. I didn’t think you would ever want to see me, but I had followed you over the years. I’d wanted to reach out to you after hearing about the car accident, and even once or twice when you would land a record breaking contract for someone else. My heart broke knowing you were making your own dreams come true, but for others.”
“I’ll admit it hurt me to realize it was all over, but it was meant to be that way. I own my agency, and I have done very well for myself.”
“You have done well for yourself, Gabriel. I’m very proud of you.”
I don’t know why her opinion even mattered as much as it did to me, but I smiled anyway.
“I’m sure you probably guessed that I checked you out in the last week.” At her nod, I continued. “You seem to have done well for yourself, too. Considering what happened when in Portland, I am not sure even I would’ve been able to stay there.”
“I remember different talks I would have with your mother when I’d help her during a renovation. My uncle and cousin might’ve taken all my other dreams from me, but they wouldn’t take that one, too.”
“My mother always thought of you as a daughter. She loved you very much,” I told her, even though I knew she had to have known that.
“I loved her, too. Your father, even. Most of all, I loved you.”
I knew she was sincere. There was no second guessing her motives like I was last weekend. So much had happened in such a short time, and being here with her, like this, felt so familiar and natural. “And I loved you so fucking much.”
She leaned up on her elbows and pressed her lips to mine. “There has never been anyone for me but you, Gabriel. I loved you then. I love you now, and I will love you forever. You—”
HARPER
I’d not even been able to get my words out because he pulled my head closer and seized my lips with his. I had never thought I would ever get a chance to be with him like this again. Last weekend had been a complete and utter disaster.
That man wasn’t my Gabriel. The one sliding his tongue along mine right now was. I never wanted this moment to end, so I allowed him to take what he needed from me, knowing I would be taking a hell of a lot more as this night would be forever etched in my mind.
While his confession was in the past tense, just hearing it strengthened something inside of me. He continued to kiss me, and when I finally responded by cupping his head between my palms, he flipped me underneath him. His lips never left mine, his mouth moving possessively as if he was staking claim to me in some way.
It’d always been this way between us before, and it was now a painstaking reminder of how much time we’d both missed with one another. Ten long years without the love of this man, and the way he always knew what to say and do to make me feel cherished.
Eventually, he pulled away and stared down at me. My gaze met his, and in the dim lighting, I could clearly see his face. There seemed to be concern on it, or was that regret? Scared it was the latter, I opened my mouth to speak, but he beat me to it.
“Are you okay? I don’t want to hurt you or to take advantage of you, Harper.”
As tears flooded my eyes, I flashed a watery smile at him. “I need this. I need you.”
And I did. I never needed anything more than I needed him right now. If I had been forced to go back to my hotel room and spend the night alone, I would’ve been up all night afraid to close my eyes. If he had sent me down the hallway, I likely would’ve been up all night, too.
I had no such fear when with Gabriel because I knew he would protect me. I wouldn’t be alone and forced to relive everything Jayson had said and done to me, including the things Gabriel hadn’t seen or heard.
“I need you, too,” he told me before pressing his lips back to mine.
His words were bittersweet, and ones I’d only heard in my dreams for the last decade. This man meant the world to me, so I poured everything into my kiss, hoping he would see and feel that. Once or twice, I would hear a groan which intermingled with my moans as he kissed me like a starving man.
I could barely breathe, but this time it was from pleasure instead of pain. The things Gabriel had done throughout the course of the day and night were not lost on me. I had come here to save him, but he flipped things around and ended up saving me instead.
