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“Only to you. I’m starting to wonder if this whole trip isn’t some way for you to yank my chain some more. You seem to do that well if I remember correctly.”
“That’s a low blow, and you know it. I had my reasons for lying before. Whether you believe me or not about your parents, tell me what I have to gain from leading you on about this?”
He opened his mouth, but closed it right away. He couldn’t answer me. He raked one of his hands through his hair, and I saw pain and irritation on his face, both of which I wanted to erase.
When I’d seen him at the charity auction on Valentine’s night, he’d been happy. He’d also been that way in every picture I’d seen of him over the years, other than those taken right after his parents had died. Yes, a Titan had to maintain a certain image, but some of that couldn’t be faked.
He’d truly been happy until I came back into his life and uprooted it completely.
“I never meant to hurt you.” That was the honest truth.
“When, Harper? Would it be when you told someone else you planned to walk away from me again? Or was it for ever leaving to begin with?” When I went to speak, he threw his hand up between us. “It doesn’t even matter because all roads lead to Portland.”
“I never would’ve left the first time,” I pointed out, but it didn’t fit the narrative he’d constructed in his head at the lounge bar, so he ignored it completely. “I love you,” I finally told him, this time causing him to whirl around on me.
He gripped my shoulders. His golden orbs were conflicted. I knew he loved me. He’d told me so the night before, and those words weren’t ones he threw out there lightly.
He was also in pain because he knew I was going to leave him. I didn’t want to, but he couldn’t have honestly expected me to uproot my entire life to move back to Chicago.
“I thought I would’ve been enough to make you at least consider staying,” he told me, and I realized I’d spoken my thoughts aloud.
“It’s not that easy,” I told him.
He leaned in and pressed his forehead to mine. “You wouldn’t know because you didn’t even try.”
I let out a huff. “I have a life there, just like you do in Chicago. I—”
“Yes, as you’ve pointed out. You have a life that doesn’t include me.” He released me from his grasp and took a step back.
His words stung, and mainly because they were partially true. I’d never expected him to forgive me, much less admit to loving me, so I hadn’t even considered what we would do if he had. It didn’t mean I wasn’t open to making plans, but I couldn’t think of anything until I put George away for good. As long as my uncle was a free man, he would be a threat to my life... to Gabriel’s... I grabbed his arm.
“Please don’t hate me.”
My voice dropped, and I waited for him to say the inevitable. He ended up surprising me instead when he hauled me into his arms.
“I don’t hate you. Sometimes, I wished I did, but I don’t. You just frustrate me to no end. So much has happened between us, and I can’t read you anymore. I don’t know what’s the truth, a lie, or something that is false yet you honestly believe to be true. The only thing I know is that I love you and don’t want to lose you again.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and ignored the errant tears running down my cheeks. I wrapped my hand around his neck and pulled his head down. The second our lips touched, I found myself plastered against the door to the bathroom. His mouth was on mine and moving hungrily, but I didn’t know who the aggressor was anymore.
I tried melding myself against him, my hands tearing at his shirt until I was able to get them underneath it. I couldn’t stop touching him, but no matter where I touched him, it wasn’t enough.
I groaned against his lips and when he tore his mouth away, I tilted my head to the side so he could attack my neck with the same energy. His hands were by no means idle and it wasn’t long before he tore my panties off.
When he lifted one of my legs, I raised the other and wrapped them around him. He growled against me, the sound tickling my skin much like his breath. His lips skated over my collarbone and shoulder before he nipped at the throbbing pulse point in my neck. It was racing as desperation to feel him inside of me overtook me.
Gabriel had the ability to completely weaken me, and when in his arms, all logical thought was obliterated. A small voice nagged inside my head as it taunted me, telling me I could have this day and night. Maybe the voice wasn’t even mine. As Gabriel nipped at my ear, I realized our thoughts were one because the voice I heard was his.
“Gabriel,” I breathed as his tongue traced the shell of my ear, teasing and unnerving me all at once.
He kissed his way back down the side of my face, lapping up the remnants of my earlier tears before he pulled his head back. I looked at him in question, the need I felt reflected in his eyes.
“Too much between us. These clothes have to go.”
I didn’t argue as I pulled mine over my head and even helped him with his as he multitasked. It wasn’t long before his pants and our shirts ended up on the floor beside my torn panties. He was back on me in a flash. The metal of the door was cold on my back, but it felt good in contrast to the fire Gabriel was igniting inside of me.
He grabbed my breasts with his large hands, squeezing one as he lowered his head to the other. As he suckled the hard tip, he was pinching and rolling my other nipple between his fingers. “Gabe... Fuck... I...”
I couldn’t even formulate a thought. I needed him more than I needed air to breathe, and feeling his cock press against me only made me ache more. I tried to grind against him, but it was hard from my vantage point. Gabriel raised his head, and when our gazes met, he smirked.
