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“Get over it?” she asked, her voice sounding incredulous to my ears. The tears she had tried to hold in earlier were set free. I reached around her for the bottle of wine.
“I don’t want to hear anything else about this. If you want to go through his things for some imaginary clue, then do so without me. I’m going to the bedroom.” I grabbed the bottle and walked away.
I could hear her sobbing once I got inside, but I slammed the door shut anyway. I set the wine down, then pulled out a pair of sweats out, before heading to the bathroom to shower. I was in there for about ten minutes or more, before finally getting out and towel drying off.
I expected Harper to be in the bedroom, so when she wasn’t, I moved to the door. I could hear her digging through things and I shook my head. I pulled on the pair of sweats, brushed my teeth, and trimmed my beard before returning to the bedroom. I grabbed the bottle of wine and the remote, but instead of turning the television on, I sat in the relative darkness and began to drink.
HARPER
I had waited a few minutes for him to come back out and when he didn’t, I went into the bedroom. Upon realizing he was in the shower, I let him be and returned to the living room of the hotel suite. Without Gabriel scowling at each item I picked up, I was able to separate everything into categories. As much as I wanted to produce the proverbial smoking bullet, it was frustrating to find nothing.
“It doesn’t make sense,” I said aloud.
Once I had seen the true identity of ‘Blue’ it all started to make sense. Jayson had a tattoo of his favorite sport’s team on his shoulder, and it was a blue jay. George had been paying him to retrieve whatever it was that tied him to the theft of my inheritance, probably even using my money to do so. My cousin didn’t live a life of luxury like his father, though. Was the money and promise of a better lifestyle the reason he did this? Or was this some sort of hush money. The son helped the father cover up his sins in return for his own being covered up as well.
George and Jayson both knew how much I loved Gabriel. And even if they thought it was a childish infatuation, the fact that I hadn’t ever seriously moved on with anyone else likely confirmed my feelings for the infuriating man in the other room.
God, how Gabriel drove me crazy. If he would only...
I suddenly paused with those thoughts as I recalled the pain in his voice when he talked about moving on after his parents’ deaths. He didn’t want to believe the plane crash was anything more than an accident, because that truth was one he’d already accepted and moved on from.
What I was doing was just ripping the band-aid off that wound, and reopening it for him. No wonder he got up and went in the other room. I’d been so caught up in trying to prove my paranoia was real that I had hurt the one person I never wanted to hurt again. I glanced over at the items and decided to pack them all up. I hadn’t found anything in them, and I likely never would either.
Once I was done, I walked into the bedroom, hesitating at the door. I didn’t know if he was still angry, upset, or something else altogether. I slowly stepped inside and when his eyes met mine, they were cold and indifferent. The man I had encountered after the charity auction wasn’t the one I wanted to spend the night with. I needed, probably more than wanted, the one who’d sprang into action and taken care of me after the warehouse... the one who dropped everything to come with me on this wild goose chase... the man who despite his own grief, tried to place it aside to appease me, only to...
“I’m sorry,” I told him as I moved closer to the bed.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Harper. You honestly believe their deaths are something more than they are. I thought I could do this with you, but I can’t.”
“Do what?” I asked, suddenly afraid he wouldn’t want to see where things led between us.
I knew he’d been upset about my plan to go back to Portland, but he’d also told me that he would never let me go. Had he changed his mind so quickly?
“I can’t relive their deaths, not even for you.” He was already sitting up in the bed, so when he patted the space beside him, I didn’t hesitate in joining him. He grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips. “I love you, Harper, and I don’t want to fight with you. I just need you to respect my position on this and not make me—”
“I do,” I hurriedly assured him, then I scrambled onto my knees. I crawled onto his lap and straddled him, immediately hearing the sharp intake of breath coming from him when I did. “I’m sorry I didn’t consider your feelings earlier. I love you so much, and I don’t want to fight with you, either. In fact, there’s something else I would rather do instead.”
“And that is?”
I flashed him a wicked smile, then slowly moved down his body. Since he was sitting on top of the comforter instead of under it, I was able to easily see how hard this was making Gabriel. I brushed my hand over his erection, smiling more at the sound of his growl. I rubbed him through the material until he went to grab my arms.
I swatted his hands away, then leaned down to press my lips to his muscular flesh. His chest was all corded muscle, and as I kissed my way from one nipple to the other, he weaved a hand through my hair, wrapping it around his fist in the process.
I had never been overly promiscuous, so making the first move wasn’t usually what I did. When my life had turned to shit, I’d drawn back within myself and preferred to stay hidden from view. Gabriel made me a different person, though. Things I would never dream of doing with others, I did with, and for, him, and without a second thought.
I teased him for a few minutes, laving the hard tips with my tongue, and on occasion, I would even nip at them until he groaned aloud. I’d always loved his voice. It had a certain rasp to it that became more pronounced whenever he was aroused.
As I continued to rub him with one hand, he was growing even harder. My body ached to feel him inside of me, but I wanted to make him come first so I began my descent lower. I licked and kissed my way down his abs, then traced the V-shaped muscle that disappeared into his sweats with my tongue.
“I need these off,” I said about his pants, and he wasted no time in helping me shed them.
His long, thick length twitched in my hand, and I stroked it a few times until I heard him growl my name in warning. I’d never been bad with anyone but him, and the way the very sound of his voice made me shiver, I knew I’d never grow tired of it, either.
I looked up at him. When our gazes met, I ran my tongue along my bottom lip before I lowered my mouth to his engorged flesh. I didn’t immediately take him to my throat as I knew he hoped I would, instead choosing to lave my tongue over the tip as my hand moved up and down his shaft. He was groaning, but letting me control this, and it was a heady feeling.
I loved touching Gabriel in general. It didn’t even matter where. I just needed him inside of me because it was the only time in my life I ever felt complete. This was my person. My unicorn. My gloriously beautiful man who was back in my world once more. There’d been so many days and nights where I’d prayed to wake up to find out that my current life was some terrible nightmare. Each morning, I’d wake up still in that world, and I’d grieve for everything I’d lost all over again.
Things hadn’t been the greatest when we’d first reunited. Even though he’d meant to punish me the weekend before, and maybe even on the train, being in his arms would never be one. Whether he took me roughly in some sort of hate fuck, or he made love to me like I’d dreamed he would once again, I still got off the same.
