Page 88 of Breaking Hollywood

“Ava, I asked, where the fuck have you been?”

She whirls around, her eyes narrowed. “What business is it of yours?”

“You live in my place. That makes it my business.”

She laughs. “Fuck off, Gabriel. I was going to go in the morning, but screw this shit. I’m going now.”

An emotion I don’t recognize grips my chest.

“Don’t be fucking stupid.”

“You’re stupid! And a gigantic asshole! And I’m out of here.” She moves quickly through the apartment.

I’m not as fast as she is because of this damn boot, but I catch up to her in the hallway. I grab hold of her wrist, and she whirls around on me. Her eyes are wide and fired up, her cheeks flushed.

She’s never looked hotter than she does in this moment.

“What are you doing?”

I don’t answer. I push her up against the wall and kiss her. Hard.

She doesn’t resist me either. She opens up for me straightaway, kissing me back just as forcefully as I’m kissing her.

It’s hungry and wet and deep and easily the hottest fucking kiss I’ve ever had.

She’s sexy as hell. I can’t get enough of her.

Then, without warning, her hands that were caressing my chest a second ago are now pushing me away.

She stares at me, breathing heavily, her lips swollen from our bruising kiss. “You don’t just get to kiss me and hold me all night and then treat me like garbage the next day and bring other women home and do God knows what with them and then kiss me when they’re gone, Gabriel! It doesn’t work that way!”

“You’re right. And I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I acted like a complete asshole this morning and tonight.” I take her face in my hands, unable to not touch her. “But, I swear to you, the only woman I’ve touched today is you. The only woman I’ve touched in weeks is you.”

Her anger seems to calm a bit with my admission, but she’s still pissed off, and she has a right to be.

“Why were you an asshole today?” Her tone is filled with annoyance, but there’s a vulnerability there, too, that makes my chest ache.

I sigh, lowering my eyes for a moment before looking back at her. “I just…I have a rule. I never sleep with people I work with or who work for me. And I’d never broken that rule until last night.”

“Oh.”

“It’s not an excuse, but it threw me for a loop that a rule I’d worked to follow for a long time, I broke so easily with you. It made me realize just how deeply you were under my skin. I didn’t feel in control. And, when I don’t feel in control, I’m an asshole.”

Warmth fills her eyes. “You’re forgiven.” Her words are soft, but they lift the weight I was carrying around all day off my shoulders.

“So…you broke your rule for me.” She bites her lower lip.

“Clearly, I have no self-control when it comes to you, as I just broke my rule again.” I press my thumb against her mouth, pulling her lip free from her teeth.

A light flickers in her eyes. “No, you didn’t. I don’t work for you. I quit, remember?”

Yes, she fucking did.

A smile spreads across my face. “I guess that changes things.”

“I guess it—”

My mouth is back on hers before she’s even finished that sentence.