33. Chapter 33
”Hey, baby.” I felt Gabriel”s breath against my neck and then his stomach and chest against my back.
My lungs felt like they had shrunk. I couldn’t get enough air. I turned and looked up. ”What are you doing here?”
”Y”all are here having such a good time that we just had to come.”
”Hey, gorgeous.” Rafe, Gabriel”s brother dropped a kiss on my cheek.
”Yeah, that”s enough.” Gabriel pushed his brother, to my amusement.
”We met at the infamous ball.” Beau also leaned and brushed his lips against mine. I gasped at his boldness.
”Fucker,” I heard Gabriel mutter.
They all knew each other.
Naturally, they did. All these rich people had grown up attending the same gatherings. Nova, much like myself, wasn”t accustomed to this echelon of society. However, she was well-versed in who was who and effortlessly mingled with the crowd, being friends with Beau”s brother Trevor.
”Come sit next to me,” I requested Gabe.
Instead, he pulled me off my bar stool. We were sitting on the rooftop at the Tree House, and the music was loud, the drinks aplenty, and the mood upbeat. I”d had two martinis and was nicely tipsy.
”I want to hold you.” He wrapped himself around me and leaned down to kiss my mouth.
I let him in, and he groaned into my mouth, licking, tasting, hungry. He looked up at me, and his eyes were hooded, his breathing shallow. I was no better.
”Get a room,” Beau called out.
I flushed with embarrassment. Gabriel just wrapped me close to him and said, ”You”re just jealous.”
”Fuck, yeah. That”s a damn nice-looking woman you”re giving a tonsillectomy to.”
”Stop embarrassing her, Beau.” I heard Luna say.
”Come away with me,” Gabriel pleaded when I pulled away a little to look at him, my eyes wide, my lips unable to stop smiling.
”Ah….” I looked behind us at our friends.
”I want to be alone with you,” he hissed.
I licked my lips and, like always, saw his eyes drop to them. I didn”t do it on purpose…well, not always, but when I did do it, I knew he wanted me. He bent and sucked my lower lip. I trembled.
”Okay,” I agreed.
”Rafe,” Gabriel called out.
”Yeah, yeah. I got it.”
”What did he get?” I asked as he ushered me out of the bar without even letting me say goodbye to the girls.
”The check.”
”Oh, I should pay for my drinks and—”
He kissed me again roughly. His hands cupped my ass and pulled me into him so I could feel him hard. ”I want you. I know you don”t trust me yet, and we won”t make love, but I need to touch you, or I”m going to go crazy.”
We were standing in the middle of a bar in downtown Savannah, and he was basically making love to me with his words.
”Where do you want to go?”
He kissed me again, and people jostled us as they moved around us. ”I don”t care.”
He took my hand in his, and I let him lead me out. We were out on the street now. It was summer, and downtown was busy and alive on a Friday night.
He pushed me against a wall, and his lips went to my neck, nibbling, finding that sensitive spot right below my ear, and I moaned.
”Are you wet for me?” His hands were cupping my ass again.
”Gabriel, get a grip,” I managed to say. And I need to get a grip as well.
Someone whistled, and he rested his forehead against mine and gave a short bark of laughter. ”Fuck, Aurora. You make me feel like a teenager who”s shaking like it”s his first time.”
”You make me feel the same way.” I stroked his cheek, and he leaned his face into the palm of my hand, telling me he loved it when I touched him.
”I love you,” he said simply, looking at me with such affection that right then I was having trouble doubting the sincerity of his words.
”My place is close by,” I whispered. I was afraid to take him home and give myself to him, but I was also not willing to turn him down when he was being so sweet, so indulgent.
He smiled then and stepped away. He held out his hand, and I slid mine into his. ”How about a walk?”
”A walk?”
”Yeah.”
”You don”t want to go to—”
”Fuck, yeah, I do, Aurora. Are you kidding me? I want to make love to you so badly it”s torture. But you”re not ready.”
”No, I”m not ready,” I admitted, a little sadly.
”Let”s go for a walk.”
”You don”t mind?”
”I”ve got my girl with me; nothing can make this moment better.”
”Well…if we didn”t have our clothes on, and you were inside of me?” I deadpanned.
He gave out a choked laugh. ”Stop teasin” me, darlin”.”
Hand in hand, we made our way to Forsyth Park, a gem within Savannah”s historic district known for its expansive green spaces, majestic oak trees draped with Spanish moss, and the iconic white fountain at its heart.
We strolled along the meandering paths of Forsyth Park. The noise and chaos of downtown faded into the background, replaced by the gentle rustling of leaves and the soft, ambient glow of streetlights, casting long shadows. The park, spanning thirty acres, was a world apart, a tranquil haven where time slowed down.
”How are things at home?” I asked.
”You mean with the shitshow my ex is?”
I didn”t reply; I just held his hand, enjoying him. Enjoying this quiet intimacy.
”Therapy is working. Sophia is in a really good place. Iris is not. It”s getting to a point where I”m worried I”m going to have to fight her for full custody,” he ground out.
”I”m so sorry.”
”I have something to tell you.”
”Okay.”
We came up to the fountain, a focal point of the park, which was illuminated by surrounding lights, its water dancing gracefully in the air before cascading back into the basin below.
We sat down on a bench, and I leaned my head on his shoulder.
”You wanted to tell me something,” I reminded him.
He let go of my hand and slid his arm around me, holding me close. ”I have you to thank. You and Luna for getting my daughter and my family the help we need.”
I raised my head in confusion.
”Don”t be annoyed with Luna.”
I narrowed my eyes, and he chuckled. Kissing my nose.
”She recorded the scene Sophia made when you went to pick up your stuff and drop mine off.”
I gasped.
”She showed it to me after the ball. She also recommended a therapist. That”s who we”re seeing. If that had not happened, I don”t know how long Iris would”ve continued to fuck with Sophia”s head.”
He kissed my mouth softly.
”I…she never…I didn”t know.” I manage to sputter out.
”I know. But thanks to that video, I talked to Sophia, and she came clean.”
”She has a lot of courage,” I remarked. ”The way she came to my office. You know she said that she had no excuse for what she did, and what she wanted to give me was an explanation.”
”Yeah. She”s a good kid. But for you, Iris would”ve…I don”t know how she”d turn out and how long it would”ve taken for me to get my head out of my ass and realize that I was fucking up.”
I put a hand on his cheek. ”No, you”re not.”
”I don”t know, Aurora. Everyone told me that the way I was living so close to Iris wasn”t healthy, and I just didn”t want to hear it. You tried to tell me that Sophia was acting up, and I just bulldozed over you.”
”Stop it,” I said sharply. ”No one”s perfect. You were doing what you thought was best. It isn”t your fault that Iris decided to be a complete bitch—” I shut up as I realized what I”d said. ”Oh god, Gabriel, I”m so sorry.”
”She is a complete bitch.”
”It”s not my place.”
Suddenly, he picked me up and put me on his lap. I slid my hand around his neck for support.
”I love you,” he whispered against my mouth. ”I love you so fucking much.”
I used to say the words back to him, but now they were clogged in my throat. I couldn”t bring them out into the open, give him the keys to my happiness again.
”No, don”t feel guilty. There”s no pressure, baby.”
I kissed him softly then. It was what I could give right now.
”I”m selling the houses,” he told me.
”Rose mentioned.”
”Ah, the infamous lunch.”
I chuckled.
”I”m looking for a new place, but it”s taking some time. I may have to just buy something temporarily, and then…I don”t know.”
”Rose told me you want a studio at your new place.”
He let out a long breath. ”I want you in my life. I want a home that is right for Sophia and you; and us.”
That was such an enormous commitment, and my heart stuttered. He was making all these plans, and I wasn”t even remotely ready.
”Hey, hey, no. No panic.”
He could read me so well, I thought, and it made my heart ache some more. I wasn”t being fair to him.
”You”re a good man, Gabriel. You should leave me and move on.” I pulled away from him, and he let me go. I stood in front of him. ”I don”t know if I can…the thing is, the way I grew up, I”ll always be waiting for you to leave. You understand?”
He rose and put his hands on my shoulders. ”I”m not leaving.”
”Someday you will. They all do. And you already left once.”
”And I”ll try to make up for that every fucking day of my life to you.”
”But I don”t want you to,” I cried out. ”I want you to be happy. I”m not the kind of person you can be happy with. I”m damaged. I…I”m not relationship material.”
”I can”t leave you even if I wanted to.”
”What does that mean?” I exclaimed at a loss for words.
”That I want to live my life with you. I”m here. I”m going to be here until I fucking wear you down.”
”Wear me down?” Anger came like a raging inferno.
He grinned. ”Yeah. Wear you down. You”re afraid. You love me, but you”re scared. I have given you reason for that. I fucked up; I”ll give you that. But even if I hadn”t, we”d be here if I said, hey, let”s move in together, or asked you to marry me.”
I took several steps away from him. ”You”re out of your ever-lovin” mind.”
”Scares you, huh? To think about marriage?”
”We…we”re not together. Get it through your thick skull.”
”I know. But we”re going to be.”
”Are you on drugs or something? I”m telling you, there”s no us. Look, this whole second chance thing was a mistake.”
I marched away from him, walking away from the light of the fountain in the darkness of the pathway that would take me out of the park, away from Gabriel.
I could feel fear roil through me. Marriage? This man was out of his mind. I didn”t want to get married and have children. Women like me didn”t. No one wanted me. He”d tire of me soon enough. And then where would that leave me?
I knew he was walking behind me. He caught my arm and stilled me. ”No, it wasn”t a mistake to give me a second chance. It”s okay to be scared. I was as well.” He turned me around to face him. It was dark where we stood, but I could still catch the determined look in his eyes from the lights around the park. ”I still am that I won”t be able to convince you that we”re meant to be together, that you”re going to look at the shitshow my life is with an ex and a kid in therapy, and nosey fucking parents, and you”ll bolt. But, baby, my love for you is bigger than my fear.”
”That”s such a fucking line.”
”I”ve never heard you drop the F word so often.”
”I had two martinis.”
He embraced and kissed me. This time, he didn”t hold back. He ground his hips against mine so I could feel how hard he was. And there, right by the fountain at Forsythe Park, he put his hand underneath my blouse and cupped my breast, squeezing my nipple.
”Gabriel, I—”
”Shh. Just let me touch you.”
We were in the middle of a park and granted it was late, but people could be walking around. This wasn”t the place to be making out.
He dragged me away from the pathway and pushed me against an old oak tree in the dark. He leaned into me, kissing me, his hands now skin against skin, against my stomach, my back. He pulled up my skirt and stroked my thighs as he plundered my mouth.
”Gabriel,” I whispered when he cupped me.
”So, fucking wet.”
I couldn”t think, couldn”t process. I was angry with him, wasn”t I? I was—. All thought left me when he slid a finger inside me.
”Ah, god.” He groaned.
His mouth started to bruise mine, and I didn”t care, didn”t mind. My hands were under his T-shirt, touching his skin, bringing him closer.
He began to circle my clitoris, and I whimpered.
”You like that?” he gritted.
I couldn”t speak because my entire world was between my legs, where he was touching me.
”You”re drenched. You want me so much, don”t you.”
”Yes,” I hissed when he left my clitoris and stuck two fingers inside me, pumping in and out.
I moved my hips, wanting him against my clit so I could come. God, nothing was more important right now than release.
”You want to come, baby.”
”Yes, yes.”
He went down on his knees, and I panicked. ”No.” We were in a public place. We could be arrested for public indecency.
He didn”t seem to listen and raised my skirt. Before I knew it, I heard my panties being ripped, and his tongue was on me. I leaned against the tree, my hands in his hair as he tasted me.
I didn”t care if someone saw us. I didn”t care if anyone heard me moan. I was lost in Gabriel.
”You smell like fucking lavender,” I heard him say. ”You taste like heaven…like you”re mine.”
He suckled my clit at the same time he jammed three fingers inside me. I erupted and began to shake. My knees could barely hold me, and I would”ve fallen, if not for the tree supporting me, his fingers inside me holding me upright.
”Just like that, baby.” He lapped at me, and my orgasm extended, pain and pleasure warring against each other.
”Stop.”
”No,” he growled. ”I want another.”
”I can”t,” I whimpered.
He suckled my clit, and I began to sob softly because my body wasn”t mine anymore. When I came again, I slumped a little and lost time and place. When I could get control of my faculties again, Gabriel was holding me close, stroking my back, murmuring softly into my hair.
”Wow,” I whispered.