Chapter 3 #2
“I won’t do any other way,” he said. His tone held possessiveness with an undertone of aggression, and I tilted my head trying to figure out this new side of him.
As if he noticed, the darkness left his eyes.
“Be my girlfriend, Tori. I don’t want any chance of another man tempting you away from me. ”
I threw my head back and laughed, freezing when he kissed my neck. “Please,” he added as his mouth glided to my ear.
“Yes,” I answered. He wrapped his hand around the base of my neck and brought me back to look at him.
“And you don’t have to worry about anyone tempting me, Gabe.
” I didn’t think there was anyone who could compete.
“Now, me, on the other hand…” I narrowed my eyes, pretending to be as confident as he was, which only made his grin grow.
“There’s nothing that tempts me but you. I thought you knew that considering you stole my attention the second I saw you.”
And I did know it because Allison had given up her attempts after day two when his focus remained on me. She’d moved on to flirting with another man in our class, and there were days I wished I had a bag of popcorn with me while I watched the impending disaster.
“I did, but it helps to hear you say it.”
He gave me another kiss before releasing me. “If I remember correctly, you promised me a Lord of the Rings marathon and pizza.”
My heart somersaulted. Regaining my composure, I glanced at my watch. “It’s only ten in the morning.”
“Then we have two hours of the first movie before we order. Let’s get these boxes unpacked so there’s room on that couch for us to eat and watch the last part before you make me do more manual labor.”
My smile must have been wide enough to deform my face.
I watched as he put the beer in my fridge.
He had on a pair of khaki shorts that hung over his knees but gave me a perfect view of his sexy calves.
The T-shirt he wore was dark navy and brought out the darker tones in his eyes.
When he bent, I had to stop my hands from reaching out to trace the pattern the muscles of his back made.
He was gorgeous, and he was mine. A giddy excitement bubbled inside me.
Turning back to me, he gave me a questioning look. I threw a smile at him and swiveled to face the piles of boxes, not wanting him to know I’d been checking him out. When I reached up to get the top box from the stack, he was at my back, taking it down before I could get my hands on it.
“Let me do the heavy lifting.”
“You know I’m not weak, right? I work out,” I complained, putting my hands on my hips.
He flashed me a sly grin. “I know, but remember, I want to treat you as if you’re fragile, and that means picking up the boxes.”
Shaking my head, I grabbed my knife and opened a box.
“You sure you don’t mind my being here while you unpack?” he asked as I started pulling things out. “I mean, there might be some things you don’t want me to see.”
I crossed my arms, put my chin on my hand, and pretended to think. “You mean like the box of mementos from all my ex-boyfriends?”
His eyes flashed a dangerous shade before they went wide, and I couldn’t help questioning if I should worry about that other side of him, the one he didn’t want me to see.
“You keep that stuff?” he asked, scratching his cheek.
With a shrug, I turned back to the box and said, “Only the bones of their pinky fingers.”
I peeked over to see his reaction.
He chuckled, saying, “So you keep souvenirs from your victims?”
“Only the ones who treated me well.”
“Then we’ll need to trash that box immediately because there won’t be any who treated you better than I will.”
I stood staring at him, seeing the honesty reflected in his expression. “Then shouldn’t I keep it so I can add yours to it?”
His face dropped, that faraway expression he often got took over, and again I wondered what haunted him. It was gone as fast as it came, and the confidence returned. “Nah, I won’t ever leave you, so there’s no need to keep it.”
There was so much surety in that statement that I believed it. I couldn’t find the words to respond. One week together and he knew with certainty. As if he realized the power of those words and worried that he’d scared me, he rubbed the back of his neck and glanced down.
“Then I’ll make sure it goes in the dumpster today.”
His sight jumped to mine, and our gazes lingered until the heat was too much, and I looked away.
“You know some men might have worried that I had a box of bones in my apartment, but you were more concerned with being better than the men before you,” I couldn’t help but tease as I pulled a stack of books from my box.
“Never said I wasn’t competitive,” he said, humor in his voice. He took the stack of books from me, studying the titles. “You don’t really have a box of bones, right?” He peeked an eye up at me.
“No.” I tried snatching the books away, but he moved too fast.
“That’s a relief. Now I can check serial killer off the list of potential turnoffs.” He lifted a book to show me the title. “Your reading choices, however, need to be considered.”
I snatched the book away and lunged for the others. He moved just in time to avoid me, and I stumbled. Blowing a strand of hair from my eyes, I crossed my arms.
“You invited me to help, Tori. If you didn’t want me to judge your reading habits, then you shouldn’t have.” He held another book up, and my cheeks grew warm. “So I need to be better than your book boyfriends, too?”
Grabbing the pile from him, I snapped, “Yup.”
I took them into my room, where I tossed them on my bed. When I turned, I jumped. He was resting in the doorway, his arm draped on the archway as he leaned into the bedroom.
Good God, he was sexy. I wanted him to pull me into his arms and do naughty things to me.
As if he read my mind, his lip twitched.
I tried barreling past him because I knew my cheeks had to be a bright crimson by now, but he didn’t move.
His arm came out, and he dragged me into his chest, just like I’d imagined, never moving so that he hovered over me.
If it were possible to physically melt, I did.
He lowered his head, his gaze so penetrating that I wanted to look away, but he had me too entranced. “I can guarantee I’ll treat you better than any ex and any book boyfriend. They’ll all pale in comparison, Tori.”
His voice was so heated it left my body blazing.
I didn’t know what to make of the sides to Gabe, but I suspected this was the side who would take me to oblivion and leave me destroyed when we moved forward in our relationship.
The Gabe who nervously rubbed his neck and kissed me like I would turn to dust if he was too rough was the one I would fall in love with, but this man was the one who would obliterate me.