Chapter 5
Tori
You’ve been in Jacksonville for three weeks, and you’re already seeing someone?” my brother, Cash, asked.
I held the phone against my shoulder and tied my sneaker. “Yes, and before you hound me, he’s a good guy. Proper gentleman, good upbringing.” Even if I suspected there was something more that he wasn’t telling me. “He treats me really well, Cash.”
“Better,” he grumbled. “I don’t want to have to fly down there to hurt him.”
My eyes rolled as I sat back up. “You’re so overprotective. I’m twenty-four, not eighteen.”
“Still young,” he mumbled.
“I’m fine, Cash. He’s taking me to the zoo today.”
“Jacksonville has a zoo?”
I checked my hair one more time and headed into my living room. “Yes. I’m told it’s really nice. Although I’m not sure how nice walking around in hundred-degree weather will be.”
“That sounds miserable,” he groused. “I think I’d rather spend the day getting a root canal.”
“Dramatic much?” I teased.
Gabe’s knock had excitement stirring in my stomach. “I gotta go, Cash. He’s here.”
“You tell him he better keep his hands to himself,” he threatened as I opened the door and accidentally hung up on him without saying goodbye.
My breath caught as Gabe’s hazel eyes met mine.
Dressed in black shorts and a tan polo shirt that emphasized his sculpted arms, he was almost too hot.
He had his hands tucked in his pockets like he was nervous, and it added an adorable touch to the hotness.
If this had been the seventeen hundreds, I would have swooned.
As it was, my knees didn’t seem too steady.
“Morning,” he said, his eyes dropping to peruse my body in a heated gaze. “You look entirely too sexy to share.”
He took a step in and gathered me into his arms the way only Gabe could. “I didn’t know sharing was on the table,” I said, smoothing my hands over his chest.
“It isn’t.” Terse and deep, that response was like a claim of ownership. His mouth was on mine before I could respond, and his kiss rushed through me like a rogue wave. I may have swooned because I swore if he released me, I would have tumbled to the floor.
Kissing was all we’d done, but Gabe’s kisses were enough to leave me satiated for hours. Still after three weeks, he hadn’t made a move to go further, and as much as I wanted him to, it endeared him to me more. It almost seemed like he was holding himself back, but I didn’t know why.
“I’m tempted to keep you home, so no one sees how delicious you look,” he said as our lips untangled. His hand skirted over my bare back, causing goosebumps to rise on my skin. “Did you put sunscreen on?”
I scrunched my eyes trying to figure out if his change in focus was for his benefit or mine. I would have preferred it remained on my skin.
“Yes, all but my back where I couldn’t reach.”
Giving me a kiss on the nose, he left me there after spotting the sunscreen on the counter.
Squeezing some onto his hand, he tugged on one of my braids before pushing it over my shoulder.
I’d wrangled my hair into two French braids that unfortunately aged me down so that I was certain I looked like I was still in college or worse, high school.
I inhaled when he kissed the back of my neck. “You need to protect this delicate northern skin,” he said, dragging his mouth down my shoulder.
“We can’t all have that ‘I live at the beach’ tan like you do,” I quipped, trying my best not to melt at his feet as he bit my shoulder gently.
“I haven’t been to the beach in years.”
I tried to turn, but he stopped me with a caress of his hand down my back.
Shivering, I replied, “How do you live so close to the beach and never go?” And that meant his gorgeous, tanned skin was natural.
I remembered him saying his mother had Italian roots, a heritage passed down to him in more than her cooking.
“Never had a beautiful woman to go with me.” A slide of his finger down my spine as he applied the sunscreen had my pulse racing.
His mouth traced the back of my neck as another finger slid down my exposed skin.
“So maybe it’s time to change that since I have one now,” he continued, causing a blaze of heat in me that sent an icy-hot sensation over my body.
Another finger slid over my shoulder blade.
If he kept this up, there was no way I’d be able to make my legs function enough to walk out the door.
His palm smoothed over my back, turning to a light pressure when he passed over the space between my shoulder blades.
I couldn’t stop my sigh as fingers skimmed just below the back of the shirt, and I thanked God I had worn the halter because this was heavenly.
He pressed a kiss to the nape of my neck as his hands passed over my shoulders and followed a path down my arms.
“Should we try the beach next weekend?” he said, his breath warm on my neck.
It took me a moment to wake my brain up and answer. “Please.” And that had not been what I’d meant to say, but his hands were so close to leaving my skin, that it blurted out.
They traced their path back up, and I felt his lips on my ear. “Please, what, Tori?”
Good God, where had the sweet, bashful man I was falling for gone? This version of him was even more impossible to resist, and I suspected he could ruin me for any other man.
“Can we go to the beach next weekend?” I breathed as his lips dragged over my neck.
“I think I can arrange that.” He nipped my skin, his hands dropping from me. “But for now, let’s go check out the zoo.”
He walked to the door, rolling his neck before he glanced back at me. I threw him a frown, which only elicited a deep chuckle from him. This man was going to be the death of me, and he knew it.
“You’re torture,” I said, willing my legs to move and praying they didn’t give out on me.
He gave me a cute shrug, no sign of the seductive man who had just given new meaning to applying suntan lotion there to see. I snatched my purse, tucking the sunscreen into it before grabbing my keys and walking past him.
“If you don’t want me to touch you, then don’t leave me an opening.”
I stopped and swiveled toward him. He wore a smirk that unraveled me.
“I never said I didn’t want you to.” My voice was barely a whisper.
He stepped into my space, letting my door close behind him, and scooped me into his arms. Serious and smoldering. A combination that left what remained of my voice fleeing.
Brushing his thumb over my cheek, he said, “Do you want me to, Tori?”
A nod was all I could manage, the words escaping me like petals on the wind.
He lowered his forehead to mine. “Not yet.” His voice was hoarse.
“You’re too special to rush, luna mia.” And this time, I really did swoon.
His arms held me tight as he stole my breath with a kiss that devastated me.
I would have waited an eternity for more touches if this was what waiting brought me.
“Okay,” I mumbled against his lips. He smiled, drawing back from me. Hazel with shades of amber searched my face before he took my hand and led me to his car.
I took my phone out while he climbed into the seat, intent on searching for the words luna mia.
“My moon,” he said before I could pull it up.
“Technically, it’s la luna mia, but I took the liberty of shortening it.
” His focus remained on the street as he pulled out of the parking spot.
His throat bobbed, and he gripped the steering wheel as if admitting it had left him conflicted.
“It means you’re the light in my dark nights. ”
I searched for words, wondering why he left me so speechless so often. I swallowed, my throat burning. “Do you have many dark nights?”
His eyes flitted to me, his lip twitching to hold back a grin. “Not anymore.”
Leaving me stunned, he turned his attention back to the road. Hands wringing in my lap, I studied his profile, wondering how someone who brought so much happiness to my life could have darkness in his. Secrets he had yet to reveal, ones I worried he would never tell me.
“Did you know bald eagles mate for life?” I asked Gabe as I shoved another piece of popcorn in my mouth.
He was leaning over the railing, observing the two eagles in the cage in front of us.
“Can’t say I did.” He turned his face toward me, a question in his eyes, and I felt the color climb in my cheeks. His sight returned to the cage. “But I admire that. It’s how it should be. You find the one and you stick with that one…no matter how hard it gets.”
My heart thudded, a noisy, irritating sound I hoped he didn’t hear.
He reached down and took my hand, guiding me to the next exhibit as his thumb rubbed over mine.
We were only three weeks in. It was too soon to feel this way.
This certain. But it was there, below the hesitation.
A thought that this wasn’t just a summer fling.
This was something more that would last.
“Got any more fun facts about animals you can educate me with?” he asked, giving me a cute smile.
“Not off the top of my head, but you can feed the giraffes here. I read about it on their website.”
His gaze fell on me. “Did you research the zoo, Tori?”
“Maybe,” I said, dropping my eyes, but his laugh had them jumping back to him.
“I thought I was the only one who was that obsessive.”
I joined in his laugh, relieved he hadn’t been teasing me. “I couldn’t help it. I was too curious.”
“And I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t be disappointed,” he admitted.
I squeezed his hand. “You could never disappoint me, Gabe.”
His response wasn’t what I expected. The smile faltered, and his grip on my hand loosened. I tugged it, forcing his body to veer closer to mine.
“Don’t do that,” I told him.
The space between his eyes crinkled. “Do what?”
“Get in your head and leave me like you do.”
His eyes widened before they scrunched. “How do you—”
“Because I just do.”
Pulling our hands so they were behind my back, he guided us to a spot in the shade and off the main path. His expression had turned so serious, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
He took my face in his hands. “I get in my head sometimes, Tori. There are dark spaces there, ones I can’t share with you yet. Ones I don’t want to bring into what we have for fear of infecting it. But trust me on this, I never leave you in those moments. And I never will.”
There was such certainty in those words that I believed them. Maybe I should have been leerier since what we had was so new, but it was hard to doubt him when there was no room in his words to do so.
I reached around his neck and forced his head down, kissing him.
He grabbed my waist and yanked my body into his, deepening the kiss.
The world fell away, all awareness that we were standing in the middle of the zoo with families walking past us disappeared.
All that mattered was the way Gabe clung to me as if he needed me and letting me go would break him.
“We should stop before they add us as an exhibit,” I mumbled between kisses.
A smile formed, and his lips separated from mine, lifting to kiss my head. “Let’s go feed some giraffes,” he said.
I stopped him from moving, and he glanced down at my hand on his forearm before he looked back at me.
Reaching up, I swept a tuft of his auburn hair back from his forehead.
“I’ll be your moon in the darkness, Gabe, and when you’re ready to bring me into that darkness, I’ll be there, holding your hand. ”
A swell of emotion flashed in his hazel eyes before his mouth crashed into mine again. I clutched his shirt, afraid of tumbling over with the intensity. Free-falling and unable to stop myself, I spent the rest of the day floating as if clouds cushioned my feet.
“Did you learn Italian from your mother?” I asked later that night as Gabe pulled a movie up for us to watch.
My fingers worked through my hair, freeing it from the tight braids. The grinders he picked up on our way back from the zoo sat on the coffee table with his beer and my bottle of water.
“Yeah. Only a few words, though. Things she picked up from her grandparents, who had come over to the States when they were first married,” he said, picking his beer up. “We traveled to Italy every year when I was young, but my father…”
I waited. Gabe barely spoke of his father, and I’d surmised that they didn’t get along well, thinking he was part of the secrets Gabe kept from me.
He took a swig of beer, his eyes taking a far-off look. “My father hated her family, so we always went without him.” He stared down at where his hand clutched the bottle. “We stopped going when she died. He forbade it just like he forbade speaking the language.”
My chest burned with the pain that had seized it. He took another long drink. “She still snuck words in when he was at work,” he said, the darkness clearing from his eyes. “One day I’ll take you there.” Again, the surety erased any doubt that should have been there.
I took his face in my hands, sweeping my fingers over the corners of his eyes. “I’d like that very much. I’ve never traveled outside of the country.”
“No?” He looked surprised, and I couldn’t help but be curious about his assumption that I had.
“Nope. My parents are workaholics. The resort is their passion. The most exotic thing we did was travel to Quebec one year.”
This had him snickering. “Quebec may be beautiful, but it is not exotic.”
Elbowing him, I gave him my fiercest scowl, but all it did was encourage him to drag me into his chest. He planted a kiss on my head and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
“I’ll take you to any exotic location you want, Tori.
The world is yours. Give me five years, and I’ll hand it to you on a platter. ”
I peeked up at him, brows crinkling. “Five? What’s so significant about five years?”
He went stiff, just enough for me to notice before he recovered. “It’s enough time for you to finish studying for those exams.”
Mouth dropping, I tried to escape his hold and defend myself. “I will pass those exams within the next two months and on the first try.”
His laugh broke free just as the movie started. “I have no doubt, and I’ll spend the next five years making up for teasing you about it.”
“You’d better,” I said, relaxing and finding a comfortable spot on his firm chest. Tucking the five-year comment away with the other pieces I didn’t understand about Gabe, I watched the movie, letting the sensation of his fingers as they drifted through my hair soothe away any concern.