Chapter Fourteen #2
Gabriel’s eyes are dark pools of midnight blue. Still water in the moonlight. Something secret, something dangerous. His wings flare out, blocking the light that bleeds in from the kitchen, sheltering us both in the shadows.
I pull the lime from between my lips. Gabriel doesn’t move.
“Tastes good,” I say quietly.
“Yeah,” he agrees, sounding winded and rough. “Good.”
Gabriel studies my face. I let him look.
His thumb traces a path from the swell of my cheek to the corner of my mouth and back again.
If I tilted my head to the side, I could catch it between my teeth like the lime.
Suck it into my mouth and taste the salt off his skin. See what he tastes like with tequila.
He lets his hand drop with a heavy swallow. “Two more limes. Should we finish it out?”
I’m not sure I can survive another tequila shot like that one, but I nod anyway.
Because it feels so good to have someone’s hands on my body after several lifetimes of going without.
Because with Gabriel in front of me and an entire vineyard’s worth of wine slinking through my dormant bloodstream, there are no bad decisions.
“Sure.” Pretending to be less affected than I am, I press up on my knees. He exhales a sharp breath as I lean closer.
“What are you doing?”
What I want, I think dizzily. I smile at him, then tip my face into his neck, licking a slow stripe to the left of his Adam’s apple.
His groan is rough and delicious, his hand immediately rising to tangle in the hair beneath my braid.
He holds me there, my face against him, for a beat too long. Like he’s afraid to let me go.
I grab the saltshaker and half-heartedly shake it over the wet line. “Lick, sip, suck?” I ask.
He nods, hazy, his hand still in my hair. “Yeah. That’s, uh. That’s it.”
I admire both of our commitments to pretending this is innocent. Just two immortal beings, learning the customs of the mortals.
I lean forward and press my mouth to his neck again, letting my teeth drag against his skin this time.
I lick. I sip. I suck.
All while Gabriel watches me like a caged animal. I toss my lime to the side, and he takes a deep breath, his chest expanding under the weight of it.
“My turn?” he asks.
I nod, and he immediately lets himself fall into my space, his fore-head almost pressed to mine.
He uses the hand that’s still tangled in my hair to roughly jerk my head back, arching my body over his arm.
He doesn’t bother with the side of my neck.
Instead, he licks a line from the base of my neck down, right to where my sweater dips between my breasts.
The salt tickles when he sprinkles it on, and then he’s looming over me again. He dips his tongue between my breasts and drags it up, licking the salt from my skin. All with his eyes on mine.
A whine chokes out of me. There’s a piano string that’s vibrating, low in my belly. Coiling tighter with each of his rough exhales against my skin.
He leans back and grabs the bottle, his hand shaking as he brings it to his mouth. I watch him swallow, feeling the ghost of his touch everywhere. My jaw. My heaving chest. The inside of my wrist, and the space between my thighs.
It would be so good between us. I know it.
Something in my expression must open and expand because Gabriel’s suddenly shutters. His wings spread out behind him another impossible inch, then tuck back in with a sigh. His eyes squeeze shut and then they’re gone. Back under that meticulous control.
When his eyes open, he’s managed his expression, too. He’s traded his playful heat for a solemn sort of seriousness.
I’m dizzy from the sudden shift, left cold and reeling as I struggle to catch up.
“I—”
I’m sorry, I almost say, embarrassed. I got carried away. I thought we were having fun.
But I don’t want to apologize anymore. Not when I didn’t do anything wrong. “You forgot the lime,” I say instead.
Gabriel picks up the lime but doesn’t put it in his mouth. He studies it intently, like the tiny sliver of fruit holds the answers to life’s great mysteries. “I think I’ve had enough to drink,” he says quietly.
“Yeah.” I nod, and then nod some more. “Yeah, me too.”
I wait for him to say something, but he doesn’t.
I am uncomfortably aware of all the bottles littered around us.
Should I start gathering them up? Should I leave?
I glance at the couch, where Tater Tot is splayed on his back, all four paws in the air, snoring loudly. My bag is wedged beneath his back.
“Um.” I climb to my knees. My hands are shaking, and I’m not exactly sure why. “Thank you for having me. I’ll wake up the dog, and we’ll be out of your hair.”
I squint at the antique clock on the mantel above Gabriel’s empty fireplace. I’m shocked when I see it’s almost two in the morning.
I’ve been in Gabriel’s apartment for hours.
“I should—” I tip to the side, unsteady, trying to get to my feet without making a fool of myself. “I should go.”
Gabriel moves forward. “Hold on a second, you—”
“Oh, that’s right.” I use one of his end tables like a ladder, pulling myself from the floor. “Our agreement. I owe you information.”
“That’s not—”
“What did I tell you last time?” I try to remember, but my thoughts are like fireflies. Each one glows briefly before floating away again. “Wet pavement. Yes, it was wet pavement. Okay, the next thing is—”
Gabriel is suddenly in front of me, the lime wedge he was holding shoved unceremoniously between my lips. He stares at me with that dark, unreadable look on his face while I sputter, his hand at my hip to keep me from flailing back into a coat stand.
“What was that for?” I mumble around the fruit. It’s sour and tart and without the tequila preceding it, a bit overwhelming. I suck at the juice anyway, then peel it from my mouth.
“No information tonight.” At my blank look, he continues. “You’ve been drinking.”
“So? You have, too.”