13. Gabriella #3
“Wondering if you were safe. Wondering if you were working yourself into the fucking ground again. Wondering if some asshole was sitting at my spot at your bar.”
“Your spot?”
“My spot.”
Despite everything, my lips twitch.
His don't. He looks almost angry.
But not with me. With himself.
“I had a fucking tree fall on me today.”
My stomach drops.
“What? Oh, my God!”
My heart wrenches.
“I'm fine.”
“You are not fine! I bet you have burns all over you!”
“I'm healing.”
“You should be resting.”
“Couldn't.”
“Why?”
His eyes lock onto mine.
“Because I needed to see you.”
Oh. Wow.
There it is again. That impossible tenderness hiding beneath all that aggression. It scares me more than the Wolf ever could.
“You disappeared,” I whisper.
His brow furrows.
“I was fighting a wildfire.”
“I know that.”
“What'd you think happened?”
“I don't know!”
My voice cracks.
Fuck.
I look away. But Havoc steps closer.
“What did you think, Gabby?”
“That maybe you got bored.”
His entire expression goes blank.
“Bored?”
“You said all those things at the park, and then you disappeared. And maybe you thought about it and realized I have a kid and baggage and—”
“Stop.”
“I don't need you feeling sorry—”
“Gabriella.”
He says my full name so softly I stop.
“I spent four fucking days surrounded by fire, and all I could think about was getting back to you.”
Every defense I have fractures.
“Rowan…”
“I don't know what the fuck this is. That’s a lie. I do know, but I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve you. But I want you,” he whispers, his voice hoarse.
His hand lifts. Stops.
Like he isn't sure he's allowed to touch me.
That nearly undoes me. I close the distance myself. His palm lands against my cheek.
Warm.
Rough.
Careful.
My eyes flutter. The touch is almost painfully gentle coming from him.
“I want you too,” I admit.
He inhales a deep breath. His thumb brushes my cheekbone.
“You feel this too, don’t you?”
Not really a question. I swallow.
“Yes,” I reply.
Because I do. I do feel it. A connection. A sense of rightness when I’m with him. I should walk away. Hell, I should run. But I don’t think I can.
And honestly, I don’t think I want to.
Monster growls.
And my other half answers. The sensation tears through me so intensely my knees nearly buckle.
Havoc feels it. I know he does. His entire body locks.
“Gabby.”
His voice sounds tortured now. My hands land against his chest. His heartbeat pounds beneath my palms.
Fast.
Hard.
Matching mine.
“Tell me to stop.”
I should.
Every sensible instinct I possess says I should walk away.
Matteo.
The Wake.
Nando.
Ethan.
Everything I have spent years hiding.
Everything I could lose.
But beneath all of that fear is something else.
Something deeper.
Older.
A pull that doesn't feel new at all.
It feels like recognition. Like two parts of something ancient finally getting close enough to realize they'd been searching for each other.
Two parts Fate. One part desperate, aching need. And enough lust to burn down whatever the wildfire left standing.
I curl my fingers into his shirt.
“I don't want you to stop.”
Something feral flashes across his face.
“Fuck.”
Then he does it. He kisses me. And there is nothing tentative about it.
His mouth crashes down over mine, and every thought inside my head disappears. I gasp against his lips. His arm wraps around my waist, pulling me against him while his other hand slides into my hair.
Oh my.
His mouth moves with precision. His kiss owns me.
God, I've wondered about this mouth.
Dreamed about it when I had no fucking business dreaming about anything involving Rowan Cross.
But nothing I imagined came close.
He kisses like he does everything else.
Completely.
Hungrily.
Powerfully.
Like restraint is something he understands in theory but has no intention of practicing with me.
I clutch his shirt and kiss him back just as desperately. A growl vibrates from his chest into mine. The sound shoots straight through me.
My inner beast surges. His Wolf answers.
The connection between us seems to snap tight.
A bond? Fate? Hell, maybe it’s just the promise of one.
But I know recognition. And I feel fate hovering at the edges, waiting to see what we'll choose.
And right now? I choose him.
I push closer.
Havoc makes a rough sound against my mouth and turns us, pressing my back against the side of his truck.
Carefully.
Even half feral, he protects me from the impact. His hands frame my face.
The kiss changes.
Still desperate.
Still hungry.
But deeper now.
Slower for one breathtaking second, like he's trying to memorize me. I feel that one everywhere.
My fingers slide into his damp blond hair.
“Rowan.”
“Fuck, Honey Girl. I want you.”
His forehead drops against mine.
We're both breathing hard. I can feel him trembling.
Rowan Havoc Cross—the enormous, terrifying Alpha Wolf who looks like he could tear apart half this town without breaking a sweat—is trembling because of me.
“You have no fucking idea,” he rasps.
“What?”
“What you do to me.”
My heart aches. I pull his mouth back to mine. Because maybe I don't know what comes next.
Maybe tomorrow I'll remember all the reasons this is dangerous.
Maybe the secrets I've spent years protecting will come crashing down around me.
But tonight?
For the first time in years, I don't want to run. I want to stay right here.
Pressed against Rowan's truck.
Wrapped in the arms of a Wolf I absolutely should not trust.
Kissing him like some part of me already does.
Yeah, I think I do.