Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
OLIVIA
H e wasn’t going to make me. Not tonight. Not ever.
That was the out I wanted—wrapped in paper, topped with a bow, served on a silver platter. All I had to do was take it. Tell him good night, grab a pillow, and off to the couch I go…
But I didn’t.
Instead, I took a second to look at him, casually lounging back on his mattress. The way his perfectly tailored white Oxford shirt draped over his body. The way his hands, large and strong, rested at his sides. The way his chest rose and fell with each breath.
Damn, he was hot.
So fucking hot.
And he was right. I did want him.
Even more than I wanted to keep myself protected and swaddled up in all those comforting lies he’d confronted me with. Even if it meant not casting him as the villain and myself as the victim anymore.
Slowly, I reached up and slid one of the silky straps off my shoulder. Gabriel’s pupils widened at the simple move, making his eyes seem even darker than before. His chin lifted as he drew in a long breath.
“Good,” he said, his voice even raspier now. “Just like that—nice and slow.”
His hands balled into fists at his side as I moved on to the other shoulder. They were small moves, exposing just inches of skin that were previously covered. Still, his reaction to their reveal was powerful. Almost primal.
And it made me bolder.
“Now you,” I said. My voice might not have been anywhere near as forceful as his, but I couldn’t help being proud that I’d managed to say them out loud.
He cocked his head to the side as his brows arched up high. “Excuse me?”
“I want to see you just as much as you want to see me.”
His eyes narrowed as he shot me a crooked stare. “That’s not how strip teases work.”
“It’s how this one does,” I shot back, faking a boldness I didn’t fully feel.
“And if I don’t?”
“That’s fine,” I said, shrugging my bare shoulders before starting to pull one of the straps up again. “I’ll just?—“
“Don’t,” he broke in before I could move the silver material more than an inch. “I’ll do it. Though I’m not sure how extortion fits in with your whole ‘do unto others’ philosophy.”
Despite his words, his smile stayed put as he sat up and undid the top button of his shirt. I found myself biting into my lower lip as even just a small swatch of taut, tan skin came into view.
“I’m giving your tit-for-tat approach a try,” I said.
“And how are you liking it?” he asked, freeing another button.
“Oh, I like it.”
“Good,” he said, growling more than speaking at this point. “Then stop playing around and take off your fucking dress.”
The forcefulness of his words sparked something deep inside me. I closed my eyes as I felt my whole body catch fire. The last traces of my caution and reserve melted down inside like ore in a crucible, changing into something else.
Something wild and dangerous.
Listening to this new voice inside me, I reached behind me and, finding the zipper with my fingers, gently pulled it down. The material of the dress was so smooth and silken that it didn’t take much for gravity to take hold and gently slide it over the curves of my body. It pooled into a graceful ring around my ankles.
I opened my eyes to find Gabriel’s hungry stare roaming all over my nearly naked body.
The dress had been too thin and fine for a bra, so I’d gone without. So now, the only thing I had on was the tiny strip of lace and satin covering my most intimate parts. But given the ravenous way Gabriel was looking at me, I wasn’t sure how long that was going to last.
It was a strange sensation, standing naked for the first time in front of a man that I’d already screwed. Strange to realize that we’d known the feel of each other’s bodies before we’d seen the sight of them. Somehow, it made the intimacy of this moment more profound.
And that sensation only deepened as Gabriel reached out and, wrapping his arms around my waist, pulled me flush against him.
Even though he was still fully dressed, I could feel the unforgiving strength of his body underneath his clothes—taut and powerful and warm—as he pressed his face against my skin and started a trail of molten kisses down my belly. With every swipe of his tongue, my fingers raked through his black hair, urging him on.
Until I felt his teeth pulling at the lace band around my waist.
“Gabriel.” My voice was so breathy that I was almost afraid he couldn’t hear me. But his head pulled back just enough to look me in the eye. “Not yet. I want to see you first.”
For a second, he closed his stormy eyes, and I watched his jaw twitch as if he was struggling for control. But eventually, he let out a sigh and stood up, saying, “If that’s what you want.”
And dear God, I did.
Now more than ever.
A strange sense of power rushed through me, knowing that just the sight of my body could bring a man like Gabriel, someone so dominant, someone so dangerous, to the edge of control. It thrilled me in a way that I’d never felt before.
Enough that my fingers trembled a little as I started to pluck at the buttons of his shirt. By the time I reached the bottom of the row, I was almost tearing at the fabric in my urgency, and I had to admit that he clearly had the same effect on me.
My breath deepened as he slid the shirt off his back, showing the most wonderful chest I’d ever seen. Not just in person but anywhere.
His body wasn’t perfect like a Hollywood action star’s—though I’d bet what little money I had that they wished they had a physique like his. Even though his chest was wide and his skin was taut, there were no ridiculously chiseled six-pack abs. No painful-looking veins poked out on his neck or forearms. Nothing about him looked manufactured, sculpted, or tamed in any way.
Instead, every muscle in his massive torso radiated a sense of raw power that made my mouth drop open and my eyes go wide. I couldn’t help myself. I reached out, flattening my palms against his skin and soaking in the warm, vital feel of him.
For a man known for bringing death wherever he went, he felt so magnificently alive.
I moved my hands up over the short, crisp hair and black tattoo ink that spread over his pecs. I let my fingers glide over the rock-hard line of his shoulders and down his powerful arms until they rested near his waist.
“Liv.”
The sound of my name hung in the air between us, and I knew what I wanted.
Before he could grab hold of me and push me on the bed, I fell to my knees in front of him. My hands were trembling before, but now they were full-on shaking as I fumbled with the front of his pants. In the end, I pulled so hard that the button went flying, and I heard it ping off the hardwood floor behind me.
My breath caught in my throat as his cock sprung free right in front of my eyes.
Even though I’d felt it last night and knew the wonderful things that part of him could do, I somehow wasn’t prepared for the sight of it. Thick and heavy and fully erect, I wrapped my hand around the base and, without hesitation, dragged my tongue up the underside.
“ Liv !”
The sound of his voice was more urgent now as I stretched my mouth open as wide as I was able and guided the head of his cock inside.
I wasn’t a total novice when it came to oral sex, but I was far from a master of it. In the past, it had felt like an obligation. A chore I needed to complete before getting on to the better parts of the night. But not with Gabriel.
With him, it felt right.
Better than right.
Perfect.
I savored every grunt, every growl, as I did my best to swallow more and more of him. His fingers gripping into my shoulder only urged me on. Made me want to please him more. Made me wonder what it would be like to bring him to orgasm with just my mouth and if I could handle the force of his load bursting down my throat.
Just the thought was enough to make me wet enough to soak through the new panties he’d bought.
But before I could get anywhere close to that dirty fantasy, Gabriel lifted me up off the floor and tossed me down on the bed.
“Not yet, dolcezza ,” he rasped as he kicked his pants the rest of the way off.
“Why do you keep calling me that?” I asked. “What does it mean?”
“Sweetness,” he answered, grabbing my thong and nearly ripping it off my legs.
“But I’m not sweet.”
“Oh, yes, you are,” he said before lowering his head between my legs and drawing his tongue with maddening slowness from the bottom of my pussy to the top of my clit. “Yes, you fucking are.”
My head fell back. My eyes closed. And sensation took over.
Unlike me, Gabriel knew exactly what he was doing. Every quick flick, every long, drawn-out swipe, was absolute perfection. My legs began to shake as he lapped at my clit, sending little electric pulses through me until I couldn’t think anymore.
And when he pressed a single finger inside me, crooking it so it played against the most sensitive spot in my cunt, I broke apart completely. I bucked and shook and cried out in pure ecstasy as I came all over his face.
After that, I wasn’t sure I could take any more, but Gabriel had other plans.
Pushing himself up, he angled his hips where his head had been. Already primed from one earth-shattering orgasm, I was already moaning and clutching at his shoulders as the tip of his cock pressed against my opening. As he pushed forward, I tilted my hips, meeting him halfway.
A roar sounded as he plunged inside me.
His roar.
The sense of fullness was almost too much—so intense that I had trouble catching my breath as he pulled out. And before I could recover, he was back again.
On and on it went. Again and again. Over and over. Until my legs were weak from shaking and my arms sore from gripping him so tight.
I lost count of how many times I came. Lost track of time. Lost all sense of where I ended and he began.
But just as I began to think I would collapse from exhaustion, Gabriel’s hold on me tightened. I felt him stiffen in my arms, felt his cock surge inside me. When he shot off, he held me closer and tighter than any man ever had.
And he didn’t let me go.
Not then or after.
Without taking his arms away from me for even a second, he simply rolled to the side before tossing the sheet over our naked, trembling bodies and held me close after what had to be the single longest day of my life.