17. Gabriel #3
“Ambitious,” I say, leaning on the counter to watch her work. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
As Peyton carefully squeezes the frosting out in shaky lines, I look back up at Alexis. She has a dab of pink frosting on her nose and seems completely unaware of it.
“You, uh.” I clear my throat. “You’ve got a little something on your nose.”
Alexis blinks, startled at first, then looks up at me with a surprised smile as I brush the smear of frosting off her nose.
My knuckles graze her cheek, and I feel the faintest tremble pass through her.
Her eyes lift to mine, wide and a little unsure, but they hold steady.
There’s a beat—a long, charged beat—where neither of us moves, and the air between us feels suddenly heavier.
Thicker. Like we’ve stepped across an invisible line without meaning to.
“Thanks,” she murmurs, her voice a little breathless, her lips curving into a small smile.
“You’re welcome.”
Her lips are parted slightly, her gaze dropping to the frosting on my thumb. She stares at it, a little too long, a little too intently. I know exactly what she’s thinking, because the same goddamn image flashes through my brain, hot and unfiltered.
And my body is responding to that thought—the thought of her plush lips wrapped around my finger.
Fuck. I can feel my cock starting to harden, stiffening against the constraint of my pants.
Hell of a time to pop a boner, you jackass.
I clear my throat, backing away from the island. “I’m going to—” My voice cracks. I cough once more. “I’m going to go order some dinner for us.”
My pulse is pounding in my ears, and every instinct I have is telling me to put distance between us. I can’t trust myself to stay in this kitchen. I turn on my heel, too fast, too obvious. I can feel Alexis’s gaze still pinned to my back as I retreat toward the living room.
What a fucking display, I think to myself, my teeth gritted.
When I reach the couch, I sink down hard, dragging in a breath that does nothing to cool the heat still simmering under my skin. My hands are shaking slightly as I pull out my phone, trying to scroll through restaurant options while my brain replays that brief, electric moment on an endless loop.
Her lips, parted.
Her eyes, unfocused and dark as they lingered on my hand.
The flush that crept up her neck, blooming soft and pink like the frosting Peyton smeared across the counter.
I scrub a hand over my face, cursing under my breath. The hard-on hasn’t subsided. The replay alone is enough to keep me achingly stiff. My body is betraying me.
Get your shit together, I tell myself firmly. This isn’t supposed to be like that. This wasn’t part of the deal.
And yet, here I am. Hard as a fucking rock, and thinking about the way she looked at me like she wanted to taste me.
I shake my head, trying to clear the thoughts. Dinner. Focus on dinner. I tap a few times, settling on a sushi place, but it feels like I’m just going through the motions.
I place the order, then take a few seconds to compose myself before returning to the kitchen.
“Dinner’s on its way.”
Peyton jumps up excitedly. “Yay! What are we having?”
“Sushi,” I reply. I look up at Margaret, who’s started cleaning up the spilled flour on the countertop. “Margaret, you’re more than welcome to stay for dinner if you want. I ordered way too much food.”
She glances over her shoulder at me. “That’s very kind, Gabriel, but I’ve got a few things to take care of at home. I’ll leave you all to enjoy your evening once I finish clearing up this mess.”
“Leave it,” I say, gesturing. “I’ll take care of it.”
She smiles at me. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
As Margaret leaves the room, I take over the task of cleaning the countertop, wiping down the flour and frosting remnants.
It keeps me occupied and prevents me from looking over at Alexis, who’s focused on Peyton and her latest cupcake design.
This one’s a heart. Or maybe it’s an apple. It’s hard to say.
Dinner arrives shortly after the cupcakes are finished and the kitchen is clean.
Alexis, Peyton and I sit down to divvy up the sushi, spreading out the various rolls across the table.
Peyton isn’t shy about claiming her favorite salmon roll.
She’s usually a picky eater, but sushi is one of the least controversial options for delivery.
Alexis and I are quiet as we eat. It’s not the easy quiet of just being in each other’s company, it’s the silence that comes with unspoken things. I know that tension in the kitchen earlier didn’t escape her notice. I can only hope that the outline of my cock pressing against my pants did.
Peyton fills the silence readily, chattering about her day at school. She was so shy and reserved when Alexis first got here, but now, she’s as talkative as ever. After Alexis gave her advice that day we went to the beach, the two of them have been inseparable.
Between the three of us, we manage to make a dent in the mountain of sushi I ordered, but finishing it was an impossible task to begin with. Alexis stands up and starts to collect the takeout boxes, glancing over at me with a smile.
“It’s definitely bedtime,” she says. “I can take care of the leftovers if you guys want to head upstairs.”
“I’m not tired!” Peyton protests. Even as she speaks, though, she rubs at her eyes, her voice losing some of its conviction.
I smile, ruffling her hair. “Sure, you’re not. But bedtime is bedtime. C’mon.”
Getting to my feet, I reach out to Peyton, who hesitates for a moment before slipping her small hand into mine. She pouts, but doesn’t argue as I lead her upstairs.
I make sure Peyton puts on her pajamas and brushes her teeth, then usher her into bed and tuck her in.
I start to read her a story, but she doesn’t last long.
Her shallow, even breaths tell me she’s already asleep before I even finish the first page.
I smile, marking my place in the book, and lean down to kiss her forehead.
“Goodnight, Bug,” I whisper, smoothing the blanket around her.
When I step out onto the landing, I give my head a shake, like I can dislodge all thoughts of Alexis. Maybe if I get in bed now, I can be asleep by the time she comes upstairs, and—
No. There’s no way that’ll work. My mind is racing, agitation bubbling under my skin. I’m not going to be able to sleep like this, and even if I could, I’m certain I’d dream about her.
I need to deal with this. Now.
A few muffled sounds drift up from downstairs, letting me know Alexis is still down there.
I let myself into the bedroom and slip into the bathroom, then turn on the shower and strip out of my clothes while the water warms. When I step under the spray, the hot jets hit my back and shoulders, and the tension knotted through my muscles starts to loosen.
My cock is still half-hard. It’s been that way since the kitchen.
It’s been a long fucking day, but the day isn’t what has me wound this tight. It’s her.
No matter what I do, my mind circles right back to Alexis. Everywhere I go in this house, something reminds me of her. It might be the hint of her scent in the hallway, or the image of her body that I can’t shake. She’s always there.
What throws me off so entirely is that I didn’t think I’d feel this way about anyone ever again, not after Melanie.
When I lost my first wife, I lost any interest in being with someone else, and I made my peace with that.
The possibility that I might find a woman who’d wake all of this back up never crossed my mind.
I feel like a goddamn teenager, and I can’t help it. Everything about Alexis pulls at me, from the way she smells to the way her body moves to the way she looked at me over the kitchen island earlier.
The maddening part is that she isn’t trying to do any of this. She’s just herself, take it or leave it, and somehow that’s the most alluring thing about her. She has a sweetness that doesn’t match where she comes from, and I can’t get enough of it.
I should crank the water to ice and drown these thoughts under the freezing spray. I shouldn’t be thinking about her as anything but a business arrangement, let alone imagining what it would be like to have her.
But I can’t stop doing it.
I take my cock in my hand and give it a slow stroke. Maybe if I just let myself indulge these thoughts once, it’ll be easier to lie next to her tonight without losing my mind. Maybe the only reason I want her this badly is because I’ve told myself I can’t have her.
I brace a hand against the tile and start to stroke myself in earnest, dragging my fist up and down my cock. The water is near scalding by now, and steam fogs the glass, but it’s nothing next to the images burning through my head.
I let my eyes fall shut, and there she is, so fucking vivid in my imagination. In my head, Alexis kneels in front of me, her lower lip caught between her teeth, looking up with those stunning blue eyes. The imagined version of her leans in, her breath ghosting over my sensitive skin.
“Let me help you,” she whispers. “You’re my husband now. I want to make you feel good.”
“Fuck,” I choke out on a ragged breath.
My hand speeds up as I picture her lips parting, picture the head of my cock resting against them, imagine what it would feel like to have her tongue sliding over the underside of my shaft.
My jaw is locked tight, my free hand braced on the tile as I groan softly, doing my best to keep the sound muffled.
The rest of the world falls away, and I’m barely aware of anything but the growing pleasure.
There’s nothing but the phantom feel of her perfect mouth and the heat building at the base of my spine.
“Alexis…” Her name slips out on a moan before I can catch it, my chest heaving as I fight for breath.
I’m right at the edge, my fist moving fast, when the door creaks open.
“Gabriel?”