“I saw you in the grass,” he says, strumming his fingers against my neck. “Did you like what you could see?”
“I’m not sure what delusion you’re under,” I say, flustered, “and I know it’s hard to believe, but every woman you meet doesn’t want you.”
“Do you?” He runs his fingers through my damp hair and my breathing hitches.
“I’m not the one you’re interested in,” I say. “Remember?”
“That’s not what I asked you.”
“I should let you know now that my sister has never ever liked you.” I deflect. “If we find her alive, she won’t want anything to do with you.”
“In that case, I don’t feel so conflicted anymore.”
“About what?”
He crashes his lips against mine, forcing me to drop my weapon to the ground. He wraps his other hand around my waist, pulling me flush against his hard chest.
“Keep your eyes on mine,” he whispers against my mouth. “Let me watch you like you watched me…”
“Ahhh.” I murmur as he slips his tongue deeper into my mouth, obliterating everything I’ve ever read about kisses in books.
My heart is beating so loudly that I’m certain he can hear it because I can’t hear the words he’s whispering against my lips.
His kiss is slow and demanding, relentless but controlled.
His blue eyes have yet to leave mine, and I can’t bear to look away. Without thinking, I reach up and wrap my arms around his neck.
“Fuck…” he says, gently pushing them away. He tears his mouth from mine and trails his lips down my neck. Then he unbuttons the top of my shirt and presses more kisses against my chest.
I moan with every flick of his tongue, every soft and sensual bite from his teeth. My legs are weakening by the second, and he’s tightening his grip on my waist.
By the time he returns to my mouth, I’m too entranced to think about what I’m doing. I’m savoring every second like I know this is our first and last time.
As if he’s temporarily mine…
When he finally pulls away, we’re both utterly breathless.
“We need to forget this never happened,” he pants. “It was just a moment of weakness for me…Are we clear?”
“I…I…” My tongue swells under the vowels, and I can barely speak. My vision blurs next, and I can see two Gabriels staring at me now.
“Belle, are we clear?” he asks again. “Can we agree this moment never happened?”
Tears prick my eyes, and my knees lose what’s left of their strength.
I collapse onto the ground.
Gabriel stoops over me, shaking me and yelling. “Belle? Belle?”
I can’t see or hear anything else.
My world is descending into darkness.
As the Petals Fall
Gabriel
“You made me waste my second kiss…” Belle slurs against my chest, her lips as pale as stone.
One taste of her mouth has driven me to the brink of insanity, and I desperately long to taste it again, but not when she’s clearly suffering from sudden winter shock.
Then again, this may be a sign for me to stop while I'm ahead and focus on Isabelle.
“Who was your first kiss?” I ask, placing my coat over her shoulders. “Belle?”
“Prince Charming from the Second Kingdom.” She struggles to open her eyes. “It was awful, and I was saving my next one—a real one—for my book friend.”
“Book friend?” I trail a finger against the blue veins in her neck and quietly command Mauricio to move a bit faster.
“Yes, my book friend.” She smiles weakly. “We connected through words all the time. No offense, but a nonreader would never understand.”
“Okay.” I roll my eyes. “You can stop talking now.”
“He’s everything you’re not, and the moment I get away again—because I will—I’ll find him and apologize profusely for wasting my lips on you.”
A part of me is tempted to toss her, her mouthiness, and her blatant denial off my horse, but a bigger part of me that I can’t explain has been intrigued since the day we met and I can’t bear to let her go.
If only you were the right girl…
The Rules of the Game
Belle
Where the hell am I?
I can feel silk sheets covering my skin and something warm pressed against my forehead. I try to open my eyes, but my eyelids won’t budge.
Breathing slowly, I attempt to sit up, but it’s no use. My legs are numb, and I have no control over my hands.
I’m starting to believe that I’ve ascended into the heavens, and the werewolves devoured me alive.
“She ate a poisoned apple, probably more than one.” Gabriel’s deep voice shatters that idea. “You need to draw the rest of the poison from her stomach by nightfall.”
“I will.” Sola’s voice follows. “Are we still making good time on this trip?”
“Yes, but it’s not thanks to the two of you.” Gabriel heaves a heavy sigh. “Come get me when she’s fully recovered.”
“We’re not leaving her for the wolves when she wakes?”