“I’m not sayin’ this for pity, Becky. Or to belittle your own shit. I’m only saying it so you understand you’re not alone. You’re not the only one the devil took some shots at while the big guy was lookin’ the other way.”
“You believe?” I asked in shock. “In God, in something bigger than this, after what you’ve been through?”
“You got another option for slogging through the shit that’s unfortunately a part of life? ’Cause death’s a part of life. Shouldn’t have been a part of Sofia and Camila’s, not for a long fucking while. Or Alexis’s. But since it was, and I can’t change that, I’ve got to believe that someone, somewhere, is takin’ care of them. Only thing that’ll keep me sane. That and the knowledge of the fact I got my revenge. Guess it’s kind of a paradox in believing in heaven when my revenge got me a one-way ticket to hell. But I’m okay with that, if they’re in that place and the people who put them there are roasting with the Devil himself.”
It broke then. My shield, my armor, whatever it was that stood between me and him. Fell into a thousand pieces, and I didn’t give a shit. I didn’t have words. I wasn’t a warm and tender woman who could heal hurts with soft whispers. So I did the only thing I knew to do, the only thing that came to mind, that felt natural.
I stepped forward, kept walking until my body pressed to his. I soaked it up, every ugly and thorny emotion rolling from him. I moved my hands up the sides of his neck and gripped it tightly, pulling it slightly so I could reach his mouth, so we were inches away from each other.
“Becky,” he warned.
“No talking,” I murmured.
Then I pressed my lips to his. It was a first for me, kissing someone like that. Kissing someone I actually gave a shit about. Kissing them and wishing that my lips would do something, cure something. A sensation rolled from that kiss, spreading to every part of me.
I didn’t have time to inspect it. The pivotal change that came with that kiss. The earthquake it triggered between us, changing the landscape of our relationship. I didn’t have the time nor the brainpower because seconds into the most gentle and profound kiss of my life, it changed. Gabriel’s hands moved to my hips, biting into the flesh as his mouth took control of the tender kiss. Though it was no longer tender. It was carnal, animalistic. It was the earthquake that didn’t just change the landscape, but shattered it.
He growled into my mouth and moved back. “Fuck, Becky. You got to stop this now if you ain’t ready. If you want me to be the gentleman. ’Cause I’m fuckin’ seconds away from losing every ounce of gentlemanly thoughts and taking you hard and fast against that wall.” His voice, his words, the bulging cords in neck, the sex in his eyes all set me alight and drenched my panties.
“Take me,” I rasped. The meaning was clear—I wanted him to take me, and not just against the wall.
His mouth claimed mine once more, his hands going to my ass and lifting me. I didn’t hesitate to wrap my legs around his waist. My tee rode up and my entire body shuddered when the thin film of my panties rubbed against his hardness with a ferocity that bordered on insanity, needing the friction, the release, more than my next breath.
My back slammed against the wall, hard. The tingle of pain that came with the impact only made me burn hotter.
Gabriel’s hand moved to my arms, yanking them up my body and holding both my wrists together in his iron grasp. He moved his mouth from mine and I glared at him for the loss.
His smile was that of a predator, his eyes midnight.
“Don’t stop,” I commanded, rubbing my body against him.
I didn’t think it was possible, but his eyes turned darker and his hand circled my neck so my legs and the wall were the only things keeping me attached to him. He exerted a small amount of pressure, a whisper of what he was capable of, but enough. “You’re not in charge here, firefly,” he growled. “That spirit makes my dick harder than marble. But here?” He pressed his torso into me so he rubbed against me in the most delicious way. I let out a strangled moan. “This? I’m in charge of this. You get it when and how I say. And you’re going to fucking love every minute of it.”
I already was. Every fucking second of it. Of him taking control. Of him taking over everything and me being at his mercy. Despite everything I was outside of that moment, it was something I craved, something I didn’t even know I wanted.