Page 83 of Angel Eyes

“Gabriel,” I breathed, eyes fluttering.

An answering groan rose in his throat as he looped an arm around my waist, lifting me in one smooth motion and moving us backward until my shoulders brushed against a hedge. Fisting the fabric of my dress, he pushed it up around my hips, settling himself between my legs. And when he rocked his erection against me, a shower of sparks danced across the back of my eyelids.

“Understand this,” he said, thrusting harder and making my core clench with need. “The only reason I’m not dragging your panties down your thighs right now is because you deserve more than a quick fuck in a public garden.”

I moaned, burying my teeth in his lower lip. I would happily accept anything this man was willing to give me. Let him bend me over a bench and have his way with me? Done. Allow him to carry my panties around in his pocket as a trophy of his conquest? Gladly. God, where was my sense of propriety? Gone apparently, carried off on a summer breeze.

“Come home with me tonight,” he rasped, his thumb sliding along the crease of my hip.

A resounding yes danced on my tongue, but before I could voice it, we heard the sound of crunching gravel. Gabriel hastily lowered me to the ground, fixing my dress before adjusting himself. We were barely presentable when a man in a waiter’s uniform rounded the hedge and drew up short, the cigarette between his lips going slack when he took in the state of us.

“Oh, excusez-moi de vous déranger,” he said, his eyes flitting away from us as a flush rose in his cheeks. “Je n’avais pas réalisé que quelqu’un était ici.”

“Ne vous inquiétez pas.” Gabriel raked a hand through his disheveled hair before taking my hand. “We were just leaving.”

Gabriel

The evening couldn’t have turned out better. I had Juliet in my arms, the slow rhythm of a jazz band keeping time as we swayed back and forth. After dinner, the chandeliers had been dimmed, creating an intimate atmosphere, and I lost track of the rest of our group as I led Juliet to the dance floor.

I buried my nose in her soft hair, breathing in her sweet scent and imagining those silky strands wrapped around my fist. A low groan rumbled in my chest. Later. There would be time for everything later. First, I had to talk to her and make my intentions clear. Because there was no being just friends for us.

It would be all or nothing.

“Are you having a good time?” I asked, brushing my lips over the shell of her ear and relishing the way her eyes fluttered shut. She hummed into my shoulder as I slid my fingers along her spine.

God, she felt so right.

“Gabriel?” Her tone was soft, hesitant. “There’s something I want to tell you—”

I jolted as my phone vibrated in my pocket, pulsing repeatedly. Not a text message then—someone was calling. Juliet blinked, jarred by the interruption, and I growled in irritation as I dug the device out, preparing to shut it off. But no sooner had I glanced at the number than all the warmth seeped from my limbs.

What the …

“Should you get that?”

My eyes shot to Juliet, taking in the little wrinkle between her delicate brows as a cold sweat broke out over my skin. I wet my lips, mopping my forehead.

“Yeah, just one second.” Taking her by the elbow, I moved to the edge of the dance floor, my thumb hovering over the screen. A second before I pressed the green button to accept, a voice somewhere inside my head shouted for me not to answer it.

I did anyway.

“Âllo?”

“Hello, Gabriel.”

Blood turned to ice in my veins, the voice on the other end as familiar and foreign as the fleeting traces of a nightmare.

“Elise?” My voice sounded strange, as though it belonged to someone else.

“Did you miss me, mon cher amour?”

With a grimace, I walked away from Juliet, loosening my tie as I went and clutching the phone in a death grip. “How did you get this number?”

She clicked her tongue. “So hostile. Is that how you speak to the love of your life?”

“You are nothing to me,” I gritted out, horrified to find my hand was shaking. “Did my father give you this number?”

She scoffed. “Of course not. In spite of everything, his loyalty to you endures.”

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