Page 44 of Angel Eyes

“Absolutely fine.” I shook away the shiver on my skin as his shirt brushed against my back.

Friends, friends, friends.

I’d come too far to fumble this at the last moment. Maybe this was a test to see if I was truly unaffected by him. If so, I was failing miserably. I wanted him. Badly. But what if I gave in to this attraction and couldn’t control my feelings?

My sister was right—I was the falling-in-love type. And, as much as I liked Gabriel, I couldn’t risk that with a guy who didn’t want a relationship. I turned to him, drawing on the last dregs of my resilience.

“Gabriel, I—” The words died on my tongue. The heat I had seen in his eyes before was gone, a raging inferno now burning in its place. I retreated a step, colliding with the wall as Gabriel consumed the space between us, caging me in with strong arms.

“And what about this?” he said, his intoxicating scent surrounding me.

“That’s …,” I rasped as his lips ghosted over my jawline. “So, are we agreed?” My breath hitched as his mouth changed course, trailing down the side of my neck. “No expectations?”

He stilled, and I glanced up, my pulse skipping at his hardened expression.

“Gabriel?”

He didn’t respond, only stared as I flattened my hands against the wall.

Did I upset him? Maybe I—

In a heartbeat, Gabriel’s lips crashed into mine.

Sixteen

Gabriel

Ihad no idea what had come over me. Juliet was offering exactly what I wanted—no expectations, no commitment, just her time and company. And I hated it.

As soon as the word friends passed her lips, a feral ferocity seized me, making me wild with the need to claim her, to mark her as mine. To kiss her senseless and obliterate the word from her vocabulary.

The moment our lips collided, the heat of her mouth sank into every corner of my body, and I cupped her jaw, angling her head back for better access. Her lips parted on a soft exhale, and I dove in, my tongue dancing beautifully with hers as her fingers tunneled into my hair.

For a fleeting moment, I remembered we were in public, and in a church, no less. But I couldn’t find it in myself to care as my mouth slanted over hers again and again in a kiss that was hot and hungry and spiraling out of control.

She released a throaty moan when my hand slid to the nape of her neck, and I hauled her closer, groaning into her mouth when her breasts pressed against me. Fuck, were her nipples hard? This needed to end and preferably before we got caught. And yet, the only thing on my mind, the only thing that made any sense to me, was hitching her legs up around my waist and taking her right here against the fucking wall.

“Gabriel.” Her voice floated to me through a haze of lust, and I clung to it like a lifeline. “I want you,” she whispered against my lips, tracing her fingers down my stomach before curling them in my waistband.

My throat was dry as sandpaper. “Can we go back to your place?”

“We could, but I think my landlord scheduled maintenance for this afternoon. I wouldn’t want us to be interrupted.”

I pressed my eyes shut, her husky tone heating my blood. I had to figure out something fast. Because I had no desire to add defiling the house of God to my list of sins.

Going to my apartment on the other side of the city was always an option, but the idea of taking a thirty-minute Métro ride in my present state sounded like a special brand of hell.

The only other option was …

“Come on. I know somewhere close by.”

The walk to the gallery took only fifteen minutes, but it felt much longer, tempted as I was to pull Juliet into every semi-secluded side street along the way. At least the sense of urgency was mutual; that is, if her white-knuckle grip on my hand meant she wanted me as much as I wanted her. I hoped so because I was just about tapped out on good behavior where she was concerned.

The second we reached the gallery door, I turned the key deftly, shoving inside. In the entryway, I caught her look of surprise as she peered around the space, and I paused, a hint of pleasure sliding into my chest. It was something to behold, watching this beautiful creature marvel at my unfinished vision, but as much as I wanted to indulge her, it would have to wait.

We had more pressing matters to attend to.

Slipping an arm around her waist, I lifted her, walking us toward the back room and grinning at her squeal of laughter when I landed a smack on her ass.

---