Page 101 of A Little More Forgiveness

But…

“Who was that guy all over you?” Mitch barked.

Okay. Not where I reasoned this would go.

“I don’t think who I socialize with is any of your business. Do you?”

He stepped forward, bringing Leo with him until they stood right in front of me, then leaned in close, invading my personal space. “Think again,” he growled, the low timbre of his voice sliding along my skin, giving me goose bumps.

It had been a day and a half since I’d seen them but felt more like an eternity. And now they were here, with Mitch so close, the familiar scent of pine shower gel and musk and fire smoke filling my nostrils, I couldn’t help but breathe him in.

God, he smelled like home.

“No one touches you but us.”

Us.

“Oh, please,” I scoffed, “I don’t belong to you.”

His left hand slid up the side of my neck, the feel of his rough palm and calloused fingertips making my skin tingle. He cupped my neck, stroking his thumb along my jaw. “Yes, you do.”

Leo’s hand mirrored Mitch’s and my body started to tremble as I tried to fight against my visceral reaction to them, the need to give in to their touch a desperate living thing.

Shoving them off, I stepped out of their reach, edging backward until my legs bumped against the bench running along the wall. They moved with me, one on either side, caging me in, so close their body temperature rose along with mine.

I tried for nonchalance and smirked at Mitch. “I recall you telling us both to get the hell out yesterday.”

There, my brain hadn’t stopped functioning after all, though barely, when they both placed their hands on my neck, stroking, caressing.

“I was wrong.”

“Oh?” I patted myself on the back when the word didn’t come out on a croak due to the lack of moisture in my mouth. “You seemed pretty certain about it at the time. In fact, you were extremely clear the cabin was your place—yours and Katie’s—and was all you needed. All you’ve ever needed. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think those were your exact words?”

Mitch closed his eyes, likely reliving the moment. When he reopened them, my heart jumped at the intensity in their hazel depths.

“I lied.”

“Oh, come on—”

“It’s true. I thought the life I’d chosen before you was what I wanted.” He smiled wanly. “And then you weren’t there”—he turned to gaze at Leo—“and I made Leo leave.”

“Aww. Did big bad Mitchell get lonely?”

“No.” His thumb moved to slide along my lower lip, grazing the sensitive skin. “He came to his senses.”

“And…what did they tell you?” Shit, now my voice did croak.

His smile turned predatory as he leaned in closer, his lips at my ear, his hot breath on my neck. “They told me to stop screwing around and go get the men I love.” He bit down on my earlobe, and I lost the ability to prevent the tiny sound I released from leaving my lips when he replaced the sharp pain he’d caused by flicking his tongue.

“I love you, Gabriel, and I’m sorry for hurting you.” He moved his head so he could look into my eyes, letting me see the sincerity of his admission. “I got scared. Scared to take a chance. Scared I’d lose the forgiveness I’d been searching for. Scared of what it meant to give up the one thing keeping me sane for the last few years, the one thing giving me a reason, a purpose, to get out of bed each morning. But most of all, I got scared at how you two made me feel—the passion, the emotion. I felt I was betraying my love for Katie.”

“No.” I denied firmly. “We’d never have taken the love you have for your wife away from you.”

“I understand that now. Understood it as soon as you left. You told me I had a choice to make. Live my life in the past or take the huge risk to live in the present and decide to have a future. A future including you and Leo.”

“And?” The fact he was here, told me he’d made his choice, but I needed to hear him say the words in order to truly believe him.

“I choose you,” he stated clearly, as if he’d heard exactly what I’d been thinking, and dropped his mouth to mine, his kiss laying claim to me, stripping me bare, making sure to show me exactly who his choice was. His lips slid over mine, his tongue possessive. If I hadn’t guessed he wanted me before, I certainly did now.

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