Page 77 of A Little More Forgiveness

He rolled his eyes and let out a long-suffering sigh knowing exactly where my mind had gone. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

He’d changed a lot since he’d first arrived—we both had—but I was finally discovering the version of Gabe very few people got to see. His cockiness and arrogance, forever lurking under the surface, were mostly gone, replaced by an amazing, caring, and compassionate guy. I wasn’t sure what shocked me the most, him allowing me beneath his armor in the first place or me actually liking being there.

What he’d said to Leo was true. We weren’t quite close enough yet to make any declarations of love, but with each moment we spent together, the tug on my heart became more insistent. We still had a way to go, but I had every confidence we’d get there.

He must have spoken again, but I’d been too lost in looking at his handsome face and his beautiful lips to hear him. When he kissed me, the sensation went right into my bones. He demanded. He took. He forced me to reciprocate, to take from him in return. It was a delicious tug of war and whatever the outcome, we both won in the end.

It was the same with his heart. I continued to fight, kept battling for him to hand it over, the same way he battled for mine, and neither of us were quite ready to concede.

He slapped me on the arm. “What?” I asked grumpily.

“Christmas tree.” He enunciated, slow and deliberate. “You don’t have one.”

I didn’t, no. And I hadn’t since my wife had died. I didn’t see the point in celebrating the holidays if I had no one around to celebrate them with.

“And.”

“Leo wants one.”

“Not only me.” His indignant voice carried from the other room. “You want one too.”

I raised my eyebrow at Gabe, who simply shrugged, aiming for noncommittal but unable to hide the excitement in his eyes.

“Okay, so we want a tree. Better?” he shouted at Leo.

“Much.”

He rolled his eyes. “So?”

“So?” I replied.

“Is that okay?” he asked softly. “If it’s not—”

“No,” I answered, maybe too forcefully if the way Gabe’s eyes widened at me was any indication. “No,” I repeated, more gently. “A Christmas tree sounds good.”

His face lit up with happiness and he let out a whoop of joy. “Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“So, tomorrow we can go cut one down?”

“Yep.”

“Can we…um…can we use your lights and stuff?”

I hadn’t planned that far ahead to seeing what the tree decorated in the lights and baubles Katie had picked out would do to me. “Sure,” I answered, my voice uneven. “Once we have the tree, I’ll go get them out of the barn.”

Gabe looked at me intently, his eyes such a clear window on his thoughts, I wondered how I had ever missed seeing them. “We don’t have to if that’s asking too much. We’d both understand.” He opened his arms, and I stepped forward into them, feeling a bit weird at first, as I’m usually the one doing the cuddling, rather than the one being cuddled. But as his arms encircled my waist, sliding up under my T-shirt to stroke my skin, I welcomed being able to lean on him and relax into the sanctuary he offered.

“It’s okay.” I nuzzled into his neck, inhaling the scent of my fabric softener and pine shower gel. The reminder he was wrapped up in my clothes, the material touching his bare skin, sent sparks shooting straight to my cock. Why did I love him wearing my clothes so damn much? Whatever the reason, the sight of him turned me the fuck on.

“I’m thinking you like the idea.” Gabe’s voice whispered in my ear as he rocked his body forward to push his abs against my hard-on.”

“I like the idea of you.”

“Hmmm, me too.”

“We’re never gonna eat; you know that, right?”

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