Page 42 of Gabe

I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed close enough to feel his arousal through his pants. “So, that’s what does it for you? Getting to be the protector?”

This time, when he pressed his lips to mine, there was an added growl of frustration at the back of his throat. He nipped my bottom lip, adding a thrilling bit of pain to the pleasure.

“That’s not it. Many people would help in that situation, but they would hesitate to put themselves in danger. You didn’t hesitate. You never do.”

Smirking to myself, I pushed him away so there was more space between us, conveniently moving myself closer to the bed at the back of the RV.

“Some people would call that reckless.”

Just as I hoped, Gabe followed me.

“Reckless. Yes.” He grabbed onto me, his hands wrapping around my waist, but he kept walking so I had no choice but to back up until my knees hit the side of the bed. “Also infuriating, arousing, and confusing.”

He found my neck with his lips and pressed a line of warm, biting kisses from my ear down to be collarbone.

“I never know what to do with you.”

He slipped his leg between mine, so his thigh pressed against my groin. The unexpected stimulation made me flinch. I stumbled backward and fell onto the bed in an artless display of sprawling limbs. The mattress cushioned my fall, so nothing hurt, but the unexpectedness of it all left me breathless nonetheless,

As I looked up at Gabe from where I lay on the bed, I waited for him to join me. Yet, in an odd reaction, he closed his eyes and tipped his face toward the ceiling instead. Running his hands over his hair to smooth it back into place, he seemed to be counting silently under his breath.

I swung my legs around and clambered onto my knees to get a closer look at him.

“Are you… doing breathing exercises to calm yourself down right now?”

He opened his eyes, and his pupils no longer looked as dilated as they had before. “Apologies. I was getting too worked up.”

My mouth hung open as I gaped at him with a comical expression. “Worked up? I certainly hope so. If there’s any time to get worked up, this is it. Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing?”

A slight blush turned his earlobes red. It was a subtle color, but on Gabe’s usually stoic face, subtle reactions were the same as screaming.

“I tend to… forget myself when I get worked up. I’m told that I can be too much, so it’s better if I stay calm.”

“Oh, no. Fuck that.” I found the button of Gabe’s pants with shaking fingers and fumbled it open. “This is not the time to stay calm. I’d prefer too much than not enough.” A thought occurred to me as I started unzipping his fly. “Is this why you suddenly stopped kissing me back in the alley? You were afraid of getting too worked up?”

Gabe gripped my wrist, though he didn’t stop me as I slowly slid his pants over his hips. “The alley wasn’t safe.”

He was too distracted by what I was doing to explain further, but I knew him well enough by now to read between the lines.

“You didn’t think you’d be able to stop if we went any further back then. Fine. But you could have just told me that.”

His pants landed on the floor in a puddle around his feet, and I slipped my hand inside his underwear.

“You left me hanging for hours, horny and confused, with no explanation. I had to sit through that whole car ride wondering what I’d done wrong.” I wrapped my fingers around the very hard shaft of his cock, gripping him tightly, and then I looked up at him through my eyelashes. “Make it up to me.”

I could see in his eyes the moment that his control snapped, though I didn’t have time to revel in my victory. He grabbed my shoulders and shoved me onto my back on the bed. His weight pinned me down when he lay over me, gripping my wrists in both hands as he brought his mouth down on mine once more.

CHAPTER 16

Gabe

The feeling of Frankie pinned under me was even better than I imagined. I wouldn’t lie, I had dreamed about such a thing several times since our first kiss, and even before that, but the reality ended up being so much better.

He was warm and pliant in a way I hadn’t been prepared for. Given his indomitable personality, I expected him to push back when I pinned him down. For him to remain obstinate even in an intimate moment such as this. Yet, the minute my weight settled on top of him, he fell still in a way I’d never seen before. As if he were finally comfortable for the first time.

Maybe what he said was true. I hadn’t been giving him enough. I’d been so concerned with staying in control of myself and not holding on too tightly that I had accidentally not held on tight enough.

At least not in the ways that mattered.

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