Page 87 of Forever Mine

“Why papaya?”

“It’s the first fruit I thought of.”

“Okay, papaya it is. Now, tell me more about this smut you read,” Gabriel says with a wicked leer, and I sigh in relief. My Gabriel is back.

“Oh! Even better, I’ll tell you who reads it that we both know!” I say gleefully as Gabriel begins to condition my hair.

“Who?”

“Chase!”

“No fucking way.”

“Yep! He told me he’s the one that messed with the room reservation at the conference in Boulder because he could see we were interested in each other and wanted to push us together. He referenced a couple of romance book tropes, and I questioned him on it. Turns out he’s quite the avid smut reader,” I tell him.

“That actually explains a lot. He made some random comment about us early on, asking if we were enemies to lovers, and I bit his head off about it, thinking he assumed we were sleeping together right after we met,” Gabriel says as he grabs the body wash and begins to wash me.

“That sounds about right. He told me he figured he’d get us together with the one room because there is only one bed,” I say.

“What does one bed have to do with anything?” he asks.

“It’s a trope in romance books where the main characters are stuck in a room with only one bed. Shenanigans arise.”

“Well, he was right about that. Shenanigans were had,” Gabriel chuckles. “I still can’t believe you watched me in the shower and got yourself off at the same time.”

“Hey! You left the damn door open on purpose!” I screech.

“Not on purpose, but maybe I could have made sure it closed. But, I needed to know if the attraction was one-sided. I figured if you watched, you would be as interested in me as I was in you. Never thought you’d do what you did, but I’m definitely not complaining,” Gabriel tells me as he turns off the water and grabs two towels from a shelf next to the shower. “I don’t regret anything that happened that week,querida. It led to where we are today.”

“Me too,” I whisper as he wraps a towel tightly around me.

“I love you,” he says as he leans down and kisses me tenderly.

“I love you, too,” I respond.

I’d love to say the week in the mountains was full of hiking, fishing, or anything, but honestly, we just fucked. A lot. Gabriel is insatiable. I thought I had a high sex drive, but his sex drive is off the charts. Aren’t guys in their forties supposed to be calmer? I thought that’s when they started needing Viagra. I definitely know he has no need for that. He’s hard all the damn time. We’ve ventured out only as far as his property goes. He’s shown me his trail cams for looking at the wildlife, as well as the creek that goes along the farthest edge of his property. I got to watch him cut some wood for his fire pit, and he explained he also uses wood to heat the home in the winter months via a wood-burning stove. I remember Olivia telling me about Liam cutting down their first Christmas tree with her, Nate, and Emily, and how she really appreciated watching him go all ‘lumbersnack’ for her. Watching Gabriel do it without a shirt on is just straight porn. We didn’t make it back to the cabin. He sat on a cut piece of wood, and I rode him hard, right in the middle of the damn day. No regrets.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Gabriel

I’ve never shared my cabin with anyone. Not only is it fairly small, but it’s always been my sanctuary, my escape. My chance to get away from it all. While I can be charming and social, I’m generally introverted and need a chance to get away from people. Expectations, responsibilities, all of it. My cabin is that to me.

In some ways, I was nervous about bringing Monica here. I mentioned it in a realtor meeting months ago about having a team-building day up here on my property. Still, I had every intention of keeping the cabin to myself. I didn’t want anyone in my space.

But having Monica here feels so right that I’m struggling with second-guessing all of my thoughts regarding her.

Am I too far invested in her? Is this going too fast? Is she going to change her mind?

These questions immediately parlay into my fears about her family. Matt and Liam are still looking into the connection between Nicolas and Monica. We all know it’s a real issue, but Nicolas has gone completely mute. I’m scared shitless that something significant is about to happen, and I’ll be powerless to stop it. To protect myquerida.

On our last day at the cabin, Monica finally pulls out all of the trimmings for her s’mores. Surprisingly, I’ve never had a s’more. While my parents were all about living as Americans and experiencing all the weird ‘traditions,’ mymãecould never get on board with anything involving marshmallows. “Pig should not be sweet,” she’d tell me. As a child, I was horrified about how apigcould be where marshmallows come from. It took finally reaching adulthood and researching to comprehend what my mother meant. Marshmallows include gelatin, which is made from boiling various pig parts. After learning that, I understood my mother’s aversion to anything marshmallow related.

I warily stare at Monica while she gleefully turns her marshmallow over the fire pit, and I shudder.

“What?” she giggles.

“I don’t see the appeal.”

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