Page 27 of The Bonus

“I’m not a stripper, Gabriel. I’m not even a player. The last time I had sex was over a year ago, and this is….” I gesture to the room. “Isn’t…” I shrug, embarrassed that I’m not the bad girl I want to be, that my heart is already broken after one cheap fuck on his desk. “It’s not who I am. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression.” I rush back out to the living room with him hot on my heels.

“Gracie.”

I keep walking.

“Grace.”

“Don’t.”

“Grace.” He grabs my hand and spins me toward him. “Forgive me.” He pauses as he searches for the right words. “I shouldn’t have taken you in there…it’s been a long time since.” He pauses.

“Since what?”

“Since I’ve been with someone like you.”

Someone who stupidly loves you?

I stare at him, hating myself that I can’t forget tomorrow and be lost in the moment tonight.

He cups my face in his hands and kisses me softly, his lips linger across mine. “Don’t go.” He kisses me again. “Please?”

His demeanor has changed, somehow, he’s gone from hunter to something softer, more in tune.

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…”

His lips linger over mine and my feet start to float from the floor.

“Tomorrow, you’re leaving me forever.”

My hands rise to his face, don’t even say that. I can’t bear the thought of never seeing him again.

“Can’t we just spend the night together to say goodbye properly?” he murmurs against my lips.

Oh…

His kiss deepens. “I’ve wanted you for so many years, Gracie. Give me one night. It’s all I ask.”

“I can’t deal with this alpha bullshit, Gabriel,” I whisper, our foreheads touching.

There’s a tenderness between us, the one we have when we are alone in the mornings at work, before the world gets in the way.

He kisses me softly. “It’s who I am, Gracie.”

“It’s not,” I whisper. “You’re in there somewhere, I know you are.” We kiss softly. “Show me the man I care about, it’s him that I want.”

He frowns as he kisses me as if internally torn, then he bends and in one sharp movement picks me up, and with his lips locked on mine, he carries me up the hallway to a large bedroom. He walks into the bathroom and carefully puts me down and turns the shower on.

When he turns back toward me, the air is electric.

Finally, he’s here.

This is him, the man that I want.

His gaze is fixed on his hands as he slowly undoes my dress, it falls open and he takes it over my shoulders and throws it to the side, his eyes linger over my body.

“Your skin,” he breathes. “It’s perfect, so peaches and cream.”

He bends and kisses me softly on the chest. “I’ve wanted you for so long, Gracie. I can hardly believe you are here with me, my love.”

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