Page 15 of Gabriel's Album

“Yeah, she wasn’t interested, but I went to talk to her later and we hit it off. We’re having our second date tonight.”

“Where are you taking her?” Heather asks.

“She’s coming over to my place.” I grin as I say it because I know how Heather will react to this news.

“Ooh, you’re going to get laid tonight? Have fun, big guy!” Heather’s laughing while she says it.

Ariana and I have been texting and talking on the phone a lot. Sometimes we’ve had phone sex, and I’m definitely hopeful that we’ll have sex tonight.

“Thanks. So, yeah. If it goes well, I might call April and see if Ariana can come to the party with me.”

“Yes, do that! I want to meet her.”

I laugh at Heather. “Okay, well, I still need to see if tonight goes well and we want to see each other again.”

The phone call with Harrison and Heather was a nice distraction from my nerves, and Ariana arrives a few minutes after we hang up. I’m checking the garlic chicken when I hear her knock on the door. I’m surprised by how nervous I am. This is dumb; it’s not like I’ve never dated a woman before.

I open the door and see her standing there. She looks as nervous as I feel, but when she sees me, her face lights up and she smiles at me. She’s so beautiful, and I feel slightly stunned for a second before I’m able to smile back at her and step aside to let her in.

“Hey, Ari. It’s good to see you,” I tell her as I lead the way back to the kitchen. “Take a seat, sweetheart. I hope you’re hungry.”

“What are you cooking? It smells amazing,” Ariana says as she sits on one of the stools at the kitchen bench.

“Garlic chicken.” I smile at her as I turn to check the chicken again.

“Garlic?” Ariana asks with a laugh. “So, you don’t want to kiss me tonight, then?”

She makes me smile. I turn around and walk over to her. She spins around on her stool so that she’s facing me, and I grin cheekily at her.

“It depends. Did you want me to kiss you? Because I don’t think that I would let garlic stop me from doing that if you did.”

Her eyes go wide, and she’s breathing quickly. I want more than anything to kiss her right now.

“I wouldn’t say no,” she whispers, and I’m thrilled by her words.

I don’t know what it is about her, but she seems so shy and unsure about everything, which intrigues me. I drop my head to hers and kiss her the way that I’ve been wanting to kiss her for weeks. She parts her lips, and our tongues meet, so I step closer to her. I place one of my arms around her waist, the other around her upper back, and pull her hard against me while we kiss.

I’m probably biased right now, but this is one of the best kisses of my life, and I desperately want to drag her to my bedroom and fuck her.

I shove away my inner caveman tendencies and grin at her. “I like you, Ari.”

“Thanks. You’re not so bad, yourself,” Ariana says as she blushes bright pink, and it’s utterly charming.

I drop my head and kiss her lips softly again before I walk back into the kitchen. I open the refrigerator and start getting out the things I need to make a salad for our dinner.

“Do you need any help?” she asks.

I don’t know why this surprises me. Ariana is just so genuinely sweet all the time, but it’s so different to a lot of the women that I meet these days.

“Sure, if you want to.”

Ariana walks into the kitchen and takes the lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese off me, which she carries to the bench while I turn back to get the rest of the things we need. After a minute, we’re standing side by side, and Ariana is peeling a carrot while I chop some lettuce.

It’s completely bizarre to be standing together, making a salad. It feels like we’ve been together for years, a strange feeling of déjà vu, almost.

“So, do you have any brothers or sisters?” I ask her to distract myself from this weird feeling.

“Nope, I’m an only child. You?”

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