Page 42 of Gabriel's Album

“Me too.”

“Will you be okay on your own?” I ask.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine; I might actually see what Heather’s up to.”

She tilts her face to look up at me with her full lips curved upwards and her eyes wide. I’m a little bit jealous that Heather will get to take her sightseeing while I’ll be stuck working all day, but I don’t want to be a downer, so I smile back at her.

“That’s a great idea. She really likes you, you know. She told me the other day.”

Her exact words were, ‘I’ll break your kneecaps if you hurt her,’ but this is a sufficient summary of our discussion.

Ariana’s face brightens at the news about Heather. “That’s good because I like her too; she’s awesome.”

“Fantastic, well, I guess I’d better get dressed.”

I quickly kiss her upturned face and stand up from the bed. I walk through the open door into the bathroom, and the warm, steamy air hits me at once. I pull off the sweatpants and shirt that I fell asleep in last night and drop them in the bath before getting in the shower.

The warm water flows over me, and I use the strawberry body wash, smiling as I think about Ariana. When I get out of the shower, I wrap a towel around my waist and walk back into the bedroom. Ariana is sitting on the bed where I left her, but her head has dropped back against the bedhead and her eyes are closed. Her body jerks as she wakes up, before she turns her face to me with her eyes wide.

I watch her gaze as she takes in the sight of me standing in front of her in a towel, and I can feel a shot of arousal head toward my crotch when she does.

“I forgot to take clothes in with me,” I explain. I can’t resist teasing her by asking, “Are you okay there, Ari?”

“I’m fine,” she squeaks, much to my amusement.

“Yes, you are,” I say and cast my eyes over her body, wishing I could remove her bathrobe and fuck her.

I can’t, though. If I’m not out of here in the next few minutes, Harrison will be here to harass me into leaving. I walk over to the closet where my clothes are hung up and pull out jeans and a t-shirt, then grab a pair of boxers from a drawer. I head back into the bathroom with a wink aimed at Ariana and close the door behind me as I do.

I pull my clothes on, run a comb through my hair, and check my reflection in the mirror. My hair’s getting long again, and I should probably consider getting it cut. Sebastian gives me shit when it gets long enough to tie back with a hair tie, but I like it longer, and I think I look good.

I brush my teeth, then pick up my watch and walk back out to the bedroom. I wince when I’m putting it on, seeing that I was meant to be downstairs five minutes ago.

“I have to get going,” I tell Ariana. “We’re doing some breakfast radio show. God, I hope they have food. I’m starving!”

“Have a good day,” she says as she stands up from the bed and walks over to me.

Ariana wraps her arms around me and kisses me quickly. I can hear her words from yesterday echoing in my head, so I lean back to look her in the eyes.

“Do me a favor,” I say.

“What’s that?”

“If you think about leaving today”—I kiss her quickly on the lips—“just, don’t.”

“I’ll do my best,” she says with a soft smile.

I can’t stop the frown that comes to my face as the concept of coming back up to the hotel room after our interviews to find her gone crosses my mind.

“I won’t be able to concentrate if I’m worrying all day that you’re going to run out on me without saying goodbye.”

Ariana sighs and looks guilty before she says solemnly, “I promise that I will never do that to you.”

“Good—” I don’t even realize how tense I am at the thought of her leaving until the relief at her words floods my body. “—But don’t ever leave.”

I press my mouth against hers and she parts her lips, allowing my tongue to access her mouth. I pull her harder against me, holding her as tight as I can while I kiss her desperately. Her soft curves are pressed close to me, and I cup her ass with my hand while I slide my other hand up and into her hair to hold her face to mine.

After a minute, I end our kiss and move slowly away from her, staring at her face as she pants at me. I want to throw her on the bed and fuck her, but I can’t.

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