Page 90 of Captive Vows
No words were ready for her. I hadn’t rehearsed anything. A speech wouldn’t be happening, but I had to utter something more than her damn name.
Her lips curled down in a pout. Even like that, she was irresistible. Yet as she continued to wipe her eyes, reminding me that I’d walked in to witness her so sad, so numb and at a loss for how to carry on, I was instantly annoyed.
Not at her.
At myself.
Anger took root as I walked toward her sitting up in bed. I’d never forgivemyselffor taking this so far with her. I really had treated her like a thing, not a person to love. I’d thought that itwas implied, that it was obvious. After all, how could she have ever doubted that I gave a damn about her and our child when I provided for her?
Letting her watch me as I trespassed further into her room until I stood at the side of her bed, I let her words wash over me again.
“And if actions speak louder than words, he’s made it clear he doesn’t truly want or need me in his life.”
She was fucking wrong. All this absence made me yearn for her more. I wanted her. I needed her. I’d be lost without her. But she needed to hear it, not see the proof of all I gave her. Material things and even medical care and armed security weren’t parts of her language. She wanted to hear it.
“Gabriella.” I repeated her name in a hushed whisper as I took in the sight of her like this. Quiet but observant. Wary but defensive. She wasn’t as numb as she thought she was. With another drag of her careful gaze over me, she proved that she wasn’t impervious to noticing me.
To tolerating my presence.
As she looked her fill, participating gamely in this spontaneous staring contest as if we hadn’t seen each other in years, I admired how beautiful she’d become.
The swell of our child in her belly turned me on. That wasmyheir. I’d done that. I’d fucked her and made my cum take root so we’d create a new life.
Her breasts were fuller, straining against the silky fabric of her nightgown. As I stared, unable to hide my raging desire, her nipples hardened enough that the points poked at the material trying to hide them.
And the heat in her dark eyes, those fathomless pools that always captivated me…
Fuck me. I couldn’t walk away this time.
I’d come in here just to see her. To be near her and feel her presence.
Tomorrow would make more sense to apologize, but like this, I was unable to rein back this feral, physical lust.
She frowned, lowering her gaze to the erection I couldn’t hide beneath my pants. It was tented, with no room for my dick to move.
“That’s what you’ve come here for?” she asked. Her tone was cool, but curious. It was obvious she still hated me, but she wasn’t any better at hiding how much she lusted for me, too.
Needing her so badly, even like this, I leaned down to cup her face and force her to tip her chin up higher. I met her gaze head-on as she licked her lips.
“No. I didn’t come here to fuck you.”
I want to make love.
“But now that I’m here…”
She furrowed her brow, setting her hand on top of mine, as if she despised that she wanted to keep me here. Like she wanted me to stay.
34
GABRIELLA
He wasn’t here to apologize. With the smell of liquor radiating from him, it didn’t seem like he was all that cognizant of planning to come in here at all. Like he wasn’t even thinking, just following the pull to me.
He wasn’t here to gloat over my tears, either. I only allowed them at night, when I was so lonely and missing that soul-deep closeness I’d felt with him, like when he’d held me all the twilight hours in bed with me.
And he wasn’t here to make demands and rehash another round of any of our arguments. The sadness mixing with desire in his eyes gave the suggestion that he was only staying to reconnect with me.
Even if it was for sex.
