Page 76 of Sinners Atone
The sight of him wipes my brain clean of thought. Muscle upon muscle carved into a never-ending mass and shrink-wrapped in ink.
Had I known he was behind the unlocked door, I’d have hesitated before crashing through it. Had I known he was alsoshirtless, I’d have run in the opposite direction.
It’s rude to stare, especially so brazenly, butjeez, what else is a girl to do?
My gaze slides down his chest. To the angel wings spread across his sternum, and the lone square-inch of bare skin between them. Then it slides down his torso, snagging on every symbol, scar, and ab before settling on the taut skin between a prominent V. Heat rises to the surface of my skin and blooms into a fluster.
With a hard swallow, I find just enough sense not to let my gaze drift below the low-slung waistband of his joggers and force my eyes back up to his face. For once, it’s the safer place to look.
Gabriel’s looking at me too. Though without the slacked jaw and bulging cartoon eyes, of course.
Wiping his hands on a rag, he regards me with indifference, as if I’m just another inanimate object taking up space in his garage.
“You good?”
I’m far from good. My blood is humming at a different frequency around all this skin,but if he’s talking about the panic attack, then sure, that’s a distant memory now.
I consider nodding and rising to my feet, but then that would mean leaving, which every cell in my body doesn’t want to do.
I guess men his size have a stronger gravitational pull than everyone else.
So I let out a weary sigh, press the back of my palm to my forehead, and puff out my bottom lip. “I think I’m having another funny turn. I better stay here until it passes.”
Gabriel’s mouth pulls taut, as if he finds my distress positively irritating, but then he gives a curt nod and disappears beneath the car hood again.
Running my hands down my thighs, I sit with a straight spine, all too aware of every clink and clunk disturbing the relentless hammer of rain. Though I can’t see him, his looming silhouette on the back wall is a constant reminder of his presence. It shortens when he dips his head and expands when he reaches for another tool. Everything shifts and flickers, except for the broad outline of his shoulders, which stays perfectly still.
Time doesn’t pass easily. I cross my legs. Uncross them again. Tie my hair up; let it back down and rake my fingers through the kinks. I want to poke him in the ribs, like he’s a lion at the zoo.Come on, do something.
When a restless shudder gets the best of me, I curl my robe tie around my fist and squeeze it for moral support.
“What cha’ doin?”
His reply is dryer than the Sahara. “What’s it look like?”
Sucking in my cheeks, I scan the length of the car. It looks old, but in a rare and collectible way, not a passed-down-from-your-grandma-and-will-probably-leave-you-stranded-on-the-freeway type of way.
“Cute car. Is it yours?”
The silence that follows makes my bones cringe. In an attempt to shake it off, I rise to my feet and pad over to the other side of the garage. Investigating the contents of a toolbox, I try again. “How’d you find out about Mayor Fisher?”
“I’m nosy.”
Well, that’s one thing we have in common, at least.
Gnawing on my bottom lip, I slowly walk the perimeter of the wall, brushing my fingers over the row of different-sized screwdrivers hanging from it. As I near the front of the car, Gabriel’s bicep comes into view. Then his forearm, then his hand resting on the engine block.
When I take another step, it curls into a fist, and the shadow behind him stills.
My nerve endings tingle. I reach for the closest thing to busy myself with: a cardboard box wonkily stacked upon a handful of other boxes. I lift the flap and rise onto my tiptoes to peer inside. I couldn’t say what’s in it because the heat of Gabriel’s stare climbing the backs of my thighs makes my vision dim.
“You touch everything that doesn’t belong to you?”
My breathing shallows. “I like touching things,” I mutter.
The last syllable tastes like regret and heats my cheeks. That somehow sounded…sexual,and I swear, I feel the air grow thicker behind me.
The sound of metal scrapes down my back, and an answer laced with bitterness chases it. “I’ve noticed.”
