Page 28 of Bound by Their Christmas Baby

Abby wasn’t going to share that train of thought with Gabe. He was looking at her with the kind of mockery that made her want to lash out—to diminish what they’d shared in the same way he had.

‘I was a twenty-two-year-old virgin,’ she heard herself say, laughing. ‘I just wanted to sleep with someone.’ The lie was weird in her mouth but she was glad for it when she saw the way his face paled beneath his tan. Good. ‘Anyone would have done, but you happened to be there…’

He swore, bringing his face closer to hers. ‘You are not what I thought,’ he said darkly.

‘No? Well, that’s mutual. My dad was definitely right about you.’

If she’d known him better, she would have understood that the wolfish smile on his face held a warning.

‘I’m almost certain he was,’ Gabe agreed. His face was dangerously close to Abby’s but she didn’t back down; she barely even noticed. She was lost in his gaze.

‘So you slept with me because you wanted to have sex.’

‘Yes.’

‘Despite having waited…’

‘I didn’t wait for any magical reason,’ she snapped. ‘I just didn’t get around to it…’

‘Until you met me.’

‘Look, Gabe.’ She aimed for irreverent amusement, but the words sounded strangled. Now that she’d committed to this, she had to keep going. ‘I was embarrassed by my virginity, okay? I wanted to be like any other woman my age.’

He stared at her long and hard and then shook his head, his expression cold. ‘You failed. You are not like any woman I have ever met.’

CHAPTER SEVEN

GABE SLAMMED THE car door shut with more force than he’d intended. Their argument—her admissions—had got under his skin and he couldn’t, for the life of him, say why! He had long since ceased thinking anything but the worst of his son’s mother, so why should he be surprised that she’d used him simply to get rid of her unwanted virginity?

Because it hadn’t felt like that. The night they’d shared had been different for Gabe. Despite the fact he had been with many women in his time, he’d never had the privilege of being a woman’s first. That she’d trusted him had meant something to Gabe. How foolish!

She’d had an itch, that was all, and she’d used him to scratch it.

‘I’ve never done this before,’ she’d whispered, her eyes not meeting his. Moonlight had filtered into the apartment, casting her naked body in silver dust.

‘You’ve never done what? Slept with a man you’ve just met?’

She’d shaken her head and then met his gaze, her eyes locking onto his as though drawn to them by threads of biological imperative. ‘Slept with any man.’

The confession had robbed him of breath. ‘How is that possible?’ He’d pulled her closer to his body, seeing the way desire flushed her skin as his arousal pressed hard to her body.

She’d groaned, rolling her hips in an innate instinctive need to be close to him. ‘I just didn’t get around to it before.’

He’d nodded, an unusual uncertainty shifting through him, causing him to pause. ‘We don’t have to, Abby. Your first time is…special…a gift.’

‘I want to,’ she’d whispered, lifting onto her tiptoes to kiss him. ‘Please, Gabe. I want you to be my first.’

Liar.

She had told him the truth originally, only he hadn’t listened. I just didn’t get around to it before. That was the real reason for her virginity. For whatever reason, she’d not had sex. That was her choice, just as sleeping with him had been her choice. But it hadn’t been a gift; it simply hadn’t mattered to her.

And now it didn’t matter to Gabe. If possible, his opinion of Abigail Howard sank even lower. His mouth was a grim line as he stormed through Fiamatina. There was nothing for it; he would marry her but he certainly didn’t relish the prospect. Not one bit.

* * *

The condemnation rang in her ears—and there was no other way to describe the tone of his voice, the words he’d chosen. He hadn’t meant the parting shot—that she was unlike any woman he’d ever known—as a compliment. He had intended to hurt her. Or perhaps he hadn’t; perhaps he’d simply been speaking his mind and it was Abby’s feelings that were making her vulnerable to his judgement.

His words consumed her, so that she walked through the village for at least an hour before realising that she was freezing cold, and also that she’d been so wrapped up in her tortured reflections she’d barely seen a thing. With a soft sigh of frustration, she pushed Gabe from her mind, or resolved to try, and made herself look at her surroundings. She’d wandered in a circle and was now in a street that was at the end of the square where he’d parked his car. He’d told her to meet him back there in two hours, meaning she had a little over an hour left to explore.

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