Page 84 of Touched By Destiny

Eric shook his head and laid a hand on Gabriel’s tense thigh. “But it annoys you too.”

“While I’d prefer to stick you in your vault and find a way to confront these people directly, I understand why you feel that way.”

“Are you going to fight me on this? Tell my parents it’d be best if I was kept safe?”

With a heavy sigh, Gabriel reached out and rubbed the taut muscles of Eric’s neck. “This is the first time I’ve been caught between being your lover and your bodyguard. Part of me is intent on doing whatever it takes to ensure you aren’t hurt, while my heart is insisting that I listen to what it costs you to go along with orders and hide.”

Cupping Gabriel’s chin, Eric brushed their lips together and breathed in the lovely, musky scent unique to the man he adored.

“Want to break up to make things easier?” Eric teased, needing to infuse some levity into the thick atmosphere in the darkened garage.

“Not an option,” Gabriel stated emphatically.

“I love you,” Eric said. “You’ll be with me, Gabriel. I’ll be safe. I can’t run to my bedroom every time some asshole decides I’m a danger to the world. My entire life has been controlled to keep me alive. I don’t want to die, so I haven’t argued.”

“I love you too, and I’m sorry for what your safety costs you.”

Eric kissed Gabriel again and wished they were home so he could hold him. “I refuse to think about how my life could’ve turned out differently. I’m lucky. All around me are people who love me. My parents are wealthy, so I’ve never wanted for anything material either. It would be rather awful of me to complain about how the last twenty-five years have turned out. But I can’t give up what freedom I have. I need purpose, and my spirits give it to me.”

Gabriel’s phone beeped, and he relaxed slightly as he read the message on the screen. “Our assholes took the bait. Let’s head to the hotel, okay?”

“Are we going ghost-hunting in the morning, Gabriel?” Eric asked as Gabriel turned the car on and slid it into reverse.

“Yeah,” Gabriel replied. “They’re going to figure out they were tricked when Paxton gets home. But we won’t be at the house in the morning, so hopefully they won’t find us while you track down your spirit. This shit must be related to Arwynn, and that fucker won’t even call me back.”

“We don’t know even know if this Arwynn is a friend or an enemy.”

At the entrance to the garage, Gabriel glanced at Eric. “Why would anyone who wanted to be friends invest time and energy in following us? If Arwynn has nothing nefarious in mind, why not approach us directly? He has your father’s contact information. Arwynn has no excuse for this shady shit. I don’t think he wants to be friends. Maybe he’s trying to figure out if you truly are destiny-touched. How he learned a Marwood might be is the real question. We can’t even find anything about this guy. His father disappeared mysteriously, and no matter how many sources your father contacts, he can’t learn shit. Arwynn is covering his tracks well. That makes him dangerous.”

“I won’t take risks,” Eric assured his soulmate. “I want to live my life, but I also understand how important it is for me to stay guarded. Let me work and help my ghosts, and I’ll stay the fuck in the house the rest of the time.”

“Thank you,” Gabriel said. “I don’t want to think about anything happening to you.”

“You’ll make sure nothing does,” Eric replied, giving Gabriel’s thigh an affectionate squeeze. Instead of giving in to fear about Arwynn or his motives, Eric decided he’d consider the night a treat. He’d have Gabriel all to himself in a beautiful hotel room, and they’d both feel better after a night focused solely on each other. Eric hoped to hell the emergency bags of supplies Gabriel kept littered around Marwood properties included lube.

Chapter 34

“When are you going to convince Gabriel to move into the house permanently?” Eric’s mother asked mere minutes after Gabriel and Eric’s father left for a rare evening meeting.

Every year the Marwoods held a ceremony for their employees—they gave out service awards, announced promotions, and celebrated the wonderful people who kept their businesses running so prosperously. With the event only a week away, they were still examining performance reviews and making decisions about their employees’ futures.

“What’s the big deal, Mom?” Eric asked. “Most of his stuff is here, and he’s not sleeping alone. I already destroyed the crystal I was keeping at his house to teleport there since I don’t need it anymore.”

“If it’s not a big deal, then why not have that conversation?” his mother insisted, her blue gaze concerned.

“I don’t know,” Eric said, following his mother and David to the kitchen. “He has a lot going on, and honestly, as long as we’re together, I’m not worried about whether he officially lives here or not.”

“Should we bake something?” David asked quietly.

“Excellent idea,” Eric’s mom replied. Eric privately cheered David’s subject change and hoped his mother would forget the topic altogether. “Did you want to do the black forest recipe? I know you added everything you’d need for it to our cart at the grocery store the other day.”

“Oh, that sounds delicious,” Eric commented as he grabbed a seat at the island.

“Let’s make it then,” David said, plucking his apron from the large pantry off the kitchen.

Eric’s mother pulled open the fridge and started piling ingredients onto the counter. “I just want you and Gabriel to be happy—and preferably here in the house.”

So much for her forgetting their conversation.

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