“Oh, so you know me, huh?”
Oh, he knew Tony’s type all right, and it all made sense why Temperance seemed shy and withdrawn. He wouldn’t be surprised if this Tony guy was the reason she couldn’t believe Gabriel—or anyone—could possibly love her for who she was.
“Looks to me like she’s seen the light. Let me guess, you cheated on her multiple times? Trying to make yourself seem like the big macho man, having a nice girl like her at home doing your bidding while you go out and wiggle your shrimp dick at anyone who even gave you a second glance—”
“Fuck you, freak,” Tony snapped. “She was mine first—ack!”
The human didn’t manage to finish that sentence, not with Gabriel’s hands squeezing his neck tight. “Listen here, maggot.” He slammed Tony’s body up against the car behind him. “She was yours first? Then you should have done everything in your Goddamned power—even sold your soul to the Devil himself—to keep her.” His lion urged him on, their claws extending out from his fingers just enough to prick at the other man’s skin. “That’s what I would have done. But she’s mine now, and if you even think about her or breathe the air she does, I’m going to open you up from neck to balls and eat you alive, got it?”
Tony took a gulp of air when Gabriel loosened his grip, and managed a nod.
“Christ.” The smell of urine made Gabriel want to gag, so he let go of the other man. “Get the fuck out of here.”
As he scrambled to his feet, Tony sent him a death glare. “You two freaks deserve each other,” he spat as he stomped off toward the rusted-out sedan near the front of the parking lot.
Gabriel took a few deep breaths and counted to three, watching as Tony peeled out onto the highway. Slowly, he turned around. “Baby, are you—Temperance?”
He expected her to still be plastered against the side of her car, but instead, she had rounded to the driver’s side, tugging at the handle desperately in an attempt to open the door. Her movements were manic, and her entire body shook as she let out a shriek of frustration when the door remained shut.
Patiently, he walked around to her side. “Maybe it would help if you unlocked the door first?”
She whirled around; light hazel eyes wide, cheeks flushed red.
“Where are your keys, baby?” he asked.
Her lips parted, and she sucked in a breath. “I-in my p-purse.” Her bottom lip trembled, and her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
Gabriel’s chest tightened. “Baby, I’m so sorry for—”
“He’s right,” she whispered, a single hot tear streaking down her cheek. “I am a freak. You shouldn’t—”
“No, no, no.” More tears poured down her cheeks. “Oh, baby, please don’t cry. You don’t know what it does to me.”
Slowly, he approached her, arms reaching out. Though she flinched when his hands touched her shoulder, he embraced her anyway. She didn’t struggle, but instead, burrowed her face into his chest.
“You’re not a freak, baby. And that asshole doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” He tightened his arms around her. “He called me a freak, too. And you know what? I don’t give a shit what he thinks. If it means I do deserve you, then I’d gladly call myself a freak.”
She looked up at him. “You know you’re not. And that’s not what I meant.” Disentangling herself from him, she nodded down at her right arm. “You shouldn’t be with someone like me. I don’t deserve—”
“You know I don’t care about that.”
“What you can see now? It’s nothing compared to the rest of me.” She began unrolling her sleeve, exposing the frightening sight of the patches of discolored skin and webbed tissue on her arm. “It goes all the way up, to my back and neck. I’m mostly bald under here, too,” she said, shoving her fingers under her neck. “What is everyone going to say when they see us together? Oh, I know.” Her lips thinned. “They’ll always wonder what someone like you is doing with someone like me. That’s what they would always whisper when I was with Tony. And I couldn’t keep him, and I certainly won’t be able to keep you.”
“Stop saying that!” That made her jump back, and he cursed softly. “Maybe he wasn’t worth keeping.” A thought popped into his head, and it made him want to murder the other man even more than he already did. “Did he … was he the one responsible for your scars?” If she said yes, God help him, he would hunt that bastard down right now.
“What?” She double-blinked. “No, no, he wasn’t.” Her shoulders sank, and she sighed. “I was sixteen when it happened. My m-mother and stepfather, they weren’t … good people. I mean, they never hit me or anything, but all they cared about was getting their next hit. They’d been addicts since I could remember.” The light in her hazel eyes seemed to die, as if she was trapped in some nightmare in her mind and couldn’t get out. “We moved into a motel because we’d been kicked out of our last apartment again, and I had to sleep on the rollaway bed. I went to sleep early because it was exam week. The next thing I knew, I was in bed and everything was hot. I couldn’t breathe. And the burning … I passed out and woke up in the hospital. I was the only one that survived.”
Oh God. Gabriel’s chest was constricted so tight he couldn’t breathe. “Temperance … that’s horrible. I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “It’s been a long time. I mostly got over it. Had the surgeries, therapy, learned to support myself ….” Her nostrils flared. “Then I met Tony. He was … everything you could want in a boyfriend. He paid attention to me, took me out. He was so out of my league.”
He snorted as ugly jealously crept into his gut but let her continue.
“He moved in right away, then he changed. Lost his job, and I had to support him.” Her expression darkened. “When I complained, he was always reminding me how I couldn’t do any better than him and how no one would ever love me because of my scars. When I cried because I was so hurt, he would tell me he didn’t say those things or say they were just a joke. He also cut me off from my friends, saying that they were all jealous of me whenever they tried to tell me he was controlling. It took me catching him in bed with someone else to finally get the courage to leave him.”
“I’m glad you did,” he huffed. “He was a terrible person, a predator of the worst kind.” His fingers curled into his palms. “He saw you as vulnerable, your self-confidence barely holding together and knew he could take advantage of that. I’m sorry he did that to you, but I’m not sorry he drove you out here so we could finally meet.”
“Why do you keep saying stuff like that?” she cried.
“Stuff like what? That I’m glad I finally found you?”
“Like that!” She gritted her teeth. “Sweet, amazingly kind things that make me … make me want to …”
“Make you want to what?”
“Make me want to hope,” she choked out. “Hope that I could possibly hang on to you and keep you.”
“What?” Genuine shock made his jaw drop. “Baby, you are keeping me. And I’m keeping you.” Unable to help himself, he trapped her in his arms. “Temperance, look at me. Please.” Slowly, she lifted her head to meet his gaze. “You said you liked me too, right?”
She nodded.
“Do you feel this … connection to me? Anytime you see me, even from a distance, something in you just can’t look away, and you want to be near me? Or when we’re far apart—like last night—you just can’t sit still, and all you can think about is me.”
Her eyes went wide with wonder, though she didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. Hope soared in his chest. “I know this is going to sound crazy … but Temperance, you’re my mate.” He hadn’t planned on telling her this way, but it seemed like the right time. “My soulmate. Us shifters, we have this one person that we’re supposed to be with and while our human selves may not see it right away, our animals always do. Hell, my lion must have known even before I crashed into the kitchen, because I kept coming back just for your cooking.”
“I don’t understand, Gabriel,”
she began. “We’re soulmates?”
“Search inside yourself, Temperance. You know it’s true.”
As her lashes lowered, a sense of dread crept into his stomach. Temperance was human. She had no animal to tell her this. What if she couldn’t understand? Or what if she rejected him anyway?
Seconds ticked by, and finally clear, light hazel orbs looked up at him. “Somehow, I always knew. Whenever I was baking, I would always think if you would like this kind of ingredient or that … and when you came in, I would always watch you through the window in the kitchen. I would feel so happy when you ate every single one of my pies. And it wasn’t just because you were good looking.” She smiled sheepishly. “Is that silly? Or—”
“Not at all,” he said. “You’re my mate, Temperance. And I’m yours.”
“Gabriel,” she sighed. “I was so afraid if you found out Tony was here …” She swallowed audibly. “That you’d think I asked him back. And that I wanted him here. But I didn’t. I don’t.”
“What? Oh no … baby.” He held her tighter. “I would never think that. I told you, you’re my mate. Nothing you could do or say could make me think otherwise.” As he lowered his head, his heart drummed against his ribcage.
She opened up to him eagerly, leaning back as their mouths touched. Pure joy burst through him as they kissed, his lips moving over hers in an ardent caress. A gasped escaped her mouth as he delved his tongue into her mouth, tasting her sweetness. His entire body vibrated with need, and he pulled away. “Temperance. Come home with me tonight.”
Her pupils were blown with desire. “Yes,” she said in a husky voice that made his cock immediately harden.
Somehow, they both found their way to his Jeep. The engine was still running, which made it easier to maneuver out of the parking lot and into the highway. It was a miracle they didn’t get into an accident as his mind was on Temperance and taking her—all of her, finally. He kept biting the inside of his lip as he drove home, as he pulled into his parking spot and then led the way up to his condo. As soon as the door closed behind them, he turned around and caged her in his arms. “Temperance … I want you so bad.”
“No more talking,” she urged, nipping at his lips. “Please, Gabriel.”
Damn, his mate had bite. Bending down, he swooped her into his arms, fearing that if he even kissed her he would take her against the door. No, their first time would be in his bed, and he would make sure she would never forget it.
He carried her all the way to his room, laying her down on the bed gently. “Temperance, will you let me see you? Please?”
“I’m scared, Gabriel,” she said in a small voice.
“There’s nothing to be scared of,” he said, pressing soft kisses down the right side of her face. “I promise.”
She sucked in a breath, and then he felt her nod. Joining her on the bed, he positioned her so she was leaning back on his headboard and he knelt between her knees.
Crawling back, he started with her shoes, slipping them off and tossed them off the side of the bed. His fingers traced up her bare legs, over the skirt covering her hips and thighs until he reached the waistband and pulled that off too. The tiny lacy panties she wore covered up what he had already seen and tasted the other night, but damn if it didn’t make him harder, seeing the shadow of her dark pubic hair through the white fabric and the smell of her wetness teasing him. Though he wanted nothing more than to take her, he knew he had to be patient.
“Do you want me to—”
“May I?” He crawled back up, reaching for the front of her blouse. Slowly, he undid the buttons, one by one, baring her lace-covered breasts. He’d been dreaming about those sexy tits for two nights now, wondering how they would feel and taste. But again, he had to help Temperance get over her fear of being naked around him. So, he slipped the top off her shoulders, easing it down her arms, all the while keeping his eyes on hers. He could see the anxiety growing in those light hazel orbs. “Don’t be scared,” he said as he helped her remove her left arm from the sleeve. “There’s nothing to be worried about.
Her lower lip trembled. “I can’t help it.”
“Trust me, Temperance. I’m your mate. You’re the other half of my soul. This body, in whatever shape or form, was made for me. Has always been.” He took her right hand, the sleeve still hanging off it and covering her to her wrist, and kissed the webbed skin behind her palm and nuzzled it. “You’re beautiful to me, no matter what.”
He heard the sharp intake of breath, and she sat up, tugging the shirt off. He held her hand so that she wouldn’t cover herself, then finally looked up at her, bared before him.
The scars did indeed cover her from fingers to cheek, a patchwork of discolored skin and latticework of puckered flesh. He took in the entire sight before him, then looked her straight in the eye. “See? That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
She shook her head. “But … my scars …”
“I’m not going to lie to you and pretend they’re not there or even give you trite or cliched expressions you’ve probably heard before,” he said. “But I want you to know, those scars have nothing to do with who you are as a person now.”
“And who am I, Gabriel?” she asked, her voice quavering.
“You’re Temperance Pettigrew, a talented and beautiful woman. You frustrate me sometimes, but you always make me laugh. You’re loyal and kind to a fault, but you would do anything for your friends, even if they were made of plaster.” When she snorted, he pounced on her, covering her body with his. “You challenge me and make me want to be a better person.” Lowering his head, he whispered in her ear. “And you’re mine, and I want you.”
Chapter Ten
You’re mine and I want you.
Those words, and Gabriel’s breath hot on her skin made Temperance shiver. But it was the truth behind them, the veracity she knew deep in her bones that made all her doubts fall away.
“Gabriel … I need you …”
The soft, needy growl from his lips made desire shoot straight to her core, making her slick in anticipation. His mouth devoured hers hungrily, eagerly, and she let him in, allowing his tongue to taste and taunt her at the same time, his masculine flavor dissolving on her tongue like herbed butter on steak. She wanted more—she wanted all of him.
Pushing him off her, she reached down and grabbed the hem of his shirt, pulling it all the way up and over his chest. He helped her whip it off and toss it aside, then trained those sky-blue eyes on her.
God, he was beautiful. Reaching out, she traced the muscles on his shoulder with her fingers, feeling the hard muscle under his hot, tanned skin. She trailed her mouth alongside her hands, kissing every inch of him. His collarbones, the dip under his throat, the line between his pecs. When she reached the hard-tipped flat nipple, he let out a groan when she flicked her tongue out to tease him.
With a growl, he flipped her onto her back, making her squeak. “You’re mine now,” he said, grinning at her. Pinning her hands to her sides, he lowered his head, giving her a quick peck on the mouth before he went straight for her cleavage. His tongue traced the line between her breasts, burrowing deep into the flesh, tickling and teasing her until she was moaning and squirming under him.
“Gabriel,” she exclaimed when he tore the lace that held her bra cups apart, her breasts bouncing to freedom. Immediately, he claimed one nipple with his mouth, tongue lashing and lips sucking back. The sensations made her roll her eyes back in pleasure and rake her fingers into his hair to pull him closer.
She moaned in disappointment when he pulled away. Looking down, she saw him trailing kisses lower … “Oh!” His mouth was on her again, fervently licking and sucking at her slick pussy lips. Tongue, mouth, teeth worked at teasing her relentlessly until she had no choice but to be swept away in orgasm.
He didn’t stop at one orgasm or even two. Gabriel seemed to be determined to wring every ounce of pleasure he could from her, licking and sucking at her, teasing her clit and thrusting that talente
d tongue of his as deep as he could inside her. It only took a couple of hard thrusts before she was coming again, her hips lifting off the bed to meet his mouth, the growling and snarling in his throat pushing her over the edge.
“Gabriel … I need you so bad,” she panted. “Please.”
He grunted as he pushed away, fumbling at his jeans as he shoved it and his briefs down, his thick cock springing free. Her pussy practically throbbed seeing how large he was. Spreading her knees wide, he covered her body, his cock pressing against her belly, teasing her. “Gabriel …”
“Easy, baby,” he whispered. “You’ll get what you want. But first …” His arm reached out to the side of the bed and pulled a silver packet out of the drawer.
“Oh, thank goodness.” She wouldn’t have thought of that. While she knew she wanted children, she wasn’t quite ready yet. Even if the thought of having Gabriel’s baby did make her feel giddy.
Quickly, he ripped open the package and slipped it over his shaft. The blunt tip nudged at her core, and Gabriel grit his teeth as he pushed in slowly.
“Temperance … so good,” he groaned when he was finally fully seated in her. “God …”
“You too.”
Gabriel pulled back, slowly and surely, then slammed back inside. There was no time to be surprised as his smooth movements began to even out, bucking into her in a steady pace that had pressure building up inside her. “Gabriel!” She arched her body up, begging for more, needing more from him.
His pace was punishing, relentless as he continued to rut into her until she was squeezing around him, her orgasm ripping through her like a lightning strike. All of a sudden, she found herself on top, straddling him, Gabriel grinning up at her. “You’re so beautiful, my mate.”
She gasped as he thrust up at her, his cock hitting a different part of her that made her shiver. Bracing herself on his chest, she began to move, rocking her hips back and forth, feeling her clit rub against his pubic bone in a delicious way.
Blackstone Ranger Charmer Page 12
