by Anna Antonia
What I was going to do was walk down to CVS and then call a cab. Then I’d take a bubble bath, curl up with a book and some hot chocolate, and maybe watch some TV before bed.
I’d only made it partway down the steps when I heard Gabriel call my name.
THREE
“Emma! Where are you going?”
I didn’t want to acknowledge the thrill that shot through me at the sound of his deep voice. Instead, I turned back around and kept walking. I’d just made it off the last step when the sharp scrape of running footsteps overtook me.
The urge to flee pulsed through my veins. It was primal and almost impossible to resist. I looked over my shoulder. The skin was drawn tight over Gabriel’s cheekbones, giving him the look of determined predator.
My stomach clenched. Longing for this beautiful creature rocked me. With quickened breath, I forced my legs to move faster, to move away from the young man who would make me feel the impossible.
He makes me want to forget about everything that matters to me and just be with him.
I had to run. Gabriel Gordon was too dangerous.
Gabriel’s hand closed around my arm and he pulled us both to the empty side of the building. I noticed his chest heaved in time with mine. His eyes were brighter than usual, layered with a sheen that didn’t seem natural.
I leaned in and took a whiff of his breath. I smelled alcohol.
“Are you fucking drunk?”
“Maybe.” Now that we were standing still, he swayed in time to a beat only he could hear.
Gabriel had been sober the last time I saw him. “How’d you get a hold of alcohol?”
His lips curled into a kissable pout. “I’m sorry, m’dear. I didn’t think you’d want any. I really would’ve shared if I suspected my pure untouchable Emma wanted a bit of the drink.” Gabriel opened his jacket and halfway removed the silver flask from the interior pocket. “It’s all gone, my dear.”
I wanted to smack him for drinking. At prom. “What would you have done if you’d gotten caught? You know they can suspend you and keep you from walking at graduation!”
“You sound as if you care. Do you?”
My mouth snapped shut. I did care but it wasn’t my place. Gabriel and I didn’t even really qualify as friends, much less anything more. Discomfited by the reminder of how my walls were eroding, I lashed out.
“What am I talking about? You don’t have to abide by the rules. Even if you did get caught, I’m sure Daddy would bail you out and smooth over any feathers, right?”
Rage flashed in Gabriel’s expressive gaze. “You don’t know half of what you think you do, Emma.”
Mount Gabriel was getting closer to erupting. My mouth lifted into a half-smirk. “I know enough.”
Gabriel shook his head. “You can be such a…”
“What? Bitch?”
His gaze burned me. “A sadist.”
I didn’t expect that. “W-What? No, I’m not.”
This time it was Gabriel’s mouth that curled into a half-smirk. “Trust me. I know.” Before I could question him further, Gabriel closed the gap between us by one step. “Why wouldn’t you dance with me, Emma?”
I crossed my arms, feeling more vulnerable than I liked. “Because I didn’t want to.”
“Why?”
“I already answered your question.”
“Why?”
“Gabriel—”
“Why?”
His relentlessness trapped me. “Because I’m not like those other girls, Gabriel!”
“I know you’re not.”
“No!” My hand cut through the air impatiently. “We both know I’m not like your spoiled princess debutantes you’re always dating. I’m talking about the others.”
“What others?”
“The ones who are poor like me and end up getting their hearts broken by rich boys like you. I won’t be like them.”
Gabriel dropped his head. “You always think the worst of me, Emma, and I really wished you wouldn’t but I understand why. Still I try…”
He looked up. I opened my mouth but no words came out. Longing, frustration, misery, and anger roiled about him. I was humbled.
Drawn. Enchanted.
It hurt to look at a mourning angel. Overwhelmed and feeling like I’d seen what wasn’t mine to observe, I looked down at my shoes. Gabriel instantly lifted my chin so I’d have no choice but to see him. His long fingers imprinted into my skin. I trembled in his hold. Gabriel’s touch frightened me because it felt so right.
“Why won’t you look at me, Emma? Don’t you know the only one I’ve ever really wanted the past four years is you? What can I do to get you to like me back? I’ll do anything you want…be anything you want…just say you’ll be mine, Emma.”
My legs went weak. I could barely force the muscles to contract and keep me upright. I never imagined anyone, much less Gabriel, saying that to me. I closed my eyes, body relaxing as if it had already acknowledged him as its true owner.
What about school, everything you’ve worked so hard to achieve? Are you going to lose focus and throw it away right when it’s in your grasp?
No.
I couldn’t let Gabriel see how much his words affected me. Lifting my chin, I waited until his fingers retreated. Even without being able to see myself, I knew the picture I presented.
Cold. Composed. Unfeeling.
A lie.
“You don’t really like me. If you did, you wouldn’t have fucked nearly every girl in this school sideways. I saw you with Brandy, remember? I can’t un-see that, Gabriel.” Jealousy coiled in my heart like a bed of venomous snakes. “You know what you are? You’re a fucking liar who’s so full of shit and I wished you’d just leave me alone.”
Gabriel suddenly rushed me. He pressed my body against the brick wall and caged me within his expensively attired arms. No tuxedo rental for him. I could feel his whole body, including the hard bulge of him pressing against my side.
I swallowed back the rest of my venom as I focused on something else far more important. The rumors concerning Gabriel’s sizeable girth weren’t exaggerating. I had the insane urge to push back, to even touch him.
We were in a darkened alley. Alone. No one to see us. No one to stop us.
These kinds of thoughts proved who I really was. Someone who always reached for the darkness, for the forbidden fruit perched on a perfect smile. Someone who flew too close to the flame because she really wanted to burn.
Gabriel paused, searching my gaze with an enigmatic tilt of his head. I wondered what he saw in my eyes.
Lust? Surrender? The truth?
“I’m not lying,” he swore right before pressing his soft lips against mine.
I could’ve screamed. I could’ve bit him. I didn’t do either of those things because I really didn’t want to.
His mouth was perfect. He was perfect. Anything I could’ve imagined, daydreamed about collapsed as the pale imitation it was. Nothing could’ve prepared me for the drugging sensation of having him kiss me. I melted against Gabriel, reaching out blindly to entangle my fingers in his golden hair.
He was drunk when our kiss started. I was drunk when it ended.
Gabriel’s rested his forehead against mine. His bright gaze raked across my red and swollen lips. Hunger sharpened the sensuous lines of his mouth. Perfect teeth flashed bone white.
“Come with me.”
Everything would change if I went but how could I stay? With Gabriel’s kiss, everything already had changed. All my barriers were destroyed. I didn’t care about the future—my grades, school, or even what would happen tomorrow.
I wanted Gabriel. I’d always wanted him, long before this night or even this month. I wanted him from the first moment I laid eyes on him. And now I would have him.
“Yes.”
FOUR
“What are you doing, Gabriel?”
He leaned against me, straining against the seatbelt I clipped for him, and kept kissing my bare shoulder. I shiv
ered in pleasure when he bit down on the spot between neck and shoulder for a sweet moment.
I cried out. I never knew I could sound so feminine and soft.
“Nothing bad. Yet.” Gabriel bit me again. The car jerked forward and the sound of metal assaulted our ears. “There goes second gear.”
“That’s not my fault! I know how to drive a manual.”
“Really? I wouldn’t have guessed, but then again I don’t really care. Grind away, Emma.”
I rolled my eyes. “Only a rich person would say that.”
“Guilty.” Gabriel’s hand played with the end of my sapphire satin dress. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive?”
We pulled up to a stop light. I glared at him, mouth pressed into a hard line. “Gabriel Gordon, how can you even ask? When you get behind the wheel you have a responsibility to everyone else on the road. You don’t drink and drive. Period. Ever. If you even think you’re going to drink, get a driver. Call a cab. Walk. Whatever you do, don’t ever, ever drink and drive. Got it?”
Gabriel smiled beautifully. His expression hinted at great humor. “Yes, ma’am. I’ve been a bad boy, Ms. Adams. Are you going to punish me by stripping…my gears…further so my car is garaged? I won’t mind—especially if you promise to pick me up and take me home every day.”
“You can ride the bus—that is if your pack of girls would let that happen.”
“Oh, that’s not nice, Emma. I don’t want a pack. Never did. Just wanted you…”
“Hey! Watch your hand, Gordon!”
“Which hand? This one? Aw, Emma. Don’t be mean to my hand. It just wants to make the acquaintance of this one precious spot…right…here.” The spot in question being high on my thigh near my panty line. “Don’t be rude, my dear. Let them make friends.”
I reached for the arm making its way steadily up my thigh. “I have to drive and I can’t do it if you’re touching me like that.”
“Then pull over. I certainly don’t mind.” Gabriel kissed my ear, chuckling when I shuddered violently. “And apparently neither do you.”
The light turned green. I blew out a steadying breath and concentrated on not grinding the gears of his luxury convertible. So far, so good.
Then Gabriel rubbed his cheek against my chest. My foot slipped off the clutch before we could get into second gear. Thankfully no one was behind us. Gritting my teeth, I re-engaged the clutch and got into the right gear.
“Come on, Emma. Pull over. Just for a little bit. I just want to kiss you. One minute. That’s all.” Gabriel clasped his hands together in prayer. His eyes fluttered, innocence defined.
I licked my lips. I could already imagine the drugging pressure of his mouth over mine. I wanted to feel it again. Mind made up, I took the first right into an empty lot and parked.
“Good girl. I’m so glad you saw things my way,” he crooned while unbuckling our seat belts.
Lunging across the center console, I clasped his face and kissed him. I didn’t have the finesse he had, but what I lacked in technique I more than made up with enthusiasm.
Gabriel let me set the pace for a bit before taking over. He cupped the back of my head and then curved the long fingers of his free hand around my jaw. He teased the seam of my lips with the tip of his tongue, darting it past my parted lips until I moaned.
“I love kissing you, Emma!” Gabriel swore between long pulls of my mouth. “I could kiss you forever. I knew it would be like this…”
Lost in a wash of sensation, I ran my fingers greedily through his soft hair, loving the silkiness of his golden strands. I pushed against him harder, wishing the layers between us were reduced. I didn’t want to lose any bit of contact between our bodies.
“You’re mine, Emma,” he growled possessively. “Say it.”
Later I’d probably look back at this moment in equal parts embarrassment and wonder. Bewitched and unable to resist the siren call of obeying him, I whispered, “I’m yours, Gabriel.”
“Louder.”
“I’m yours!”
“For how long?”
“Always!”
He groaned and resumed kissing me breathless. I reached into his jacket and pressed my palm against Gabriel’s heart. It pounded against his ribs, mirroring the excited beat of mine.
We lost track of time, ravenous to taste every bit of each other. I never could’ve guessed how good it would feel to kiss.
It wouldn’t be like this with just anybody. It’s Gabriel that makes this different. Special.
As if he’d heard my thoughts, Gabriel pulled away long enough to ask, “Have you ever kissed anyone else, Emma?”
“What?” I stalled while licking my lips. I didn’t want to talk. I wanted more and tried to get it. Gabriel wasn’t to be denied an answer.
“Has anyone ever tasted this beautiful mouth before? Felt it against his own?” He hungrily kissed me again before pulling away again. “Tell me true.”
Temptation to lie didn’t even come into play. “You’re my first.”
Gabriel closed his eyes and whispered, “I knew it.”
“Why? Didn’t I do it well?” Despite my newness to kissing boys, like in all things, I wanted to be the best. Stupid but true.
“More than well. Perfectly.” He peppered my cheeks with tiny kisses. “You’re so sweet, Emma, did you know that? I imagined it but I could never really imagine how perfect you really are.”
My hand clutched the back of his head. “I’m not perfect, Gabriel. Far from it.”
“I know all your flaws and they don’t matter to me.”
I arched, exposing my neck to his clever mouth. “Flaws, huh? I do have a lot of those for sure.”
“No more than me, baby. And I know them because you weren’t the only one watching.”
Embarrassed, I bit my lip and tried to avoid eye contact. “That obvious?”
“No, only to me. But it’s okay.” Gabriel ran his lips up and down my neck, paying special attention to the pulse thrumming in excitement. “You know why?”
“Why?” I could barely keep my focus on him when my body was quickly becoming a mass of nerves all calling to become Gabriel’s personal switchboard.
“You’re my perfect match, Emma.”
Gabriel’s softly spoken words intoxicated me. He sounded almost like a man in love. My mind immediately skittered away from those dangerous thoughts.
Love?
Slow down. You’re moving too fast, Emma.
“Where’d you go, baby?”
The concern in his voice shook me from my cautious thoughts. “No where. I’m right here.”
Gabriel rubbed his thumbs across my cheeks. “Having second thoughts?”
All this time I thought him as a dilettante, prone to moments of brilliance. A boy who spent all his time sleeping in class in between spending time with a glittering set of jackals. Pretty. Harmless unless he chose otherwise.
I completely underestimated his keen powers of observation. In seeing Gabriel, I’d unwittingly allowed him to see me for four years. All of me.
This time I shook for different reasons.
I couldn’t imagine what Gabriel really thought of me and the idea that he wanted me so badly was because he had seen me created a potent concoction of giddiness and exhilaration.
“No.” I shook my head for good measure. “No second thoughts.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” My shaky smile managed to convince him.
“Good. I’m not sure I could let you go anyways.” His rakish grin was at odds with the darkness in his eyes.
Maybe I should’ve been scared, but I wasn’t. His darkness called to mine and it was impossible for me to resist.
“Gabriel?”
“Yes?”
“How much further to your house?”
Lust arched between us, charging the air. Gabriel’s open-mouthed kiss dominated for a long minute before he answered hoarsely, “Less than ten minutes.”
“Let’s go.”
>
He nodded and reached for my seatbelt. Once we were both fastened safely, I started up the car and pulled back onto the road quickly.
I knew what was going to happen and I wanted it.
For the first time, maybe ever, I wasn’t going to allow my logic and pride to dictate what happiness could or should mean to me.
At least for tonight.
FIVE
Gabriel held my hand. Our steps across the marble entryway echoed, emphasizing the emptiness surrounding us both. I’d been in many mausoleums like this with my mother during the summers, but never had I entered through the front door.
Cleaning alongside her and the crews, I didn’t allow myself to really look at the wealth displayed into the very bones of the house. They were objects to dust, to preserve, to tolerate.
Now I had a chance to see it from the other side.
Everywhere I looked I saw acquisitions beyond compare. Gilt frame paintings, antiques, greenery, and furniture better suited to a museum than house emphasized the difference between existing and thriving.
The Haves and the Have Nots.
“Would you like something to drink?”
I appreciated his politeness, somehow expecting Gabriel would simply drag me up the stairs and have his wicked way with me.
“That would be nice. Thank you.”
Gabriel nodded and still holding onto my hand, he wound his way back into the enormous, spotless kitchen. He pulled back a chair at the island and easily lifted me up.
“What would you like? We’ve got it all—water, juice, milk, soda, wine. Whatever you’d want, Emma.”
“Ah, I’d like some juice please.”
“Sure. What kind?”
“Whatever you have.”
Gabriel placed his hands on either side of me. Leaning forward, gaiety sparkling in his gaze, he said, “We’ve got apple, grape, cranberry, grape-cranberry, punch, orange, and grapefruit.”
“All of that?”
