“Bella, wake up, baby.”
The soft words spoken in my ear pull me from a dreamless sleep. I look around in confusion before I’m able to pull myself out of my sleepy fog. When I do, memories of the night before flash back. Arriving at Gabriel’s apartment and seeing blood everywhere. Being scared of who was in there, but more scared that something had happened to Gabriel. The sheer terror at the thought of losing Gabriel. Holding on to Carlo as the man— who I later discovered was a doctor— fished bullets out of his body. Him finally passing out from the pain and me being dismissed from the room to let them finish fixing Carlo up. Pacing the floor of Gabriel’s living room until I exhausted myself. Then eventually lying down on the couch, telling myself I was just going to rest for a minute.”
“What time is it?” I ask in a scratchy voice as I push myself to sit up on the couch.
“Quarter to five. Doc and Aldo just left.”
I rub the last of the sleep from my eyes, look back up at Gabriel, and ask, “How’s Carlo?”
“He’s good. Passed the fuck out, but he’ll survive.”
Letting out a sigh of relief, I collapse against the back of the couch and close my eyes. “Good, I’m glad.”
The cushion next to me dips with Gabriel’s weight. “You were amazing in there, my bella,” he says softly. I feel the rough pads of his fingers reach up and softly stroke my cheekbone and I instinctively lean into his touch.
“I just wanted to help him.”
“And you did, baby. You were so calm with him. I was so proud of you.”
My eyes open and meet Gabriel’s stunning gray ones. The adoration shining back at me causes a lump to form in my throat. I was so scared I’d never see those eyes again. Tears well up as I study his face, trying to absorb every sharp line and plane, memorizing it so I’ll always be able to see it as clearly in my mind as I do right now. “I thought it was you,” I whisper, my voice cracking on the last two words. “I saw the blood and thought you were hurt. I was so terrified.” The tears break free and stream down my face.
“Shh,” he says soothingly as he pulls me onto his lap, wrapping his arms around me tightly. “I’m okay, baby. I’m right here.” He holds me in his strong arms as I cry, my face buried in his neck as I cling to him, clutching his shirt in tight fists as though I’m afraid he’ll disappear. After several long minutes, my hiccupping sobs taper off and I’m able to inhale deeply, letting his scent flood my senses.
“I don’t know what I’d do if something ever happened to you,” I tell him in a pained voice.
“I’m fine, my bella. Nothing’s going to happen to me.”
Intense desperation washes over me, I don’t even know where it’s coming from, but I can’t control it. Shifting in Gabriel’s lap, I straddle his thighs and cup his face in both hands. “Promise me,” I demand frantically. “Promise me nothing’s ever going to happen to you.”
“Baby, calm down,” he replies, his eyes taking in my frenzied expression.
“Promise me, Gabriel!” I snap.
He takes my wrists in his hands and pulls them from his face, but doesn’t let go. He keeps my arms effectively trapped in his strong grip, as he speaks, “I can’t promise that, baby. No one can ever promise that. But what I can promise is that I’ll do everything in my power to end all of this. I’ll do whatever it takes so you’re able to live your life without this kind of worry. And I promise, when all of this is over, I’ll make sure you have nothing but happiness for the rest of your life.”
It isn’t what I want to hear, but it’s still damn good, and it helps to alleviate some of my worry, at least for now.
Straddling Gabriel’s lap, staring down at him as he looks up at me with such intensity, I’m hit with a completely different emotion. Now I crave him. So I do the only thing I can think to do. Lowering my head, I press my lips to his and immediately trace along his bottom lip with my tongue before tugging it gently with my teeth. The groan he releases does nothing but fuel my desire. Pushing through his lips, my tongue dives into his mouth to wrestle with his, and I let out a moan of my own as the sweet taste of mint and Gabriel hits me. I’ll never have enough of this man.
His hands grab my hips and rock me back and forth against the stiffness of his cock. With each forward roll, he pumps his hips up, making contact where I need him the most.
Wrenching my mouth from his, I release a gasp as his hard-on rubs against my clit, making me wetter and wetter for him.
“That’s it, baby,” he coaxes as he continues to control the movement of my hips. Make yourself come, my bella. I want to hear you.”
But I can’t. Not like this. I don’t want it like this. “Gabriel,” I whimper. “I need you.”
“What do you need, baby?” One hand travels from my hip, under my shirt to cup my breast. The pad of his thumb rubs across my nipple making it stiffen behind the shear lace.
“I need you,” I cry out in frustration, the clothing between us becoming more of a burden with each passing second. “I need you to fuck me, Gabriel. God, please fuck me.”
His mouth comes away from my neck where he’s been sucking and his fingers stop their ministrations on my breast. “You need my cock, my bella?”
“God, yes,” I hiss, dropping my head back and continuing to grind against his erection.
His hand grips my hair and pulls so we’re eye to eye. “You let me back inside you, that’s it, baby. You’re mine for good. If I fuck you again, there’s no going back. I won’t let you deny me anymore. You want that?”
“Yes! Yes yes yes yes. Please!”
I’m done. After what I witnessed tonight, and how severely it has affected me, I’m done. No more fighting this, no more denying what I feel for him. “I’m yours, Gabriel. I’ve been yours since the first time I saw you.”
That’s it. That’s all it takes to make him lose control. Pushing up from the couch, he stands to his full height, still holding me. My legs wrap around his waist as my hands go to his shoulders for stability. Before I can ask where we’re going, he’s lumbering through the living room, down the hall, not stopping until we’re inside his bedroom. He kicks the door shut and strides the last few feet to his bed, dropping me down onto the soft mattress.
As soon as my body lands, his hands are at my hips, ripping my pants down my legs, along with my panties. One fell swoop and everything on the bottom half of my body is gone.
“From now on, you sleep here,” he growls as he tears his shirt from his body, not even bothering with the buttons. His belt and pants follow quickly after, adding to the growing pile of clothes on the floor. Hungry to feel his skin against mine, I sit up and yank my t-shirt over my head, going for the clasp of my bra the moment the shirt is gone.
“Yes,” I tell him, not really paying attention to what he’s saying. I can only concentrate on one thing. Once I’m completely naked, I reach for his hard cock, still trapped behind blue boxer briefs. God, I need that. My mouth practically waters for it.
“You’re next to me every night, no matter what,” he groans as I pull him free and wrap my palm around his erection, squeezing just how I know he likes it. “I want you naked and beside me every night. I want to be able to fuck you, or taste your pussy whenever the hell I want.”
“I want that too, baby,” I tell him as I climb to my knees. I want his mouth on mine more than I can explain.
After too brief a kiss, he pushes me back to the bed, following me down. The weight of his body pressing me into the soft mattress feels like heaven.
“No foreplay this time. I need to bury my cock inside you. I can’t wait.”
I shake my head back and forth, begging, “Don’t wait. Please. I need you to fuck me so badly. Don’t be gentle, baby. Please.”
I feel like a completely different person as I lie under him begging him to do things to my body, which would have petrified me in the past. But that’s what he does to me. He makes me want things, desire things I never thought I’d want, things I never thought I
’d be strong enough to handle. Gabriel gives me that. He gives me strength to do and feel things I’ve always hidden from, things I’ve always been afraid of.
“You want it rough, my bella?”
“Oh God, yes. I want you to do whatever you want with me. Please don’t hold back. I can take it. I promise I can handle all of you.”
“Anything you want, my bella.”
And with that, he buries himself to the hilt.
***
Jesus fucking Christ. Her pussy’s so goddamned perfect. If I died right now, I’d go with the biggest shit-eating grin on my face.
“Shit, Gabriel! Just like that, baby.”
Fuck, hearing those desperate, needy sounds coming from her perfect mouth are enough to make me blow. She’s too fucking perfect, everything about her. There’s no doubt in my mind she was made for me. And I’m keeping her this time. For-fucking-ever.
Drawing my hips back so just the head of my cock is in her, I hold my breath and wait, just for a second, just long enough for those gorgeous green eyes to open up and meet mine, just long enough to get her to beg…again. Then I shove myself back in as hard and as deep as I can. Her back arches off the bed, pressing her tits up to just the right height. Never one to deny someone pleasure, I wrap my lips around her stiff pink nipple and suck, hard. Her nails dig into my shoulders so deeply, I know she’s broken the skin, and all that does is make me want to take her even rougher, so I do.
Powering my hips in and out, I fuck her body like a man possessed, not able to get enough no matter how hard I try. Switching to the other breast, I suck the pink tip into my mouth, only this time, I bite down. Not enough to hurt, just enough to give her that perfect little pleasurable sting I know she loves so much.
The second I do, her pussy clamps down on my cock like a vise and she screams out my name loud enough to wake the dead. One of her hands rakes across my back, no doubt leaving red welts in its wake. The other reaches up into my hair and pulls with all the strength she has. The combination of biting pain and her hot, wet pussy squeezing me to death is enough to set me the fuck off.
Any restraint I had left, snaps. Grabbing both her hands in mine, I pin them to the mattress above her head. My hips have picked up speed as my cock thrusts in and out of her, over and over, until I feel that all too familiar tingle at the base of my spine.
As my balls tighten, and I get that first delicious taste of what’s to come, I know this is going to be the most intense, mind-blowing orgasm I’ve ever had in my life.
Not able to hold on any longer, my release crashes into me with the strength of a freight train, and I shoot everything I have into her with loud shouts of her name. Burying my face in the smooth curve of her neck, I can’t help but bite down and suck the flawlessly creamy skin there. The urge to mark her is just too fucking great to deny.
The second my teeth make contact, her entire body tightens under me as I continue fucking her through my orgasm. I’m still latched onto her neck when her breath catches and those tight little walls of hers grab hold of me once again.
“Oh, fuck!” she yells out as she comes around my cock for the second time.
Fucking hell, I was right. Marley’s absolutely perfect for me.
Her hips buck as she meets me, thrust for brutal thrust until there’s nothing left and we’re both drenched in sweat and gasping for air. I stay on top of her until I’m finally able to move my limbs enough to lift up to look at her.
Her eyes are closed, her face turned away from me, and I’m instantly afraid I’ve hurt her.
“Bella,” I say softly, brushing stands of damp hair away from her face. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”
Those breathtaking green eyes fly open and meet mine, and the grin she gives me makes my dick begin to twitch back to life.
“I’m so good,” she breathes.
I feel a cocky smirk spread across my lips. “Is that right?”
“Oh, yes.” Her arms come up and circle my shoulders. She pulls my face back down to hers and plants a soft, sweet kiss there. “That was perfect, Gabriel. It’s always perfect.”
Having her soft, naked body underneath me once more is like a blessing. I never thought I’d have this again. Running my nose along hers, I whisper the words I want to say to her every morning when we wake up, and every night before we fall asleep.
“I love you, my bella.”
I feel her breath against my ear as she whispers the four little words that will make my whole world right. “I love you, too.” Then she makes it even sweeter. “So much, Gabriel.”
“Can you please explain one thing to me?” Gabriel asks. I can’t see his face in the darkness of the bedroom, but his breath whispers over my cheek and his limbs tighten around me. After coming back from the bathroom, Gabriel refused to allow me to put on clothes, so now we lay naked in bed, wrapped around each other, my back pressed against his firm chest, my ass snuggly fitting to his groin. Our legs are a tangled mess and his arms are holding me to him, his fingers lightly running over the palms of my hands.
“What’s that?”
“What the fuck were you thinking, walking into the apartment with your gun drawn?”
Ah, here it is. I knew it was only a matter of time before he remembered how he’d stumbled upon me hours earlier.
Defensively, I snap, “I was thinking it wasn’t normal to walk into a bloody mess and that you could have been in here hurt.”
His arms tighten further. “Then you don’t fucking pull a gun and walk into the fray. You turn the fuck around and run in the other direction like your ass is on fire.”
Turning in his arms so I’m facing him, I glare—even though he can’t see me in the dark. “I couldn’t just leave you!”
“You damn well could! You don’t ever put yourself at risk, Marley. Ever.”
“Gabriel—”
“Don’t argue with me,” he interrupts. “If something like that ever happens again, you run and you call me when you’re somewhere safe.”
“I was scared,” I finally whisper after several seconds of silence. “All I could think was that you were in here hurt and I had to get to you. I had to help. Thinking I’d never see you again killed me. I didn’t even think about what I was doing, I just reacted.”
I feel his lips against my forehead before he speaks again. “Bella, I can’t begin to tell you how much that means to me, that you’d do anything to help me. But I need you to promise me, I need you to swear that you’ll always think before you react if you’re ever in a situation like that again. Always, Marley. I don’t care how scared you are for me. Promise me that.”
I can only pray another situation like that never occurs again. I tuck my head into his chest, nod and say, “I promise.” I just hope that promise doesn’t turn out to be a lie, because I honestly don’t know if I’d ever be able to just run away if I knew Gabriel was in trouble. Deciding it was time to change the subject, I ask, “So are you going to tell me what the hell happened tonight that led to Carlo being laid up in the guestroom with more holes than Swiss cheese?”
His body tenses against mine and he lets out a frustrated sigh. “We walked into a trap tonight. I know it looks bad seeing Carlo shot up like that, but trust me, it could have been a lot worse.”
“It was Gianni, wasn’t it?”
His fingers start moving up and down my back as he tells me, “Yeah. We thought we had a solid informant who worked for his crew. Turns out, the guy’s a fucking rat. He played us. Gianni and his guys came in ready, and shit hit the fan faster than you could blink.”
My gut tightens at the thought of just what ‘a lot worse’ entails, and I can’t help but hate the life Gabriel’s gotten himself into. “Was there anyone else hurt?”
“No. No one else. Carlo ran in ahead of us to try to clear a way for Aldo and his guys to get out, that’s why he got the brunt of it.”
“Did you get Gianni?” The immediate tension filling the room gives me my answer.
“No.
Fucker got away, but we’ll get him.”
I don’t know if that’s the outcome I’m hoping for or not. I know being with Gabriel means accepting certain things, things I’m having trouble accepting. But Gianni’s dangerous. He’s a threat to Gabriel, to me, and God knows who else. I’m struggling with how I feel knowing what has to happen for this to be over.
“What about your informant? What are you going to do about him?”
He doesn’t answer right away. Finally, he says, “Baby?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to.”
And I know, without a doubt what will happen to the guy. I also know I’ll never ask a question like that again.
“Now go to sleep,” he tells me.
“Okay.”
Gabriel’s breathing slows long before mine, letting me know he’s asleep. It takes several more minutes, but I finally drift off. And the nightmares don’t return.
***
“Jesus. A shootout?” Carmen asks through the phone as I take another drag from my cigarette and exhale loudly.
Sitting under the heaters on Gabriel’s balcony, I pull my jacket tighter around me to ward off the winter wind as I fill my friend in on everything that happened the night before.
“Mmm hmm.”
“Babe.” Concern is etched into her voice. “Are you sure this is something you should be dealing with? I mean drugs and shootouts? That’s fucking heavy stuff, and it’s not like you haven’t spent your entire adult life trying to escape a similar childhood.”
After snuffing out my cigarette in the glass ashtray Gabriel has placed out here for me, I sit back and think over what Carmen just said before telling her what I discovered last night. “You don’t understand, Car. When I saw the blood last night, I lost it. The thought of Gabriel being hurt…or worse, it did me in. I’m done trying to run from this. Last night was an eye opener.”
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