Leaving Gabrielle behind today was the hardest thing I'd had to do in a very long time. Leaving her alone, naked and vulnerable as I tried to protect us both from the darkness that tormented my life regularly and now probably hers by association. It was all so tremendously fucked up. Sometimes I just grew weary of wondering what great sin I'd done in my life to make it turn on me this way. The Rothvale curse perhaps?
It was wrong to involve Gabrielle in my problems, but I feared it was too late for that. She was already involved now and my fearing it wouldn't change anything. The minute I'd put her in my plane and brought her into my home she'd become entangled. If she wanted to stick around with me was the question now—and one only she could answer.
Now I'd have to wait until tomorrow morning to find out. Which didn't sit well with me at all in my present state of mind. I wanted to know now. Patience can be a raging beast to master. After turning off the water I just stood there and looked down, letting the water drip off me for a moment. Maybe hoping the chill of the night air on wet skin would temper my need to see her safe in her bed. Just to calm my racing thoughts, which were bloody out of control considering she was just a few doors and a room away from me right now…
Eventually I stepped out and snatched a towel from the heated rack and dried off. I then stalked into my closet and dug around for a while until I found what I was searching for. Another one of those silk robes. What had Gabrielle called it? A smoking jacket. Fancy robes rich men used to wear for lounging and smoking. Well, rich was correct, but I'd never smoked anything in my life, and I wasn't going to start. That shit kills. And I didn't need any more help in the killing department. There were some people who'd probably love for me to be dead.
I drew it on and had to admit the cool silk did feel nice against my skin. This smoking jacket wasn't sea blue like the one I'd given to Gabrielle though. It was black and gold and it must have belonged to my uncle? I don't think he ever used it though, because it didn't give the impression of clothing that had been worn. Had Finnegan put it in my closet in the last year or so? It was all just here after the renovations were done to my bedroom. I really had no idea whatsoever where most of the crap in this house came from.
You're rarely here, that's why, you daft idiot.
But I was going to be here a great deal more now. Because Gabrielle would be here. And I wanted to be wherever she was going to be. That was fact. For me, my decision had been made about her the minute she appeared on the railway platform at Taunton Station like a vision from my favorite dream. Fate had given me a third chance with the woman who'd captivated me from the first moment I'd laid eyes on her. And I was done with letting her get away anymore. Because I had plans to win her heart and make her mine. Everyone needs personal goals and Gabrielle was number one on my list.
She's here right now asleep in the next room.
I looked over at my comfortable bed and thought about getting in it alone. For about two ridiculous seconds.
Fuck that.
I opened the connecting door through to her sitting room and went right on in. I stopped at the desk because I remembered Finnegan saying she'd been working here all evening. I switched on the desk lamp and saw something which helped me gain a bit more confidence for my future—but mostly just to feel fucking aced at the end of a really shit day.
The contracts were signed. Gabrielle I. Hargreave had signed her name in a very pretty hand to both. I wanted to know her middle name that began with an I. There was so much about Gabrielle I wanted to know.
So, I switched off the light at the desk and went into her bedroom.
Standing over her in the dark like a stalkerazzi, I indulged in a little session of sleep watching. I don't know for how long because I was in no hurry. The second my eyes found her, time slowed way down for me and the huge weight crushing in on my chest faded away as if it had never been there. The drapes at the window weren't closed, so the illumination from the summer moon worked to my advantage for appreciating the magnificent vision that was Gabrielle asleep. Even better? Gabrielle asleep in a bed inside my house.
She looked amazing in it. Like a goddess in one of the paintings she was here to sort out.
She stirred in the bed and moved the blanket with her arm, exposing one spectacular breast as the fabric slipped down. She was sleeping naked in that bed. And I just couldn't hold back my need to touch her for another second longer.
I didn't want to scare her though, so I opted for her hair instead of the bared breast now literally making my mouth water. I caressed a section away from her face to tuck behind her ear, exposing that special place just below her jaw I couldn't keep away from—uh oh—right where I'd made a damned love bite on her (up till now) perfectly flawless skin. A rather substantial one at that. Kitten's skin was very delicate apparently, and I'd have to be more careful in future. Or maybe I wouldn't. Because having it on her body like a mark claiming her as mine to anyone who saw it there pleased me more than just a little fucking much. The Neanderthal part of my DNA still functioned terribly like that of a primitive male despite eons of human evolution. Couldn't help it. Didn't want to feel any differently than I did about Gabrielle. I always felt like carrying her off to my metaphorical cave and spreading her out naked on my furs for fucking. Every chance I got.
She stirred again. And this time when she stirred, she opened her eyes and spoke to me. She said something so simple. Just three small words. But the level of intimacy meant more to me than I think anything else she could have said, especially on this night after everything that'd happened today. Right now, in this small space in time for the two of us, the words she said to me meant more than anything I think I'd ever heard from anyone in my whole life.
"I missed you."
She missed me.
She missed me.
She missed me.
"How did you get to be so fucking perfect? I missed you too, kitten. And this is the only thing which can fix the problem." I ditched the robe and crawled into bed beside her, immediately gathering her against me, loving her reaction of settling right into my arms. I just held her for a moment and breathed in the scent of her all warm and soft from sleeping. I smelled flowery soap and a hint of maybe citrus in her hair, committing into my memory, learning every small detail I possibly could about this woman who captivated me beyond anything I'd ever experienced before with another person. I needed this—being close to her—so badly, and yet didn't even realize until I had her soft skin pressed against mine again just how much I'd needed it. I could feel my emotions levelling out and a sense of calm overtaking my whole body...just from having Gabrielle close again. What did this say about me? You need her to be right in your fucking head.
"How are you? I worried about you the whole time I was away."
"You did?" She sounded surprised by my declaration.
"Of course. I had to leave you naked and alone while I went out and dealt with a nightmare. I'm so sorry, Gabrielle. I don't even have words for what that was today. I'm just so dreadfully sorry for the many things which went wrong this afternoon. You must think this is a madhouse and me a lunatic in charge of the whole bloody asylum."
"Not today I don't, Mr. Everley." She brought a hand up to tuck my hair behind my ear and kept it there at the side of my face, holding me in place, as she always did whenever she touched me. I couldn't help my reaction to her touch any more than I could stop time. It was simply my reality whenever she put her hands on me. "There was a time when I thought that way about you, but not today," she whispered up at me.