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His voice was closed off now. “I should probably take you home, before your dad sends out a search party.”
So that was that. She bit at her lip, wondering how to fix this.
He stood. “It’s late.”
Oh. Loud and clear. She nodded. “Okay.”
But when they were walking, he reached down and took her hand. “You doing anything tomorrow?”
His fingers were sending bolts of electricity up her arm, and she shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
He leaned down and brushed a kiss against her temple.
“Maybe if you actually use that number I wrote in your notebook, we could figure something out.”
Gabriel sat in the car, staring up at his house for the second night in a row. The porch lights were on, but the lower level lights weren’t. The front step: empty. Both front windows on the second level were dark, but one was Chris’s and one was his, so that didn’t mean much.
He’d been tempted to drive to Hunter’s, but that would probably give Michael an excuse to report him for auto theft or something.
And then there was the subtle accusation in Nick’s second text message.
Gabriel pulled the phone out of his pocket and looked at it again, like he couldn’t remember three words.
You coming home?
ouldn’t move. Right then, she realized he’d been right, about the running. She wanted to run, before his hold on her heart got any tighter.
He leaned closer, until she could see his eyes. The smile was gone. “Do you want me to let you go?”
No. Never. She closed her eyes and nodded.
A hesitation, then, “I think you’re lying.”
She was. But in what freakish world would a guy like Gabriel Merrick be standing with her in the dark, at the water’s edge, sharing kisses and secrets?
He closed that space between them again, until the line of his body just brushed hers. She couldn’t breathe.
“Do you want me to let you go?” he said again.
She swallowed. “No.”
He dropped his head and ran his lips along the edge of her jaw, and the warmth of his breath made her shiver and lean into him. His hands slid down her arms to catch her waist.
She froze and grabbed his wrists.
He went still and spoke against her skin. “Does it hurt?”
Layne shook her head, feeling fire on her cheeks for an entirely different reason. She kept hearing Ryan’s voice. She’s all deformed under there.
God, she hated him. Them. Everyone.
Don’t cry. Don’t.
But her emotions were all over the place, and she could barely keep them contained. She didn’t even realize Gabriel had pulled her along the path until she felt wood planks against the backs of her knees, and he was saying, “Sit.”
A bench. She sat. The wood felt rough through her tights, but sturdy. The tears had held back so far, and she said a quick prayer of thanks.
“You should probably take me home,” she said.
