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She turned her head to look at him. “Do you really think I’m going to run if I know your secrets?”
That chased the gentle humor off his face. It reminded her of Friday night, sitting on the tailgate of his car, when they’d played Truth or Dare. When she’d made a decision to jump, praying he’d be there to catch her.
She reached for his wrist, pulling his hand away from her cheek, drawing it down the front of her body. She held her breath again, sliding his fingers under the edge of her shirt. Her palm flattened over his hand, holding his skin against hers.
“Breathe,” he whispered.
She shook her head quickly, and he laughed.
Then he slid his hand out from under hers, stroking the length of her abdomen. His thumb traced the line of her bra.
She sucked in a quick breath.
“See?” He leaned in to speak against her ear. “I still think you’re beautiful.”
She knew exactly what his hands were feeling, exactly where the scars turned smooth skin into something that felt like melted rubber. She waited for him to jerk his fingers away, to make a sound of disgust, to recoil.
Instead, he slid her shirt higher, then bent to kiss his way across her stomach.
Every nerve in her body was firing. She thought she might hy-perventilate.
Especially when his teeth found the skin at the base of her rib cage.
At that moment, he could have told her he was a bank rob-ber, and she wouldn’t have cared. An arms dealer. A foreign spy.
All she knew was that suddenly clothes were in the way.
She started yanking at the shoulders of his sweatshirt, trying to drag it over his head. He laughed again, but this time it was a slow sexy growl of sound as he lifted enough to help her yank the hoodie free.
The contents of his pockets spilled across her bare skin, and she giggled, grabbing for keys and his iPod, tossing them on top of the abandoned sweatshirt. Then her fingers closed on something slick and metal.
She frowned as she held it up. “A lighter?”
Gabriel was staring at it in her hand, that same inscrutable expression on his face. Tousled hair, rumpled T-shirt. Somewhat lost, but defiant at the same time. Those typical defenses were falling into place.
ne pinch me.
“Seriously,” he said, glancing over at where her horse was yanking tufts of grass out of the ground. “Is he trained like a dog?”
Layne giggled. “No. Horses are herd animals. If he ran anywhere, he’d go back to the barn.” Though really, if the barn manager caught her lying out here with the horse running loose, the woman would probably have a word or two to say about it.
“Like that day on the trail,” said Gabriel.
Layne nodded. “The day you ran.”
He snorted. “You scared me off with that . . . that hug.”
She almost laughed at his tone, but then remembered the whole reason she’d thrown her arms around his neck in the first place. He’d looked so stricken, so sad. Even now, she could see shards of emotion in his eyes.
Despite the amount of time they’d spent together, she was still no closer to discovering his secrets.
And he was a master at keeping them hidden.
It had to do with his family; she knew that much. She never saw him with his brothers, but talking about them was just about the only thing to turn his voice sharp. No matter how much she loved his company, she couldn’t help wondering if he was spending time with her so he could avoid spending time with them. Even in the mornings, he stretched the minutes as long as possible, until she knew he must be practically sprinting home to make it to school in time.
She reached up and pushed the hair out of his eyes. He turned his head to kiss her wrist.
Layne had to remind herself to focus. “What’s it like, having a twin?”
