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A flash of lightning illuminates the room as if even the storm wanted to add more drama to the moment.
“I’m scared,” I admit.
He takes me into his arms. “I know. I am, too.”
I snuggle into his cozy amber warmth before looking up. “You are?”
He looks at me in such a tender way my heart explodes into confetti behind my ribcage. “Yeah, I’ve never felt the way I feel about you about anyone before and never had the desire to share my life with someone as I do with you. And I guess I’m just more scared of letting you go than giving you the power to destroy me.”
“You sound so dramatic now. Why would I want to destroy you?”
His eyes crinkle. “I don’t know, my chest hair could get on your wrong side.” He brushes a kiss on my forehead. “We’ll face the fear together.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
I trail my fingertips down the unbuttoned neckline of his Henley. He shivers under my touch, but as I make to move my hand lower, he imprisons it in his grip and clutches it to his heart.
“We should talk more first.”
I sigh, feeling his warm breath on my exposed neck. “Why?”
“You said you wanted to take things slow.”
“I say the silliest things.”
His chest rumbles with laughter as he hugs me tighter. “You’re right, but I’m still going to listen to you.”
“Can’t I at least get a kiss first?”
He caresses a strand of hair behind my ear. “Baby, if I kiss you now, I won’t be able to stop.”
The way the word “baby” sounds on his lips has all the hair at the back of my nape standing to attention.
“What if I kiss you?”
The corner of his mouth quirks up at that. “Same thing, I’m afraid.”
“Okay.” I snuggle closer and smile at him. “Now, please, tell me everything about yourself. And don’t take your time.”
“Ask me a question.”
“Significant exes, anyone, in particular, I should know about. Your Page Six profile was a long read.”
“Ah. I’ve dated a few women.”
I have to keep a very unsexy snort in check at the adjective “few.”
“But they’ve all been superficial relationships. Mostly short. My only long relationship was in college, but I didn’t care about her enough not to move to Silicon Valley, and she didn’t care about me enough to follow me. So that was it. As I told you yesterday, I’ve never felt that special zap of this is forever until…”
I push two fingers to his lips. “Don’t say it. Not unless you’re sure.”
“How do you know when you’re sure?”
“You will, I promise.”
“Okay, my turn to ask you something,” Gabriel says. “When you said your childhood was short, what did you mean exactly? Was it just taking on the responsibility of running a business so early on that weighted on you or something else?”
