I untwist it, overwhelmed by how close I am to her, the heat between our bodies rising, becoming thick and heady, unaltered by the breeze off the sea. My cock grows bigger, thicker, until it’s almost painful, making it hard to breathe or think straight.
Gabrielle has been focused on my hand at her side. She now gazes up at me through her long lashes, and I see a whole other world in her eyes, a million feelings swimming in the depths. I see what I want to see—lust—and it’s wild and ripening before me.
My other hand drops to the other side of her hips, and I slowly drag my thumb up and down her skin, bracketing her in. I want so badly to pull her into me, to feel her flesh on mine, but I know the moment I do so, I’m going to lose all control. I wasn’t kidding when I said I was barely holding it together. For the first time in my life, I want a woman who has more power over me, power she doesn’t even know she possesses, power that would completely change me.
And fuck, how I fear that change.
How badly I want it.
“Gabrielle,” I say in a murmur, my words coming out thick and wanting. “I need you.”
I say it without even thinking of what it means, what the consequences are, ignoring the vulnerable state it puts me in. I say it because there’s nothing left to say.
She gazes at my lips; then her eyes skirt to mine again, and now I see those dark storm clouds roll in, turning the lust into fear, and I think I might have fucked everything up.
Suddenly she sucks in her breath and takes a step away from me, shaking her head back and forth, avoiding my eyes, and I have no idea what to do or say.
“Hey,” I say, reaching for her, but now she pulls out of my grasp, and with a quick look that’s full of shame and sorrow, she starts running along the cliff.
I’m so stunned, it takes me a moment to realize what she’s doing, but by then it’s too late. She runs along the rocky cliff top, her bare feet lithe and quick, her hair flowing behind her like a platinum cape, until she leaps into the sky and dives over the edge, disappearing from my sight.
“Gabrielle!” I yell and start running after her. I have no idea where she landed; she just ran and jumped, not knowing if there was deep water below us or rocks.
Shit, shit, shit.
I can’t even think. I just keep running, a prayer on my lips until I come to a stop at the edge and look over. The water is rippled where she dived, but I don’t see her anywhere.
“Gabrielle!” I yell again, though it’s pointless. Without hesitating, I do as she did and swan dive into the blue sea below.
I hit the water with minimal splash, diving deeper and deeper into the blue, then opening my eyes, wincing at the salt. Through the blurry mess of bubbles, I see Gabrielle’s shape, suspended in the water. I quickly swim through the haze until I get a better look.
She’s just a few feet off the bottom, just floating there.
For a moment I think she hurt herself or worse . . . that she’s dead.
But when I approach her, she turns her head to look at me with those round eyes of hers, and it feels like I’ve stumbled upon a part of her I wasn’t meant to see. She’s choosing to be down here, holding her breath, not moving at all.
Jesus, she’s fucked up.
She’s perfect.
I reach out and grab her arm and start kicking to the surface, pulling her up with me until we break through.
We both gasp for air, and I have my hand around her waist, holding her up in case she wants to sink back down. “Are you okay?” I ask, spitting out seawater, brushing the wet hair from my eyes, which sting from the salt and the bright sun.
She shakes her head and then inhales, brash and deep, that fear coming through again. Maybe over whatever spooked her earlier, maybe because she had practically drowned herself.
Still holding on to her with one hand, I start swimming for the shore, the tiny patch of sandy beach that’s pocketed by high cliffs, a scraggly trail leading up between them to the top.
Once on shore, I collapse on the sand, rolling over, trying to regain my