How the hell was this happening to her? Why now? Why at all? Other than her friendship with Caleb, she steered clear of men. She didn’t trust them. Didn’t want to get close to them. Hadn’t thought she’d need more than the love and comfort her mom had offered when she’d been alive.
But lately, she was lonely. Lonely to the point where she ached for the human comfort of something as simple as a hug. Like the one she’d gotten from Nika today.
But this. This was different.
This wasn’t familiar. It wasn’t comforting. It was erratic and mind-blowing and scary—
With one last lazy pass of his tongue weaving around hers, Gabriel drew back. She swayed forward, trying to follow.
“That’s enough, sweetheart.”
His firm tone had her heavy lids coming up, the strain in his voice registering. His expression was hard, unreadable, though his choppy breathing matched hers. He cursed, all but glaring down at her as he brushed his thumb across her mouth before withdrawing completely.
“But…that was…” Didn’t he feel that? The energy. Chemistry? Maybe just lust. Whatever its name, it was snapping and crackling in the air all around them.
She blinked, her cheeks flaming when he peeled her fingers away from where she’d only now realized she was fisting his lapels.
“Oh, God. I’m sorry.” She quickly swiped at any wrinkles she’d made. She couldn’t even remember raising her hands.
His expression softened, his lip quirking. “Don’t be. If we weren’t out in the open it would probably be in a heap on the floor anyway.”
What did that mean? That, if they were somewhere private, they would have undressed? Gotten naked?
Had sex?
As he stood, her heart fluttered wildly, her skin suddenly feeling too tight on her bones. She should probably feel insulted. Did he think she’d be so easy? She was a fucking virgin.
Yeah. A virgin who currently wanted to see what this guy looked like without the tux.
But that didn’t mean she’d fall into bed with him.
As the fire sparked again, spreading, she waited for her morals to echo a resounding agreement. When they didn’t, she pushed to her feet, horrified.
“You know what? I should go.” Her unease grew when the thought of leaving him brought about a weird feeling of panic. What the hell was wrong with her?
“Good idea,” he muttered almost too quietly for her to hear before he hustled them back to the ballroom.
Mortified by her behavior, not to mention Gabriel’s lack of protest, Eva excused herself long enough to say good-bye to her mom’s friends, hugging them and promising to join them for coffee soon.
She was tempted to sneak away, but unable to be so blatantly rude, she rejoined Gabriel, who’d waited a couple of tables over. Quan had reappeared, and she did her best to return his friendly smile while self-consciously accepting the arm his boss held out. She prayed her mom’s friends weren’t watching. If they were, she’d have some explaining to do over that coffee.
As they walked through the hotel with Gabriel nodding to the odd person, Eva wondered if there was any way she could end the night with some grace.
She cringed inside. Probably not. “This is good. You don’t have to walk me all the way out,” she said when they were halfway across the lobby. “I see a couple of taxis.” Three were parked under the canopy outside.
“I’ll take you home.”
She stopped dead when an image of him in her bedroom flashed through her head. “No. You don’t have to do that.” What if, despite his eagerness to get rid of her, she was overcome with lust again when he got her alone in his car?
He looked down at her, his eyes searching. Then he knocked her silly by smiling. The expression, as devastating as it was, had a playful, teasing air. “I don’t often get the chance to play gentleman, Eva. Humor me. No fucking around.” He held up three fingers. “I swear.”
“I don’t,” she blurted. “Fuck around, I mean.” She flicked a glance to the side and was relieved to see Quan was too far away to have overheard her. “I’m sorry if I gave you that impression out there. That wasn’t like me—”
“Hey. You don’t have to explain yourself to me.” There was a tenderness in the way he ducked his head to meet her eyes. “Not that you’re lacking in skill, but it’s clear you’re not in the habit of making out with any guy who shows an interest.”