suspected a connection between Skars and Stefano. Because she certainly hadn’t written off her meeting with his brother as unimportant. She was too smart for that. Smart and beautiful. Goddammit, Stef could have done some real damage had he—
“Gabriel?”
Shit. He shifted in his seat when he realized he’d been staring at her. Idiot. “Or, considering you’re a single woman who lives by herself, you could leave well enough alone. My guess is you were a random target and that stupid fuck mentioned having a message to distract you before dragging you away.” Goddamn prick was gonna hurt for touching her. “You have a security system in your house, right?” he asked, trying to keep with the pretense that he didn’t already know all this shit.
She nodded while Quan cleared his throat in a warning to slow down.
What. If Gabriel didn’t distract her with his ability to be a tyrant, how the fuck was he gonna get her off the subject of involving the police? Take her down to the mats and pound one out?
Nope.
Couldn’t.
Already crossed a line.
But, man, did he want to get her naked.
Couldn’t. There’d be no going back after that. He could write off a kiss. Vasily would never need to know.
But to actually fuck her? he thought as guilt clobbered him.
Mmm. To spread her legs and sink into her body—
He pinched his thigh hard enough to wince and gave his own throat a good clearing while thrusting her safety to the forefront of his mind.
Right. Maybe they should turn back. He could settle her in his suite. She’d be under twenty-four-hour surveillance—she already was. No one would be permitted to see her but him. She’d be untouchable. By anyone…but him.
He ground his teeth together. Sure, she’d be safe, but that wasn’t why he wanted her all to himself.
As he continued to fight his nature, they crossed over Lake Washington and she directed Quan to her place—his boy played dumb like a pro. Once in Eva’s driveway, Gabriel climbed from the truck and followed her up the walkway. Bobby T’s dark sedan was sitting about two hundred feet up the street, and the drapes on the second-floor window in Nick’s house had just fluttered.
Fuck. He felt like he was seventeen and it was the end of prom night.
Though Gabriel had spent what should have been his prom night sitting in the front seat of a rotted-out Chevy in a noisy salvage yard, “learning” the “proper technique” from his father for “interrogating” those with “enough balls” to “cross the family.” He’d been “given the honor” of pulling the trigger on the two who’d been “earning shy” because they’d been pocketing a percentage of their take.
Eva retrieved a set of keys from her purse, but before she unlocked, she turned and looked up at him through her lashes.
“Thank you for going out of your way to get me home.” The she fuckin’ smiled.
Innocently seductive. Didn’t have a goddamn clue he wanted to push her against the wall and have her right this second, screw whoever cared to watch.
He plucked the keys from her fingers without bothering to ask permission and unlocked the door, shoving it wide. She crossed the threshold to tap in a code to silence the alarm, then turned to him again, looking like she wanted to say something more, but now that they were free from prying eyes, Gabriel didn’t hesitate to take that mouth he couldn’t keep his eyes off. He lingered over the kiss, savoring her quiet sound of surprise and the feel of her hands coming to rest on his biceps. But knowing his limit, he ended it too soon, before his hands started roaming.
“Gabriel…”
Straightening with a curse, totally put out because he needed to give her what her eyes were telling him she wanted, he dropped her keys on a small table and stepped back. “G’night, sweetheart. Don’t forget to reset the alarm.” Before she could say another word, he closed her into the house. Alone.
It wasn’t until he and Quan were crossing back over the floating bridge that connected Mercer island to Seattle that Gabriel felt normal enough to take out his cell and hit up the New York office. After letting Natalie know Eva should be offered the position first thing in the morning, and ordering the workaholic to go home since it was past midnight East Coast time, he tossed his phone onto the dash and tried to zone out for a few.