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My thoughts are interrupted when Gabriella stirs and stretches out beside me. I tilt my head to watch her as her eyes flutter open. She looks up at me through long, thick lashes, a bemused expression on her face.

“Good Morning, Gabriella,” I say softly. It takes her a few seconds to register, and then she leaps up and grips the covers to her chest.

“Oh, my god,” she shrieks.

Okay, not the response I was hoping for.

“Good morning to you, too,” I say, my tone laced in sarcasm. I stretch my arms and twist my body slightly, releasing the tension in my back.

“Did we…” she says, and it’s barely a whisper.

“No, Gabriella,” I say dryly. “There was an accident, and the road was closed, remember?”

Realization dawns on her face. “I remember, sorry. I’m so used to sleeping with Ali, and I like to cuddle. I shouldn’t have been lying on you like that. God, I really need to learn boundaries, I—”

I stop her rambling by tugging her by the arm and pulling her back down, flipping us both on our sides so we are chest to chest as I wrap my arms around her. She squeals and giggles and I let out my own laugh. I think I’ve laughed more around her in the last few weeks than I have in the last five years. Everything feels a little lighter when she’s around.

“You don’t need to have boundaries with me, okay? You want to stay in my bed and cuddle, you can. If I didn’t want you here, I wouldn’t have brought you over,” I say, a slight sternness in my tone, needing to stress to her I don’t do things I don’t want to do. Life is too damn short to spend it pleasing other people. When you have experienced a lot of loss in life like I have, you learn that fact pretty quickly. Losing Scotty and losing family members at a young age will do that to you. Loss doesn’t always mean death, another hard fact I’ve learned.

She stills in my hold, her big brown eyes looking into mine, and gives me a rewarding smile, and it’s then I realize what I said. I offered her to stay in my bed whenever she wants.

“Do you want some breakfast?” I ask.

“Please,” she says softly. I begrudgingly let go of her and drag myself out of bed. When I stand, I notice my morning wood.

Fuck.

Not wanting her to see, I head straight for the bathroom, making sure I shut and lock the door, knowing I’ll need to deal with my situation before facing her again. I hit the shower button and turn the dial to cold. I take off my boxer briefs and step inside, my body stiffening as the cold jets of water hit my inked skin. It takes only a minute for my body to adjust to the temperature, and it’s thankfully dealt with my throbbing dick.

Deciding I’ve tortured myself enough, I turn off the shower, stepping out, and wrapping a towel around my waist. I quickly brush my teeth and then leave the bathroom, searching for Gabriella, but she’s nowhere. Assuming she’s gone in search ofmy guest bathroom, I head for my walk in closet and stop in my tracks when I am met with Gabriella’s bare ass bent over as she attempts to put on her leather pants.

“Well, this is becoming a regular thing, isn’t it?” I tease. I know I’ve startled her when she yelps and loses her balance, nearly falling into my neatly hung shirts. On instinct, I reach for her, gripping her tiny waist and hauling her body into mine.

“Oh my god, you scared me.” She gasps.

I look down at the ground and let out a low chuckle when I see her pants are stuck round her ankles.

“What were you doing?” I ask, amusement in my tone.

“I figured you’d be awhile in the shower, so I came in here to get dressed and put back your t-shirt.”

Feeling the desire to tease her a little, I lower my mouth to graze the shell of her ear. “And why did you figure I’d be in the shower awhile, huh?”

She audibly swallows, and her spine stiffens. “Erm, you know, to get clean and stuff.”

“If you wanted to see a morning show, baby girl, all you had to do was ask.” She turns on her heel. Her cheeks flushing a crimson shade and I wonder if the bare skin of her ass cheeks would turn the same under my touch. The image of Gabriella bent over as I drive into her from behind comes to the forefront of my mind. I need to get a handle of these intrusive thoughts.

I step away from her, opening the top drawer of my closet and pulling free a pair of black sweatpants and turn and leave, putting space between us because if I didn’t, I fear I’d do something I’d regret and something she doesn’t want, because men like me don’t end up with a woman like Gabriella.

Chapter Thirteen

Gabriella

I watch in fascination through the reflection of the mirror in the bridal suite of the Plaza Hotel at my friends. How beautiful and confident they are. I’ve admired Ria and Ali since the very first day I met them. The way they carried themselves, the way they fought through their trauma, and have become the women they are today.

I often wonder what it would feel like to feel comfortable in your own skin. To have this innate confidence that allows you to do and to be who you want. My parents struggled to have me. I was their miracle child. After countless miscarriages and attempts at IVF, my mom found out she was pregnant just when she was ready to accept that children weren’t on the cards for her. My mom and dad poured everything into me, but with that came expectations. There was a way my parents expected meto behave, to talk, to dress, and to conduct myself, and when I didn’t meet those expectations, I was made aware of their disappointment, and so it became easier to fall in line. To do as they asked and never question it. Some messed up part of me felt like I owed them. They tried so hard to have me. I should at least try my hardest to be what they hoped for, but whatever I did, no matter how hard I tried, it never felt enough.

So when I was fifteen, I rebelled. I got so tired of trying to be perfect that I let a friend convince me to sneak out and go to a party. It was a night that changed the entire trajectory of my life, and I have been trying to make up for it ever since. Doing everything I can to stay in my parents' good graces, even if it’s at a detriment to my own happiness.