Page 6

Gabriel

I stood there, every muscle in my body straining under the weight of her words.

She was a virgin.

That sweet, stubborn mouth had just told me no man had ever touched her like this. No one had ever made her fall apart. And now she wanted me to be the one to change that.

She had no fucking idea what she was asking for.

“You sure about this, Callie?” My voice was rough, scraped raw by how hard I was holding back. “Because if I start, I’m not going to be gentle. I’m not going to make it sweet.”

She licked her lips—nervous, but I could see that determination in her face. I almost called a stop to the madness. I didn’t want her determined. I wanted her melting. For me. She grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled my head down until our mouths were touching. “I don’t want fucking sweet,” she whispered before she kissed me.

The kiss was wild and bold. But still tinged with innocence.

Innocence I was about to fucking break.

I let out a slow breath, like a man disarming a bomb, knowing my fate was already decided.

I smiled at the surprised little squeal she gave when I tossed her on the bed. I moved toward her like a storm breaking. One knee on the mattress, then the other. She watched every shift of my body, wide-eyed but not retreating. Not afraid.

I knelt over her, my big palms planted on either side of her body, caging her in. “You want me, baby?” I murmured, voice low and unsteady. “Want me to show you what it’s like to be taken by a man who knows exactly what you need?”

She nodded. Lips parted, breath uneven.

“Say it.”

She hesitated, but she knew what I wanted to hear—needed to her.

“Fuck me, Gabriel. Please fuck me.”

My cock swelled even more at her breathless words. The look I her eyes. “Good girl,” I whispered, nuzzling her throat. “I’ll make you feel so good, baby. Trust me.”

I kissed her hard for that—devoured that little gasp she made like it belonged to me. She whimpered into it, hips shifting under mine. That innocent need—it tore something open in me. Made everything inside me tighten like a fuse had been lit.

When I sat back on my heels, I took my time. I wanted her stripped slow. I wanted to watch her tremble and flush. I wanted her to feel every second of being unwrapped for me.

I slid my hands beneath the hem of my t-shirt and dragged the cotton up inch by inch. Her body was so fucking soft I nearly growled. She lifted her arms without a word, but her breathing turned shallow.

“You okay?” I asked.

She nodded—but her cheeks flushed, and her gaze skittered away from mine. “I’ve just...never had someone see me like this. Not all of me.”

I leaned down and caught her jaw between my fingers. “Look at me.”

She did.

My voice dropped. “You’re beautiful, Callie. All of you. Every inch. And I’m going to make you feel that, understand?” I hoped she did. I fucking prayed she realized what she’d unleashed in me. The need. The hunger.

I kissed her again. Slower. She let out a soft noise when I unclipped the front of the bra, baring her breasts completely. I felt her body tense.

But she didn’t look away as I took her in. Pale, full, and perfect, her nipples pebbled tight in the chill. Or maybe from the way I was staring at them like a man starved.

“Fuck,” I muttered, dragging my palms up the sides of her ribcage to cup them both in my hands. “These are mine now.”

I bent low and took one nipple into my mouth, sucking hard enough to make her cry out. Her back arched. My hand slid to the other breast, kneading it roughly, possessively.

I was touching her too hard. I knew that.

But I didn’t stop.

Some part of me needed her to feel me. Needed to mark her. Brand her.

She gasped when I bit down gently, just enough to make her jolt. My tongue soothed the spot immediately after, swirling over her nipple until she was panting.

“Gabriel,” she breathed. “That feels... oh, oh…”

I growled. “You like me playing with your tits, baby?”

She gave the smallest nod, dazed and flushed and fucking perfect.

I switched to the other, lavishing it with the same rough attention while my hands slid down her stomach. Her hips jerked when my thumb brushed over the waistband of her sweats.

“Take these off,” I said.

She blinked up at me, hesitated just a second, then nodded. I sat back and watched her undress with shaking fingers. I could see the war inside her—she wanted this, but letting herself be bare like that, letting a man see her, own her like this… it was brave as hell.

But when she hesitated, I leaned forward, catching her wrist gently.

“I’ll do it,” I said roughly. “Let me.”

She let her arms fall back to the bed.

I hooked my thumbs in the waistband and dragged her sweatpants and panties down together, exposing her inch by inch, revealing her soft, untouched skin. The second she was bare, I dropped the clothes over the side and pushed her knees apart.

She shifted, as if to close them. I stopped her with a hand on her thigh.

“No,” I growled. “Let me see you.”

She opened for me, and it was like the world narrowed to just her—bare, willing, mine.

“Look how wet you are, Callie,” I muttered, running a finger along her slit. “You’re dripping. You’ve been like this all damn day, haven’t you? Walking around my cabin, pretending you weren’t dying to be touched.”

She whimpered at my words—shivered when my thumb brushed her clit. Her hips jerked, breath catching.

“So sensitive,” I muttered with a dark smile. “You’re going to come real easy, aren’t you?”

Her only answer was a moan. A needy, helpless sound that made my cock throb. I dropped my mouth to her center and licked—slow and deep.

She whimpered, hips lifting to chase more friction. I grabbed her thigh and spread her wider. “Keep your legs open for me. I want you shaking for me, understand?”

“Yes,” she gasped, hands flying to my hair, thighs quivering under my grip.

“Fuck, you taste so good,” I groaned. “So sweet. So fucking perfect.”

I licked her until she was writhing, moaning my name like a prayer. When I pushed one thick finger inside her, her body went taut.

“Gabriel—oh—oh—”

“That’s it,” I growled. “Take my finger, baby. I need to stretch you open nice and slow.”

She was tight. So damn tight I had to bite back a curse. I added a second finger, scissoring gently as I kept my mouth on her clit. She was falling apart beneath me, sweat-slick and flushed, making the sweetest fucking sounds I’d ever heard.

Her orgasm hit hard—her body clamping down around my fingers, cries muffled against the arm she’d thrown over her mouth. I didn’t stop. Kept licking her through it, drawing every last wave from her until she was gasping, trembling, begging me to stop.

Finally, I pulled back, wiping my mouth on the back of my hand, and looked down at her.

She looked utterly undone.

And I hadn’t even fucked her yet.

“I need you,” she whispered. “I want to feel you.”

I kissed her hard, made her taste herself on my tongue. She whimpered, clawing at my shirt. I pulled back, watching her. “I’m going to take you now.”

It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. I wasn’t sure if I could stop myself now, but I’d try if she’d changed her mind. But I didn’t have to worry because she nodded eagerly.

I stood beside the bed and stripped, slow, eyes on hers the whole time. When I dropped my boxers and let my cock spring free, she gasped and whispered, “Wow.”

I couldn’t help but smile, a rusty reaction, but one I was doing more and more around her. “Don’t be scared. I’ll go slow. I’ll take care of you.”

She nodded again; eyes locked on mine as I positioned myself between her thighs. She was trembling beneath me, legs open, body ready—and yet still so damn innocent it tore something inside me open.

I kissed her long and slow and deep, trying to tell her everything in that single kiss. “Ready?”

Her breath hitched as she nodded. “Yes.”

I pressed inside, inch by inch, fighting every instinct to slam in. She gasped, tight as fuck, her nails digging into my shoulders. I let her body adjust to my size. To the act itself. I was taking her. Taking her virginity. I shivered at the thought.

“Damn,” I hissed. “You’re so fucking tight.”

I held still when I bottomed out, my cock throbbing with the effort to stay still. She was breathing heavily, eyes wide. She clutched at me like she never wanted to let go and looked up at me with those expressive brown eyes. “More. Please.”

Those two words undid me.

I started to move.

I fucked her like a man possessed—like the years of loneliness and silence and aching had all led to this moment, to this woman. I fucked her like a man who knew what it meant to claim something.

Because that’s what this was.

A claiming.

Her legs were wrapped around my waist. Her hands were in my hair. Her mouth was on my neck, her body rocking into mine like she couldn’t get close enough.

“You feel that?” I grunted. “That’s me, baby. Inside you. Filling you.”

She moaned, eyes rolling back. Her pussy clenched hard around me, making me almost lose my shit.

“Come for me.” My hand slid between us to press against her clit. “Show me how good I’m fucking you.”

She shattered with a cry—writhing, shaking, body milking my cock in tight, pulsing waves. That was it. That was the end of my restraint.

I thrust deep, once, twice, and let go—burying my face against her neck as I came, hard and shaking, barely able to breathe.

I didn’t pull out.

Didn’t move.

I just held her.

Held her like a man who didn’t know how to let go.

I didn’t know how much time passed before I came back to reality to feel her trembling beneath me.

Her breath stuttered against my throat, warm and shallow. Her legs were locked around my waist, her arms clinging to my shoulders like she wasn’t ready to let go. Like she thought I might disappear if she loosened her grip.

I didn’t move. Couldn’t. My cock was still buried inside her, my body wrapped around hers like a shield. And for a minute—for one blinding minute—I let myself believe I could stay like this.

That I could have this.

That I could be the man she thought I was.

But the moment started to splinter. Crack.

I felt it in the silence between us. The silence where guilt lived. Where memory crept in. Where I remembered who I was before she touched me, and why I’d buried that man in the fucking dirt on another continent.

Callie hummed softly, her face pressed to my neck. I felt the vibration of it through my skin. My chest. My ribs. Like she’d carved herself into me from the inside out.

“You okay?” I asked, my voice loud in the stillness.

She gave a tiny nod along with a quiet, dazed laugh. “That was… yeah. I’m okay.”

And fuck, she meant it. I could hear it in her voice. The sweetness. The trust. She’d given me something no one else had. Not just her body. But her first time. Something untouched. Pure. Fucking unclaimed.

And I’d taken it when I should’ve stopped. Should’ve said no when she told me she was a virgin. I hadn’t made love to her. I’d claimed her. Possessed her. I’d barely held back. Hell, I’d barely tried .

I pulled back—just enough to look at her face. Her eyes were heavy-lidded, lashes wet, cheeks flushed. She looked like everything I hadn’t let myself want.

Like a beginning.

But I didn’t get beginnings. Not anymore. I’d spent too long in the rubble of endings.

I brushed a damp curl away from her temple. My hand shook but she didn’t notice. Her body was going limp beneath mine, soft with aftershocks. Trusting. Sated. She blinked up at me with something like wonder in her eyes.

And that’s what did it. That look. Like I was something good. Something safe. Like I hadn’t just broken her open with all the darkness that was me.

“I’ll be right back,” I murmured, easing out of her as gently as I could. Her breath hitched, but she nodded sleepily, already drifting. I tugged the blanket up over her and pressed a kiss to her temple I had no business giving.

I padded into the bathroom on bare feet, grabbing a towel to wipe myself off. It killed me and delighted me to see the evidence of her innocence on my body. I braced my hands against the sink and stared into the mirror.

The man who looked back wasn’t someone she should’ve trusted. Wasn’t someone who should’ve touched a woman like her with hands that had broken more than they’d ever held.

My reflection didn’t look wrecked.

But I fucking was.

I’d touched something pure and now all I could feel was the pressure building in my chest. A part of me wanted to walk back into that room, climb into bed beside her, and stay there. Another part wanted to open my front door and walk outside and keep on walking.

The lesson had been drilled into me over and over again, that the moment you let yourself want something… it was only a matter of time before life ripped it away.

I’d lost too much to pretend I didn’t know how that story ended.

I walked back into the bedroom, not knowing if that was the right choice, but unable to make the other.

She sighed in her sleep as I pulled back the covers, exposing her fucking gorgeous curvy body to my hungry eyes. Damn, but I wanted to take her again. Instead, I eased her legs apart, caring for her.

“What are you doing?” she mumbled coming half-way awake.

“Just taking care of you.” I held the warm cloth against her sore flesh for several minutes, making her sigh.

“That feels wonderful.”

“Do you want to take a shower?”

“No,” she shook her head slowly, smiling up at me. “I want you back in the bed beside me.”

I nodded, cleaning her before covering her back up. I disposed of the washcloth and got back into bed. I wanted to use every moment that I had with her, holding her. Storing up the memories for when she left.

Because I knew she would leave.

But I folded her into my arms as if I was waiting for the world to collapse. I rested my forehead against hers, eyes squeezed shut. Her scent was still clinging to my mouth, to my fingers and the need rose up inside me. Ferocious, almost feral.

My hands flexed on her back, one sliding into her hair. I buried my face there for a moment, breathing her in, letting the weight of what I’d done settle in my chest like a boulder that had rolled down the mountain.

She’d trusted me. She’d given me something I didn’t deserve. And I’d taken it like it was mine. Because part of me—the part that was broken and brutal—wanted her to stay. To be mine.