Page 18

Gabriel POV

I hesitated right before my lips touched hers. With bated breath, I waited, wondering if she was going to push me away. Anticipation shot through me like a drug, and my heart pounded. It had been six long years since I’d kissed my Mate — since I'd kissed anyone — but I could wait a moment more. I wanted this kiss to be her choice. I’d put myself out there and told her I still loved her.

Could she still love me? Even after everything I'd put her through?

Our lips were less than an inch apart. Her sweet breath hit my face and made me dizzy. My fingers itched to touch her, and I wanted nothing more than to close the distance between us. For her to be so close and not to have her lips on mine was pure torture.

Then, Summer let out a soft whimper, and in a fraction of a second, our mouths were crashing together. This was nothing like our first soft, gentle, and sweet kiss. The second our mouths touched, something sparked to life between us. The rest of the world fell away, and there was only us and the connection we’d always shared. This electric energy had always been there. We'd just needed to act on it.

Our lips were demanding, our tongues moving together — tasting, giving, and taking. Her lips were soft, her mouth hot and warm, and her kisses were delicious. Her citrus scent overwhelmed me as our kiss deepened. She tasted like a ripe, juicy orange that I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into.

Mine.

I cupped her ass and lifted her, winding her legs around my waist. Her thighs tightened around me.

“Oh, Gabriel,” she moaned against my lips when her warm center pressed against my hard length.

Without breaking our kiss, I spun around and set her on the edge of my desk. One of my monitors shook, but I didn’t care if all three of them fell to the ground and smashed. The only thing on my mind was my Mate and the addictive feeling of her lips on mine.

I stepped in between her legs and gripped her hips, sliding her ass until it was on the edge of my desk. I wanted her entire body pressed against mine.

She roughly grabbed the back of my head, and her fingers threaded through my hair.

“Summer,” I groaned when she bit my lip and tightened her legs around my waist, drawing me closer to her warm center.

As our kiss continued, I explored her body , trailing my hands down her smooth legs and then back up the sides of her waist. I wanted to memorize every inch of her. I wanted to know her body better than my own.

When I grazed the underside of her left breast, Summer bucked her hips and moaned my name.

I slipped my hand under her shirt, and a jolt of pleasure mixed with shock went through me when I realized she wasn't wearing a bra.

Her whole body trembled as I pinched her nipple and placed my lips near her ear.

“Are you wet for me, Summer? If I were to slide my fingers past your underwear would I find your pussy soaking wet for me? Or are you not even wearing any underwear, naughty girl?”

My Mate groaned and bucked her hips again. Her back hit one of my monitors, and I heard it fall onto the keyboard and land on the office floor with a crash. But I didn't look away from her blue eyes.

“Oops,” she breathed out and giggled. “Sorry about that.”

Her cheeks heated, and she tried to turn her head so she could look at the fallen monitor, but I grasped her warm cheeks and drew her eyes back to mine.

“It doesn't matter, baby,” I murmured. “I wouldn't care if you broke every possession I own as long as you stayed by my side, close enough for me to touch.” I trailed my fingers down her smooth cheek. “As long as you were close enough for me to kiss.” I leaned down and pressed my mouth softly to hers, enjoying the warmth that started in my heart and spread throughout me. “I love you, Summer Golding.”

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, Summer blinked rapidly and shook her head, like she was being awakened from sleepwalking. She unwound her legs from around me, adjusted her shirt, and slid off my desk.

I took a surprised step back.

“What’s wrong, baby?” I asked. My voice was low full of desire for my Mate.

Summer leaned against the desk and crossed her arms, closing herself off to me.

“Please, don’t call me that,” she said and sighed.

She doesn’t want me to call her “baby”?

“Listen, I’m sorry if us kissing made you uncomfortable. We can take things slow—“

She cut me off.

“It’s not about us making out on your desk,” she said.

Those words coming out of her plump, bruised lips made my dick twitch in my shorts. I was still hard from kissing her.

“What is it about, then? Because I told you I loved you?” I guessed. “It didn’t seem to bother you the first time I said it.”

“Yeah, because right after, you distracted me with your…kissing abilities.”

The corners of my mouth lifted, and I took a small step toward her.

“I distract you?” I murmured and trailed a hand down her arm, leaving goosebumps in my wake.

She shivered and automatically leaned into my touch. Her lips trembled slightly. But then her eyes flew open and she stepped to the side, crossing the room until she was by the door, as far away from me as she could get. She turned her body toward me, but her hand was on the doorknob.

“Don’t go,” I said, my voice cracking at the end. “Can we please just talk? I promise not to kiss you, or even touch you. I just want to talk about us.”

Her hand tightened around the door handle, and she shut her eyes as if she was in agony.

With a jolt, I realized I was the one who was causing her pain.

She opened the door just a crack.

“There is no us , Gabriel.”

Pain zipped through me, but I couldn't give up.

“Are you saying you didn't feel our Mating bond trying to repair itself a few minutes ago?” I asked and strode across the room until I was only inches away from her. With my eyes locked on hers, I slowly placed my warm hand over her rapidly beating heart. “You’re saying that you can’t sense when I'm about to walk into a room because our souls are still connected? Can you honestly say that you don't love me, too?”

Summer was silent for five long heartbeats.

“Of course I love you,” she snapped. But her narrowed eyes and sullen tone didn't match her words. “I never stopped loving you — even when I hated you, I loved you.” My Mate stepped away from me and pressed her back against the wall.

I allowed my hand that had been on her heart to drop to my side.

If she loves me, why is she glaring at me like that?

“I…don't understand,” I admitted.

“My love for you was never in question,” she explained and tucked a lock of dark hair behind her ear. “I have loved you at every stage of my life. When we were kids, when I was dating Axel, when you broke our bond, when I raised our son alone — all of it. The moment you sent me away, I stopped trusting you. When the person that you trust most in this world betrays you, something inside of you breaks. And I'm not talking about our Mating bond. Because you betrayed me, I started to distrust the world around me. I started to distrust myself.” She swallowed and looked down. “Not only did you break my heart, Gabriel, but you broke my spirit.”

It was like someone just pushed me off the edge of a cliff. I not only broke this beautiful woman's heart, but her soul.

“Summer, I promise that you can trust me. I'll never betray you again.”

Guilt stabbed at me when I remembered I was lying to her right now. It was a lie by omission, because I hadn't told her about my father’s plan for me to marry Olivia. But that wedding would never happen. Everything was coming together for my plan to fight against Axel and the Rogues, and Summer would only be hurt if I told her.

“Didn't you say that you trusted me today at the pool? You said that you trusted me with Grayson,” I pointed out.

Her eyes softened just a fraction of an inch.

“I do trust you with our son,” she said. “I know that you would never let anything bad happen to him. I can tell that your love for Grayson is unconditional.”

“So is my love for you.”

Summer twisted the handle, opening the door wide.

“Well, when you broke our Mating bond to ‘protect me’, it didn’t feel unconditional,” Summer said and stepped out into the hallway.

I opened my mouth, but no words would come out.

“Goodnight, Gabriel.” She closed the door quietly, leaving me with a broken computer monitor and a shattered heart.

***

I walked into my kitchen, looking for something quick to eat for dinner. It was the day after I kissed Summer in my office, and we hadn't spoken since. She merely shook her head this morning when I asked if she still wanted to join the strategy video conference call. During the meeting, the boxing maneuver strategy Summer had come up with was approved by everyone. I wished my Mate could have been there to hear all the support her idea was given.

After the meeting, Grayson asked if he and I could take Goose for a walk. Summer said yes while looking at our son and avoiding my eyes.

It was great to get to know my son even more on our walk. He told me more about his life on the farm, but I wished Summer would have come with us. I wanted to start earning her trust back.

When Grayson and I came home after our walk, I did a two-hour workout in my home gym. Then, for the rest of the day, I’d been in my office attending video conference calls.

A whining sound startled me out of my thoughts. Goose was scratching at the back slider door and whimpering.

“Do you have to go out, buddy?” I asked and slid open the door without looking outside.

When I stepped onto the back patio, I was met with three pairs of eyes. Summer, her aunt, and Grayson were sitting at the table, seemingly in the middle of dinner.

“Oh, I'm sorry, I was just…” I gestured toward Goose, who was begging for food.

“Goose conned you with those big eyes of his,” Mia said and patted the dog’s head. “We put him inside because he already ate three pieces of bacon.”

“Give you one guess as to who gave him those pieces of bacon,” Summer said and glanced at our son.

“He was hungry!” Grayson protested.

My Mate and I shared a smile, and a jolt went down my spine.

“Dad! Come sit!” Grayson said. “We’re having breakfast for dinner. I’ve changed my mind about my favorite food. It’s not Mom’s potato salad anymore. It’s her pancakes.”

I glanced at Summer, and when she nodded, my heart lifted slightly.

“Of course, buddy. Thanks for the invitation,” I said, and ruffled my son’s hair affectionately. “Your mom’s cooking is the best.”

“Yeah, it is,” Grayson agreed. “And these are chocolate chip pancakes! So they’re even better than normal pancakes.” He took another large bite.

“Those are my favorite kind,” I said and sat down next to Grayson, across the table from Summer.

“Mine, too!” my son agreed.

With gusto, I loaded up my plate with bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, buttered toast, and pancakes.

“These are amazing,” I told Summer after my first bite of pancakes topped with syrup and butter.

A quick grin flashed across her face.

As I ate, Grayson launched into a story about his day spent going to the hospital with Summer and visiting his Grandpa. Then, when Goose went over to the lawn, he asked Summer if he could be excused.

“Yes, but then you're going to take a bath. You have ten pounds of syrup on your face,” Summer said and tried to wipe Grayson's face with a wet napkin.

Our son ducked around her and ran toward his dog, laughing the whole way.

“I love his laugh,” I said as I put my fork down.

“Me too,” Summer agreed.

A look passed between us, and I swear I saw a flicker of the gold thread connecting us, but in an instant, it was gone.

Summer quietly gasped, and just from her shocked expression, I knew she saw it, too.

“I'm going to clean up,” Summer's aunt mumbled, grabbed a random plate, and hurried inside.

“She's so subtle,” my Mate mumbled under her breath and then sighed.

I would give everything I owned to know what she was thinking.

“Listen, Gabriel, I've been thinking about last night…” she trailed off, bit her lip, and glanced at Grayson, who was running circles around Goose.

When she looked back at me, her eyes were full of indecision. We sat there for a full minute, simply staring at each other.

I swallowed. The anticipation was killing me. I wanted to reach out and hold her hand and comfort her.

But I needed to give her space right now. She needed time to process everything that was happening between us. I fully understood the indecision in her eyes and her hesitance to enter into a romantic relationship with me.

I had broken her trust. I needed to do everything in my power to earn it back and show her I would never betray her again.

“I just—“

Her words were interrupted by a sharp scream.

Splash!

Our heads simultaneously whipped to the side.

Dread coursed through me.

By the light of the setting sun, I saw two little hands flailing in the deep end of the pool. Summer’s warning about Grayson from yesterday ran through my head.

He isn't the best swimmer.