CHAPTER SIX – PENNY
I relished the feeling of Gabriel’s hand in mine while I followed him away from the dance floor. He led me through a series of doors where security guards kept watch. The sound of the music turned into a faint heartbeat in the distance when he pulled me into what appeared to be the VIP lounge, judging from the abundance of expensive clothes and security details throughout the room.
“My daughter is Alyssa Bradley,” Gabriel told one of the security guards at the door. “If she comes looking for me, let her in. We’re taking a break from the music.”
“Yes, sir,” he said, nodding at the two of us. “Only Alyssa Bradley is allowed through.”
The wine had hit me a bit harder than I intended. I stumbled slightly in my heels with Gabriel leading me to a private booth with bright red curtains. He helped me sit down in the booth before ordering two waters.
“You need water,” he said, sliding in the booth next to me. “It’ll combat the alcohol a bit.”
I rubbed at my fuzzy head with a grimace. “It’s been a long time since I’ve gone out for a drink. I was just having a few glasses to calm my nerves.”
“That rarely works,” he said sagely. “Trust me from personal experience. Deal with your shit when you’re sober. You won’t have unhealthy coping mechanisms in the long run.”
I nodded and took a sip of water.
“I don’t usually drink,” I admitted. “I don’t like the way it makes me feel like I’m not in control.”
“And you usually feel the need to be in control?” he asked me, his green eyes pinning me to my seat.
“Well someone needs to be,” I quipped. “Got knows my mother never was.”
He sat back and studied me for a moment. “What makes you say that?”
“Years of living with her?” I suggested, shrugging my shoulders. “She’s been pretty wrapped up in her shitty boyfriends for the past ten years of my life. It’s like my dad never really existed to her.”
“Everyone has to move on with their lives eventually.” Gabriel leveled a hard glance in my direction as I sipped at my water. “Is that why you’re with her? Because she moved on?”
My stomach churned sickeningly when I looked away from him. I didn’t want to talk about anything that involved my mother and her boyfriends. Especially the current one.
“I didn’t come out here to talk about my mother’s love life,” I pointed out, wishing that I had another glass of wine to steady my nerves. “She can do whatever she wants to do. I’m not going to let it ruin my break away from school.”
Sensing a touchy subject, Gabriel nodded as he let the topic go. “That’s fair. I won’t ask again if it’s going to upset you. We can talk about something else. What are you planning to do after graduation this spring?”
I traced the rim of my water glass while I debated how to answer. I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do yet. My mother insisted that I keep going to school to obtain my MBA, but I was exhausted from spending the past four years studying. I did well in my business classes, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I enjoyed my art classes and my English ones as well. Those were the subjects I sorely wished I would’ve pursued, if my mother hadn’t pulled the, “I’m paying for your college education, so study what I want you to study.”
“Not sure yet,” I said. “I’ve thought about how nice it would be to just travel around for a little bit, to take a break from school.”
Gabriel nodded. “I did that after college. I needed a break from it, so I built up my office after that. Never been back since.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised. “I figured you would’ve continued your education, after how successful you’ve been over the years.”
“I never liked school,” Gabriel said, laughing. “As soon as I was done with my bachelors, I held my middle finger up and walked.”
“That’s nice to hear. My mother thinks I need to keep going on with school, but I don’t want to do it. I just want to be done.”
“I’m sure she just wants you to be successful. But I have a feeling you are going to do that whether you get your Masters or not.”
I blushed at the honest answer, feeling good that this man had such confidence in me when my own mother couldn’t. “I know she wants you to kick me out so that I have to go back to New York for Christmas—” I started.
“I’m not going to kick you out. It’s nice having you around the place.”
His eyes darkened a tad bit in the dim lighting. My cheeks flushed hotly as I tried to decipher those words.
“It’s nice being here,” I replied cautiously. I wasn’t sure where this conversation was going, but I didn’t want it to stop. A part of me felt titillated, knowing that Gabriel didn’t want to push me out of the way. “Thank you for letting me stay. I really do appreciate it.”
“Of course.” He eyed my empty water glass. “Are you feeling a bit better?”
My head didn’t feel as fuzzy, but every other part of my body did. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, Gabriel made my body respond in ways it never had before. My thighs felt quivery, and the spot between them pulsed with need.
“A bit,” I said. “I like the way I’m feeling right now.”
Gabriel’s eyes danced as he looked at me from across the table. “What sort of feeling is that?”
Emboldened by the alcohol and the look in Gabriel’s eyes, I licked my lips as I looked up at the heavy drapes that hung over the booth. A surge of something hot and delicious went through me then as I reached up to untie the drape that was pulled back. Maybe it was the few glasses of wine, but I felt particularly braver than usual. The red curtain fell with a gentle swoosh of fabric. I tried to peer through the dark curtains. The only bit of light we had was the small candle at the center of the table.
“Wow,” I said. “You really can’t see anything through the curtains,” I said thickly.
“Nope, not one thing.”
I turned at the sound of Gabriel clearing the huskiness from of his voice. It occurred to me then that the few drinks he’d consumed over the past hour were affecting him just as much as me. His eyes were bright and clear but also lazy in his contentment.
I couldn’t say what spurred me on to scoot across the booth to where Gabriel sat, but I felt myself being drawn toward to him.
This is wrong. This is so fucked up.
That rational part of me faded away quickly when Gabriel’s hands skimmed along the back of my arms to grip my shoulders. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to pull me closer or push me away. I needed to pull back, to push him away. This was Gabriel Bradley—my best friend’s father. But the power he had over me was delicious.
I stared into his eyes. They were conflicted as he gazed back at me. Desire. Guilt. I could see it swimming in his eyes. Then, he leaned forward to crush his mouth against mine in a searing kiss that knocked the wind right out of my lungs.
I let out a startled gasp at the contact before the butterfly sensation in my stomach spread throughout my body. I kissed him back, hard. I battled his tongue fiercely as Gabriel’s hands smoothed down the curve of my back to grasp my ass through the fabric of my dress as he pulled me into his lap.
It didn’t matter to me that Alyssa could come walking up to the table at any moment. I couldn’t think of anything else besides the sensation of Gabriel lifting me over his lap to lay me back down on the leather couch. He kissed me expertly, rendering me into putty beneath his lips and hands that were now bunching my dress up over my thighs. Those sinful lips continued down to bite and lick at my neck teasingly. I arched up against him in pleasure as he coaxed a breast out to suck hard at one of my nipples. His other hand skimmed along the inside of my inner thigh.
The first brush of his fingers against the soaked fabric of my panties sent jolts of pleasure up my spine. I buried my fingers into the dark locks of Gabriel’s hair as his fingers pushed aside the fabric to tease the nerves there. His thumb pushed down hard then. My hips jerked up in response to it as I ground against him desperately.
“Gabriel,” I sighed out, running a hand through his hair. “Please. Your fingers feel so good.”
His teeth bit down at the tender skin of my breast. “You feel amazing, Penny. You’re so fucking wet.”
I sucked in my bottom lip to bite down as those dexterous fingers parted me. They rubbed at me with a rough pace meant to bring a quick release. My body jerked and spasmed at the onslaught of his hand against my core. His mouth was biting and teasing the skin of my chest while he panted against me. I reached down to grasp the hard and twitching erection that I could feel through the fabric of his pants.
His hips jerked in response against my touch. The pleasure inside me climbed higher and higher until my peak came bursting over me. I felt Gabriel groan hard against my right breast, biting down there to muffle the noise.
Fuck. Sweat poured down the back of my neck as I gazed up at the dark ceiling of the booth. The sound of chatter and laughter washed back over me. I swallowed thickly as I gathered my senses. A conflict of emotions filled me as Gabriel sat back suddenly to grasp at his head with a flushed face.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, shaking his head at me. “I took advantage of—”
“You didn’t take advantage of me,” I whispered back, tugging my dress down to cover myself. “I didn’t tell you to stop. I’m sorry.”
We both stared at each other, completely at a loss of what to do exactly. Gabriel was the first one to slide out of the booth, with a troubled frown tugging at his lips. He paused to look at me as he parted the red curtain.
“I’m sorry, Penny,” he said. “I have to go.”
He quickly walked away, leaving me there to wonder what the hell had just happened between the two of us.