Chapter Fourteen
Prince was tense the whole drive home. Gabby allowed him his silence. Instead of trying to engage him in conversation, she spent the drive making a plan. By the time he pulled off the highway, she had an order of operations; distract him, guide him, surprise him.
Prince parked at the curb of his parents' home, just outside the gate. He killed the engine and sat drumming the steering wheel. Gabby watched him, trying to determine the best angle of attack when he sprung out of the car.
"You want a nightcap?" Gabby asked after he rounded to her side and handed her out of the car.
"What?" he asked shutting the passenger door. "No. Are you drinking?"
Gabby smiled up at him. "I'm legal, Prince. But no. I'm not drinking."
She'd had a beer her freshmen year at college and found the fizzy drink revolting. Wine was more her cup of tea.
Prince shoved his hands in his pockets, but made no move to leave. Good, he was still distracted.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She placed her free hand on his chest.
Prince looked down at her hand. He picked up her fingers and peeled them off his shirt, gently. Gabby curled her fingers around his. He didn't pull away.
"I'll walk you home," he said.
"I didn't realize you and Chief weren't talking," she said as they began the short trek to her house.
"Chief should go to the police to report that incident about the community center. There are procedures in place."
"The Baztards are neighborhood watch over there. Don't they have procedures?"
"We can't play vigilante games anymore. We're grown men."
Gabby nodded as she leaned into the perfect specimen of man at her side. "From what I've noticed of men, you're all pack animals. But you've been without a pack since you left. You've been without a family. Who's been cooking for you? You're skin and bones."
She ran her hands up and down his biceps. He stopped at her mailbox and turned to look down at her.
"I didn't abandon him," he said. "Or you."
"You took off without saying goodbye. You've never done that before. Plus, you wouldn't take any of my calls while you were away. It felt like you purposefully avoided coming home when I was on a break. I think that's the definition of abandonment."
"I just needed some distance from everything," he sighed.
She set them again in a forward motion, but away from the mailbox and towards the back gate. Prince followed her lead, opening the gate and allowing her to precede him. It wasn't until they crossed the threshold that he realized what happened.
"Gabby," he sighed.
She flicked the light switch on in the pool house.
Gabby didn't wait. She reached up and captured his lips. They were in a firm line. The tip of her tongue slipped out and tasted his top lip.
Prince sighed and his mouth opened. His hands came to her shoulders. He didn't push her away. They stood still, hardly breathing, not quite kissing.
She was cocooned in his arms. He gazed down at her. She saw the struggle in his eyes as they roved over her face. Saw the tension in his lips. She wondered if he was seeing the pudgy caterpillar she'd been in her youth or the elegant butterfly that she was now?
She wrapped her arms tighter around him and rested her head in the crook of his neck. It was enough. She wanted him, but she didn't want to add to his stress. She wanted to be a part of his release. She wanted to be a safe place for him.
Prince held onto her, resting his head atop hers. "Gabby," he sighed again.
"I missed you so much," she said into his neck. "Can't you be mad at me without being away."
"I'm not mad at you." He pulled away and ran a hand through her hair, across her temple, down her cheek. His thumb caught on her lip. "I'm mad at myself. I shouldn't have these feelings for you."
Her heart sped up. He had feelings for her.
"Why not?" she said. "I have them for you. I've always had them, my whole life. They're pretty awesome feelings. There's this warmth in my chest. There's a fire in my gut. There's clarity in my mind." She turned her face and nuzzled her lips at his thumb. "There's a tingling sensation lower."
Prince pulled his thumb away, but not the rest of his body. "I feel like I've cheated you. You should've been out there dating."
"I did. No one compared to you. No one gets me. No one makes me feel safe and heard and important."
"You are important to me; you know that."
Gabby shook her head. "Not when you run away from me. Not when you won't talk to me."
He closed his eyes, but still, he didn't pull away from her.
"I knew I loved you the moment I first looked at you," she said.
He opened his eyes and gazed down at her. "You weren't even a month old."
"But I was sure then. I'm legal now."
He took a step away from her then. But she followed him, pressing her body into his.
"I have my own mind," she said. "I know what I want. And it's you."
Gabby reached up and captured his lips; his bottom lip this time. This lip was soft and pliable. He didn't kiss her back. He sighed into her. He didn't pull away. He held still.
She could feel him working through the process. Weighing his options on which move to take. Gabby tilted her head back, running her full lip against his top lip, trying to tilt the scales in her favor.
His gaze went unfocused. The corners of his eyes twitched, like a calculator that had too big a number to process. Then he closed his eyes and groaned.
"Fuck."
His hands gripped her hips on both sides. His forehead came down to rest on hers as though he couldn't handle its weight any longer. His breaths came out in shallow pants.
"Fuck," he whispered again.
His fingers dug even deeper into her hips. They were becoming painful, but she didn't complain. His eyes slammed open. She felt trapped inside the crosshairs of his hazel gaze. It was exactly where she'd always wanted to be.
"Okay," he said. "Okay, just a kiss."
"Hmm," she nodded in agreement, locking her crossed fingers behind his back and pressing her eager hips into his groin.
Prince rubbed his bottom lip across her top lip. The gentle touch felt like a punch to her gut. With a gasp, she buckled into him. Her open mouth pressed into his. Her breasts hit his chest. Her belly pressed into his groin, trapping a hard, throbbing length between them.
"Fuck," he groaned as he caught her body and her lips.
He pressed her into him. One of his large hands came to the back of her head. He tilted her chin up with his thumb and then slanted his mouth fully onto hers.
Gabby heard a snick as they locked into each other. The fit was perfect. The seal he made on her was unbreakable.
He tilted her head back farther, bending her body to his will. His grip at the back of her neck gave him total control. He slipped his tongue inside of her mouth and began his quest. Didn't he know that she had surrendered long ago?
If not, she had no plans to tell him. If she had had any defenses he would've broken them down with the same methodical patience and attention that he gave to any problem.
He licked the seam at her lip and it broke. He tilted her head to the left and conquered the right side of mouth, she yielded. His grip torqued her to the right to quell any resistance he might find on the left side of her mouth. There was none. When he realized victory was his, he let her up for a breath.
"Fuck," he sighed again, as though he were the one who'd lost the war.
She stepped back from him before his game plan could change. His hands at her neck and hip tightened, unwilling to let her go. Gabby grinned. She had him.
She reached up inside the tight cage of his embrace and pulled at the straps of her dress. Prince looked down at her fingers and grimaced. There was a mixture of fear and helplessness and anticipation storming across his features. He swore again when the dress fell to the ground. She hadn't worn a bra. She was left in her panties and her heels.
"This will be burned into my mind forever," he said as he licked his lips.
There wasn't much space between them. For her, it was too much. She took a step towards him.
He dropped his hold on her. Holding his hands up in front of his chest in a stop motion. Gabby didn't stop. She took another step until her breasts filled his palms.
"Okay," he said, eyes on her breasts, fingers trembling. "Okay. Second base and then that's it."
Gabby pressed the front of her panties into his third base.
"Fuck, Gabby."
"Yes," she said. "That's exactly the plan."