A Forever Christmas(43)

“Maybe you should stop trying,” he advised, not for the first time.

He closed the door behind them at the same time that he turned on the closest light switch. The lightbulb above their heads popped as the filament sent a surge of electricity through it. Just like that, darkness reclaimed the house.

“Don’t move,” Gabe instructed. “I’ll turn on the next light.”

Feeling his way around, he tried to make his way to the light switch leading into the family room. Instead, he managed to find his way to Angel. His outstretched fingers came in contact with something soft and he instantly knew it was her.

Gabe pulled his hand back. “Sorry,” he murmured.

“That’s okay,” she said, absolving him of any wrongdoing. “I’m not,” he heard her whisper.

Frustrated, wanting her more than was good for either one of them, Gabe momentarily halted his search for the light switch.

“You know,” he complained honestly, “you’re really not making this any easier.”

“Making what any easier?” she wanted to know.

Was it his imagination, or had she taken a step closer? “Keeping away from you.”

“Do you really want to?” She asked the question so quietly, for a brief moment he thought that perhaps he’d just imagined it—or she was communicating with him via her thoughts rather than any spoken word.

He also could have sworn his throat was tightening. “I think you know the answer to that.”

“Tell me,” she coaxed, her voice a sultry whisper.

He tried to steel himself—and failed. “No, I don’t really want to.”

“Then why?”

The words were softly whispered against his ear. He had to consciously struggle against giving in to the shiver.

“Because it’s not fair to you,” he told her. “You’re dealing with a lot here, trying to remember your life before November 26 is just part of it. If I let my guard down,” he said, thinking of all that entailed, all that would result from that simple act of omission, “and then somewhere down the line, you remember that there’s another man in your life who you promised to love to the end of your days—”

“There isn’t,” she told him.

She said it with such finality, he almost believed her. He wanted to believe her. But, given her circumstances, he had to challenge her words. “You have amnesia. How can you say that with such certainty?” he added.

“I don’t know,” she admitted freely, “I just can. It’s a feeling more than anything else. I wasn’t married in that life I can’t remember,” she told him, confident that she was right. “It’s nothing I can prove, it’s just something that I know.”

As she spoke, she drew closer to him until she was so close he could feel each breath she took as her chest rose, brushing against his. When she exhaled, he felt her breath along his skin.

His gut tightened in response as he struggled to hold himself in check.

He wanted to believe her. Wanted so badly just to take her into his arms, to make love with her and not fear the ramifications and consequences that were waiting for them just beyond the night.

But there would be ramifications and there would be consequences.

Gabe gave it one more try. “I need to find the light, Angel.”

“It’s right here,” she whispered to him. He could feel her rise up on her toes, could feel her mouth teasing his as she spoke. “Inside me. Can’t you see it? You make me glow.”

He could feel himself weakening rapidly. “Oh, damn, Angel, you could break a saint.”

“I don’t want a saint,” Angel told him, her eyes never leaving his. “I want you.”

Gabe groaned as he surrendered, fully aware that tomorrow there would be hell to pay and most likely a mountain of regrets. If not tomorrow, then somewhere down the line.

But tonight, there was only her, only him and this bonfire of desire burning between them.

Closing his arms around Angel, he pulled her tightly against him, the hard contours of his body finding solace in her soft curves. The next moment, he sealed his mouth to hers.

The darkness became their friend rather than something to try to banish or to hold at bay. It enveloped them as one kiss flowered into another and then another.

And with each kiss, his desire for her grew. It grew at such a startlingly fast rate that he found he could hardly breathe. Wanting her consumed him, but he did what he could to hold himself in check. The last thing he wanted to do was frighten Angel because, Lord knew, feeling like this certainly managed to scare the hell out of him.