Gabriel's Inferno (Gabriel's Inferno #1)(88)

Until…Julia began to gasp, her breathing labored and uneven. Gabriel did not want to stop. He wanted to continue, to carry her to his desk and lay her back so they could finish what they started. He wanted to explore every inch of her and gaze deeply into her dark eyes as her body gave up its secrets. But prudence took hold, and he slowed his movements even as his body ached at the mere thought of separation.

He held her tightly, still protecting her head, and pressed three chaste kisses against her open mouth. He brushed his lips, angel-soft, all the way down her neck to where it met her shoulder. One more kiss under the ear, with a flick of his tongue, more of a promise than a farewell, and Gabriel stopped.

He slid his hands down her arms and brought them to rest on her hips. He traced intricate patterns with his thumbs, willing her to open her eyes. He swore he could hear their heartbeats, echoing a frantic but almost synchronous rhythm in the silence of his office. She did this to him. She bewitched him, blood and flesh. He gazed down at her in wonder and brushed his lips once more against her parted mouth. She did not respond.

Gabriel peered at her closely, slightly panicked.

“Julia? Darling? Are you all right?”

His heart halted as she collapsed in his arms.

She hadn’t fainted. Not really. She’d just been overcome by sensation and sense and lack of proper food. But she knew that he was holding her tightly in his arms. And she knew that he was whispering kindly in her ear.

Gabriel stroked her face with his fingertips. When this elicited no response, he pressed his lips to her forehead. “Beatrice?”

Julia’s eyes popped open. “Why are you calling me that?”

“Because that’s your name,” he murmured, stroking her hair now. “Are you all right?”

She breathed in and out quite deeply. “I think so.”

He kissed her forehead again.

Julia suddenly remembered Gabriel’s fury and his strangely glowing blue eyes. “This is wrong. You’re my professor. I’m in so much trouble.”

She tried to wrest herself from his arms, but he would not let her go. She leaned against the door.

“What have I done?” She lifted a trembling hand to her forehead.

Gabriel frowned darkly and released her. “You disappoint me, Julianne. I’m not one to kiss and tell. I’m going to protect you, I promise.” He picked up her knapsack and put it over his shoulder, grabbing his briefcase in one hand and wrapping his other arm around her waist, drawing her to him. “Come with me.”

“Paul is waiting.”

“Fuck Paul.”

Julia’s eyelids fluttered.

“You’re nothing more than a pet to him.”

“I’m not a pet — I’m his friend. He’s my only friend in Toronto.”

“I’d like to be your friend,” Gabriel said, gazing down at her. “And I’m going to keep my little friend very close to make sure she doesn’t run away again.”

“This is — complicated. And dangerous.” Julia willed herself to forget the feeling of his lips on hers and to focus on their insurmountable problems.

But it was impossible, especially since the memory of the sounds he made while kissing her still echoed in her ears.

Groan.

“You didn’t seem to think that it was complicated and dangerous when you pranced around my apartment in my underwear. You didn’t think it was complicated when you left a breakfast tray in my refrigerator with something that could only be described as a love letter. Why is everything more complicated now that I’ve kissed you?”

“Because we’ve been — outed.”

Gabriel’s expression hardened. “No, we haven’t. Apart from the e-mail, the only public evidence is an argument, which is open to interpretation.

The burden of proof is on our antagonists. We’ll deny everything.”

“Is that what you want to do?”

“What’s our alternative? Besides, at the time of the seminar there was no relationship.”

He bent over to pick up a key ring from the floor. “Are these yours?”

She held out her hand. “Yes.”

“P as in Princeton? Or P as in Paul?” Gabriel mocked, as he dangled the keys in front of her.

Julia grabbed the keys out of his hand with a grimace and shoved them into the knapsack he was holding.

He smiled at her reaction. “Wait here while I check to see if Paul has his gun out, waiting to shoot the wolf to save the duck.”

He quickly peered into the empty hallway. “Hurry up. We’ll take the stairs.” He pulled Julia swiftly through the door and locked it behind them.

“Are you okay to walk? We can take the short cut through Victoria College and walk up Charles Street. Or I could call a cab,” he whispered, as he opened the door to the stairwell for her.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Home.”

She relaxed minutely.

“Home… with me,”  he clarified, bringing his face closer to hers.

“I thought I pushed all of your buttons.”

Gabriel pulled his face back and straightened up to his full height.

“You do. All of them. But it’s six o’clock, and you’re fainting from hunger. There’s no way in hell I’m taking you somewhere public after what happened. And I can’t cook you a proper dinner at your place.”