Gabriel's Rapture (Gabriel's Inferno #2)(121)

She nodded as her eyes suddenly blurred with salt water.

“I should have told you that I loved you sooner. I should have asked you to marry me. I thought I knew what was best for you. I thought that we had all the time in the world.”

Julia tried to speak, but her voice caught in her throat.

“Please tell me that it isn’t too late, Julianne. Please tell me I haven’t lost you forever.”

She stared at him for a moment, and put her arms around him. “I love you, Gabriel. I never stopped. We both made mistakes—with our relationship, with the university, with each other. But I hoped that you would come back to me. That you still loved me.”

She kissed him on the lips, and Gabriel felt an overflowing of joy mixed with guilt.

He was embarrassed, she could tell. But Julia also knew that his damp eyes were the result of a myriad of things—exhaustion and frustration, and the pain that lingers from a prolonged depression.

“Then you’ll stay?” His voice was soft.

She hesitated just long enough for him to feel worried.

“I want more than what we had before,” she said.

“More than I can give you?”

“Not necessarily, but I’ve changed over these past few month, and I see that you have too. The question is, where do we go from here?”

“Then tell me what you want. Tell me and I’ll give it to you.”

She shook her head. “I want us to figure things out together. And that will take time.”

* * *

Soon it was too warm to sit outside, so Gabriel and Julia returned to the house and settled themselves in the living room. He reclined on the leather sofa, while Julia made herself comfortable in one of the red velvet chairs.

“Should we address the elephant in the room?” she asked.

He nodded, suddenly tense.

“Um, I’ll start. I want to get to know you again. I want to be your partner.”

“I want you to be a good deal more than that,” whispered Gabriel.

Julia shook her head vehemently. “It’s too soon. You took away my choices, Gabriel. You have to stop doing that or we aren’t going to get very far.”

His face fell.

“What is it?” she asked, dreading his answer.

“I don’t regret trying to save your career. I wish we could have come to a consensus about it. But when I saw you in danger, I reacted. And what’s more, so would you if I were in danger.”

Julia felt her anger rise. “So this whole conversation, your apologies, mean nothing?”

“Of course not! I should have talked to you before I did anything. But if you expect me to be the sort of man who watches the woman he loves lose her dreams, then I can’t meet your expectations. I’m sorry.”

Julia flushed a brilliant red. “So we’re right back where we started?”

“I didn’t hold it against you when you went out of your way to protect me from Christa, or from the committee. I didn’t hold your harassment email against you, even though we both agree it was a mistake. Can’t you give me the same consideration? Can’t you give me grace, Julianne? Your grace?”

Despite his pleading tone, Julia wasn’t listening. At that moment, all she heard was Gabriel discounting her objections. Again.

She shook her head and walked to the door.

Here was the fork in the road, where the paths diverged. She could walk through the door, and everything with Gabriel would be over. There would be no third chance. Or she could stay, knowing that he refused to see his damned heroics in front of the committee as anything problematic.

She hesitated.

“Let me love you, Julianne. The way that you should be loved.”

He stood behind her, his lips vibrating against her ear. She could feel the warmth of his body radiating through her clothes and against her back.

“I am your faithful one, Beatrice. Of course I want to protect you. Nothing will change that.”

“I would rather have had you than Harvard.”

“Now you can have both.”

She turned around. “At what cost? Don’t tell me that our situation didn’t damage us, possibly irreparably.”

He brushed her hair over one shoulder and pressed his lips to the bare side of her neck. “Forgive me. I promise I won’t rob you of your dignity or our partnership. But I won’t stand by and watch you get hurt when I can prevent it. Don’t make me to revert to being a selfish bastard.”

In stubborn annoyance, Julia took a step toward the door, but Gabriel caught her arm.

“In a perfect world, there would always be communication and consultation between partners. But we don’t live in that world. There are emergencies and dangerous, vindictive people. Is my desire to keep you from harm so great a sin that you would leave me over it?”

When she remained silent, he continued. “I will do my utmost to make decisions with you and not for you. But I make no apologies for wanting you to be safe and happy. I won’t be beholden to the rule that I have to consult you before I act in cases of emergency.

“You want me to treat you like an equal. I want the same treatment. That means that you need to trust me to make the best decision I can, given the information I have, without being omniscient. Or perfect.”

“I’d rather have you alive and carrying your shield than have you dead and covered by it.” She sounded obstinate.