Rush (Breathless #1)(64)

She gaped at him. “Worked? You work during Christmas? Gabe, that’s terrible. You sound like Scrooge!”

“Pointless holiday.”

She rolled her eyes. “I wish I would have known. I would have made you spend it with Jace and me. No one should be alone at Christmas. I assumed you’d spend it with your parents.”

She broke off, biting her lip in consternation for bringing up a sore subject.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I wasn’t thinking.”

He gave her a rueful smile. “It’s okay. Apparently my father has decided he’s f**ked up and now he wants my mother back. Lord only knows how that’s going to go down.”

Her eyes widened. “He said that?”

“Oh yeah,” Gabe said with a weary sigh. “Over lunch when he came to the office. The day after his date was trying her best to get into my pants.”

Mia scowled and Gabe laughed.

“So what’s your mother going to do?” Mia asked.

“Hell if I know. If I had to guess, he hasn’t yet gone to grovel or I would have heard about it by now.”

“I don’t know that I could forgive him sleeping with all those women,” Mia said unhappily. “That had to hurt your mother terribly.”

“He says he wasn’t unfaithful.”

Mia gave him an oh please look.

He waved his hand. “I have no idea what he considers being unfaithful and I’m not sure it even matters if he didn’t sleep with them. The entire world thinks he did. My mother thinks he did. It’s not humiliation she’s going to get over soon.”

“This must be so difficult for you,” she said in a soft voice. What a sucky day all around. First his dad dropping the bomb, and then his ex-wife showing up just hours later.

He looked uncomfortable with her sympathy and glanced away, his eyes lightening with relief when the waiter approached with their entrees.

The seafood smelled divine as she sniffed appreciatively. The waiter set her grilled shrimp in front of her and Gabe’s blackened mahimahi in front of him.

“Ohhh, yours looks awesome,” she said.

He smiled and forked a bite, holding it over the table to her. She closed her mouth over it, holding it for just a moment as their gazes caught and held.

It was surprisingly intimate, his feeding her just that one bite. He was staring at her mouth as he lowered his fork back to his plate.

She cut a piece of her shrimp and then offered him a sample as he’d done for her. He hesitated a moment but then allowed her to slide the bite into his mouth.

A little unsettled by how deeply affected she was by the exchange, she lowered her gaze to her plate and focused on eating her meal.

“Good?” Gabe asked several long minutes later.

She glanced up and smiled. “Delicious. I’m nearly stuffed!”

He lifted his napkin from his lap and dabbed at his mouth before tossing it down on the table. As soon as she lowered her fork and pushed back her plate, he rose and extended his hand to her.

“Let’s dance,” he murmured.

Feeling as fluttery as a teenager on her first date, Mia allowed him to pull her to her feet and lead her through the maze of tables to the area reserved for dancing.

He turned her toward him and tucked her tightly against him. There wasn’t an inch between them, and his hand splayed wide on her bare back, settling possessively just above where the material rested.

She let out a contented sigh and closed her eyes as Gabe rested his cheek to her temple. They were barely moving. Softly swaying to the strains of the music, wrapped up in one another. She could stay this way forever. She could fool herself into thinking that Gabe was truly hers. That their relationship transcended just sex.

It wouldn’t hurt to pretend for a little while. It may hurt later, but right now she was determined to live the fantasy.

His hand didn’t remain still just above her behind. He stroked and rubbed, caressing as they danced, his body molded tightly to hers. She turned her nose toward his neck, inhaling his scent. She was so tempted to nibble at his ear and at the column of his neck. She loved the taste of him and she hadn’t had many opportunities to indulge because Gabe was always solidly in control when they had sex. Oh what she wouldn’t do for one night to explore him at will.

One song bled into another and they remained locked together, neither willing to break the intimacy that surrounded them, concealing them in the small space the two occupied.

She closed her eyes dreamily, swaying along with the music as Gabe held her tightly, his hand roaming her body. They were practically making love on the floor. Not sex. Not this torrid, all-consuming obsession that gripped them every time the clothes came off.

This was sweeter. Softer. More intimate and she loved every second.

She could fall in love with this Gabe. Was falling.

“I wonder if you have any idea how much I want you right now,” he murmured next to her ear.

She smiled and then lifted her mouth to whisper in his ear. “I’m not wearing any underwear.”

He stopped right in the middle of the dance floor, not even making an effort to make it look like they were dancing. His hold tightened on her and his body went rigid against hers.

“Jesus Christ, Mia. What a thing to say right here in the middle of the goddamn restaurant.”