First Night: (6 page)
Authors: Anna Antonia
I traced a line across his cheek. “If I wanted anything it would be you.
Just
you.”
His smile parted the sky. “And that’s why you’re all I’ve ever wanted…all I’ll ever want.”
We made love again, gently and full of wonder. Much later Gabriel fell asleep in my arms. Peaceful. Content. Serene.
If only I could’ve felt the same…
Lying there in Gabriel’s arms, I suffered a love so exquisite in its pain I knew
that
would be the moment to define me forever after.
I’d never, ever be the same.
Staring at the canopied ceiling, I let the tears roll unchecked. They dripped onto the pillow while the beautiful holder of my heart slept undisturbed. I became convinced it was symbolic of how things were fated to be. I then thought of the exquisite pleasure he’d given me and the box of condoms we’d run through.
Considering he’d kept them in his nightstand, apparently I had lots of girls to thank for his practice. I wondered who would thank me in the future as she lay in the spot I vacated.
Eventually I slipped out of his bed, got dressed, and walked the four miles back home. My mother took one look at me and knew. She didn’t yell or lecture me as I’d expected. She simply opened her arms and let me fall into them. I had no tears left, only a soul-wounding scar of regret that things couldn’t be different.
“It’ll be okay, baby. I promise.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her she couldn’t make this okay. Everything in the world but this.
* * *
Our story should’ve ended then. But it didn’t. We found each other again seven years later.
And here we were at another formal event, him looking like a Hollywood god of old and me in an evening gown he bought for me, having a chance to do it over again.
I hoped things would go differently this time because I feared my feelings for Gabriel hadn’t changed…I was still that girl who’d fallen in love with a beautiful, broken angel.
And this time I didn’t know if I would be strong enough to walk away again.
Need more Emma and Gabriel? Then be sure to get:
Mad for You (Mad, Bad, & Dangerous to Love Series)
Bad for You (Mad, Bad, & Dangerous to Love Series)
Dangerous for You (Mad, Bad, & Dangerous to Love Series) – Coming Soon!
Anna is a lover of all things dark and passionate. Living in the Southeastern United States, she enjoys antiquing, DIY thrift store finds, sedate hiking along trails, and spending time with her family and menagerie of pets. Being the only girl in a household full of men makes it hard to always be a lady, but she gives it a good old college try.
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