Chapter 7

Gabriella

It’s my right to set boundaries. I will not allow myself to be used or afraid to walk away. It is my choice who I am friends with. If a guy cannot stand up to my brothers, then I don’t want or need them in my life and especially not in secret.

I recite the meditation I’ve said daily for the last three years over and over, all day in my head for the previous five days since seeing Javier.

I usually say it only three times a day, but I can’t count how many times I’ve said it over the last week.

It’s not helping. In the past, it helped me feel strong and empowered me to keep boundaries. All I’ve wanted to do all week is run over to Javier’s condo and tell him I’ll hang out with him so I can see him.

Well, that and feel his arms around me.

And maybe sneak in a few kisses.

No, no, no, Gabriella! Don’t go backward.

I continue reciting the phrase while I bike around town. Another thing I’ve been doing a little too much of this past week is exercising. But I don’t know what else to do, so I keep busy around my work schedule so I don’t go over to Javier’s.

It’s Friday, and I’m not on the schedule again until Sunday. I usually would be happy to have a Friday and Saturday off, which can be rare at times, but I wish I were on the schedule. I even asked Marie to change shifts with me, but money has been tight since it’s not tourist season, and her shifts were reduced. So she got a second job and is working on the days I’m already scheduled.

I ride all the way down Anna Maria Island, over the bridge to Longboat Key, and then back. It takes me several hours, and I’m still obsessing about Javier. I pass Coquina Beach and continue riding north. A few miles up the road, I pull off to the side of the road and lock my bike up. I snatch the water bottle off my bike and walk through the path and onto the beach.

No one is around except for a few men fishing off the pier.

I take off my shoes and socks and sit on the sand so my toes hit the water as the tide comes in.

It’s a gorgeous day, and the sky is clear. The weather said it is supposed to rain later in the afternoon, but there is no sign of any storm.

A seagull lands at my feet and tilts its head and chirps.

I make noises with my lips and hold my hand out, and it comes a foot away from me.

“That’s it. I won’t hurt you,” I tell it. I think it’s going to come closer, but it’s suddenly spooked and flies away.

“So close,” I say out loud.

“You almost had him,” a sexy, deep voice says behind me.

I freeze, minus my heart that wants to beat out of my chest.

“Gabriella, can I sit down for a minute?”

I repeat my mantra.

“Gabriella? Please?”

I slowly peer up to my right. Javier is wearing nothing but running shorts and tennis shoes. His six-pack and tattoos are covered in sweat, and I assume he’s been running.

Why does he have be so gorgeous?

Tell him no.

I pat the sand.

He sits next to me, and I put my arms around my knees and rock back and forth, trying to recite my meditation again, but I suddenly can’t remember it.

I turn to him. “What are you doing here?”

“I was running and saw you.”

“I’ve been biking,” I tell him, not sure why.

He moves his hand toward my face then stops.

I stare at his hand, midair.

He pulls it back to the sand. “Are you doing okay?”

“Fine.”

He rotates toward me. “I’m really happy to see you.”

I miss you. So much.

I focus on his chiseled face and don’t say anything.

“I almost called you about a hundred times over the last week.”

“But you don’t have my number.”

Guilt crosses his face. “I used my FBI database to get it.”

My insides do a happy dance, and then I curse them for being so excited.

“Why were you going to call me?”

“I’ve been driving myself crazy wondering how you’re doing and if you’re okay.”

Why does he keep asking me if I’m okay?

“I told you I’m fine.”

He sighs in relief.

Why is he relieved?

Connor. I’m going to kill him.

“What did Connor tell you?”

“I didn’t say—”

“Please don’t lie to me right now.”

He licks his lips.

“What did he say?” I sternly ask.

“He told me what happened a few years ago.”

I turn to the ocean and exhale. Heat creeps up my neck and into my cheeks.

Connor is a dead man. I can’t believe he did this.

My insides quiver with anger and embarrassment. I quickly stand.

Javier jumps up and reaches for my arm. “Gabriella.”

“I have to go.” I blink back tears.

Do not cry right now, Gabriella.

I take a step, but Javier has a firm hold on me.

“Can you please stop for a minute?” he asks.

I suddenly am angry. “I don’t need your pity. I’m fine. Thanks for your concern. I’d appreciate it if you don’t tell anyone what Connor told you.”

His eyes widen. “I would never tell anyone or do anything to hurt you.”

“Great. Thanks. I appreciate that.” I try to turn, but he steps in front of me.

“You can let go of me now.”

He circles his other arm around me.

“Javier, what are you doing?”

His hand around my arm relaxes, and he slides it around me, too.

“Sorry I’m sweaty,” he murmurs.

“Stop this!” I cry out and push my hands against his chest, but he holds on to me tighter.

“Don’t run away from me.”

“We’ve been over this. I’m not here to be your friend or piece on the side. Now let me go.”

“Quit the piece-on-the-side talk. I don’t want that from you.”

“Javier, tell me what you want and let me go.” I shove at his chest again.

“I want you,” he blurts out.

I stop pushing. “We’ve been over this.”

He places his hand on my cheek. “Did you not hear me say I want you?”

“Nothing has changed. I’m a Brooks.”

“Yeah, I know. I told you I don’t have anything against your family.”

“My brothers haven’t gone away.”

“I’m not worried about your brothers. I told you I’m not intimidated by them.”

“I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?” he asks.

“You didn’t want me—”

“I never said I didn’t want you.”

“You said if things were different. Are things different?”

“No. Nothing has changed.”

Nothing has changed?

He wants you to be his piece of ass.

I push his chest hard and get out of his grasp. “What the hell, Javier. Leave me alone,” I cry out and take off toward the street.

He comes after me. “Gabriella, wait.”

I get to my bike and try to unlock it, but my hands are shaking.

He puts his hand over mine, and I see my shoes in the other. “Will you just stop.”

I yank my shoes out of his hands, pull out my socks, and stuff my feet in them. I stick my socks in my bike bag then try to unlock my bike again.

“You can’t go anywhere on that, so leave it locked.”

“What are you talking about?” I glare at him.

He points to my tire. “You have a flat.”

You’ve got to be kidding me. How did that happen?

He bends down and pulls out a nail. “You must have picked this up.”

I spin and stomp away from him, crossing the road as the sky darkens.

Great. It’s going to rain.

Javier stays next to me. “Where are you going?”

“Home.”

“You’re miles away. My condo is just up the road. I’ll pick up your bike and take you home.”

I turn to him with my insides shaking. “Leave me alone. What part of I’m not going to be your friend or your piece on the side do you not get?”

“Stop saying that,” he yells.

I point at him. “You just told me nothing has changed.”

“Yeah. My job is the same. The situation with your brothers is the same.”

“You’re impossible,” I accuse and spin and continue moving north as thunder rolls.

It figures—just my luck.

Rain begins to fall.

“Gabriella,” Javier calls out.

I keep walking, with my hand over my eyes, trying to see through the rain.

Lightning streaks through the sky, and I jump.

He puts his arm around my waist and leads me down a street.

“Let go of me,” I cry out, trying to ignore how good his body feels around mine and the warmth of it through my soaked clothing.

“No. You can’t stay out here,” he shouts and quickly pulls me into a parking garage and into the open elevator.

He pushes the button to close the door and for his floor but doesn’t release me and pulls me closer to him so I can feel his heart beating.

Do not go into his place with him.

Why does he have to feel so good?

As soon as the elevator door opens, run for the stairs.

The elevator climbs slowly up the three flights, and he positions his free arm around me so my back is flush to his body. His lips press against the top of my head, and he murmurs, “Stop fighting me. Things may not have changed, but I don’t care anymore. When I say I want you, I don’t mean to use you or keep you hidden. I’ve been going crazy worrying about you all week and not being able to talk to you.”

Worrying about me.

“Connor shouldn’t have told you my business,” I quietly say.

“It’s not just about that.”

“What’s it about, then?”

“I’ll tell you when we get inside.”

Do not go inside his place with him.

The elevator stops with a sudden jerk.

“Shit,” he mumbles.

“Are we stuck?”

“Yeah. This happened a few weeks ago, too.”

I scan the panel. “Shouldn’t you press an alarm or something?”

Javier reaches to the panel then stops. I back up to the wall. “Have I ruined us?”

Ruined us?

He steps toward me, and I don’t move. “Will you give me another chance?”

“Another chance?” I barely get out.

His hand pushes through my wet hair. “To be the man you want.”

My stomach flips.

He tilts my head back and his brown eyes are inches from mine. “Tell me you still want me, Gabriella.”

I can’t speak. I’ve never wanted anyone more.

His arm that isn’t holding my head curls around my waist, and he pulls me tight to his body. “I want you as mine. Tell me you want me, too.”

My heart is thumping. His mouth is inches from mine, and his wet, ripped torso is screaming for me to lick it.

“I want you,” I whisper to him.

His lips crash into mine, his tongue pushes into my mouth, and his erection hardens against my stomach.

Tingles erupt in my cells, and I slide my palms on his wet flesh, gripping his back.

“You’re all I’ve thought of,” he says between kisses as his fingers creep under my shirt.

“Yeah?”

“Mm-hmm.” His mouth moves across my jaw and over to my ear.

I push through his pants and grip his ass.

He slides a hand in the front of my shorts and into my slit.

“Oh, God!” I cry out as he skillfully inserts several fingers in and out of me, and I grind into him.

“That’s a good girl,” he quietly states.

Heat surges through me. I dig my nails into his glutes as his thumb swipes my clit fast.

The air in the elevator gets thicker.

“Oh...oh...”

He sends me flying as he crushes his lips into mine, and I whimper.

“You’re beautiful, so fucking beautiful,” he mumbles in my aftermath as I pant into his mouth.

I push his pants down, needing and wanting all of him.

“I don’t have a condom.”

“I’m on the pill. I don’t have anything.”

“I’m clean, but—”

I steal his lips again and shove my tongue into his mouth, desperate for more of what he can give me.

He pushes my shorts and panties off and picks me up. I wrap my legs around him as he enters me in one thrust.

His deep, throaty groan ricochets through the air, and I gasp as his girth and length fills me.

“Oh...Javier...oh God,” I breath, clutching him tightly.

“I got you, baby.” He slowly thrusts as sweat breaks out on our skin.

I can’t stop whimpering. He feels so much better than I imagined, and every movement sends a new wave of flutters rolling through my bones.

He speeds up.

“Yes. Oh...please don’t stop,” I beg.

“You like that, baby.”

“Yes…oh…”

He dips to suck on my collarbone. I lick his earlobe. The salt from his flesh hits my tongue.

The elevator jerks and begins to move. He jerks his head toward the panel and slams his palm on the stop button then claims my mouth again, thrusting faster and deeper.

“Javier...oh...oh...ohhhhhhhh,” I scream out as I convulse with rushes of adrenaline.

“Gabriella,” he growls. His cock swells, and he pumps his seed ferociously into me.

I continue to spasm in his arms, and he tightens his hold around me.

We bury our necks in each other’s. I pant, trying to find my breath, but the muggy air trapped in the small space isn’t helping. We’re both coated in sweat and the smell of sex mixes with the moldy, stale smell.

He pulls away from my neck, and I release my legs from him. He pecks me on the lips and brushes the damp hair off my face. “You able to stand?”

“Yeah.”

He pecks me again then crouches and pulls my shorts and panties back over me then does the same to himself before pushing the button.

It starts to move, and he pulls me into him. The doors open to reveal several older people waiting for the elevator.

“Excuse us,” Javier says.

I focus on the floor, trying to ignore the eyes of the residents who had to have heard us.

He guides me quickly out of the elevator, down the hall, and into his unit. “Come on.”

“Where we going?”

He licks his lips. “To the shower. I’ve been dreaming of tasting you.”