Reborn to Ruin Him novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The First Night

His hand lay on my ankle, and I did not let it go.

"I'm asking," I said.

Gabriel went completely still.

"Say what you're asking."

"Touch me. Not the ankle."

"Where?"

"My face first."

He lifted his free hand slowly, and he waited for me to stop him.

His palm settled against my cheek. It was rough, and it was shaking.

Forty years in his house, and he had never once touched me gently.

I turned my mouth into the center of his hand and kissed it.

The sound he made came from low in his chest.

"Cami."

"Rule two," I said. "You answer me truthfully. Do you want this?"

"I've wanted this since I was twenty-two years old and too stupid to know what it was."

"Good."

I took his collar in both fists and pulled him down onto the bed.

The kiss was nothing like I had imagined in that locked house.

It was clumsy and hungry. His teeth caught my lip, and I bit him back.

He groaned into my mouth, and his whole weight shifted toward me.

I put my palm flat on his chest and pushed.

"Stop. You don't decide the pace."

He stopped at once. His hands came up off me and hung in the air.

"Tell me what you want," he said.

"Shirt off."

He tore it over his head and threw it across the room.

He was wet from the rain, and the lamp showed me everything. The broad chest, the ridged stomach, the old pale scar on his forearm from the dog.

I put my fingers on the scar, and then on his ribs, and then lower.

His stomach jumped under my hand.

"You said you wouldn't touch me unless I asked," I said. "I'm asking for your mouth."

"Where?"

"Here."

I dragged my muddy raincoat off my shoulders and lifted the hem of my dress.

I was not wearing much beneath it.

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