Reborn to Ruin Him novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The Rain

I did not put on shoes.

I ran down the stairs with the letter crushed in my fist and the bracelet box under my arm.

The front door slammed open against the wall.

It was pouring. The rain came sideways across the lawn, and my ankle shrieked at the first step.

I ran anyway.

There was a light at the end of the drive, small and yellow, where the gatehouse lamp lit the road.

A man stood under it with a suitcase at his feet.

He had his back to me, and his hand on the gate's iron bar.

"Gabriel!"

He turned.

The rain flattened his hair and ran down his face. He stared at me, barefoot and soaked, coming at him down the gravel.

"Cami. What."

"You said say so." I stopped an arm's length away, gasping. "You said if I want you, I should say it."

He went white.

"I'm saying it," I said. "I want you. Not out of pity, and not because of a debt. I want you here."

"You said it changed nothing yet."

"It changed everything. I wanted a month of making you pay for it first."

He laughed, a cracked, helpless sound. Then his face crumpled, and he took one step toward me and stopped himself.

"Ask me," he said hoarsely. "I won't touch you until you ask."

"Touch me."

He crossed the space in one stride and had my face in both hands.

His kiss tasted of rain. It was not careful at all.

I fisted my hands in his wet coat and kissed him back until I could not breathe.

"Inside," I said against his mouth. "Now."

He picked up the suitcase with one hand and me with the other arm. He carried me up the drive and through the front door, and he kicked it shut.

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