His hands slipped around her waist, cradling him to her. His erection pressed against her lower back, the heat from his cock and the savage satisfaction that broke through at his touch making her weak in the knees. With him touching her there was no way she could completely shield herself from his emotions.
She searched frantically for a distraction, the thought of those three fingers he’d held up worrying her.
She found it when Jim got stopped by Chloe. The two spoke for a moment and, with a shrug, he pulled her into his arms and onto the dance floor. The lust pouring off both of them was incandescent.
“Sarah.”She shivered as he licked the mark on her neck, her attention suddenly riveted to the man behind her. His teeth scraped the sensitive juncture of her shoulder and she twitched. “Hold still, baby.”
Oh, no you don’t. Not that easily, and especially not in public.
She pulled away, hunching her shoulders against his fangs. “No.”
“No?” A feather-soft kiss caressed the nape of her neck. “Why no?”
She growled. “Gee, I don’t know. Should we start with Chloe?”
“I told you I didn’t sleep with her, Sarah.” She turned in his arms, not surprised when he pulled her firmly against him. He patted her rear. “Or do I need to remind you of that conversation?”
She sniffed, her irritation growing when he smiled down at her lazily. “Fine. How about we talk about the fact that you’ve basically been ignoring me?”
“I called and you didn’t answer. Or when you did, we fought.” His jaw worked, the tension rolling off him almost nauseating her. “You couldn’t come to me and I couldn’t go to you, and it was driving us both insane.”
“So you turned to another woman?”
He shook his head. “Chloe was supposed to make friends with you, to help you. Damn it, Sarah! I was
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worried bout you.”
He had an odd way of showing it. “You’re joking, right?”
“Chloe wasn’t supposed to give you the impression we were dating. She was supposed to make sure you were all right. That’s all. I promise you, the only thing I feel for Chloe is…God, she’s like the sister I never had and now I’m glad I didn’t get.”
If it wasn’t for the sincerity she could feel coursing through him, she’d cry bullshit. One of the things she’d discovered since becoming Omega was that it was damn difficult to lie to her. The guilt most people felt when lying tended to bleed through. Still, if he’d actually been that stupidly gullible she’d have to make sure he never,
ever
did something like that again. “If that was your plan, I have two words for you. Epic fail.”
“I’ll talk to Chloe. I promise you I will straighten this out.”
She sneered. “Sure you will.” And she would spend that time with Jim. At least he didn’t leave her senses reeling.
“Sarah. You’re my mate.
You.
Chloe is just a friend.” His shoulders slumped, his head landing on her shoulder with a weary sigh. “I should have told James to fuck off and marked you before I left. You have no idea how sorry I am that I didn’t.”
Sarah rolled her eyes. She couldn’t see
anyone
who wasn’t Pride stopping Gabe from doing what he wanted to do unless he didn’t want to do it.
He lifted his head. Whatever he saw on her face had one brow rising arrogantly. “Don’t you think I regret not marking you before I left?”
“Not really, considering you’ve been free to get a fucking girlfriend.”
His expression darkened. “That’s five.”
“Five?”
She pushed back against his chest, straining against his hold. She just wanted to put a little space between them, but he wasn’t allowing it.
“One for sitting next to Jim. Two for agreeing to go dancing with him. Three for doing it knowing
exactly
how I felt about it.” His hand curved around the nape of her neck, holding her possessively. “Four for turning away from my mark. And now five for thinking I would
ever
betray you that way.” The hand not caressing her neck smoothed down her back, landing to rest just atop the curve of her ass. “Care to make it six?”
She scowled up at him. “Care to get your ass kicked?”
He threw his head back and laughed. “I thought so.” His hand landed against her ass, smacking her right there on the dance floor. “Go ahead, baby. Keep pushing.”
She glared at him but refused to answer. The flutter in her lower belly wouldn’t let her. She was afraid if she opened her mouth she’d say something stupid like
Please fuck me.
“Sarah.”
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She lowered her eyes. She couldn’t help herself.
“Look at me, Sarah.” She looked up at him to find that his expression was full of regret. “You stopped answering the phone. You stopped talking to me. So I asked Chloe to make friends with you so I’d know you were okay. I had no idea she’d give you the impression that the two of us were dating.”
The pain of loss was still thrumming through her, and she wasn’t certain she believed him about Chloe. It was the reason she’d turned to those little white pills Dr. Howard had given her. “Uh-huh. Sure. I called you back more than once, but you never returned
those
calls. Was that when you started turning to Chloe?”
“Chloe is only a friend.” He growled when she snorted her disbelief. “Sarah.” She shivered at his tone.
She’d heard it in dreams, but never in reality. It demanded her attention, her obedience, and without thought she started to comply. He leaned down and blew on the side of her neck, right where the hickey was. She shivered in response, his smile tickling her skin. “You are my mate. The only woman I dream about is you.” She could feel his arousal, the sensation heightening her own. She could also feel his determination and his possessiveness. Instead of smothering her, she felt cocooned by it, a warm blanket she could cuddle under for the rest of her life. He licked her neck. “Did you know that the dreams we share aren’t normal?” He caressed her ass, moving her in time to the music, his fingers brushing the bottom curve of her ass. “Most people only dream of making love to their future mate.” He lifted his head from her throat, catching her chin on the edge of his hand and turning her face up to his. “You and I actually make love.”
“Why?” When he frowned down at her, she added, “Why did we wind up connected that way?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it was because we didn’t speak for so long, or maybe because you’re the Omega.”
That reminder was all she needed to pull back from him and the warm seduction he was tempting her with. “Or maybe it’s because you didn’t really want me.”
“Damn it, Sarah.” His long-suffering sigh was music to her ears.
“So you turned to Chloe.”
His eyes narrowed, determination filling his features. “I’m not going to explain myself again. Listen carefully. You are my
mate.
The thought of touching anyone other than you is disgusting. Do you understand me?”
She lowered her lashes, hiding her gaze from his. He might think they were done with the topic, but she was far from done. “What happens when you leave again?”
He sighed and pulled her in close, cradling her head against his shoulder. “Don’t worry, baby. Right now wild gorillas couldn’t drag me away from you.”
She sniffed, resisting the temptation to snuggle into his warmth.
Damn, he smells
so
good.
“What about wild waitresses?”
His chest rumbled as he growled. “That’s seven.”
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He still wasn’t sure why he’d allowed her to stop him from marking her right there on the dance floor, but he had to admit just the freedom to hold her in his arms was incredible. No more doubts, no worries, just him and his mate caressing each other with their bodies as the music seduced them. He buried his face in her hair, wallowing in her scent, imbedding it into his memory. He wanted to cover himself in that scent, to have her covered in his until he couldn’t tell where one of them ended and the other began. And despite his words he knew he had a lot to make up for.
She tripped, almost pulling them to the floor. He caught her easily.
“Sorry.” She buried her flaming cheeks against his chest again after granting him one glance full of embarrassment.
“I know how to keep you safe from falling.”
She eyed him warily. “How?”
He smiled and lifted her so that her feet were dangling, enjoying her shocked gasp.
“Put me down, Gabe!”
“Look at me, Sarah.” He used the same tone he used during their scenes, knowing what her instinctive response would be. He smiled gently when her head lifted, her face turning up to his. “Trust me.” The uncertainty there tore at his heart, but it was his own fault, damn it. He’d do whatever it took to get her to believe in him again. “I will never let you fall.”
“Don’t you mean never again?”
“Hmm?” He rocked her gently to the music, her toes barely brushing the tops of his feet. He barely felt her weight. He frowned, studying her. Damn
.
She
was
thinner. Why hadn’t he noticed before? He’d have to make sure to fix that, too. He couldn’t let his baby get sick.
“You’ll never let me fall again.” She lowered her lashes, once again hiding her expression from him, but not before he saw the disbelief in her face and knew it wasn’t a physical fall she referred to.
“Stop it.” He set her down on her feet but kept her close. “I’m going to prove to you that you can trust me.”
She stopped dancing. “I begged for you. I cried for you. And you turned away from me. Do you know how that feels?”
“No. Sarah–”
“It feels like
this!
”
Sharp, cutting pain, deep despair, rejection, jealousy, Gabe felt it all. Got savaged by what he’d done to his mate. He’d stayed away from her, tried to protect her from their separation. Instead, in refusing to claim her he’d nearly destroyed her. He damn near dropped to his knees, the agony ripping through him almost more than he could bear.
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“Now all of a sudden you want to claim me? How can I trust that?”
The feelings,
her
feelings, shut off abruptly, but lingered in his heart, mingling with his own until he couldn’t tell where his left off and hers began.
The tears in her eyes clawed at him. He wanted to lift his face and scream from the pain he’d inflicted on his sweet Sarah. “What do you want me to do, Sarah? Beg? Cry?” Because he’d do both just to get that look off her face, those emotions from her heart.
“No.”
“Then what?”
Determination filled her face. “I want the same treatment you gave Chloe.”
What?
“What, exactly, do you mean by that?” Gabe was starting to get seriously pissed off. The fact that Sarah
still
believed he’d somehow been with Chloe rankled. How could she continue to think he’d do that to her?
Easy, dickhead. Your friend went out of her way to make Sarah think it.
He needed to sit Chloe down and find out what the hell had been going through her head. She
knew
how important Sarah was to him. Gabe almost growled in frustration but contained it. Sarah deserved her pound of flesh, but damn if he’d let her take too much or too long.
“I want to be
asked out
.” Gabe blinked in surprise at her fierce tone. “I want dinner. I want dancing. I want to know that I’m the only one you want to be with. I want a fucking bracelet for Christmas.” He winced. She didn’t know it, but he’d gotten her something much better than a bracelet, but since she hadn’t been home he’d held on to it. It wasn’t the kind of gift he wanted her opening by herself. She blew out her breath, running her hands through her soft, shining hair. “I may submit to you in the bedroom, but I will be
damned
if you treat me like an unwanted toy outside of it.” Her eyes narrowed. “When you’ve proven that to me,
then
I’ll claim you.”
He clenched his teeth and nodded. As punishments went this one wasn’t all that bad.
“And no sleeping together, either. You’d probably mark me right in the middle and I’m not ready for that yet.”
Okay, it was rapidly getting worse. “What
am
I allowed to do on these dates?”
“It’s simple.” She pulled out of his arms, her eyes weary and defeated, like she couldn’t believe that he meant what he said. “Show me you love me.”
He stared, stunned, as she turned and walked away from him. Finally he just shook his head. “Fuck.”
Show
her he loved her? She was the goddamn Omega! Couldn’t she
feel
it? His entire being ached for her!
He headed for Chloe, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from Jim Woods. “What the hell were you thinking?”
She blinked up at him, startled. “What?”
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“When did we start dating, Chloe?”
Her mouth flew open. “Aw crap. Sarah too?”
Gabe looked over her shoulder to see Jim staring at them with a disgusted look. “Shit.” He turned his gaze back down to Chloe. “I wonder where they got
that
idea.”
“Don’t you turn this back on me, Gabriel Anderson.” She shook her finger in his face, looking for all the world like his grandmother. “You’re the one who stopped calling your mate.”
Fuck. She was right. “You’re the one who
did
talk to her. What did you do, tell her I was calling you but forget to mention all we talked about was her and Jim?”
She grimaced. “She didn’t give me many chances. I tried telling her how you were doing, what you were doing, but she started shutting me down.”
Because it had looked like he was opening his life to Chloe but not to Sarah. “Damn it.” He scrubbed his face. “And you were jealous of the time she spent with Jim.”
Her face filled with guilt. “Maybe.”
So whether they’d meant to or not they’d both screwed up their relationships with their mates. “We’re so screwed.”