All of Me by Tiffany Patterson

Chapter 16

Gabe

I wanted this fucking photoshoot to be over. We were actually on shoot number two for the day, and my patience was wearing thin. Eli had come to the shoot to meet a potential sponsor, but then got a phone call and rushed out of the room.

Yet another issue I’d have to speak with him about. He couldn’t blow off sponsors if he wanted them to sign him. That talk would happen after his exhibition on Friday night.

“Is there anything else I can do for you, Wolf?” a feminine voice asked. The same woman who had the job of keeping me oiled up for this shoot was back in my damn face.

I shook my head. “No.”

Though my voice left no room for misinterpretation, she lifted on her tiptoes and pressed her hand against my chest. “Are you sure? This photoshoot is just about over. I can help you wash off all of that oil,” she whispered in my ear. She lowered and let out a giggle.

That was the last straw. I’d put up with her unwanted advances for the past three hours. I was done.

I grabbed her hand and lowered my head until my mouth was close to her ear. “We’re done with this shoot, so keep your damn hands to yourself. There’s only one woman who can do anything for me tonight, and it sure as fuck isn’t you.”

I released her hand and looked at the photographer. “Are we done here?”

“Don’t you want to see the photos we got?”

“Later.”

He nodded.

I moved over to the side where my jeans and T-shirt were. I happened to glance up and spotted Lena

“Lena,” I called to get her attention.

She blinked, but again, she didn’t look at me. Instead, she spun on her heels and headed for the door.

I didn’t like that ghosted expression on her face or the way she ignored me. I jogged across the room and brushed past the photographer’s staff to get to Lena.

“Hey.” I stopped her, pulling her arm from behind to get her to turn around and look at me.

“Don’t touch me.” She snatched her arm back.

“What the hell is the problem?” I asked, my anger rising for reasons I didn’t know.

“You’re my damn problem,” she yelled before trying to storm off again.

“Hell no,” I growled, matching her ire. I didn’t know what her issue was, but I wasn’t about to let her get away from me so easily. At this point, I was tired of her running from me.

“Oh my God,” she yelled as I hoisted her ass over my shoulder.

When we reached the elevators, I punched in the number to our floor. “Calm your ass down.”

“I’ll show you calm as soon as you put me down,” she said through what sounded like clenched teeth.

That got a chuckle out of me.

“What are you laughing at? This isn’t funny,” Lena continued.

“What’s funny,” I answered once I stepped onto the elevator, “is you thinking you were about to run off on some tantrum.”

“I was going up to my room.”

I didn’t respond to that.

As soon as the elevator chimed and opened on our floor, she began squirming again.

“Gabriel Townsend, you put me down right now,” she insisted.

I kept one arm firmly around her legs, holding her in place while I punched in the code for my suite.

“You take me to my damn room,” she insisted once we entered my suite. “I am not your toy to play around with as you see fit.”

I remained silent as I kicked the suite’s bedroom door open and charged over to the bed, plopping her on her ass onto the bed.

“Now you can tell me what the hell that was about,” I demanded.

Lena reared up on her knees as I stood at the end of the bed. Both of our chests heaved while we glared at one another.

“I was leaving. Going up to my room,” she yelled.

“Why? You came down to the shoot to see me, right? Why the fuck were you leaving?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Because I didn’t want to interrupt you and whoever that woman was.”

“The hell?” I leaned back on my heels and wondered what the hell she was talking about.

“The woman who was rubbing her hands all over you,” Lena said. “That brunette.” She started to get off the bed.

“Lena Jade Clarkson, if you move one muscle from this fucking bed, I swear your ass is going to be the same color as those damn red bottoms you brought with you on this trip.”

She gasped. “Did you just threaten me?”

“Fuck yes, I did.” I moved closer to the bed.

She backed away, lowering onto her heels. But she didn’t get up from the bed.

I moved up the bed as she slowly inch wormed toward the head of the bed.

“She was touching you,” Lena said, her voice slightly weaker than when we first entered my room.

“If you were closer, you would’ve heard me tell her to keep her damn hands to herself.”

“I don’t believe you,” she said.

I reached for the button of her jeans, undoing it in record time.

Her breath hitched when I tugged at the waist of her jeans and panties, bringing them down over her hips.

“The hell you don’t.” I pulled her jeans and panties the rest of the way down her legs, stripping her completely bare from the waist down.

“I meant what I said about keeping my cock to myself until you submit to me, completely. But,” I paused as I pushed her knees apart, exposing her center to me, “I am hungry.” I buried my face between her legs.

“Oh, God,” Lena cried out when I rimmed her clit with my tongue.

I thought I was hungry for her before, but that was nothing compared to when I finally tasted her. I firmed my arms around her thighs, holding her to me to ensure she didn’t go anywhere as I feasted.

Lena’s hands went to my hair, grasping it as she moaned and moved her hips.

“Gabriel,” she panted. “Damn, that’s so … so …”

“So, what, Cin?” I mumbled against her pussy lips.

“So good. Don’t stop.”

Stopping was the last thing on my mind. She felt and tasted too good to give this up for anything in the world. When her thighs began trembling and the hold she had in my hair tightened, I knew she was so close to coming.

“Oh, Wolf!” she called out.

Fuck.

I almost came in my fucking jeans when she called out my name.

Shit. I’d always enjoyed it when a woman came. But this was different. The melody of Lena’s moans, coupled with the sweetness of her smell, stirred something deep in my soul. Her orgasm felt as close to my own as I’d ever come from giving head.

She trembled and shook, her arms falling to the bed, the orgasm weakening her.

I sat back on my heels, trying to gather myself. Every cell in my body, mainly in my dick, wanted me to take her completely. But she wasn’t ready yet. She still hadn’t said the words.

She looked spent as she stared up at me. Her gaze was glazed over, her lips slightly parted, and her legs limp. I could make out the moisture that still pooled at her apex, beckoning me.

I needed to move away. A man could only take so much temptation, especially when it came from a temptress like Lena.

I started for the bathroom. There was a rustling behind me.

“Don’t move your ass from that bed,” I said, sternly. “My threat still stands.”

Her lips pursed, but she laid her ass back against the pillows, not moving from the bed.

I went into the bathroom, stripping and turning on the shower. I needed to wash this fucking baby oil off of me. And I needed the water to cool me off.

* * *

Lena

I stared at the ceiling, utterly dazed. I had gone from excited to see Gabe, to pissed off, to slightly afraid, to turned on, and then satiated, in the span of … I didn’t know how many minutes it’d been since I arrived back at the hotel.

This couldn’t be normal. Nothing I felt for Gabe felt normal or gradual. It felt like all of my feelings for him would completely knock me over if I gave into them. And the way he just ate my pussy …

I sucked my bottom lip in between my teeth. Thinking about what it would be like to be fully intimate with Gabe had me squeezing my legs closed. I grew weaker by the second. But I couldn’t give him what he wanted.

Hell, that moment downstairs proved it. Mr. Always Calm, Cool, and Collected had almost lost it in front of everyone, carrying me up to his suite like he’d lost his mind. The worst part was how much it turned me on. And that was before he put his mouth on me.

I needed to figure something out before I gave into him completely. On an inhale, I closed my eyes and tried to figure out my next move. But all I kept picturing was Gabriel in the shower, the water sluicing over his naked body.

Damn.

I blinked, opening my eyes before I got too hot, and either started pleasuring myself or burst into the bathroom and begged Gabe to take me. From the bed, I searched around the room, finding my jeans and panties at the far end. I quickly grabbed them and redressed, still not moving off of the bed.

The shower turned off, and my nipples tightened. Before I could fully picture Gabe stepping out of the shower, dripping wet, my cell phone rang. I picked up the shoulder bag that I luckily hadn’t lost track of when Gabe carried me up to his room.

I groaned at the sight of my mother’s name on the screen.

“Hey, Ma,” I answered, knowing she’d just call back over and over if I didn’t answer.

“Your father made reservations at the La Guardia for six-thirty.”

I cringed, having forgotten that I’d agreed to have dinner with my parents that night. And, of course, my father would make reservations at one of the most exclusive restaurants in the City.

“How were you able to make reservations so quickly?” That restaurant usually had a waitlist a mile long.

“You know all it takes is for your father to let them know Lena Clarkson is in town and expects to be treated like the darling of the City that she is, for them to open up a table.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ma, I want to keep a low profile while I’m in town.” I strained to keep my voice low and even.

“You act like he made a reservation at The Pines or something,” she said, mentioning an even more exclusive restaurant where paparazzi regularly hung out to get pictures of celebrities coming and going. “We know after that video of you acting a fool you want to keep quiet, but damn, Lena. How much longer are you trying to act like a nun?”

“A nun?” I asked, sitting up.

“Yes, a nun,” she answered. “You and this low profile. Sneaking off to God knows where, not telling anyone where you are. You need to get back out there.”

“Ma, I’m writing another album,” I reminded her. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Like you can’t do that in the City or out in LA? And how are you doing that without Nate? And your producers? You know you can’t write an entire album on your own.”

“You said the reservation is for six-thirty?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Great,” I said, cutting her off. “I’ll meet you there.”

“And we’ll need a car to pick us up. We’re not going to La Guardia on the damn subway.”

“I bet you do,” I mumbled. “I’ll have Demetria make the arrangements for a car.”

I quickly hung up the phone and tossed it to the side of the bed. No part of me looked forward to dinner with my parents. But I owed them at least a meal together. They were my parents. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have been introduced to music at such a young age and allowed to break into the industry so early.

“So, we’re going out to dinner?”

Startled, I turned toward the bathroom door. My breathing stopped.

Gabe stood in the doorframe, one arm raised and propped against one side while leaning his shoulder against the other. He was wrapped in a white towel from the waist down. A few streams of water glided down his chest to his abdomen.

I dutifully watched one droplet glide down his pec muscle, right past his nipple, down to his abs. The skin there was so taut, I didn’t have to wonder if a quarter would bounce off of it. I knew it would.

The moisture in my mouth and throat dried up. It felt as if all of the fluid in my body pooled into my panties. The ones I’d put on again after he ate me like I came straight off of his dinner plate.

“What?” My voice was hoarse and strained.

He pushed away from the doorframe. “It looks like we’re going to dinner,” he said, slowly moving closer to the bed.

I nodded before his words even registered. I blinked. “Wait, no.”

He stopped at the side of the bed with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m going to dinner with my parents.”

“That’s what I said.” He grinned. “Except, we’re going out to dinner with your parents.”

With a frown on my face, I restated his words in my head. My eyes bulged. Gabriel going to dinner with my parents and me was a horrible idea. I wanted to keep him safe from their craziness for the entire time we were in the City together.

“That expression makes me think you believe this is not such a great idea,” he said, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. He curled his thumb and forefinger around my chin, pulling me to him. He kissed me as if he owned me.

“Too bad it’s not up for debate,” he said when he pulled back.

My brain was a little fuzzy. The thoughts in my mind scrambled from the kiss and the very obvious tent in his towel. All it would take to have him naked would be for me to reach around and undo the towel.

“Don’t even think about it, Cin,” he warned. “Unless you're ready to say the words I want to hear.”

His thumb and finger tightened on my chin.

It took every ounce of strength I had in me, but I shook my head.

“Then it looks like instead of you canceling on your parents while I take you in this bed, again and again, we’ll be having dinner with them tonight. The both of us.”

Glaring at him, I sat back on my heels. “You can’t make me do what you want.”

The deep laugh that he let out was taunting. “Like I couldn’t make you keep your ass on this bed while I was in the shower.”

My stomach muscles clenched as I looked around the bed. Sure enough, I hadn’t moved at all from the bed. Even when I redressed myself.

I thought about it for a moment. An idea formed. Maybe taking Gabe to meet my parents wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all. They were a lot for me to handle. They were a lot for anyone, separately. Together, my parents were combustible. And not in a good way.

Perhaps, Gabe would meet them and realize that he didn’t want me as much as he thought he did, given that I was their stock and all. This could be a good thing to get him to back down from wanting a real relationship. Then he would agree that this thing between us had an expiration date, and he wouldn’t press for more.

“You know what,” I said after thinking it over, “I think you’re right. All four of us should go out to dinner.”

“About time you got on board.”

“You’re not nervous to meet my parents?” I asked.

He shrugged. “No sweat.”

I let out a laugh. “You say that now.”

He cupped my chin again, this time planting a kiss on my forehead. “I’ll say that later also.”

Cocky bastard.

“We’re meeting at La Guardia at six-thirty,” I told him.

“We’ve got about two hours between now and then.” He stood and stretched his arms overhead.

That was the first time in almost three months that I got a real look at his back. I stared at the wolf tattoo that looked different from the first time I’d seen it. It was still huge and appealing, but something about it looked more mature and ferocious.

“Your tattoo’s changed.”

He glanced over his shoulder. “I finally started to get it shaded in.”

I continued to inspect it and noticed the difference. The eyes were the same. Now, the left side of the wolf’s whiskers was colored in. The fur was darker and more prominent, though not finished.

While the right side of the wolf’s face, formed out of a series of flowers and petals, was more colorful. A few pops of red, orange, and blue appeared in some of the petals. But the flowers formed so that they created the other half of the wolf’s face.

“Oh, they’re wildflowers,” I said out loud as I stared. I thought back to the flowers that peppered the Texas Hill Country landscape as we floated above in the hot air balloon.

Sugar and spice.

The beauty and softness of nature combined with its ferociousness.

All of it was starting to become present in Gabriel’s tattoo.

He turned around and leaned down, capturing my lips with his. The sudden kiss pulled a moan from me, and my mons started to quiver.

He pulled back. “You need to get ready for dinner. I’ll arrange for a car to pick us up.” He pressed his lips to my forehead.

The kiss was so soft and gentle. I pictured the flowers on the right side of his wolf. When he pulled back with that gleam in his eyes, the left side of the tattoo came to mind. The possessive wolf that Rayven told me months earlier to watch out for.

I swallowed and hoped that my plan of allowing Gabe to meet my parents would work to get him to back down. I realized that I sure as hell wasn’t strong enough to keep putting him off. Dinner with my folks was my last ditch effort to avoid giving him my complete and total surrender.