Rebel North by J.B. Salsbury
Sixteen
Kingston
I never did fall back to sleep. I held Gabriella in my arms, against my body, for three and a half hours, wide awake. And I could have done it all day.
I finally peeled myself away when I heard my phone ring and only because I didn’t want it to wake her up. I’ve been tiptoeing around my place ever since because I know this will be the last time I get her in my bed, and I selfishly want her to stay as long as possible.
But the truth stared me right in the face last night—her regret.
Her apologies were hard enough to hear, but her expression was worse. The embarrassment that shone in her eyes, the guilt, was all over her face. She thinks she seduced a gay man into her arms, and she’s beating herself up for it.
If she only knew the truth.
She’d call me a liar and write me off for good.
The sound of her bare feet on the stone floor calls my gaze from my coffee to the hallway. I frown when I see she’s no longer wearing my clothes but has changed into what she had on last night. Her face looks freshly washed, hair pulled to the side and braided—she’s ready to leave. A rock settles heavily in my chest.
“You should’ve woken me up,” she says shyly without making eye contact.
“You seemed comfortable.” Both in my bed and in my arms, but I keep that information to myself.
She sits on the couch where she left her sandals from last night and busies herself with the straps. “I was.” She dips her chin to try and hide the pink stains on her cheeks, but it’s pointless.
“Coffee?”
“No, thank you. I’ll get some at home.”
“Don’t rush off. Let’s grab some breakfast.”
Finished with her shoes, she joins me in the kitchen, taking the opposite side of the island, and I hate the obstacles between us.
She folds her hands in front of her and stares at the marble countertop. “Kingston, I think we need to talk about last night.”
I take a sip of coffee to swallow back what I really want to say.
“Listen.” She blows out a breath before finally meeting my eyes, and when she does, our gazes hook to form an invisible tether between us. We’re helpless to look away, and a surge of energy speeds my pulse. “Um…” Her throat bobs, and she blinks and tears herself away, breaking the spell. “I think the only way to get through what happened last night is to just be brutally honest—do you think you could put a shirt on for this conversation?”
“Am I that distracting?” I’m half joking, mostly desperate to hear that she’s just as affected by me as I am by her.
The memory of her falling apart beneath me, in my bed, her tongue in my mouth… fuck. My dick is so hard that I could make dust out of the island between us to get inside her.
“You are.” She sighs as if conceding. “You are very distracting.”
My chest swells with pride, and I hide a satisfied smile behind my mug.
“As you know, I haven’t been with a man in…” She blows out a breath. “A really long time. I took advantage of your closeness last night, and I’m sor—”
“Don’t.” I set down my coffee and grip the edges of the counter to keep from lunging for her mouth. “I went after you last night, not the other way around.”
Her brows pinch together. “No, you didn’t. I mean, you wouldn’t. You’re not attracted to women.”
“I never said that.”
Her lips part, close, then part again. “But… you’re gay.”
I cringe because I have to deliver the blow, and I hate the thought of how it’ll land. “I never said that either.”
Her surprised chuckle is followed by a look of severe concentration. “You’re saying you’re…”
Straight.I nod.
“Oh.” She frowns, studies the wall just over my shoulder, then shrugs. “You did talk about being with women before, I just thought you were denying who you were back then.”
I can’t stand it any longer, so I move around the island toward her.
“I guess it makes more sense.”
I nod, allowing her to work it out in her head, repaint me as a heterosexual male who wants to kiss her again more than I want my next breath.
She smiles up at me as I stand just a foot away from her.
“Do you feel better now? Knowing you didn’t take advantage of your poor, unsuspecting gay friend?” I reach out for her hand, but before I can get to it, she grabs her buzzing phone.
“My Uber is here.” She wraps her arms around my waist.
I hold her close. The feel of her cheek pressed against my bare chest has me envisioning us in bed, just like this, but with a lot less clothes.
“I feel so much better,” she says and, all too soon, pulls out of my arms. “We’re cool, right?”
Oh, Bee, we’re way fucking more than cool.I nod and try to pull her back into my arms, but she ducks away from me and heads to the door.
“I’m not giving up on you, ya know,” she says as she opens the door. She pushes the elevator button and looks over at me as I’m left standing stunned in the doorway. “I’m still going to be your wingman, and we are going to find you a super-hot guy—”
“Wait… what? I told you—”
“You’re bisexual. I know.” The doors to the elevators open. “I just think I’d be better at man hunting with you than I would at woman hunting. You have your brothers for that!” she calls out through the closing elevator doors. “We’ll talk soon!”
“Bisexual?” I drop my head back and groan.
She finds it easier to believe I’m bisexual than she does to believe I’m interested in her.
I close the door and head straight back to bed.
If I had any sense at all, I’d let Gabriella go. Only I can’t think of how to do that now that I’ve tasted her mouth and felt her tremble beneath me. The memory alone is going to make me dirty another pair of pants. I stare at my bedroom door and wonder if the sheets still smell like her. Only one way to find out.