“What did you just do to me?”
“I’m letting you feel whatever you want again.”
When he met my gaze and smiled, every cell in my body sparkled with joy. My retort bubbled out in a half-snicker. “Whatever I want? Well, too bad for you, because now I feel like I want to be with you all the time!”
“Sounds good.”
“Oh, and I feel like I want you
visible
all the time.” I laughed giddily.
“Okay.”
I kissed his neck, his chin, relishing the lightness inside me. Then, his reply registered with my brain. I froze.
“What? You…You’re not making
promises
here, are you?”
“I might be.”
“What? We’ll be together? You’ll be with me?” I was stammering.
The soft laughter that always sparked my nerves trickled out of him. “Sunshine, I should never have let things get so out of hand. I crave being with you. I want to hold you. Touch you. Since it didn’t work to stay away...” He trailed off.
More than just pumping blood, my heart pounded. Suddenly, it was vibrant and alive. The emptiness had disappeared, the leaden weight vanished. At his next words, I wished I could fly, because I was bursting with him, with everything.
“Time to seize the day.”
Once I had dressed, Gabriel and I snuck into the hallway. Even though he didn’t shimmer, his irises shone with quiet happiness.
A new compulsiveness came over me as I checked and double-checked that he followed me. The third time I did, he stopped and pulled me in. Bending down, he forced my chin up with a gentle push of his knuckles and rested his forehead to mine.
“Sun, I’m not going anywhere, I promise. Nothing else matters right now.”
My happy sigh echoed with unnatural force through the corridor. When my gaze snapped up, more than half of the rooms were open. The girls stood with jaws slack and peepers popping in their doorways.
Unnerved by the attention, I shot a pleading glance at Gabriel, who raised an eyebrow at me. I turned back to them, stuttering.
“Err, good morning…”
Gabriel chuckled. No help from him—great.
“Girls, this is Gabriel. My…my boyfriend.” I rushed, pointing in their general direction while he shifted behind me.
“Gabriel, meet—” As I spoke, he drew me near, and my breath hitched. Hands slipped around my waist, his chin settling on my head. Why did he do this to me? Gabriel’s chest rose and fell contentedly at my back. The intimacy of our embrace left me pink with uncomfortable pleasure.
“—Cynthia, Lauren, Christie, Amber, Emily, Nikki, and Jess.”
Lauren nodded curtly at Gabriel before averting her stare in unconscious self-preservation. Always a stickler for rules, she began.
“You’re aware, I think, of the
house rules
.” She squared her shoulders and glared at me.
“Guests of the opposite sex cannot sleep over since the
rules
say they have to be out of the dorm by eleven p.m. the night before.”
Oh, not the night after? Duh.
“Sorry Lauren, you’re right—” The person berating me had just been in my room. I’d been clinging to Gabriel in a state too disheveled for words. Like a seven-year-old, I let out a girlish laugh, unable to keep going.
Gabriel held me closer, and when he spoke, his voice was so sensual that my stomach clenched.
“Lauren, I apologize. I shouldn’t have imposed myself on you girls. It won’t happen again.”
Shy giggles and disappointed murmurs chimed around us. Cindy felt dizzy judging by the way she plopped down on the floor with a dreamy smile.
Somebody whispered, “Oh, please, you can impose yourself on
me
any day,” only to snicker breathlessly. I grimaced.
I didn’t think Gabriel had dazzled them, but the reactions he drew were too strong. Just as I wished he’d tone it down, his palm pressed reassuringly against my abdomen.
“Don’t worry, Gaia. I’ll dim.”
****
Happiness inundated and overflowed—I was invincible. The elevator didn’t fit my exuberance, so I attacked the four flights of stairs with giant strides. In a burst of energy, I decided to outrun Gabriel, who immediately caught on to the game.
Each time I sent a giddy glance over my shoulder, he had closed the gap minutely. With a lopsided smirk, he followed my moves from his lounged pose on the banister while he slid after me.
At the bottom of the stairs, he bounced off and caught up with me much too fast. He breathed playfully down my neck making me shriek with the adrenaline rush of knowing I couldn’t escape.
The easy laughter in my ear left me winded. He picked me up and whirled me around. The rotations slowed and stopped, and he stared at me. Gabriel searched my face starting with my eyes, until dilated pupils rested on my mouth.
His lips were cautious when they found mine, sweeping over them before covering them. His tongue stroked mine so softly, as if he hadn’t just kissed me five minutes ago.
My heart wanted to burst free. So what if everybody had full view of us making out like middle-schoolers? At the moment, I didn’t give a damn.
I waited while he disappeared to get the car. From behind the curtains on the fifth floor, some of the girls smiled and waved. Others just stared.
A minute later, he pulled up in the GT2 with its top down, hopped out, and picked me up. He never broke the kiss as he lowered me into the passenger seat; I couldn’t help picturing myself in an eternal state of shocked bliss.
Something’s bound to happen. Nothing is this easy.
After he strapped me in and triple-checked the seatbelt, we peeled out of the parking lot.
“Can we do the tough part first?”
“Anything you want, Gaia. I’m not denying you anything anymore!”
I loved how happy he sounded. With the wind ruffling my hair into a tangled mess, I cozied up against the warmth of him.
“Can we go to Marina’s? She’ll kill us both, for sure, but I want her to know.”
Smiling, he gave me a quick peck on the cheek before focusing back on the road. “No reason not to get annihilated. Let’s do this.”
What I most remember of the best day of my life is how laughter, kisses, and embraces abounded. I had everything I wanted, and nothing else mattered.
****
Marina buzzed us into the building. I watched the doorknob to her room twist, and the door pushed out, concealing Gabriel behind it. I smirked to myself.
“Hey, so you didn’t feel like raking through your hair today?” She cocked her hip, giving me a stern onceover.
Right. My crow’s nest.
“You need a brush, Gaia. Bad.” She swatted for me to enter but stopped abruptly. “What’s going on? You look funny.”
“Yeah?” I fought the grin that threatened to explode over my face.
“Yep, you’re all smug and shit. What’s with the rosy cheeks and the, um, bright puppy-eyes?” She frowned, studying me closer. “Makeup, skinny-jeans, and your favorite
white
sweater. Check-check-check. What’re you hiding?”
“Who me? Not much.” I giggled and leaned against the doorjamb, enjoying her confusion.
“Uh-huh,” she puffed, crossing her arms. “Sundays are laze-around days for you, Gaia, so it’s the wrong day to—”
“But it’s a gorgeous day!”
Her glare drifted down my arm, which had Gabriel yanking playfully at it. Marina’s forehead cinched into a frown. “I saw that, Gaia—you’re hiding something. No. Someone!”
Suddenly, Marina’s expression changed. Understanding slowly seeped into her eyes, and she looked…
Super-pleased. Oh, no—why?
“Lucio, is that you back there?”
Marina’s mouth formed more questions, tons of happy questions ready to burst free. I cringed. I wished she didn’t jump to conclusions so fast.
My sweetheart saved us from embarrassment at the last moment. Emerging from behind me, his presence sucked the breath out of my friend.
“Good morning, Marina,” he said, voice soft.
I couldn’t help beaming up at Gabriel. Quiet happiness exuded from him, and despite the lack of shimmer, he was stunningly beautiful. Gabriel’s irises sparkled as they locked on Marina through a loop of golden hair.
“Oh,” she gasped.
I cleared my throat for her to stop gaping. Marina didn’t take the hint. Instead, she examined him with a lot more appreciation than she had a minute ago with me.
Well, then.
Does this mean I’m not in for a lecture?
“Uh, faded jeans and a white button-up shirt again? Clearly, angels don’t have much of a wardrobe.” Her awed tone ruined the barb effect.
“Just play nice,” I said.
Either Marina wasn’t hearing me, or her thought-to-mouth filter had worn off overnight. “Are you guys done playing hide and seek?”
Gabriel caught on before I did. A slow smile transformed his features when he brought an arm around my back. Pulling me against his hip, he rested his chin on my head.
“Yes. We’re done with the games.”
****
I’d unconsciously asked for Marina’s blessing when I’d come here with Gabriel. In the car, we’d discussed how much to tell her. Snuggled into him on her makeshift couch, sharing the latest with my best friend filled me with relief.
I told Marina how the Heavens didn’t look kindly upon angels and humans suffering because of each other. Then, I told her about Cassiel and his unpredictability—without revealing that he was a Fallen.
I shared how worried Cassiel had been about Gabriel’s wellbeing but said nothing about the seduction and his role in my attempted suicide. By the time I got to where I “inadvertently fell off” Cassiel’s terrace and Gabriel saved me, her jaw slackened.
“Okay, so do you remember when you slapped me in the face at Angel Oaks, Gaia?”
“Hmm, what?” I widened my eyes into big, innocent ovals.
She smacked my arm. “Anyways. This comes a little late, but for what it’s worth: I’m super-sorry, guys.”
Oh, Marina—the only person who knew who Gabriel really was—could she ever grasp what her support meant to me? Her apology obliterated the last scrap of bitterness I had over the past.
We didn’t stay long at Marina’s since Operation Seize the Day needed to commence. Before leaving, we agreed to meet up for dinner at Johnny O’s Monday night.
“It’s time you introduce him to the Spring Hills gang.” Marina squeezed me and pointed at Gabriel as if he couldn’t hear us. He smirked back at her.
“Yeah, I’d love to. It’ll be awkward, though, with Lucio,” I said. Gabriel’s eyes sparked once and dimmed. Tipping his head up, he gazed down at me, stone-faced. I suddenly remembered one of Cassiel’s comments; when Lucio kissed me at the movies, my angel hadn’t taken it well.
Marina raised one shoulder in a shrug. “I’ll talk with him.”
Chapter 18 — Seize the Day
Gaia
Ever since I saw Gabriel at the site of the accident, I’d wanted to be with him. Now, my dream had come true; the urge to pinch myself was overwhelming.
Gabriel took me to the beach first. He interlaced our fingers, and there we were, wading through icy winter waves with our pant legs scrunched up, like a regular couple in love.
A sharp rock brought me back to earth. “Ouch, stupid pebble! Damn things are sharp!” I wobbled on my feet, losing my balance, and Gabriel scooped me up. Holding me to him with one arm, he inspected my toes with the other. “Good thing it didn’t break the skin.”
I giggled. “You ever heard of the concepts ‘weight’ and ‘gravity?’”
A quick smile lit his face. “I know the words.” With a kiss, he set me down and began to walk again.
My heart went jackhammer-crazy when he pressed me into a sideways hug that messed up our walking pattern. He buried his nose in my hair, and I turned into his embrace.
Can time stop now, please?
Smooth lips slid against mine. Sucking lightly on my lower lip, he let out the sexiest little moan when I opened to meet his tongue.
“Hey! You kids about ready to freeze to death out there, or what?”
An old man with a batch of fishing rods screamed to us from inside his warm rubber boots. My laughter bubbled out effortlessly, and the fisherman shook his head.
He huffed to himself as he grabbed his cooler. “Kids nowadays think they’re invincible. Don’t know nothin’ ’bout no pneumonia…”
Gabriel’s gaze was tender when it met mine.
“Sunshine, he’s right—you’re freezing.”
Before I could reply, he picked me up and didn’t put me down until we got to our towel. Placing himself in front of me Indian-style, he pulled my feet into his lap. Warm hands infused them with heat.
His fingers moved up my calves, causing my breath to catch. Gabriel’s stare immediately snapped to mine. Shades of blue danced in his eyes, glittering and darkening from the familiar aqua to the deepest of azure before shifting back.
My throat worked around a lump of doubt I tried to breathe through.
How can he love me? I’m just…
me
!
My calves lost the warmth of his touch as he leaned forward. Tracing my jaw first, his palm settled over my vocal chords as if I’d spoken.
“Don’t,” he whispered. “Just don’t.” And for the first time I knew with certainty that Gabriel had read my mind.
We fed breadcrumbs to the seagulls as if they were ducks. We built a sandcastle of such ghastly quality that a toddler could have done a better job.
A squabble over a hideous balcony ended with hard-core sand tumbling. When I applied my newly acquired tickling skills, Gabriel lost control and rolled us over the creation. Nothing could dampen our euphoric mood.
The smashed sandcastle turned out to be the perfect pillow. It absorbed our moves as we sank into a slow embrace. Over and over again, I stroked his face.
“Why can’t I look away from you?” I asked.
“Because it’s been so long,” he replied, simply.
Hours passed, and I memorized every feature and read every expression. I’d never get tired of lying in his arms. “Your eyes are like quicksand to me—I’m drowning!” I joked, and he shut them to kiss me more.
“Mommy, they ruined it!”
A child’s voice reached us from a distance. By the staccato vibrations of her timbre, she must be running in our direction. The mother sounded further away.