She kissed his chest, loving the way he groaned with need. She was beginning to recognize that particular sound and what it meant, and that knowledge made her shiver as he rolled her onto her back and captured her mouth in a hungry kiss.
When the kiss ended, he raised his head and peered down at her, brushing her hair away from her face. The look in his eyes was so filled with emotion, her throat constricted. “Gabe, is something wrong?”
He shook his head. “No. In fact, everything’s right. It scares the hell out of me.”
“Why?” she asked, confused. “Do you regret what’s happening between us?”
“God no!” he assured her. “Not for a second.” His fingertips trailed along the curve of her face as his gaze took her in.
“Then what is it?” she prompted, the gravity of his mood worrying her. “Something’s on your mind, I can tell.”
His gorgeous, full lips curved up into a grin. “Making love to you all night is the only thing on my mind right now.”
He was lying. But why?
She lifted her chin, granting him access to her throat as his lips explored her skin, arching into him as his mouth teased her breasts, holding him close as he made love to her again, slowly, languidly, as if savoring every moment.
But when he would’ve withdrawn from her, she wrapped her arms and legs around him, keeping him where he was. “All night long?” she whispered. “Is that your plan?”
He nodded, nuzzling near her ear. “Every night,” he murmured. “If you’ll let me.”
Her heart began to pound, fluttering against her chest. “Gabe—”
He stopped her words with a kiss, then lifted his head to meet her gaze. “I love you, Elle.”
Her breath caught in her lungs. She’d longed to hear those words since she was a teenager, had denied herself even the smallest hope of ever hearing them. And now she couldn’t quite believe them.
She shook her head a little, clearing away the blissful haze that always descended upon her when she was in Gabe’s arms. “What did you say?”
“I love you,” he repeated. “I know it’s probably too soon to say that. But—”
“I love you, too,” she said, the words coming out before she could stop them. “I always have.”
His breath shot out of him on a sharp exhale, and he pressed his forehead to hers. Then he was kissing her again, his fingers spearing into her hair. But there was something off in his kiss, something in the way his lips clung to hers, that made her search his gaze for answers when he at last drew the kiss to a close and got up to dispose of the condom. When he returned to bed, he pulled her back into his arms without a word, holding her close to his heart as if afraid to let her go.
“What is it?” she pressed gently. “Gabe, there’s something wrong. I can feel it.” When he tried to turn his gaze from her, she took his face in her hands and forced him to look at her. “Gabe Dawson, I love you. With all my heart. But you have to let me love you. Don’t shut me out now—not after what you just confessed.”
He closed his eyes for a moment as if considering her words. “I’m worried about Monroe, about what he’s going to try next. I’ve got to stop that son of a bitch. When I think about him trying to hurt you again… God, Elle, I just want to keep you here in my arms and never let you go.”
“Oh, Gabe…” She brushed a kiss to his cheek, his brow. “Do you think I worry about you any less? You’re the one who told me we can’t let Monroe get to us or he wins.”
He shook his head. “It’s different now.”
“Why?” she pressed. “Because we’re lovers?”
He clenched his jaw, his chiseled features appearing even sharper. “Something like that.”
She lifted the silver Saint Michael’s pendant from where it lay just below the hollow of his throat and rubbed her thumb over the image of the archangel, his sword raised against the cowering Satan at his feet. How many times had she prayed for Saint Michael’s protection for Gabe and all the Dawsons? Too many to count.
“Nothing’s different for me when it comes to being afraid for your safety,” she insisted. When he gave her a questioning look, she continued, “Since you became a deputy over a decade ago, I’ve prayed every day I wouldn’t get a call that you’d been hurt. Or killed. Just because I hadn’t told you I love you, Gabe, it didn’t make my fear for you any less real.”
“But this is my job,” he reminded her. “I accepted the risks when I signed on. Every man in my family has been in law enforcement since before Fairfield County even was a county. There were no rose-colored glasses when I decided to follow in my father’s footsteps. But you’re an attorney, for Chrissake. You shouldn’t ever have to be in the crosshairs, Elle. Not like this.”