Chapter 22: GABRIEL

Trauma bonding, that’s what this feels like. Something triggered her; now, she needs to feel alive like her heart still beats. Part of me wanted to give in, but the other part, the heart that only she had touched after so many years of feeling dead inside, would never allow me to hurt her.

I didn’t resist any longer though, she’d only keep fighting me to get what she wanted, so instead, I moved into her kiss the next time she offered me her lips. When her lips wanted to move hard and fast, I tempered them with soft nibbles and a gentle swipe of my tongue across her full lower lip.

I was in control; I could stop at any time, but I’ll give her this much until she calms down. That’s what I told myself, what I believed to be true. So I didn’t fight as hard when she became the aggressor again. When she sent her tongue on a foray into my mouth, teasing my lips as she held my head in place.

Her kisses were innocent, pure, but it wasn’t her kiss that held me enraptured; it was her, all her.