He clenched his jaw and his eyes went hot and dark and she knew she had him.
“You know it’s not about that.”
She inched closer, noting how his breath hitched. “Then tell me what it’s about. I’m not looking to be married. We’re already friends. We’re good in bed. What’s the issue? Do you like boys? Cows? What? Why are you hedging around what the real issue is? Are you embarrassed? Do you have, like, erectile dysfunction or are you incontinent?”
He tried to hold back a grin but lost the battle. “God you’re a pain in the ass for a woman who’s so pretty. No, I’m not incontinent, I don’t want to fuck men or cows for that matter and did my cock feel like it had any dysfunction to you?” He pulled his jeans on but remained shirtless.
Charity pulled the shirt from his hands and put it on, loving that it still held his scent. That and she was not above manipulating him by wearing his shirt. She undid the garter belt and rolled the stockings down, forgoing any panties. His eyes never left her body as she moved.
“I need pie.” He turned and walked out and she followed, slowly because the sight of Gabriel Bettencourt shirtless, ambling through her house looking sexed up and slightly miffed was something she wanted to commit to memory.
“Sit down,” she said and he eased himself into a chair at the table she indicated. He watched her as she pulled the pecan pie from the oven and then the ice cream from the freezer.
Efficiently and gracefully, she reached into the cabinet, pulled down two mugs and poured coffee into them, placing them both on the table.
“Cream and sugar are right there.” She pointed and turned around to slice the pie.
He stirred slowly, mesmerized by the sight of her thighs peeking from beneath the hem of his shirt. She’d gotten rid of the garter and stockings before they’d come out of her bedroom but he liked this side of her too. Liked it a whole lot in his damned shirt.
“It’s decaf.” She slid a huge slice of pie with the promised melty vanilla ice cream on top before him and placed a fork and napkin beside it. “Was there enough cream in the container? I topped it up earlier.”
Unable to help himself, he touched her hand, wrapping hers with his own. He kissed her palm. “Tastes a bit like apple pie.” He grinned at her grimace. “There’s plenty of cream here and enough pie and ice cream to feed four people.”
She pulled her hand away and grabbed her own plate, with jumbled up apple pie and ice cream and sat next to him. He contemplated eating and leaving before she could ask him anything else but she turned those eyes on him and he knew he owed her the truth.
“Charity, you’re a beautiful woman. Desirable. Funny and smart and your heart is big. We do have great sexual chemistry but we’re friends and I don’t want to ruin it.” He put a finger over her lips to silence her rebuttal and took a bite of the heavenly pie.
“I’m not looking for a relationship and as you might have noticed, I have certain, um proclivities. I’m a hard man. You deserve a man who’ll be gentle with you. I want…”
“What?” she asked quietly.
“I want to do things to you, with you, for you, on you…things, well let’s just say I know I’m all wrong for you. Baby, you need a man who doesn’t have dark edges.”
She looked at him for some time without speaking, sipping her coffee, eating her pie. Finally she nodded as if she’d come to a decision.
“Don’t you think I’m the one best to decide what I want or like to have done to me? I liked the way you were just now. Did my body say otherwise? You didn’t hurt me, Gabriel. You were hard, yes, but you didn’t go too far. I liked it and you can’t convince me I didn’t. Now that we’ve established neither of us is looking to get married, that we like each other, like having sex and I like that you’re rough, there’s no reason to continue with this silliness about not having sex anymore. We’ll have it until we don’t want to. Now, would you like another slice of pie?”
He stared at her. He needed to just leave, to make a clean break and they’d rebuild their friendship later. But his shirt, yeah, he couldn’t very well leave without his shirt and all. Anyway, she was right, it would go on for a while and then she’d move away from him on her own once she saw he wasn’t marriage material. Until then, why not enjoy her? She seemed to be on board with the tamest part of himself he’d shown her upstairs, although he wondered if he’d scare her once he brought out the toys.
Chapter Six
“You look distracted. Is everything okay?” Marta asked her the next day as they worked in their mother’s kitchen.
Charity gave her sister a brief overview of the night before as they put all the food out on the big table.
“Oh my God that is so hot.” Marta fanned her face and their mother turned a glance their way, narrowing her eyes.
Charity smiled innocently and poured some milk for her grandmother.
“Charity, that was the last of the milk. I forgot to say so when I was making the biscuits. Why don’t you run over to the dairy to get some?”
Her mother was so not obvious at all.
“Why don’t you just send her to the market? It’s closer.” Jason sat down. “Anyway, it’s time to eat.”
Her father looked at her mother, knowing something was up but not precisely what. Charity loved how he took her direction on that sort of thing.
“It’ll take all of ten minutes. The bread is still warming in the oven and the milk from the dairy tastes better.” Her mother said it like she didn’t have a darned thing up her sleeve. She handed Charity a ten dollar bill. “While you’re at it, you know maybe you should invite Gabriel to brunch. If he’s around and all. I haven’t seen him in a while now.”
Jason looked to their mother and back to Charity and finally it dawned on him what was going on. He just laughed and shook his head. “Good luck to him.”
Her father thought that was hilarious and she just rolled her eyes at them all as she left. “I’m taking your car, Jason. It’ll be faster.”
Charity didn’t wait to hear his bellow of outrage as she jogged to his Mustang and took off toward the dairy. Even though it was a Sunday, the dairy was open, not like cows took a holiday or anything.
Mrs. Bettencourt gave her a big smile when she walked in.
“Good morning, Mrs. Bettencourt. My mom sent me here for milk. There’s a full house for brunch and we’re all out.” Charity went to the cold case and grabbed several half gallons and brought them over to the counter.
“You just missed Gabriel. He had to go to the train station to pick up my sister’s son and his wife. They’re joining us for Christmas. He was in a very good mood this morning. I hear you two had dinner last night.” Beatriz raised a brow at her and gave her her change.
“We did have dinner.” Charity paused. “I like Gabriel a lot. I have for as long as I can remember.”
Beatriz’s smile widened and she nodded.
“Gabriel, get the door please, my hands are full,” Gabriel’s mother yelled from the other room as he was on his way to answer the door already.
“Like I’d make her walk in here to get the door when I’m two feet away,” he mumbled as he turned the knob and swung the door back, only to nearly lose his breath at the sight of Charity standing on his porch looking like ten kinds of gorgeous.
“Cold out here. You gonna invite me in?”
He stood back and pushed the screen door open for her. “Sorry. We’re just about to have dinner.” She smelled like cold air and of wood fires and he had to take a step back to keep from pressing his face into her hair to take a better whiff.
“I know. Here,” she pressed a warm bowl into his hands, “take it to your mom. I told her I’d bring scalloped potatoes.” She sashayed past and delivered hugs and kisses to most of his family.
“You’re letting the cold air in. Shut the door.” Rafe smirked from the doorway into the dining room.
“And close your mouth or you’ll gather flies,” Belle said in an undertone from her chair nearby
.
Charity looked so pretty. So feminine and soft in the white angora sweater and the wide legged trousers she wore with it. Effortlessly elegant even. Crap. He looked down at his plain black long-sleeved shirt and jeans and thought about going back to his house to change.
“Gabriel! I need you to get the ham out of the oven. Raphael, get the big platter from off the top of the china hutch,” his mother called from the kitchen.
Gabe headed toward her but stopped to send a glare at his cousin John, who was flirting up a storm with Charity. His head was bent toward her and her eyes danced as she laughed at something he’d said.
“John, make yourself useful in the kitchen. Carry something,” he snarled and John slowly turned to look at him and then back at Charity.
“I’m just fine. Anyway, Aunt Beatriz told you to help.” He turned back to Charity and to her credit, she looked at Gabriel and smiled so prettily his annoyance faded and automatically, he smiled back.
Didn’t mean he wasn’t going to knock the crap out of John later though. Punk.
“I need to go say hello to your mother,” Charity joined him as he walked into the kitchen.
Immediately, the joyful cries and shrieks of female greeting sounded all around him and he smiled again. His mother’s face lit when she caught sight of Charity. He knew he’d been set up but it didn’t matter.
Belle came in and they all began to set the table, chattering in a mix of English and Portuguese. Gabriel brushed past Charity as he brought the ham to the table, putting it down where his mother pointed. Rafe followed with a platter of chicken.
John moved to the chair nearest Charity once dinner had been announced but Gabriel sat instead. “She’s mine” was the look he sent and John laughed, moving to sit elsewhere.
“Would you like some chicken, Gabriel?” Charity asked, taking his plate and filling it with food from the bowls and platters nearest to where she sat.
“Yes, thank you.”
She even buttered two slices of bread for him.
“Charity, I wanted to invite you to Christmas Eve services with us this year. My memory is shot so I thought I’d ask while I remembered,” his father said. Not his mother, but his father. Who knew?
Charity blushed and sent his dad such a look, even the gruff Bettencourt patriarch ducked his chin a moment.
“Thank you, Mr. Bettencourt. I’d love to. My family will be there too, of course.”
“I’ve been telling you for years now that we’re Anthony and Beatriz. You’re like a member of our family. How many times have you spent the night here with Rosemary?” His father grinned and the woman in question, Gabe’s baby sister, came into the house with her kids and husband, Ben.
More female squealing as Rosemary caught sight of Charity and Belle and they all hugged. Rafe and Gabriel got up to help Ben get the kids’ stuff into the house and situated.
His niece Lettie was perched in Charity’s lap when he came back into the dining room. Tonia, the middle niece rested in her grandpop’s lap, happily eating off his plate and the only boy, Kit, slept in his grandma’s arms.
Rosemary, Belle and Charity sat, heads together, laughing and talking. His mother looked at them and then to Gabriel and chuckled. He knew he was in for it. He knew it but right then he didn’t care. She was his friend. This scene had played out before. Charity had been at their dinner table dozens of times over the years either there with Rosemary or with Gabe’s group of friends. That it was different wasn’t something he planned to examine.
However, when they were done with dinner, he was taking her back to his house and fucking her. Twice. He had plans for her. Then he’d know if she was just trash talking or if she really was okay with what he liked.
Charity loved the Bettencourts. Had loved them for a great deal of her life and now that this whatever-it-was, was growing with Gabriel, it felt natural to be there. There was no nervousness. They knew her, she knew them. Even Lourdes, Beatriz’s mother who only came to Davis every other Christmas, liked her and the woman was notorious for scaring people! She’d helped Charity and Rosemary get ready for events when they were younger and had told them stories of her girlhood in the Azores.
This thing with Gabriel had been in the making for twenty years and even if he wanted to pretend not to see it, it was there. The way he looked at her was certainly there. Like she was the most beautiful woman in the room. He even blushed when she’d done small things for him like getting him a cup of coffee or a slice of cake. Silly little things. Goodness knew their mother spoiled Raphael and Gabriel shamelessly so it wasn’t like he was unaccustomed to women doing things for him. But that he reacted so strongly when she did it just made her shivery all the way down to her toes.
She helped clean the kitchen with the other women as they sipped wine and swapped gossip about the people they knew. She fit there as easily as she did in her own family.
Still, she was surprised when he came up behind her and encircled her waist with his arms and rested his chin on her shoulder. “You look beautiful tonight.”
“Thank you. So do you. Or, handsome I suppose.”
“Do you have the time to stop by my place for a bit?” he asked quietly.
“I do. I don’t have anywhere to be first thing.” Not that he’d asked her to sleep over but she thought she’d put it out there anyway.
He turned with her, taking her hand. “Good night, all. I’m going to steal Charity now.”
“Are you going to have your wicked way with me?” she asked as he drove her car back to his place.
“I was considering it. You have any problems with that plan?” He grinned as he pulled her car to a stop.
“Depends on how well you do it.” She grinned back.
“Stay right there.” He got out and came to open her door. Normally she’d do it herself but with him, she found she liked that he wanted to do little things for her.
He pulled her to his body as she stood to get out and crushed her mouth with his own for a kiss. She melted against him, savoring his taste, loving how hot he was against her body while the air outside was so cold.
The kiss was easy, but deepened the longer he held her. She opened to it, to him, loving the way he felt. He’d kissed her, he’d sought her out, he’d been affectionate and even possessive at dinner.
He looked into her eyes for long, tense moments after he broke the kiss.
“You ready?”
She nodded.
“Trust me?”
“I’ve known you for nearly thirty years. You’ve never done anything untrustworthy in all that time. Yes, I trust you or I wouldn’t be here right now.” She wished she could say everything she felt about him but she knew it would spook him.
He took her hand and drew her toward the house and into the front door. He locked it and turned back to her. “You know which one my bedroom is. I want you undressed and on the bed. On all fours. I’ll join you in a moment.” He paused, looking her up and down and her entire body seemed to vibrate at the blatantly sexual perusal. “Take your hair down. I like it against your bare skin. You’re so beautiful.”
She smiled, feeling shy all the sudden.
In his bedroom, breathless at being surrounded by his scent, she undressed and let her hair loose from the barrette. She got on his bed as he’d instructed and waited. The air caressed her bare skin as anticipation zinged through her veins.
In the guestroom, where Gabriel kept his toys, he removed his shoes and socks and went to the chest at the end of the bed and unlocked it. The scent of leather wafted up at him as he reached down and grabbed the crop and a blindfold.
The crop had the perfect amount of give to it, bending easily but not too easily. Springing back into place with a nice whoosh of air. The sound, the creak of the leather made his cock twitch as he walked back to his room.
He rarely used the crop. It wasn’t something you could break out on a first date and he didn’t tend to keep woman around for longer than a month or two. But when he?
??d bought it two years before, it had been Charity he’d thought of. It was getting harder and harder to ignore how it all came back to her, over and over. She was what he’d wanted for his entire adult life.
His pulse sped as he caught sight of her on his bed. Mine.
He put the crop down on the edge of the bed, where she could see it. He wanted to give her a chance to back out. Hope she would warred with hope she wouldn’t. She froze and sucked in a breath.
“You okay?” He petted down the curve of her ass and his cock throbbed.
“Uh. Yes. I’ve never…”
“We can forgo it.” He moved to pick it up but she shook her head.
“No. I want to. I want you to use it on me.” Her voice was breathless but sure. She got to him, damn it. Truth was, she always had.
“Sure?”
“Show me, Gabriel. I’ve never done anything like this before. Show me more.”
“You can feel. I’m going to cover your eyes.”
“Okay,” she breathed out in a barely audible whisper. Not a scared whisper.
He groaned and slid the blindfold over her eyes, making sure it was light tight and comfortable. Her skin immediately broke out in gooseflesh and she breathed out slowly.
“You look so fucking beautiful here on your hands and knees.” She did. It made every cell within him yearn to have this all the time. Instead he picked the crop up and drew a line down her spine with the tip. Around to her breasts and those nipples that made his mouth water and his hands itch to touch. “The curve of your breasts, your nipples so dark and hard—so gorgeous. And your ass, oh that pretty ass of yours.” He smoothed his palms over the solid, rounded muscle of her cheeks, giving each one a crack of his opened hand.
She wriggled back against him and he smiled. Maybe they could enjoy each other more than he first thought.