The Better Brother

Fear jolted through me as reality broke through the pleasant fog in my head. As good as it felt to have him next to me, he couldn’t be here, not with Alyssa and my mother in the condo. I sucked in a deep breath before twisting beneath Gabriel’s arm to face him in the dim light of the room. His eyes were wide open when I looked into them.

“What are you doing in here?” I whispered, cupping his face with my hands. “You can’t be in here. What about Alyssa and my mom?”

“It’s nearly two in the morning,” Gabriel whispered back, pulling me into him without hesitation. “I couldn’t sleep without feeling you in my arms tonight and knowing you were safe. They aren’t going to wake up, unless you make noise.”

I buried my face into his chest. “We can’t be together right now, even though I want to. Not with my mom in the living room.”

“I know, Penny,” he muttered, voice stretched thin. “I know that. I just wanted to make sure that you were going to be okay once you got up.”

“I’ll be fine, Gabriel. I promise you.”

His warm lips landed on mine through the dark with surprising accuracy. The feeling of them gliding along mine eased every bit of tension in my body. I found myself returning that kiss with just as much passion as I felt deep inside of me. I let the kiss simmer for a few precious seconds before I forced myself to pull back. I couldn’t let anything else happen with my mother now lying on the couch.

“I can’t do this,” I whispered, tracing his lips with my fingertips. “Not right now, at least. Okay?”

“I understand. Come to me if you need anything.”

He stole another quick kiss from me, and then slipped away from me on the bed before leaving the room. He pulled the door all the way shut, and darkness crashed over me. I stared up at the ceiling with tears glittering in my eyes. I wished things between us could be simple. Simple enough for me to say that I wanted him to stay with me, but I couldn’t. Not right now.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN – GABRIEL

I slept like shit throughout the night after Penny roused from her sleep. I didn’t know what possessed me to crawl into her room after I was confident that Nikki and Alyssa were both asleep, but it had felt right to hold her in my arms, to feel her even breaths as she slept peacefully without stirring when I had pulled her close to me.

I rose early in the morning to hear Nikki’s voice chatting away cheerfully in the kitchen. Having her here certainly complicated everything; that much, Penny was right about. We couldn’t afford to risk being together with the both of them around. Even though having Nikki around increased the risk of getting caught, it didn’t dampen my desires at all. My feelings for Penny had only strengthened since the day before. The urge to pull Penny close last night and to make love to her had been so strong that it took everything in me to respect her wishes and pull away from her. She had a lot of emotions to sort through over the next couple of days, just like I did.

I had no idea what I wanted, either, and I got the feeling that Penny had no idea what to make of our relationship at this point. Things were so complicated between us, making it impossible to get a handle on what exactly we felt for each other.

I found Nikki sitting at the kitchen island with Alyssa, who was already showered and dressed for the day—a sign that she intended on venturing out at some point.

“Morning,” Nikki said cheerfully. “There’s a fresh pot of coffee sitting over there for you, if you want some.”

“Thank you,” I mumbled, rubbing at my aching eyes. “What are you two up to?”

“I have to go into the city to meet Scott, if that’s okay with you,” Alyssa said cautiously. “I didn’t think it’d be a problem since you both are here now to keep an eye on Penny.”

Nikki reached across the kitchen island to pat Alyssa on the hand. “Of course, it is, honey. You don’t have to ruin your plans. Your father and I are here for her.”

I poured myself a cup while I fought to keep my irritation levels down. I had to get through an entire morning with a painful erection straining in my pants that my sweater thankfully covered up. More than anything, I just wanted some damn alone time with Penny to talk things out before we figured out what to do. From the looks of it though, it wasn’t going to happen with Nikki wandering about my kitchen as she frowned at me.

“You look like hell, Gabriel. You were one of the first ones to go to bed, too.”

“I laid in bed for a long time,” I said, which was the full truth. I had waited until I knew everyone was asleep before getting up. “What are you looking for in my kitchen, Nikki?”

“Things for breakfast,” she said. “You have nothing in your fridge at the moment, besides milk and creamer.”

“We don’t eat here,” Alyssa said. “That’s why. We normally just order in because neither one of us knows how to cook a decent breakfast.”

She hopped down from the bar stool to peck a kiss against my cheek. I nodded goodbye to her while Nikki continued to rummage through my cupboards with light clucks of her tongue. I took a long drink of coffee in the futile hope that it would stomp down my frustration, but it didn’t work. I set my coffee down on the kitchen counter when she slammed a cupboard door shut with more force than necessary.

“No need to take your anger out on my kitchen,” I remarked cynically. “Alyssa is right. We don’t eat here most of the time, and when we do, it’s usually take out from somewhere close by.”

Nikki shook her head at me in dismay. “You need to be cooking that child some home cooked meals. I always made a point of doing that for Penny growing up.”

“Alyssa is nineteen years old,” I said. “She doesn’t care about that type of stuff. Plus, she’s already gone to go meet with her boyfriend.”

“Well, I’m not going to stay idle in here. I’m going to the store to get something to cook my child for breakfast.”

She left the kitchen to grab her purse from the living room. I shook my head as I heard Nikki mumble to herself while she swept through my kitchen with a notepad in her hand. She was clearly looking for a way to make things up to her daughter, and breakfast seemed like the easiest thing to do for her right now.