Priceless

“No worries. I still have plenty of time to work on you. The day is young.”

Her face fell, and then changed to panic.

“Ivan, what time is it?”

“It’s early. Probably not more than half past ten.”

“Oh shit. The morning-after wedding brunch is today at noon. We are supposed to be there, Ivan, both of us. And we’re—we are in Ireland right now!” she hissed, throwing down her napki

n and jumping up from the table. “I have to get showered and dressed—and—and then you have to fly me back to Hallborough.”

She turned away from me and ran toward the shower grotto.

Well, fuck. It looked like there was still some convincing to do with my beautiful obsession. And I remembered what I already knew about her. She was a runner whenever something frightened her.

The only thing to do with a runner is to run even faster so you can catch them.

SHE was already washing her hair when I came up behind her in the pool house showers. I watched her for a moment as she hurried to do everything in a rush. I needed to slow her down.

“Gabrielle.”

She turned and dunked her head under the spray and let the shampoo rinse out of her long dark hair, her eyes closed tightly, not acknowledging me.

I pulled her against my chest, my hands linked behind her back so she couldn’t push away. Her breasts pressed into my chest, soft and wet as I put my lips to hers.

Her hands came up to my chin and faltered. Maybe in defense—or possibly just protecting herself from me—but it was still an acceptance, and she didn’t do more than just hold her trembling hands suspended between us while I kissed her under the shower spray.

I could work with that.

A kiss was intimate, and helped me to dig my way further under her skin.

I know how to win, using every small thing to my advantage in order to get there. I had the medals to prove it.

She was my win. My gold medal.

Winning Gabrielle would be my toughest competition yet.

But so worth it. So fucking worth it in the end.

I kept her against me under the shower for another moment, slowing everything down with her, taking the panic out of the moment.

I brought my hands up to cup her cheeks, holding and directing the angle of her head until all of the shampoo was rinsed away. I turned off the water and kept her face in my hands. The shower head drained out its last drops, falling onto the tile floor in a steady rhythm at our feet.

She cast her eyes up at me, so unsure and fearful. I could see the fear in every flicker of their lovely hue. Her eyes were a unique shade of green, flecked with other variants of colours from brown to yellow to blue.

“The rest of the weekend, Gabrielle. Give that to me.”

She shook her head still held in my two hands. “No. I have to go back. You said you’d take me—.”

“—even if we took off this very minute we can’t make it back to Hallborough by noon. It’s impossible.”

“But we won’t be there for the brunch then,” she whispered, defeated.

I rubbed my thumbs over the sides of her jaw. “Think about it. People won’t be looking for us. They’ll be waiting on the bride and groom, and while Ethan and Brynne might notice we’re absent, I’m sure they’ll be more anxious to get away on their honeymoon. They won’t care.”

“Maybe…,” she said biting on one side of her luscious bottom lip. “But Ben will wonder where I am, and Elaina will, too. They will ask around for me.”

“I’m sure Fred has noticed my plane is gone from his lake by now. I can message Hannah and say I brought you over to Donadea for a quick visit so you could get a glimpse of my paintings. It’s mostly the truth.” I smiled at her. “I just leave out the part about kidnapping you when you were under the influence of one too many blueberry mojitos, and they’ll be none the wiser.”