Birthday Kiss

GABRIEL

"Are you okay?" I stow my irritation and offer concern. I'm a little annoyed that a young woman of her position in the crime game has allowed herself to be this vulnerable and defenseless the way she is right now.

And with a goddamn stranger no less.

She really does believe that she's well protected beneath the influence of her brother and her daddy. It's almost sad, really. She reminds me of a helpless little calf in line waiting to be slaughtered.

"I am more than okay." She flips over with a hiccup. "Today, I am twenty-one. I am legal!" She cheers obnoxiously.

I know it's her birthday. I've dreamt of this moment for so long. I planned for it. Anticipated it. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you." She replies sweetly while stretching her limbs to lay down. She's tall, with long legs that glow in the moonlight.

Being this close to her, I can smell the salt of the ocean on her skin.

I wonder if I'd be able to taste it.

Her flirty gaze descends upon me, falling down my face, past my unbuttoned shirt, until landing on my bare feet in the sand.

It appears the alcohol in her blood has now hijacked her thinking because I know the look she's got in her gaze. This is the last look in the eyes of every woman right before I slip inside them. She's staring at me with heavy fuck-me eyes — a complete change from the jumbled mess she'd been only minutes earlier. And she's not being shy about it.

Women wanting me doesn't usually faze me, but my stomach clenches from the interest in her stare.

Who would have thought in a million years that the princess of arms would ever look at me like this?

Who could have thought that she'd want me so soon?

Thoughts begin to spin inside my head.

I wonder if she's a virgin.

I wonder if I'm the first man she has come on to like this before.

Just the thought of it makes me want to rock her fucking world one time before destroying it. I want to give her a night she'll never forget because once I have her in my clutches, she's going to pray for death to come.

Let's find out just how drunk you really are, Rowan. "What's going through your head right now, birthday girl?" I cock a curious eyebrow.

She licks her lips like she wants to taste me and slowly crawls to her knees. "I haven't received a birthday kiss yet and my birthday is almost over." She sulks again, batting her eyelashes and sticking her bottom lip out.

A kiss.

That's what she wants?

That's all that she wants?

I take a step closer to where she kneels on the cushion, "What a shame." I'll admit that she does look tempting on her knees before me.

Too fucking tempting.

"Will you give it to me?" Those long, curled eyelashes brush her cheeks again as she stares up at me with lust-filled eyes that sparkle beneath the flame of a torch.

Spell it out for me, Rowan. "Give you what?" I decide to act like I don't know what she's talking about. I do. Her eyes say it all and a man would have to be quite daft not to see the signs.

"A birthday kiss." She raises higher so that it would only take me a short step before she's able to touch me. And I don't want that to happen because when she touched me without warning before, I felt my whole body seize up.

And I'd rather not deal with that again.

But I do like seeing this side of her. Mostly because I can't wait to see how she reacts when she realizes who I am after tonight. And because she's a pretty enough girl, and I haven't fucked anyone in months because I'd been too preoccupied with planning for her arrival to get my cock wet.

In that way she owes me.

"You'd let a stranger kiss you?" I ask, raising a questioning brow.

"You're not a bad guy. I can feel it." Her lips slide into a sultry smirk.

Oh, Rowan how wrong you are. How terribly wrong you are. I am a bad guy. I'm the worst of them all, and I'm going to make you see that. "You can feel it, huh?"

She says nothing as she nods her head, but she scoots to the edge of the cushion and reaches out to me. I'm not fast enough to dodge her advances, and my chest tightens as her hands creep inside my shirt. Her palms are hot on my skin and soon she's staring up into my face with her lips parted, waiting on me to make my move. Heat floods through my veins like lava and I don't know whether to push her away or shove her down so that I can sink inside her.

I'm hearing two different voices right now. My head is trying to tell me that this is wrong, but it's also trying to say that in some warped way I'd be doing her a favor if I fucked her brains out.

"Kiss me, please." She begs softly, leaning her head all the way back to present her mouth to me. She's turned into a little temptress, and she's playing with my self-control.

I stare at her lips, at the shine from the gloss she's wearing, and I wonder what it tastes like.

Is it going to be sticky?

Is it going to leave that annoying glitter on my mouth?

I reach out and cup her skull in my hand, snaking my fingers in her luscious hair, and she lets a sigh fall through her lips that fills my blood with electric heat. It's only been a few hours since we'd met and I'm already about to kiss her. I thought she'd put up more of a fight because of where she comes from. I thought she'd be more observant of her surroundings knowing how dangerous the world truly is — how dangerous her father makes it. I never expected to have her eating out of the palm of my hand, especially so fast. I didn't think it'd be this easy to get her alone.

Where is the challenge?

Where is the fight?

"Please, Mr. Hart— "She mutters breathlessly, and my ears burn when I hear my name on her lips. Mr. Hart? No one addresses me formally, with my last name — except for employees and clients.

But why did my spine ignite when she said it?

"Please what, Rowan?" I leisurely lower my head to tease her with the distance between us.

"Kiss me." She breathes, closing her eyes.

So, I do. Without thinking of anything else. Without thinking about the thoughts inside my head. Without allowing my body time to tense up. And she groans against my lips as she stretches higher to deepen the kiss. Her mouth is soft against mine. Her lips feel like velvet petals and my cock twitches inside my shorts as her little hands travel down to my hips.

Oh, fuck this was a bad idea.

This was a really bad fucking idea.