Sacrifice

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

                Sophia woke up with Gabriel cuddled up against her. She looked at him and couldn’t help but smile at how peaceful and happy he looked in that moment. He deserved at least some happiness, and Sophia wondered if that’s why she had been acting so strange with him.

                She had never let any of her partners touch her the way she had allowed Gabriel to. He hadn’t been the first to want to touch her, but she had never given into anyone before. But when she had looked down into Gabriel’s longing eyes, she not only wanted to satisfy his desires, but she wanted to feel his touch. And then she had kissed him.

                She had never been one for kissing either. Gabriel had been the first person she had kissed in over ten years and it had been the only kiss she had liked. She could even see herself repeating the action. As she looked at him, she was tempted to kiss him right then and there.

                The fact that she was looking at him was probably the strangest thing of all. She had never even considered letting a man sleep in her bed, much less hold him. But there he was, lying next to her. When she had seen him getting dressed, she just couldn’t let him go, although she normally would have been pleased to have a man that immediately got up and left.

                But she had to have Gabriel stay with her. She didn’t want him going anywhere else but right there with her. Earlier, she had realized she was protective of the lion, but she hadn’t realized just how strong that feeling was. She’d have to do something about that later, but for the moment, she wanted to simply lie with him. Until he woke up, she was going to give into her desire to be close to him.

                She closed her eyes and held him a little tighter. She had almost fallen asleep again when she felt the light pressure on her shoulder disappear. Opening her eyes, she saw that Gabriel had lifted his head from her shoulder. For a brief moment their eyes met, but the lion looked away quickly. He moved his arm from where it lay across her stomach and tried to get up, pushing against Sophia’s arm, which held him close.

                Reluctantly, Sophia released him. As much as she wanted him to stay right where he was, she knew she had to maintain some distance with him. Once he had moved away to sit at the edge of the bed, she got up, walking past him and into her bathroom.

                While she showered, she tried to think of the best way to handle the situation with Gabriel. The easiest thing to do would be to have him leave, but she knew she couldn’t do that to him. He had nowhere else to go. But she also knew that she couldn’t be acting the way she had. Sex was one thing, but the cuddling had to stop. As she turned the water off, she was determined to push him away a little, just to make sure he didn’t get any ideas about what was going on between them.

                That plan had a major flaw, however; Sophia didn’t know what was going on herself.

                Gabriel felt confused. Since he had woken up, he had sat on the bed, simply trying to sort out his feelings, which wasn’t easy since he wasn’t even sure what was going on with him and Sophia. At first, he had thought it was just sex, and he had been fine with that. But then she had kissed him. Even though it was quick and rather innocent, Gabriel had felt like it was more than just sex for her.

                And then she had held him in her arms until he fell asleep and as far as he knew, she had held on to him until he had woken up. Gabriel didn’t think that could be completely meaningless. Why would she have pulled him into her arms like she had if she only wanted sex?