Page 202 of Rescuing Ally: Part 1

I blink at her innocently. “What?”

“You cannot just say things like that in public!”

I shrug. “I’m just being a good friend. Making sure you’re getting the full tasting menu.”

Malia groans, covering her face with both hands, but the blush burning across her cheeks says everything. Then, from behind her fingers, she mutters, “I bet you don’t even touch vanilla sex. I bet you go straight for the sinful kind.”

I bark out a laugh, leaning against the counter, entirely unrepentant. “Oh, honey.” I lower my voice, grinning. “Hank and Gabe are the darkest, most sinful, ruin-your-life kind of chocolate. The kind that melts slowly and lingers long after you’ve had your fill. Rich, indulgent, and designed to leave a mark.”

Malia groans again, but now Sophia’s eyes gleam with interest.

“Oh, now I have to know,” Sophia muses, propping her chin on her hand. “What exactly qualifies them as sinful, ruin-your-life chocolate?”

I smirk. “Let’s just say… their appetites are very dark. And very, very demanding.”

Malia grabs a dish towel and whips it at me. “You’re impossible.”

I laugh, dodging easily, but before I can fire back, the air shifts.

A new presence.

Heat slides up my spine, something predatory curling in my stomach as I glance over my shoulder?—

And find Gabe standing there, arms crossed, watching.

His lips twitch, amusement flickering in his dark gaze. “Dark and demanding, huh?”

My stomach flips.

Malia, meanwhile, chokes on air. “Oh my God—how long have you been standing there?”

Gabe steps closer, gaze locked on me now, voice dropping to something sinful and smug.

“Long enough to hear about my flavor profile.”

I grin, entirely unbothered. “Well, I’m not wrong.”

“No, sweetheart. You aren’t.” Gabe’s smirk is slow, dark—dangerous.

The heat in his gaze coils low in my belly, sending a shiver racing up my spine, but it’s not just his amusement that has my pulse hammering.

It’s the warning.

He steps in closer, his fingers curling around my wrist, firm but not tight, just enough to let me feel the control radiating off him. His voice drops, smooth as sin but edged with something rougher.

“We’ll be discussing this later.” A pause, long enough for my breath to catch. “This penchant you have for oversharing.”

His thumb brushes my pulse point—like he’s testing it, savoring it.

“Or maybe,” his lips barely move, but the sheerpromise in his tone makes my stomach flip, “I should give you something good to share—since it appears our entire sex life is an open book.”

My thighs press together involuntarily. His smirk deepens, catching it.

Noting it.

He leans in just a fraction more, his breath hot against my ear, his next words dripping with command.

“Either way, sweetheart—you’re getting punished for this.”

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