Page 65 of One Night with Cinderella

Gabe and Monica looked back at each other with questions in their eyes.

Did she send the invite?

“No,” they said in unison before sharing a laugh that lightened the mood.

Monica dropped her head to his chest again and settled her hands on his hips. “Gabe, I have to be honest,” she began.

He stiffened.

Is she with someone else?

The thought of that was torture.

“I learned some things these last couple of months,” she said, raising her head to look up at him.

He enjoyed the sight of her. His eyes wandered over her as if he were feeding a hunger.

“About myself. About love. Family. So many things,” Monica continued.

He’d felt anguish when he’d thought he had lost her forever.

“I love you, Gabriel Cress,” she stressed, tilting her head to the side as her eyes searched his. “I forgive you.”

So, this is joy.

“If—”she continued.

He tensed again, feeling completely shaken by the emotional roller coaster. His hint of a smile faded.

“If you can forgive me for letting my past filter everything you did and see it all in a bad light,” she said, easing her hands around his waist. “Forgive me.”

Gabe released the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. “Without question,” he said, his voice deep and brimming with meaning as he brought his hands up under her hair to hold her neck and jaw in his palms.

They stared at each other. The energy—that familiar pulse—was there as their serious expressions were replaced with slow smiles. Long, endless moments of just enjoying being in one another’s company again.

This was love.

Pure and profound.

He lowered his head, giving in to his hunger, and she tilted her head up and welcomed his kisses. Slow and soft at first, with moments in between each where their lips barely touched and they inhaled of one another’s shaky breaths. And when they deepened, each moaned from down within as they clung to one another, until their bodies seemed to blend.

Gabriel knew in that moment that he loved her like he had never loved before, and that she had claimed a piece of his heart that no other woman would ever be able to reach. And there was not one bit of fear in him about it. Not one.

This was love.

Why had they denied themselves for so long?

It was Monica who broke the kiss and smiled at him as she cleaned her gloss from his lips with her thumb. She slid her hand in his. “You have an opening to attend,” she reminded him.

“Let’s walk slow,” he said with a deliberate look down at the length of him hard and pressing against his pants.

She chuckled as she leaned against his arm. “My desire is not as easy to see,” she said.

“The thought of that isn’t helping,” Gabe said, his voice deep.

“Maybe I should put a little distance between us,” she said, slightly teasing as she released his hand.

“Not too much.”

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