“I think that was Professor Bailey leaving,” she explains, her voice shaky as she glances around. “There’s no one else in here.”
“Then he probably saw just how well we’re going to get along as we work on our project together.” I grin and she smiles in return. But then my smile fades and so does hers. “Seriously Luce, are you okay with this? With us?”
“I missed you so much,” she confesses. “But I figured you were mad at me.”
“I was. I can’t deny it. What you did…I couldn’t wrap my head around it.”
She looks stricken by my words, like she wants to bolt out of here. I need to be honest with her and she needs to hear it. “I wondered if you were trying to play some sort of joke on me but then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized you just got…caught up.”
“That’s exactly what happened,” she whispers. “And I’m so sorry, Gabe. Really I am.”
“I know.” I smile at her, wanting to reassure her. “I’m over it. We both made mistakes. And I felt bad leaving you alone and having to deal with—everything.” I still feel like an utter shit for that. My heart is heavy with remorse over my stupidity.
She waves a hand like it was nothing but I see the flicker in her gaze. “It was a false alarm. Don’t worry about it.”
“A pretty scary one,” I add.
“But false, so no big deal.”
I haul her into my arms and kiss her again before she can say something else in that brush it off way she’s currently displaying. Forget that crap. What we went through was like an emotional hurricane and I’m glad we both came out okay on the other side. “It was a huge deal, Luce. I don’t ever want to leave you like that again,” I murmur against her lips after I break the kiss.
“Then don’t.” She kisses me again, dipping her head so she can kiss along my neck.
Ah Christ. I close my eyes, contemplating my next move. I should make her stop. I have more to say but her lips on my skin feels so damn good. I’ve missed her. In every little way I’ve missed her so much and it’s such a relief to have her in my arms again I almost feel like crying.
But I’m a macho ass so I refuse to do that.
“I love you Lucy,” I tell her, making her pause. She lifts her head, her eyes the widest I’ve ever seen them. “I’ve been in love with you for a while but I was too dumb to realize it.”
“But Gabe, your family…” I shake my head but she presses on. “Don’t they have certain expectations of you? Jade explained a few things. Things you never told me.”
“I didn’t want to burden you with my problems.”
“If we’re really going to be together, we have to share everything. The good and the bad,” she says and I nod my agreement.
She’s right. The good and the bad, it all comes as part of being in a relationship with someone. “I don’t care what my parents think. Let me deal with them. All I want is you. You’re the only thing that truly makes me happy.” Pausing, I take both her hands in mine. “I was just wandering through life before, acting like a selfish prick and always looking for the next big thrill. Then I met you and realized you were the only thrill I need.”
Ah, hell. Tears spring to her eyes. I hate when she cries. But I think—I hope—these are happy tears. “Oh, Gabe.”
“I’m serious, Luce. I’m in love with you. It about killed me when you told me you’d been lying all that time but then I started to feel bad. Like maybe…I’m the reason you got caught up in the lies. And I hated that. Then like an asshole I don’t use a condom and we get scared that you’re pregnant and then I abandon you by telling you I wasn’t ready for all of it and I’m just…I feel like the biggest dick in the universe.”
She kisses me before I can continue on, her tongue sweeping into my mouth, her hands letting go of mine so she can loop her arms around my neck. She kisses me long and deep until we both finally come up for air minutes later to find a group of about twenty people standing at the top of the stairs gaping at us.
“Uh, I think we need to go,” I tell Lucy as she disentangles herself from me.
“Next class starts in ten minutes,” one of the guys who is still watching us says.
I’m laughing to myself as I take Lucy’s backpack from her and guide her out of the classroom, my hand resting at the small of her back as I push open the heavy door with my other hand. “Well, that was just great,” I mutter once we’re out of the building and walking toward the quad.
“They were staring at us,” she whispers, making me start laughing in earnest. “Like they’ve never seen someone kiss before.”
“Maybe they haven’t.” I slip my arm around her waist and pull her in close to my side. “Maybe they have no idea what a couple in love looks like.”
“Well, now they know,” she says in that prim little voice that I find so incredibly sexy.
Shit. Just like that I’m hard for her. It’s been too damn long. I’m dying to get her naked and beneath me.
“Let’s get the hell out of here so I can take you to bed,” I suggest.
Her cheeks go pink. “Gabriel.”
“Luciana,” I mock right back at her. “You know you want it.”
She smiles, rears up on tiptoe and kisses me on the cheek. “I do.”