Page 43 of Forbidden Sins
“What?”
“Were you ever young, Gabe?”
“What do you mean?”
“Were you ever young and stupid, impulsive?”
He wondered where the line of questioning had come from. If it had anything to do with her father, or her small outburst in the club earlier, and he recalled the story she’d told him about her turbulent younger years. “Like you, you mean?”
“Nothing that extreme. But you’re just so serious all the time. When was the last time you let your hair down?” She reached up and ran her fingers through his golden waves, disheveling his hair.
Hardly ever.He stood from the tub and folded his arms as he faced her with a playful smile. “Need I remind you that I co-own an erotic club?”
“When was the last time you got out of your bubble? Sure, you own a sex club, drive a Harley, you own a piano you won’t play, but you’re still very buttoned-down. It’s all a front. You’re so stiff. You still haven’t been able to cut loose.”
“Haven’t you spent your entire adult life trying to erase your wilder days from memories?”
“Yeah, but at least I’m able to say that I made those mistakes, and learned from them. You’ve always been so sensible and in control. Me losing control as a teenager was self-destructive. You losing control can be freeing.”
“I seem to remember a wild weekend where I almost drowned in champagne, a beautiful woman and telling a pretty decent Elvis impersonator that I wanted her as my wife.”
“Hmm, yeah, that was you, wasn’t it?”
“But maybe I was helpless under your extremely bad influence.”
“You’re saying this was my fault?”
“You know I don’t remember, but either way, I’m glad it happened.”
“Me, too.”
He turned and saw that the tub had filled. “Let’s get in,” he suggested, as he helped her into the bathtub before settling in behind her.
Leaning back, with Ellie at his chest, he ignored the way his cock stiffened in response to the warm naked body pressed against him, and he leaned his head back and breathed a sigh of relief. He’d never had an appreciation for the tub before. Having only used it after a few stressful days at the office, or a vigorously intense workout, sharing it with Ellie was an experience unto itself.
They lay quietly for a moment, but Gabe couldn’t fully shut off his brain. “Do you want to tell me about your dinner with your father?”
She stiffened against him. “Not really.”
“It couldn’t have been that bad.”
“He told me to stay away from you and your friends.”
That surprised Gabe. Charles had been one of his biggest champions during his career. “Why?”
“Your friends, because he thinks they could be my gateway back into debauchery. Like I’m the same person I was back then.”
“You know what? I’ll bet you were an amazing person back then, too. He was just too much of an old, conservative asshole to see it. Why does he want you to stay away from me?”
“Because he doesn’t want me to destroy your future like I’d almost done my own. I’m a bad influence.”
Gabe tightened his arms around Ellie. He regretted the line he’d teasingly said earlier that she was a bad influence. He couldn’t begin to imagine how much hearing those words could have hurt her. And he understood why she’d acted out earlier. Her mother and father had really done a job on her. “Jesus, Ellie,” he whispered against the top of her head, before placing a kiss there. “I’m sorry. I had no idea how cruel he could be.”
“It’s okay. It isn’t anything I’m not used to from him. You know, I’d leave and forget he ever existed if I didn’t need the job.”
“You graduated from a good school. You can get a job anywhere.”
“Please. I already know how small Vegas is. If I leave the firm, people are going to know why. Not to mention that it’s pretty easy to use Google, and I know my name brings up some pretty interesting headlines.”