Page 6 of Touched By Destiny
Richard set his glass down with a sharp click and threw his hands up in the air as he paced. “Because the man is irritating. How long have we been sending you out on theselittle dates? Years. And Gabriel is as elusive as ever. You’re my brother, and I want you to be happy. We’ve waited forever to discover if he’s your soulmate.”
“I know,” Eric replied glumly. He drank the rest of his martini without tasting it and set it on the counter. “Maybe it’s time to admit this entire idea is stupid and I’ll never get Gabriel’s attention.”
“Absolutely not. You’ve been in love with Gabriel Wolfebrier since you were twelve. Not that you mentioned anything to your only brother about it until five years ago.”
“Because it’s stupid. Clearly he’s not interested.”
“This defeatist attitude isn’t like you, and I don’t like it,” Richard chided. “Listen. He’s worked for Mom and Dad longer than we’ve been alive. We had to give him time to stop seeing you as Rosalind and Clark’s little boy. I’d say we’ve achieved that.”
“Pants like these certainly do.”
“I think we need another night in the club at the casino.”
Eric shook his head as the memories of the uncomfortable night filled his mind. “No. Last time I was too embarrassed to even dance.”
“I don’t know why; you’re a great dancer. I tried to get you to loosen up with a few cocktails, but you refused.”
“Yeah, I thought the alcohol would make me awkward and ungraceful.”
“You don’t have an inelegant bone in your body,” Richard insisted. “We should do you up this time. Makeup. Hair. The tightest outfit I can find.”
“You were the one who wanted me to appear as close to my normal self as possible.”
“Well, now let’s knock his fucking socks off.”
“I’ll think about it, okay?”
Richard smiled. “Good. I think you and Gabriel would be incredible together. And I’ll be insanely jealous the whole time because he’s hot as fuck.”
“I know,” Eric replied. With his ripped body, grass green eyes, and shiny blond locks, Gabriel was mouthwatering. Eric wasn’t sure when he first figured out how deep his feelings for Gabriel were. For his entire life, Gabriel had been there. As puberty struck and Eric figured out he was attracted to men, he’d been drawn to the man responsible for his safety. It wasn’t because Eric wanted to fulfill some fantasy of having his cherry popped by his bodyguard.
Gabriel was kind and intelligent, and his smile made Eric weak in the knees. No matter how hot the weather or irritating the ghost, Gabriel was there, tugging Eric out of a bad mood or shoring up his confidence. He was there when Eric first realized he was seeing spirits, and had cheered along with the Marwoods as Eric discovered his ability to open a gateway for ghosts to wander through.
It was because of Gabriel and the other beloved inspirits that Eric had made it his mission to find a way to offer resurrected men and women immortality. Necromancers had it but had yet to figure out how to offer that gift to their inspirits. Instead, they played the waiting game along with the inspirits. No one knew the lifespan of an inspirit until their form started to grow skeletal.
To prevent humans from learning of their existence, aging inspirits became recluses, and families like the Marwoods ensured they had everything they needed as they awaited death. It was unacceptable, and Eric vowed someday he’d change the world. But it was difficult. There was little information available, but that didn’t stop Eric from experimenting. Some inspirits—like Gabriel—had gifts, while others didn’t.
It was the strength of the sorcerer that determined the intensity of the spell. That much Eric had figured out, and he enjoyed thinking about what gifts were possible and completing resurrections of inspirits with unique talents. But he was far from unraveling the secrets of his own people. Or finding out whether it was necromancers alone who routinely hid themselves among humans. Eric doubted it. His abilities were beyond his family’s, and he could sense magic from far distances. There were differences in some rhythms he felt, but he was isolated for his protection. He couldn’t wander up to strangers unless they were ghosts. Everyone else had to pass muster and gain Gabriel’s approval.
Since their move to Las Vegas, Eric had a bit more freedom. His father had put as many conveniences as possible into his largest casino to allow Eric, Richard, and Maribeth to venture out for simple things like haircuts for the first time in their lives. Even the overly self-absorbed Beaumont had been vetted with background checks in the ten hours Gabriel had had before Eric’s dinner reservations. Unfortunately, Gabriel had had no arguments. Not about Beaumont or Eric dating anyone. Which was the real problem.
Eric didn’t want to waste evenings eating admittedly divine food with vapid strangers. What he wanted was to march up the little house on his parents’ property and demand Gabriel do something about his virginity. Although Eric had shared a few chaste kisses with Richard’s awful date selections, he refused to go further.
And honestly, he wasn’t sure how to sneak off for an assignation anyway. The rule that had been drilled into Eric’s head since he was a baby was that he went nowhere alone. So, how would he climb into bed with someone? He shuddered as his imagination conjured up him frolicking on the bed with some faceless stranger while Gabriel glowered a few feet away.
“Earth to Eric,” Richard called out. “Are you listening to anything I’m saying?”
“Um, no. Sorry.”
“I love what a dreamer you are, butpay attention. We’re trying to plan how to snare Gabriel.”
“I don’t think anyone can snare Gabriel.”
“Okay, so hop on his dick a few times until you get him out of your system,” Richard teased with a twinkle in his blue eyes.
Eric’s mouth twisted. What he wanted was for Gabriel to make thorough love to him and—as they both climaxed—for them to discover that they were soulmates. It was a foolish fantasy for a grown man and better suited to the teenage Eric who’d first started dreaming about Gabriel over a decade ago. But he couldn’t help it. Or maybe he didn’t want to.
“He’s got that whole predator thing going on in his eyes,” Richard went on. “I bet he’s an animal in bed.”