Forbidden (The Gabriel Lennox Series Book 1) by M.L. Desir Page A

eyebrows. He couldn’t understand why she thought that the heavily contaminated yellow-brown fog looked beautiful. A perfect example of looking through rose-colored glasses.
    “I hoped I’d see you.” She smiled. “Come with me.”
    In silence, Gabriel let her lead him to her home. While passing through the hallways and rooms, Gabriel concluded that he and Genevieve were the only ones present. Why? Had she sent everyone away?
    Naturally.
    “Where’s Michel?” he asked, adding curtly, “your husband.” He slipped his palm out of the warmth of her hand, stepping away to gaze at her from a distance. Her eyes were shadowed, as if she had been crying or had been deprived of sleep.
    Genevieve raised and lowered her shoulders in a sigh. She walked over to a glass cabinet filled with crystal, wines, and various liqueurs. “Would you like some wine, Monsieur Lennox?” she asked, already pouring a glass.
    He refused.
    She sauntered over to the sofa with the full glass in her hand, a smile on her face. She traced her fingers over the fabric before sitting down on it. Her smile deepened when he sat down beside her.
    “Your letter expressed an urgency,” Gabriel said. “I insist that you tell me the nature of it.”
    At once, she drained her glass. Her eyes glazed over. Without saying anything, she sat there, holding the glass with both hands, and then lowered it to her lap.
    Only then did he notice that her hands were trembling.
    She looked up at him, her eyes wide and watery. “I had a dream about you.”
    Gabriel leaned in closer, not wanting to miss a single word. “About me?”
    “You came to me in the night. You— you ravished me.” She paused. The glass slipped from her fingers and fell to the floor. The delicate stem broke off; the red wine soaked into the carpet. “I want it to be real. Love me, Gabriel. Please.” She slid closer to him and held his face in her hands. She brought him close and kissed him full on the mouth. “Just once.”
    Gabriel took her hands and placed them back in her lap. Rising from the sofa, he walked over to the window, shaken. She tasted sweet as honeydew. He wanted her—yet something held him back. Something more than her marriage served as a wedge between them. “A fantasy. Nothing more .Besides,” he continued, “how do you know that it was I?”
    “I saw your eyes. As green as emeralds.” Her voice became softer with each word. “The dream; it’s difficult for me to describe and explain. I have never dreamed something so vivid. So real.” She shook noticeably and held herself.
    “But, madam, you are Michel’s wife.” Gabriel kept his tone carefully nonchalant, rejecting what she had offered.
    Her mouth spread into a devious smile. “And he is my husband. What of it?” Then she laughed, low and deep, uncrossing her legs.
    He tilted his head to one side, one hand propped underneath his chin, as if poised in deep thought.
    Genevieve sauntered over to him, slid her hands down the column of his throat and chest. When Gabriel tried to dodge her advances, her long nails grazed him. She murmured an apology and something trivial about him making her clumsy. She raised her fingers to his face, showing him her nails stained with his blood
    “You drew blood.” Gabriel’s casualness edged away into warning.
    Her eyes widened, looking like drowning blue pools. “Blood. Does it arouse you?”
    Gabriel roughly took her hands, pulling them down to her sides. He gave her no time to consider her inhibitions and laid her down on the plush, carpeted floor. Her pink lips parted in a look of astonishment, as he began to kiss the backs of her hands and the side of her face. She closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek against his, laughing. He left a trail of warm kisses on her collarbone and the shallow crevice between her breasts. He slipped the top of her gown off her breasts, and with the pointed tip of his tongue, licked the nipples into erect points. As she whimpered with pleasure