I've not been a man prone to violence in my personal life. Temper, maybe. Do I have a tendency to be a jerk at times? Sure, if the situation warrants it. But never in my life have I wanted to throttle someone quite as much as I do in this moment.

The rapturous expression on Chloe's face, the one that I was admiring mere moments before, is replaced by panic and I instinctively move to cover her half-exposed body with my own. I, regretfully, free my hand to grab the blankets and pull them over us. Beneath me, she's trembling and I let loose a string of expletives.

"Shit," Tyler says and then covers his twinkling eyes, the bastard. "Didn't think you'd have company."

I'm going to kill him. I'll be sad to see him go, but it must be done.

"Bit busy here, Ty," I bite out.

Tyler, damn him to hell, grins and says, "I'll say."

Maybe I'll enjoy killing him. "Get your ass out of here before I throw you out, man."

With his hands still covering his eyes he says, "Nice to meet you, Ms. McKinney."

Her face a gorgeous color of red, Chloe peers out from behind the blanket and says, "Nice to meet you, too."

"My name's Tyler. The idiot you're with is a good friend of mine. I was going to find out which hotel room you were in, but this saves me the trouble."

"Ty!" I shout. "Wrap it up."

"Just wanted to tell you thanks for taking care of our guy," he says.

Chloe smiles even though he can't see her. "You're welcome," she says. "It's nice to meet you, officially."

"Why don't you have Gabe bring you over next weekend? My wife and I are going to grill out." Before she can respond, Tyler gropes for the handle of the door. "I won't take no for an answer now," he says. "So I expect to see you on Saturday. You two have fun."

He makes a quick escape before I can untangle myself from Chloe's arms and the grasping tangle of the monitor wires.

She puts a hand on my shoulder and I still. "It's okay," she says softly.

I fight my way out of the wires until I can see her face. "Are you sure? I never should have—I mean I should have waited."

Her hand moves up my cheek. "No, it's okay. It was pretty damn good actually."

Her shy confession makes me want to do it all over again. "Really?" I ask, my voice husky.

"Really."

I kiss her again, because I can. When it ends, she rests her head on my chest and draws patterns on my stomach. "When do you have to go home?" I almost don't want to know the answer, but I figure I'd better rip off the band aid.

She shrugs. "I'm not sure. My boss, her name's Sienna, we've been good friends for a long time. Anyway, she feels like shit for making me get on that ferry so I think it's safe to assume I'll have as much vacation time as I want for the foreseeable future."

"This Sienna sounds like a great friend."

"She is. Anyway, why'd you want to know?" she teases. "Want me out of here?"

"Definitely not." I hesitate, then barrel through. "I'm asking 'cause I was going to see if you wanted to come stay at my place. I mean until you have to go back."

We knock heads when she arches backward to look at me. "Are you sure?" she asks. "What about Emily? I wouldn't want to intrude."

"She's with her mom. They both hadn't slept in a couple days and Emily was getting a little cranky. She's so young, I didn't want to scare her being at the hospital so much. They're staying at her mom's house for a couple days and then Em's gonna come spend the week with me when things calm down. I don't want you to feel obligated—"

"Yes," she says.

"Yeah?"

Laughter spills from her lips. "I said yes. When do we get out of here?"

"If they don't let me out by this afternoon, we'll break out."

"Bonnie and Clyde style," she jokes, then she grows serious. "Have you heard anything about the others? I mean the other hostages. The captain."

I sigh and pull her closer against me like I can shield her from everything. The fact that I even want to does not bode well for my dedicated bachelorhood, but I set that aside.

"There were some injuries, a couple serious, but everyone is expected to recover. They haven't found the captain yet." I swallow thickly. "They've sent out Search & Rescue, but no luck yet."

"I'm so sorry, Gabe," she says.

"Me, too."

"It's not your fault though, you know that, right?" When I don't answer, she looks up at me. "Right?" she insists.

I sigh. "Intellectually, yes, I know that, but emotionally, I feel every single death like a chain around my neck. On some level, if I had saved her, none of this would have happened."

"Oh, honey," she whispers and then kisses my throat. "You can't control everything."

"Chloe, I'm a man. I have to think that I can or I'll self-destruct." I joke, but a part of me is serious.

"You're not God, it's not like you can influence other people's decisions or control the weather."

Not wanting to talk about it anymore, I crowd her on the small bed. "Sure about that?" I caress her arm with the pads of my fingers. "Pretty sure I can influence you."

She slaps my hand away. "Don't try and change the subject."

Irritation makes my response curt. "Look, I'm into you, but I don't want to talk about this right now. It'll work itself out eventually. Can't we go back to how it was before we brought that shit up?"

The hurt on her face makes my gut ache, but I don't take it back. Her throat bobs with a swallow and she forces a smile. "Sure, you're right. I shouldn't press the issue. I'm sorry."

My smile is tight. "Forget about it," I say.

A tense silence descends until she breaks it by clearing her throat. "I think, uh, I'd better get back to my room before they send out a search party for me." She eases herself off the bed, careful not to bump my injuries and straightens her hospital gown self-consciously. When she's done, she glances up. "I'll see you later?" she asks over her shoulder as she walks to the door and pauses.

I nod and she slips out the door.

Good job, Gabe.

Growling, I throw a pillow at the wall and cover my eyes with my arm. I hope I didn't screw us up before we'd even really gotten started.

Five o'clock rolls around and I sit on my bed watching the seconds tick by and cursing myself for my stupidity. I knew I shouldn't have gone to him. I shouldn't have made myself vulnerable like that.

Gabe's been radio silent since I left his room this morning. If he doesn't come in the next few minutes, I'll get a hotel room for the night—at least until my parent's drive in. I won't feel safe at my house all alone. For the foreseeable future, I want to surround myself with people to combat the feeling I'm being watched.

Which is silly. I've been in a hospital surrounded by orderlies and nurses and doctors coming in and out of the room checking on my arm and running countless tests. Not including the barrage of journalists who try to sneak past the cops guarding the floor or the other survivors who've been coming by in a constant stream to give their thanks.

With all the attention, of course I feel like all eyes are on me. It'll take a couple days for all of the attention to die down and for things to go back to normal. Then this itchy feeling will go away and I'll be able to relax.

One minute left.

The doorknob wiggles and I glance up to find Gabe pushing his way through.

He pauses in the doorway, and I take the moment to study him. His firm jawline is set and his mouth is pressed into a line. His unreadable green eyes are on me and I feel them like a flash of heat.

"I'm sorry," he says before I can even open my mouth. "I was a dick."

"You weren't," I say, but he shakes his head.

"No, I know when I'm being a dick and I'm man enough to apologize for it. It's a sensitive subject right now."

"I know; I shouldn't have pressed the issue. I still want to go with you, if you're up for it."

I barely finish the sentence when he's pulling me up from the bed and whirling me around. I have the instinctual urge to flee, but he is like gravity and I don't have the strength to resist his pull.

Nor do I have the strength to resist his kiss.

His lips slant across mine as he pins me against the wall with his rock hard body. My hands go up to grip his nape because the mere taste of him is enough to knock me off my feet. I make an involuntary surprised sound against the potent press of his lips.

His hands slide down my neck to the curve of my arm, and then traverse the length of my back. He reaches the flare of my hips and his fingers flex against the material of my clothes, gripping my hip, pressing me against the thick length of his arousal.

I may be tall for a woman, but Gabe towers over me. His massive shoulders and arms surround me until I'm helpless against him. His lips play over mine, again and again, until he coaxes my mouth to open for him.

With that, he makes a growling sound deep in his throat and hitches my leg up and around his hip, causing the thin material of the borrowed dress Sienna gave me to spread until I'm bare against him. Then I'm overcome by the wet sound of our lips, the gasping breaths I'm able to take in between, and the little rumbles of satisfaction he makes in the back of his throat.

My hair tumbles from the sloppy bun I'd thrown it up in after my shower, and falls in a wet mass of tangles over my shoulders. It surrounds us in the soft scent of coconut and vanilla, and he breaks the kiss to press his face into the curve of my shoulder. He inhales there, nuzzling my skin with the sandpaper-scratch of his beard. It tickles every nerve ending I possess until I become one live wire from head to toe.

"I had to see you again," he confesses, his voice a mere whisper against my neck. The confession washes away everything else until the only things left are me and him.

My arms twitch around his shoulders and I pull him closer, almost afraid that if I let go, he'll evaporate and this will all have been a dream. "I'm sorry I upset you."

He laughs, his hands running lines up and down my back, pressing into the muscles and soothing me into a stupor. "Don't be sorry, it's my fault."

I make a sound and try to pull back, but he doesn't let me.

He pulls me closer, hands still massaging my back and lulling me into complacency. "No, don't pull away. I like how you feel against me." He presses a kiss to my hair and I remember that he did the same thing when we were on the ferry. "I was perfectly content to go on living my life as I had been. And then you crashed in and changed all of my plans. What are you doing to me?" he whispers.

I stretch up to nibble his ear. "Anything you want," I reply.

He chuckles, and the sound warms me from the inside out. "We don't have much time to waste and I want to spend it getting to know you more. So, I know we've done this backward, considering we've already essentially slept together. But, Chloe McKinney..." he pauses for one long heartbeat, making my breath catch in my throat. "Would you like to have dinner? Officially?"

My heart nearly explodes with joy and I smile so huge that my cheeks hurt. It's like a dream. I can't stop the laughter that escapes. I press my lips to his. And it's sloppy and crazy, but we're both smiling when we break apart, and on him, God, it's beautiful. A heart-stopping kind of beautiful.

I peer up at him. "Will you take offense if I say I'm not up for being seen in public just yet?"

"Don't worry. I know the perfect place and it's very private. What do you say?"

"I trust you," I whisper.

He backs away with careful steps, like he doesn't want to leave either, and I scoot past him. I can feel his eyes following my every movement as I grab clothes from the suitcase I'd already packed up, and head to the bathroom to change.

The only clean outfit I have that's good enough for an actual date is a ridiculously sexy shift dress that Sienna insisted I take "just in case." Nerves wage war in my stomach as I slip into it. It flows loosely around my thighs and the arms are long sleeved with slits from shoulder to wrist. The slight tan I have looks phenomenal. My hair can't be helped, so I brush it out and plait it into a simple braid I let hang over my shoulder.

I don't bother with any makeup, aside from a little mascara and gloss. He's already seen me at my worst anyway, and he still wants me. Something about that makes me ridiculously happy.

I give myself one last cursory glance in the mirror and then slip on my sandals. Gabriel is standing by the window looking out at the view. I pad across the room and wrap my arms around his waist. His hands cover mine and he gives me a gentle squeeze. He taps them and I release my hold.

"All ready to go?" He turns and gives me a once over. "You look amazing."

"Thank you. Are you going to tell me where we're going?"

"This great Italian place I know. Trust me, you're gonna love it."