Amy deserved some gentle loving. Could he be the man for the job? He shouldn’t be thinking about her like this. He was over twenty years her senior. His best friend, William Johnson, owned an exclusive BDSM club in the city. When Gabriel found life to hard to bear, he had visited the club owned by William and had embraced being a dom. His life at the time had been so different from what it was now. Did he even need the dominant lifestyle? Closing his eyes, Gabriel forced down the need to order Amy to forget about her ex-husband. He wanted to be able to take the pain away from her. Usually with a simple instruction his requests were obeyed, but with Amy everything was different. He didn’t want to assert his control or make her do anything she didn’t want to. Gabriel wanted her to come to him and show him what she wanted. What had happened to his dominant part? When Tim had been disrespectful in the pizza place, Gabriel had wanted to make the man show his woman some respect.
Cape Falls would be horrified if they knew the real man behind their new Sheriff—but he was a man that was changing with the right woman in his life.
“Thank you for listening to me,” she said. He allowed her to move away from him because he needed to gain control of his arousal. Having her in his arms had brought his c**k to full attention. He was pleased he’d picked a long shirt.
“I’m here whenever you need me. I’ll always be here.”
She nodded her head. “Thank you, Gabriel. You’ve been an angel. I’m going to head up and get some sleep. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”
He watched her leave the room, her generous ass swaying in the jeans she wore. Fucking hell, he wanted to tear the jeans from her body and kiss her full, rounded ass. He was going insane. Gabriel turned back to the television. He put on the football and went to grab himself another beer.
His mobile rang, and he answered it quickly, checking the stairs to make sure the noise hadn’t woken the kids up.
“Hello,” he whispered.
“You’re whispering now. Seriously, Gabriel, you’re starting to worry me,” William said on the other end.
Gabriel smiled. William was a true dominant, but he could moan like any woman. “Why are you calling me this late?”
“I’m bored, and I’m thinking of moving. You’re right. The city no longer holds any appeal to me.”
He heard some commotion, and Gabriel knew something bad had happened.
“What’s going on?”
“I’m being closed down. It would seem when politicians start visiting the local f**k scene, the need to f**k over a person’s livelihood is the ideal solution,” William said.
“So have you lost your license for owning a BDSM club and for selling alcohol?” Gabriel asked. He knew how much the club and bar meant to his friend.
“No. I was given a stern warning. I either close up the club and move, or they’ll ruin my reputation and get rid of everything.”
Gabriel had warned William that the force was hoping to close him down. It had only been a matter of time until they went through with it.
“What are you going to do?”
“That town you’ve moved to. Cape Falls. Do you think they’ll accept a club like mine?”
Gabriel burst out laughing. He could already see the outrage through the town if William brought such a club near their area. “Let me just fill you in. You know that girl Amy I was telling you about?” He waited for confirmation before continuing. “Well, she was abused by her husband, and the residents here believe she cheated on him by not standing by his side.”
“Shit. This is the girl you don’t have feelings for but talk about her every moment we talk on the phone?” Gabriel heard the teasing from his friend on the other end of the phone.
“Shut the f**k up.”
“How do the residents cope with your language?”
“They spend most of their time in shock, but I take care of them, so it all works in my favour.”
They both laughed and caught up. Gabriel had missed talking to his friend. William was the only man who understood him.
“I’m going to come and visit you in your little backwards town. Would that be all right?” William asked.
“It would certainly be entertaining. This place doesn’t own a tattoo parlour.”
“This could be fun. We could show CapeFalls what they’ve been missing.”
Gabriel chuckled. “You can stay here as long as you promise to leave Amy alone.”
“Are you claiming her?”
He ran his fingers through his hair. Claiming Amy would be a dream come true. The age gap between kept getting in the way. His passions were also extreme, and he knew she’d only experienced pain with Steven.
“She doesn’t know who I am. I don’t want to scare her off.” Gabriel didn’t want to tell his friend that his needs were slowly changing.
“Gabriel, you need to be open with her. I’ll come and visit and leave your little Amy to you.”
He shut his mobile phone and stared at the match playing on the screen. William visiting CapeFalls would be entertaining, but with him so close, it would only be a matter of time before Amy found out the truth about him. He shut off the television and made his way up the stairs. His mind was on his situation with Amy. The man he’d been for the last twenty years wouldn’t be able to change overnight. When a submissive put her whole trust in him, it helped a part of him. Through the control of her pleasure, he was able to find the man he once was. The city had done something to him. From the crime and the crap he’d witnessed, a part of him had been lost. Amy was different. After everything Amy had gone through, all the trust she put in him meant more to Gabriel than anything from some other random sub. Their trust was only limited to what he did to their bodies. Amy trusted him with so much more, and that could never be replaced in his heart.
Gabriel settled down into bed, staring at the ceiling for the longest time. He wanted Amy so badly. The last thing he wanted to do was frighten her. How could a woman who’d been physically abused be able to come to him?
Tears filled his eyes from the pain of his answer. There was no way Amy would ever be able to come to him. He would never hurt her. All he wanted to see in her eyes when he gazed at her was the beauty of her laughter.
He turned over and closed his eyes. No further answers came to him.
Chapter Four
Amy spent the weekend trying to figure out who could look after her children before they went to school full time. They were due to start in late September. The schools ran a little differently in CapeFalls with their term times. The holiday break was during the summer instead of running through summer into autumn.