Stunned, Gabriel carefully gripped the icy hands. Delicate bones shifted beneath the fine skin. He felt her shudder, and he tenderly lifted her head so her eyes met his. The stricken look in their brown depths rocked him. “Erin, honey, what’s wrong? You’re petrified.”

She swallowed, trapped in a past where rebellion could be punished by a fist, or words that struck as cruelly. “Please,” she whimpered.

“All right, cher.” He chafed her skin to warm it. Using his softest voice, he pledged, “I won’t write about you, Erin. Not until you’re ready. Okay?”

Her voice was thin, plaintive. “I don’t want to help you.”

“You don’t have to. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.” Needing to hold her, Gabriel folded her into his arms. “Erin. It’s fine, honey. You don’t have to help me.”

As the reassuring strength of his hold surrounded her, reality flooded in in a rush. Mortified, Erin twisted against him, desperate to escape. But the wall at her back blocked her. And, for once, she didn’t fear the large man in front of her. Instead, his sinewy arms held her tight in solace, and the melodious baritone crooned reassurances in her ear. Warm breath whispered over suddenly fevered skin, and Erin succumbed, too exhausted to fight herself and comfort. She lifted her arms to wrap them around his waist.

When he felt her capitulate, Gabriel sighed in bemused triumph. He tenderly kissed her temple, then her forehead. As she calmed, he pressed his lips to the crown of silky black hair. “I think we’ve done enough for today. Why don’t you let me take you home?”

Mutely, she nodded, unwilling to break their embrace. Still holding her, Gabriel gathered her jacket and his notes and led them out to his Jeep. He drove to her apartment, wisely not asking for an explanation. But after he helped her alight, he blocked her exit. “Hold everything inside, Erin, and one day it will simply explode, ready or not.”

“Gabriel, I—”

What she started to say got lost beneath the kiss that glided over her mouth. He was careful to taste but not take. Erin leaned into the kiss, lulled by its charm. There was no urgency to sink inside, no frantic mating to tie her stomach in knots. But how could she have expected that a first kiss could settle nerves and arouse desires at the same time? Wonder blossomed and she parted her lips to invite more.