“The licking thing,” Jimmy started, staring at Gabriel, who had a finger in his mouth. He sucked on the tip. Sabrina swallowed as Jimmy coughed. “You ever notice how you like to lick things when you eat, Gabriel?” Sabrina nodded in agreement, gazing at Gabriel’s lips when they suddenly quirked up in a smile around his finger.
“Hmm, I do?” he drawled, rubbing his lower lip. Jimmy snorted at him and shoved more food into his mouth. Sabrina rolled her eyes in pretend exasperation while Gabriel laughed and took another bite of his pancakes.
“So, what happened on the phone?” Sabrina asked once Gabriel stopped chewing and she managed to drag her attention away from his beautiful mouth.
“Agent Patrick is convinced that I have ‘feelings’ for you and Sabrina,” Gabriel said, making air quotes with his hands. Sabrina stared at him, not knowing what to say. “And I do,” he continued more seriously, lowering his hands and smiling at her and Jimmy.
“Um—” Sabrina said incoherently. Jimmy laughed and blushed. Jimmy? Blushing? It was awesome and hilarious. She’d begun this summer thinking about how gorgeous Jimmy was, how experienced, and now? He flushed every half-hour. Sabrina loved it. She snuck a look at Jimmy, but he avoided eye contact. Sabrina smiled, suddenly delighted.
“But,” Gabriel said after taking another bite and swallowing, “that doesn’t mean I want Aaron to know, at least not at this point, and seriously, it’s none of his business, anyway.”
Sabrina didn’t know what to say, still reeling from the idea that Gabriel had feelings for her and Jimmy. She couldn’t help thinking about the implications. Gabriel said he had feelings for both of them, and from what he’d said, Agent Patrick implied the same thing. Was Gabriel concerned about being outed as bisexual? Sabrina resolved to ask him but decided to wait until he finished telling them about the phone conversation.
“I haven’t dated since I started working with Aaron, but I know that he just went through a very messy divorce, so he’s a bit touchy about relationships. And the FBI doesn’t say we can’t date, although I have to admit, it’s a bit of a mess for me to be falling for you two while we’re still in the middle of this thing.” Gabriel sighed. Sabrina smiled at him tentatively.
“Well, to be honest, none of us thought it was going to be like this.” Jimmy put his fork down and leaned his elbows on the table. “Didn’t you tell me that the FBI was just about to pull the plug on the protection?” Sabrina raised her eyebrows, not having heard this before.
“Yeah,” Gabriel agreed, also finished eating now. “The day we went to the photo shoot, my division head in Newark said that if nothing happened in the next twenty-four hours, they were going to reassign me. That’s part of the reason I let us go to such an unsecured site. And why I finally made my move, so to speak.” Gabriel smirked at them, then sighed. “I figured it was either safe, or it would goad the shooter to come out where we could nab him. But never in a million years did I expect anyone to break into the house. And they didn’t try to kill Sabrina. That’s really weird, too. I mean, the initial information was that Miltos wanted her dead. I don’t know what’s going on now.” Gabriel rubbed his face.
“Does the FBI think it’s still Miltos?” Sabrina asked.
“I’m not sure. I couldn’t get any information from Aaron about it last night, which is really damned frustrating. How am I supposed to protect you if they don’t keep me in the loop?”
“Maybe they suspect something about Gabriel,” Sabrina mused, thinking again about Agent Patrick’s face last night.
“Sabrina, you’ve been watching too many cop shows on TV.” Jimmy huffed but quieted at Gabriel’s look.
“I think Sabrina’s right,” he said quietly. Jimmy stared at him in disbelief. “Why would they refuse to give me information? And why would Aaron be so weird about me wanting to date someone? The mission was about to be unplugged, so he shouldn’t have had a problem with it.” Gabriel shook his head.
“Maybe it wasn’t just that you were interested, but that you wanted to date Jimmy as well as me,” Sabrina said, hoping she wasn’t overreacting. She didn’t know if Gabriel would want to talk about this, but she felt it was necessary. “I mean, how many people know you’re bi?” Jimmy raised his eyebrows at Sabrina in surprise, and Gabriel stared for a moment before letting out a sharp breath.
“I didn’t think of that,” he admitted. “The Bureau can be a bit homophobic, but it’s all under the surface. And I’ve always known I was bisexual, so it wasn’t really much of a leap for me to acknowledge it openly. I was never in the closet, I just didn’t talk about it,” he said, glancing at Sabrina, then Jimmy. Sabrina smiled reassuringly. “It’s never been a problem at work or anywhere else because I like women, too. Sure, it was easier to date girls, but I always knew that if I met a man I could care for, I wouldn’t hide how I felt. I’m willing to take that leap if it’s worth it, you know?”
Sabrina nodded, understanding his dilemma. Jimmy was smiling at Gabriel now. Sabrina could tell he was touched by Gabriel’s words.
“And I never imagined that I would meet two people I could care about at the same time like this,” Gabriel finished, looking at Sabrina now. She smiled shakily, suddenly on the verge of tears.
“I know I’m a lot younger than you, but I feel the same way, Gabriel,” she said, taking a leap. “And you, too, Jimmy.” Sabrina turned to face Jimmy, and he reached up, cupping her cheek in his hand. She kissed his palm, then stood up to kiss Gabriel. His lips were soft and gentle under hers, and she could feel him smiling. As they kissed, she heard Jimmy get up and then the other man pressed his body along her back, hooking his face over her shoulder and rubbing his cheek against Gabriel’s. They stood like that for a long moment before pulling away and smiling at one another. She still wasn’t sure what was going to happen, if anything, after they caught Miltos, but she was willing to see where their feelings for one another took them. They kissed one last time, and then Jimmy pulled back.
“Let’s get everything cleaned up,” he said as he began gathering up the dishes and placing them in the sink. Gabriel laughed and started tossing Jimmy the plates and glasses while Sabrina snorted at their antics. Despite the weight of this love and the uncertainty of this kind of relationship, she knew they’d figure it all out together.
Chapter 8
After their late breakfast, Sabrina peeled off her bandage and was happy to see that the wound had scabbed over enough that she no longer needed the dressing. She spent the rest of the morning reading and exploring the cabin; then Gabriel sat her down and taught her how to use a gun. After he explained how the weapon worked, making her load and unload it a dozen times, he took her outside and taught her how to shoot.
Nearby, Jimmy chopped some wood for the fireplace, saying he thought it would be fun to lounge in front of a fire tonight since they didn’t have a television. His torso gleamed in the sunlight as he swung the axe, distracting her and Gabriel enough that they eventually gave up on the target practice, instead sitting in the grass and watching Jimmy until the other man caught them gawking and smirked. Sabrina blushed, and Gabriel dragged her back inside to show her how to clean the weapons.
Since there was only so long she could sit there as he rubbed small unidentifiable objects with an oily cloth before going mad, Sabrina made brownies to keep the boredom at bay. Periodically Gabriel would go outside to “check the perimeter” as he explained it but found nothing to indicate they were followed. By mid-afternoon, she hoped that she could convince the two men to let her photograph them. The light in the cabin was wonderful at that time of the day, slanting over the rug in front of the fireplace from the two long windows that ran from the floor to the ceiling up in the loft. Between the small skylights and those long windows, the loft was lit almost every hour of the day.