Falling For My Ex's Dad (Clarissa and Gabriel) novel Chapter 178

Clairessa POV

The day had finally gone by faster than I expected.

Adrian had settled into his downstairs room—claiming it was more convenient, already filled with his things—while I was placed upstairs.

It felt like life was playing another sick, twisted game on me, because he’d placed me in the room closest to Gabriel’s.

He even joked about it—said maybe his dad would finally warm up to me, get to know me… even like me.

What he didn’t know was that I already knew Gabriel. Intimately.

He was my secret. My mistake. My obsession.

The man I had once given everything to—and the one I still wasn’t over.

And I knew this house—every hallway, every door, every room.

So when I left my room and wandered to Gabriel’s door, I told myself it was just to say thank you—for letting me stay until I figured things out, for not turning me away.

But a voice in my head warned me to go back. That nothing good would come from this.

Still, I didn’t stop.

His door was ajar. I didn’t knock—maybe out of habit, maybe out of instinct. I slipped through the narrow opening and—

Froze.

Gabriel stood in the middle of the room, his shirt already off one shoulder.

As if he sensed my presence, he turned, catching me in the doorway.

Bare-chested. Eyes locked on mine.

His body was cut and sculpted, his abs defined in clean ridges. The slope of his shoulders, the dip of his hips leading down to that deep, infuriatingly tempting V that disappeared beneath low-hanging slacks.

My eyes betrayed me, tracing every line of him like a path I’d memorized too well. Too long.

He didn’t move.

Neither did I.

I drank him in before I could stop myself, drawn in like a magnet to everything.

Every inch of him reminded me of what I’d lost.

What I wasn’t supposed to want anymore.

“Clairessa,” he said my name, low and rough.

But I was too drawn in to respond.

My eyes had fallen back down again—God, no.

His cock hung heavy between his thighs, and suddenly, the heat in my blood was unbearable.

And worse—I remembered.

I remembered how it felt to have him inside me, stretching and filling me so completely.

How I begged for more, gasped his name, held onto him like I’d drown without it.

My throat tightened, and I swallowed hard.

And I knew he noticed. He followed my gaze—downward—and I blinked, mortified to realize I’d been staring, and I couldn’t even look away fast enough.

Then he said, half-amused, half-knowing—

“Are you just going to keep gawking, or…?”

My cheeks burned. “Oh my God—I’m sorry,” I blurted, stumbling back a step.

“I didn’t mean to—I just— I didn’t know you were— I came to thank you, that’s it, I swear— I’ll just—”

I turned toward the door, fumbling, breath erratic, heart pounding like a drum. But then—

“Clairessa.” His voice was low, commanding. “Get back here.”

My entire body stilled. Shivers ran down my spine.

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