Getting Gabriel

by Cathy Quinn

  "Be reasonable, Gabriel. This is going to occupy all your evenings. You don’t have the time."

  "Sure I do. Hey, I can sacrifice a few weeks in the pursuit of your happiness."

  "But – don’t you have a life? Aren’t you seeing anyone?"

  "Not really."

  Not really? Not really? What kind of an answer was that? It was all-important to know. Of course, there hadn’t been anyone in his bed when she’d jumped into it last weekend. There were no feminine traces in that house of his. He hadn’t mentioned anyone. Michael hadn’t mentioned him seeing anyone.

  He didn’t seem to be seeing anyone.

  Then why had he said ‘not really’? Why not just "no"?

  "You’re looking at me just like my mother does when I say ‘not really’ to that exact question."

  Gabriel was laughing at her. She was just getting over the indignation of reminding him off his mother when he playfully caught her in a headlock and shook her. She didn’t mind. Not at all. But she had to struggle away, because he smelled so good close up that she wanted to crawl inside his clothes and surgically attach them together.

  "Don’t you dare play matchmaker on me, Alice in Whackoland. I’ve taken enough of that from my mother through the years."

  "Okay, okay," Alice mumbled as he let go off her. Matchmaker? Fat chance. The last thing she’d do was fix Gabriel up with someone. "Okay. You get to be my bodyguard on Friday. But I’m not making any promises about after that."

  "You have a date on Friday?"

  She nodded as she hopped off the car, crossed over to the hose and picked it up. She pulled it with her and squirted some water over the car, casually moving closer to Gabriel. Water sluiced down the hood, the resulting brown streaks not doing much to improve the car’s look. Damnit. Now she really had to wash it.

  Gabriel sighed. "Who is it? Some guy off the Internet, I assume? Someone nameless, faceless nerd that you know nothing about?"

  "Yes to the nameless, faceless, Internet part. I’ve put the prospective dates in alphabetical order." She frowned, trying to recall his vital stats. "This guy’s name is Alex or Alec, I think. He’s an architect, divorced, one kid. We’re meeting at a restaurant for dinner."

  Gabriel leaned inside her car, rolled up the windows and shut the door. "It’s wise to have the windows closed while you’re spraying water over the car, Alice. What precautions are you taking?"

  "Isn’t that rather a personal question?"

  "Just answer the question. What precautions are you taking?"

  She rolled her eyes. "You’re so bossy. What do you want me to do, wear a Kevlar vest? I’ve got you to scare him off. Why are you assuming I’m choosing axe murderers, anyway? They all sound perfectly nice and friendly."

  "Anyone can sound perfectly nice and friendly in an email or on the phone. You can’t trust those guys."

  "Anyone can sound perfectly nice and friendly in real life too. Believe me, I’m speaking from experience."

  Gabriel grabbed the hose from her, and sprayed the top of the car and the side windows with quick, rough movements. "You know absolutely nothing about these people. Better safe then sorry. Be careful. Don’t tell them too much about yourself. Don’t give them your name until you know them a lot better. Don’t reveal any personal information that might identify who you are or where you live."

  "Tell me, how am I supposed to get to know them if I’m not allowed to reveal any "possibly identifying personal information"? What are we to talk about?"

  He thrust the hose back at her. "Movies, music, books, politics, TV, the stock market, local news, global news, food, world affairs, websites, sports, global warming, the rain forests, the economy..."

  Alice held up a hand to stop him, as he seemed capable of going on forever. "I get it, I get it."

  "You can talk to people for a decade without telling them where you live or where you work. Use your imagination."

  "Sheesh. One would imagine you were the master of small talk, Mr. Strong and Silent."

  She found herself wishing she was going on that date with Gabriel, to talk about movies and music and books and politics.

  Then afterwards they could have a wrestling session... Mmm. Yum.

  Gabriel shrugged as he fetched a bucket from the garage and tossed some soap in. "Maybe I’ll get to see you try out your stun gun or your new self-defense moves." He threw a sponge her way. "Stop messing around, and hose the car down properly, will you? And put some water in this bucket. I’m looking forward to seeing what color your car is under all the gray and brown."

  Alice grinned and grabbed the bucket.

  One day, she promised herself, she’d get that water fight.

  Chapter 5

  "So, where is everybody?" Alice looked around the small YMCA gym, empty apart from the plethora of lingering smells that always haunted gyms. "And am I over or underdressed? I’m figuring it has to be one or the other."

  Gabriel glanced at her and she spread out her arms and spun in a circle. "You’re fine."

  "I didn’t know what to wear, so I just wore my not-so-hip gym clothes."

  "You’re fine," he repeated. "You look like a lollipop, but you’re fine. This isn’t a fashion show. Just wear whatever is comfortable and can take some beating."

  "I look like a lollipop?" She bit her tongue. Hard. "Just how do I look like a lollipop?"

  "Those red and white stripes on your arms and legs?"

  Alice hurried towards the mirrors lining one wall. "Oh, lord. You’re right. I look like a candy cane."

  "Yep."

  "I never noticed that before." She frowned at herself in the mirror and spun around to check Gabriel’s outfit. He was wearing a t-shirt in a headache-inspiring shade of yellow, and black sweatpants.

  "Well, you look like a bee," she informed him.

  "Huh?"

  "Black pants, yellow t-shirt. A bee. All you need is a stinger on your forehead."

  Gabriel looked down on his outfit. "I just grabbed something comfortable."

  "Michael says you must have suffered a knock on the head sometime in the last three years, and gotten your fashion centers damaged."

  "There’s more to life than worshipping the gods of fashion. Help me get the mats out." He disappeared through a small door and she followed into the tiny storage to find him pulling a pile of blue exercise mats off the top of a closet. She stared at him, and located a clue at last.

  "Wait a minute, Gabriel. You’re the instructor?"

  He flashed her a mischievous smile.

  "You said you knew the instructor."

  "Yeah, I try to stay in touch with myself."

  She stuck her head out into the gym and looked suspiciously around. A few women had entered the room and were chatting. "Where are all the guys?"

  "There aren’t any."

  She frowned at him as he dumped a pile of mats in her arms. "No men? But you said this was a course for both men and women."

  "Did I?" He turned her around and pushed at her back to get her started out the door.

  Alice sputtered. She’d been duped. "Same as. You didn’t object when I said this might be a good place to meet guys."

  "Of course I didn’t."

  "Why?"

  "Would you have come if it hadn’t been for an opportunity to lure some males into your web?"

  Alice turned her head to look at him, studying him through narrowed eyes. "You say that like luring males into my web is a bad thing. And no, I wouldn’t have." Well, she would have, but he needn’t know that. The opportunity to do indecent things to him in the name of education would have been irresistible, mantrap or not. Not smart – but irresistible.

  "You needed lessons, I needed an assistant." He winked at her. "Match made in heaven." He threw the mats down in the middle of the gym and motioned for her to do the same.

  This just kept getting worse. "I’m your assistant? What are you thinking? I don’t know the first thing about self-defense, remember? You held me against that wall
and I couldn’t move an inch!"

  "That’s fine." More women filtered into the gym, and Gabriel nodded at them, and kept his voice low. "That’s the whole point. You’ll learn as we go along. Normally I would use a volunteer from the group, but this is a group for recent victims of muggings, and they’re vulnerable – I don’t want to ask for a volunteer among them. One session without a helper proved that it was kind of hard to demonstrate things on myself. And even harder on a broom."

  Alice grinned, picturing Gabriel wrapped around a broomstick. "How about a blow-up doll?"

  "You’re better."

  "You know, men tell me that all the time."

  "Idiot," he said, in his almost-affectionate gruff tone. For some strange reason that insult had come to be almost an endearment from him. He glanced at his watch. "It’s almost time."

  "So, what is my function? Am I just here to play a victim?"

  "No. You’re learning how not to be a victim."

  Without any further preparation, Gabriel clapped his hands together and summoned the twelve women in a half circle around him. She tried to join them, but he did his usual handcuff trick with his hand around her wrist, and since she hadn’t learned anything yet, that meant she had no choice but to stay put.

  Then her Gabriel vanished, to be replaced with his identical twin, only this one was polite, considerate, charming and hardly scowled or growled at all.

  She wasn’t sure she liked him at all.

  Only twenty minutes later, Alice was out of breath and sweating, and she still hadn’t gotten to do anything indecent to Gabriel. This assistant thing was exhausting.

  Her back to Gabriel, she stared at their reflection in the mirrored wall. A bee and a candy cane. Catch a bee with candy? Sugar water? If she sweated any more she’d end up a sugary puddle. She shut her eyes and clenched her jaw. What nonsense was she thinking?

  She felt Gabriel’s fingers touch her hair, and wearily tried to convince her muscles they wanted to do more of that kicking and hitting thing. "An assailant will often go for the hair and try to immobilize the victim like that. Alice, what would you do in these circumstances?"

  Alice moved her head experimentally and felt the tug as his hand didn’t budge. "Kick backwards?" she asked. "Scream?"

  "Always worth a try." Gabriel’s hand enclosed her wrist again and turned her to face him, bringing her hand up at the same time, demonstrating a move in slow motion. "If you twist around like this, and slam his arm away, you’ll break free. In the same movement, you can kick him in the groin and punch him in the face." He demonstrated the movement, hooking his hand under her knee and raising it. Warm hand. Hot hand. Big hand.

  Great timing to discover a new erogenous zone.

  Would this class never end? This was the longest half-hour of her life.

  "Got it, everyone?"

  There was a mumbled chorus of yes’s, and some giggles and ouches as the women got their rings caught in each other’s hair.

  "If these were real circumstances, the assailant wouldn’t let go of your hair, so it would probably get torn out by the roots. But in the rush of adrenaline you’d hardly even notice it. Try again, Alice. I’m holding onto your hair now. And ladies, try again until you feel confident. And try not to maim each other."

  I’m a pervert, Alice wailed inwardly as she twisted around and slammed Gabriel’s arm away, bringing her knee up so sharp that he recoiled away and then gave her surprised smile of approval.

  She was such a pervert. He was using her to demonstrate self-defense moves and all she could think about was pinning him down and having him at her mercy.

  Although she’d have preferred nicer surroundings. In his backyard in the warm sunshine. With a hose, lots of chilled water to play with.

  Or on his pickup. Parked deep in a forest...

  Or in his kitchen, with him lifting her up on the counter again....

  Or up on the roof in the moonlight. Tricky, but doable....

  Oh, God! What was she thinking?

  Sex up on the roof in the middle of the night?

  She was seriously depraved. And deprived.

  Alice gritted her teeth and slammed into Gabriel with her shoulder, snaking her leg around his ankle and yanking it back so he fell backwards on the mat. She stood panting over him, staring down at the surprised respect in his eyes.

  "See, ladies, she took me off guard, taking advantage of the fact that my balance was not optimized. That way she could throw me to the ground, even with all the size and strength I have on her." He raised imself up on his elbows. "If I’d kept my legs splayed, I might have staggered back, but I would probably not have fallen. When expecting an attack, it’s important to watch your balance. Not bad, Alice," he said, standing up. She kind of liked the approval in his eyes. "Excellent. Did you learn this move somewhere?"

  She shook her head without speaking, hoping her red cheeks would be attributed to the exertion. She didn’t need lessons; instinct told her all the shortcuts to getting Gabriel horizontal.

  Oh, boy. This was getting embarrassing. Cold shower, cold shower, cold shower. Would this session never end?

  How long could an hour be?

  "Hot?"

  Alice gritted her teeth and answered the question he was asking, not the one she was imagining. "Yeah, that’s quite a workout. Can’t wait to hit the shower."

  "Won’t be for a while. We have another class. They’ll be here in half an hour."

  "What?" She couldn’t go through another round. No way.

  "Yeah. This one is for younger women, and it’s just once a week. College students. Most of them are eighteen to twenty."

  "Also mugging victims?"

  "No."

  "Then you don’t need me. You can get one of them to help out."

  "No. I do need you."

  "Why?"

  "I just do."

  Alice put her hands on her hips. "I need a better reason than that."

  Gabriel sighed. "Okay. Fine. Well, I tried to work alone, but they’re.... I mean, it’s..." He cursed, almost blushing, and looked away. "The thing is, I have a small discipline problem."

  Alice cackled when she finally got it. "I see! You mean they have the hots for you?"

  He shrugged. "Let’s just say they like to tease me. To keep things simple I’d rather have someone around."

  "You want me to be your shield?"

  "If that’s how you want to put it..."

  She shook her head and glared at him. "You owe me big time."

  Gabriel looked at her sideways as he twisted the cap of a water bottle off, and drank deeply. "I have a feeling I’m going to be repaying you big time," he muttered, holding out the bottle. "Want some water?"

  Alice accepted the bottle and drank. Her muscles still trembled from the exertions.

  Her insides were quivering for other reasons entirely.

  This was terrible. Could she wrestle with Gabriel three times every week for a month, and stay in solid form?

  She eyed Gabriel, leaning against the bars, arms crossed as he stared out the window, the disheveled hair hanging over his dark eyes. She raised the bottle to her lips again and took another desperate gulp of cool water.

  Stay in solid form? Nope, she probably couldn’t.

  "How long have you been teaching these courses?" she asked.

  "Not long. Just a few weeks."

  "It’s a volunteer job, isn’t it?"

  "Yeah."

  "How did you end up doing this?"

  He shrugged. "I drifted into it. Someone I know suffered domestic violence and I realized how important it is for women to know how defend themselves. I’ve got more free time now that I’ve quit my job, so I volunteered to teach a few classes."

  Someone he knew? Who? Why didn’t he say her name? How important was this woman to him?

  Alice told herself that Gabriel’s friend was none of her business. She had no business asking him just how good a friend she was.

  She’d ask Michael instead.
>
  Then what he’d said suddenly hit her. "What did you say? You quit your job? You left your father’s company?"

  The look on Gabriel’s face told her he hadn’t intended to reveal that information. "Yep."

  "When?"

  "About a month ago."

  "A month ago? And you didn’t tell me? You didn’t tell Michael?"

  "Michael knows."

  "And he didn’t tell me?" she said, outraged. Brothers! Good for absolutely nothing!

  Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Unlike women, men don’t gossip eight hours a day."

  "Why did you quit your job? You moved into that house around the same time, didn’t you? What’s going on, Gabriel?"

  He grinned. "If I told you it was none of your business, would you back off?"

  "Are you having an early mid-life crisis?"

  "No, Alice. You’re the one whose entire life is one big crisis, not me."

  Alice didn’t take the bait. He was trying to distract her from a more important subject. "We’re talking about you now. What happened? Did you have a fight with your father?"