Fire and Foreplay

by Melanie Shawn

  It had been so rewarding to know that her small business had grown to the point that it was supporting others. But—although she may not have appreciated her mother pointing it out—Adriana was a worrier. And having that many people’s livelihoods on her shoulders was as stressful as it was humbling and edifying.

  “Listen, honey,” her mother spoke in a hushed voice, and through the screen, Adriana could see that she was walking down the hallway and that mayhem had exploded in her wake. Adriana had left her home in Fresno, a small town in central California, only four hours ago, but from what she could see it now looked like a bomb had hit it.

  When she arrived at the master bedroom, she shut the door behind her. “You’ve never taken the time to grieve. I think you should. However that presents itself. Listen to your heart. Be open to the universe.”

  Feeling the tears prick her eyes again, Adriana decided to wrap up the call. Her mother was right. She hadn’t taken time to grieve. She still felt like Em was here, even though she knew that she wasn’t. Obviously. But it still didn’t seem real.

  “Thanks for staying with the kids, Naomi.” Her mother had never been comfortable with “labels” so Adriana had only ever called her by her first name. It hadn’t seemed odd to Adriana until she went to school and realized that everyone else called their parents mom and dad. “Call me if you need anything, and remember that Laney has two more days’ worth of antibiotics for her ear infection.”

  “Have you considered alternative medicine? Modern medicine does more harm than good you know and I—”

  “Naomi,” Adriana cut her off. Having this conversation was like a dog chasing its tail. It never went anywhere but in circles. “Please just give her the medicine.”

  “Okay.” Her mother agreed begrudgingly. “But I’m also going to give her some herbs and essential oils that do wonders for infections, and I brought a diffuser that I’m going to run in the girls’ room.”

  “Fine.” It was a compromise she could live with.

  “Now go. And heal your spirit. Your aura is very dark and murky. Clear your mind and your chakras.”

  And that was Adriana’s cue to sign off. She wanted to say goodbye to the girls and Jonah, but she knew it would be better to leave them be and not poke the hornet’s nest that was her twins if they got upset which was likely to happen since they missed her.

  “Okay, thanks again, call me if you need anything,” she reiterated.

  After ending the call, Adriana scrolled through her phone and checked the address again. This was the place that she’d been referred to. She’d tried a couple of other bed and breakfasts but neither had vacancies. So she was told she might want to try the apartment above Sue Ann’s Café.

  There was nothing listed online about the room and she’d called several times but the line had been busy. She had no idea if the room was available or not.

  For the past week, she’d been on a mental hamster wheel trying to figure out what she should do about her discovery. It had taken a while, even with a Gabe Maguire Google alert on both her phone and computer, to devise a plan and she still wasn’t convinced that she was doing the right thing. But she had to do something, and this was the best she could come up with.

  Through light internet stalking, she’d found out that Gabe Maguire lived in Hope Falls and social media placed him here as recently as yesterday. So, her plan was to come here and do recon. She wanted to see if she could get eyes on him and feel out what he was like. Maybe even “run” into him. From everything she’d read about the small town, visitors often reported seeing the celebrities that lived here.

  There’d been countless photos of fans selfies with pop star Karina Black and movie star Kyle Austen Reed who both lived here in the small mountain community. If people could run into those megastars, Adriana hoped that she could run into Gabe.

  She wanted nothing more than to fulfill Emily’s wish and find Jonah’s father. For a long time, she’d thought that it was an impossible task. But now that it was a possibility, fears were populating her mind faster than pop-ups from a computer virus. Before she’d been scared she’d never find him, but now she was terrified about what would happen if she did.

  How would she get the DNA sample?

  How would she explain the situation to the man?

  How would she explain the situation to Jonah?

  What if he was a horrible person?

  What if he wanted nothing to do with Jonah?

  Or worse, what if he tried to take Jonah away from her?

  Just like when she was feeling overwhelmed by the kids or work, she focused on what she needed to do next. Right now, she needed to secure a place to stay. After that, she could figure out her next step, which would most likely be walking around looking for a sign or waiting for inspiration to strike her. As unlikely as either of those things were of happening, there was no way they even had a shot if she stayed behind the wheel of her car.

  As Adriana got out, she felt the knot that had wound in her stomach tighten. She wasn’t a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants gal. She was a planner. She liked control, she needed it, in fact. But right now she was winging it, and it was pushing her so far out of her comfort zone that she couldn’t even see her comfort zone with high-powered binoculars.

  So she made a list of what she needed to do next:

  1) Get a room.

  2) Find Gabe.

  3) Determine that he is a good person.

  4) If he is, ask for a DNA sample.

  It wasn’t a solid plan by any stretch of the imagination. She was playing this all by ear. There wasn’t a roadmap for what she was doing. Grief management books didn’t touch on finding the father of a child and figuring out how to navigate those waters.

  The most important thing to her was protecting Jonah. Doing the best for Jonah. He was all that mattered.

  Not the fact that she wanted to throw up or that she wanted to get back in her car and drive the four hours home. Or that she was terrified that this trip was going to be opening a can of worms that she wasn’t ready to handle.

  None of that mattered.

  “Okay, Em,” Adriana said beneath her breath as she stepped out of her car and the clean smell of pine trees filled her lungs. “I’m here. If you’re watching this and want to give me a sign that I’m on the right path that would be great.”

  Knowing that she couldn’t allow her fear to paralyze her, she rolled her shoulders back and held her head high as she stepped onto the wooden sidewalk and opened the door beneath the bright yellow awning of Sue Ann’s Café.

  When she stepped inside the charming restaurant, she felt a sense of calm wash over her like a cool breeze on a hot day. She didn’t know if that was a sign, per se, but she wasn’t discounting it. Her eyes darted around the space in search of someone that she could ask about renting the room. No one was behind the counter, and she didn’t see any servers. The restaurant was bigger on the inside than she would’ve guessed and it was about half full.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement and she turned her head expecting to see a waitress or hostess coming to greet her.

  It wasn’t.

  Her heart slammed into her ribs like a crash test dummy against a cement wall. It was him. Gabe “Jake” Maguire. In person. Coming straight toward her.

  He was even hotter in person.

  She’d seen countless images of him online and watched at least two dozen interviews on YouTube. And she’d thought all of that exposure had prepared her for seeing him in real life. She was wrong.

  He was larger, taller, and more dominating than she’d expected. Compared to her five-foot-two frame, he towered over her. Rays of sunlight streamed in through the windows and highlighted his face as if Mother Nature was his personal lighting engineer. Gold flecks were sprinkled in his milk chocolate eyes that were even more hypnotic in real life. His thick, light brown hair was cut short, but she could tell that it had a wave to it and her fingers itched to run through it. Then there were t
he tattoos that ran up his forearms and biceps, giving him an even sexier edge that teetered on downright dangerous.

  The craziest thing was, the most impressive thing about him wasn’t his physical appearance, though that could easily melt the panties right off of her. It was more than that. It was the way he carried himself as he strode toward her in slow, purposeful strides. He had an air of total authority, a commanding presence. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Her entire body was vibrating with attraction, lust, and need.

  She did her best to ignore it. She was here for Jonah. For Em. No matter what, she couldn’t let her hormones cloud her judgment.

  Adriana heard Em’s voice in the back of her head, “Well, you wanted a sign. There’s your sign.”

  And holy macaroni and cheese, he was quite a sign.

  Chapter 4

  ‡

  Damn. Gabe’s heartbeat pounded like a drummer in a marching band with each step he took toward the woman that he hoped was the blogger here to see him. An unfamiliar feeling started to turn in his stomach and his palms tingled. It wasn’t until he stopped in front of this stunning, breathtaking creature that he realized what it was.

  Nerves.

  He was nervous.

  When he started chemo, people asked if he was nervous about treatment. He hadn’t been.

  After taking down the tweaker with the gun, he’d been asked if he was scared or nervous. The answer was the same, no.

  Before the Nunez fight, he’d been asked countless times if he was nervous and the answer was always, no.

  He’d faced all those things, and he’d been numb. He’d shut down. He’d built a barrier around his emotions.

  He hadn’t done it on purpose; it had just happened.

  But with each step he took he felt himself coming back to life. He felt those barriers falling down.

  His feet stopped moving when he was in front of her. Crystal-clear aqua irises that were outlined with a dark, navy outer rim stared up at him, and he felt a connection that was so strong it seemed tangible. Like it was something that he could reach out and touch.

  He’d heard people talk about seeing someone and the rest of the world disappearing, but he’d thought that they were just exaggerating. That they were repeating something that they’d heard in movies or read in books. But it was real. That was the sensation he was having.

  He knew on a subconscious level that there were other people, other things inhabiting the earth, but right then all he knew, the only thing that existed, was the two of them.

  “Hi. I’m Gabe.” The tension in his voice caused the words to hold a sandpaper quality.

  “I know.” Her chin dipped in a slight nod and her already large blue eyes grew even larger.

  “Are you Rena?” He was hoping that she was but if she wasn’t he planned on pulling a Robin Williams from Good Will Hunting and leaving a note for the blogger saying, Sorry, I got to go see about a girl.

  “I…um…” Her perfect brows scrunched, causing an adorable line to crease between them. “I usually go by Adriana.”

  “Adriana,” Gabe repeated her name with as much reverence as if he were meeting Mother Theresa.

  She nodded again, and this time her lips fell open as she exhaled slowly. It was such a small movement, but he felt the power of it rush through him. A wave of sensation flooded his bloodstream at the simple act of her breathing.

  Attempting to pull himself together, Gabe forced himself to act as normal as he could, which took much more effort than it should’ve. “Did you want to sit down?”

  Again her brow furrowed as confusion clouded her clear blue eyes. “Um…”

  The expression that flashed across Adriana’s perfect features caused him a moment of pause. “You’re here to meet me, right?”

  Her breath caught and she hesitated slightly before answering as if he was asking her a trick question, “Yes.”

  Adriana was much more reserved than any interviewer he’d ever met. Most likely because she wasn’t a professional reporter and also that the subject matter was so emotionally charged.

  “Great. Let’s sit down.” He held his hand out and as she walked past him to the small table, a fresh floral and citrus scent wafted through the air. He closed his eyes as he inhaled the heavenly scent.

  He’d never been a huge fan of perfumes or lotions that overpowered his senses. But this was different. It was citrusy, light, airy, and fresh. Just like her eyes, her scent drew him in.

  Growing up, one of his favorite stories his mom would read to him was about sirens that enchanted sailors with their beauty and voices. As an adult, he knew their intentions weren’t pure, but as a kid, he’d always wanted to meet one. Not the dangerous creatures that he now knew they were, but just someone that he was powerless to resist.

  He used to daydream about what that would feel like, and now he knew.

  Adriana gracefully lowered onto the bistro-style chair that he pulled out for her and as he slid into his seat across the table from her, he had the urge to lean forward just to get another whiff of her. Thankfully, his rational mind took charge and he refrained.

  “Are you hungry?” He saw Sue Ann coming out of the swinging doors that led to the kitchen and as he asked he started lifting his hand to get her attention.

  “No,” she answered. She shook her head as she licked her perfect lips.

  Logically, he knew that it was an involuntary innocent action, most likely a nervous habit. But his body didn’t see it like that and reacted as if it were the single most erotic and enticing thing he’d ever seen. Lust swelled in him, and he knew that if he didn’t take charge of this interaction, it wouldn’t be the only thing swelling. He was about five seconds away from his jeans displaying the attraction she stirred in him.

  “Well, I was just finishing up.”

  He pulled out his wallet and dropped a twenty beside his plate. When he did, his knee brushed against hers beneath the tabletop. It was the briefest contact, and there were two layers of denim between them, but that did nothing to dilute the electric shock that ran up his leg straight to the area he was trying to keep from swelling.

  He needed a distraction. If he stayed sitting in this confined, semi-private space with Adriana, he wouldn’t be able to stand up and not embarrass himself.

  “It’s a beautiful day. Would you like to take a walk?”

  “Um,” Her cheek hollowed out as if she was biting it as she clutched her purse in front of her.

  “Or we can talk here,” Gabe amended when he saw how uncomfortable his suggestion had made her. “Wherever you want to do the interview is fine with me.”

  Then after the interview was done and his obligation was fulfilled, he planned to find out what her plans were for tonight, tomorrow, the weekend, and maybe even the rest of her life.

  *

  “Interview?” Adriana was having a difficult time putting together sentences.

  One-word responses were even pushing it.

  Seeing Gabe in the flesh and hearing the sultry baritone of his voice was like throwing water onto an electrical panel. She was seriously short-circuiting, and she was pretty sure, for the first time in the past four years, that it had nothing to do with stress or lack of sleep.

  Gabe’s expression shifted. He was starting to look at her like she was a few crayons short of a full box.

  Not that she blamed him. Right now she didn’t exactly feel her sharpest. Which is why she remained quiet.

  Adriana had a pesky habit of putting her foot directly into her mouth when she was uncertain or nervous. It had taken years, but she’d finally found that the best thing to do when she was in danger of tasting her toes, was to keep her lips zipped. Under normal circumstances that proved difficult for her. She’d even bit the inside of her mouth to stop herself from speaking on several occasions. But right now, she was the Commodores, and it was “Easy Like Sunday Morning.”

  Her brain had turned to lust-mush when she’d laid eyes on Gabe. So much so tha
t when he’d called her by her nickname, and asked if she was there to see him, she’d thought she might be delusional. In some of the grief-management books, she’d read that sometimes people see their loved ones. It can feel very real, but it’s just a trick that their minds play.

  She figured that instead of seeing Em she’d transferred the hallucination onto Gabe. Either that or she was still in her car and she’d accidentally fallen asleep when she’d closed her eyes after the phone call with her mother.

  “The interview…” Gabe nodded encouragingly. “For your blog?”

  Suddenly, all of the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

  He thought that she was here to interview him. For a blog.

  Crap.

  Thoughts and questions started pinging around in her mind like a small silver ball in a pinball machine.

  She needed to come clean. To tell him who she was. But what if he didn’t want to talk to her? What if he left and she didn’t get to know him?

  This was the perfect opportunity to ask him anything she wanted. Except, what about the real reporter. He’d offered to go on a walk. If they did, maybe they’d miss the person he was supposed to be meeting.

  Panic settled in Adriana’s chest. She might never get this opportunity again, and part of her was screaming to seize it. But what if turned out to be Jonah’s father? Then what? She’d have to explain why she impersonated someone else and lied. She knew all was fair in love and war, but what about paternity and dying promises?

  She needed another sign.

  “Oh my god!”

  A loud squeal burst the bubble that Adriana had not even been aware that she was floating in. She’d forgotten that there were other people in the café or the world for that matter. The sound caused her to jump slightly in her chair as she spun toward the high-pitched shriek.

  There was a group of college-aged kids approaching their table. Five in total, three guys and two girls. They all had their phones out and pointed at Gabe.