She just asked for my help for the first time since we met. “Yes. We’ll talk to her together.”
I exit the car and go around to get Abbie, but once she’s out of the car, I take a moment for some space. “I need to make a couple of calls.” I kiss her. “Go check on your mother. I’ll be right there.”
She pushes to her toes and kisses me. She says nothing, but she lingers there, her lips on mine, and I want her to linger there forever.
When she pushes away and starts a jog toward the stables, I pull out my phone. Time to do what I do best: take what I want and get rid of the problems. In this case, her ex.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Abbie
I hurry forward toward the stables, leaving Gabe behind at his car, my body humming with the connection I share with that man. He woke me up all right. He has me on fire, burning alive, and more so, he is sliding deep inside me, forcing me to feel things again, and I’m not talking about physically, though he does that quite well, too. I like Gabe. I could really fall for Gabe. This terrifies me and I won’t let him suffer because I can’t say no to him. Because I’m too selfish to walk away. I know what I have to do and I’ll get the courage to do it. When I’m alone and can do something like get drunk for courage. It works for people, I hear. Maybe I can make it work for me.
I enter the gated area where the animals are sheltered, and wave to several familiar faces, volunteers who help often and have come so far as to join my mother here. Others I don’t know that I assume work for the ranch but the owner is having them help us. Brandon must be a good man. We’ve taken over part of his ranch and even before he met my mother.
I’m about to head into the ranch when one of the dogs starts yelping and then there are screams. I run in that direction to find a beautiful husky with a mane of white fur around its face, and a mix of dark gray and white on its body, outside its cage, snarling at several workers. One of them, Melanie, a cute brunette who is just out of high school, whirls around to face me. “She knocked me over and charged out of the cage. I think she has rabies.”
“She must!” a guy named Nick states. “She’s vicious.”
“She wouldn’t have yelped like she was in pain if she were just mean.”
“She yelped?” Nick asks. “I just heard snarls.”
“She yelped,” I say. “That’s pain and fear. Get me some treats. And find my mother.” I kneel down at eye level with the dog, who continues to snarl. “What’s her name?”
“She didn’t have a tag.”
“Ella,” I say. “Her name is now Ella. Hey, Ella, baby. It’s okay. You’re okay.” Melanie hands me some treats. I toss one at Ella. She snarls but sniffs and then takes a few steps closer to get the treat but quickly retreats.
“That retreat,” I say to Melanie. “That’s not aggression. That’s fear.” I toss another treat close to me. Ella hesitates but runs forward and grabs it and this time I can see that she’s limping.
“Ah, girl,” I murmur as she tries to retreat and is forced to sit. “You’re hurting.”
“Abbie! Fuck. What are you doing? Trying to get your face eaten off?”
I hold up a hand. “Slow, Gabe! Slow and easy.” I don’t look at him. I throw treats right in front of Ella. Gabe kneels next to me. “What’s happening?”
“She’s hurt and scared. She’s limping. It looks bad.”
“Poor girl. I snarl just giving blood. I hate pain.”
I laugh. “You’re crazy.”
“Says the woman at eye level with a desperate dog trying to survive. What can I do to help?”
“I’m here,” my mother says, her voice several feet back. “What are we dealing with, Abigail?”
“Hurt. Scared. Hungry. I named her Ella.”
“Why don’t I know this animal?” my mother asks.
Melanie is quick to reply. “They found her here on the island. We just got her in.”
“We’re going to need to net her so I can sedate her.”
“Don’t net her,” Gabe says. “I’ll hold her.”
“She’ll eat your face off, boy,” my mother says.
“Well, good thing you know how to stitch it up,” he replies. “I need treats. Are you ready, Shannon?” he asks my mother.
“I’m ready but, son—”
“I got this,” Gabe says. “I have a way with animals.”
I hand him treats. “Gabe—”
“I got this, sweetheart.” He stays in a squat and moves in front of me, tossing some treats at the dog, who snarls but eats the treat. Gabe starts talking to Ella, his voice this low, rough, masculine tone that would seduce any female, apparently even the canine version, because in about ten minutes, he’s holding her while my mother sedates her.
My God, I think as I watch him carry her into the building, with my mother by his side. I’m going to fall in love with this man if I’m not careful. I hurry behind them and watch as my mother finds the broken bone in her leg. Gabe helps her set Ella up in a well-padded cage, and then she prepares for surgery. When it’s all said and done, Ella has a cast on her leg and I’m in awe of Gabe. So is my mother.
It’s a long time later when we leave behind the operating room and step outside, heading to the stables, when I turn to Gabe, push to my toes and kiss him. “You were incredible. And real men help animals. It was also sexy as hell.”
He folds me close. “Is that right?”
“Yes. Very right.”
He cups my head and kisses me and I don’t hold back or care who might see us. I kiss the hell out of that man, and he smiles against my lips. “I look forward to more of that later tonight.”
“Good. So do I.”
It’s a long time later when we’re in the stables with Gabbie and the puppies. Gabe and I are sitting next to each other while Gabbie and her pups are now sound asleep. “I hate that I have to tell her what I have to tell her.”
“You don’t. I told you. I have this handled.”
“I have to tell her, Gabe. My mother has too much on her to be sideswiped.”
“Tell me what? Get sideswiped with what?”
My throat goes dry with the appearance of my mother in the stable.
Gabe’s hand comes down on my leg. “Abbie’s ex is throwing around a lot of fake legal threats that are easy to see through. They won’t go anywhere. You have my word.”
“What kind of legal threats?” she asks, and I don’t miss the way her face pales.
“Those men that showed up at the shelter said we were doing funny things with the books,” I force myself to admit. “It was just to scare us into giving up the property.”
“It’s nothing but talk,” Gabe assures her. “I’ve got this and you and Abbie.”
But my mother is already squatting down, her chin on her chest, as if she’s going to be sick. As if it’s all too much. “Mom—”
She looks up at me. “That man is evil. I can’t believe you stayed married to him for so long, but I know why. Because you were afraid of him. You were afraid and yet you tell me everything is fine. It’s not fine. We have reason to be afraid.”
“You and Abbie didn’t have me back then,” Gabe says. “You do now.”
“He’ll just go after you, too,” my mother says, looking at me. “You’re making him a target. It’s time to give up. We have to sell out. Give him what he wants.”
“No, mom. We—”
“Give him what he wants,” she says, standing up and disappearing.
Gabe’s hand comes down on my shoulders and he turns me to face him. “I got this. I got you and your mother. Trust me. Trust me and give me a week. This will be over.”
He’s right. It will be. Because my mother was right. I’m putting Gabe in danger. I’m putting all of us in danger by fighting like this. I just don’t know that selling ends this because I don’t know exactly what Kenneth wants. I just know that I no longer need liquid courage to do what I need to do. My mother and Gabe are enough. The minute I’m alone, I’ll make the c
all that will be the game changer.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Abbie
The minute my mother leaves Gabe and I alone with Gabbie and her pups, I’m on my feet to follow. Gabe is faster though, quick to step in front of me, his hands settling on my shoulders, his big body planted between me and the door. “Stop. Let her go. Let her breathe. I’ll handle this. Abbie, you have my word. This will end and end in your favor.”
My hand presses to his chest and God, it’s solid. He’s solid and strong and everything I have ever wanted in a man and that’s why I have to protect him. “I’m so selfish to let you stay in the middle of this. I can’t be that selfish.”
“You’re not selfish, but I am. I’m not willing to share you with your bastard ex. I’ll deal with him. Now, you and I are going to give your mom an hour to chill. Then I’m going to go talk to Brandon while you talk to her. I’ll make sure the shelter stays here as long as necessary. But don’t promise to sell. You aren’t going to have to do that.” He kisses me. “Promise me you won’t tell her you’ll sell.”
“Gabe—”
“I got you and I got this. Okay?”
It would be so easy to just let him do this. It would be so easy to play the damsel, but I did that for years and it got me here. I don’t think Gabe is like my ex. Not at all. I just don’t want to drag him to hell with me. “You are a bull when you decide something, aren’t you?”
“More like when I want something,” he says. “And I want you, Abbie.”
My teeth scrape my bottom lip. “I want you, too. I do. I just wish we were past this hell.”
“We came together because of this problem, because you sought out Reid. We’re the silver lining.” He leans in and kisses me, his lips brushing mine, lingering, a wave of warmth rushing over us, a flutter in my belly with the intensity of our connection. “Let’s go check on Ella and see how her leg is.”
“Yes. Let’s go check. I’m eager to see her.”
A few minutes later, we’re inside the medical area with animals with various medical conditions. I’m watching Gabe where he kneels in front of a cage on the floor, offering an abundance of love and attention to Ella, and my heart swells for him and the dog. He isn’t faking his love of animals and they sure aren’t faking their love of him. My ex—he faked everything with me, even passion, I believe. How did I not see that? But then, maybe I’d never seen real before—until Gabe.
I just don’t know why he was with me. I know why I stayed and it’s nothing I care to share with anyone who doesn’t know and that means no one but my mother really knows, though she all but told Gabe today.
He glances up and spots me watching him and motions me forward. I happily join him, kneeling beside him, and Ella is happy to offer me a lick in reward. I laugh with her greeting. “I’ll lick you, too,” Gabe murmurs, “if it gets me that smile of yours.”
I blush, heat tingling through my body and puckering my nipples. “You’re bad.”
“Very,” he promises. “So bad that I’m thinking about licking you right now. Want to guess where?”
“Gabe,” I warn.
He laughs. “You think the animals will be offended?” He looks around. “I don’t see anyone else around.” He leans closer. “And I actually don’t think the smile is what I’m after. It’s those sweet little sounds you make.”
“There you two are.”
At the sound of my mother’s voice, I elbow Gabe. “Behave,” I whisper, and he offers a low, masculine rumble of laughter.
“Do I have to?”
“Yes,” I chide, as my mother adds, “I see you two found Ella. She’s doing well.” She glances at Gabe. “Thank you for helping with her.”
“Thank you for fixing her leg,” he says, sealing the big cage with Ella inside and standing up, helping me to my feet.
My mother’s eyes warm, but there is a sharp knife of emotion in them before she looks at me. “I need to speak to you.”
“Hint taken,” Gabe says. “I’ll leave you two to talk.” He eyes me. “I’ll meet you back with Gabbie and the pups.” He leans in and kisses my cheek to whisper, “Remember your promise,” before he quickly moves past my mother.
My mother is even quicker to close the distance between me and her, and motioning me around a corner to a set of small cages. “Does he really know what he’s getting into?”
“He does. I told you, I went to him because his firm has worked with Jean Claude. They know how to fight him.”
“Are you sure they’re to be trusted? How do you know—”
“Are you serious, mom? Gabe has been helping us.”
“Helping us get out of the New York City facility,” she says. “I’m not trying to be ungrateful, Abbie. I’m just nervous. I don’t want you to get hurt again. Gabe seems almost too good to be true. And anything too good—”
“I’m the one who’s too good to be true. I come with trouble. He’s walked right into it.”
“Then walk him back out of it. Go back to New York and say goodbye until this is over. Then you come back together. Protect him if he’s a good man. Protect us if he’s not.”
“You tend to be overly suspicious, mother. We both know where that comes from.” Her past. Not mine.
“Protect him. Protect us. Break this off right now.” She grabs my hands. “Honey, I like him. I like him a lot. He seems like a good man, and that’s why I say there is no win here by keeping him involved. Kenneth is evil. You told me stories, you told me things he did.”
I didn’t even begin to tell her stories or what that man did, but that’s not the point. She’s right. I was right when I told Gabe I was being selfish. I can’t stay with him and the break-up doesn’t have to be for long. I have a plan. It protects everyone. “I’ll think about it,” I say because I can’t make her a promise I won’t keep.
“Sell the property in New York City. I’m already looking for a smaller facility. We’ll use more fosters. We’ll make it work.”
“Just—let me think through solutions,” I say. “And we need a new place before I agree to anything.”
“Abbie—”
I kiss her cheek. “Let me think. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Are you staying here tonight for sure?”
“Yes. I’m staying.”
We say our goodbyes and hug, and when I’m alone, I do what I know I have to do. I find a quiet spot in the stable where I know Gabe won’t surprise me and I make the call I know I have to make. The one I hope I don’t regret.
Once the call is done, I’m shaking, but when I make my way back to Gabbie and find Gabe waiting on me, looking all kinds of hot and so completely male, I’m glad I did it. I don’t want to give him up. I don’t want him to be hurt. I walk up to him, push to my toes, and kiss him. “I really can’t wait to get back to your apartment in the city.”
He molds me close. “And I can’t wait to see you naked in my bed in the city again. And in my bathtub. And on my kitchen counter. And—”
I kiss him again and smile. “Take me there now.”
“Yes,” he says, his voice low and gravelly. “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
Abbie
Gabe and I walk the rows of animals and then find my mother to say goodbye. She hugs me and then follows up by doing the same to Gabe, but the look she gives me over his shoulder twists me in knots. She likes him, but she still thinks I need to distance myself from him. In fact, that’s why she wants me to distance myself.
I cut my gaze. I don’t want to walk away from Gabe. I’m done fighting our connection. And it won’t matter anymore. I’ve made my call. My ex is going to stop coming after us. I’ve made sure of it. My mom will see and so will Gabe, but for now, I decide to just enjoy Gabe, to enjoy life for the first time in a long time.
I link my arm with his and we walk to the car, laughing about some of our moments with the pups and Gabbie. An hour later, we’re still talking about the ranch, and eating burgers, me vowing I’ll work off my food. “You won�
�t need the gym,” he promises, winking before shoving a fry in his mouth, and I swear, only Gabe could make eating a fry sexy.
The man is pure sin and sex and he really does make me feel warm all over in all kinds of ways. And he makes me laugh. I laugh now, my cheeks heating.
“And she blushes,” he teases softy, using his thumb to caress my bottom lip. “And makes me want to eat her, not my food. Let’s go to the bathroom. It’s one stall with a locking door.”
“No,” I say. “Eat your burger.”
“Not you?”
I laugh. “Not here.”
“Ah. Not here. Is that a rule? No public places?”
“Yes. It’s a rule.”
“We’ll see if we get out of here with that rule followed.”
We do.
But he tries to change my mind.
Another hour later, we’re packing Dexter’s things into the car and loading up to head to the airport. “If you have this car, why do you bother with one in the city?”
“There are too many reasons a client might need me for me to be without a car, especially with a few of them living outside the city limits. What about you?”
“It’s too expensive to park a car I barely use,” I say.
“From billionaire’s wife to watching your pennies.”
Seeing where this might be headed, I quickly counter, “This is not about him, who for the record, we decided to leave out of our relationship, or his money. No matter how much money I had, I’d make that choice and save the parking money. Unless, of course, my job made a car necessary, but in New York City, that’s not the norm.”
Dexter whines and licks me, clearly aware that Gabe has just been reprimanded and apparently, I now need calming. I thank Dexter and arch a brow at Gabe. He pulls us into the airport and parks. “For the record,” he says, turning to look at me, “that question wasn’t about him. It was about you. Everything I do with you is about you.” He leans in and cups my face. “Remember that. I will never do anything for me that isn’t for you, too. You have my word.”
Despite his low, raspy tone, there is something intense and dark about his promise that shouldn’t be anything but sweet and thoughtful, but then, this is Gabe. He’s light and fun on the outside and layered with secrets and torment on the inside that should scare me. Nothing with him is as it seems. Instead, I’m intrigued. I’m drawn to him in every possible way.
His Demand (Dirtier Duet Book 1) Page 19