by Melody Anne
When his agent called him at six a.m. and told him to haul ass to some random address in one of the city’s farthest-reaching suburbs, he wasn’t sure what to think. The Falcons were building houses for a charity helping unfortunate families in the city, and it was a brilliant idea. Who would’ve thought Lainey really did have a foolproof plan that worked on sweat equity rather than a massive media campaign? He knew better than to underestimate her, one more thing he would need to atone for, so he booked it home to pick up some work gear and called his teammates. Joe, Johnny, and Aiden showed up, ready to get their hands dirty, as did a couple of the newbies who were eager to please their captain. What really surprised him was that Zazu managed to roll out of bed at this hour. Even though the Brazilian only managed to pull on a pair of sweatpants and sneakers, not bothering to change out of his striped silk pajama top, he showed up and that was what mattered as far as Gabe was concerned.
“Come on, men. Let’s go take orders from some hot women.” Gabe grabbed a hammer—the only tool he happened to own, because his pop had accidentally left it at his house after repairing a rotten fence post last year—and marched toward the lots where the three houses were being erected. Only when he was within five feet of her did Lainey notice him.
“What now? A street brawl?” Lainey asked, casting a desultory glance at the hammer in Gabe’s hand. Her hands were at her hips, pose defiant and ready for confrontation.
He bit back a grin. “That’s one possible interpretation.”
She shrugged a single shoulder, then looked at the sledgehammer resting at her feet. “Huh. Mine’s bigger.”
This time, he really did laugh. “I know the cost of houses in this area, and I know when to concede defeat. We’re just here to help.” She raised an eyebrow. He gave her his most disarming smile. “I’m serious. Put us to work.”
And that’s exactly what she did. Like a general leading her army, she divvied Gabe and his buddies up, sending them to report to the various team leaders organizing the construction, who worked them over like dogs for the rest of the day. Gabe carried wood, glass, vinyl, and every other material for hours, trying to earn forgiveness from Lainey with every grueling minute of hefting, hauling, and hoisting. For the most part, she seemed oblivious to him amid the flurry of activity. Gabe wasn’t worried. Lainey might be capable of extreme determination, but he was a man of exceeding patience. He knew how to play the long game, and eventually they’d have the conversation they needed to have.
Late afternoon, the crews took a lunch break. Lainey’s aunt distributed bologna sandwiches and bottles of water to the volunteers from a bunch of coolers in the back of a van. Gabe graciously accepted a sandwich and plopped on the grass to eat it. It wasn’t the most flavorful thing he had ever tasted, but it hit the spot.
A long, dark shadow loomed over him as he ate. “Tasty sandwich?”
Gabe looked up to see Lainey’s uncle Walt standing in front of him, his craggy face giving no hints as to his mood. In fact, Gabe hadn’t seen the man crack a single smile all morning except for when he’d been speaking with Lainey and somehow managed to make her laugh. “The best, sir.”
Walt tipped his head. “It’s the sprouts. Wife says it’s her secret trick.”
“Ah . . . yum?” It had been more than half his lifetime ago since Gabe had been intimidated by the father figure of the girl he wanted to date, but this man had the aura of a resurrected John Wayne and was currently pointing a loaded nail gun at his crotch.
“Mmm-hmm.”
A trickle of sweat slid along his hairline. He was more than a little freaked out by the fact the older man had not blinked once. “You must be really proud of Lainey for pulling this off.”
Walt nodded, still not breaking eye contact. “You know, I’m the one who taught her how to use power tools.”
Gabe wasn’t sure if that was a question or a threat, so he just nodded.
“A lot of people think Lainey’s a lone soldier because of how hard she pushes herself. She doesn’t ask for a lot of help. Never has. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t an army of people behind her who love her.” He rotated his wrist, shifting the yellow nail gun menacingly in his hand.
Gabe swallowed. “I know, sir. I’m one of them.”
A faint half smile appeared on the older man’s face. “Good to know we have an understanding.”
Grace Mallery showed up with a small camera crew in tow just as most of the volunteers were getting back to work. Instead of joining them, Gabe hovered nearby to eavesdrop on Lainey’s announcement that she was becoming the spokeswoman for Blair’s Hardware and Homebuilding Supplies, one of the largest of its kind on the West Coast. She’d come a long way since the press conference five and a half weeks ago. Today, she looked calm and collected, completely in control of the announcement. Of course, there was a grand total of one reporter, not twenty to contend with.
By the time the late-spring sun set, most of the volunteers had packed up and gone home. Through some miracle, the roofs were completely installed on all three houses. There was obviously still a fair bit of work needed on the interiors, but the accomplishment thus far was an impressive feat for one day’s worth of work. Gabe caught up to Lainey as she was circling around to the back of one of the houses.
“Nicely done. Signing on for an endorsement is a bit of a one-eighty for you, though.”
Without breaking her stride, she said, “It made sense. Blair’s Hardware agreed to foot the bill for most of the supplies in exchange for my endorsement and a couple of cheesy TV commercials. They get some good publicity out of this, and I get to put in a competitive bid for the fund-raising battle. We even rounded up enough volunteers to cover all the shifts for the next three weeks to get the houses move-in ready.”
“How’d you swing all that?”
“I cornered your agent at your birthday party. We had a conversation, and things took off from there,” she said, picking up a few stray hand tools from the ground. To his surprise, she actually let him carry them for her when he held his hands out in offer. They continued walking in the direction of her car.
“Impressive.”
“I also negotiated a small fee, at Bill’s insistence, of course. Enough to cover some of my debt and get me through the summer so that I can keep volunteering with the Gabriel Havelak Pro-Stars Soccer Camp.”
Gabe stumbled on a raised edge of the sidewalk. After a few steps, Lainey turned around and waited for him to catch up, an expression full of bemusement adorning her face.
“Why?” he asked, unsure whether he ought to let himself believe the words.
Lainey unlocked her Honda, grabbed the tools from Gabe, and tossed them in the trunk. “Because . . .” She paused for what felt like a century. “I’m crazy about you.”
The tone of her voice wasn’t convincing. In fact, she sounded angry. But all he cared about were those beautiful words coming out of her mouth. “I’m crazy about you, too.”
She put her hand up to quiet him. “This past month, you’ve made me happier than I’ve ever been. You make me excited to try new things. But as long as we’re in this stupid competition, I’ll never know if whatever is between us is real or part of your ruse to get me to give up our practice space. I can’t gamble my team’s focus or success on the odds you might actually care about me.”
“I do care about you. I want to be with you.” He wanted to tell her he loved her and that nothing else in the world mattered, but that would only scare her away and blow up in his face. Though it flew in the face of all his instincts, he needed to play it slow. Let her figure out on her own that she loved him, too.
She sighed, and with a pang in his gut, he could feel her pulling away. “I made another call yesterday. To Carson Chester.”
“Uh, okay. Why?”
“Because I’m not a quitter. When I want something, I go for it, and it’s time I put it all on the line once and for all. We have three days left together, and I want to know that this meant something to yo
u. That it was real. And if it wasn’t, I want to know that, too. There’s only one way to find out for sure. I told Chester to give the practice space back to the Surge. And before you ask, my teammates are okay with it. In fact, they suggested it. The Falcons are the strongest professional female soccer team in the world right now, and it doesn’t matter where we practice.”
Gabe was dumbstruck for a moment but finally found his words. Hope for his career and his relationship battled with concern that Lainey was sacrificing too much. They’d never talked about how Lainey was her team captain, too. The last thing he wanted was to transfer the danger of Cricket Field to her. “And what did Chester say?”
“He laughed at me and said, ‘Little girl, did you really think I’d leave a decision like that up to you? I make all the decisions around here, so get your head out of your ass.’ ”
He had to admit that Lainey was able to capture the arrogant nuances of Chester’s voice with impressive accuracy. He tried not to let any disappointment show on his face. “That doesn’t surprise me, and that doesn’t change how I feel about you. We might be tied in the Battle of the Sexes, but the stakes are gone, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t care who wins or loses anymore. I just want to be with you.”
Lainey gave him a devious half smile. “Oh, I still plan on winning this whole thing. Don’t forget your car is still up for grabs.”
He growled and tugged her into his arms for a fierce kiss.
When they finally pulled apart, her flushed cheeks and panting breath filled him with satisfaction and male pride.
“There’s one more thing you need to know,” she whispered into his ear. “Chester also said that the new lacrosse stadium is finished ahead of schedule, so the Thunder are no longer sharing field space with us. In fact, rumor has it Cricket Field is slated to be torn down this year. Which means the Surge get their practice space back anyway.”
After hearing that, what could Gabe do but kiss the heck out of his woman again?
There was only one question urgent enough to get him to pull away from her embrace. “Your place or mine?”
“I need a shower first. I’ll meet you at your place in an hour.”
LAINEY DASHED THROUGH THE rain to the gentle refuge provided by the tiny awning above Gabe’s door. A mixture of giddy excitement and nervousness swirled in her stomach. Being with him made her feel unsettled at every turn, but it also made her excited about the endless possibilities the future held. Even though they had only three days left together before the season opener, he had indelibly changed her outlook on life.
Gabe answered her knock almost instantly. He’d taken the time to clean up, too, wearing a blue T-shirt and jeans, his feet bare and hair damp. The darkening sky and curtain of rain at her back enveloped them to create a perfect little world where only they existed.
“Come on in. I’m assuming you’re hungry for more than just my body.”
As soon as she walked across the threshold, a savory blast of deliciousness hit her, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten anything since the ham-and-cheese sandwich her aunt brought her for lunch. “That smells amazing. What is it?”
“Cabbage rolls. I was going to barbecue, but the weather had other plans.” He took her jacket and hung it on the coatrack next to the door. “Hope you don’t mind that I pulled some leftovers out of my freezer.”
“Your mom’s special recipe? I thought those were a magical elixir to fuel you for game nights.” She slipped off her shoes and followed him into his kitchen. Two simple, white tapered candles, the kind that were meant more for emergency power outages than seduction, were perched inside empty Heineken bottles on the dining table. But framed by the incredible view of the red haze of the setting sun against the stormy blue sky, it was the most romantic thing she’d ever seen.
“We have three days left in our deal. I figured you’d need some extra fuel to get through everything I plan on doing to you.” With an arm at her lower back, he pulled her close for a quick kiss. His tongue glided skillfully through her mouth, awakening every nerve in her body.
She was about to remind him she had to work the next day when her phone beeped. He pulled back the dining chair for her while she fished her phone from her pocket. It was her uncle Walt. “Go figure. I was just going to say I need to wake up early for work tomorrow, but apparently work’s been canceled for the next few days. Too much rain.”
He sat down across the table from her and glanced out the window. “Can’t say I’m surprised. It’s coming down pretty hard. Not that I’m complaining, though.”
She gazed at the unending vista of ocean, cityscape, and distant mountains on display. “Everything always seems to work out your way, huh?”
“Most of the time, yeah. But a lot of it comes down to a choice. I want to be happy, so I choose to be, and to appreciate everything I have.”
That was the wisdom Gabe had been trying to impart since the moment they met, wrapped up in one deceptively simple statement. Lainey needed to focus on everything wonderful she already had in her life, not just on the things she was still working toward. She’d done a pretty good job so far. She’d put herself on the line this afternoon to claim her happiness with Gabe, and to make their last few days together as lovers count. Stripping away all her emotional defenses and leaving herself raw and exposed to his rejection was one of the hardest things she’d ever done. But in the end, she didn’t feel weak. She felt powerful. Excited. Euphoric.
And yet, she still had her doubts. Gabe would be able to walk away in three days and be happy again. Lainey would never be able to do that. He’d probably find a new lover, a new thrill to make his life complete. Lainey would always wonder what else could have been.
“Are we going to talk about your mom’s hex at all?” she blurted out. She’d taken one curse out of the equation, but she needed to know about the other. Alyssa’s words were echoing in her mind. The hex only mattered if he loved her. Gabe’s mom had even said the same thing to her on the phone a week before.
He raised an eyebrow while dishing out the cabbage rolls. “I’m sorry you heard that. I just wish you’d stayed long enough to hear the part where I told Ma to knock it off.”
Her mouth fell open.
“My ma’s always believed in that stuff, and we’ve been indulging her for so long, sometimes it’s hard to remember it’s not real. Did you know my dad stopped by the other day? He told me that he loved my mom long before the love spell.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. Ma doesn’t know, of course. She probably wouldn’t believe him if he told her.”
“That’s so romantic,” she said. “In a twisted kind of way.”
“No one ever said my family was simple. But we are happy.” He cast a curious look her way, like his mind was forming some mischievous plan. “You’ve got a bit of sauce on your chin.”
“Ah crap.” She’d been scarfing down the tasty cabbage rolls while they were talking, forgetting all about ladylike manners and cleanliness. She grabbed a napkin and dabbed furiously at her chin.
Gabe stood up and walked over to her chair. “My, my, my. Aren’t we a dirty girl?” He hauled her up by her arms and licked the smudge of tomato sauce from her chin. Shivers ran down her belly, building pressure at her core. He brushed his lips along her jaw and slipped his hand behind her nape. “Let’s find out where else you’re dirty. Here?”
Her breath hitched as his lips made contact with the delicate spot on her neck. She hummed her agreement, unable to find words. But her body knew exactly what it wanted. Him. Gabe’s tongue pressed gently along her skin, leaving a hot, wet trail as he worked his way to her collarbone. He hooked a finger in her shirt collar, tugged it forward, and peered down.
“Looks like I’m going to have to do a full inspection.” Holding her hand, he led her to his bedroom down the hall. The lush blue walls blended seamlessly into the view from the windows, making her feel like they were entering their own private universe.
He walked her
to the edge of the bed, then took a step back. His gaze traveled all over her body, like he was appraising her. Nervous excitement exploded in her belly. Needing to touch him and feel his cock hardening in her fist, she reached out. He grabbed her hand and brought it to his mouth, placing a gentle kiss on her knuckles.
“I want you,” she pleaded. “I want to touch you and taste you. Please, Gabe.”
He smiled dangerously. “I love hearing you beg for me, but I’m going to savor this moment. Take off your shirt. Slowly.”
She grabbed the hem and pulled upward as slowly as she could in spite of her raging desire. The shirt caught awkwardly on her head, sticking for a second before she finally yanked it off. Her cheeks heated with embarrassment, but he winked at her, causing her to laugh and still feel sexy at the same time. He traced the lace edges of her bra. The delicate touch of his fingers over the small mounds of her breasts had her aching for more. Her nipples tightened, needing his mouth.
“You’re so fucking beautiful, Lainey.” His voice was rough, strained. Even when he took complete control, Gabe always made her feel like she was the one with all the power. That her pleasure was his. “Your pants.”
She unzipped her jeans and shoved them downward, failing miserably at her attempt to be alluring, but it didn’t matter. Gabe looked at her with hunger in his eyes. He went down on his knees and freed her ankles from their denim shackles. He gripped the back of her leg and kissed her inner thigh. He placed more fluttery kisses on her hip bones, sending gushing waves of heat to her core. The room spun as he teased her. She dug her hands into his hair to steady herself, intending to be gentle but failing as he slipped a finger past the edge of her panties.
“More, Gabe. I need more. Please.”
“Lie back.” He eased her onto the bed. The crisp, cool sheets enveloped her burning skin like a caress.