by Emme Rollins, Julia Kent, Anna Antonia, Helena Newbury, Aubrey Rose
“Thank you.” I sat down and waved him to the chair next to me. “Take a load off, Gabriel. Enjoy the day.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” He settled his large frame in the powder blue chair. “This actually fits me.”
“Nice, huh?” I wondered if I should share that I got the pair from a thrift store.
Maybe not.
“Very nice, Emma.”
We soaked in the sun for several minutes, our silence companionable and our hands naturally finding the other. Murmurs of “Forever and always” whispered in my ear. I wondered if they’d ever really left.
Slow down, Ms. Adams. You’re driving way too fast. Somebody’s liable to get hurt.
“I could fall asleep out here,” I murmured. “Maybe I should get a hammock then I can nap all day like a cat.”
“Mmm, I can see why. Speaking of cats, do you have one?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I usually work ten to twelve hour days. It wouldn’t be fair to Constantine.”
“Constantine? That’s a fine name for a cat.”
“I think so too.” I yawned. “Oh, excuse me. As soon as I cut back on my hours, I’m going to get him. He’s a gray tabby with black stripes and big green eyes.”
“Does he live somewhere now?”
“No, but when the time is ready he’ll be waiting for me.”
Gabriel’s clasp pulsed once. “Why do you work such long hours, Emma?”
The sun loosened my tongue. “Because I’m saving every spare penny I can.”
“For what?”
“To buy a house.”
I heard the surprise in his voice. “Really? What kind of house? Something closer to the city?”
“No, not for me. For my mom.”
“You’re buying a house for your mother. That blows me away. I mean that.”
I soaked up his praise like a sponge. “She’s been so good to me and has worked so hard all her life. This is the least she deserves.”
“Does she know what you’re doing?”
I stretched my legs and crossed them at the ankles. “Nope. It’s a surprise. I have about six months left to go before I have the down payment and a year’s worth of mortgage payments. I’m padding it just in case something happens.”
“Like what?”
“Like I get laid off or something.”
Gabriel’s lips pressed against my cheek for a too-brief moment. “You’re the sweetest girl I’ve ever met. Don’t ever change, Emma.”
I cupped my cheek, startled and ridiculously pleased by his kiss. “I don’t know what to say.”
“A ‘thank you’ would work.”
“Thank you.”
We smiled, self-conscious and shy with one another. I could’ve sworn I saw a light flush on his cheeks but it might’ve been a trick of the eye. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. “Do I have to go get ready?”
“No, not yet. Just lay here longer, my sweet kitty.”
I thought it a great idea and told him so. The occasional sound of a car driving by coupled with the steady drone of landscaping equipment created enough white noise to nearly put me asleep.
Then Gabriel spoke.
“So it looks like the apartment next door is empty.”
“Is it?” I opened one sleepy eye. “I wouldn’t know.”
“Emma, you should know what’s going on around you,” he chided with a concerned frown.
“I keep to myself. That’s hardly a crime.”
“No, but it’s definitely not keeping with Safety 101.”
“Gabriel, no offense, but I probably have a lot more street smarts than you do.”
“That is debatable.”
“We’ll agree to disagree, Mr. Billionaire.”
He cleared his throat and said, “The apartment is a mirror of this one.”
“Which one?”
“The one next door.”
How would he know…wait. No.
I kept my relaxed position, treading very carefully just in case I was jumping to conclusions. “How do you know that, Gabriel?”
“Because I just do.”
Way too nonchalant.
“Right. Why do you know?” The suspicion sunk deeper and deeper. He wouldn’t have done what I was thinking, would he?
Gabriel avoided my probing gaze. Instead, he watched the maintenance workers trimming the bushes across the roadway. “How often do they work, Emma?”
“All the time.”
“Hmm. Really early?”
“Not before nine.”
“That’s good to know.”
“Why?”
He turned to me and smiled. “No one likes to get woken up before they’re ready, do they?”
Okay, there’s too much cat-got-the-canary in that grin.
I sat up. “Gabriel, tell me you didn’t rent the apartment next door.”
“I could tell you that.”
“Okay, so do it.”
“If I told you that, then you’d begin to wonder why I was following you home. I’d rather not have that conversation after a long day at work.”
Shocked at his audacity, I shrieked his name. “Are you crazy?”
“Perfectly sane last time I was checked.”
“What are you thinking? You can’t just move into my complex, Gabriel!”
“Why not? You live here. I like you. You like me. It makes perfect sense.”
“No, it doesn’t. It really, really doesn’t.” I let go his hand so I wouldn’t squeeze the life out of it. Leaning forward, hands gripping the metal armrest until I was white-knuckled, I tried to go the calm route. “You already have somewhere you live.”
“I do.”
“So what’s wrong with it?”
“I don’t like it. I never did. That’s why it’s going on the market immediately.”
“Why’d you buy it if you don’t like it?”
Gabriel leaned his head back and closed his eyes, visually succumbing to the perfect spring afternoon. “It was a terrible error in judgment. I’ve only lived there for a couple of months. In a word, it sucks.”
“Why does it suck? Did the designer pick the wrong shade of blue? Or is it not as big as the other billionaires’ places?”
“Emma, that’s not very nice of you.”
“Sorry, sorry.”
“Besides, I would never let the wrong shade of blue enter my home in the first place. My taste is impeccable. And the rest—such a low blow.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” I tried to get my point across again with less bitchiness. “Surely you had an idea that your current place wasn’t going to work for you?”
“I did. I settled because I thought I was being unreasonable with what I really wanted.”
“So your answer to living in a sucky, but surely expensive home, is to put it up for sale and move into a 600 square foot terrace level apartment?”
“Yep.”
“Gabriel, how do you have money if these are the kinds of decisions you make?”
“I’m not always so impulsive. I blame you.”
“Me?” Now I really wanted to smack some sense into him.
“Yes, you. You are the reason why I’m not going to settle. Blame yourself for being so awesome, Emma.”
“You’re trying to charm me into getting your way. It won’t work,” I warned him with a frown. Too bad I couldn’t keep it going.
He shrugged. “I’ve already gotten my way, neighbor.”
“Gabriel!” I poked him in the shoulder.
“Emma!” He poked me back. “I find the highlight of my day is when I get you to sputter and screech. Now I’ll get to do that as your neighbor. I’ll play my music really loud at all hours of the night just that you’ll come over and give me a piece of your mind.”
“Masochist.”
Gabriel eyed me from beneath a sensual stare. “Not quite, baby. I’m just addicted to you and it’s all your fault, Emma. You’ve made me a crazy man, you know
. Take some responsibility.”
“Of all the nerve!”
“Emma, ssh! I’m trying to nap here.”
I don’t know what devil prompted me to climb out of my chair and onto his lap. I tilted his face and shoved mine into it. “You are insane, Gabriel Gordon! I cannot believe that you’ve actually leased out the apartment next to me!”
His arms circled my hips. “Believe it, my dear. You are stuck with me for the moment.”
“Until?”
“Until you come to the point where you can’t live without me. I’m obviously already there so I’m willing to wait for you.” He bounced his knees and jostled me about. “Do hurry up, Emma.”
“Oh, my God!” I clasped my arms around his neck. “How do you know I won’t just put a restraining order on you?”
“I live dangerously.”
“That’s your answer? I’m afraid that won’t hold up in court.”
“All right, let’s see if I can come up with a better one…oh, yes! If you and I had just met for the very first time yesterday, then yes this would probably be right out of the stalker handbook. Except, I don’t think a stalker would move right next door. He’d probably move across the street into that building over there and on the top floor.”
“Gabriel!”
“Right, right. I should stay directly on topic. Where was I? Ah, yes. Our time table.” Gabriel shifted me on his lap, bringing me much closer. “We’ve known each other for years, were quite intimate at one point, and so that makes up for a lot of the silly diddle-daddle that happens in a first time courtship.”
“Diddle-daddle?”
“Emma, don’t laugh. That was my grandmother’s favorite phrase.”
“I’m sorry. Go ahead.”
“Where was I? I’m finding it incredibly hard to concentrate when I have a lapful of saucy vixen.”
I wiggled my hips and made him groan my name. A wicked smile took me. “You were saying, Gabriel?”
“Gabriel? Who’s that? It sounds familiar…” His hands squeezed my thighs. “Wait a minute! I think it’s coming back…do it again...”
I moved my hips in a slow circle. I wasn’t normally this brazen. Honest.
Gabriel clutched me to him. His beautiful face softened with pleasure. “Emma, you’re so good at being bad.”
“I’ve learned from the best.” I bent down and nipped the underside of his chin.
Gabriel tunneled his fingers through the hair at my nape. He gently tugged me away. “You’re distracting me, naughty girl. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were doing it on purpose.”
Was I? “Maybe…”
“You like being here on my lap, don’t you?”
I nodded, hungrily staring at his full kissable lips.
“See, you’re proving my timeline is correct.”
“What? How so?”
“Our lap time practically moves us right up to the point where we’d actually be living together. Moving in next door is actually taking it slow, Emma. So FYI—you’re moving way faster than I am.” Gabriel lightly smacked my ass.
My mouth hung open and I reared back. “I can’t believe I haven’t already thrown you out of here. Maybe I’m the one who’s crazy. I have to be!”
“No, you’re not crazy. Not yet. Me on the other hand…” Gabriel pecked me on the chin. “I’m crazy for you.” He pecked me again, this time on the cheek. “Absolutely, positively insane for you.”
The feel of his lips on my flushed skin made it beyond difficult to concentrate. I cupped his gorgeous face, irritated that someone this beautiful was just as obstinate as he was impossible to resist.
And that he seemed more than able to resist me!
“Gabriel, you can’t just do things like this. You’re hot. You’re cold. You want me. You want to wait. You see me for the first time in seven years yesterday. Today you rent the place next door. This is not normal behavior.”
“Normal is boring.”
“Maybe it is, but there’s still a proper way of going about things. We have to have boundaries, distance, and no teasing!”
“I disagree.”
“Why?” I waited for his reasons, sure they would be full of privilege, arrogance, and more infernal teasing.
“I played that game with you before, Emma. I gave you all the space in the world, did things at your pace, and look how well that turned out.”
Ouch. I had to give him the point. “This time is different. We’re different and we’re off to a good start, right?”
“Be that as it may, I refuse to let this time around play out the same way.” His large hands slid across my back. “I want you, Emma. I know you want me. I will court you for as long as you wish, I will hold back from taking you to bed until it’s right, but know that at the end, the two of us will be together. There’s no point in fighting it so sit back and enjoy the ride. I know I am.”
Gabriel’s words should’ve rubbed me the wrong way. Instead a dark, atavistic part of me resurfaced, responding to his words much like the first bitch must’ve responded to her mate. Reason receded as my instinct took over.
“No point in fighting it.”
“None. Say you understand, Emma.”
“Yes, Gabriel, I understand.” I bit my lip and looked down. “You sure know how to sweet talk a girl out of using her logic.”
“I know how to sweet talk you.” His hands rubbed slow circles along my spine. “Now do you still want to put a restraining order on me?”
I chuckled and arched my back. “Not at the moment. I’m afraid I can’t even remember why I brought it up.”
“Good girl,” Gabriel murmured thickly. “I’ll work very hard to keep it that way.”
I brushed my fingers through his thick hair, admiring the numerous shades of gold glinting throughout. “You were pretending I actually had any say in this, weren’t you?”
“Yep,” he replied with cheek. “It’s usually the best tact to take with you.”
“Arrogant man!” I ruffled his hair roughly. “So you’re going to live like the common folk.”
“That’s the plan. At least until I sell my sucky apartment.”
“Apartment.”
“Very well. Penthouse.”
I couldn’t wrap my mind around that one. “Are you sure it can’t be salvaged? Maybe some new paint or furniture?”
“It’s hopeless, Emma. A lost cause. I’ll never be happy there so let someone else be happy there. Even if you somehow manage to convince not to live next to you, I’m not going back to live in that place.”
Despite his lighthearted smile, I felt the steel bite behind each word. He wasn’t going to be swayed.
“So you’re my neighbor then. It’s a done deal?”
“I signed the paperwork before I came over.”
“Okay.”
“Okay? You’ve capitulated? No more trying to convince me to live somewhere else?”
“No more. FYI—if you’re going to live next door, temporarily at that, there’s going to be a few rules.”
“Rules now? Hmm…very well. Let me hear your rules.”
“No loud music. Seriously, Gabriel. No “Nothin’ But a Good Time” at three o’clock in the morning. I cannot stress to you how much I mean that. The walls are paper-thin and I will not be a happy camper if you interrupt my sleep.”
“You have to know I was just joking about the music.”
“Were you? Honestly, I don’t put it past you to aggravate me.”
“Well, of course I’m going to purposely aggravate you, but I do draw the line at blasting Poison to someone who can’t appreciate them.”
“I appreciate them fine, but not at three in the morning.”
“Why would you think I’d that to you?”
“Oh, maybe because I distinctly remember you doing it the one night we spent together.” Although my tone was light, I couldn’t help but think our current position to one back then. Gabriel thought it too if the growing stiffness I felt beneath my b
ackside was any indication.
“Yes, but that was then. I’m far more inventive in my ways to aggravate you.”
“Joy.”
“For me? Absolutely.”
Thankful for the hedges lining the front of my patio and the privacy they afforded, I shifted my thighs around his lean hips. “Gabriel?”
“Yes, Emma?”
“Do you want me…” To get naked? “…to get ready for our date?”
Gabriel stared at me with lazy-lidded intensity. “Do you want to get ready for our date?”
“Not in particular.”
“Neither do I.”
“What do want to do then?”
His grip tightened on my hips. “Things that don’t bear being spoken about in daylight.”
“That perverse, huh?”
“Worse than you can imagine.”
I shivered. “I thought you weren’t going to try to seduce me, Mr. Gordon. Words like that generally do the opposite.”
“Dirty, dirty girl.” Gabriel gave me a quick peck on the lips. “Up with you now.” He smacked my hip for good measure. “Get dressed, Emma. We have to pick up your car and bring it back.”
“Fine, fine.” I walked inside and then poked my head back out. “Are you going to stay out here while I get dressed?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes. I don’t want you walking in on me while I’m half-naked.”
Gabriel propped his chin on his hand. “That wouldn’t be a good thing just yet, would it? Very well I’ll stay out here. Come and get me when you’re done.”
I closed the door and rushed into my closet. I really didn’t know whether I should be irritated or amused by Gabriel’s gentlemanly side. I’d rather make love all weekend long, yet…
This is nice too.
I picked out a pair of jeans, half-boots, and a black fitted t-shirt. The weather was warm enough to carry a lightweight jacket, just in case. I carried my clothes and essentials with me into the bathroom. I zipped through my shower, washing, rinsing, and shaving in five minutes flat.
After getting dressed, I put my hair up in a ballerina’s bun and kept my makeup minimal. Tilting my head this way and that, I couldn’t deny how cute I looked. It was a long way from the glamour goddess of the night before, but still pretty great.