by L. Nicole
“Not until you agree you’re not going to show up to cut my grass,” she argues stubbornly.
“How about I agree we talk about it later, instead?” I compromise.
She stares at me, and I am pretty sure she’s going to continue arguing with me. I kind of hope she does, because there’s no way that I will keep from kissing her if she does.
“Okay, but we will talk about it,” she grumbles, making me smile.
“Yes, we will,” I murmur, moving in closer, my gaze locked on her sweet, luscious, cherry lips.
“Gabe,” she whispers, licking those lips, and sounding breathless. I force my gaze to lift so that I can look into her eyes.
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
“I…uh…”
She stops talking, her brow crinkled as she tries to search for words. Her breathing is heavy, so much so that I can see her chest move. I can sense the panic inside of her as if it was a living thing between us.
“It’s okay, Riley. I promise it’s okay,” I murmur. For a moment, her guard is down, and she looks lost, nothing like the self-assured Riley I’m used to seeing. I press a soft kiss against her forehead. Her body was way too tense, but all at once she lets out a sigh and relaxes against me. I want to take her into my arms, but I don’t. Instead, I pull back. “Let’s get you on my bike, sweetheart,” I croon.
I reach down and link my fingers into hers and we walk hand in hand to her driveway.
9
Riley
“Do you like being a dispatcher?” Gabe asks.
It’s been a great day and I know we’re going to have to head back soon. Even now the sun is close to setting. There’s a cooling effect to the air that wasn’t there minutes before. We’ve spent most of the day on the beach and it’s been magical. I’ve hesitated to call it a date. I panic at just that word. Still that’s what this is, and it has been probably one of the best days I can remember having in a very long time—if ever. We’re lying side by side on a blanket on the beach. We’ve been staring at the waves crashing onto the shore, people laughing, kids playing, and lovers kissing. It might sound boring, but for me, it’s been wonderful. I’ve had Gabe holding my hand, pulling me into his arms so my back is pressed to his front, hearing his laughter in my ears…
All of it—every single moment—has felt so sweet, made me smile, and I haven’t been worried or scared at all. That doesn’t sound like a big thing to a normal person.
But to me it’s everything.
Now, we’re still sitting with my back pressed against Gabe. His legs are bent at either side of me, and my head is lying against his chest, his arms around me. I have one hand against his, my fingers curled against his, and I feel safe—maybe even cared for.
I force myself to turn, my body moving horizontal, so now my back is resting against his leg, and I do this so I can see his face. I think I allowed myself to forget how beautiful he is. Right now, with the sun slowly lowering, the beautiful hues blooming in the sky above us, I can barely take my eyes off of him.
“I do. What I do feels important. In most cases, I’m the calming voice people hear during one of the scariest moments in their lives. I help reassure them until help arrives and sometimes that makes all the difference,” I respond.
“Why does it feel like there’s more behind those words than just a simple response, beautiful?” I try to keep the sadness off of my face, but I get the feeling that Gabe sees it. I don’t respond to his question, however. I just give him a smile. His hand moves along the side of my neck and for the first time in forever, I don’t feel like flinching at a man’s touch. That feels like a precious gift and my breath stalls in my chest. His thumb pushes against the underside of my chin as he tilts my head. “I’m going to kiss you, Riley,” he says so softly that I can barely hear him. I watch his lips move with his words, feeling as if I’m in a trance.
“Why?” I ask, inanely.
“Because I’ve wanted to kiss you from the first moment I saw you and I can’t hold back any longer,” he says.
Maybe he’s giving me a line, but right now it feels real, and I choose to let myself believe, even if I shouldn’t. Slowly he bends down and his lips glide against mine, nibbling, coaxing, slowly tasting mine and then deepening the kiss. It feels as if time has frozen and I’m glad, because this feels too good to let go.
10
Gabe
“What’s going on?”
I look up at the front door of Riley’s place, a smile stretched on my face the minute I hear her voice.
“My girl needs her yard cleaned,” I respond, walking up the steps to stand beside her.
Damn, she looks good today. Her hair is rumpled from sleep and she’s wearing these short shorts and a white t-shirt. She has a robe over them, but the robe cuts off at mid-thigh. It’s also open and leaves nothing to the imagination—and where Riley is concerned, I have a very good imagination.
“I…I’m going to ignore the part where you called me your girl and jump right to the yard. I thought we were going to talk about that?”
“We did talk, and you are my girl.”
“We didn’t talk. We talked about talking about you cleaning the yard up,” she huffs. I laugh, even though the look she shoots me should warn me not to do that.
“You’re damn cute in the morning, Riley, but you need to get in there and get dressed.”
“I am dressed, and you need to tell these guys that you made a mistake,” she argues, using her hand to motion toward the three guys I brought with me.
“Hey Riley!” Justin yells out, and I shoot him a look that tells him to go fuck off, but he doesn’t pay me a bit of damn attention.
“Hey Justin,” Riley calls back, and it doesn’t escape my attention that she doesn’t sound nearly as annoyed with Justin as she does with me.
“Go get dressed, sweetheart,” I grumble.
“I am dressed, and we’re not done arguing.”
“You’re in your night clothes and it leaves entirely too much of you out there for the others to look at. I don’t want them to see it, so you need to go get dressed.”
“You don’t want them...”
“To see, exactly,” I mumble, turning her body around in the door and slapping her sweet little ass. “Now, go get dressed.”
She turns back to look at me and her eyes narrow. I figure she’s going to argue, so I position myself in front of her, hiding her damn legs from view. I cross my arms at my waist and wait. She exhales an annoyed breath and then steps back, slamming the door.
Damn. This is not how I envisioned today going.
“That was smooth, Gabe. Real smooth.”
I scratch the side of my jaw and turn to look at a laughing Justin.
“I fucked up again,” I mutter, knowing I did, but unwilling to change anything.
“It might have been a good idea to make sure Riley agreed, before you got me, Casey, and Tyler over to help you,” he replies.
“Just get back to work,” I mumble. “I’ve got to go inside and face my woman.”
“You don’t have a woman inside,” Riley says.
I look around, surprised, because I didn’t even realize she had opened the door. She still isn’t dressed, but she has a longer robe on and this one is tied, so I guess I can deal with that. Before I can react in either way, however, I notice she’s carrying a large bowl. She lifts it up and at first I think she’s going to hand it to me. I reach out to accept it, wondering what it is, but Riley doesn’t stop. She lifts it over my head—which isn’t easy because she’s smaller, but she’s standing on the porch and I’m two steps down, so that helps. Then, she dumps it on me. Cold water splashes down my body, floods over my head, and down my face and clothes. I gasp, immediately going to wipe the water out of my eyes and push my hair back.
“I thought you could use some cooling down, since obviously the sun is getting to you, Gabe,” Riley says, clearly pissed. In fact, I’m surprised there aren’t sparks shooting out of her eyes from the ang
er written on her face.
“Riley—”
“I am not your girl. I did not agree to you cleaning my yard, and if you ever slap me on the ass again and send me to my room like a little kid, I will cut off the part of your body that apparently is sending too much testosterone to your brain and making you think you are the man in charge. You are not in charge of me and you never will be. Do I make myself clear?” Her words are vibrating and spoken with a mix of anger and frustration.
“Crystal.” I bite out that one word. “Now let me make something clear to you, Riley—”
“Woah, buddy,” Justin says, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. “Hey Riley, you think you might get us some drinks? It’s early but this sun is hot,” Justin says, as I jerk out of his hold. Riley keeps staring at me and I do the same to her, our gazes locked, anger like a living thing between us.
“Sure, Justin. Give me a minute,” she says, and then with one last, disgusted look at me she goes inside.
I jerk away from Justin.
“Don’t do that shit again,” I order him, my gaze automatically going to the closed door.
“Someone had to step in. Dude, you’re going to ruin your chances before this even gets started.”
“What do you know about it?” I mumble, shaking my head.
“Well, I know that you have Riley pissed, and if you keep pushing, she will tell you to fuck off and you’ll never get a chance to make this right.”
“She’s not being reasonable. All I did—”
“All you did was order her to change her clothes and bring a bunch of strangers to her home without her permission.”
“She was naked,” I growl.
“She had more clothes on than she probably had on at the beach the other day,” Justin returns, and I know he’s right, but that doesn’t make any of this better.
“Don’t you have weeds to cut or something?”
“I need to make sure you got that temper of yours locked down, man,” he growls back, and I’ve had enough.
“I wouldn’t hurt her. You know that shit.”
“I do, but I’m thinking she’s not so sure.”
“Bullshit, if she wasn’t she never would have dumped water on my head.”
“Fair point,” he says, unable to keep from laughing.
“Now, go fuck-off and let me go talk to my woman.”
“There’s just one problem with that,” he says, as I go to walk away.
“What’s that?” I exhale, not bothering to turn around and look at him.
“I’m not so sure she realizes she’s your woman,” Justin laughs.
I ignore him. He’s right, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to admit that.
11
Riley
I’m shaking.
I don’t know if it’s from anger or from fear. I hate feeling like this. I actually dumped a huge bowl of water over Gabe’s head. I mean he deserved it, but what was I thinking?
Gabe is a big man. Taller than—
“We need to talk.”
I jerk around, my heart beating erratically.
“Get out!” I order, literally yelling the words.
“Hell, no. We’re going to talk this out like adults.”
“Funny how you want to talk now and not before you invited strangers to my home,” I huff, slowly backing away from him.
“They’re not strangers. They’re the men I work with and you already know Justin.”
“I specifically told you that I didn’t want you cleaning my yard. I told you I had it handled, Gabe.”
Gabe stares at me and I do my best to maintain eye contact. I don’t look away. It’s hard, but I’m proud of myself. I’m trying to ready myself, knowing we are going to fight more and knowing all too well that sometimes fights get ugly. Then, Gabe surprises me. I literally watch the anger and the fight just leave him. His entire body relaxes.
“You’re right,” he breathes, ruffling up his thick, dark hair. “It was an asshole thing to do, but I was upset.”
“Upset? Because I didn’t want you cleaning my yard.”
“Hell yes, it upset me, Riley.”
“But why?” I ask. “You know, Gabe, most people would like it if people asked them not to work,” I add, a little softer, trying to inject a little humor, although I’m still tense.
“I’m not most men,” he grumbles, and for some reason that makes me smile.
“I think I’m starting to figure that out.”
When Gabe sits down on my sofa, I find the chair across from him. The instinct is to go and sit with him, but I ignore it. My emotions are too raw right now. I don’t know where my head is at.
“We’re dating Riley,” he finally says, and that simple sentence makes it feel as if my heart is being squeezed. I rub my chest at the physical pain.
“We’ve had a couple of dates, Gabe,” I return, cautiously.
“There will be more, Riley. I haven’t tried to hide how I feel about you, sweetheart. I want you. I’m not passing time until something better comes along or because I’m waiting for someone else. I want you, Riley.”
“But, you don’t really know me.”
“I like everything I do know. I’m not some young, wet behind the ear, teen boy, Riley. I’m a man, who is old enough to have experience and know when someone is special.”
“I…I’d rather not hear about you with other women, Gabe.”
“And why is that?”
“What do you mean?” I avoid his eyes, not truly wanting to answer.
“Why don’t you want to hear about me with other women, Riley?” he asks, and his voice drops down to a tender level that sends chills over my body and manages to make me feel warm at the same time.
“You…uh…need to leave so I can get Justin and the others something to drink,” I stutter.
“Talk to me, sweetheart,” he murmurs, as he walks over to me. He kneels down on his knees in front of me, crowding my space. His hand moves to my face, his fingers curling into my hair. “Why don’t you want to think about me with other women?”
“It’s not cool,” I murmur.
“Why is that?” he prods.
“Why do you have to keep pushing, Gabe?”
“Because you are it for me, Riley. You’re worth pushing through all of the bullshit for.”
“You can’t know that, we’re barely going out,” I mutter, rolling my eyes and ignoring the sting I feel in them. I just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, that’s why I’m over emotional.
“So, you admit we’re dating,” he says with a smile.
I shake my head and sigh.
“That would be what you take from what I’m saying,” I complain.
“We might have just gone on a few dates, Riley, but so what? I think you like me.”
“I do except when you’re being an asshole,” I mutter.
“And I know I like you,” he replies, ignoring what I said. “So, what the fuck does it matter how long we’ve known each other?”
“I guess it doesn’t, but I’m not sure I’m ready to go where you’re headed, Gabe. I’ve got baggage that I need to work through before I’m ready for a deep relationship.”
“I’ve got time, sweetheart,” he replies, and I let out a laugh that doesn’t have a lot of humor in it.
“Oh please, you go zero to sixty quicker than anyone I’ve ever met in my life.”
“Okay, I might be guilty of that,” he laughingly agrees.
“Gee, you think?”
“But, I can promise that as long as you are willing to give this a try between us, that I will try to be patient.”
“I don’t understand you,” I mumble, unable to come up with any more objections—mainly because I do feel this pull between us, and I don’t want him to go away—even if it might be better if he did.
“But you like me,” he murmurs, his lips coming closer to mine.
“You’re so full of yourself,” I complain.
“You don’t have to admit
it, Riley, but I know.”
“How do you know?” I ask, trying to keep track of the conversation, but unable to move my gaze from his lips.
“Because I don’t want to hear about you with anyone but me either, baby.”
“Gabe—”
“But, you don’t need to worry,” he adds, so close now that I can feel his breath against my lips.
Minty. Sexy. Gabe.
“I don’t?” I ask, legitimately confused, because for the life of me I can’t remember what we were talking about.
“I only want you, Riley. Just you.”
Maybe he’s giving me a line. Right now, however, I don’t care. I want to believe that it’s true, that he’s telling me the truth. I want his kiss and I’m tired of trying to fight it. So, I do what any smart woman would do when Gabe Lawson wants to kiss her.
I give in.
12
Gabe
“Why don’t you come stay with me this weekend?” I ask Riley as we get out of my truck.
It’s Friday night, a week after the blow up about her yard, and we’ve been out together several times since then. Tonight, we went to the movies and I really just don’t want to let her go. I’m finding the only time I have any kind of peace anymore is when Riley is close to me. She’s sweet, funny, and she fills me with this warmth and happiness unlike anyone I’ve ever known before.
Her body immediately tenses, her arm jerks, and she tries to pull her hand out of mine, but I don’t let her.
“What?” she gasps.
“We both have the next two days off. Come home with me. Let me spoil you a bit. I could cook for you, and we can just spend more time together.”
“You know what I’m discovering, Gabe?”
“What’s that, sweetheart?” I murmur, loving the blush that has bloomed over her features.
“That I don’t think you know how to date,” she mutters sarcastically, making me laugh.