Gabrielle closed her eyes. “Damn it. This is so messed up.”
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. We were talking about menu options for his company’s gala—”
“If that’s all it was, why didn’t you tell anyone before now?”
“That’s not all it was. A guard came into the kitchen and saw us kissing.” She barely noticed the muscle leap in Roarke’s neck. “He said he’d keep quiet about it but there’s been talk and everyone’s on edge. Do you think when I tell Kim that she’s going to ask me to resign?”
Her assistant shrugged as if to say you never know. “I have this buddy who was fired while he was on his honeymoon in Cancun.” Roarke must have noticed the stunned and alarmed look that crossed her face because he backpedaled with, “Kim’s stressed but not insane. I’d say your job is safe, but you should take care of this before someone else tells her first. Some people just tune out the facts and sop up the gossip.”
“Roarke, about Geoffrey and me. Does that offend you in any way?”
“Why would I be offended? We’re friends and colleagues.”
“I didn’t notice that you thought about me that way. If I had—”
“What, you’d let me take you out? Or would we sneak around the way you and he are?”
“Neither. We could’ve talked it out so no one’s feelings would end up hurt.”
“Well, no need for that now. Just talk to Kim and find somewhere else to hold your midnight meetings while our company’s under attack.”
Stung, Gabrielle said nothing more. She texted Kim that she needed to talk to her before she fired anyone, and Kim responded that she was out of town on business until tomorrow night. Then, before she made it to her truck in the parking lot, she got a call from Robyn.
“You’re going on a date tonight. There’ll be no time to linger in the kitchen, because you’re meeting a man named Tom Ward in Hollywood. He’s a friend of a friend of a friend of a… You get the point.”
“A blind date? I thought you were joking.”
“No, ma’am. You made nothing of your trip to Storey Springs. So I’m pulling you off the shelf.”
“No, leave me on the shelf. It’s comfortable.”
“Gabrielle, you’re doing this. We’ll talk about everything later. I have a meeting but wanted to catch you before you took on another double shift at the Pearl.”
When Robyn hung up, Gabrielle almost hit her smartphone against her head. Kim was on a firing rampage, Robyn was finding blind dates and neither of them would be doing that if Gabrielle had just been honest with them from the get-go. She wasn’t someone who stuck to her convictions. She was a coward and she was a hypocrite and she was starting to picture a future with Geoffrey.
But she and Geoffrey wouldn’t work out, not after the truth came to light about what they’d done in the Pearl. She’d judged the hostess for singing in the restaurant, but at least Charlene hadn’t sneaked around. Gabrielle didn’t like the version of herself who lied to save her own skin.
Something had to give.
In Beverly Hills, she arrived at G&G Records and power-walked down a hushed, immaculate hallway. Soon she was standing at his assistant’s desk.
“Mr. Girard is preparing for an interview,” the glamorous assistant said. She clicked on a screen on her computer and said, “I can put you in at the end of the—”
“That won’t do,” she interrupted firmly. “I have an urgent matter to discuss with him. I’ll be brief. Pick up the phone and tell him I’m on the way in.” With that, she marched across the outer office and pushed open his door.
He turned to her with confused eyes, then held up a finger and picked up the ringing phone. “Yes, Cathy. Actually, she’s standing right in front of me. Thank you.” With a headshake, he disconnected and summoned her in with a hitch of his chin. He rose from his chair and rounded a polished mahogany desk to approach her. His gaze coasted over her and he commented, “You seem tense this morning. Didn’t sleep well?”
It wasn’t easy to remain livid with him with those primitive wishful thoughts of him moving naked on top of her creeping into her mind. She hoped her skin didn’t flush. “Um, as a matter of fact, I’m low on rest but high on productivity.” He nodded and hinted at a smile. He slid his hands in his pockets and prompted, “So, what’s the emergency? I’m due for an interview soon, so we should probably make this quick.”
“What is it that you’re after?” she demanded. At his puzzled expression, she clarified, “I’m talking about the kisses and the gourmet lunch and the Hummer tour and Of Mice and Men and the fact that you’re pursuing me as if I’m important to you.”
“You are important to me. As for everything else you listed, that’s just me spending time with you.”
“Do you know what I’m sacrificing to spend time with you? My integrity. I’m lying to my friends and my coworkers and myself. The guard who saw us kissing in the kitchen that night? He might be fired, all because of my feelings for you. I didn’t bank on all this trouble. It’s too much.”
“Can’t a Belleza client show his appreciation to the fantastic staff?”
“Not when the client is you and the staff is me.” She studied him, struck by the adjective he’d used to describe her. “Do you seriously think I’m fantastic?”
Geoffrey’s hand reached out as if he wanted to touch her, but he changed his mind and said, “Gabrielle, I think you have a problem believing compliments. It’s not that you don’t believe in yourself. It’s apparent that you do. But you don’t think others believe in you.”
“Confidence is one thing. Results another.”
His phone intruded and he swiped it up. When he hung up from the call, he said, “Interview time. Look, I’m not interested in taking the fall for your lying to everyone. If you think I should back off, tell me that.”
“I’m going on a date. Tonight. It’s a blind date that one of my friends set up. She did that because she thinks I’m lonely. She doesn’t know about you and me. See how freakin’ complicated this is?”
“Go on the date. I’m going to be at Club Groove in Hollywood for a business dinner. It’s casual but something I need to do.”
“You’re not threatened?”
“No.”
“Why don’t you care more than that? Why don’t you give a damn that I might like this guy?”
“You might like him, but you feel something stronger for me. I know you do. So no, I’m not threatened. Got no reason to be.”
“Great, then. I’m going on a date with someone else. And after this, I’m done lying to my colleagues and my friends. I have to be honest.”
He looked at her with respect and admiration. “You’re real. That’s what I love most about you.”
“Don’t say that word. As of this second, I’m blanking out that you said that word.”
“Go ahead and try. If you’ve never failed at anything before, you will if you think you can forget what I said.”
*
Life had lovely days and sucky ones. Today was a sucky one. Gabrielle and Geoffrey were both in Hollywood, but while he was at the hip Club Groove, she was stuck at a bar-and-grill having dinner with a man Robyn knew through mutual friends. Tom Ward had called her and asked her to dress nicely, and so she had, not expecting to be taken to a cramped place with so much humidity that her hair immediately had begun to frizz the moment she stepped in.
Now, as she unenthusiastically stabbed at her medium rare hamburger and pretended to be enthralled in Tom Ward’s business investments, she wished that she’d had the guts to decline the blind date.
Robyn had meant well. She didn’t know that Gabrielle had all the man she could ask for in Geoffrey Girard.
“Some people say they have hunches about which stocks to invest in,” Tom was saying in between bites of a greasy hot dog loaded with the works. If he hadn’t had mustard on his chin and wasn’t boring her senseless with his business talk, he would’ve been incredibly handsome. “Relying on hunches i
s too risky for me,” he continued. “I study the stock market, use my brain. As a side note, it’s rumored that the brain is in fact the sexiest organ of the body.”
Gabrielle’s already lazy appetite rolled over and died. She inconspicuously checked the time on her cell phone that she’d positioned on the booth beside her. Was it polite to end dinner with someone after twenty-five minutes?
Tom polished off his meal and looked at her full plate. “Is the burger too rare, Gabrielle? I’ll have the waitress send it back—”
“No, don’t trouble yourself.”
Tom wiped his face with a napkin, catching the mustard smear. He said congenially to her, “You’ve certainly become successful. Executive Chef is a mighty title. And you’re a twenty-eight-year-old master chef on top of that? It helps to have a nudge from family, doesn’t it?”
“Absolutely,” she said with annoyance, “but hard work and genuine talent sustain my career, Tom.”
“Right.” He cleared his throat and considered her. “I did stumble upon something in the paper the other week that mentioned some troubles at the Pearl, though. Health hazards?”
She couldn’t quite figure out if he was genuinely concerned or was screwing with her. “The Pearl’s recovered from similar troubles in the past. We have no reason to believe it’d be any different now.”
“Come on, though. Put in a fine woman as general manager, put you in as executive chef… Obviously the owners are hoping a few beautiful faces will be their aces. But how long will that sustain a business that’s vulnerable to theft and mysterious incidents? The customers are going to go where they feel safe, not where they need to constantly hang on to their valuables or look up every other second wondering if a piano’s going to drop out of the sky like in some old cartoon.”
Her jaw twitched. He made sense, but his point was buried in disdain. “The Parkers didn’t hire beautiful faces to cover up crappy business management. Every member of the Belleza team is qualified for their job. We won’t buckle because someone’s trying to edge us out of the market.”
Tom picked up his beer. “Fight to the end. Guess I admire that. But if you want my opinion, the Parkers should sell the entire resort and let someone take it in an entirely new direction.”
“Someone? Or perhaps a development firm? Are you sitting here because you’re legitimately interested in a date, or are you here to broker a deal?” When he didn’t say anything, she swore. “I could sniff out your ulterior motive, Tom. I don’t appreciate you using me to get information to feed some developer, and I doubt Robyn would appreciate it, either.”
“Who says this isn’t a date? You shouldn’t be hung up on preconceptions based on my line of work. I could sit here and accuse you of having dinner with me because you want an excuse to brush up on the local cuisine to better your own craft. See where I’m taking this? Now be fair and give me a chance.”
She said nothing.
“Are you looking for a long-term relationship?” he asked.
“I don’t view dating like that—the means to marriage. I prefer to enjoy spending time with someone and then see what develops. Pushing things helps no one. What about you?”
“I’m more traditional. Robyn told me your grandmother was an accomplished equestrian. You share her love for horses?” It surprised her that Robyn had told him so much backstory. Her grandmother May had been a horse trainer. One of her horses had gone to the Kentucky Derby. She’d visited the equestrian center only once, for a summer, and it had been one of the tensest summers of her life.
Gabrielle must’ve slipped away into the memories because Tom reached to touch her hand. “Sorry. I was thinking about something. To answer your question, I’m a fair rider, but don’t have the gift.”
“You could get out of the kitchen and dabble in riding or some other hobbies, distance yourself from the Belleza when the real hell hits. I can sense it’s going to happen. Spare yourself.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re angry,” he said. “Calm down.”
“No, I love when people use me for business manipulation,” she said sarcastically. She slapped down a twenty-dollar bill and slid out of the booth.
He quickly rose and caught her arm. “Please don’t leave angry, Gabrielle,” he pleaded. “I wanted this to be a nice date for us.”
“May I be honest with you?” she said, whirling. “I only agreed to have dinner with you out of respect to Robyn. I don’t plan to ever see you again.”
In her haste out the door, she crashed into Roarke. “Where’s the fire?” he said, stilling her.
“Why do people say that? There is no fire.” Relaying her evening with him was not something she felt up to at the moment. “I’m just in a hurry.”
“Where to?”
“Home,” she said. Then she noticed that he was clean-shaven, wearing a new button-down shirt and cologne. “Are you on a date?”
He nodded. “A paralegal. Blonde, brown-eyed, slim as a flute. She’s from Sacramento and I’ve been giving her tours of the city.”
I’ll just bet.
“Hope your night turns out better than mine did.”
“See you at work.”
“Okay.” She paused. “Hey, we’re okay, aren’t we?”
“We’re okay.”
As she drove through the dark night aimlessly, she tried to be happy for her assistant. It was good that he was attracted to someone else. As long as the paralegal kept him distracted, she wouldn’t feel guilty about her feelings for Geoffrey.
A vision of Geoffrey’s body moving over hers clouded her mind, and she hooked an immediate left at the intersection, knowing exactly where she wanted to be: with him.
She knew where to find him. She knew what she was after.
What she didn’t know was what tomorrow would be like if they made love tonight.
*
Gabrielle’s subtle curves felt good under Geoffrey’s hands. “What is this you have on?” he muttered against her throat as he squeezed her booty and ran his fingers over the material.
She had come to him at Club Groove, where she’d known he would be while she was somewhere else on a date. They had made it to his car in the club’s parking lot and now she was draped over his hard lap.
“Stretch silk,” she sighed, her head thrown back to allow his mouth access to the hollow between her collarbones.
“God bless stretch silk.” He breathed in her light perfume and licked at her skin as his fingers moved under her hemline. His palms cruised up her slender thighs and searched for the lacy straps of the thong he knew she had on beneath that skintight dress.
She tensed and rocked back. “Wait.”
Oh, hell, that really wasn’t the word he was expecting. He stilled, though, and looked at her through the shadowy darkness. Most likely she had reservations about going at it in a car practically in public. He could understand and respect that. Trying to not dwell on the blood pounding in his crotch, he said, “Do you want to book a room?”
She shook her head and brushed her wild hair from her face. “That’s not what I mean. We shouldn’t have sex. I’m sorry to do this to you, but I have to be sensible. I came here tonight because once again I wanted to have sex with you and also because I simply wanted to be with you.”
He didn’t pretend to understand where she was going with this. All he knew was that after settling business with promoters and clients, tossing back a few nonalcoholic drinks and enjoying the atmosphere, his night had been topped when he saw Gabrielle enter the bar looking gorgeous in her dress and high heels.
But, now that he thought about it, she’d seemed a little disconcerted.
“What happened tonight?”
“It’s not your problem, and really, it’s so insignificant. He and I just don’t mesh. I tried to keep an open mind for my friend’s sake, but I basically told him that I’d rather not see his face again.” Again she hesitated. “But that’s not why I’m not going to sleep with you tonight.”
; “Why, then?” He flexed his hips under her.
She sucked in a breath. “You’re making this harder.”
“I should be saying that to you.”
“Geoffrey.”
His head dropped back against the headrest. “Sorry.”
“We’re taking this too fast. We need a breather from each other and to think like rational adults about what sort of arrangement this will be. Am I just a piece of ass to you?”
“No,” he said immediately. “I can’t believe you even asked me that question.”
She snorted. “I almost wish the answer was yes. Then it’d be more difficult to become dependent on you. After this blind date gone wrong, I came instantly to you. Don’t you see what this is all leading to?”
“We’re not in a relationship.”
“This feels like one. What’s happening between us is more than curiosity. Do you agree?”
Geoffrey nodded but didn’t totally agree. Yes, he was crazy with curiosity about what it’d feel like to be inside her, to make her moan and twist in pleasure. But once he had her, he wouldn’t be lulled with the thought of not having her again.
That wasn’t good. He didn’t have addictions, and he’d make damn sure that Gabrielle Royce didn’t become his first.
He tucked his shirt into his pants and said, “You’ve made some very good points, and I apologize again for getting my back up about you being with that guy. I don’t have the right to weigh in on who you have dinner with or even sleep with.”
He heard her exhale deeply. She cleared her throat and replied, “Yeah, that’s the best way to categorize things. We’re not exclusive by any means.”
He had a loophole, was free to go to someone else, so why was he so reluctant to take it? “Gabrielle…”
She fumbled for her keys. “Listen, call me the second you have a confirmed guest list. If anyone’s willing to divulge their food allergies, we’d appreciate the information. I’ll call Robyn and Roarke in the morning and make sure we’re on track.”
“Gabrielle,” he said again, his voice both harsh and gentle. What sort of spell did she have him under where he couldn’t even let her get out of his car without kissing her again? When he snagged her attention and she leaned forward, he pulled her into a thorough kiss.
Hot Summer Nights Page 12