Oblivious to the ardent nature of his thoughts, she sent him a cheeky grin. “Looks like.”
His gaze moved over her soft, plush lips before returning to the tumult in her pretty blue eyes. The downstairs was as neat and quiet as it had been when he’d left the night before. He exhaled, still watching her intently, still keeping a careful distance. “Where are the kids?” he asked casually.
“Some of my girlfriends took them for the day so I could keep my ankle elevated and get some work done. What do you have there?”
Gabe put his offering from the Cowgirl Café down on the table. “Breakfast goodies, in case they were hungry.” He gestured at the wicker basket containing an assortment of fruit, pastries and two coffees for the adults. “A vanilla latte for you.”
Briefly, an ecstatic look overtook her delicate features. She gestured for him to make himself comfortable and have a seat. Took the stopper out of the coffee cup and inhaled the rich, creamy aroma. Then sighed as luxuriantly as she had when they’d kissed. Smiling, she took a small sip. “How’d you know that’s what I like?”
He pulled up a chair adjacent to hers. Opening up his black coffee, he admitted, “It’s what you always used to order at the coffee shop on campus.”
“Well, thank you.” She took another grateful sip. “You know, it’s weird how much you and I know about each other when it comes to the mundane.”
And yet they still knew relatively nothing about the important stuff, although he planned to rectify that ASAP.
“True,” he said, as she continued to survey him curiously, “but now that I know you’re a pet portrait artist, I may have a proposition for you.” Briefly, he explained that he and his siblings wanted to gift his father something really special for Father’s Day. “Which is where you come in...”
Susannah listened intently while she sipped. “So you’re looking for a portrait of Robert’s favorite dog?”
Gabe hedged. He and Cade hadn’t gotten that far in their discussion that morning. “I don’t think Dad could choose one pet, any more than he could choose a favorite kid.”
“The first pet, then?”
His next idea hit with pleasurable speed. “How about all of them?”
Susannah set down her latte, her mouth opening into a soft “oh” of surprise. “Who’ve lived at the ranch?”
Gabe could picture it as readily as he could envision her painting such a tribute to their past family life. “Yeah.” He exchanged excited grins with her. “That would be great if you could depict all the family dogs running and playing across the field in front of the ranch house.”
Susannah picked up her cell phone. “How many dogs would that be?”
“To date?” Gabe counted. “Sixteen, although he might have had a couple others before they adopted us. I’ll have to ask my mom to be sure.”
Susannah started making notes on her phone. “Wow.”
“I know. They love animals as much as kids.”
Thinking, she raked the edge of her teeth across her plump lower lip. “Well, it will be interesting, making that all work,” she concluded with a happy sigh. “How large a portrait were you thinking?”
Mesmerized by the softness of her lips, as well as the escalating urge to kiss her again, Gabe gestured off-handedly, not sure about that, either. “Dad has an oversize leather sofa in his study. He spends a lot of time in there, and the pets’ portrait would look great hanging above that.”
For a moment they talked approximate dimensions. Susannah warned, “Anything that large would be expensive.”
Gabe knew he and his siblings could afford to be generous. “Rough estimate?”
“If we included authentic renderings of all of the dogs, it would likely be five to six thousand dollars, minimum. And it would take some time, too.”
“But you could do it?”
“Yes.” She began to look as excited at the prospect as Gabe felt.
“Do you think we could have it by Father’s Day?”
Just that quickly, her face fell. “In a little over two weeks? No. I’m sorry. I’ve already got several commissions ahead of you.”
Undeterred, he asked, “Are they Father’s Day gifts?”
She straightened in her chair, and the gel pack she had across her ankle slid off. “They are not.” She frowned as it hit the floor. “But I do things in the order that they are commissioned, so...”
Gabe picked up the gel pack and, being careful not to touch her, draped it back over her swollen ankle. “What if I could get your other clients to agree to let us jump ahead with our gift?”
Susannah’s pretty eyes narrowed. “First of all—” she let out an exasperated breath “—that’s a big if.” Her chin lifted, and their gazes locked. “Secondly, I still couldn’t do a work that complex in the time frame you are suggesting since I’m only able to work afternoons, while the kids are napping, and then sometimes in the evening if I can get them down early enough.” She released a breath. “A project like that would take at least seven or eight hours a day for two or three weeks, minimum. So, at my current work availability, we’d be talking the end of the summer for delivery.”
Luckily, thanks to his mandated time off, he was planning to be here all summer. For the first time, that seemed like a plus instead of a minus. “But you are interested?”
“Yes,” she promised readily. “I think it would be a real challenge as well as a way to repay your parents’ kindness to me and the kids. I just can’t have it by Father’s Day. So, if that’s the condition, I’m going to have to say no.”
Gabe frowned in disappointment. He’d been so sure he had a solution that would work not just for his father, but all his siblings, too.
Seeing his displeasure, she attempted to appease him, the way any good businessperson would. “There are always other holidays, Gabe. His birthday. Christmas. Or we could just go with a much smaller, less inclusive pet portrait for now—like something that would work in a frame on his desk—and do something more expansive later.”
Gabe finished his coffee. “I doubt that would appease my siblings—” who were committed to delivering the most special Father’s Day gift ever “—but I’ll talk to them. See what they say. Maybe it would work as an additional gift, but not the gift.”
Susannah put her coffee aside, too. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you in the time frame you specified. But I can do something for you right now that has needed to be done.” She reached for her crutches and stood with a lot more ease than she had used the evening before. “I have five boxes of things in the garage that Brett left to you. I’d like to give them to you now.”
“Sure.” Not wanting her to overdo it, he lifted a staying palm. “But I can get them if you tell me where.”
She shook her head, her chin-length, honey-blond hair glimmering in the morning sunshine filtering in through the windows. “There’s a lot of stuff out there.” She adopted a defiant stance. “It will be easier if I just show you.”
Together, they walked past her studio, outside via the side door, out of the laundry room, nearly touching as he held the door for her and she maneuvered by him using her crutches. She even managed, with relative ease, the three steps down to the driveway that led to the detached two-car garage set just back from the house and built in the same Craftsman style.
She gazed over at him, wrinkling her nose. “I apologize. It’s going to be hot in there. It’s not air-conditioned.” She rested her weight on one crutch and entered the code in the keypad. The overhead garage door slid open. Her van was parked in the center. The whole back wall and both side walls were filled with shelves and well-marked plastic storage containers and cardboard boxes. His five were clearly marked and placed at the very top. She pointed. “You’re going to need the ladder to get them.”
“What’s in here, anyway?”
Abruptly looking a little exhaust
ed from the jaunt out there, she perched on a step stool next to the wall. “Vintage record albums, CDs, DVDs...and a lot of UTSA med school memorabilia. Brett said you weren’t very sentimental and didn’t collect much of it in comparison to everyone else.”
“That’s because I knew, with my future plans, that it would end up in a storage facility with the rest of my stuff I couldn’t take with me.”
Abruptly, Susannah grinned. “But I heard you kept a futon.”
The mischief in her eyes had him admitting, “And for good reason, princess. I spent a lot of years sleeping on that thing.” He winked. “There was a desk lamp I was quite fond of, too.”
She laughed outright.
And it was one of the best sounds he’d ever heard in his life. Mood lifting even more, Gabe asked, “Mind if I back my brother’s pickup into your driveway?”
She couldn’t stop holding his eyes, as if she were enjoying the sudden pleasurable rapport between them, too. She gestured expansively. “Have at it, Doc.”
* * *
While she watched Gabe spring into action, an unexpected melancholy washed over Susannah. She didn’t know why she was suddenly so sad to see those boxes go. Maybe it was because she had been holding on to them for so long. Or perhaps it was because it was another link to Brett and Belinda she would no longer have. Or it could be because once she had handed Brett’s belongings off to Gabe, she knew she would have no official reason to see him again. Unless it turned out they wanted some sort of smaller pet portrait for his dad, or one in another time frame, but even that would not take anywhere as near as long a time as she had held on to these boxes for him.
But maybe, she thought, as she watched him climb the ladder nearly half a dozen times, retrieving one bulky cardboard container after another, the muscles in his broad shoulders, back and arms flexing beneath the weight of the contents, having his belongings out of her garage would be a good thing.
Heaven knew she was far too aware of the sexy doctor. She had spent way too much time thinking about the impetuous kiss they had indulged in, in the midst of their shared grief. And privately wished they might someday kiss each other again. Why, she wasn’t quite sure, when they were still clearly all wrong for each other. Was it loneliness that seemed to be driving her to his arms? Lust? The forbidden? An attempt to recapture what they’d once so briefly tasted?
It certainly wasn’t like her to daydream about a man like this...
“Penny for your thoughts, princess.”
“Oh!” Startled, Susannah looked up, embarrassed by the direction of her thoughts. “Finished already?”
Amusement turned his eyes a darker bourbon. “Mmm-hmm.”
Time to get out of fantasy land and back to reality.
With a beleaguered sigh, she struggled to get off the footstool. And, in the process, forgot to reach for her crutches at the same time. Consequently, as she lurched less than gracefully to her feet, she started to lose her balance completely. Would have, she swiftly and gratefully realized, had Gabe not reached out to grab her around her waist and steady her against him.
Just that quickly, the desire she felt when she was near him like this surfaced yet again. She flattened her hands across the solid warmth of his chest, jerked in a breath and glanced up. He looked down at her, his eyes shuttering. A shiver of desire swept through her, weakening her knees, causing her to lean against him even more.
And just that suddenly, everything that had felt off felt oh so right...
The next thing she knew, his mouth was on hers, giving her a kiss filled with passion and need, and he was tugging her even closer. He paused to lift his head ever so slightly. Grazed her earlobe with his teeth, touched his lips to the underside of her chin, her throat, her cheek and the top of her nose, before once again moving to her mouth. And this time when he fit his mouth over hers, she was ready for him.
Her lips parted under the steady, persuasive pressure of his, and his tongue swept inside. And then her hands came up to cup his head. He tasted so good, like mint and man and the unique flavor that was him. Her usual inhibitions fled. With a little moan of pleasure, she rose up on tiptoe and sank even further into the deeply satisfying, wonderfully evocative kiss. And to her delight, he responded, just as hungrily.
* * *
Gabe didn’t know why he had given in to impulse and kissed Susannah again after all these years. But now as he flattened his hand against her spine and brought her even tighter against him, he couldn’t not follow his gut and his heart or move boldly to claim her as his.
It was something about the searching way she looked at him whenever she thought he didn’t notice. The fact he was taking those boxes, which were his last excuse to come and see her—that she would likely accept, anyway. That, coupled with the as-yet unfulfilled promise he’d made years ago, and the sweet and vulnerable way she felt against him, had brought out the even deeper need to protect her. She struck a chord in him like no other. And judging by how she was snuggling close and pressing her breasts and thighs against him, the hot openmouthed way she was stroking his tongue with hers and returning his kiss with sizzling intensity, it made him think she was feeling the same.
Had it not been for the sound of a car door behind them, followed by footsteps and a clearing throat, who knew what would have happened.
But someone was there, and so Gabe had to pull away. Just as Susannah did. He couldn’t let her go completely, though, since she was still standing on one foot. So, one hand still firmly around her waist, he reached down to retrieve her crutches from where they had fallen next to the step stool.
As he straightened, he saw Susannah’s face. Flushed. Embarrassed. “Hi,” she said to their new guests.
Chapter Six
Susannah extricated herself from Gabe’s sensual embrace and hobbled over to sit on the step stool yet again. She gestured cordially. “Mike, Millie, you remember Gabe Lockhart.”
“Of course we do. We both had him in our classes when he was growing up here.” Her neighbors from across the street smiled. The silver-haired former teachers were wearing their line-dancing clothes—a pretty Western dress with a flared skirt and boots for Millie, and similarly cut dress shirt with string tie and jeans and boots for Mike.
“What are you doing here?” Susannah asked in surprise. “You’re supposed to be in Corpus Christi, visiting that new line-dancing place with your club.”
Millie frowned, upset. “We heard about your accident!”
“You should have called us last night! We would have come straight home,” Mike said protectively.
Susannah protested, “I didn’t want you to do that. This is your special time together.”
“We’re retired, Susannah,” Millie reminded. “We can have a lot of special times.”
Mike studied her ankle, which was wrapped in an elastic bandage. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”
Susannah shook her head. “Gabe took me to the ER last night. It’s just a mild sprain. I should be able to put weight on it again in another four days. Until then I’m on crutches.”
Millie looked unconvinced. “Where are the quintuplets?”
“With some of the other mothers from my Multiples Club,” Susannah soothed. “They’ll be home this evening after supper.”
“Are you going to need help with bath and story time?” Millie asked.
Susannah grinned. “Let’s put it this way,” she said drolly. “I won’t say no if you want to come over.”
“We’ll be here,” Millie promised. “In the meantime, can we do anything for you?”
Mike’s glance narrowed. “Or is Gabe handling that?”
Ah. The query beneath the query. As casually as possible, Susannah related, “Gabe came over to pick up some boxes Brett left for him years ago. And he was about to be on his way. We were just saying goodbye.”
“Well, then, let me walk you ou
t,” Mike told Gabe firmly.
“And I’ll help you get back in the house,” Millie volunteered.
* * *
Gabe knew a man-to-man talk coming when he saw one. He’d had plenty from his dad. And Mike was acting like Susannah’s honorary dad...
“You know, she’s been through a lot the past five years,” Mike said.
Gabe nodded, glad she’d had the Smiths looking out for her. “I do know.”
“Millie and I are so fond of her. We think of her like our daughter, and the quintuplets have become the grandchildren we would never have otherwise been privileged to love.”
“I can see that.”
“So you can understand our concern to see you putting the moves on this obviously injured and more-vulnerable-than-usual young woman.”
The accusation stung. “I wasn’t taking advantage of her.”
Mike lifted a brow. “Then you’re dating...?”
“Ah, no,” Gabe was forced to admit.
“Then just trying to seduce her.”
“No.”
Mike waited, arms crossed.
Gabe cleared his throat. “It just happened.”
Mike gave him a look that said it had better not happen again. “Are you back in Laramie for good?”
Gabe shook his head, knowing this was not going to go over well. “Just here for the summer.”
“So then you’ll be gone again.”
“Yes,” he admitted reluctantly.
Mike scowled. “Then you can see how unfair it would be to let Susannah become enamored with you, only to leave.”
Much as Gabe did not want to admit it, the older man had a point. “I do.”
Mike slapped him on the back. “I trust, then, that you will consider that the next time you’re tempted to give in to the attraction obviously simmering between you...”
His Plan for the Quintuplets Page 7