by Asrai Devin
“Oh, like you’ve been so close to me the last few years. You out there in Alberta kissing Gabriel, who you’ve been in love with the entire time I’ve known you. I was surprised you came back at all, but you did and I had won. I beat him. I needed to get the ring on your finger or get you pregnant so you were secure. Once we had kids, you’d give up the idea of working in marketing and be my assistant from home.”
There was so much more she could say to him. He’d never understand. “Home?” she waved her hand. “Never mind. I’m done. And you know what? I’m more upset about losing the marketing opportunities than losing you. That tells me how much I cared about you.”
She turned on her heel and went back to her desk. She finished grabbing her stuff, then headed downstairs. She stopped at HR and dropped off her employee ID tag. She wanted nothing more to do with the von Brooke family.
* * *
Gabe stretched his arms over his head. He’d have to call or message Shanna and thank her for setting Bryce up as mentor. He hadn’t had a more peaceful or productive day at work.
It was bittersweet, actually. He missed Bryce at the office, doing his thing. Gabe didn’t want to be in charge. But, Bryce wouldn’t be gone forever, only until the following year, hopefully, giving his body and mind a full chance to heal.
He was making progress with Shanna as well. He’d only thought of her every half hour today. Up from five minutes last week.
He hadn’t heard from her since Monday night when she called half drunk and distraught. Two long days without her. He’d thought about asking someone else out. The old “the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else,” but he was too old for that crap. Or it was too soon.
No, he’d head home, have a quick shower, then go to the Whittikar’s for supper. Rita had insisted and since his only plans were watching television alone and moping, it hadn’t taken him long to agree.
Maybe they’d heard from Shanna. Maybe she’d been so swamped by offers from other companies she’d been too busy to send a message.
He closed his eyes. Maybe she’d realized her mistake in leaving, in choosing Trenton, and she was busy packing her stuff to drive back to Claresholm. Back to him.
He imagined going for the office door and Shanna coming in as he opened the door. She didn’t say anything, didn’t need to with the smoldering look in her eye. She’d kiss him, and his clothes melted in fantasy fashion, and she lifted her skirt to reveal her lack of underwear. In his office chair, she’d ride him all the way to their mutual climax.
When she recovered her breath, she’d tell him how much she loved him and that she was sorry she’d ever left and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.
He opened his eyes and stared at the door for a minute. Then he shrugged, deciding she wasn’t going to come bursting through it tonight. Shanna did very little without far too much forethought and planning every contingency. If she came back to Claresholm, she’d discuss it with him, to death.
What he was going to do now, was go home and jack off in the shower and forgot how lonely and desperate that act made him.
* * *
Shanna finished stuffing her clothing into her suitcase. There was a knock on the door. Oh, hell no. Trenton would not show up would he? Because she might lose her control and hurt him.
She flung open the door. “Trent―” She stared into eyes that were much like Trenton’s but the surrounding face was much older. “Byron.”
“Shanna, I came to reason with you.”
“On what, Trenton or the job?”
“Both. There’s a marketing position open for you. They will be waiting for you on Monday. If it helps at all, I told Trenton to let you move on, that a bright girl like you wouldn’t be happy.”
“Yet, at his insistence, you called.”
“He’s my eldest son. He will take over the company someday. He wanted to keep you where you belonged, at his side. Eventually you’d have children and stay home with them, and work charity events like Yvette.”
“God, you men. You keep saying I was going to stay home with the kids as if I planned that the entire time. Maybe I wanted to return to work and hire a nanny, or put them in daycare.”
“Von Brooke children are raised by their mothers, who stay at home.”
“Then it’s a good thing I will not be siring any von Brooke children, isn’t it?”
“How much will it take for you to reconsider?”
“How much? How much money? How much money would I take to marry Trenton?”
“Yes. How much?”
“Not everything is about money. Go marry him off to Micaden or Kendall Cooper, or someone whose great ambition is to look pretty.” She started to close the door then she opened it. “You know what I want? I want the last five years of my life back. I want Trenton to grow up and do his own work.”
“You’re a naive little girl. You’ll never make it in the business world. I know many people who own companies, I’ll black-list you to every person I know. Trenton chose you because you were an easy mark. You wanted to believe he liked you because you were pretty and sweet. I told him to get a ring on your finger or get you pregnant as soon as possible, but he said he had time, that you weren’t going anywhere. Arrogant fool.”
“I’m not naive. You’re a cynical bastard. Karma will take care of you, so I won’t even bother. Tell Trenton I’ll be out day after tomorrow at the latest. I need find a place to go.”
“You aren’t going to run home to Daddy?”
“I’m a bright girl, I can find a job and live alone. I’ll be out in two days at the most, and don’t ever contact me again.”
She closed the door in his face and locked it. She was shaking as she checked her pocket for her cell phone and went into the bedroom. Bryon von Brooke had to have Trenton’s key to even get in the building. Or maybe he owned the fucking thing, or his assistant knew how to pick locks.
She wanted to phone Gabe, but she had to figure this out on her own. Gabe’s only response would be to come home, and she didn’t want to do that. It would be a little like admitting defeat. She had to try on her own for a few weeks. She hoped she could find someone with a spare room they were willing to rent temporarily or even permanently.
She went back to texting her friends and searching online classifieds to find if anything was available.
Chapter 15
Gabe parked his car in his driveway. He could see someone sitting on his front step from the street, but he had no idea who might be waiting for him. Shanna had been gone almost a month. She'd texted a few times, but nothing more. No phone calls, no color in the world. He was starting to feel the fog of post-break-up depression start to lift.
He grabbed his briefcase and moved slowly to the front step. A flash of blond hair caught his eye. It couldn't be. He forced himself to keep walking, not to drop his case and run. He was a grown man, he had to remain calm.
He stopped a couple of feet from the steps where she sat. "Hi," he said.
"Hi," she replied. "Good to see you, too."
"What are you doing here?"
"I have a small problem, Gabe. And you always help me out. And I have to ask you a really big favor."
His stomach dropped to his feet and his heart thudded against his ribs. He tried to ask her what, but he couldn't make his mouth work.
"I quit my job and moved out of my apartment. Then I drove across the country because I had to say sorry to this really great guy."
"Which part was the problem?" he said in a hoarse voice. The urge to pick her up and kiss her until she went limp was driving him crazy.
She closed the distance between their bodies. She took his hand and knelt on the ground. "Gabe... Gabriel, I have loved you since I was too young to really understand what love was. You scared me last month when you told me that you loved me. Could you imagine all your dreams coming true at once? It was too much."
He tried to brush the tears in his eyes away. "Shan, stand up." He tugged a
t her arm.
She shook her head. "I love you. I have to ask you something."
He lowered himself to his knees beside her "Fine, I'll come down. You cannot ask me anything. I need to kiss you before I die." He guessed what she was going to ask and there was no way he was going to let her do the asking. That was his job. He wrapped his arms around her and slid his lips against hers.
She tried to protest, but he took advantage of her parted lips to slip his tongue inside. She put her arms around his neck and moaned, her mouth and tongue joining in the clash for dominance.
Once she was limp in his arms, he pulled his mouth from hers and kissed her face softly: eyes, nose, cheek, then down her neck. "At the risk of ruining one of the happiest moments of my life, what happened?"
"We should go inside. Your neighbors are probably staring."
"Let them stare," he said, tasting the saltiness of her skin at the juncture of her neck and shoulder.
"I don't think we should get naked on your front lawn."
"Naked?"
"It's sort of what I had in mind."
He stood and scooped her up into his arms in one swift movement. "Must be one hell of a story."
"It is."
* * *
It took her fifteen minutes to tell the story, or it probably would have, if she hadn't stopped five times to kiss him and twice to nuzzle his neck and breathe in his aftershave.
She sat on his lap while she told the story. He stared into her eyes and made her feel as if she was the only person in the world worth listening to.
“So I moved into Carmen’s spare room, and looked for a job. Some people were willing to overlook von Brooke’s words about me, a few wanted to hire me because he had said I was a bad choice.”
“Why didn’t you stay? I bet you would have proven to anyone at any job that you were an asset to the company.”
“Because every night, for five long nights, I would lay down in my empty bed and think of the night I stayed over with you and how we laughed. And I would remember kissing you and how it made my knees weak. It did things to me.”
He slid his hand between her legs. “Did things here?”
“Yes. I got wet and achy and it wouldn’t go away until I touched myself and imagined it was you.” She nipped his ear.
He nuzzled her neck. “So you came back. You put your stuff in your car and drove.”
She brushed her lips across his cheek. “I repacked my clothes at Carmen’s. I washed the sheets she’d lent me, and left her a note. Then I drove. It’s a hell of a long drive, by the way. So I hope you appreciate it.”
He trailed his fingers up her cheek. “I do.”
“All through my fight with Trenton, I kept thinking I’m more upset about the lost job opportunity than the lost boyfriend opportunity.”
Gabe laughed. “So what? You weren’t in love with him?”
“Not really. Maybe I was once, foolishly, youthfully. Eventually, it would have blown up in my face. Good thing it was sooner, because rumor was that he wanted to knock me up.”
“That’s what I want to do.” At the look on her face, he held up his hands. “Okay, we can talk about that later. I don’t care if you want ten kids or no kids. If you want the sun or the moon, I’d try to get those, or if you want to shut down the plant when you take over...”
“I’d never do that,” she said. “I want to marry you and invest all your money in other companies. I want to work with entrepreneurs.”
“We’ll talk about that,” Gabe said, kissing her.
Her eyes turned sad as she looked at him. "I'm sorry for the last month. For leaving you here alone. For being stupid."
He put three fingers on her lips to stop her. "Shanna, if you apologize again, I'm going to spank you."
"You wouldn't," she gasped.
He smiled. "Probably not, unless you asked me, too. We'll try it another day. Please say you'll stop."
"I don't want to." She pouted and he swiped her bottom lip with his thumb.
"I am as much at fault for my heartache. I let five years go before I figured out myself. Maybe I'm more at fault for wrecking your life."
She scoffed. "The life I thought was so wonderful. And I thought about it for the five days it took me to drive here. I am really here because I love you, not for anything else." She pressed her face into his shoulder.
He stroked her cheek with his fingertips until she relaxed and looked up at him. Then he bent and kissed her, his lips so soft across hers, she wondered if he really touched her. She reached up and dug her fingers into his hair and pulled him down. She kissed him with a lifetime's worth of pent-up passion.
He hooked one arm under her knees and the other beneath her shoulders, and he lifted her into the air, without breaking the kiss.
She pulled away. “Gabe―”
“I will not make love to you for the first time on my sofa or living-room floor. I’m taking you to bed and showing you properly how much I love you.”
She nuzzled his neck. “If it helps, I never sleep with Trenton after I left you.”
“Do you know what, sweetheart? You don’t have to tell me anything. We never have to mention his name again, unless we are discussing evil.”
“I can live with that.” She kissed him. “Take me to the bedroom. I want to know if the rumors are true.”
* * *
“What rumors?” Gabe asked. His sated body lay atop hers. His breathing had slowed, but he couldn't move.
“One year I was home for the Christmas party and I was in the bathroom. I was in the stall and I have no idea who it was to this day, but I overheard a woman mention how good-looking you are. And the woman she was talking with said you were great in bed. It was the most memorable time I had heard about you. It wasn’t the first or the last, though.”
He lifted his body off hers and eased onto the bed next to her. “So, are the rumors true?”
She laughed and shoved his shoulder. Then she felt her face heat. “I’m not sure yet.”
He laughed and kissed her. “It exceeded my expectations.”
She snuggled up to his body. "I love you." She laughed after she said it. "It sounds strange to say out loud."
He stroked her hair. "I had sometime to come to terms with it. Though I'm still surprised that you're here."
"I should tell my parents, but they'll want to see me, and I want to be alone with you for a while. The weekend at least."
"I can let that slide. Send them a text saying you've gone away for the weekend and will be out of contact."
She feathered her fingertips over his chest, the light sprinkling of hair tickling her palm. Gabe, she was laying in Gabe's bed naked. She'd made love to Gabe, with Gabe. He was hers, and she was his. How many people could say their dreams came true with their spouse? How many people could say they were with their true love and their first love all at once?
"Stay there for a second, sweetheart." He eased his body away from her. She watched him walk naked across the room. He rummaged in the dresser for a moment before he knelt beside the bed.
"Shanna, I can't really think of anything romantic to say right now, except that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"
"I wanted to ask," she said, in a mock pout.
"That's not an answer. Come on, I'm kneeling in the cold here."
"It's summer, it's not cold."
"Fine. Maybe this will help." He opened the box and held it out to her.
"It matches my necklace," she said, taking the box.
"It was a set. I don't know why I kept it."
"For this moment. I can't say yes until you get back into bed so I can kiss you right after."
He raised himself and slipped back under the sheet beside her. She set her leg over his, laid her head on his chest again. "Yes, Gabriel Brande, I will marry you. I'll marry you tomorrow if you want."
"We could fly to Vegas," he said with a smile. "You told me there would be a kiss."
"Sorry
. I got distracted by the idea of Vegas." She lifted her head and kissed his forehead, his nose and finally his lips. He grabbed her around the waist and upset her balance so she toppled on him.
"All this romance has stirred me." He pressed against her with his hips.
"I see," she said, as his fingers sought her core. She arched her back with a moan. "Our first time engaged."
"About five minutes after our first time ever." He stroked slowly, prolonging their pleasure. And a few moments later, he rolled her to her back and joined with her body.
When they were sated, she grinned up at him. "Will you make love to me twice a day, every day?"
"I don't know. I am an old man."
She slapped his shoulder lightly. "Yes, ancient. Thirty-five is over the hill." She titled her head at him. "Do you really want to get married in Vegas?"
"Not tomorrow. I want to keep you here, naked for the next two days while you tell me everything you've fantasized about me doing to you, so I can fill your every dream. After Sunday dinner, we are going to drive to your parents and we can share with them."
"You've got it all planned out, do you?"
"You bet."
"I think we should pace ourselves. I fantasized about you a lot as a teenager. If you make all those things come true on one weekend, you might kill us."
"True. Plus I have a few fantasies of my own to fulfill."
"Mm, can't wait for you to share. You never told me if you could help me solve my problem."
"What problem? That I'm not making love to you right now?"
"No, I'm homeless and unemployed."
He thought for a moment. "I think there is a vacancy in the apartments, and I know the mail room is always hiring."