by Lori Foster
Finally, she got through her last sample and slipped back into her jeans and shirt. He felt as if he was bathed in sweat. His heart was beating as if he’d run a marathon.
“So? What did you think?” she asked eagerly.
What did he think? He thought she’d shaved ten years off of his life with that sensual torture, that’s what! “I thought it was…very nice.”
“Nice?” She frowned at him, her eyes burning into him like laser beams. “‘Nice’ is getting a thank-you card. I’m looking for sexy. I’m looking for devastating. Come on, Gabe, work with me!”
“Fine,” he said, sighing deeply. “You were incredible. You would make a Buddhist monk pant like a dog. If God had made anything better, he’d have kept it for himself. Now are you satisfied?” He knew he sounded testy, but he couldn’t help it. She was just throwing salt on a wound here!
He got up and quickly moved to the kitchen, getting out some ice water. He briefly considered dumping it down the front of his jeans, but settled for taking a bracingly cold gulp instead.
She smiled. “Pant like a dog, huh?”
He sighed. “You’re too much, angel.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.” She yawned, deeply, then settled on his couch. “What time does the game start?”
He cautiously sat down on the couch also, sitting at the far end away from her and grabbing the remote. “Let’s see…it’s on in about half an hour. I’m sure there’s some pre-game stuff on, though. Is that okay?”
“Mmm-hmm.” She yawned again, her eyes heavy-lidded.
He smiled tenderly. Now that she was fully dressed again, with no makeup, he felt a little more charitable toward her. She was really cute when she was sleepy like this. She didn’t look dangerous at all. “You finally ready for bed, angel?”
She nodded, propping her head up with one arm. “I must be. I was so excited about the design stuff that I felt like I could go on forever, you know? And I had to come over here and show you all of my stuff.”
“And you were in such a hurry, you had to show me in my living room?” he asked, trying to laugh about it. To his own ears, he sounded strained.
“Well, it seemed stupid to keep going from one room to the other. You know how I am when I hit a creativity burst.” She shrugged, settling more deeply into his couch. “Besides, Gabe, when I hit my breakthrough, you were the first person I thought of. I wanted you to see it before anybody else.”
He felt absurdly touched by her admission. “That’s…thank you, Charlotte. I’m honored.”
“You’re my best friend, Gabe,” she murmured. “Without you, I couldn’t have come this far. I owe this all to you.”
“You don’t owe anything to me,” he said softly, watching her drift off into sleep. “You did this all yourself.”
The words she mumbled might have been a protest, but in moments, she was sound asleep.
He watched the television screen blankly, unable to focus.
You’re my best friend, Gabe.
Easy for her to say, he thought, glancing over at her sleeping form. Now, if he could just keep his hands off her, they could keep it that way.
HOURS LATER, GABE woke up in a darkened room. The TV shone with a blank blue screen. Charlie had woken up briefly for the second half of the game and the first half of the movie. During the second half, they had both fallen asleep. He woke up to find that the movie had run its course and had rewound itself. He glanced at the red clock numbers on his VCR: seven o’clock. He’d been asleep for two hours!
He stretched and started to turn over when his hand fell on a soft, curvy body. Illuminated by the eerie blue, Charlotte was sprawled on the couch next to him. He yanked his hand away.
He smiled. He’d done it. He had spent the whole day with her, doing all of their old favorite stuff. Despite the torturous start, he’d managed to keep his hands off of her, all day long.
He’d kissed her once, he’d seen her half-naked, but that was all in the past. They were just going to be friends from now on. It was perfect.
He felt high with the relief coursing through him. Now all he needed to do was take her out for pizza, and cement the deal. From here on, it was going to be clear sailing.
She was easily startled, so he knelt down next to the back of her head. “Wake up, kiddo,” he whispered. “There’s a Hawaiian pizza with your name on it.”
“Mrmph.” She shrugged a shoulder, but she didn’t turn to face him.
“Come on, come on. If you sleep now, you’ll be up at three in the morning.” He gave her shoulders a gentle rub. “You’ll feel better with some food.”
“Oh,” she gasped.
His fingers stopped immediately. “Did that hurt?”
She let out a breathy, half-asleep sigh. “No.”
“You nut. You shouldn’t have been sewing all night.” He increased the pressure, smiling at her groans. “Just call me Gunther, the Swedish masseur….”
“Oh,” she breathed again, sharper this time, bowing her back slightly to press against his fingers. “Yeah. Like that.”
He looked down to see her body starting to writhe a little on the couch. Her long legs stretched, and her back arched like a cat’s.
It was turning him on, he noticed, and stopped abruptly. We’ve been doing so well. Don’t blow it now!
“Okay, enough fun,” he muttered, turning her to face him. “Charlotte? Come on, wake up.”
She blinked for a minute, her eyes half-lidded and slumberous. Her full lips curved into a smile for a second, then she sighed.
“Gabe…”
Before he could move, she reached up and looped her arms around his neck. Before he could think, she had tugged his head down to hers.
By the time he figured out what was going on, he wanted to neither move nor think.
It started out gentle, almost tentative, her lips brushing against his with a whispery caress. He could feel her breathe his name against his lips, and it shot fire from his stomach to his groin. He was struggling for control when she gave him a purring growl and locked more firmly onto his lips.
Whatever control he had left disappeared. He slanted over her mouth, pushing her back into the pillows. She sighed and he could feel a shivery tremor rush through her body. He supported his weight on his arms, half-covering her body with his own. He could feel her nipples through the thin T-shirt fabric, rubbing against his chest. He let out a growl as his tongue swept past her satiny lips.
He heard her inhale sharply before she arched up to rub against him, her tongue dueling with his. Leaning on one arm, he used the other to stroke down the length of her side. His fingers skimmed the column of her neck and she quivered and cried out against his mouth. His kisses grew more insistent as he gently stroked down the side of one smooth, firm breast. She pressed up against him until he was cupping her firmly. He brushed a fingertip over a taut nipple, and she arched up, fitting herself to him with a heated passion that made him gasp.
He wasn’t sure how exactly he wound up on top of her, but he was fitted at the juncture of her thighs as she twisted beneath him. She wasn’t trying to move him off of her. On the contrary, he could feel her thighs inching higher on his hips as she molded herself against his hardness.
It was intense, intoxicating. It was out of control. His heart was beating so strongly, he could hear it pounding in his ears like a war drum.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Wait a minute. That wasn’t his heart!
“Gabe, man…are you in there?”
He pulled his head away with effort. Both he and Charlotte went still, staring at the hallway where the knocks were coming from.
“Come on. We know you’re home.” It sounded like Ryan. “Don’t make us break in there!”
The words sent Gabe rolling off of Charlotte and hurriedly getting to his feet. They were both still breathing heavily. “Don’t move,” he told her, and went downstairs.
He threw open the door. “What?”
Ryan, Mike a
nd Sean were standing at his doorstep. “Jeez, man. We just wanted to let you know the surf’s up to eight feet. It’s perfect out,” Ryan said, gesturing toward the beach. “You coming?”
“You nearly pounded my door down to tell me that the surf was up?”
“Of course,” Mike said, rolling his eyes. “What’s wrong with you?”
Ryan studied him for a second, then grinned. “Whoops. I sense bad timing here…if your jeans are any indication.”
“Get lost,” Gabe growled.
“Really sorry, man,” Mike said, quickly backing away. “Really. Do what you’ve gotta do.”
Ryan started laughing, but Sean looked down at Gabe’s driveway and looked back at him, eyes narrowed.
“You sure everything’s okay, Gabe?” Sean asked quietly.
“It will be when you clowns get out of here.”
The three men left and Gabe shut the door, locking it. He went back upstairs.
Charlotte had hurriedly thrown her pell-mell explosion of clothes back into the bags she’d packed them in, and was tucking her sketch pads under her arms. “You know,” she said hastily, avoiding his eyes. “I think I’ll take a rain check on the pizza.”
“Charlotte, about what happened…”
“I’ll take the blame for that one,” she said, juggling the sketch pads and the bags. “Really. I guess I was just tired, or dreaming, or something.”
“It was a California no-fault accident, angel,” he said, nudging her chin up to look in her eyes. “Nobody’s to blame here.”
She still didn’t look directly into his eyes. “I need to get home and get some of this stuff in better shape, so I can make real clothes out of them. And I really ought to…um, do some chores. You know. Around the house.”
One minute, she’s burning him alive, and now all she could think about was tackling household chores?
“Charlotte, are you all right?”
She finally looked at him, and her hazel eyes were dazed. “I didn’t mean for…what just happened to happen. You’ve got to believe that.” She took a deep, quavering breath. “I know it was sort of dumb, but we’ve been friends for so long, you’ll be able to overlook it. I know it didn’t mean anything.”
It didn’t mean anything.
Her cheeks reddened. “I’m just really out of practice with this physical stuff,” she admitted in a small voice. “Now, with this whole dating thing, and this whole change of attitude…I guess a lot of things are coming up that I didn’t expect.”
He nodded.
“I’m going to head out, and we’ll just pretend that this never happened. Okay?”
“Sure. Okay.” That was exactly what he wanted, about both their kisses. Wasn’t it?
She sent him a lopsided smile. She got up on tiptoe and looked as if she were about to kiss his cheek, then changed her mind. She walked instead to the front door. He trailed behind her, puzzled.
“See you,” she said as he opened the door for her.
“I’ll give you a call.”
He watched her load her car, then drive off.
He shut the door, locked it and went back upstairs. He sat on the couch for a moment.
She’d left. He’d been kissing the daylights out of her, and she’d just…left.
He realized, of course, that he should be happy about what had happened. He’d been telling himself that getting physically involved with Charlotte would mean problems. It would jeopardize their friendship. It would be disastrous. And despite telling himself all of that, he’d let himself get into a passionate clinch with her, anyway, right there on his couch.
And then she’d gotten up, told him to forget anything had ever happened, and left!
This had never happened to him before.
Not that his kisses were irresistible. It was…well, okay, yes, his pride was smarting at that one. But the fact that she could obviously write off what had happened as the overfunctioning of long dormant hormones hurt, dammit!
He got up, went over to his fridge and pulled out a beer. He popped off the lid and took a long draw.
She was probably right, he reasoned. They were just friends. No more kisses, pretend nothing happened, and he would finally have his wish, right? Things would be just the way they used to be. He wouldn’t have to worry about losing her ever again. Just plain old friends. In a weird, roundabout way, his “date” had gone just as he had planned.
He sighed and downed the rest of his beer. Dammit, why didn’t that make him feel better?
8
STUPID. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID.
Charlotte stared at the phone in her bedroom, wondering how she was going to explain to Bella that she couldn’t come to her housewarming. “Hi, Bella. I can’t show up because I know Gabe is going to be there, and I’ve been avoiding him for a solid week. Why? Because I shut my brain off, I was half-asleep, and I basically attacked him like an Amazon on his own couch,” Charlotte tried experimentally, then stuffed her head in her pillow. “I am so stupid!”
She hadn’t been thinking at all, that night on Gabe’s couch. She certainly hadn’t gone over there to seduce him. Seduce Gabe, who had women like that blonde in the restaurant practically tap-dancing naked to get his attention? If anything, he would have been amused by any attempt in that direction.
An image of the kiss flashed across her mind. Images like that had haunted her all week. It hit her in the middle of conversations at work, or when she was grocery shopping, or when she was trying to draw. Or at night, before she fell into a fitful, restless sleep.
It was worst at night.
She sighed deeply. She’d run from his house, apologizing, asking him to forget about the whole thing. By this point, he probably had. But she hadn’t, and wouldn’t. She knew it wasn’t what he wanted. It had probably been pleasant, but he wasn’t looking for a relationship with her. And she wanted more than just a relationship, she realized numbly.
She was in love with him.
It was something she should have admitted to herself a long time ago. She was in love with her best friend. When she had no confidence in herself, she had thought just friendship would be enough. In fact, there were times when she felt that his friendship was more than she deserved. But now, with her growing self-awareness, it occurred to her that marriage, family, happy-ever-after were real possibilities.
That is, they were possibilities with men in general. But she wanted Gabe in specific, and that was where the problem was.
She sighed, flopping over the edge of the bed. He wouldn’t want to be her Mr. Right. He didn’t want to be anybody’s Mr. Right. Why should he? He could date any woman he wanted. Self-admittedly, his life was “perfect.” No, he wouldn’t want to throw that all away. He’d never be in love with her.
And that’s it? Her conscience sounded indignant. So now what?
At any other time, she would have settled for her situation. She would have suffered in silence, just staying friends with Gabe. But she had a real chance now. She felt pretty, dammit, and confident. Why should she have to be the one to simper and sigh, and wait for him to come to his senses? She had options!
She felt galvanized. She grabbed her purse, digging out a slip of paper, and then reached for her phone.
“Hi, Jack?” She smiled, looking at an outfit she had just finished in her closet. “It’s Charlotte. I was wondering…do you think you’d like to go to a housewarming party this afternoon?”
Gabe could do whatever he wanted, she thought, as Jack accepted her invitation. She had her own life to live, and she wasn’t going to waste it on dreams that couldn’t possibly come true.
GABE HAD BEEN SITTING on Bella’s couch, trying to get up the energy to socialize. He was in too bleak a mood since the episode with Charlotte to be very good company.
She’d been avoiding him again, and that was bothering him. They’d talked on the phone a couple of times, but she’d been distant, and he hadn’t been able to get her to spill what was going on. Obviously, something was upset
ting her, but she wouldn’t share what.
She should have been here by now, he thought. He had considered missing Bella’s housewarming party, but the lure of finally being able to talk to Charlotte face-to-face had convinced him otherwise. He thought she probably felt awful about what had happened between them last Sunday. She had been embarrassed, possibly even ashamed, at her behavior. She’d even admitted how out of practice she was, as if it were some horrible crime. And all he could do was sit on his hands and take it personally!
Well, he’d straighten her out, he thought, brightening. Granted, they couldn’t do it again, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with a few kisses between friends. As confused and worked up as he had felt about the whole thing, it was probably nothing compared to what the poor girl had been going through.
Yeah, right. That’s why you’ve been a hermit since this whole bet started.
Shut up, conscience, Gabe warned. I don’t need your input right now.
He’d just cheer her up, and they’d go on as usual. She was doing much better, and the clothes she’d designed had seemed to really open a new door for her. In fact, he’d considered asking her if she’d sell a few of the designs for their women’s collection. If she’d just talk to him for longer than five minutes, if he could…
“Charlotte!” Bella went running to the front door, throwing it open and enveloping Charlotte in a huge hug. “Sorry I haven’t seen you since the reception, sweetie, but moving into the house has been such a big production. Besides, I knew you were in Dana’s capable hands—”
“Hi, Bella,” Charlotte interrupted his sister’s usual stream of patter firmly. “I’d like you to meet my friend, Jack Landor. Jack, this is Bella Donofrio…that is, Bella Paulson, now that she’s married.”
“Congratulations.” Jack’s deep voice emerged from behind her, and Gabe’s eyes shot wide-open. “I’ve heard so much about you. How was Hawaii?”
Jack Landor was here? With Charlotte? What was that all about?
“Oh, just beautiful,” Bella said, linking her arm through his. “I’m sorry to have been gone so long and missed all the fun. Charlotte and I haven’t been able to talk about you nearly enough for my liking.” She glanced over at Charlotte, a huge grin on her face.