One Good Reason

by Sarah Mayberry

  She liked him. She liked him a lot. The realization made her smile.

  She returned to the kitchen to rinse her glass. She was placing it on the drain board to dry when she heard a noise. Thinking Jon had woken and was wondering where she was, she went to the bedroom. She saw that he was still asleep, his eyes closed. As she watched, his face creased into a frown and he moved his feet restlessly.

  “No! Stop!” He moved his head, his body tensing.

  She took a step toward the bed. He was obviously having some kind of bad dream. “Stop. Don’t. Please.” His voice was low and anguished. He thrashed his legs, one of his hands opening and closing on the pillow. “I’ll be good. Promise I’ll be good.”

  Her chest tightened. He sounded so frightened. So scared. She climbed onto the bed and crawled to his side. “Jon,” she said quietly, placing her hand on his shoulder.

  “Leave him. Leave him. Please.” His jaw was tight, his face distorted with fear.

  She gripped him more firmly and shook his shoulder. “Jon. It’s just a dream. It’s not real.”

  His eyes opened with a snap and he jerked away from her touch. They stared at each other, then the lost, hunted look left his eyes and he lifted a hand to drag it over his face, effectively masking his expression from her.

  She didn’t say anything, giving him a chance to find his feet. His breathing sounded very loud in the quiet room.

  “Would you like a glass of water?”

  “I’m fine. Thanks.” He slid off the bed without looking at her, walking to the bathroom and closing the door.

  She sat in the dark, listening to the tap running. Thinking.

  Tyler used to have nightmares. Not very often, not as violent as this, but still. Something bad had happened to the Adamson boys. Something ugly and sad. But she had already guessed that, hadn’t she?

  She looked at the bathroom door. She guessed that Jon standing on the other side trying to work out how to handle her. Maybe even how to get rid of her.

  The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that the moment he exited the bathroom he was going to either ask her or force her to leave in some way. He was too much of a man to enjoy having exposed himself so fully. And he was too much of a man to ask for comfort.

  She moved quickly, fixing the bed and smoothing the pillows before finally crawling beneath the sheet. When the bathroom door opened a few minutes later she was lying on her side, facing away and feigning sleep.

  She could feel Jon hesitate, could feel him trying to work out what to do. After a long beat the bed dipped as he climbed in beside her. She stirred.

  “What time is it?” she murmured.

  “Nearly one.”

  “Mmm.”

  She didn’t try to embrace him directly. Instead, she shifted so that the curve of her back pressed along his side. Offering him the warmth of human contact with no strings. She kept her eyes closed, and after a few minutes she felt the tension leach out of his body. He rolled toward her, wrapping his arm around her. She felt his lips on the back of her neck as he kissed her. She murmured her approval, and when he began to play with her breasts she rubbed her backside against him.

  She let him take the lead, let him take what he needed, and they made slow love in the dark, a long, intense ride.

  Afterward, he fell asleep with his head on her chest. She waited until he was well and truly out of it before she slid from the bed.

  She would have liked to stay, for him as well as herself, but her survival instinct had finally kicked in. It had been a big couple of days, and Jon was a complicated man. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to put a little distance between them. At least until she could get a grip on things.

  She gathered her clothes and shoes and took them to the living room so she could dress without disturbing him. She glanced around as she fastened her bra. The couch was gray and square and cheap-looking, the coffee table made from frosted glass. A TV sat on a nondescript unit. Near the window there was a small dining table with two modern plastic chairs with thin metal legs, the kind that cafés favored.

  There was no color, no flowers, no cushions. She glanced toward the kitchen, but even the counters were bare. A pair of sneakers sat outside the bedroom door, but apart from that there was not a single sign that anyone lived in the space. It made her feel sad to think of Jon living inside this sterile little box.

  No wonder he doesn’t mind playing bodyguard if this is what he’s got to come home to each night.

  For a moment she was tempted to return to bed with him. To hell with caution. To hell with what was bound to be an awkward morning after. This man needed a little warmth and comfort and softness in his life.

  Go home, idiot. Before you do something really stupid. Before you get so far ahead of yourself you’ll never be able to pull back.

  She slipped on her shoes, then tiptoed to the bedroom and made her way to the side of the bed. He was still sleeping deeply and she stooped to press a kiss to his cheekbone. Then she ran a hand over his hair in a gentle caress.

  “I have to be up early. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said quietly.

  He stirred. “Gabby. Where are you going?” He made a groggy grab for her hand.

  “I’ve got an early start. Go back to sleep, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  She kissed his cheek again and eased from his grasp. She picked up her handbag and slipped out the door, telling herself she was doing the right thing, the smart thing, to put some distance between them.

  Even if it felt wrong.

  CHAPTER TEN

  GABBY WAS BUSY AT HER COMPUTER when Jon arrived for work the next day. She looked up to find him standing in her doorway. His eyes were wary, as though he wasn’t quite sure of his reception. She didn’t need to be a mind reader to know he was embarrassed about his nightmare, now that he’d had time to review their night together in the cold light of day. No doubt he’d been squirming ever since he’d woken and remembered what had happened.

  “Hey.” She smiled.

  “Hey. Sorry I was a bit out of it when you left.”

  He looked so uncomfortable, so uneasy.

  “I understand. I wore you out. You’re not as young as you used to be…”

  As she’d hoped, his shoulders lost some of their tension and his mouth kicked up at the corner. “Just how old do you think I am?”

  She knew exactly how old he was; she’d filled out his insurance forms.

  “I don’t know. Forty-five? Fifty?”

  He came fully into her office, a playful glint in his eyes. “You’re pretty funny.”

  “There’s no need to be embarrassed. You put in a good showing for a man who’s no longer in his prime.”

  “Is that so?” He started rounding her desk.

  “Morning, Jon, Gabby,” Dino called as he walked past her door.

  Jon stopped in his tracks. “Today he comes in early.”

  “Dino’s always had great timing.”

  He gave her a long look. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

  He exited and she let her breath out.

  So much for keeping her distance and taking it easy. But it was hard to be sensible when she was busy remembering the way he’d washed her in the shower, and the way he’d made love to her with his mouth, and the way he’d curled his body around hers afterward….

  “For God’s sake,” she muttered under her breath.

  Anyone would think she’d never had sex before.

  Not like that, you haven’t.

  “Morning, Gabby. You got the details on the Montgomery quote? I need to check their specs again.”

  It was Tyler, a take-out coffee in hand. She tidied the already tidy pile of paperwork in front of her, trying to look as though she hadn’t been sitting here, staring off into space daydreaming about having sex with his brother.

  “Sure. Sure. Give me a second and I’ll print it off for you.”

  “Did you get that tire sorted okay?” Tyler asked as she called up the file and h
it the print icon.

  “I did. Thanks.”

  “Did you let Jon do it?”

  “I did not.”

  “You never cease to amaze me.”

  She knew he was laughing at her but she didn’t care. “I let him hold the umbrella.”

  “Jon would have loved that.”

  “Oh, he did.”

  She collected the page from the printer and passed it over. Tyler scanned it briefly.

  “Thanks.” He folded it and tucked it into his back pocket. “I wanted to talk to you about something else, too.”

  To her surprise, he pushed the door closed before facing her. Gabby felt a little plunge of nerves in her belly. She couldn’t remember Tyler ever wanting a closed-door meeting with her.

  “Should I be bracing myself for bad news?”

  “No bad news. I had a chat to Jon yesterday, and I haven’t heard from him yet but I thought you should probably know what’s going on. I’ve asked him to be become a partner in the business. Fifty-fifty.”

  Gabby blinked. “Wow. That’s…not what I was expecting.”

  “We need someone to take charge of production. I figure with you on sales and admin, Jon on production and me on design, we’re in good shape to meet our growth forecasts.”

  She nodded. Shock was starting to give way to the sting of hurt.

  Why hadn’t Jon mentioned this to her? Granted, there hadn’t exactly been a huge amount of chat going on last night, but they were talking about a pretty significant offer here. A life-changing offer.

  Maybe he didn’t think it was any of your business.

  It was a sobering thought.

  “So, did he say when he might get back to you?”

  She hated herself for fishing.

  “We left it open. To be honest, I think I kind of blind-sided him. I’ve had the feeling the past couple of days that maybe he was thinking of taking off.”

  “Have you? Huh.” She reached blindly for a paperclip and started playing with it.

  “Shit. Sorry, Gabby. I know you and Jon are—”

  “No, we’re not. We’re just…friends. Work colleagues, really.” She could practically feel her nose growing longer with every lie.

  “Well, so long as you know that was just me talking. Not Jon. I have no idea what he’s thinking, to be honest. He plays things pretty close to his chest.”

  No kidding.

  “It’s cool. No worries,” she said. She even threw in a smile to prove she was fine with everything she’d learned. “For what it’s worth, I think it’s a good idea. You guys complement each other.”

  “Glad you think so.” He turned toward the door, patting his back pocket. “Thanks for the quote.”

  “Sure.”

  Gabby pretended to be absorbed in her work until she was sure Tyler was well and truly gone.

  Maybe she was overreacting, but she felt as though she’d been slapped. A few hours ago, she’d been naked in Jon’s kitchen, fretting about his depressing accommodation. She’d done her damnedest to offer him the comfort he didn’t even know how to ask for after his nightmare, and she’d lain in his arms afterward, trying to be sensible about the growing sense of connection she felt to him.

  And he hadn’t bothered to mention the fact that his brother had offered him half of his very profitable business.

  Her survival instincts had kicked in none too soon. Obviously, she and Jon had very different ideas of where this…thing between them was going. Which was fine. Neither of them had made any promises or representations to the other. Hell, a couple of days ago they could barely stand to be in the same room with each other without squabbling. Realistically, Jon was probably right to treat what had happened between them as a casual, inconsequential liaison.

  It had felt like a lot more than that to her. All that anger and frustration they’d generated between them…the way he’d looked at her last night when they were standing in the rain…the way he’d curled his body around hers and held her so fiercely to his chest… None of that had felt inconsequential to her. It had felt real and meaningful and important.

  But as she’d said to him only recently, it took two to tango, and it seemed as though the only tangoing Jon was interested in was the horizontal and not the emotional kind.

  At least the way forward was clear now: keep her distance, keep her head, keep things light. Be sensible.

  JON TRIED TO CONCENTRATE ON adjusting the guide on the router but his mind kept circling to the events of last night like a dog chasing its tail. He was more than happy to review the good bits, but that wasn’t the part his brain obsessed over. All he could picture was the moment he’d woken and found Gabby leaning over him, concern and pity in her face.

  Pity. Because he’d had a big bad scary dream, like a little kid. And like a little kid he’d cried out and thrashed around and obviously woken her up.

  He put down the router with more force than strictly necessary.

  He’d thought he was getting a grip on the nightmares. He hadn’t had one for nearly a week. He’d hoped that maybe the dreams had been a reaction to the fact that he’d stopped drinking, that he was finally breaking free from the quicksand that had enveloped him since his father’s death.

  Apparently not. Apparently he’d been waiting till he had an audience before he put on his next grand performance.

  The only saving grace had been that she hadn’t made a big deal out of it. He’d expected hand-wringing and amateur counseling when he’d exited the bathroom—instead, she’d been asleep. She hadn’t said anything in her office, either. Which probably meant she wasn’t going to. This was Gabby, after all. She wasn’t exactly the queen of subtlety. If she wanted to know something, she asked.

  The realization allowed him to move past his nightmare to think instead about the good parts of last night. Gabby’s laughter. The look in her eyes when he’d started kissing his way down her belly.

  Man…

  Some women acted coy when it came to accepting pleasure in bed. They closed their legs and protested halfheartedly, even though they were quivering with need. Gabby had simply watched him with knowing, wicked eyes and sighed her appreciation. It had been that way every time with her—she knew what she wanted, and she wasn’t ashamed of it, and she was hands down the sexiest, most responsive lover he’d ever had. Tyler must have been nuts to let her slip away.

  Jon ground his teeth. He wasn’t sure from which dark, reptilian part of his brain that thought had popped up, but he didn’t want to hear from it again. The fact that Tyler knew Gabby intimately had always lurked in there somewhere, niggling at him, but he had refused to acknowledge it. He didn’t want to think about his brother with her. Didn’t want to imagine her undressing for him, moaning for him—

  He shoved the piece of wood he’d been measuring along the workbench, sending a chisel flying into the wall.

  He’d never been jealous of his brother, not even when they were kids. They’d had bigger fish to fry growing up, and as adults they hadn’t seen each other enough to drum up any rivalry. Truth be told, he wasn’t a jealous man. A perfectionist in his work, yes. A tough but fair boss, hopefully. But he’d never coveted another man’s woman before, and this seemed like a particularly shitty time to start.

  Gabby’s not Tyler’s woman. Not anymore.

  He let the truth of the thought sink in for a beat. Then he returned the chisel to its place on the rack and took his marked-up timber to the bench saw along the far wall.

  It struck him that it had been a long time since any woman had gotten him so worked up on so many levels. In the time he’d known her, Gabby had irritated him, infuriated him, engaged him and aroused him to the point where he’d lost control. Now, apparently, he was getting all dog-in-manger about her, too.

  It was more than a little unsettling. His romantic history was littered with short-term relationships with women who had demanded little and received even less. He’d worked damned hard to keep them at arm’s length, to make sure that n
o one expected anything from him apart from pleasure in bed and casual companionship. Yet here he was, knee deep in angst over Gabby without even trying.

  At any other time, with any other woman, the realization would send him packing. The thing was, he really liked her. It seemed an obvious observation given all that had taken place between them. But it wasn’t something he could say about all of the women he’d slept with over the years. He couldn’t stop thinking about Gabby’s sexy little body, and he enjoyed her mouthiness and straight-from-the-hip frankness. When he was with her he couldn’t imagine being anywhere else—or wanting to be anywhere else, for that matter.

  He thought about Tyler’s offer. If Jon hung around, bought into the business…

  He shied away from completing the thought. He was still on the fence about the offer. About a lot of things. Once he committed, there would be a lot of expectations, from all quarters.

  He wasn’t sure he was ready for them. The thing was, Gabby wasn’t the kind of woman who screwed around. Every encounter they had bound them more tightly together. If he wasn’t prepared to welcome those ties, he had no business sleeping with her again.

  DESPITE HIS WARNING TO HIMSELF, Jon felt a definite thud of satisfaction when he entered the kitchen shortly after 5:00 and overheard Gabby talking on the phone with her mechanic. He was aware that she’d dropped her car off to have her tire repaired, but judging from her side of the conversation, it wouldn’t be ready until tomorrow.