Moonlight Seduction

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  “Thanks, Ned.” Nikki took the leash while the older man eyed Gabe. “Who needs the exercise today?”

  “Besides me?” Ned quipped, grinning up at her. “Fusion and Diesel.” He slid a glance in Gabe’s direction. “They’re full-sized pits. You think you can handle them?”

  Gabe gave a half grin. “I hope so.”

  “You’ll be fine.” Nikki hid a smile as he took the leash from Ned. “Fusion and Diesel are just big babies.”

  “Their names don’t give that impression,” he commented.

  Ned snorted as he picked up a file off his desk, but he kept his mouth shut. Nikki curled her arm around Gabe’s and pulled him back out the front door of the office.

  “I don’t think the guy likes me,” Gabe said as they rounded the outside of the building, drawing closer to the sound of barking dogs.

  “He doesn’t know you.” Nikki slipped her arm free as they neared the high chain-link fence that surrounded the kennel. If the de Vincents weren’t so infamous around the country, he would’ve passed as any normal volunteer dressed down in a pair of loose, gray sweats and a plain shirt.

  Goodness, he looked good dressed like that. Silver sunglasses on, hair pulled back at the nape of his neck in a neat bun. Then again, he pretty much just always looked good.

  “Thank you for coming,” she said, stopping in front of the gate. One of the workers hurried over to unlock it.

  “No problem. I was up and don’t have much planned.”

  Nikki smiled at the worker who did a double-take in Gabe’s direction. “Not heading into the workshop?”

  “Later.” He placed a hand on her lower back as they walked through the open gate. “You?”

  She lifted a shoulder. “Maybe.”

  “You should.” His hand trailed over her hip, causing her to shiver.

  Nikki bit down on her lip as she wandered over to the kennels. “Is there a reason why you think I should?”

  “Multitude of reasons.”

  Stopping to pet a golden retriever, she looked over her shoulder at Gabe. “Does one of those reasons involve a couch?”

  Those sunglasses shielded his eyes, but she could feel his heated stare. “It can. But there’s also a desk I think was feeling lonely last night.”

  She laughed as she scratched the retriever under the chin. After a few moments, she pulled her hand free, and the retriever whined. “You’ve already had your walk, baby. I’m sorry.”

  The twinge in her heart as she walked away from the poor dog wasn’t anything new. She met the worker at the last two kennels, and within a few moments Diesel and Fusion were on their leads, tails and butts wiggling as they sniffed Gabe’s shoes.

  “I hope that means they like me.” He stared down at them.

  “They pretty much like everyone. Pits are friendly dogs,” she said, leading them over to the large stretch of grassy area. “They get a bad rap, though.”

  Gabe was grinning at his black-and-white spotted pit. “Which one is this?”

  “That’s Diesel.”

  “He’s freaking strong.”

  Diesel was excitedly pulling at the leash, sniffing every blade of grass, it seemed, while Fusion did his hopping thing, which was how he walked when he was excited.

  “I imagine volunteering here has to be hard for you,” Gabe commented, drawing her gaze. “I figure you’d adopt all the dogs.”

  “I wish I could.” She brushed a strand of hair back from her face. “If I had a ton of money, I’d love to have my own rescue.”

  Gabe chuckled. “You sound like Julia. She said the same thing.”

  “That’s because Julia is good people.” She grinned. “I want to get a dog, but with an apartment, I’d have to get a small, lazy one. These guys would go nuts inside one.”

  Gabe was quiet for a moment. “Lucian always wanted one of these when he was growing up.”

  “Your dad would’ve had a shit fit—” Her eyes widened. “Sorry. Lawrence would’ve had a fit.”

  “It’s okay.” He grinned. “Lawrence was my father even if it wasn’t by DNA. He’s the only father I knew. And you’re right. There was no way he’d allow any of us to have a pet.”

  “Because it would make noise,” she commented, thinking back to the day the senator was in the house. “And leave dog hair everywhere.”

  “We almost had our mother convinced once, though. Actually, it was Madeline. She wanted one of those little dogs. The kind that bites ankles.” He knelt beside Diesel and patted him. The dog immediately flopped onto its sides, panting for belly rubs. Gabe obliged. “I think it was a Yorkie or something like that.”

  From what Nikki remembered of Madeline, she could picture the often-sullen girl carting around that type of dog. She watched Gabe scratch Diesel’s belly. “Why did your mom end up not getting her one?”

  “Don’t know. She and Mom had a weird relationship. Went from her doing everything and anything for Madeline, and then it was like they weren’t even speaking to one another.” He dragged his fingers to the dog’s chest, and Diesel thumped his tail off the grass. “But you know how all of that ended.”

  She did, and she still couldn’t believe it. “I really am sorry that any of you had to go through that.”

  He tipped his chin up and a faint smile tugged at his lips. “Makes you wonder if the de Vincent curse is real, doesn’t it?”

  The curse had a thing for women.

  It was said that the land the house was built on was tainted. Apparently it was used as a quarantine area during the many deadly flu outbreaks that plagued New Orleans. Legend went that the patriarch of the de Vincents was warned not to build a house there, but he hadn’t listened, which angered the spirits of all who’d died on the land. The strange thing about the curse, if one believed in those kinds of things, was that it seemed to really hate women. Two things happened to the de Vincent women. They either ended up . . . unstable.

  Or dead.

  And there was a long, very verifiable history of those two things.

  “Do you believe in the curse?” she asked, scratching the pit behind its ear as she glanced over at him.

  Gabe’s hand stilled along the dog’s hip and a long moment passed before he answered. “I used to think it was just an interesting story my grandmother would tell us, but sometimes I do wonder if there is some truth in it. Not even counting all the bizarre deaths in our family that span centuries? Just look at what has happened in the last couple of years. Our mother. Emma. Our sister. Julia could’ve died that night on the rooftop. So maybe the curse is real. Seems like everything—everyone we touch ends up tainted.”

  “Not everything.” She reached over and touched his arm, her chest heavy for him—for his family. “Not me.”

  He studied her a moment and then smiled. “Not you.”

  Nikki was probably the biggest fool alive, but she couldn’t keep the grin off her face as she picked up the stack of towels Monday afternoon and started to carry them upstairs.

  Devlin had given her Friday off to focus on her move, telling her this before he’d left for Houston. So not only could she get an early start on her move, she didn’t have to cook dinner for the rest of the week as he wouldn’t be returning until Saturday afternoon.

  That also meant that since Devlin wasn’t here, there’d be no reason for Sabrina or Parker to be either.

  Win. Win.

  The goofy grin she’d been rocking since Saturday night wasn’t completely due to Devlin’s actual thoughtfulness or his absence. A lot of it was due to what went down between her and Gabe. That played a big role in it.

  Goodness.

  Gabe was . . . he really was insatiable.

  Her cheeks flushed as the weekend replayed itself for about the hundredth time. Saturday night had been . . . amazing, but Sunday afternoon and evening? They were a repeat of Saturday and then some. He’d made sure that desk hadn’t been lonely, setting her on the edge and feasting on her before he stood her up and turned her around, bending he
r over. When he’d taken her from behind, she’d never been more turned on in her life nor had she ever been . . . taken that hard before.

  She found that she really, really liked it.

  Gabe hadn’t stopped there. He’d ordered lunch from the diner down the street, like he’d done Saturday night, and picked it up for them, and afterward, he’d pulled her into his lap and they’d had sex again.

  The last time . . . it had felt different.

  It had been slower, and somehow it was so much more intense. It had felt like they were making love.

  And they’d talked—just talked about everything. Her upcoming move and Gabe told her once more she needed to get a dog, which brought up the whole armadillo thing again. Nikki wasn’t against getting a dog, but she knew she needed to hold off on that. She didn’t want to get a dog and then never be home because she was working and going to school.

  And they talked about Lucian moving out, and how it was going to be weird with him not being in the house. Gabe talked more about his sister—what she’d done and what it had meant to him and his brothers. They even talked about who his father could’ve been, but Gabe really had no clue. After dinner and the last time they’d had sex, they’d just lain together, and it felt so normal, so right.

  It felt like something real, something deep. It felt like love.

  Stopping in the hallway, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She shouldn’t let herself think that, but she couldn’t help it. Her heart was like a jumping bean in her chest every time she thought about the way he’d kissed her goodbye, like he didn’t want to let her go.

  And she didn’t want to go.

  A little niggle of warning squirmed in the pit of her stomach like a snake waking up from slumber. They talked about everything but what they were. And while the sex had been amazing, it didn’t solve anything.

  It didn’t answer any of her lingering questions.

  Opening her eyes, she wondered where Gabe was. She hadn’t seen him. He was probably at the shop, but she’d figured he’d be back soon. He’d always brought her a smoothie around this time.

  She hurried down the hall before her arms gave out. Rounding the corner, she almost ran into Julia.

  “Hey.” The woman immediately reached for the towels. “Let me help you with that.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  “I know.” She took half off the top, smiling. “But I hate seeing people doing things when I’m more than capable of helping. Where are you going with these?”

  Yet again, Nikki was reminded of how much Julia was not like Sabrina. “These are actually going to Lucian’s apartment.”

  “Then this worked out perfectly,” she replied, walking with Nikki. “How is your mother doing?”

  “Really good. She’s nearing the end of her treatment, so we’re crossing fingers that when they do the scans, it’ll show that the cancer is gone.”

  “I really hope so.”

  “How’re the renovations on the house going?” Nikki asked as they neared Lucian’s rooms.

  “We’re almost done. I think we’ll be in there before the holidays, so I’m looking forward to that,” she said. “You know, having my parents down and everything. I really do not want them coming here for dinner—” Her eyes widened. “I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

  Nikki laughed. “It’s okay. I totally understand why you wouldn’t want your parents to spend Thanksgiving at the de Vincent table. It would probably be the most awkward and strained dinner of all time. Trust me. I’ve seen some of them while the parents were alive.”

  “I keep forgetting that you know how this family is,” Julia said, looking at the closed door to Lucian’s rooms. “I don’t think people on the outside would understand how they are.”

  “They wouldn’t,” she agreed, thinking of Ross. She hadn’t told Gabe about running into him, figuring he really didn’t need to know that. But people like Ross wouldn’t understand the de Vincents. They’d always think and assume the worst.

  “And my parents wouldn’t. Lucian and Gabe? Sure.” Julia shifted the towels. “But Devlin and Sabrina? The senator? No. They’d be like What in the hell is wrong with these people?”

  Nikki grinned. “I think that’s a question many ask themselves daily.”

  Laughing softly, Julia’s gaze made her way back to her. “But you’re like family to them, so you understand all of this. You know how the boys seem to always fight for what’s best for them, what they really want. That fight makes them do and say stupid things.” She paused. “And I’m sure you know that, too. You seem to be really close to Gabe.”

  Nikki stilled, unsure of how to respond to that. “Gabe has always been . . . kind to me.” She promptly thought about the weekend and flushed. He hadn’t exactly been kind then. “We both like to work with wood.”

  “I bet you do,” Julia said, grinning.

  Her eyes widened. “I didn’t mean it like—”

  “I know.” Julia laughed. “Anyway, so yeah, I hope to be out of here by the holidays. I can’t wait for my parents to see the new house. I think Lucian is planning on taking them on weird city tours or something.”

  Relieved at first that the conversation moved back to safer topics, Nikki let her smile fade a little as envy sprung to life. Tours with the parents. Holidays with them. A happy future that included the people you cared about. No matter how she felt for Gabe, she wasn’t naive enough to see that in their future.

  And that was . . . well, it was just sad.

  Nikki dropped off the towels and started back downstairs after leaving Julia, but she stopped in the hallway. Her legs just refused to move as the reality of the situation swept over her.

  She was in love with Gabe.

  That was no surprise. She’d been in love with him since the day he saved her in the pool. That love had driven her to do idiotic things—things that Gabe had taken part in.

  But she hadn’t chased after him when she returned. She’d steered clear and it was he who came to her, claiming he wanted to be friends. It was he who ruined her date and made the first move. It was Gabe chasing after her.

  That had to mean something.

  What Julia had just said rose to the surface. You know how the boys seem to always fight for what’s best for them, what they really want.

  Gabe wanted her. He’d proved that time and time again, but it wasn’t easy. There were his brothers. Their history. Her parents. Their age gap. None of that mattered to her. She loved him and a little piece of her heart told her that it was quite possible that Gabe felt the same.

  After all, it wasn’t like he was hurting for female companionship. He could easily go out there and find someone if it was just about sex, and it would be easier for him to do that. There wouldn’t be all these complications. He had access to a metric crap-ton of no-strings, stress-free sex.

  There was a reason why he’d gone for her, and Nikki couldn’t help but think of what Rosie had said when she’d told her about the little room Gabe had set up for her in the shop. What had Rosie said? That maybe Gabe had spent the last four years hating himself, because he’d wanted her back then, just like he wanted her now.

  You didn’t want someone that long without having strong feelings for them.

  Nikki knew what she needed to do.

  She needed to tell Gabe how she felt.

  Her legs started moving. She didn’t go downstairs. Since her father had left for the day, she gave in to the impulse. She hurried outside, taking the quickest route to the other wing, walking along the porch. She shivered as the wind blew the rain in. Climbing the stairs on the right wing, she made her way to the third floor, to the outside entrance of Gabe’s suite.

  She hesitated at the doors and then knocked. The door cracked open. It had been left unlocked and unlatched. Her stomach dipped. Gabe had to be home then. She stepped inside the living area part of his apartment. The lights were off and the door to his bedroom was open. She could hear the shower running.

/>   Inching toward the bedroom, she stepped inside the spacious room.

  She thought about surprising him by stripping naked and jumping in, but then she rolled her eyes. She didn’t exactly have the nerve to do that yet, and besides, if she did that, they’d get nothing discussed.

  Nikki looked around his bedroom instead. She actually hadn’t been in his apartment since that night. Not once had she cleaned his rooms and he hadn’t mentioned it to her since the day in the gym.

  Now that she was here she found that very little had changed from what she remembered. It was sparse. A huge bed in the middle. One end table. There was a worn book on the stand, next to what appeared to be a picture frame. The room was too dark for her to see who the picture was of. There was one large dresser across from the bed, one that Gabe had made himself. The intricate ivy ran the length of the beautiful piece of furniture. Nikki inhaled, catching the fresh, clean scent of his cologne.

  Her gaze traveled over the dresser. She almost didn’t see it since it blended in so well. She did a double-take and her lips parted.

  “No way,” she breathed, walking over to the dresser.

  She picked up the necklace, immediately recognizing the thin, cheap leather knock-off rope. Her breath caught as she ran her thumb over the medallion she’d carved for him. It was rather simple and kind of crude. Just a circle with a sword and chisel she’d carved into it. For some reason, she’d thought adding the sword was the cleverest thing ever. Kind of dumb now; the whole the-chisel-is-mightier-than-the-sword thought she had going on, but Gabe . . .

  After all these years, Gabe had kept it.

  Tears pricked at her eyes as she curved her fingers around the medallion. He’d kept the necklace that she’d brought him that night four years ago. He hadn’t hidden it. It lay on his dresser, where he could see it every day.

  Every day for four years.

  More affected by that than she could’ve ever imagined, she brought the necklace to her chest just as she heard the water turn off in the shower. Unable to even begin to stop the smile racing across her face, she turned toward the bathroom. A few moments passed and then the door opened. Steam rolled out as—holy shit.