“I think a bit of both, actually. She’s very fashion-forward, but I’ve seen her wear pearls before. Really, anything looks good on her.” I flushed at the bold statement, and dropped my gaze to the display beneath the glass.
The saleswoman didn’t even miss a beat. “Let’s start by browsing this case. You’ll notice you have a lot to choose from, from band width, to diamond settings, to the size of the diamond.”
“Got it.” The rings shone back at me and all of them looked alike after a few minutes. Rebecca kindly gave me a few to look at but nothing stood out to me. It had to be special—as special as Pepper. “You know, I think I’m going to just take the anklet today.”
“All right, sir.” She gave me a knowing smile. “Please, come back and see me when you’re ready to look again.”
I promised I would, finished the purchase, and left the jewelry store feeling a little discouraged for the second time today. I realized that somewhere inside of me, I’d half-hoped something would have jumped out me—kind of like proof, verification that I was doing the right thing. Maybe I was rushing things.
On second thought, I didn’t think I was. I’d always assumed I’d know who the right one was whenever she came along and I was ninety-five percent sure she was the one.
What was the other five percent, then? Nerves? Or something more?
I pushed it all from my mind and turned my focus back to work. Things would spiral out of control quickly if I didn’t keep my head in the game. My next stop was the police station. Nobody had invited me to come down but I hoped that showing up at random would let them know I wasn’t going to let this go. I walked in and visited the detectives’ floor. I shook a few hands and heard what they had to say. They assured me that they had suspects and they were about to make some arrests.
I felt a little better by the time I left the station as I’d done all I could do for now. I was hungry so I stopped by Stymie’s for a drive-thru burger and by the time I made it back to Sea Lab, I’d scarfed it all down. Tossing the wrapper in the garbage can, I walked into the building and headed to Charlie’s security station. The older man had a new employee he was training so we didn’t have much time to talk. I listened in for a few minutes then Charlie went over some of the changes he’d implemented in our system and I left feeling confident and assured that what had happened would never happen again.
I excused myself and retreated back to my office. I strolled up the stairs and gave a polite smile to the temp receptionist sitting behind the front desk. She looked up at my approach and waved a greeting, her headset firmly on her head.
“Oh, Mr. Gregory. Your girlfriend is waiting for you in your office. I hope that’s okay.”
“Really?” That surprised me after what Pepper had said on the phone, but I grinned. I hoped it was another visit like the one we had the other day. She’d blown me away, strutting into my office wearing lingerie and an overcoat. “Thanks. Pearl, right?”
She smiled but shook her head. “No, my name is Mandy.”
“Where did I get Pearl from?”
“I have no idea, Mr. Gregory.”
“I’m sorry, Mandy. I got it now.” I took a step toward my office, then turned back and added, “Please, hold all my calls until further notice.”
She gave me a knowing smile and nodded.
I walked into the office with a big smile on my face. I guessed she wanted to surprise me and I wasn’t going to mess up her surprise. The lights were off and the blinds were closed so the room was pitch black. I reached to turn on the light, but drew my hand back when I quickly thought how interesting this could get. “Pepper?”
The anticipation of holding Pepper again was killing me and my cock rose to attention. Suddenly, she was on me, her lips on mine. The force of our bodies together practically slammed the door behind us and she kissed me hungrily. I felt the silk of her dress under my hands as she groped at my shirt, looking for the buttons. My hands moved over her ass and then it struck me—the ass I was fondling didn’t belong to Pepper!
I gripped the mystery girl’s hands and shoved her back in surprise. I reached for the light switch and flipped it on.
Standing in my office, looking confused and out of breath was my friend and long ago ex-girlfriend—Sophie.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
She took a step towards me, smiling. “I would think my intentions are pretty clear. It felt like you knew what we were doing, anyways.” She stepped closer still and rubbed her finger across my chest seductively.
“That’s because I thought you were Pepper! This was wrong, Sophie. So very, very wrong.” I rubbed her lipstick off my face and tried to control my anger.
“Hey, don’t act like that. It’s not like you haven’t kissed me before, Gabe.” She frowned, her lip poked out in a mock pout.
I stared at her, wondering what kind of nightmare I was suddenly living in. “I’ve made my feelings about you very clear and I don’t know what you thought you were doing with this whole scenario, trying to trick me into something, but you need to go. Right now.” She didn’t even blink so I continued. “This was wildly inappropriate. The past is the past for a reason. In fact, you’re fired, Sophie. I’ll be looking for another PR person. Someone who understands boundaries and professionalism.” I crossed my arms, daring her to try and argue with me.
Sophie rolled her eyes. “Okay. Right, Gabe. I’m fired? I don’t believe a word you’re saying right now. So I surprised you—sorry! I guess I should have called you first.”
“This has nothing to do with a surprise. What is wrong with you? I thought I’d spelled it out for you already. I’m not interested and I’m with Pepper Anderson now.”
She cemented her fists to her hips. “You’re making a mistake, Gabe. She’s nothing but trouble—everyone knows that. I want you to leave her alone before she ruins your reputation. You’re a smart guy, but you’re getting pretty stupid about this blonde trash.”
“Not another word,” I snarled. “You have no idea what you are talking about.”
She smiled, apparently happy to have gotten a rise out of me—although, I couldn’t fathom a reason why that would be a positive. “Oh, so you haven’t heard? Let me fill you in. Your crush, Pepper Anderson, isn’t even an Anderson. She’s from some orphanage or something. It’s all over the news. She’s probably just hooking up with you because she’ll need a rich boyfriend once her daddy disowns her and cuts off her trust fund. Open your eyes, Gabe. Stop acting like a fool.”
“I can’t believe you are standing in my office bad-mouthing my girlfriend. Not that it is any of your business, but I don’t care about her last name!” The whole situation was getting ridiculous.
She didn’t back down, “Why are you pretending that I don’t mean anything to you? You’re so full of shit, Gabriel!”
Before I could respond to her, the door swung open and I expected Mandy to walk in, as she’d probably heard me yelling through the closed doors, but it wasn’t the temp at all. It was Pepper and her sister, Mills.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Pepper stared at the two of us.
Sophie’s face lit up with glee. “Oh, there she is! Hello, Miss Anderson—or what do we call you now?”
Chapter Eight — Pepper
Mills and I arrived at Sea Lab to surprise Gabe at work and heard yelling as soon as we stepped off the elevator. From the looks on the faces of those around us, we weren’t the only ones who were concerned. A few of Gabe’s employees and co-workers had stepped out into the reception area, curious to see who was arguing with their boss.
We walked into the small lobby outside Gabe’s office and a tiny receptionist, tinier even than Mills, stepped out from behind the wave-shaped reception counter to stop us. A spark of recognition lit up her eyes as she looked at us, but she didn’t say anything about our infamy.
“May I help you?” she asked politely, but with a nervous smile.
“No, thanks. We’re here to see my boyfriend,
Gabe Gregory. You must be the new receptionist.” I slapped a smile on my face and reached my hand to hers.
The young woman took my extended hand, but her grip was light and a look of confusion crossed her face as she blurted out. “Uhm, Mr. Gregory’s girlfriend is already in his office right now… I think.”
A panic alarm went off somewhere in the back of my mind. His what? Who?
“I don’t think so,” I said as I pushed away from the reception desk and strutted towards Gabe’s office. Mills was right on my heels, trying to talk to me.
“Pepper, Pepper. Don’t do anything stupid!”
I ignored Mills and my focus zeroed in on getting to the bottom of this mess. I didn’t bother knocking and opened Gabe’s office door so hard it clanged against the wall as it hit the doorstop. My eyes raked over him in a sweeping assessment. He looked like a disaster. His thick, dark hair was jacked up and traces of red lipstick covered his face. I tried to piece together the scene. He was obviously having it out with Sophie. The sleazy brunette wore a red silk dress that had several buttons undone at the top, her long, wavy hair looked messy, too. Gabe stood with his hands on his hips and Sophie smiled at me like the Cheshire cat. She said something to me, but all I could hear was the angry string of expletives exploding in my mind.
I repeated myself. “What the hell is going on in here?”
Sophie draped herself over Gabe’s shoulder and smiled at me even bigger.
“I said what do we call you now, Pepper? I mean, I heard the big news. You aren’t a real Anderson. I just heard Evangeline tell the news channel that you weren’t her kid or Doug Anderson’s. Said she found you at some orphanage or something? Poor, Pepper…so what do we call you?”
I took a step towards her, my fist pinched tight, but Mills grabbed my hand. “Pepper! Please! Don’t listen to this crazy woman.”
Gabe shoved her away from him. “Sophie, get out. You’re done here.”
“Aw, I’m sorry, baby. So am I still meeting you later?” she smiled sweetly at him.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you need to leave—now!”
“Oh, I got it,” she said as if she were sharing a secret with him. She made a show of stopping to button up the front of her dress and grabbed her cherry red Gucci bag from the nearby chair. “Fine. I’ll wait for you to call me once you’re done with this disaster of a publicity stunt.”
“Just what do you mean by that?” I snapped.
“Isn’t it obvious?” She flipped her collar up and smoothed her dress. “That’s what you’ve been—a publicity stunt. What better way to get the money we needed for the whales? I mean, the whole riding on a fish thing—that was brilliant. You really helped so much. I know Gabe was pleased with the results.”
“Gabe? Is this true?” Mills whimpered as she looked over at him.
“No, never!” Gabe sounded desperate, but I wasn’t done with this.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” I couldn’t help myself—I stood between Sophie and the door.
“No, honey. You don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m so sorry you had to find out this way. I thought Gabe had already come clean. Guess not. How awkward,” she purred.
I rooted myself to the floor. I wasn’t giving this up without a fight. “You aren’t leaving here until you answer my questions. Why are you here?”
“Pepper, please just let her go.” Gabe took a step towards me but I didn’t look at him. I waved him away, keeping my focus on Sophie.
“No, I think I deserve to know why this bitch is here in your office. Was this a PR stunt, Gabriel?”
“Bitch? Bitch? Hah! At least I know where I come from!” Sophie inched towards me, wearing a dangerous smile. “I’m sure that’s more than you can say.” My hand flew up before I could think and I slapped her in the face. It was a hard slap—one that stung my hand and left a red mark on her pale cheek.
She dropped her purse and shoved me against the wall. I slapped her again and then Gabe’s strong arms were around me. All of a sudden, Bobbie Jo was in the room and she shoved Sophie into the hallway. “You need to go, Soph. Come on, just go. Be a lady.” Sophie swore at her and I heard people whispering.
“Get your hands off of me. This isn’t over, Pepper Anderson! Or whatever the hell your last name is! You’ll be hearing from my attorney! I swear to God you will!”
“Fine! Bring it on, you pathetic tramp!” I was shaking so hard, I slung myself out of Gabe’s hands and walked towards the door.
“Pepper, stop! Don’t leave. Let me explain,” Gabe pleaded as he stepped between me and the door and closed it behind him.
I smoothed my messy hair with one hand, grabbed Mills’ hand with the other. “Get out of my way, Gabriel!”
“Pepper, stop! Please listen to me. I didn’t know she was in here. The temp told me my girlfriend was waiting for me in the office. I thought it was you! I swear it!”
“Yeah, right, because we look so much alike!” I said in an angry whisper. “Try again, jerk!”
“Pep, listen to him, for God’s sake!” Mills looked pale again and sat down in a nearby chair. “I’m not going until you listen!”
“Fine! You have just one minute to convince me you didn’t know it was me in here. And I can see her sloppy, red lipstick all over your face, Gabe.”
“I know, I was an idiot. I walked in here, the lights were off and the blinds were closed. I swear I thought it was you—I thought it was like the other day when we…” He looked at Mills embarrassed. “You know what I thought.”
“So what? You had to kiss her a dozen times before you knew she wasn’t me?”
Gabe groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. “Please, as soon as I touched her, I knew it wasn’t you. I was trying to throw her out when you got here. Didn’t you hear me? You walked in before I could get her to leave. I swear, nothing happened! You have to believe me. You know I’m not a cheater, Pepper. I would never do that. I’m not that kind of guy at all.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.” I was still not completely convinced. How could he have not known? Even in the dark. Sophie and I were nothing alike. Different heights, different voices, different perfume. It should have been obvious to Gabe.
He reared back at my statement. “Are you comparing me to that slimy ex-boyfriend of yours, Jonathan Church?”
“If the shoe fits!” I said with tears in my eyes.
Mills rose to her feet. “Pep, you don’t mean that,” she said as she tried to calm me down. “Gabe, she doesn’t mean that.”
“I do mean it! I’ve had enough of backstabbing cheaters in my life!”
Gabe stared at me, completely shell shocked. Then, he shook his head and his face went back to neutral. He calmly walked behind his desk and shuffled a stack of papers as if nothing had happened at all. “I think you should go, Pepper. I have a lot of work to catch up on. I don’t have time for this conversation.”
I didn’t say anything else. I knew I’d crossed a line but I wasn’t willing to say I was sorry yet. I wanted him to hurt like I was hurting in that moment.
I dropped my fists as the fight drained out of me. I let Mills lead me out of Gabe’s office and by the time we were halfway back to the car, my mind had shifted gears and I suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about part of what Sophie had said. I needed to get to a TV and see if what she’d said was true. If Evangeline had really done what she’d threatened to do, and told the world I wasn’t her and Doug Anderson’s daughter.
Before I could ask Mills if she knew what had happened, my phone rang. It was my father.
“Hey, Da—Doug,” I tried to sound cheerful but it wasn’t working.
“Pepper, where are you?”
“I’m leaving Sea Lab. Mills is with me. What’s going on?”
He didn’t answer me right away. “Well, I didn’t know if you’d been watching the television or not. It looks like Evangeline made good on her threat. She’s definitely telling it all and s
ome of it isn’t even true. I’m sorry, Pepper Ann. This isn’t what I wanted for you.”
“I heard already, Daddy. It’s okay.” I wiped tears away from my eyes. “I really don’t want to talk about that right now. I took Mills to the clinic this morning and she’s got pictures of the baby. Are you going to be home? We’re heading over there now.”
“No! Don’t come home right now. I’ve got the police on the way but it’s a madhouse outside the gates. Why don’t you wait a couple of hours? The police should get things cleared up by tonight. But, if you girls want to get a hotel room for the night and lay low, that might be best.”
“No, I know where we can go. Gabe’s boat is out of the city and no one will find us there. I’ll bring Mills back after dark and go in through the garage so they won’t even see us.”
“Can’t you stay with Gabe at his house? Or maybe go to Aven’s?”
“Uhm, no. I can’t go to Gabe’s right now and Aven isn’t home. She’s gone to see her boyfriend and I think Fallon is with his Dad somewhere.” I looked at Mills—she nodded in agreement. “It’s okay, Dad. Nobody ever goes to the marina except a few folks and they don’t bother me. I don’t think they even know who I am.”
“Even so, don’t go out in public right now. I’m going to call Gabe and tell him what’s happening.”
“No, Daddy. Gabe’s not—I mean, why bother him? We can handle it.”
“Nonsense. I’ll be in touch. Go straight there girls.”
There was no sense in arguing with him when he got like this. When he zeroed in on something—he had laser focus. That’s the way it was and I was too mentally tired to argue.
We got to the car as quickly as we could and drove to the marina. “Is he going to be okay with us going to his boat after your fight back there?”
“I hope so.”
“You know you were an ass, right?”
I looked over at Mills. I was a little shocked by her blunt words, but I had to admit, she had a point. “Yes, I do.”
We paused for a moment before I asked, “Still want to meet up with Evangeline?”
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