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Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I head for the door. And my girl.
26
GABE
“I don’t know how you talked me into this,” I muse from my spot in the passenger’s seat.
A feminine scoff sounds from the back of the Rover. “It was so hard to twist your arm.”
The humor in Katherine’s voice is unmistakable and totally addictive. All these years we’ve been quibbling in the boardroom, and now, when she cuts me down to size, it sets my blood on fire. I’m gonna have a freaking hard-on before we get to her dad’s place.
She came home from lunch with a bag full of lotions and potions, as she called it, candles, wine, and even a throw blanket. Now she’s wearing something that smells amazing—soft, musky, a tiny bit floral.
“She’s got a point,” Alex agrees. His dark brows are lifted in his classic ‘you’re not fooling anyone’ expression.
I love that he doesn’t let me get away with anything. Seriously, I couldn’t have picked a better best friend. I don’t know why he puts up with me, but I shoot him a grin and then turn toward Katherine.
“Surf and turf?” I confirm.
She nods. “That’s what Ford said.”
“Hard to say no to that.” My gaze drops to her lips in the soft evening light. How did I ever think she was frigid? In my arms, she’s like a forest fire, and I can’t wait to kiss her again. This line of thinking is not helping my arousal, and I shift in the seat, trying to find a more comfortable position.
The tires hit a bump in the road, and her tits bounce beneath the soft white sweater. I shouldn’t stare. I know that. But I can’t help it. Now that I’ve felt her curves, her lips. . . Forget steak. It’s hard to say no to her.
When I meet her gaze again, her left brow is quirked up, all-knowing and sassy. Busted. Of course, she caught me ogling her. Am I mistaken, or does she like it?
The car hits another pothole with such force my ass leaves the seat, and I grab Alex’s headrest to steady myself. Katherine does the same, and our hands collide.
“Sorry,” Alex mutters, but when I glance his way, he’s cutting me a look from the corner of his eye. I seriously doubt the jostling was accidental.
Is he jealous?
I thought we sorted all this out earlier after trailing her into town. Alex couldn’t relax, even though she was with one of his best bodyguards. I’m not proud of how stalker-y we were, sitting down the street, him watching her with binoculars. And I’m definitely not cut out for surveillance.
So much for his brilliant plan: date her and let her pick.
I face forward again, biting back a sigh, but leave my hand where it is. Touching Katherine, connected even in a small way, settles something in me.
“All this money spent on real estate, and this is the condition of the roads,” I murmur as we roll along between multi-million dollar homes, tidy hedges and scruffy, brush-covered dunes.
Alex gives me a ‘Whatcha gonna do?’ shrug and negotiates a sharp curve in the road leading inland.
“They like to think of it as charm,” Katherine pipes in. I grunt. She squeezes my fingers. Can Alex see us in the mirror? Touching her feels akin to passing notes in class under the watchful eyes of a teacher. But I’m not about to stop.
I glare out the window, trying to figure out my own mind. Why now? Why her? Why am I testing the boundaries of my longest, closest friendship for a woman? For a relationship that will probably crash and burn like every other?
No wonder I have heartburn.
“I can’t believe you bought a house on Delores Lane,” she says. “What are the chances?”
My gut tightens. How was I to know her dad owned a home on the same road?
“Wasn’t intentional,” I say. It’d been a spur-of-the-moment purchase when my agent called with the find of the century. Huge lot right on the ocean and a spacious old house that needed a makeover.
“Oh, I know.” There’s a hollowness in her voice that sets off alarm bells in my mind. She lets go of my hand. I glance over my shoulder, but she’s staring out the window, spine straight, hands folded neatly in her lap.
The ice queen has returned.
