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Chapter eighty-seven
Gabe
Gabe
I lay awake holding Abbie, with Dexter at the foot of the bed, a surreal sense of rightness to the three of us together. Until these two came into my life, rightness meant alone. Rightness meant no one really knew me. No one at all. Not even Reid. Hell, the truth is that I always felt my father knew me better than anyone because of the past, and his role in Kendall and Mike’s undoing.
Did I blow my past into more than it had to be? Or did Abbie, downplay my sins because contrary to her vow not to, she’s falling in love with her best friend? Holy hell I want her to fall in love with me. I want and want and want some fucking more with this woman.
That thought was the last thought I had when I fell asleep and the first I have in the new day.
Exactly why I wake Abbie by kissing every part of her body I can possibly kiss, her soft sweet moans, the best damn way a man, this man, could wake up. I don’t fuck her. I make love to her and when we’re done, there’s a warmth between us thatexpands like a fire casting a glow across a cold room. We’re the fire that does more than cast me in warmth. We ignite fuel in me to take action. To shut my father down once and for all. To make everything bad in our lives right now good.
Still in a playful mood, Abbie mentions the shower and I proceed to carry her there, depositing her into the hot water, and then thanks to Dexter’s demands, leave her there alone. He needs to pee. Damn cute fucking dog. I throw on sweats and a T-shirt to take him out, avoiding the front of the building when the building staff warns me of reporters. A necessity that has me dialing Reid. “We got rid of him but we didn’t deal with him.”
I don’t have to say who “him” is. “Exactly what kept me up all night,” he admits. “We should meet.”
“Agreed. I need to get Abbie to the office and settled but I don’t want to talk there.”
“The coffee shop,” he says, referencing the spot by the office we often meet. “Ten AM.”
“Ten AM.” We disconnect and I head back upstairs to feed Dexter.
I enter the bedroom already peeling away my T-shirt and toeing off my shoes. “Your dog licked the doorman from chin to forehead,” I call out, walking toward the open bathroom door. “And I’m talking full-on lips-to-tongue action.” I find her at one of the two double sinks, a silk robe hugging her curves.
“My dog?” she laughs, turning to face me, a lacy black bra teasing me through the gaping V of the silk robe.
“I’ve decided he’s your dog when he does shit like that,” I say, dragging her to me and squeezing her backside. “I could really get used to this view in the morning.”
“You better. I’m moving in, remember?”
“I do. When Abbie?”
“You tell me?”
“Now.”
“Now?” she laughs.
“Yes. We’ll get all we can ourselves this weekend and call movers to get the rest.”
“I have a lease.”
“I’ll pay it.”
“You are not—”
I mold her to me and kiss her. “What’s mine is yours. We’ll work out the details later, but you will never want for anything ever again. You have my word.” I kiss her again and walk to the shower, undressing and stepping inside, pulling the door shut.
It opens again and Abbie stands there, tempting me to pull her inside, and if her hair wasn’t dry and her make-up done, I would. Hell if I didn’t have the meeting with Reid, I’d do it anyway and she could just get dressed all over again.
“I don’t want your money. I’ve had money, remember? It didn’t keep me warm at night or make me laugh, or even moan like you do, Gabe. And I don’t want to be taken care of. I want to be equal. I want to be friends. I want you, Gabe Maxwell, and nothing more.” And with that, she shuts the door and disappears, leaving me with more of that warmth spreading through me, as does my determination to do just what she said I shouldn’t.
Take care of her.
Whatever that has to mean. Whoever I have to cross. Even Jean Claude. I don’t care how dangerous he is, he’s not as dangerous as a man protecting the woman who woke him up.
***
