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“You didn’t cross a line. There are no lines with you, Abbie, and that’s new to me. I’m used to shutting people out.”
“Why? Why do you shut people out, Gabe?”
She hits ten nerves that collide and explode inside me. “Why do you, Abbie?”
“Life touches us and we respond to what it’s made us feel.” Her fingers touch my jaw. “Life touched you like it did me.”
But no one has touched me like she has. Her fingers fall away from my face. “Maybe one day you’ll trust me enough to show me the man beneath the smiles.”
I catch her hand. “Are you suggesting you’ll stay around to find out?”
“Maybe if I believed you’d really show me that man, I would. Right now, I don’t believe you will and I’m not willing to be as vulnerable as you make me to have this be one-sided.”
“I want to know the woman beneath all that red hair.”
“I’m not complicated. I was burned. You know how.”
“I don’t know what it did to you, though. I don’t know what he did to you.”
“But you know the root of all my evil.”
And she will never know the root of all mine. The door opens and Grayson calls out, “We’re ready to board!”
I kiss Abbie’s hand. “I want to know you, Abbie. The good, the bad, the everything.”
She pushes to her toes and kisses me. “If you did,” she says. “You'd be willing to show me the good, the bad, and the everything. But you’re not. So I'm not. I’m going to find out if they have a crate for Dexter.” And then she’s running toward the building and her ultimatum is clear. She wants the root of my evil. If I want her, I have to give her more than I want to give her. I turn back to the car and stare at Dexter, who is now at the window, another man trapped in a box. God, this dog was madefor me but then, so was Abbie, and so I’ll get us beyond the man beneath the smile and keep her right here in the present.
Just me, Abbie, and a killer dog named Dexter.
Holy fuck.
I’m adopting this dog.
What is happening to my life?
Chapter twenty-seven
Abbie
Ileft Gabe with my bag. That wasn’t my intent, but I was rattled by how fast we’re moving, and at this point, I just need to make arrangements for the dog.
I enter the airport, the cold air behind me, warm heat suffocating me, yet it’s this man who’s suffocating me in all the right and wrong ways, as insane as that may sound. My head is spinning with him, my ex and God, everything. I don’t know how I went from trying to hire Reid, to kissing Gabe by the bathroom.
I walk to the counter and speak to the woman there. “Hi. Grayson Bennett rented a chopper and Gabe Maxwell and myself are supposed to be passengers. Gabe is on his way in, but he has a dog that needs to ride along.” I have this moment, where I realize what a couple we’re acting like.
“Of course. There will be an extra charge.”
“Expected,” I say. “And this is a large dog.”
We chat back and forth and I know the moment Gabe enters the airport and not because of the gust of air behind me, but because of the tingling awareness in my body that only this man creates. No one else has ever awakened every sense I own. Noother man has ever taken me so off guard and held me so very close, and I’m not even speaking literally.
He steps to my side and Dexter starts whining for me, acting like he hasn’t seen me in years. I bend down to pet him and Gabe does the same at the exact same moment. We end up facing each other with Dexter’s big nose nuzzling my neck. “Hi,” I say because why wouldn’t I say “hi” right now.
He grins. “Hi.”
He leans in and kisses me. “You’re a tough bargainer, Abbie Tanner.” He presses his cheek to mine. “We’ll negotiate the terms ofeverything.” He pulls back and winks. “Right now, I need to get Dexter set-up.”
I swallow the crazy dryness he’s created in my mouth while making other places quite wet. “I took care of him.” I kiss Dexter and stand up with Gabe right along with me. “Did you now?”
