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The driver has no idea what to say, so he looks at me and back to Frederick, who just nods at him. “The keys are in the cupholder,” the driver says to me.
“Great, thanks,” I reply, walking around the car, looking at Frederick who is telling the driver something. He closes the door and rushes back into the hotel. “I’ll call you if I need anything,” I tell him as soon as I open the driver’s door and get in.
Once I’m in the air-conditioned car, I type in a florist before I leave. Following the directions of the GPS, I stop at this small flower shop. Instead of roses, I grab a bouquet of sunflowers, and she wraps them in brown paper before handing them to me.
It takes me thirty-five minutes to finally arrive at Gabriella’s house. I look over and see that the front window has the curtains open. Opening the car door, I reach over and pick up the flowers before walking up the five steps to her door. I’m even more nervous today than I was yesterday. I ring the doorbell, and my neck starts to get instantly hot. I look at the black door, waiting to hear the lock click open. I wait a minute before ringing again, looking right to left before I see movement on the floor.
“I see your shadow,” I announce once I know she is close to the door.
She groans, instantly making my heart soar. I hear the door unlock before she swings it open. She’s wearing frayed jean shorts and a white crop top showing off her midriff. “Why are you here again?” she asks in a whine before I put the sunglasses on top of my head so I can see her clearly. Her hair is tied up on top of her head, and her face is makeup-free.
“Well, you said you didn’t want to go to dinner.” I smile at her. “So I thought I would bring dinner to you.” I hold out the flowers to her, but her hand never leaves the handle of the door.
She looks at me, and if looks could kill, I would definitely be dead in this instant. Better yet, she looks like she could skin me alive, which makes my pulse speed up as I watch her eyes take me in. I’ve missed a lot about Gabriella, but I think the thing I missed most is how she never fell for my bullshit. “I said no.” She folds her hands over her chest, cocking her hip to one side.
“Maybe we can have a picnic?” I smirk at her, knowing how much she loved it when we did it.
“Fuck no.” She shakes her head.
“Then we’ll go out,” I say as if it’s a good compromise.
“Why in the world would I want to go out with you?” she asks but doesn’t give me a chance to answer. “Surely, you can find someone else in that black book of yours.” Shot fired. “I’m sure hundreds of women are just waiting for Romeo Beckett to look their way.” Shot right to the heart like a bull’s-eye on a dartboard. I try to make out as if the comment doesn’t bother me, but it does. In so many fucking ways.
I stare into her eyes when I say the next words. “There is no one else I want to go out with.”
“You want to go out with me?” I don’t know if she’s asking me or telling me.
“Yes,” I answer her simply.
“You never want to go out.” I want to close my eyes and beg her to forgive me, but I’m afraid that answer will kill me. I’m afraid she’ll say she can never forgive me, and I’m not ready for it. “In the whole time we were together, we never went out.” I want to tell her that it’s not true, but it is. I would always make excuses not to go out with her, opting to stay in every single time. It’s not that I didn’t want to go out. It’s that I didn’t want to be plastered all over the tabloids when I did.
“I’ve changed,” I inform her, and her eyes cut to slits. Perhaps I should have used another word. One look at her and I know that I definitely should have used another word.
SEVEN
GABRIELLA
I stare at him or, better yet, I glare at him. My eyes go to slits when I hear the stupid words that men who fucked up overuse. “I’ve changed.”
I clap my hands together and laugh a full-on belly laugh. “The irony.” I can’t help but shake my head. “I’ve changed, too.” I stare him dead in the eyes.
“I look forward to getting to know you, then,” he replies and holds out the flowers again. Don’t take them, my head screams at me as my hand rises and grabs them. “So what do you say? Should we go out or stay in?”
“As if I would allow you to come into my home and tarnish it,” I mumble, turning away from him. “You know what, Romeo?” I watch him take a step into the entrance. “I will go out to dinner with you.” What in the hell are you thinking? my head screams at me. “Then you can be on your merry way back to wherever it is you came from.”
He smiles and not just the fake smile I know he gives, but a full-on megawatt smile. The kind of smile that makes the corners of your eyes crinkle. “I’ll go change,” I say, walking to the stairs. “You can wait right where you are, or you can wait in your car. Either way is good with me.” I hold on to the railing as I walk up the stairs, avoiding looking back at him even though I can feel his eyes on me.
Once I get into the bedroom, I put the flowers on the bed, grab the phone from my back pocket, and dial Abigail. “She better pick up,” I mumble as I head over to the walk-in closet. It rings four times before she answers.
“Well, hello to you,” she says. “Did we calm down and stop drinking the crazy juice?” She laughs at her joke, but all I do is grit my teeth.
“Listen to me and listen to me good,” I say in a whisper. “In thirty minutes, I’m going to need you to call me back and make up an emergency,” I instruct, sticking my head out of my closet to make sure he isn’t lurking.
“Why are you whispering?” she asks, and I close my eyes and hit the palm of my hand on my forehead.
“Can we focus on what I just asked you?” My voice comes out as a whisper but still stays low. “Thirty minutes, you call me back and make up an emergency.”
“Like what?” she huffs.
