Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Chapter seventy
Gabe
Istand there staring at Abbie as she sits on her knees on my bed, my T-shirt clinging to all of her soft curves, the way my body had been a few minutes ago. The way I want to hold her again, but I don’t know if I ever will. I had no choice but to make that confession. If she’s going to end up hating me, if that’s where this ends, it needs to end now. Because if she can’t handle this, she can’t handle what happened with Kendall.
She scoots to the edge of the bed and stands up, walking toward me, stopping a lean from touching me. “What happened to him? The man you handed over to the bookies.”
“He survived,” I say. “But he could have died. I was clear on that point when I handed him over, but it was him or my sister and her unborn child. I chose my sister and that baby.”
“There was no other way?”
“We tried. Walker Security tried. The problem was layered and complicated and time wasn’t on our side.”
She studies me for a few more beats, but still, she doesn’t touch me and I don’t touch her. Why would I touch her if she hates me now?
“No one else knows this?” she confirms.
“No, Abbie. No one else knows this.”
“You trusted me with this information? Or you’re using it to try to push me away.”
“Both,” I admit. “If you can be pushed away, you should walk away sooner rather than later. I don’t want to be all in and you’re toeing your path with me.”
Suddenly, she’s stepping to me, her arms wrapping my waist, her chin tilting upward, her eyes meeting mine. “I’m not toeing anything with you. You’re not like Kenneth. He hurt people to help himself. You were just protecting your sister.”
“You say that now, but—”
“I’m not going to change my mind and you have no idea how much it means to me that you trusted me with this. My God, Gabe. It’s honest. Honest is what I want. Honest is what I want us to be. This means everything to me.”
I cup her head and lower my forehead to hers. “Don’t change your mind.”
“I’m not going to change my mind.”
I pull back to look at her. “If you do come to work for us, and I hope you do, you need to know that in business—”
“You’re brutal. You play to win. Gabe, it’s business. It’s what you need your attorney to be when you hire one. I’m not naïve. And I hate that you put yourself in the same space as my ex. There is no comparison.”
“You compare me to him.”
“You’re right. You are right, and I’m wrong to do that. You aren’t him.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Are you going to corner me in a closet and beat me while you rip my clothes off, Gabe? Are you going to tell me someone is dead, and you did it, and I’m next while beating me?”
I go cold inside, pure ice. “Holy fuck. If he was alive, I’d kill him.” I cup her face. “I spanked you. My God, I spanked you. Abbie, I’m sorry. I—”
“You asked me first. It’s not the same. I liked it.” Her hand flattens on my chest. “Me telling you what he did to me—that was me trusting you like you trusted me. Don’t turn me into a delicate flower and make it backfire on me. If you do that—”
“No delicate flower,” I say. “Got it. And you want to be spanked again, sooner than later.”
“You’re ad libbing.”
“Very well, I might add.”
She laughs and I kiss her, because I can’t not kiss her, that’s what she does to me. And when the kiss ends, it’s not really over, but rather a pause, waiting for more. Because nothing is ever enough with this woman. “I’m going to fall in love with you, Abbie. Then what?”
Her eyes soften. “We aren’t going to fall in love, remember?”
“And if we do?”
“I don’t know how to be in love, Gabe.”
“Maybe there’s a good how-to book online.” I wink. “I’ll get on Amazon tomorrow.”
She gives me a small smile and I drag her back to bed with me, turning down the lights and holding her close, her head settling on my shoulder. “We’ll be afraid together. Just don’t let me fall in love alone.”
“I’m not going to fall in love with you, Gabe,” she whispers. “You’re not going to fall in love with me, either.”
I smile because, one: she says those words with all kinds of love in her voice, and two: I’ve learned that with Abbie, she says we’re not when we are. And we are. We’re falling in love and yes, it’s scary as fuck, but so is bungee jumping and I did that once. It was a dare with no endgame. Now, I have an endgame. Abbie in my bed over, and over, and over again. Every single night.