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)
“Don’t. Don’t fall in love, Gabe. Love is ugly. It cuts and it makes you bleed and—”
I cup her head and stare down at her. “I will never cut you and I will never make you bleed.”
“No one thinks that’s how love will treat them,” she says. “But then they’re crying bloody damn tears.”
She’s afraid.
I should be afraid. Hell, I have as many reasons as she has to punch a hole through love, but it doesn’t seem to matter. I can’t seem to shut down with this woman. “I’m not doing this alone, Abbie. If I’m falling, you’re falling with me.”
Her fingers curl on my chest. “I won’t fall, Gabe.”
“I’ll catch you. Give me the chance, and you’ll see that I’ll catch you. Hell, I’m trying to show you that now.”
“You—are wonderful. You’ve been nothing but wonderful.”
I narrow my eyes on her. “But?”
“No buts. That’s a fact.”
“He was wonderful at first, too,” I say, understanding washing over me.
“Not in the Gabe kind of way. He was debonair and charming, but he wasn’t you. I don’t mean to judge you by him, because that’s not fair.”
“What’s the Gabe kind of way, Abbie?”
“You’re funny and sweet and yet so damn protective. He was never those things. He was flowers and jewelry, and nothing more. Superficial things that meant nothing.”
“You want flowers and jewelry.”
“Don’t turn me being honest into that, Gabe. I don’t care about flowers and jewelry. I said those things don’t matter.”
“I can give you those things and more. I haven’t had time.”
“You already have.”
“And yet you want me to fall alone?”
“No. God, no. I want you to be the man of my dreams and that is some scary shit, Gabe. I don’t really know you.”
“You know more than you think.”
“I know you’re determined to keep a part of you locked away and it’s not even fair for me to ask you to share those parts of yourself right now. We’re new and—I have no right.”
But one day, she will. She doesn’t have to say that. It’s true. She will but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go all those deep dark places with her. “Some things don’t matter. Especially when someone comes along and shows them that they don’t matter.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It means I’m different with you, baby, and that’s a good thing.” I pull her hand between us and kiss it. “Go to the bathroom. We’ll talk later when we’re finally alone. I’ll be outside waiting for you.” I reach for the door and she catches my arm.
“What about my mother? Where will she go tonight?”
“She can go home or she can come to my place. What will she want? What do you want?”
“She won’t go to your place. She’s very independent, but I’m worried about the police cornering her.”
“Reese will handle that and I’m sure he’ll schedule an interview for her as he did for us. But if Reese feels she should stay with us, we’ll force the issue.”
Her eyes soften. “Thank you, Gabe.”
“You don’t have to thank me. We’re—”
Her lips are pressed to my lips, and I don’t need further invitation. I cup her head and kiss the hell out of her, but the thing is, she kisses the hell out of me, too. I am instantly hot and hard, and it’s all I can do not to turn her to the sink, pull up her skirt and find my way inside her, but now is not the time nor the place.
“You, woman, are definitely trying to make me fall,” I say, releasing her and exiting the bathroom to find Reid sitting on the stairs a few feet away, waiting on me.
“How’s Cat?” I ask, claiming the step next to him.
“She’s Cat. Ready to save the world and us. On another note. I heard from Blake. He doesn’t see anything electronically that looks like trouble for either of us.”
“That’s good news.” Only he’s scowling. “What?”
“There’s an account in Abbie’s name that, while inactive now, had a large sum of money in it at one point.”
“The point? Aside from the fact that she was married to a billionaire.”
“It has some funny transactions that might be money laundering,” he says.
“Holy fuck.” I scrub my jaw and lower my voice. “Can Blake make this go away?”
“He already did, but there’s more. There’s a connection between that account and—”
“Our father,” I say, instantly realizing where this is going.
Reid gives a sharp nod. “Yes. Our father. “
“This explains so damn much. He served her a phony lawsuit under our company. I called his bluff, but clearly, he’s motivated to scare her away from me. Because this all runs too close to home, his home, for his comfort.” I grimace. “I wonder if Abbie will love me or hate me when she finds out that I killed my own damn father.”