“I’m not picky, I’ll eat anything.”
“Steak,” Coop decided and made his way into the kitchen.
That left me and Evette alone in the living room.
“So—”
“I feel—”
“You first—”
“You first—”
Smooth, asshole.
“Jinx, you owe me a soda.” Evette smiled.
I returned her grin and shook my head in amusement.
“If I said, pinch poke you owe me a Coke, would you think less of me?”
What in the actual fuck was going on? Was I serious with this shit? Pinch poke, you owe me a Coke? Jesus Christ, it was like I had a vagina. My balls had shriveled up, crawled up my ass, and left me stupid.
Evette shook with laughter which had the unfortunate consequence of jostling her shoulders, which of course made her chest heave. The after-effect had my gaze dropping to her upturned locks of hair brushing the curve of her tits. No, the woman had breasts. Breasts, goddamn it. Tits were what were on other women. Women I intended to get naked and fuck. And I absolutely was not going to fuck Evette London. My cock strongly protested this declaration.
Respect, motherfucker.
“No, but if you hadn’t said it I would’ve.”
“Right.”
That was all my sex-muddled mind could conjure up. This had to end. Tonight I would be having a stern conversation with my cock. Who in the hell was I kidding? My cock wasn’t the problem; I had control over that fucker. It was the rest of me that was the issue.
It was an uncomfortable realization to admit.
I couldn’t place what I felt because I’d never felt it.
I had no idea why I was so drawn to her.
It was utterly insane.
But I couldn’t stop the nagging feeling.
I didn’t understand why my heart was jumping in my chest. I only knew that it felt like it wanted to escape. And that scared the ever-loving fuck out of me because I had a sinking suspicion the little fucker knew its place—it had found its owner. And I wasn’t going to give it up without a fight.
Chapter 8
Dazed and confused.
That was what I was.
The last couple of days had been the craziest of my life with last night topping the charts by a mile.
After my shower and strange exchange with Gabe things were strained and wholly uncomfortable. Throughout dinner, Cooper had done his best to ease the strangeness. He’d jabber-jawed about mundane topics. Steering clear of any mention of why I was there.
As much as I wanted to get down to business I was grateful for the reprieve. My brain felt like it might explode with everything that was swirling around in it. Besides, I had no idea who the man was who held me at gunpoint and I’d given all my files to Garrett.
Part of me felt guilty for getting myself into this huge mess then dumping it on a bunch of Kyle’s friends to figure out. But not enough to go at it alone.
I felt guilty but I wasn’t stupid. I knew when I was in over my head and what happened back at my apartment was the very freaking definition of way the hell in over my head.
Last night I’d helped with the dishes then excused myself with the explanation I was exhausted and went to bed. I had been tired, but that wasn’t the reason for my hasty retreat.
No, no, no. My escape had to do with Gabe.
But once I was lying in bed I did what I was prone to do and I over-analyzed every word he’d spoken to me. Each smile, his frowns, the way he looked at me. It was a curse; I was an overthinker and with Gabe, there was a lot to think about so this went on until the wee hours in the morning.
Now I’d been awake for more than an hour but I hadn’t gotten up even though I knew I was being a chickenshit. But now, I was overthinking how I felt about Gabe. And there was a lot to think about with that, too.
He scared me but in an exciting way.
I was more than a little attracted to him. Okay, so ‘more than a little’ translated to butterflies and tingling in a supremely scary way.
But what I couldn’t stop obsessing about was the way he looked at me.
It was like he knew something.
I didn’t know what that something was, but I could swear I felt it, too.
Like, I just knew.
So that was why I was in bed dazed and confused, being a rude chickenshit.
There were things to do.
I needed to check in with my editor and make up some excuse as to why I would be working from home for the foreseeable future.
I needed to help Garrett.
But first I had to face Gabe.
Come on, bitch, get up and put on your big girl panties, strap on some armor, and rip the Band-Aid off.
It wasn’t the greatest pep talk but it got me out of bed and motoring.
With my teeth brushed, hair pulled up, and a new outfit, courtesy of Ivy, I walked out into the living room. Then I stopped short and stopped breathing.
Gabe.
Head bowed, arms bent in front of him wiping something off his face with what looked to be a balled-up t-shirt.
I had a good call to assume he was using his shirt, seeing as he wasn’t wearing one, which meant he was shirtless.
A shirtless Gabe.
Sweet mother of pearl.
And since his back was to me I was free to take my fill so I did.
Broad shoulders and muscles that made me want to call up Google and research human anatomy since I wasn’t familiar with the muscle groups, and it was a crying shame I couldn’t properly pay homage to all that was on display by calling them by their proper names. Suffice it to say I wanted to run my hands over his sweat-drenched back and feel every dip and valley.
My gaze lowered and much to my dismay Gabe was wearing baggy athletic shorts that only hinted at a sculpted ass. But when my eyes lowered more I found perfectly formed calves. He was definitely a runner.
Regrettably, my perusal was cut short when Cooper said my name.
Last night I’d decided I liked Cooper. This morning however with his interruption I wasn’t so sure and when I glanced up and saw the smirk on his face coupled with his blue eyes dancing I changed my mind entirely—I didn’t like him.
“Everything okay over there, Evette?” Cooper asked.
Now, I really didn’t like him.
“Everything is great, Cooper. How are you?”
“Just another day in paradise,” he returned.
What did I say to that?
“Are you hungry? There’s eggs and bacon for you in the kitchen,” Gabe offered.
“Thanks, I’m actually starving.”
Before I could make a break for it Cooper muttered, “Yeah, you looked famished over there.”
Famished?
What the hell was he talking about?
“Huh?”
“Never mind.” Cooper shook with that damn smile still in place. “You better go eat.”
Weird.
A reminder—I didn’t know Cooper or Gabe so I couldn’t gauge if he was making fun of me or teasing me.
Ten minutes later I was done with my scrambled eggs. I took my plate to the sink, unable to get Cooper’s strange comments out of my head when understanding washed over me. My head whipped back to the table and my gaze snagged on Cooper. I was shooting daggers at the back of his head, firing off missile after missile when he turned to look at me.
With my eyes narrowed I gave my best eat-shit-and-die look. His blinding white smile deflected my look so I tried another look, this one said “you’re a total assmunch.” It was a direct hit and I knew it. However, he rebounded quickly and roared with laughter.