Letters to Gabriella

by Patricia Paris

  Gab shook her head. “I haven’t talked to him since you called to invite her.”

  “I might be talking to him later,” Delaney said. “I’ll let him know.”

  “I don’t know, Delaney. I think I’d rather you didn’t. He might think—” Gab looked at her friend. Delaney was frowning and had a suspicious expression that made Gab think something was up.

  “Delaney.” Gab narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t ask Chloe over just so Justin and I could…”

  “No! Of course not! I mean, I just thought it would be fun for Chloe and Ben to have a campout before school starts.”

  Gab studied her friend with keen eyes. “Really?”

  “Really!”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Okay, look, I adore Justin. He’s a very special man. I’d love for him to fall in love with someone who’s just as special, someone who can hold her own with him and still make him happy.”

  “And what, you think I’m that someone?”

  Delaney nodded. “I think you’re precisely that someone.”

  “Delaney, we’ve barely—” Gab glanced up and stopped talking midsentence. Justin was headed straight for them. Or maybe it was Blake. She didn’t know, they were so identical.

  “What are you two brewing up?” He slid into the bench next to Gab, looked down, and slayed her with a devastatingly sexy grin.

  “Hi, gorgeous.” He winked, and Gabriella was tempted to crawl into his lap and make a spectacle of herself.

  “Hey, Justin,” Delaney said, amusement lacing her greeting.

  He gave Gab a grin that made her wonder if he could read her lascivious thoughts, then turned and looked at his sister-in-law.

  “Hey, sweetheart. How are you and baby Kate doing?”

  Delaney patted her stomach. “We’re both good. What are you up to?”

  Justin leaned back and put his arm across the back of the booth, letting his fingers trail down along Gab’s shoulder.

  “I’m trying to get a jump on things at the office. I just stopped in to get a sandwich to take back when I saw the two of you.”

  “Well, I’m afraid I’ve got to leave.” Delaney started to gather her things. “I’ve got a checkup this afternoon.” She shimmied across the seat of the booth and once out, leaned down and gave Justin a kiss on the cheek.

  “I’ll see you at swim class tomorrow,” Gab told Delaney.

  “See you then.” Delaney started to leave but then turned and said, “Oh, and Gab, you don’t need to worry about sending a sleeping bag with Chloe Friday night; we’ve got extras.”

  Gab shot her a look, but Delaney merely said, “Bye,” then flashed a broad, dimpled smile, gave a little wave before turning back around, and walked away with a suspicious bounce in her step.

  “What’s happening Friday night?” Justin asked, picking right up, as Gab knew Delaney had intended, on his sister-in-law’s parting comment.

  “Delaney invited Chloe to have a sleepover with Ben. They’re going to camp out in a tent in their backyard.” She could see his tongue working the inside of his cheek, his eyes beginning to glow their beautiful warm gold.

  “Sounds like fun.” His fingers brushed back and forth over her shoulder, light as a breeze, barely there, devastating.

  Gab felt trapped in his amber gaze, unable to look away, so aware of him and the heat building between them.

  “Do you have plans?” His fingers caressed their way down her arm, casting their spell.

  She swallowed and shook her head. “Not yet. I’m leaving my options open.”

  His smile appeared slowly, a sexy curving of the lips that had already kissed her with such abandon. “Want to hang out?”

  Gab blinked. It should be illegal for any man to look so tempting. “Hang out?” She sat up straighter and watched an older couple walk by. What did he mean? Like friends? She frowned. Is that what he wanted? She glanced at him again.

  “What were you thinking?”

  His grin gave him away, and she realized he was teasing her and enjoying it, but two could play at that game.

  “Maybe you can come over to Delaney and Blake’s when I drop Chloe off. The four of us could play Monopoly or something,” she said.

  Justin shook his head slowly. “I’ve got a better idea. How about you come to my place, and I’ll make dinner for us.”

  She hadn’t expected that. She tried to imagine him puttering around in a kitchen but failed. “You can cook?”

  “I’m no gourmet, but I can whip up a decent meal.”

  “All right.” It had been almost two months since their chance encounter at the grocery store, and she’d been attracted to him even then, as fleeting as that had been. Every time she’d seen him since, the attraction had only intensified.

  She wanted a chance to explore what was growing between them, to see if she wanted to trust opening her heart more. A quiet evening alone would provide a good opportunity to do that.

  AFTER DROPPING Chloe off Friday evening, Gab followed Delaney’s directions to Mary O’Meara’s Inn. Delaney told her the cottage where Justin was staying was the same one she had stayed in when she first came to Glebe Point and met Blake. Maybe it held good vibes.

  Gab parked in front of the Inn and got out of the car. Gorgeous blue hydrangeas reigned in the border garden in front of the Inn’s wrap-around porch. Clusters of pink and white gladiola and bushy lavender mingled harmoniously with clove scented pinks.

  She spotted the cottage off to the side of the main building, a picturesque jewel with climbing roses growing up white lattice on one side and more to die for hydrangea on the other. The door to the Inn opened, and Mary came out onto the porch and down the steps.

  “Hello, Mary, I’m Gabriella. We met at the Fourth of July party at Delaney and Blake’s.”

  “Yes, of course I remember you, and your little girl Chloe. It’s so nice to see you again.” The woman reached out and touched Gab on the arm. “What can I do for you?”

  Gab glanced toward the cottage. “I’m here to see Justin.”

  “Oh, that’s nice.” Mary rubbed her hands together, smiling broadly. “I’m happy to see he found you.”

  “Found me?” Gab angled her head and gave the woman a questioning look.

  “Well yes. He was asking me if I knew you…one evening a couple of months ago.” Mary frowned. “At least I think it was you he was talking about.”

  Gab was certain the woman must be mistaken. She and Justin had only met at the party a little over a week ago.

  “Here’s Justin now.” The smile returned to Mary’s face when she regarded him.

  “Don’t believe anything Mary might be telling you,” Justin said in greeting.

  “I was just telling Gabriella how nice it was you found her.”

  “Found her?” Justin furrowed his brow, giving Mary the same confused look Gabriella had.

  “Yes, you remember. The woman you said you saw in town a couple of months ago—tall, short hair, pretty.” Mary’s blue eyes were dancing. “You wanted to know if I knew her.”

  “Ahh, right.” Justin looked at Gab and grinned. “The day I helped you with your cart at the grocery store.”

  She nodded. The fact he’d been asking about her made her feel all warm inside. It made her believe the sparks she’d felt during their first encounter had been travelling both ways, and that was a good thing since those sparks had since turned into a slow burning fire.

  “Well, you two run off and have a good time.” Mary patted Justin on the shoulder. “I’ve got some biscuits in the oven, and I better get them out before they burn.” She hurried off, smiling as if she were very pleased about something.

  Justin narrowed his eyes as he watched her walk away. He shook his head and then looked back at Gab.

  “Come on.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and steered her toward the cottage. “I hope you’re hungry. My plan is to fill your belly with an amazing meal, get you drunk on some moderately good wine, and then le
t you take advantage of my easy morals.”

  “Wow, my dream date,” she quipped, and then wondered if maybe he was serious.

  “Really?” He looked at her, his eyes swimming with wicked amusement. Did he think she meant it? She enjoyed their lighthearted, teasing banter, but she also didn’t want to mislead him. It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested, but she’d need to get to know him a little better before diving into a physical relationship.

  “I never take advantage of a guy on the first date,” she parlayed, hoping to define some boundaries for the evening without closing the door on future possibilities. “I wouldn’t want him to think I was only interested in his body.”

  “Well I appreciate that, but if you really get an urge, I probably won’t be offended if you want to take advantage of me just a little.”

  Gab didn’t even look at him. She knew he was grinning down at her with that sexier than sin grin. Justin was a temptation she found hard to resist, and it wouldn’t take much for their banter to turn into something hotter than she was ready to handle.

  He guided her around to the back of the cottage to a small patio. Her heart warmed when she saw he had set the scene for a romantic dinner. In the center of the small patio table was a white stoneware pitcher with a large bouquet of the hydrangeas she had admired a few minutes earlier, and two white taper candles. She wondered if the crystal holders were his or part of the cottage furnishings. Either way, it was obvious he had gone to the trouble of trying to make it nice for her.

  “Why don’t you pour us some wine, and I’ll get the grill started,” Justin said. “The wine’s in a bucket under the table.”

  While the food was grilling, they sat on the patio and chatted. There was a light but steady breeze coming off the water, so the warm July evening was pleasant, and with the candles burning, a glass of wine mellowing her mood, and the smell of Mary’s gardens, Gab felt lighthearted and relaxed.

  Justin was easy to get along with. He seemed good-natured, and he made her laugh. She liked that. They hadn’t had much opportunity to talk, just the two of them, and although she had a sense of the kind of man he was, she didn’t know much about him. She did know he had moved back to Glebe Point to start his own law firm after working in DC for several years. It was difficult to imagine him living in the city, working twelve-hour days for some big, corporate law firm. He seemed too down to earth for that…but he had.

  “It’s hard for me to envision you—” Gab started to say, and then looked over at Justin to find him studying her. He was looking at her head. Did he think her hair was too short? Most men seemed to like long hair on women. It was probably a throwback to the Neanderthal period when cavemen used to drag their women around by their locks. Well, she couldn’t verify that, but that’s how things were depicted. It was a pretty sad representation—and they hadn’t even invented Excedrin yet.

  She ran a hand over her hair.

  “I love the shape of your head,” he said, surprising her. Of all the things she would have imagined he might be thinking that would never have crossed her radar.

  “Thanks.” She gave him a half smile. “I think.”

  He chuckled. “I know that probably sounds strange. I thought it was a little bizarre myself when I realized how obsessed I was with it, but it’s probably a textbook perfect shape.”

  Gab smirked. It wasn’t that she wanted to have an oddly shaped head, but of all her features, he might have picked something a little more romantic to obsess over. What about her alluring eyes or sensuous lips? If his biggest attraction was to her noggin, what did that say for the passion she thought she might have stirred in him? He might as well think she had nice knuckles.

  Justin got up and checked the food, leaving her to ponder his revelation.

  “How do you like your steak?” he asked as he moved the meat around on the rack.

  “Medium rare.”

  “Woman after my own heart.” He gave it a flip. He plucked the two foil-wrapped potatoes he’d been keeping warm on the upper shelf off the grill and juggled them on his way to the table, putting one on each dinner plate. When the steaks were done, he asked her to pour them some more wine while he went inside to get the salad.

  When everything was ready, they sat down across from each other at the small table. Justin raised his wine glass and held her gaze. “To new beginnings.”

  Gabriella swallowed, not sure how much to read into his toast, and careful not to let her own desires lead her to misinterpret his meaning. They had both recently moved to the area, him returning after many years and her for the first time. He was getting ready to open a new law practice. Chloe would be starting first grade, and she and Gab would be entering a new phase of their lives. His brother and Delaney were going to have a baby in a couple of months. There were a number of things he could be referring to.

  Gab raised her glass. “New beginnings.” She touched the rim to his and then took a sip of the wine. She wanted a relationship with him, but she needed to be careful she didn’t fall in love if all he wanted was something casual. The best defense against losing her heart and getting hurt would be to take things slow.

  JUSTIN DIDN’T know if he’d ever wanted a woman as much as he wanted Gabriella. She excited him on multiple levels, and she looked so damn sexy in that little flowered sundress she had on that it had taken all the control he could muster not to devour her instead of their meal.

  Did she consider this their first date? If he counted the barbecue, the miniature golf night, the boat outing with the kids, that made this number four in his book. Even if he couldn’t really count the barbecue, that still made three. So if he lost a little control after dinner, she couldn’t think he was only interested in her body.

  Oh, he was interested all right, in every delectable inch of it. He’d been fantasizing about making love to her since before he even knew who she was. After that comment she’d made earlier though, he didn’t want her to think that was all he cared about. That was the problem with joking around. You just didn’t know when someone was serious or when they were fooling with you. He hoped she wasn’t serious, because by his count this was their third date, and he’d been good. Not that he’d had much choice when they’d been double dating with a couple of six year olds, but that was beside the point. The point was, this was their third date, possibly fourth, depending on how you counted it.

  After they finished clearing the dishes and putting away the leftovers, Justin took Gab’s hand and led her to the couch. He sat down and pulled her onto his lap.

  “If I have to wait another minute to get those sweet lips of yours under mine, I might start howling.” He took her face between his hands and covered her mouth before she had an opportunity to refuse him.

  She relaxed against him, leaning into the kiss, and he thought he might start howling anyway. Something wild reared inside him. A pagan drum began to beat in his head as lust roared through his blood.

  Justin leaned back against the arm of the couch, pulling Gabriella with him, never letting go of their kiss. The feel of her, so close, so warm and receptive, was destroying his restraint. He ran his hands down her back, over her hips, back up and then began the journey again, wanting to learn the feel of her, but not getting nearly enough.

  “Heaven in my arms, darlin’, that’s what you are.” He kissed her neck. Her shiver of response snapped another tether of his control.

  Justin rolled her toward the back of the couch so that she was on the bottom now. Desire pumped through his veins as he kissed her face, her ears, her mouth, and exploded when he heard her moan beneath him. He ran his hands over her head, molding it, the feel of it exciting him in its perfection. He didn’t think about it or how strange that it was such a turn on. He just enjoyed the firm solidness of it under his fingers.

  He dropped down, tasting the hollow of her neck, and reached for the hem of her dress, inching it up higher on her hips. Moving over her, he gloried in the feel of her legs stretched out under him. He slid his
hands under her hips and thought he would die when she said his name. Justin possessed her mouth again, rocking slowly against her, the rhythm a temptation that pushed him closer to the edge of sanity.

  “I want you, Gabriella,” he whispered against her lips.

  She reached down and tugged her dress back down a bit. He slipped his fingers under the hem and massaged her leg, and she scooted up a little higher on the couch arm, a warning sign she might be retreating. Justin followed her up, angling his head and kissing her again. He sought her tongue, that silk sword of desire, trying to recapture her passion.

  Gabriella put her hands on his shoulders and blew out a breath. “A minute here.” Her breathing was heavy, broken, matching his own.

  He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers. “You okay?” He felt her nod against his head.

  “I just need to…” She let out another breath. “Slow down,” she said, killing him. “We’re moving a little too fast and…I’m not…I need to…slow down.”

  The pagan in him reared in opposition, wanting satisfaction. Justin pushed a hand through his hair and sat up, looking down at her. Her lips were damp and swollen. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes still brimmed with desire.

  “You sure about that?” He ran a finger along the silken line of her jaw.

  She swallowed and nodded slowly, closing her eyes as she did, as if against her will. She had more control than he did. If she’d let him, he was more than ready to take them both flying.

  “It’s getting late.” She sat up straighter. “I should be going.”

  “You don’t have to.” He kissed the top of her head. “You could stay…pick Chloe up from here in the morning.”

  She shook her head. “No. You’re too much of a temptation.”

  “Then stay and let me tempt you.” He gave it one more shot.

  She smiled at him, a sweet, amused smile. “Nice try. I can’t though. I need a little time to think about this.”