by Cathy Quinn
The two bedroom doors were not closed, but not open wide enough for her to see inside. She tiptoed to the nearest door and pushed it slightly open. She reached inside and felt for a light switch, and the room was bathed in soft glow instead of the 100 watt work light that seemed the standard in every other room in the house.
This room wasn’t a mess. It looked feminine. The soft pastel colors, drapes, furniture – all new, all decidedly feminine.
All very much at odds with the rest of the house.
Alice leaned weakly against the door jamb. The room was finished. It must have been the first room he worked on.
What did this mean?
When she got back downstairs, the tiles were finished, except for the grouting, and Gabriel had retreated to the kitchen and peeling wallpaper. She used a closed paint can to stand on as she hoisted herself up on the counter right next to where he was crouched in a corner. "Gabriel, when are you going to tell me why you’re fixing up this house?"
"Hand me that other scraper, will you?"
"I saw the bedroom upstairs."
Gabriel looked up at her. He had a smudge on his cheek. "You were snooping?"
"It looks lovely. While your own bedroom still has peeling walls and a broken window."
"Wasn’t the door closed?" he asked pointedly.
"First room you worked on, huh?"
"So?"
"It’s a woman’s bedroom."
"Is it?"
"It looks nice, Gabriel." She crossed her arms and tried to look dangerous. "Spill. Who’s moving in?"
"No-one."
"Do you have a girlfriend I don’t know about?"
"It’s a guestroom."
"A guest room doesn’t have a character like this. Who decorated it?"
"I did."
"You have a secret girlfriend," she said. "You have a girlfriend you don’t want to tell me about, and she’s going to move in with you."
"I don’t have a ‘secret girlfriend’, Alice. For God’s sake, I’m not ten years old!"
"So she’s not a secret? Then why haven’t you told me about her?"
Gabriel straightened He pushed the hair away from his face, leaving another smudge on his temple, and looked seriously annoyed. "Alice – whoever that room is for – it is none of your business. Understood?"
Chapter 9
It was a sad day in a copyeditor’s life when she had to look up lay versus lie.
None of her business? Yes – he was probably right about that, damnit. Strictly speaking it was none of her business. She didn’t own Gabriel. She didn’t own so much as a single cell of him.
Alice pushed the keyboard away and covered her face with her hands. She’d struggled to push Gabriel out of her mind. She’d excused herself from the rest of the self-defense course, and Gabriel had let her off the hook after a short test of what she’d learned so far. She’d continued dating her alphabet men. She’d gone through B, C, D and E already, without meeting a single axe murderer. She was up to F, damn it.
She wasn’t past G. Perhaps that was the problem.
And why should she be past him, anyway, she thought, straightening her back. He was interested. He definitely was, despite his protests. Should she let him go, just because he was pushing her away for some obscure reason?
Hell, no!
Not without a fight! She was a woman of the 21st century! She would not let a lovely fish get away just because he thought the water was bluer on the other side.
Or something.
There was that little matter of a girly bedroom in his house. It looked like he had plans.
Or was she just jumping to conclusions?
It could have been just a ruse. After all, he was trying to escape, all because of some silly little-sister concept. And that bedroom didn’t necessarily mean he had a specific occupant in mind. He’d never said he had a girlfriend. How could he have had a secret girlfriend, with the way he reacted towards her and all the time they’d spent together recently? And why would a girlfriend be secret anyway?
Yup, she’d overreacted.
It definitely didn’t look like there was a woman in his life, although he didn’t seem to mind letting her think there was.
Hmmm.
On rare occasions, brothers did have their uses.
Especially when you could use their girlfriend against them.
Susan bit on a pencil. "Peculiar. But if Gabriel has a girlfriend moving in, why would she get her own bedroom? Wouldn’t she move into his bedroom?"
"You wouldn’t ask this if you’d seen his bedroom."
"Still, if a girlfriend were moving in with him, it would be their bedroom."
"He said it was a guestroom. Which suggests he’s hiding something."
Susan shook her head. "Alice, are you sure it isn’t just a guestroom? People do have guestrooms. If it’s for a girlfriend, why wouldn’t he just tell you? I mean – if Gabriel had a girlfriend, Michael would know about it."
Alice smiled broadly. "Right!"
"Oh." Susan said.
"Yup."
"That’s why you’re here. You want me to cross-examine your brother and dig up the dirt on Gabriel’s love life."
"If it’s not too much trouble," Alice answered apologetically.
Susan sighed. "I’ll try. No guarantees – but I’ll try."
"Now?"
"What do you mean, now?"
Alice pointed at the phone and put on a big, bright smile.
"Now? I can’t call him at work and interrogate him about his best friend’s love life!"
"Sure you can. You’ve got my big bro wrapped around your little finger. Purr at him, and he will tell you anything."
Susan shrugged in defeat. "Okay. Desperate measures and all that. But get out of here in the meantime, okay? You don’t want to witness this."
Alice fidgeted for the next twenty minutes, visiting the water cooler and photocopier five times each, hoping to overhear Susan’s phone conversation. But the door was closed and she didn’t even hear a murmur. She was probably too busy purring.
Then finally Susan opened the door and beckoned her inside.
"Okay. I interrogated Michael."
"Cool. Name and measurements, please."
"The room is not for a girlfriend."
"Then who is it for?"
Susan shrugged. "I can’t say. Michael refused to spill that much."
"What? He knows, but he won’t tell you? Don’t you tell each other everything?"
"He said something about honor code." Susan sighed. "If he does know, he’s obviously bound to secrecy. Sorry. That’s all I could dig up. But that’s plenty, isn’t it? It’s what you wanted to know."
"So the room is definitely not for a girlfriend?"
"Nope."
"So he doesn’t have a girlfriend?"
"Not that we know of. Not that Michael knows off, and I can’t imagine Gabriel hiding that from him."
"Then why did he let me think this room was for a girlfriend?"
"Because he wanted to be rid of you?"
"He thinks he wants to be rid of me," Alice corrected. "But actually he wants me so bad he can’t think straight."
"Poor guy."
Alice sighed. "Poor me! Men! Can’t live with them, can’t deport them off the planet."
"How’s the Tomboy to Temptress plan going?"
"Okay – I think. I mean – if he had to make up a phony girlfriend he’s definitely on the run, right?"
"Of course, you do want him to run towards you, not away from you..."
"Details, details. I’ll have him running in a circle in no time. How’s that article going? Do you have another tip for me?"
Susan rummaged through her notes. "Yup.... here’s one..."
"Well?"
Susan looked up and grinned. "Simple: ‘Ask Him Out.’"
Ask Him Out.
Yeah, simple all right. Just what a 21st century woman should do. She hadn’t done that yet, had she? It would be an obvious s
tep, but why did it have her squirming?
"Go for it!" Susan said enthusiastically. "It goes very well with my other tips, too."
"Dress Skimpy and Act Seductively," Alice muttered. "Got it."
***
Alice got Mr. F over with – and a disaster that was -- before going for Gabriel. She chose a Saturday to approach him, making sure as well as she could, through Susan and Michael, that he wouldn’t have an airtight excuse that weekend.
She’d only stayed away a week, but wow, did that house look better. A brand new doorbell beckoned, but she ignored it and tried the door.
After all, she still did have a key to this place and Gabriel hadn’t asked for it back yet...
The door was unlocked. The house looked empty, but a radio played somewhere out back. Alice paused in the kitchen, admiring the brand new cabinets and newly tiled floor. Everything looked great. She wouldn’t have believed it a few weeks ago, but someone was becoming the master of home improvement.
She finally located Gabriel in the back yard, looking scrumptious in a work shirt and extremely worn jeans, with a ridiculous yellow goggles pushed up on his forehead. His hair was covered in wooden splinters and sawdust as he bent over a pile of wooden planks and he was rubbing the back of his neck as if it itched.
He needed a shower. He needed someone to help him wash that dust off his back.
"Hi, Gabriel!" she called out. Better startle him now, rather than after he started that dangerous looking circular saw.
She thought she saw a flash of joy in his eyes when he first saw her, before he shut her out with his customary oh-so-sexy scowl. "What are you doing here?" he growled.
On Susan’s advice, she tried to sashay towards him. Unfortunately, she’d never looked up the exact meaning of sashay, and she was worried it showed. "Seeing an old friend," she answered with a smile. She’d considered ‘cooing’, but thought better off it. Another technique she’d have to look up and study before attempting it in practice. "Why? Do I need an appointment?"
He threw her some sandpaper. "Well, I’m busy. Since you’re here, you might as well make yourself useful."
Alice hurled the sheet of sandpaper back in his general direction – it ended up stuck up a tree – and twirled around before facing him with her hands on her hips, and a seductive look on her face. At least she hoped it was seductive and he wouldn’t instead ask if she’d developed a nervous tic. "Gabriel," she purred, "Look at me." She waited until he did. "Do I look like I’m dressed for manual labor?"
Her question had the intended effect. He looked her up and down, his gaze pausing in all the intended places.
Then he swallowed visibly, shouted at her to leave the work area, lowered the goggles and started the circular saw.
Sawdust filled the air, the racket obliterating all the subtle sensual tension she’d worked so hard at building up. Alice had to jump several feet away just to avoid getting a cleavage filled with dusty debris.
She sighed. Men! Nothing about them was ever easy.
She flopped down in the grass as close by as she could. She’d have to postpone any tantalizing seductive moves while the intended target was wielding a circular saw.
Talk about a whole new meaning to ‘safe sex’. But at least the view was nice.
Several minutes later, Gabriel tossed aside the last sawed piece of plank and put away the saw. He pushed the goggles back up on his forehead and brushed his hands together.
Alice jumped to her feet and took his hands, tenderly stroking his palms. "Aw, you’re getting calluses already." She snagged the goggles off his head and traced the faint lines left by the rubber bands. "Poor man. You’re ruined for life. Nobody will let you into a civilized law firm looking like this."
Gabriel grabbed her hands and placed them firmly at her sides. He stepped backwards, narrowly escaping tripping over the saw cord. His cheeks were flushed.
Yup, Dress Skimpy and Act Seductively was definitely working.
Now she just had to work the Ask Him Out part casually into the conversation.
"Anyone living in that room upstairs yet?"
Er. Not quite what she’d meant to say. Gabriel grinned and seemed to recover quickly. "Nope."
"How’s the new and improved bathroom? Any surprises in the shower yet?"
"Nope. It’s perfect."
"Great." She tilted her head and smiled at him. She’d have to push him off-balance again. After all, it was where he belonged. "Sometime I need to take a long, hot shower there." She stretched languorously as if she were standing under the warm spray of water. "You know – to get over the trauma of the last one. The ice needles, remember?"
"Uh-huh."
"I liked your towels, though," she continued. "Soft against my skin, big enough for two..."
"Thank my mother. Birthday gift. A full closet of towels. According to her, you can never have enough towels." He rubbed his forehead with his arm, leaving a small area wiped clean. "Speaking of showers, I need one."
"Need any help?" she purred, but Gabriel was on to her, and chuckled instead of that cute blushing he’d done before.
"No, witch. I can manage a shower on my own."
"I’ll be right here. You know... if you forget a towel or something, just call, and I’ll rush to the rescue."
Gabriel winked as he entered the house through the back door. "Right."
Alice yanked a blade of grass from the dusty ground and played with it while she planned her strategy. She could definitely get him flustered. Good. The trouble was that he always recovered so quickly. She needed a way to push him permanently off-balance...
He emerged a few minutes later, wearing shorts and a t-shirt, still toweling his hair. What the hell was so sexy about that? She wished she knew. She could probably write an article about it, but right now Alice was pretty content with just watching him.
He left the towel looped around his neck and sat down on an ancient, mossy bench, too far away from her. "Okay – what’s up, Al?"
"Alice." Nope. He would not get away with calling her that old masculine nickname. No way. Not when she was Dressed Skimpy and Acting Seductively in an effort to Ask Him Out.
He leaned forward and stared at her with those intense dark eyes, and she sighed at what that did to her insides. She just had to reel him in. She was too far gone now.
Getting over him would be impossible.
"How’s it going?" he asked. "Still working on that crazy internet thing?"
"Yes."
"Any luck?"
"If you’re asking if one of them turned out to be the love of my life – then no."
"Any disasters?"
"Nothing major. Well – the last one turned out to be sixteen years old."
Gabriel threw back his head and guffawed. "What did you do?"
"Called his mom and advised her to monitor his Internet usage."
"Good move. Planning to continue this?"
Alice nodded. "Of course. I’ll give it a go all the way through the alphabet, at least. After that, we’ll see."
"So, a minimum of twenty-six dates with internet weirdos?"
"Yeah. Well -- that’s assuming I find a Xavier and a Zachary and a Y.... Y-something..."
"Of course...."
Alice took a deep breath. "On that subject -- I’ve now met Alexander, Bart, Charlie, Duncan, Elias and, last but not least, little Frank... You know what that means?"
"What?"
"I’m up to G."
"Good for you."
She moved over to him, positioning herself for maximum cleavage effect, and smiled at him as seductively as she could. "Guess who’s G?"
Gabriel’s face took on every expression from bewilderment to amusement with a too-brief stopover in panic. He laughed and shook his head, gently punching her arm. "No way. Forget it, honey. I’m not one of your cyber geeks."
Great. Another rejection. She didn’t give up that easily, though.
"Come on," she whined. Damn, she sounded more like an Annoyi
ng Tomboy than a Seductive Temptress. What the hell, she’d make up for it later. "I never found a G-guy! You have to fill in!"
"No G-guy, Alice? Are you telling me there isn’t a single George or Greg or Gary on the Internet?"
"No! It’s a disaster! I’m not sure I can move on to H without my G!"
Gabriel stared at her. Then he hid his face in his hands.
And laughed.
He laughed forever, while she waited there, staring at him, waiting for the mirth to die down. Every time it seemed about to, he looked at her, and that started him off again.
She couldn’t imagine why, because she definitely wasn’t wearing a funny expression. Nope, she was glaring at him, serious and insulted.
What the heck was that funny?
"Done?" she asked, when he had been quiet for a whole three seconds.
