“No, you’re trying to hint that neither of us will cheat because the other has equal opportunity to do the same,” Jessa said bluntly.
Anne was glad to see the waiter approach with their food on a tray. She had no response to Jessa’s bold statement. Especially since it was absolutely true.
They dug into their food, the silence lasting just long enough for Anne to believe Jessa was going to let it go.
“I don’t worry about Connor cheating because I know he understands what it feels like to be the wronged party.” Jessa looked as if she were trying to decide how much to divulge. “A long time ago someone cheated on Connor and then tried to cry rape. He beat the shit out of the accused rapist only to find out the woman had been lying. He went to jail for that.”
Anne had always known Connor was an ex-con. Kitty had made dead certain they all did in her attempt to screw up Jessa’s life. In the end it hadn’t mattered to Jessa, but Anne had always wondered how she could feel safe with a man who had once beat someone half to death. Considering the circumstances, and knowing what she did about how badly Jessa’s husband had treated her, Anne got it.
“Sometimes you just have to find a guy who knows what’s important, Anne. You have to find the one who realizes what cheating really costs in the end. The one who knows that it isn’t a game,” Jessa said.
Anne thought about the long nights alone in her bedroom, knowing beyond doubt that her husband was with someone else. When their lawyers had battled it out during those last few months, Paul had even brought women to the house and fucked them in the bedroom right next to hers. Her lawyer had told her in no uncertain terms not to move out. His lawyer wanted Anne to leave so they could claim desertion. Jason Paul had brought his mistresses home in a bid to make his wife want to leave so badly she no longer cared about the divorce terms.
The raw, aching anger returned as if it had happened yesterday. Anne had known then that her husband had never loved her. Nobody could have done that to a woman they’d once loved. It had torn her heart out to realize that she’d given twenty years of her life to someone who thought of her like nothing more than a kitchen appliance. She’d only ever wanted love.
“Anne?” Jessa had set her half-eaten burger down, her expression one of concern.
“I can’t go through that again, Jessa. I can’t.”
Jessa reached over and placed her hand over Anne’s. “They’re not all like Jason Paul. There are good men out there, even ones who know firsthand what it’s like to be cheated on.”
“Maybe, but I think I need a man nobody else in their right mind would want.” Anne laughed bitterly, thinking again that it was time she called Dave the Date back to ask for another chance.
“Don’t say that.”
“I’m not you. I’m not going to find some handsome, or I suppose in your case it’s scary, guy to declare his undying love for me.” Anne tried to inject some humor into her statement, but failed miserably.
“Take my advice and ask Gabriel to go to the retirement party with you, okay?” Jessa gave Anne’s forearm a squeeze. “Just trust me on this.”
* * *
“If Anne asks you to go to a party with her this weekend, you’d better say yes.”
Gabriel promptly forgot whatever he’d been thinking. Of course since his brain was currently stuck in a rut, he’d most likely been thinking about Anne anyway. He stared at Jessa in consternation. “She told you that she’s going to ask me to go to a party?”
“Well not exactly, but I told her to ask you.” Jessa walked behind the bar and grabbed a terry-cloth towel to hang on her apron.
“Why?” Gabriel didn’t get the feeling Anne wanted to ask him much of anywhere. In fact, he had a sneaking suspicion she hadn’t been willing to commit to coming around the bar again because she had other plans.
“Because she has to attend a party where her asshole ex-husband will be in attendance with his hot new wife, and she needs someone to keep her from being everybody’s welcome mat.”
If the way Jessa set her jaw after that revealing speech was anything to go by, Anne had a history of being used as a doormat. Gabriel found he didn’t like that at all. On the other hand, he’d had enough of pushing himself on women who didn’t want him. Anne had more or less rebuffed him in the park. “Why doesn’t she ask one of these guys she keeps going out with? I bet they’d make better dates to some toff’s party than I would.”
“They won’t scare her ex into being polite.” Jessa ducked down behind the bar, moving bottled beer around to make room for more.
“And you think I will?”
Her head popped up over the counter. “Would you really let some jackass start making cracks about her being fat and ugly and not do something about it?”
“Bloody hell,” he muttered.
Connor appeared from the direction of his office with a cash drawer in hand. “If Gabriel has other plans, I’ll go with her.”
Gabriel couldn’t decide which of the three of them was more gobsmacked at Connor’s sudden offer. Jessa seemed speechless, which for her was saying something.
“I remember the first time I met Anne,” Connor mused. “She was wearing a horrible dress that looked about ready to drown her, and she was in here with those country-club bitches looking for Jessa.”
“Country-club bitches?” Gabriel wanted clarification.
Connor grunted as he pushed the cash drawer into the register with a clang. “You know the type. Bored rich women with nothing better to do than count calories and make themselves feel better by making other people feel worse.”
That was one of the reasons Gabriel and Connor got along so well. The other man had the same knack for cutting straight to the point. “How long ago was that?”
Connor lifted his brows and turned to look at Jessa.
“She was still married then. It wasn’t long after I started working here, so maybe three years?” Jessa picked up the empty case and carried it out from behind the bar. “I think her marriage was actually worse than mine.”
Her husband snorted, letting them both know what he thought of that notion.
Jessa swatted Connor’s backside. “Seriously. My ex was a serial cheater. He was mean, but Anne’s ex-husband used to knowingly manipulate her emotions for his benefit. She never would have left him if I hadn’t convinced her to do it. She was sure she was better off staying with him.”
The idea of someone convincing a sensual creature like Anne she deserved a loveless, passionless existence with a bloke who actually taught her to feel bad about herself was abhorrent to Gabriel. He clenched his hands at his sides to keep a tenuous hold on the anger roaring through his veins.
“Now I feel sort of bad.” Jessa leaned against Connor and stared up into his face. “I met someone who dragged me kicking and screaming out of my shell.”
A wicked grin tugged at the corners of Connor’s mouth. “Screaming maybe but not kicking.”
“It’s been more than a year, and Anne is still convinced she’s better off alone if she can’t find some boring guy to settle down with.” Jessa looped her arms around Connor’s midsection and laid her cheek on his arm.
“Gabriel?” Two delicate lines appeared between Jessa’s eyebrows as she frowned.
He could feel himself being sucked in against his will. He didn’t get involved with women. After the mess with Franny, he’d decided it just wasn’t worth it. He had a good thing going here at the bar. Emory and Alex provided him with a live show that made it possible for him to stave off the need for physical contact. It was simple, and he wanted to keep it that way.
The image of Anne’s face taut with arousal left him physically weak. The sheer innocence of her response promised an unparalleled experience for the man willing to introduce her to real passion. Her scent lingered in his senses, her taste sweeter than honey. She was temptation incarnate.
“Why don’t you want to go out with her, Gabriel?” Jessa asked. “You never go out with anyone, that I know of a
t least.”
Gabriel met Connor’s gaze, wondering why he felt a sudden desire to tell Jessa the truth. He never divulged his past. Connor knew, in the way men knew things about each other. Gabriel had given a cursory outline when he’d first explained his reasons for wanting a job. Connor’s intuition had filled in the rest of what he needed to know. Alex knew a little more, only because he’d seen fit to ask when he’d been laid low while experiencing his own romantic growing pains with Emory.
“I haven’t had much luck with women.”
Jessa emerged from behind the bar and put her hands on her hips. “I can’t imagine why not. You’re a nice guy. You’re employed. You’re hot. You’ve got a sexy accent. And as Alex has proven over and over again, the accent seems to make American women lose their minds.”
“I’ve proven that?” Alex sauntered through the front entrance.
Connor lobbed a towel at Alex. “If you’re asking whether or not you’ve proven that you can manage to show up on time after sneaking out for a quickie, the answer would be yes.”
“I had lunch with Emory.”
Neither Connor nor Jessa looked convinced.
“Seriously. We ate lunch at that little outdoor café around the corner. Her brother-in-law stopped by to watch the shop for her.” Alex looked offended. “It really hurts that the three of you think I can’t go more than two or three hours without sex.”
“The bar opens in five minutes,” Connor said.
Jessa left the two of them to snipe at each other and moved around the bar toward Gabriel. If he’d thought Alex’s arrival would derail her campaign to play matchmaker, he’d been dead wrong.
“I know I’m not aware of the particulars about your past, Gabriel.” Jessa tentatively reached out and laid her hand on his arm. “But I do know you’re a good guy. Connor wouldn’t like you so much if you weren’t.”
If she were a mean and pushy chit, he could just say no.
But she wasn’t. Jessa gave him a warm smile that told him she was looking after the interests of a friend she truly cared about. “Anne needs a champion. I’m not asking you to get into a long-term relationship, but escorting her to this party would save her a lot of additional heartache. I know it. It’s one night, Gabriel. Please?”
“If she asks,” Gabriel said. “I’ll go.”
Jessa stood on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you!”
Gabriel was left feeling as though he’d been emotionally blindsided without even really understanding why.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“So what kind of business do you run, Stewart?” Anne hoped he hadn’t already told her. She kept zoning in and out while surreptitiously looking at her watch and wondering if she was really going to stop by the Phoenix after her date or not.
“I’m in real estate management.” Stewart flashed her a winning smile.
What a coincidence. So was she. Sort of.
Anne wondered if she’d known that about Stewart before making this date. She didn’t remember it being on his profile. He was just a businessman. Of course she didn’t make it a habit of telling her prospective dates that she owned an expensive building full of trendy downtown lofts either. She didn’t consider herself as being in real estate even though that was her sole source of income. Paul had been adamant that she be a homemaker for twenty years. Being out of the job market for that long didn’t leave a girl with many options when it came to supporting herself.
Stewart reached across the table and brushed the backs of his fingers over her hand. “Tell me about you, Anne.”
“Oh there’s really not much to tell.” She smiled, feeling off-balance.
Stewart was better looking than she’d thought he’d be. Tall, blond, classic profile, well groomed, and dressed in a custom-tailored suit. He looked like every other successful professional. Just like Jason Paul.
“What do you enjoy doing?” Stewart cut a very precise portion of steak and put it in his mouth.
“I like to read.” Anne hesitated to say more. Guys typically wanted women to be a little more adventurous than she. “I also like to paint.”
Stewart took a long drink of wine, half draining his glass. “Really? What subjects do you prefer?”
“I do mostly watercolors.” Anne felt herself warming to the topic. She’d only just picked up the hobby again in the last few months. “My balcony faces west so I have a great view of the sunsets over the river.”
He gave her a heated once-over with his blue eyes. “Sounds romantic.”
“I suppose it might be.”
“I’d like to see your paintings sometime.” A slow smile spread over his lips. “And your balcony.”
A month ago, three weeks ago, a week ago, hell yesterday evening she would’ve been thrilled at the level of attention Stewart was showing her. Why was she feeling so unmoved by it now?
Gabriel.
She resisted the urge to groan out loud. Her worst fears had come true. She’d been officially spoiled for anything but the sort of exquisite pleasure she’d received from a man who had probably made dozens of women feel the same way he had her.
Worse, Gabriel had done in ten minutes what Jason Paul hadn’t managed in twenty years. What would it be like if she were to actually have sex with him? What would it be like to have his magic fingers caress her clit as he slid his thick cock deep into her pussy?
“Are you overly warm, Anne?”
Anne rocketed back to the moment at hand. The slight frown on Stewart’s face indicated she’d been ruminating on the topic of Gabriel for longer than she’d thought. “I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
“You’re blushing.”
Oh yes, she tended to do that while remembering the look on Gabriel’s face when he licked his fingers clean…
This was not helping. Not helping at all. She struggled to find her equilibrium and wondered if she’d left it in a park that morning. “Actually I was just thinking about asking if you’d like to go and visit a friend with me later this evening.”
A fleeting expression of shock touched his face before he smoothed it back into a warm smile. “Where is this friend you’d like to see?”
“In a bar a few blocks over. You might have heard of it.” The date was going so well, sort of. Anne couldn’t imagine why she was throwing such a blatant wrench in the works. “It’s called Phoenix Rising.”
There was no way to misinterpret the misgiving on his face now. Stewart took another long drink of wine. “Have you actually been inside that place?”
Anne wondered where this was going and if she’d just bumped herself off Stewart’s approved list. “A few times.”
“Oh, well.” He ate his final bite of steak, chewing in a deliberate fashion and swallowing. Presumably to give himself time to think. “How about we go someplace a little more private? It tends to be rather loud in there. And…”
“And what?”
“And I’d rather not have to share your company this evening.” He looked apologetic. “It isn’t that I don’t appreciate a relaxed atmosphere, but I was enjoying the get-to-know-you part, and I thought we could get a coffee and maybe take a stroll down the riverwalk.”
Of all the things she’d expected him to say, that wasn’t one of them. Her earlier mistrust started to ease, buoyed by the warmth in his tone and the openness in his expression.
Why was she in such a hurry to find fault with Stewart anyway? Gabriel was probably buried balls-deep in that redhead he’d been kissing last night. Now she had a chance to have a nice evening with a gentleman who wouldn’t be encouraging her to engage in lewd behavior in public. What was wrong with that?
“That sounds lovely, Stewart. Thank you.”
Her heart did a little dance when he flashed her a look of satisfaction. “I’ll just ask for the check then, shall I?”
* * *
Anne tossed her empty paper coffee cup into a nearby trash can as she and Stewart passed by. The two of them had been strolling back and forth along the same mea
ndering stretch of the riverwalk for nearly an hour. The sun had already dipped below the horizon. The sky above the river was indigo and twilight, the most peaceful time of day in Anne’s opinion.
This portion of the riverwalk was in a less populous area of downtown. The sidewalk narrowed here as it dipped close to the water before hugging the side of Anne’s building.
“I enjoy sailing,” Stewart explained. “There’s nothing like being out on the rolling waves with a good wind in the sails. I’ll have to take you out sometime. If you enjoy the river, you’d love the ocean.”
Anne thought it sounded horrifying, but she’d be willing to try it since he was obviously so passionate about it. “Do you have your own boat?”
“I’ve had a few here and there. It’s a rather expensive hobby,” he said casually.
“No wonder you work long hours at the office,” Anne teased. “It sounds as if you like fast cars, boats, and traveling. No inexpensive hobbies for you. If I had that kind of budget, I could take art classes in Venice.”
She’d meant the jibe to be innocuous, maybe even flirty. Stewart didn’t seem to take it that way. He turned away from the water and gave her a little frown. He’d taken her hand almost as soon as they’d reached the riverwalk. Now she fought the urge to pull away.
His blue gaze bored into hers. “You’re financially stable, aren’t you? If you’d like to take a trip to Venice, there’s no reason you couldn’t.”
“Oh I suppose I could, if I wanted.” She was struck by the thought that his blue eyes were utterly washed out when compared to the brilliant cobalt of Gabriel’s.
She would not think about Gabriel.
“If you don’t take trips around the world to learn from the masters, you must have a secret spending fetish.”
Why did it seem as if he were forcing himself to be lighthearted about this? Anne was beginning to think Stewart was afraid she was after him for his money. Considering the bizarre direction of their conversation, it seemed likely.
“Designer handbags,” Anne said abruptly. “I have rooms full of them.”
Phoenix Flying Page 6
