by Claire Adams
“Okay, keep me in mind. I would be a much better partner in crime if you need one.” She winked.
My stomach rolled a little. It wasn’t that Olivia wasn’t attractive; she was a raven-haired beauty with dark eyes and olive skin that could send your heart racing and your cock throbbing.
Hell, when I’d first started out, I’d chased that skirt so hard you’d have thought that getting on her was my job, not getting on the team whose owner she so jealously guarded. The guys had all warned me against her, and pretty soon, it became clear why.
Olivia was on the wrong side of the hot/crazy scale. As hot as she was, it didn’t come close to balancing out the craziness. Even that little white lie about the surprise for Richard’s birthday had the potential of coming back and biting me in the ass.
Getting Gabrielle’s number was worth the risk, though. I would deal with Olivia if the time ever came. “I’ll do that. Thanks, Olivia. My plan is still in the beginning stages. If anything does come up, I’ll give you a shout.”
She tapped on the keyboard, and my phone buzzed. “Done. Her contact details are in your inbox.”
“Thanks, Liv. You’re the best.” I shot her another trademark smirk. “You won’t tell him I was here, will you?”
She flushed and shook her head. “Of course not, I’ve planned surprises before, you know. I’m looking forward to seeing what you have planned. I’m sure Richard is just going to love it. It really is so thoughtful of you to be planning something for him so far in advance.”
If I was being honest, I didn’t even know when Richard’s birthday was. “It’s no big deal. Really, it’s nothing more than a half-assed idea at the moment.”
If she knew that it was so half-assed that it didn’t quite exist, she might not have been singing my praises. It was more likely she would chase me from the building with her stiletto in hand and outing my sorry ass to the man himself at the same time.
“You’re so modest, James. Everyone loves that about you.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and started the mental process of removing my clothes with her eyes again. My skin crawled. It was time to get out of there.
“Thanks again, Olivia.” Feeling like I’d robbed a bank, I hauled ass out of there.
Chapter Ten
Gabrielle
I wasn’t used to having nothing to do. It frustrated me. I’d been scouring the internet, trying to figure out my next step, but so far, nothing caught my interest for more than a perfunctory examination.
For a couple of minutes the night before, I’d considered photography, but I was bored to death once I started reading about composition and placement and other words that didn’t ring my bell.
I’d moved from photography to social work. I knew it was quite the leap, but I honestly had no idea what I really wanted to do.
Social work seemed interesting for longer than photography had, and I could use some of the credits that I already had towards the degree. Then I realized I had no desire to return to school full-time and gave up on that idea.
I was going out of my mind. I needed a goal. I needed something to focus on. I played around with the idea of applying for a position as a secretary earlier that morning. At least until I figured out what my next step would be, but all the listed positions required experience. Which I didn’t have.
The only upside was that Heather had called. She wanted to go to the mall later. She’d thrown out some stuff that she’d deemed “beyond saving” when she’d finally gotten around to clearing up her disaster zone of an apartment. She claimed that retail therapy was exactly what she needed.
My phone buzzed. I snaked an arm out and grabbed it quickly. As it had been since Friday night, every time my phone buzzed, my heart flipped, and the butterflies in my stomach went mad.
James had awoken a sexual need in me that I’d never felt before. Then he dropped off the face of the planet. I almost regretted not giving him my phone number, but then if he didn’t call, I’d know it was because he wasn’t interested in me, which would be disappointing. This way, I still had some hope that he just hadn’t been able to track down my number.
My heart sank, and the butterflies in my stomach turned to stone when I flipped the phone and saw my dad’s smiling face staring at me from my screen. I had the phone on vibrate, so I hadn’t had the advance warning of his ringtone.
I really didn’t want to talk to him, but things had calmed down between us a little, and I knew I would have to speak to him eventually.
I stared at the display for a long moment before my resigning myself to the inevitable and swiping on the green button. “Hey, Dad.”
“Gabrielle, honey. How are you?” His voice was brisk, and I could hear horns blaring in the background. From some corner of my mind, I remembered some of his meetings this week were out of town. If the information from the dusty corner was correct, he was in New York today.
I toyed with my hair. Then, I flat out lied. “I’m good, Dad. Just really busy, I guess.”
“I wanted to talk to you about that.” Big surprise. “I want you to come see me when I get back.”
“I don’t know, Dad. I don’t know if I’m ready for—” He cut me off.
“If you agree to come and discuss this with me sometime at the end of the week, I’ll open your line of credit back up.” His voice held an edge of finality. I had been expecting something like that, so I’d already opened up my own bank account.
“I don’t know, Dad. I just, I think I need some time.” Both of us already knew that I’d be in his office as soon as he scheduled an appointment for me, but I had to put up a fight, at least.
He sighed as if he was tired of dealing with his petulant child. “I’m not asking you, Gabrielle. I’m telling you to agree to come and see me, and I’ll reopen up your line of credit.”
I breathed a frustrated sigh of my own. “Fine, Dad. I’ll come see you. It doesn’t change the fact that I’m not taking the bar.”
“We’ll see, Gabbi. I’ll see you Thursday or Friday. I’ll have Olivia call you.” The line went dead.
Fabulous.
****
“You look like you’re in need of sustenance.” Heather held out a coffee cup to me, and I accepted it with a grateful smile.
Heather and I exchanged a quick hug and sank onto the bench where we always met when we went shopping.
“Rough morning?” Heather blew into the plastic cover on her cup.
I chewed on my lower lip. Then got irritated when I realized that I was doing it. “Yeah, you could say so. My father called.”
Heather winced. “He’s still giving you a hard time, then?”
“It’s nothing that I wasn’t expecting; I just thought I was ready for it.” The confession tore me open a little. I hated showing vulnerability. Heather was just about the only person I opened up to like that.
“You’re stronger than you think, Gabbi. He was never going to make this easy on you, but you can get through it. If you’re still sure that you don’t want to take the bar, that is.” There was a glimmer of hope in her tone.
“I am. I don’t want to do it just because it’s what my dad wants. I want to want it. The way he’s acting isn’t making it any easier. In the meantime, I’m stuck. On the bright side, I’ve ruled out photography, social work, and veterinary sciences.”
Her eyes widened. “Veterinary sciences? You hate blood.”
She knew me too well. “I know. It popped up as an ad on the website I was browsing. Since I’m trying to keep an open mind, I clicked on the link. Closed it almost as soon as it opened.” At least the link didn’t have a virus. I knew better than to click on pop-ups.
Heather smiled. “It’s a good thing you’re keeping an open mind, but I don’t think it needs to be quite that open.”
“You might be right about that.” I pushed away the wave of gloominess that plagued me since my father’s call. “I thought we were shopping, not moping.”
Heather’s eyes brightened. “That w
e are. I seriously need a distraction. I think I’m about to turn into a textbook.”
I laughed. “Good thing you’re not Professor McGonagall, huh? Otherwise, you really could turn into a textbook. Although, that might be useful during the exam itself.”
“You’re such a dork.” Heather punched my shoulder lightly and chuckled as we walked. “For the record, it would’ve been pretty useful to be able to transfigure myself during the exam.”
“And I’m the dork?” Heather and I had watched the entire Harry Potter series one weekend when we were supposed to study for midterms. Then we’d watched it again before finals. Pretty soon, the series had become our favorite escape.
“Always. It was your idea to watch it in the first place. I hadn’t even read the books.” She flipped her hair and tugged on my elbow, leading me into a boutique clothing store where neither of us could afford to buy anything. Not without my father’s credit card, anyway.
“Your loss.” I threw out my hands. “I could only lead the horse to the water.”
Heather laughed, sounding more relaxed than I’d heard her in weeks. “If you’re implying that my weight gain makes me resemble a horse, please remember that I’ve been sitting on my ass studying for weeks. Have a little mercy.”
She was as skinny as a rake. Always had been. I treated her statement with the sarcasm it deserved. I put my hand to my forehead and mimed looking for something far away. “Weight gain? What? Where?”
She rolled her eyes and giggled at me. “You’re incorrigible.”
I grinned proudly. I was incorrigible. It was something I kind of liked about myself. “Got you to crack a smile, didn’t I?”
“You always do.” Her expression softened. “Whatever you decide on doing next, you’ll be great at it. Though, you might need a bigger distraction than our beloved Mr. Potter to get through it this time around.”
“What are you talking about?” I had a pretty good idea what she was talking about, and two seconds later, she confirmed my suspicions.
“You need a man. Like, a stupidly sexy man who can get you out of that big brain of yours and just make you have some damn fun for once.” My mind drifted to James. He had succeeded quite spectacularly in that task on Friday. I didn’t think I’d ever been reduced to such a puddle of raw desire before.
But whatever; he still hadn’t called. I was quite sure I was just another faceless notch in his bedpost by now.
Heather knew all about my dad’s rules about football players, so I didn’t say anything. There was no need to kick that hornet’s nest over a guy who probably didn’t even remember that I existed.
****
I was exhausted by the time I got home. Heather and I had spent hours circling the mall. My phone buzzed in my bag. I still hadn’t taken it off vibrate, and I seriously considered just letting whoever it was go to voicemail.
I wasn’t in the mood to deal with anyone. Especially not my dad or his assistant. A voice at the back of my mind chided at me to answer. Someone might need me. Someone might be in trouble.
The caller wasn’t in my contacts. I took a deep breath, trying to quash my cautious optimism that James might have finally tracked down my number.
“Gabrielle speaking.”
The butterflies in my stomach woke up and went nuts as his deep voice spoke at the other end of the line. “Hey, Gabbi.” He was so effortlessly casual. “I figured out a way to get your number.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious.” I tried to keep calm, but it was damn hard. My body knew the things he was capable of doing to it. My nerve endings came alive just from the sound of his voice. “How’d you do it?”
“I’d tell you that if I told you, I’d have to kill you, but I’m afraid your fate would be infinitely worse than that. Let’s just say that I did what I needed to do to get to you.” My heartbeat sped up, and my palms became clammy at the thought that he’d clearly gone to some lengths to get my number.
“That doesn’t sound ominous or anything.”
His low chuckle made me feel giddy. “It wasn’t supposed to, but it was kind of Bond-worthy.” His tone was light, joking. It was endearing.
“If your next words are ‘Call me Skye. James Skye,’ I’m hanging up.” I wasn’t even joking, though I doubted he would be that cheesy.
He laughed a deep rumbling laugh that sounded like it came straight from his stomach in response. “Man, I wish I’d thought of that. That would’ve been so fucking epic. And it would’ve fit perfectly.”
“No, not epic. Horrible. You’re better than that,” I teasingly berated him. “And that would never fit perfectly. Not ever, not anywhere.”
“You being serious? It would’ve been awesome. I’m sort of reminiscent of James Bond, aren’t I?” He could thank his lucky stars that I knew what sarcasm sounded like.
“So, Mr. Skye. What can I do for you?” The nerves that had calmed with his teasing were back in full force. Maybe even with reinforcements.
“Well, since I had to enter into some unspeakable alliances to get your number, I thought I’d better put it to good use.”
How was it possible for one person to be that confident? “Put it to good use how?” I gave myself a mental pat on the back for managing to sound nonchalant.
“I’m going to the beach tomorrow. I’ve been told I need to take some time to relax. I was wondering if you would be interested in joining me?
The butterflies went nuts again. “Tomorrow? I don’t know. I’m pretty busy at the moment.” I tried to play it cool, but I already knew I was going to go.
“Come on, don’t make me beg. I’ll see you there at 2.”
Well, what do you know? Maybe I’d left a lasting impression, after all.
Chapter Eleven
James
The sun burned hot on my neck as I stepped onto the beach. My eyes scanned the mostly empty stretch of sand from behind my sunglasses. I grabbed my towel and bottle of water and jogged to Gabrielle, who was already there, stretching her lithe body out on her towel and rubbing sunscreen into her skin.
“Can I give you a hand there?”
She jumped at the sound of my voice.
As incredible as she looked in casual clothes, as devastating as she was all dressed up, the sight of Gabrielle in a tiny polka dot bikini was enough to make the air get stuck in my lungs.
Gabrielle’s lips curved into a coy smile. “With what do you want to give me a hand, exactly?”
I laughed as I spread my towel next to hers, giving her a smirk. “Jeez, and you thought the football players were the ones with the lines. Judging by that, lawyers have us beat.”
Her cheeks flushed. “Aspiring, maybe-someday lawyer over here, but sure. Judge the whole profession.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You’re honestly talking to me about judging a whole profession?”
“Okay, you may have a point.” She laughed and threw the bottle of sunscreen at me. “Does your offer still stand?”
I caught it in one hand and rolled over to her. “Why yes. As it happens, I’m in a forgiving mood. Just don’t let it happen again.”
Her skin was silky smooth under my fingers as I lathered her back with sunscreen. I massaged it into to her, lingering longer than was strictly necessary.
“Yeah, sure.” She groaned, sending a shock wave right to my cock. Straddling her back as I was, I had to get a hold on my libido. “I’ll be good from now on. Scout’s honor.”
Her body shook from a quick laugh, causing her ass to graze my cock. She was trying to kill me. I was sure of it. “Were you actually ever a scout?”
She snorted. “What do you think? Do I look like a good little Girl Scout to you?”
“At the risk of being accused of using a line, I could totally imagine you dressed up in the outfit. We could always role play it sometime if you wanted.” The thought of her in a Girl Scout outfit did things to me.
“You get a free pass for that one, but only because of my earlier mishap.” I lay on my back on my
towel as she flipped onto hers. “So, what unspeakable alliance did you have to enter into to get my number?”
“A gentleman never tells,” I said solemnly.
“Good thing I don’t see any gentlemen around here then.” I clasped a hand over my heart, like she’d injured me.
“You’re terrible for my ego.”
She rolled onto her side and smirked. Her eyes were hidden by her sunglasses, but she seemed to be genuinely having fun. “Good thing it can afford being taken down a few notches.”
This girl. I’d only known her a week or so, but she was already one of my favorite people. I had fun with her. I hated people, in general. They were mostly too predictable. Gabrielle, on the other hand, kept surprising me. “You wound me, woman. You should kiss it better.”
She groaned. “You had one free pass, quarterback. You’re on thin ice.”
“That’s the NHL, not the NFL, actually.” I liked testing the limits on the depths of the ice, apparently.
“Wise ass.”
We lay in silence for a couple of minutes, soaking in the sun and getting lost in our own thoughts.
Eventually, she spoke out. “You’re really not going to tell me how you got my number?”
A bell tinkled in the distance, calling childhood memories to mind. “Nope. Trust me; it’s better for you this way. You want to get some ice cream?”
She lay still, her eyes covered by her sunglasses, but then she extended her arm. “I would never refuse ice cream. Help me up, would you?”
I took her tiny palm in my hand and pulled her to her feet. “A woman after my own heart. If you’d refused ice cream, I would be morally obligated to run in the other direction.”
“Consider your conscience and your moral compass safe, then.” She held onto my hand all the way to the ice cream truck.
She spent almost as much time as Harper deciding what flavor to get and added as many crazy toppings. I laughed at her indecision. It was adorable.
“Something funny?” She turned to me, tits bouncing in the tiny bikini. She hadn’t made any attempt to cover up and seemed to be completely comfortable in her own skin. It was refreshing.
