Ami sighed. “I don’t even want to know how the hell you knew I was here. What is so damned important that you felt the need to bother me when all I wanted to do was spend a peaceful day by myself and try not to think about anything?”
Snow had started to come down outside. Gabe gave her an expectant look. “Would it be too much to ask for me to come in?”
“Yes.” But she let out another sigh and moved back from the door so that he could enter the room. As Gabe closed the door, she sat down on the bed and looked pointedly at the chair sitting in front of the tired looking desk.
Gabe sat down. She didn’t wait for him to start on whatever news he had that he thought was so important to tell her in person. “What are you doing here Gabe? Shouldn’t you be at home with your family? Don’t you have a newborn baby?”
“She’s a month and a half old.”
“Yeah, still newborn. Go home Gabe. Help your kids put whatever crap you bought them for Christmas together.”
“My family’s not at home. They went to see my in laws.”
“Why the hell didn’t you go with them?”
“My in laws don’t like me.”
“Gee, I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t like a son in law that constantly cheats on their daughter.”
Gabe laughed. “I’ve missed you Ami.”
“Like you don’t text me every other day.”
“But I have been true to my word. I have left you alone.”
“Yeah, except when you buy the house across the street from where I work.”
“Have I been there?”
She sighed. “No.”
“Ami.”
There was a note of something in his voice that she couldn’t put her finger on. “What?”
“Nick moved your things into his apartment this morning. His girlfriend helped. She wasn’t happy about it, but she helped.”
She didn’t know which bothered her more; the fact that Nick had moved her out of her apartment when she’d expressly told him not to or the fact that Gabe had said he had a girlfriend.
“What are you talking about? He doesn’t have a girlfriend.”
Gabe smiled a slow calculating smile. “But he does love. She’s no match for you, rather ordinary, but they seem to be quite the happy couple.”
“Shut the hell up Gabe.”
She was in no mood for his theatrics. She wanted to go home and sleep for the rest of the time that she had off. She didn’t care if she had to pay Jenkins three months’ rent to get her apartment back. There was no way in hell she was going to stay with Nick.
“I tried to get your apartment back but it was already rented by the time I got there. Carson and Alicia’s too. Of course, you’re always more than welcome to stay with me. .And I do have that empty house. It’s big enough for you and Charlie.”
Ami gave him a look that could kill. “Fuck off.”
“Nick has moved on. And I’m right here. Come to your senses. I’ll make you forget all of it.”
“I don’t want you. For the hundred millionth time I don’t want you.”
He frowned. “Honey, I know it hurts. Nick hiding his girlfriend under your nose. But you can let it go. I’ll take you away from all of it right now. Just say the word.”
She lit a cigarette, looking away from Gabe.
“What are you talking about Nick hiding his girlfriend under my nose? He hasn’t had a girlfriend since I moved to town.”
Gabe smiled, his blue eyes twinkling. “He made sure that Carson and Alicia didn’t tell you. He didn’t want to hurt you. I hear there are plans for marriage in their future.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“People talk in small towns my love. I hear she’s not using birth control and he doesn’t care. They’ve been together since the middle of October.”
“No way. That’s over two months.”
“I know darling. I’ve wanted to tell you, but it didn’t feel like the right time.”
“Go fuck yourself Gabe. Just go away and leave me alone. Maybe I won’t go back home. I’ll move away and leave everyone behind, you included.” She gave him a tight smile.
“Candy is in the hospital.”
“What? How come no one told me?”
“She was admitted this morning. I’m sure Alicia will get around to telling you eventually.”
“Is she okay?”
“She is fine. In danger of losing her child, but she herself is fine.”
“No. She’s still got about two months until she’s due, doesn’t she?”
“Yes darling. Rick has been so saddened by the whole thing. He does love that woman.”
“The one you tried to rape?”
Gabe raised an eyebrow. “I tried to rape her? Hmm, that’s not quite how I remember it, but if that’s the story that Candy told you to save face, then I’ll go with it. If it came down to it, I could always show Rick the tapes.”
“You bastard.”
“No, my parents were married when I was conceived.” He smiled.
“You’re a sick fuck. You have tapes of us too don’t you?”
He gave her his most innocent look. “No. I wouldn’t sully you like that.”
“Yeah right. You probably play them over and over again and sit alone in your room like some pervert jerking off to them.”
“You are forever locked in my mind Ami. I don’t need a tape to remember the time that we had together.”
“I hate you.”
“And I love you. You need time to get over Nick. Let me give you two days that you’ll never forget.”
“That’s not going to happen Gabe. Go away.”
He sighed. “Ami please. Rick is supposed to be calling me when there’s an update on Candy. I’ll let you talk to him if you’d like.”
“As if I’d want to admit to him that I was with you.”
“Rick understands love. Candy is his whole world. I promise I won’t touch you, unless of course you want me to.” He smiled.
She wanted to punch him. Ah what the fuck, what did she have to lose anymore she thought? Maybe Gabe was right, maybe she should just give up and give in to him.
Then she thought no, she couldn’t do this. She couldn’t encourage Gabe again. But what did it matter now? Nick was in love with someone else. Gabe professed to love her. He could give her a good life. He would probably have divorce papers drawn up as soon as she said the word. She could be a stepmother. She could be a mother to Charlie again; she could have another baby if she wanted.
Ah who the hell was she kidding she thought? Gabe would end up cheating on her. Even if it wasn’t right away, he’d do it eventually. She wasn’t going to let herself be the next one that he traded in for a younger woman. But she was going to let him give her two days of blissful sex.
She met his eyes. “We’re going to lay down some ground rules right now.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll have sex with you. But.”
“Yes?”
“Once we get back to town, you will leave me alone. No texting me, no calling me, no sitting outside Nick’s apartment or the bowling alley. No errands to fix up that house you bought. I mean it Gabe. If I do this, you will leave me alone until I decide what the hell I really want. And if you don’t, I will leave and never look back. And I will do everything in my power to make sure that you never find me or my son.”
“Fine.”
“You promise?”
“I swear on the lives of my children.”
She made a face at his choice of words, but stuck out her hand. “Shake on it.”
He crossed the room, took her hand and shook it, then pulled her to him for a kiss that left her weak in the knees. He looked like he wanted to do more, but his phone suddenly rang. He looked at the screen and said “Would you excuse me a moment please?”
She shrugged and turned away from him, lighting a cigarette. She was beginning to think she would never get her life together with the way things were going. She couldn’
t believe that Nick had been going out with someone else behind her back. She was worried about Candy. Most of all, it was Christmas and she knew she should be spending it with Charlie and not in a cheap motel room with a man she wanted nothing to do with, but was probably going to be dumb enough to have sex with again.
She needed a way to release some of the tension and she really didn’t want to think at all for the time being. Her body seemed to want Gabe, so she figured that she was going to listen to her body for the time being, though she knew she was probably going to regret it later, for more reasons than one.
Gabe had a quiet conversation for several minutes, and then turned back to her after ending the call. “I’m sorry darling.”
“Was that your wife?”
“No. It was Rick. Candy is fine. The baby is fine. They’re putting her on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy. She’s now officially on paid leave from the bar.”
“That’s mighty generous of you.” She was teasing him, but he shrugged.
“I wouldn’t want to lose Rick’s respect. She deserves a little rest. She works her butt off for me.”
“That she does. When’s Rick leaving?”
“He starts at the hospital full time after he’s finished with his paid leave, so it’s about three months from now.”
“You’re giving Rick paid leave?”
“It’s not unheard of for a man to take time off when he’s had a child. Rick and Candy are both valued employees. I want them to go out on a good note.”
She bit back a comment about what had happened between him and Candy and said instead “I’m glad she’s okay.”
“Pregnancy can be extremely hard for some women. You I think would be more like your friend Alicia. If only Charlie was my son, none of this would be an issue.”
“You said my son’s name again. Say it one more time and I’m outta here.”
“A guy can dream can’t he?”
She made a face at him. “Take your clothes off.”
“You have no idea what I’m going to do to you. I’m going to take you places you’ve never dreamed of going Ami.”
“Uh huh. Shut up and do it then.”
The next two days went by in a blur. Gabe talked her into letting him buy her clothes since she hadn’t planned on staying overnight anywhere let alone a few days. She made sure she bought clothes that were sexier than she usually wore, both to bug Gabe and to make sure that Nick would know what he was missing. The package of condoms Ami had insisted on buying herself to make sure he didn’t tamper with them was over half gone, and Gabe had stood up to his promise. He’d done things to her that she hadn’t known existed.
But she walked away from the motel completely satisfied sexually, even if she did have to be at work in three hours.
Gabe promised her again that he wouldn’t contact her until she said it was okay, and he’d stopped teasing her about her taking the SUV back home with her. She drove away when he getting into his SUV, not bothering to look at him. Now she had to figure out what the hell she was going to do with Nick she thought.
Chapter 21
She got into town less than an hour before she had to be at work at the bowling alley.
She decided to have a late breakfast at the diner, wondering if Nick would be at work when she got there. She thought it was his day off but she wasn’t sure. Her mind had turned into mush in the past couple of days.
When she parked her car in the parking lot of the bowling alley, Nick’s car was in its normal spot. She was about fifteen minutes early, but she wasn’t sure that she wanted to face him yet.
Then she figured she might as well get it over with. She went inside and saw Nick behind the counter with Penny.
They were having what looked to be an involved discussion. Ami wondered if Penny was his girlfriend. Nick turned to her and his smile faded. Penny walked away.
“Hi,” he said.
“We need to talk.” The alley was dead and there was still another ten minutes until her shift started. “Come have a cigarette with me.”
He gave her a look that told her it was the last thing he wanted to do, but he grabbed his cigarettes and followed her to the door.
She lit her cigarette, not saying anything. Finally when she figured she had given him enough time to suffer she said “So who is she?”
“Who is who?”
“Your girlfriend. Is it Penny? Why have you been too chicken to tell me about it for over two months? What did you have to say to Carson and Ali to shut them up?”
He sighed. “I know I should have told you, I just didn’t know how to do it.”
“Did you think I’d never find out? Were you going to meet her at her place all the time after you moved all my shit out of my apartment when I told you not to?”
“Who told you?”
She wanted to smack him she thought. He brought out the same feelings that Gabe did in her. She couldn’t deny the powerful attraction, but she couldn’t deny that she wanted to strangle him every other time she was around him.
“It doesn’t matter. Answer my damned questions. Who are you dating and why the hell did you move me out of my apartment? I don’t want to live with you. Especially now that I find out you’re planning on marrying this girl you’ve been dating for over two months.”
“Who said I was planning on marrying her?”
“That doesn’t matter either. Who is she Nick?”
“Her name is Carlie.”
“Uh huh.” Why couldn’t he look her in the eye she wondered?
“It is. Penny is mad at me over something else. She wants a raise, and I’d give her one, but Bobby said no. He’s not making a lot of money right now. He might have to get rid of someone.”
“Let him fire me. Then you can finally be rid of me.”
“I don’t want to be rid of you. I moved you into my place because I care about you. I didn’t want you to be alone with Gabe bothering you all the time.”
“Up until two days ago, Gabe hadn’t really bothered me in at least two months, and you damned well know that.”
“What did he do two days ago?”
“None of your business. Like your girlfriend is none of my business. I’m not staying with you. I’ll stay at motel if I have to.”
“No you won’t.”
“The hell I won’t. I don’t need you to protect me from Gabe. He promised to leave me alone.”
“Yeah right.”
“He did.”
“What did you have to promise him to make him say that?”
She smiled. “I didn’t promise him anything. I screwed his brains out for two days.”
Nick looked like he wanted to punch something, maybe her she thought. “You did not.”
“I did. I liked it. Best two days of my life. You shouldn’t care. You have a girlfriend. I’ll stay in a motel tonight and find another place tomorrow.”
“No you won’t.”
“I won’t pay you a cent in rent.”
“I don’t care.”
“Of course you do. I’ll trash your place.”
“No you won’t. I don’t care if you don’t pay rent. It’s not the point. I want you there because I care about you.”
“Yet not enough to tell me that you’ve had a girlfriend for two months. I have to get to work.”
“Missy’s already here. They’ll manage a couple minutes without us. And why should you care whether or not I have a girlfriend?”
“Because you’re always so big on saying we’re friends. I don’t give a shit whether or not you have a girlfriend. Doesn’t she find it strange that everyone else knows about her besides your roommate who doesn’t want to be your roommate?”
“She understands.”
“You told her I was crazy or something didn’t you? You’re an asshole Nick.”
“I told her no such thing. Ami please, you know you can’t trust Gabe. Stay with me where you’ll be safe.”
“How would I be safe there? You’ll be with h
er all the time.”
“No, I won’t.”
“Yes you will. You’ve got to be serious about her or you wouldn’t be with her. You’re either with a girl for the night or some bullshit dream of forever. Do you think I’ll die if you bring her over?”
“No. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“So you think it’s better to lie about it. Great friend you are. You know what, screw it. I will stay with you. You can bring your girlfriend over whenever you want.”
She smiled at her own private joke. She was so going to walk around in the barely there lingerie that Gabe had insisted on buying for her, girlfriend or no girlfriend she thought.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“No reason.”
“Uh huh. I won’t bring Carlie over. I don’t want to do that to you.”
“Don’t flatter yourself. If I need to get laid, I’ll go back to Gabe.”
She turned around and walked back into the bowling alley.
Luckily, business picked up and Nick was busy in the office until he got off. She knew that when he left he was going to see Carlie. It hurt. Even though she’d been with Gabe, she couldn’t fool herself into thinking that Nick wasn’t the one she really wanted.
How was she going to live with him she wondered? There was only one bathroom, so she’d have to share the shower with him. What if he decided after a while that it was okay to bring his girlfriend over? How was she going to deal with that? She didn’t know.
When she got home that night, Nick wasn’t around. She unlocked the door with the key that he’d given her and went inside. He’d put all of her things into the second bedroom. Her clothes were in the drawers. It meant that he’d touched her panties and bras, unless he’d made his girlfriend do it.
She wanted to call Ali and yell at her, but her friend was probably sleeping. She’d talk to her when she went to visit Jen again and see their new house she thought. She wondered if Elijah had moved in with them. He’d spent Christmas with his Mother but was supposed to be coming here shortly after.
She was tired. She bypassed the slutty lingerie that Gabe had bought her, and put on a pair of her old pajamas that weren’t meant to impress a man. She crawled into bed and didn’t wake up until the next morning.
Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set Page 94
