“Sex?” she asked, not bothering to hide her amusement. “Are you saying that there’s sex in the military?”
“I was on a softball team,” he grumbled.
“Is that what they’re calling it these days?”
He met her gaze. “Yes, sometimes sex was a way to escape.”
“Horndog,” she said cheerfully. “So is that why you never married? Because I think you’re going to need to give Ana Raquel an answer on that one. Not to mention your mother. Not that she’s going to want to hear what you’ve been doing in your spare time.”
“I don’t care what Ana Raquel thinks about me, you won’t tell my mother and no, that’s not the reason I’m not married.”
He opened his mouth as if he were going to say more, then closed it.
“Gabriel?” she asked quietly, wondering what he was thinking about. “What happened?”
He looked at her. “There was a woman. A doctor. I liked her a lot. We’d been dating for a few months. It was...different.”
“You cared about her.”
He nodded. “A few of her friends were going out in a Humvee. Just the girls. She went with them.” His mouth twisted. “One second they were driving away, laughing and the next they were hit by a rocket.”
Noelle gasped. Her stomach clenched and she regretted all the pizza she’d eaten.
“They were gone,” he said, staring past her. “All of them. Just gone. It happened so fast.”
“I’m so sorry. That must have been horrible.”
“It was. Everything about it. But it also affirmed what I’ve always believed. That there’s no point in getting married.”
She stared at him. “Excuse me? You’re dismissing the entire institution?”
“Sure. Life is tenuous at best. We could all be dead tomorrow. I’ve seen it again and again.”
“I know what happened is a tragedy, but you learned the wrong lesson.”
“No. I didn’t.” He glanced around. “I’ll admit it’s less likely to happen here than where I was, but we still don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring. Why risk it?”
“All the more reason to risk it,” she told him. “We should grab happiness while we can, because you’re right. There’s no promise of more time.”
“I’m not saying other people shouldn’t get involved and get married. Just not me.”
“What about a family? Don’t you want kids?”
For a second, his expression turned wistful, but then the softness was gone. “I don’t see that happening.”
“You’re going to be one lonely old guy.”
“Ana Raquel will enjoy being right about me.”
She wanted to say more, to tell him he was wrong, but she knew there was no point. Gabriel was an intelligent man who had obviously thought a lot about his future. He’d seen that life was tenuous and had decided to avoid future pain by not getting involved. She’d learned the same lesson about life’s tenuousness, but with opposite results. She’d thrown herself into her new life in Fool’s Gold—buying the store, making friends, having plans.
“I’m thinking about getting a cat,” she said firmly, because a pet was the next step for her.
“I like cats,” Gabriel told her. “They make you earn their respect. Webster would go home with anyone.”
“He’s a puppy.”
“You think he’ll be any different when he’s older?”
Noelle thought about the friendly dog and how he seemed to adore the world. “Probably not,” she admitted. “But he’s really sweet.”
“A good quality in a large dog.” He picked up his beer. “How did you come to live in Fool’s Gold?”
“I wanted to make a change. I’d been practicing law for a while and—”
He raised his eyebrows. “You were a lawyer?”
“Yes. You don’t have to sound surprised.”
“You’re not ruthless.”
“No, I’m not. That was part of the problem. I went into the profession with the idea I could help the world. Unfortunately, I was seduced by an offer from a corporate firm.” There had been a guy involved in that decision, but she didn’t want to go into that.
She sipped her beer. “I didn’t love my work but I also didn’t want to quit.”
That decision had been taken out of her hands when she’d gotten sick. She’d taken a leave and when she’d returned, she’d been taken off all the important clients. Instead, she’d been relegated to research and writing reports. The firm wouldn’t outright fire her for what had happened, but they’d made it clear they didn’t trust her anymore.
“Eventually I knew I had to walk away,” she continued. “I spent a few weeks figuring out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life and kept coming back to my family. Mostly my grandmother. She loved Christmas so much. It was a huge deal for all of us. She would tell me stories about when she was a little girl and all the magical things stored in the attic.”
“That’s where the name comes from.”
She nodded. “I decided to open a store. The only problem was finding a location. It didn’t seem like an L.A. kind of establishment. I wanted someplace smaller. So I spun until I was dizzy, then put a pin in a map of the States.”
He stared at her. “You’re kidding?”
“Not even a little. Under the pin was Fool’s Gold, which I’d never heard of. I moved here a few weeks later.”
“And the rest is history. You were determined. I’m lucky you didn’t attack me with that umbrella. You could have disemboweled me.”
She laughed. “I was only going to try to knock you out. I could never disembowel anyone.”
“That’s right. You’d faint. Probably for the best. It keeps the rest of society safe.” He studied her for a few seconds. “You’d never worked in retail but you packed up your life to move to a town where you didn’t know anyone and you opened a store?”
“Yes.” She waited for him to tell her she’d been an idiot.
He raised his bottle toward her. “I applaud your bravery.”
“Thank you. Life is short. You have to do what you can while you have the chance.”
His gaze sharpened. “Is that what you believe?”
She nodded. “Same as you, with an entirely different theory. I want it all. Love, kids, an IRA. I could go tomorrow, but what if I live to ninety-seven? What if you do?”
“Then you can join Ana Raquel in being right.”
“The possibility doesn’t change your mind?”
“No.”
Not a surprise, she thought. He’d seen too much to have faith. She wondered why he’d chosen to go there, rather than where she had—with the belief that all opportunities were welcome.
“It’s getting late,” he said, rising to his feet. “I should go.”
She stood, ignoring the whimper from her feet. “Are you mad?”
He smiled. “No. I’m not mad.”
Do you want to have sex?
She wasn’t sure where the question came from, but once formed, it didn’t want to go away. Not that she was going to speak the question. Her fearlessness had limits.
Still, the kiss yesterday had been very nice.
“Thanks for all your hard work today,” she said. “It was even more than I expected. We’ll be busy through the season, but I think this is the worst of it.”
“This is making me appreciate my day job,” he said, carrying his plate to the sink and putting his bottle into the recycling bin.
“You’re saying you don’t want a career in retail?”
He faced her. “There are things I like.”
“My sparkling wit and charm?”
She was standing by the table. He walked toward her and put his hands on her waist.
“That’s part of it,” he murmured even as he lowered his mouth to hers.
She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her against him. In her stocking feet she had to shift her head back a little more than she had before, but the kiss was wort
h it.
His mouth was warm and hungry against hers. He moved back and forth a couple of times before settling in and brushing his tongue against her bottom lip. She parted her lips for him, welcoming the sensuous stroking along with the clenching low in her belly.
She tilted her head. Their tongues circled in that age-old dance of sexual need. He slid his hands up her back. She stepped even closer so that they were touching everywhere possible. Her breasts flattened against his chest, her belly pressed against his groin and in a matter of seconds she felt proof of his arousal.
Her fingers instinctively tightened their grip on him. What she really wanted to do was cup them against his need. Which would first require undressing him. She remembered how he’d looked in jeans and nothing else and had to hold in a moan.
Her bedroom was just down the hall. All she had was a full-sized mattress, which meant there wouldn’t be a whole lot of room for both of them. They would have to snuggle close and that could be fun.
He broke the kiss to nibble his way along her jaw, then over to her ear. He drew her lobe into his mouth and then bit down gently. Shivers raced through her.
They definitely had to go to her room, she thought, desire making her frantic. Get in her bed and—
“I should go,” he said, dropping his arms to his sides and stepping back.
She blinked at him. “What?”
“It’s late.”
“It’s eight.”
“I know, but if I stay...”
They were going to have sex. She was fully aware of that. It was kind of the point.
“I don’t understand,” she admitted.
“I don’t have an IRA.”
Had she been drinking more than she realized? She glanced into the recycling bin and saw that no, she had only finished one beer and started a second. Even with her empty stomach, that shouldn’t be enough to get her into an altered state of consciousness.
“An IRA?”
“I’m not what you’re looking for,” he said.
Really? Because the quivering in her belly said otherwise.
“It’s not that I don’t want you,” he continued.
“Oh, good, because if you’d tried that one, I would have pointed out the obvious.”
He gave her a slow, sexy smile that had her quivering. Then the smile faded. “I like you, Noelle.”
Crap. She might have been out of practice with the whole dating thing but even she knew that any conversation that began with “I like you” was not going to end well.
“But?” she asked, bracing herself.
“But you want things I don’t believe in. You want forever. You want love. I can’t give you that. I’m leaving and even if I weren’t, that’s not me.”
“And if I just want sex?”
She happened to be glancing down as she asked and had the satisfaction of seeing his erection surge slightly.
“I don’t think my luck is that good,” he told her.
“You’re saying I’m not that kind of girl?”
“Something like that.”
She wanted to say he was wrong, only he wasn’t. She was old-fashioned. In her world, sex and love went together. Or if not love, then extreme like with the possibility of love.
Did she want to make an exception? Hold her heart carefully apart while giving Gabriel her body?
The girl bits were screaming “Yes, please. Take me now.” The rest of her was more cautious. Did she want to have what it took to be that disconnected from her feelings? Did she want making love to be that casual?
He brushed another kiss across her mouth. “You know I’m right,” he said firmly.
“I don’t like it,” she said, following him into the living room.
He put on his boots and tied the laces. “Me, either.”
She looked at him. Sexy, charming, a doctor, honorable and not having sex with her. Was there a complaint card for life, because if there was, she had a few things to say.
He rose and crossed to the door. She handed him his jacket. As he slipped it on, she pressed her hands against his chest.
“What if I change my mind?” she asked.
“Get the big box of condoms.”
She grinned. “Extra large?”
“You know it.”
* * *
Gabriel had been to some of the largest cities in the Middle East. He’d haggled for food, for rugs and even, when he’d been engaged, for jewelry. He knew how to deal with the crowds, the heat, the bugs. What he wasn’t prepared for was the women of Fool’s Gold.
The morning had started out innocently enough. He’d gotten an extra shot of espresso in his usual black drip because despite being exhausted, he’d spent the night tossing and turning. Kissing Noelle had left him restless. He wanted her and he knew he shouldn’t have her. Not a comfortable combination. The good news was his hand had stopped hurting and he would be visiting a local doctor to get the stitches out in a couple of days. The bad news was without his hand to distract him, he’d had more time to think about Noelle.
He’d arrived at the store on time, had found Noelle already there and sorting through boxes that had arrived the day before. Conversation had been easy and all about business, including the fact that she’d hired some extra help. As if the kiss from the previous night had never happened. Only it had happened, as his dick kept reminding him. He’d felt her body against his and now he wanted more.
He’d thought the arrival of the customers would be a distraction, and in a way it was. Only customers in Fool’s Gold were different. For one thing, they got personal. An attractive woman in her fifties stopped by to look over the display of bears.
“I have new grandbabies,” she said with a smile. “I knew having six kids would eventually pay off. So, you’re Gideon’s brother, right?”
“Yes,” he mumbled, wishing someone else would come up and claim his time. Maybe he could excuse himself to put away something. Or make a coffee run.
“Max and I listen to his show most nights. The music is a little before my time, but still fun. You’re a doctor?”
Gabriel wondered if this would be where she mentioned one or all of her daughters weren’t married, and if so how to gracefully duck out of the conversation. But before he could figure anything out, a pretty teen with red hair and green eyes walked over.
“Gabriel, right?” she asked, then turned to Denise. “Hey, Grandma.”
“Melissa.” The older woman hugged the teen. “What are you doing here?”
“I got a job.”
“Then I should leave you to it.” The older woman hugged her again, waved at Gabriel and walked away.
“I’m Melissa Sutton,” the teen said, holding out her hand to shake. “Noelle just hired me to help for the holidays. I’m working this weekend, then I have another week at UC San Diego before I take finals and then I’m home through the first of the year. She said you guys were really swamped.”
As she spoke, she moved through the store, straightening as she went. She fluffed the fur on a stuffed bear, then turned back to him.
“What?” she asked at his pointed stare.
“Are you old enough to be in college?”
She laughed. “I’m eighteen. Don’t worry. I’m not like her other temporary employees. I’m not coming home to play. I want to earn money.” Her expression turned impish. “My folks are paying for college, but I’m responsible for providing for my own fun. And I have a latte habit that chews up cash. I blame Patience. She’s the owner of Brew-haha. I worked there when the store opened last spring and got totally hooked. Of course the caffeine helps on those long nights of studying. Mom says you’re a doctor.”
He had no idea who her mother was so didn’t know if they’d met. “Yes,” he said, wondering why everyone found his occupation so fascinating and how it was they all knew what he did.
“In, like, the army, right?”
He nodded.
“I want to be a lawyer. Noelle used to be one, but she doesn’
t talk about it much. She swears she’ll give me some inside info on my shifts and I’m going to make sure she does.”
A few more customers came in, and Melissa took care of them quickly and efficiently. Gabriel was able to return to keeping the shelves stocked, which was his preference. Noelle manned the cash register when she wasn’t helping customers. The store was crowded and busy, just the way it should be.
Sometime close to noon a blond woman with a couple of toddlers stopped by. The older child—a little girl—had a small stuffed giraffe clutched in her hands.
“Hey, you,” the woman said, stopping to hug Melissa. “I heard you were back.”
“Just for the long weekend. Then I have finals. I’ll be home for the winter break by the seventh.” Melissa turned to Gabriel. “This is my aunt. Dakota Andersson, this is Gabriel Boylan.”
“Nice to meet you,” Dakota said, shaking his hand. “Gideon’s brother, right? You’re twins?”
“Fraternal.”
The little girl was waving frantically at Melissa, who scooped her into her arms. “How’s my best girl?” She looked over the girl’s head. “Dakota is a triplet and they’re identical. She’s one of six. Her brother, Ethan, is my stepfather.” Melissa paused. “Is that right? If Liz is my aunt and he’s married to her, then he’s my step uncle, maybe. Whatever. He’s my other dad.”
Dakota picked up her young son and held him. “We have a complicated family.”
“I met your mother earlier,” Gabriel told her, remembering Melissa’s grandmother.
Dakota laughed. “Be grateful we’re all married or she would be talking up her daughters.”
News that didn’t surprise him.
Just before Dakota left, she turned to Melissa.
“You’re not going to miss the tree lighting, are you? Noelle knows about it. She’s closing the store early.”
Melissa smiled. “I’ll be there, I promise.”
Dakota waved and walked away. Melissa looked at him.
“You look trapped.”
“No, I don’t,” he said automatically, although maybe it was true.
“The town is a little intense. I grew up here and sometimes it gets to me. When I talk to my friends at college about what it’s like here, they don’t always believe me.”
Christmas on 4th Street (Fool's Gold Romance) Page 9
