“Of course. Is there any other way?”
“Only if you add in a marathon ofLord of the Ringsin the background.”
Good God, she was too perfect. “Start withThe Hobbit,and I’m yours for the weekend.”
Crystal blue orbs shimmered with happiness, and I thought I could dive into them and never resurface.
“Ready to stuff our faces with gnocchi?” I asked, putting my arm out for her to take.
“More than ready.”
I led her out of the apartment and to my car. After closing the car door for her, I made my way to the driver’s side. With each step, all thoughts of the years I’d devoted to my cause and spent hardening myself to everything that might stand in my way floated away like leaves in the wind.
Chapter 3
Tori
Ihad never laughed as much or smiled as often as I did with Gabe. The food was just as delicious as he’d said, but it was his company that made my night. We talked long after the server took the food away. Long after Gabe paid the bill and ignored my attempt to split it.
The breeze ruffled my hair but did little to cool my skin. Even at night, it was still eighty degrees. Gabe had left his jacket in the car, his muscular arms doing nothing to help me think straight. He was like a walking piece of eye candy. His attention remained solely on me as we walked, like his world revolved around me.
“Don’t tell me you’re cold,” he said, leaning on the rail that overlooked the river.
I dropped my hands from my arms, realizing I’d been rubbing them. “Far from it. Does it ever cool down here?”
A sexy shrug followed by, “Eh, depends on what you call cool. The locals will pull their winter coats out about November when it dips into the sixties. And you might get a handful of winter days in January.”
He turned to face me, his hazel eyes almost amber in the moonlight.
“Do you ever miss it?” I asked, my fingers awkwardly playing with the fabric of my dress.
“What?” he asked, his head tilting.
“Being home? I mean, Florida is so different from up north.”
Another shrug. “Sometimes, but I left New York for a reason, and I don’t regret that.”
His expression was so serious, I wondered what burdens he carried. His head lifted, and there was a tug at the corner of his mouth. “Especially not now.”
Butterflies crashed like a torrent through my belly.
“Tori?”
“Yes,” I breathed as he stepped closer to me.
“I really want to kiss you right now.” And those butterflies turned into vicious dragons, heating me to my core. “I know we’ll be working together for the next few weeks, and it could be awkward, but…”
“Yes,” I answered.
His eyes lit, and I swallowed back the emotion that simmered in my heated body.
“Yes?” His throat bobbed, and he seemed so unsure suddenly when he’d been nothing but confident since I’d met him.
I nodded. “Yes.”
He closed the distance between us and tipped my chin, his eyes searching mine before his fingers smoothed over my neck and into my hair. It was the sexiest start to a kiss I’d ever experienced, and the crush that had twisted to attraction twisted into something that I knew I wouldn’t be able to restrain once it fully formed. He leaned down, his lips brushing mine before they completely captured them. The breath fled me, and blood pulsed through my veins. My world seemed to turn, my feet no longer on the ground.
Our lips parted, but his hand remained, cupping my neck and keeping my eyes focused on him when they opened.Something passed between us, a spark of recognition, a tug of consciousness. That kiss had been more like the solidifying of something that had been building since the moment he entered that room.
