He bests it, my dreamer reminded my logic.
Barely, Logic pointed out.
“Willow?” Gabe called.
I focused on him.
“No, not after either,” I pushed out because I had to.
For a second, it seemed my words didn’t penetrate.
I knew when they did because his brows knitted ominously.
“Were you in a fugue state when I kissed you and you missed what just went down?” he asked.
That was kinda funny, which was surprising because Gabe was not a funny guy. He didn’t joke. He didn’t quip. He was not lighthearted and fun-loving.
I wished I could laugh. Laugh and shrug off the words I’d just said. Tell him I wasn’t thinking straight. Tell him Kevin had muddled my head. Tell him, yeah, he was right, while all this crap was going down with Kev and Kev’s very dead friend Trev, we shouldn’t go there, but after…
After…
We could see what that kiss was all about.
We could see what the sizzling tension that had been blistering between us the last few days was about. Tension that led to that kiss.
Who was I kidding?
That tension had been building between us since we met, it was just that there were things in the way.
Now those things (yeah, freaking Kevin) were not in the way anymore.
But I couldn’t say any of that.
And I wouldn’t.
Damn it, I was going to have to find some more strength.
Not my strong suit.
I dug deep and scratched at the dregs.
“I didn’t miss it,” I replied. “But I think you’re missing where I might be at right now, considering my choices and where it’s landed, oh, I don’t know, everybody I care about.”
“Don’t take his shit on,” Gabe ordered.
“Oh, okay. Sure,” I stated blithely, then gave myself an overdramatic physical shake. “There! All those women who were scammed by my ex and his bestie, Harlow’s apartment being tossed, everyone spending all their time trying to solve a freaking murder”—I lifted both hands in front of me, fingers curled in, and I flashed them open—“poof. All gone. All good now.”
“None of that is on you,” he rumbled, and I could see he was getting pissed.
It was a little frightening and a little exciting, which pretty much defined Gabriel Stark.
(Okay, no, the “little frightening” part was spot on, but it was more like “a lot exciting” if I was honest, something I was not going to be for the sake of my own sanity, not to mention my heart.)
“No, you’re right. It’s on Kevin.”
“So let him face whatever consequences he’s set up for himself.”
“I will.”
