A vague sense of embarrassment bled through me. Of course he wasn’t here to see me, only Gabi. I should have known better. I’d been home more than two months. If he’d had any interest in seeing me, he would have shown his face weeks ago. “She’s not home yet. But I can give her the bag if you’d like.”
He shrugged, not looking the least bit disappointed. “I can wait, if you don’t mind the company.”
I hesitated at the idea of inviting Law into Gabi’s home, her safe space. How would she feel about walking in on the two of us alone together? The last time that happened hadn’t ended so well. I rolled my eyes as I realised how crazy my thoughts sounded. Law and I hadn’t even seen each other in more than half a decade. We weren’t about to throw ourselves at each other in a bout of unbridled passion.
Flicking the lock on the screen door, I pushed it open. “Come on in.”
“Thanks.” He extended his hand as he entered. “It’s good to see you again. How are you?”
“I’m good. Great, actually.” I fitted my palm to his for a quick, but firm, handshake. No lingering.
“Yeah?” He inspected me closely, as if looking for evidence to the contrary.
My gut clenched. Had Gabi said something to him? I had eventually told her the reasons behind my abrupt return, but I couldn’t believe she would betray my confidence. After a notable pause, Law nodded, seeming satisfied. “Glad to hear it.”
With a relieved exhale, I returned to the kitchen to put the beef I’d been preparing for dinner in the fridge. “You want a beer?” He nodded and I grabbed a couple of cold ones from the bottom shelf and twisted the tops off. He looked up at me as I handed him a bottle, an odd look on his face. “What is it?” I asked.
“Looking up at you is weird.” Delight tinged his voice as he raked his gaze over me once more. “The last time we were together, you were the one looking up at me.”
The last time we were together, you were kissing me.The words crowded my brain, though I’d never say them. Law’s offer to give me a taste of Gabi’s kiss from his lips, had been the first truly erotic moment of my life. And the kiss that followed? He’d scalded me in every place we touched. To this day, it was still the closest I’d ever come to kissing Gabi. It might always be, if I didn’t man the fuck up and do something about it.
Living with Gabi had been comfortable at first, and I’d wallowed in the pleasure of spending time with my friend. But as time passed and the compulsions I’d been fighting began to quiet down, other parts of me, parts I’d thought lost, began to re-emerge. Lust had led the charge, quickly followed by longing, and finally, a nostalgic kind of love. Because I would always be in love with Gabi, even if she did still think of me asjusta friend.
“Things change,” I told Law, hoping that might still prove true for me and Gabi.
Law nodded, his smile resigned. “Some things.”
The air between us became heavy with shared memories, and I stiffened, cursing the brain that could love Gabi in one breath, and want to tear Law’s clothes from his body the next.
“Have a seat.” I gestured to the small couch in the living room, taking the armchair for myself. “Tell me what you’ve been up to.”
Taking a swallow of beer, he lowered himself onto the cushions. I set my own bottle on the coffee table, untouched. “The usual things that make up a life. Work, friends, family. The past few months have been all about preparing to get Frank hitched and trying not to piss off Gabi with my continued existence,” he added with a grin. “But life is good for the most part.”
He was being modest. I’d looked into him since I’d returned, and I knew his business had thrived over the years. He had several other personal trainers working for him now, and his packed schedule included a wide mix of clients, from new mothers to business executives and athletes. The man in front of me looked relaxed, content, comfortable in his own skin. He’d always been that way, even from the time we were kids. He was the confident one. I was the screwed up one. It didn’t matter how radiantly my star shone out in the big, wide world. Beneath the surface, Law would always have something I lacked.
“What about you?” he said when the silence lengthened. “Tell me what it’s like to be a male supermodel.”
It’s an exercise in obsession and stupidity.
“My life is all about the unusual,” I said, in counterpoint to his earlier words. “I’ve been to all the most beautiful cities in the world. Partied with the rich and the famous, and been counted among them. I’ve worn fashions designed by the people who decide what the world will wear next season, and I’ve been voted the World’s Sexiest Man—twice. It’s been quite the ride.” I sounded like a pretentious prick spouting a load of bullshit. As if I was still some love-sick kid, desperate for attention and approval from a man who meant nothing on the world’s stage. Could I get any more pathetic?
Law smirked as he held my gaze. There were no signs of awe over my accomplishments, nor did he show distaste at my bragging. Instead he exuded warmth and amused affection—the kind shown for a favourite pet. “I’m happy for you, Connor.” He sounded sincere, but I didn’t trust it. After years spent in a cut-throat industry, I’d been stabbed in the back by sincerity way too many times.
“You were dating some Italian guy a while back.” He ran a hand over his jeans as he spoke, smoothing out non-existent wrinkles. “Another model. Niccolò something.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Have you been stalking me?” The idea stroked my ego more than a little bit and I couldn’t deny the flutter in my stomach.
“It’s hardly stalking when the information is splashed all over the Internet,” he countered, even as he looked away. “It’s hard to ignore articles about someone you used to know.” With a vague shrug, he asked, “Are you still together?”
“No, that ended quite a while ago,” I told him. “Lenny Talbot chose me to wear his show-stopping masterpiece in Milan, instead of Nico. He couldn’t handle it.” Picking up my bottle, I forced down a mouthful of beer to wash the bitterness from my tongue. “Sleeping with the competition can be a bitch.”
Envy wasn’t the only emotion to fuel the monumental fight I’d had with my now ex-boyfriend that night. My own arrogance had played its part in bringing the simmering tension between us to the surface. Even so, the animosity Nico showed at my success had been unexpected and uncalled for. I’d worked harder than him. I’d developed a level of self-control he’d never even attempted to match. I realised now I had taken it too far but, if he’d really loved me, he would have been happy for me anyway. Instead, he’d called me a self-destructive arsehole and walked out the door. I hadn’t seen him since.
“You’re single, then.”
Law’s deceptively simple statement freed me from my thoughts, and I looked at him with questioning eyes. “I am.”
He nodded with a low hum of acknowledgment, took a slow sip of his beer, and said, “Gabi’s single, too.”
