She freed her hand to swipe at her cheeks before returning to grip mine again. I could feel the warm wetness of her tears and I wanted to kiss them away. “I knew you were lying when you said you weren’t into it,” she teased.
“Do you blame me? If I’d told you the truth you never would have spoken to me again.”
“You’re probably right.”
I snorted. “There’s no probably about it. I would have lost you.”
“You did lose Lawrence.” She bit down on her bottom lip before asking, “Did you ever regret choosing me over him?”
“Of course not,” I said, surprised she’d even ask such a question. “Gabi, there was no me and Law without you. Even the one kiss we shared was as much about you as it was us.”
A bittersweet smile curved her lips. “As it turned out, there was nomeand Lawrence withoutyou.”
We stared at each other for a long while, until I felt compelled to put voice to the third option. “What about you and me?” I asked, hardly daring to breathe. “Is there a you and me, without him?”
Uncertainty flickered over her face and her hand gripped mine tighter. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, to have our first date this weekend. With Lawrence around all the time, it’s like anything we do is a new chapter in an old story. You know what I mean?”
Nodding, I reached out to draw Gabi into my arms. She came without hesitation, burying her face in my neck, her breath warm against my skin. We held each other close as we fell asleep, but we never kissed. Not even once.
The instant we crossed that line, it would be impossible to go back. We would know the truth once and for all. If this attraction Gabi thought she felt for me turned out to be nothing more than a reaction to seeing me with Law, I didn’t want to know yet. I wanted to hold her close, and pretend she was mine, a little while longer.
* * *
I was tired. I was horny. And somehow, I’d managed to forget to pack a belt for my suit. The morning had not gone according to plan.
I’d spent the majority of the night staring at the ceiling and trying to smother my insecurities. Gabi had asked me out on this date. She’d said out loud she wanted to explore a relationship with me. When we’d almost kissed yesterday, she’d been into it. Her breathing had been ragged and her lips had parted in obvious need. She’d been hot with arousal. I’d made her hot. Or Law had made her hot and I’d happened to be there. Fuck, this whole thing did my head in.
Gabi popped her head out from the bathroom where she’d spent the past hour getting ready. “You’re in luck,” she said, waving her phone in one hand. “Lawrence brought an extra belt. It’s in his suitcase, he said to help yourself.”
Gritting my teeth together, I nodded. “Tell him thanks.”
After she disappeared back into the bathroom, I opened the door to Law’s room. Confirming it was empty, I quickly located his suitcase on the floor bedside the bed and knelt beside it to flip open the lid. His clothes were perfectly folded, a pair of running shoes tucked neatly into one corner of the space. A mesh pocket lined the top of the case and contained an orderly assortment of paraphernalia. Headphones, some toiletries, a paperback novel and one black, leather belt. “Bingo.” Unzipping the pocket, I dug around inside until I managed to tug the belt free. I upended the book in the process, dislodging a photo Law had been using as a bookmark.
My hand froze when I saw my own youthful face smiling up at me from behind a can of deodorant. Reaching into the pocket once more, I lifted the photo out. Old, and worn around the edges, it was of me, Gabi and Law. She stood between us and we all had our arms around each other. The photo had been taken in Gabi’s backyard, I realised, at her seventeenth birthday party. Before Law and Gabi started dating. Before he’d started training me in his garage. A flicker of memory came back to me. I’d put my arm around Gabi’s waist as the three of us shuffled into place for the photo. Law had done the same, his arm crossing over mine as his hand landed on the small of my back. I’d gasped at the unexpected touch, but not moved away. Had a part of him known what was coming, even back then? Had the three of us always been drawn to each other?
I swallowed hard as I slipped the photo back into the mesh pocket, hiding it behind the paperback. Closing the lid of the suitcase, I strode back into our room, wrenching the belt through the loops of my suit pants as I went.
Gabi came out of the bathroom as I finished doing up the buckle. I stopped to look my fill. Her coral dress draped over one shoulder before twisting to a fitted waist and falling in satiny waves to her ankles. She’d piled her dark hair on top of her head in messy curls. Chandelier earrings sparkled with every movement of her head. She sat on the edge of the bed to slip on a pair of equally sparkly high heels. When she was done, she stood and walked towards me with a confident smile. “How do I look?”
“Gorgeous.” My heart was in my throat as I took her waist in my hands. “And kissable.” I couldn’t do this anymore, the second guessing and the doubts. I needed to know if Gabi’s attraction to me was real, or a reflection of her attraction to Law.
Her eyes flared with surprise, but she lifted her hands and placed them lightly on my chest. The heat of her palms singed me through the thin cotton of my dress shirt. “I suppose it’s a good thing I haven’t put on my lipstick yet.” She swallowed hard before adding, “Because you know, I have family photos to appear in and I wouldn’t want—”
“Gabi.” My voice was hoarse with anticipation and a little shiver went through her.
She looked up at me through thick, black lashes. “Yes?”
“Stop talking, so I can kiss you.”
“Right.” She nodded, shifting restlessly in my arms. “Let’s do this.” Closing her eyes, she lifted her chin, her lips parted.
I smiled. “Keep your eyes closed,” I murmured, before brushing my lips against her forehead in a feather-light kiss.
She stood perfectly still, her breathing light, her body trembling. When I kissed the tip of her nose, her lips curved upward. “Warmer,” she murmured. Grinning, I kissed the corner of her mouth. “Much warmer.”
Backing away, I placed the next kiss on her collar bone, another on her bare shoulder. “Colder?” I teased.
“Pretty damned hot, actually,” she said with a light laugh, her eyes still closed. “But further away, yes.”
