Gabe straightened to his full height. His furrowed brow formed a deep V over his dark eyes and he frowned as he looked down upon me. “What did you just say?”
“I said that you didn’t…”
“I heard what you said,” he said bitingly.
“Then why’d you ask me to repeat myself, dumb ass?” There was no mistaking the annoyed sarcastic tone of voice I used on him and I could tell he didn’t like it at all.
“What were you doing at Vibe?” Gabe asked, not even trying to deny he’d been there.
“That’s none of your business,” I said huffily enough to make any soap opera actress happy. “You have some fucking nerve asking what I was doing there when you were hooking up with that sleaze bag club owner.”
“I wasn’t hooking up with Nate,” Gabe said, calmly. “He called me there to get professional advice.”
“Yeah, that’s why you both looked so chummy when he greeted you at the bar.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Is that how you treat everyone who asks for your opinion on a legal matter?” I had urged myself to calm down because I was giving too much of my feelings away, but I felt like I was on a sinking ship and about to go under at any moment.
“You sure are awfully curious about what I do with other men after you made it perfectly clear that you didn’t want anything to do with me.” Gabe placed his hand on the side of my neck so that his thumb rested over my pulse point. “I don’t think you’re as indifferent to me as you’d like to be.”
“You wish,” I said childishly.
“You’re right, I do.” Gabe lowered his mouth to kiss me, but I turned my head away. I would not be his fucking play thing. He grabbed my chin lightly with his hand and turned my head so I was looking at him again. “I had sex with Nate once and it was over a year ago after Kyle and I first broke up. He called me and asked me to talk to him because he’s getting death threats through his email.”
I gasped in surprise at what Gabe confided in me. “Why would he call you?”
“He’s looking to keep things quiet and avoid police involvement,” Gabe replied. “I told him he needed to contact the police and that I couldn’t help him.”
“But why the need for all the”–I held up my hands –“touchy feely shit.”
“It was an act so that his patrons wouldn’t suspect anything, especially if the person who wanted to kill him was watching.” Gabe’s eyes were so earnest when he looked into mine. I wanted to believe him, but I didn’t know if I could. He must’ve seen the slight softening I felt because he lowered his head and captured my lips with a kiss. It felt like he poured every emotion he’d felt during the time we spent apart into that kiss; I did the same.
The desire to be one with him, to lie naked beneath him and welcome him into my body got stronger and stronger every time I was near him. Even stronger than the sex, was my longing to know more about the man. My hands had been resting against my thighs but they wanted in on the action. I slipped my hands inside his leather jacket and beneath his sweater to feel the warmth of his taught skin. I slid my hands up between his shoulder blades and raked my nails down his back.
Gabe quickly broke our kiss. “Fuck,” he whispered against my lips. “Have dinner with me tonight.”
The loud knock on the door I had been leaning against startled me. “Jazz, do you have my client in there with you?” Josi asked loud enough for the entire fucking salon to hear. “I have places to be tonight so I’m going to need you to turn loose of him so I can work my magic. You’ll thank me for it later, sweetie.”
Jesus, I would never be able to face the people in my salon again. I stepped away from the door and turned to open it, but Gabe’s hand snaked out and grabbed my wrist to stop me. “Gabe, I…”
“Have dinner with me,” he repeated. “I told myself I was done with your hot and cold personality. I promised that I’d look for someone who wanted to be with me. But you know what?” I shook my head because I didn’t know. “I missed you. I learned that I’d rather be insulted by you than flattered by someone else. Everything inside me screams for me not to give up on you. So, what do you say? Will you have dinner with me?”
“Okay.” I told myself that I only agreed to get him out of my prep room and out of my face, but I wasn’t fooling myself. The happy smile that spread across his face made me glad that I accepted. Fuck it! We were just talking dinner.
“What time will you be ready? I can wait around here for you or meet you at the diner.” He pushed up against me and lowered his voice. “You better show up if you tell me that you’ll meet me at the diner. I’ll come looking for you if you don’t.” The dark promise in his words thrilled me more than they should.
“I’ll meet you there at six thirty.”
Gabe studied me closely, looking for any hint that I wasn’t telling the truth. He must’ve liked what he saw because his only reaction was a gentle peck of lips against mine before he let go of my wrist. I stepped aside and Gabe opened the door.
“You must be Gabe,” I heard Josi say.
“Yes, ma’am,” I heard him say as they walked away from the door.
I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that I still had at least ten minutes before Mary Beth’s hair was processed and ready to wash. I thought I’d hide out in the prep room for the remainder of time to have a bit of quiet and find my center. My two best friends weren’t on the same page as me.
They practically got stuck together in the doorframe as they both tried to walk through the door at the same time. Watching them untangle themselves and fight over who went first was enough to help take my mind off my predicament with Gabe.
“So,” Meredith said breathlessly after she freed herself from Chaz. “Did you guys have a quickie in here?”
“Is that hair color in the sink or was Gabe happy to see you?” Chaz nodded toward the sink. One of the bowls from earlier tipped over and the creamy white hair dye had splattered all over the bottom of the black porcelain sink and did resemble cum.
