With us, flirting is common fare. Too bad it never goes beyond that.
“Wedolive together. We’re alone all the time.”
He raked a hand through his golden hair, blue eyes twinkling. “Yeah, but ordering IHOP take-out and bingingLuciferisn’t the same thing. Tonight’s special.”
My heart clenched in my chest, and butterflies fluttered in my stomach. “It is?”
“Yeah.” He blinked. “It’s your birthday.”
And just like that, my hopes were dashed in an instant. I’m not sure what I was expecting. “Oh, right… Did you bring your BMW then? I was planning on changing in my car.”
He gave me a once over, the corner of his mouth twitching into a ghost of a smile. “What, you’re not going to go clubbing in the pencil skirt and blazer?”
He almost sounded disappointed.
I smirked. “Nope. You got all fancy for me, so I might as well return the favor. Now show the birthday girl to her carriage. I’ve got a cotton and polyester gown to squeeze into and glass slippers fit to be lost at the stroke of midnight.”
“Don’t tell me you have a prince stuffed in that backpack too?”
“Would you be jealous if I did?”
“What? Jealous of a backpack-sized man?” He snorts.
I studied him, and for a moment, neither of us said a word as our eyes locked. The entire world melted away as the words I couldn’t believe I’d found the nerve to say slipped out of my mouth.
“Would you be jealous if I had a man of any size?”
He blinked, and,oh, God,his cheeks warmed to a pink hue in the slightest blush. Gabe didn’t fluster often, and when he did, it was perfectly adorable.
At Jess’ advice, I made more of an effort to “be direct” about my feelings, which for me equated to nothing more than dropping hints left and right. I don’t have any tricks beyond batting my lashes, dressing in tighter clothing, or shaking my ass. Love had reduced me to strutting around like a sex-starved peacock. And Gabe was impervious to all of it. I would think him a eunuch if I didn’t know better.
His ex, Little Miss Perfect-Ass, as I liked to refer to her, certainly wouldn’t have been hanging around him in our college days if he was.
Gabe laughed and shook his head like I dropped the punchline to a hilarious joke. Then heruffled my hairlike I’m a little kid.Jeez. He’s so thick-skulled.
Or was I just not trying hard enough? Or maybe I was coming offtoostrong, and he was trying to spare my feelings by brushing me off.
He had to realize how good we’d be together, and I would keep pushing until the heavens opened up and screamed at me to stop. Or he flat-out rejected me. But so far, neither had happened, so I would just keep pushing my luck in the meantime with the shameless flirting. And if the heavens wouldn’t intervene, well, to what dark god did I have to sell my soul to get a taste of this man?
We walked down the sidewalk of Broadway to the parking garage where Gabriel’s shiny BMW was parked. As the sun dipped low on the horizon behind the old brick buildings, the sky turned to a soft fuchsia. It was late spring, but as night descended, so did the chill. Gabe and I moved from California for college, where we met Jess. We’d been here for years, but I still hadn’t gotten used to the lack of heat.
I pressed into him as we walked, and I shivered. He looked down at me with a kind smile touching his lips.
“You didn’t bring a jacket,” he observed and wrapped a strong arm around me, pulling me tightly against his warm, rock-hard body. “You’re always forgetting that.”
I smiled to myself. I hardly ever forgot. In fact, I had one in my bag where he speculated my “prince” to be stashed. But why pull out my jacket when I had him to keep me warm?
When we got to the parking lot, his white BMW stood out among all the black and silver cars, like a twenty-first-century stallion. Next to that was my 2001 red Volkswagen Beetle. In a way, our cars were kind of like us. My bug was quirky, curvy, cute. But it looked like a heap of junk next to the BMW, which like Gabe, was sleek, sexy, a total lady killer.
“I’ll drop you off later so you can pick it up,” Gabe said, opening the passenger door for me. I nodded and collapsed into the plush leather seat.
We all went to the same college together, but Jess and Gabe had been better at it than me. They were both so perfect, well on their way to bright futures. If Jess didn’t work herself to death first. She wanted to go back to school to become a nurse practitioner but was finding it hard with having to take care of her sick dad. And on the opposite end of that spectrum was Gabe, who worked as a programmer almost entirely from home with a schedule that would make any other professional bearing the same financial prowess green with envy.
And then there was me with my bachelor’s degree in financing. I’m not sure why I became an accountant. Maybe because it seemed like a safe route. Secure and sensible to balance out the rest of my life that I felt I couldn’t control.
Almost dying when I was a kid really screwed me up. Even though we never talked about it, I think it screwed Gabe up too. Since that fateful day I’d almost drowned, he’d hardly let me out of his sight. But that’s okay. I felt safe with him around, even though he did have a tendency to be a littletooprotective, especially after all the crazy events that had happened lately.
I stole a peek at him as he turned on the car engine. Fuck me, he’s as handsome as sin. With his sharp jawline, the way his blond hair spills just a bit over his eyes, and his button-up shirt hugs his hardened frame perfectly. He looked right at home in the driver’s seat of the BMW. Like those guys you read about in those romantic billionaire novels…minus all the sex.
