Chapter Two
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“Gabby!” Phoebe called.
With a sigh, Gabrielle St. John gave up trying to rinse the wine stain out of her white shrug. Whatever possessed her to wear white to work, she didn’t know. Inevitably she ended up dripping red wine or spilling brine from the olives all over her clothes.
“GABBY!” Her sister’s voice had taken on an annoyed edge.
“Crap,” she mumbled, throwing the shrug in the trash. It was ruined anyway. “Coming!” she called, walking out of the bathroom toward the front of the shop.
She paused and made sure the neckline of her dress wasn’t gaping. The long tropical print maxi dress she wore had a halter neckline. She felt it was a little too revealing, which was why she had worn a shrug over it. Now she felt exposed and it wasn’t a feeling she liked.
While she always tried to look nice at work because she was a businesswoman now, Gabrielle preferred not to show a lot of skin. It irritated her to no end that, after a few glasses of wine, some of the male clientele thought making lewd comments about her attributes would flatter her.
Either way, Gabby learned over the years it was less trouble and better for business if she adjusted her wardrobe rather than educate the male customers on ridiculous double standards and misogyny.
When she stepped out of the hallway into the main dining and drinking area, Gabby’s feet suddenly felt as though they were glued to the floor.
It had been fourteen years since she last saw him, but she immediately recognized him. Or at least her hormones did, anyway.
Logan Westfall, the star of most of her teenage fantasies, stood next to her sister, and he looked even better now than he did when he graduated high school. If she was going to be honest, he was the star of many of her fantasies during college too. Thank God neither of them were looking in her direction to see her gawking.
Gabby finally moved when Phoebe turned and waved her over.
“Look who just dropped in!” her sister announced gleefully. “And guess what? He moved back to town.” With her back to Logan, Phoebe wiggled her eyebrows at Gabrielle because she knew about her younger sister’s crush on her friend in high school.
Gabby kept the smile on her face. No way was she going to give Phoebe the satisfaction of a reaction to her teasing.
Turning her smile to Logan, she held out her hand. “Hi, Logan, it’s good to see you again.”
When their fingers touched, electricity zinged up her arm. His hand engulfed hers, his palm almost twice the size of her own.
“Gabby, you look great,” he responded.
Cursing the wine stain that caused her to throw away her shrug, Gabby hoped he couldn’t see the fact that her nipples were hard. The combination of his deep drawl and the sensation of his hand holding hers were enough to make her body go haywire. The naïve and romantic teenage feelings she once harbored were morphing into something much more sexual and dangerous.
Her skin heated as he continued to cradle her hand in his. “Uh, thanks,” she murmured, carefully extracting her fingers from his grasp. “I was sorry to hear about your father’s heart attack. How’s he doing?”
“He’s definitely feeling better. I can tell because he’s trying his best to drive my mother completely crazy.”
Gabby and Phoebe laughed.
“I’m glad,” Gabby replied. Glancing at her sister, she stepped back. “I’ll go pull some bottles from the back for tonight and let you two catch up. Welcome back, Logan.”
The skin between her shoulder blades itched intensely as she turned and walked away. Without looking back, Gabby knew that Logan was watching her leave.
Though her legs were shaky with nerves, she managed to make it behind the bar and into the back room without falling on her face. Once she knew she was out of sight, Gabby wrapped her arms around her jumpy stomach and leaned against the wall. She was relieved that, not only did she not trip, she didn’t say anything completely stupid. She had a tendency to stick her foot in her mouth at the most inopportune times. Especially if she was nervous. It was a curse.
How could the sight of a man she hadn’t seen in over a decade turn her into a nervous, shaky mess? Even when he lived in Diamond and Gabby saw him all the time, his presence didn’t affect her like it did today.
Sucking in a deep breath, she straightened from the wall. Now was not the time to dwell on the fact that her high school crush still had the power to make her weak in the knees after a fourteen-year absence.
Gabby ran a hand through her hair, pulling the long mass over one shoulder. Her skin still felt hot from the crazy rush of attraction, a slight sheen of sweat shimmering on her shoulders and back.
Suddenly, her wild reaction seemed silly and maybe a little frivolous. Logan Westfall never noticed her existence in high school and she seriously doubted he would notice it now.
It didn’t matter. She had work to do and Logan was nothing but a distraction.
