“Single.” One strained word, and my eyes snap to his. He’s staring at our joined hands, his brows furrowed. He lifts his gaze, eyeing me cautiously, lacing his fingers with mine. “Have dinner with me tomorrow night.”
My inner voice tells me to politely decline. It’s a bad idea.
But I refuse to listen since that same voice told me my ex-husband was my prince charming.
“Please? I’ll buy you a danish afterwards.” He cocks his eyebrow, and I giggle.
He drives a hard bargain.
“Okay, but I think we should meet at the restaurant.”
He exhales softly, as if he was holding his breath, waiting for my answer. “Give me your phone.”
Pulling it from my purse, I hand it over, watching as he types quickly. His phone dings.
“I’ll send you the address of the restaurant and see you tomorrow night at seven.”
“Okay.” I murmur, nervous energy pumping through my veins.
He stands from his chair, coming around to my side of the table, dropping the phone in my purse. He holds out his hand, and I take it.
He’s quite a gentleman.
Maybe chivalry isn’t dead after all.
Pressing his palm to my lower back, he leads me out of the coffee shop. We get to my car, and I unlock it with the key fob. After he opens my door, I slide inside. Gabe bends down, gently pressing his lips to my cheek. My eyes drift closed as I breathe him in. He smells incredible, and I want to bury my face in his chest. He lingers for a moment, inhaling deeply. Trailing his lips to my ear, hewhispers, “See you tomorrow night.”
Swallowing the urge to moan, I nod, not trusting my voice. He grins, closing the door and walking away. He reaches his truck and glances my way one more time before climbing inside.
Replaying the last thirty minutes, over and over, I can’t believe I agreed to have dinner with him. This is completely out of character for me, but I can’t deny our chemistry. After being alone for two years, maybe this is what I need. I’m not going to think about it too hard.
I’ll have dinner with him and see what happens.
Chapter Two
Gabriel
Sitting in the boardroom, my focus isn’t on budgets, projects and contracts. My mind is on Brooke.
The bell chimed over the door of the coffee shop, and I curiously turned around. My breath hitched as I watched a brunette goddess stroll inside.
She wore leggings and an off the shoulder top, giving me a glimpse of her smooth skin. Her soft curves threatened to bring me to my knees. I itched to run my fingers through her long, dark hair. When our gazes locked, her chocolate eyes damn near made my heart stop.
I couldn’t resist the charge in the air between us. Grabbing my coffee, I made my move. Once we were seated, I hung on every word she said. I couldn’t help but smile at her body language. Obviously nervous, she squirmed and darted her eyes away from me more than once.
She said her marriage wasn’t a good one. I’ll dig into that later, but obviously the guy was a fucking idiot. How could any man mistreat a woman so beautiful?
Brooke Monroe is the entire package.
My bed’s been empty over the past year. Women want to sleep with the man on top, but not a damn one of them tried to dig deeper and get to know me. I’m thirty-five years old. Eventually, my looks will fade, and I need someone to love me for the man I am.
My thoughts are interrupted by Dalton, one of my construction supervisors. Looking up, I see him patiently waiting.
“I’m sorry. What was that?” I sneak a glance at my assistant, Barbara. She gives me a disapproving glare as she looks back at Dalton.
He clears his throat, repeating his question. “I asked if you had a chance to sign off on the new safety protocols, sir?”
Thinking of the thick folder with the new safety measures, I nod. “Yes, I signed them. Barbara has them on her desk.” He nods, returning his attention to the front of the room.
