She turns to open the driver’s door but hesitates, looking at me. “Um, Gabe?”
For one reckless moment, hearing my name spoken so softly on her lips, I imagine she’s going to say something dangerous, something I won’t be able to resist. An invitation. A plea.
Her forehead furrows. “Can we . . . Can we maybe not tell Andrew about any of this? The power outage. You coming out here and finding me still at work. He worries too much about me as it is. If he hears I was alone at the shop this late and then got spooked for no reason . . .”
Her words trail off because I’m already shaking my head. “I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”
“Right.” She shrugs, releasing a heavy sigh. “Boy Scout honor, is that it?”
“If you say so,” I reply, feeling anything but honorable. “You should get going.”
For a moment, she neither moves nor speaks. Finally, she gives me a vague nod. “You’re right. It’s getting really late. Thank you for being here tonight.”
“Anytime.”
She extends her hand and I take it, even though the contact only makes the lick of heat swirling through me burn hotter. I wrap my fingers around her smaller hand, engulfing her in my grasp. Arousal coils inside me at the contact, but even worse, I can see the glimmer of invitation in her bold green eyes.
“To think it was only yesterday I worried that you were going to have me arrested.” One of her dark brows arches playfully. “Now, look at us.”
I’m looking. I’m also keeping her hand gripped in mine, even though I know damn well that looking—and touching—are two things I have no business doing. I grunt, reluctant to let go of either her gaze or her hand. “What a difference a day makes.”
I want the remark to sound casual, in control. But the gravel scrape of my voice sounds anything but innocuous. I release her hand now, because whatever is smoldering to life between us is a definite no-go.
It’s ahell no, for a hundred different reasons—including the unspoken promise I made her brother earlier this morning. Evelyn Beckham is not for me.
“Be safe,” I tell her, reaching around her to open the driver’s side of her vehicle.
She climbs behind the wheel and I close the door, sealing her inside before I demand she stay. She starts the engine, but wisely keeps her window closed.
With a little wave from the other side of the glass,she backs out, leaving me standing in the dim pool of light on the darkened pavement.
7
~ Evelyn ~
After more than an hour of avid interrogation about my unexpected late-night encounter with Gabriel Noble from my friends over lunch at Vendange, one of our favorite spots in the city, seeing him in the boutique when I return almost seems like a mirage.
I enter through the front doors on Madison Avenue, having caught a taxi to the restaurant. A few customers are browsing the store, aided by the handful of sales associates who help with foot traffic during regular hours. I smile and nod, greeting them as I walk past the display tables and mannequins where just last night I’d been chatting with a man I thought I couldn’t stand and doing my damnedest not to make a fool of myself by inviting him home with me.
Now, he’s back at L’Opale. I catch a glimpse ofGabe’s broad shoulders, tapered waist, and much-too-fine ass in the short hallway past the dressing rooms. He’s wearing his typical uniform of dark suit pants and a white shirt, but at the moment his jacket and weapon holster are off and his long sleeves are rolled up over his tanned, muscular forearms. Although he’s got his back to me, he swivels a glance over his shoulder. Our eyes meet across the length of the boutique and I feel the heat of that connection lick through me like a flame.
But it’s there and gone in an instant. As if I imagined it.
As if there hadn’t been a volcano of attraction ignited between us last night.
With nothing more than a polite nod, he continues on down the hall.
I know I’m seriously out of practice when it comes to men and dating, but could I have read him that wrong? The pang of confusion—of a deeper disappointment than I care to admit—lingers as Megan rushes to me across the sales floor, wide-eyed and smiling.
“We have company.”
“I see that.”
She’s a little breathless, a little flushed in the face, as if being around Gabriel Noble has addled her brain as much as it apparently did mine last night.
“I didn’t realize we were getting new security equipment installed today,” she whispers.
“Neither did I.”
