“I didn’t say that.” His square jaw tenses as he looks at me. “I didn’t intend to betray any confidence in mentioning what you said in the garage. For that, I apologize.”
“My life is none of your business.”
“Agreed.”
I want to hold on to my anger, but it’s not easy. Not when Gabe seems so steady in his calm. And I cannot deny that seeing him again is wreaking havoc on my senses. He approaches me around the other side of my desk, his presence consuming space and oxygen, making me lightheaded and breathless with every step that brings him closer.
My heart pounds in my breast as he stops only a few paces from me. I should feel trapped. Instead I stare up at him in silent anticipation, my blood racing, my skin tingling everywhere his gaze lands on me.
“You’re pissed at me,” he states flatly, but the low tenor of his voice is anything but emotionless. “Right now, I don’t think your anger has anything to do with your brother or anything he might have told me. You’re not even pissed at me because of anything I may have told him while doing my job.”
“And you’re this insightful about my feelings havingonly spoken to me a couple of times?”
“Yes.”
I scoff, but it only makes him smile. His dimples flash momentarily, drawing my gaze to his mouth. Big mistake, because now I can barely look away.
He makes a noise in the back of his throat, deep and knowing. Arrogantly male.
“I think you’re pissed because I didn’t kiss you last night.”
Indignation launches me out of my seat. “And I think you should leave now.”
He nods, unfazed. “Yeah. So do I. But not until we clear something up.”
We are facing each other, only a few inches separating our bodies in the privacy of my closed office. I could back away if I want. The other side of my desk provides an easy escape.
But that’s not what I want.
He knows it as well as I do.
“I don’t care about what happened in your past. Who you were. Why it ended. I’m not going to go digging anywhere to find out, so if you want me to know, you’ll have to tell me yourself.”
He won’t uncover anything, even if he tried. Other than an internet rumor or two when my troubles first began, Andrew has taken great strides—and gone to significant expense—to make sure the ugliest photos and tabloid stories have been buried. I’ve held on to some of the worst pictures myself, if only to remind me of all that I’ve overcome to get where I am now.
Gabe shakes his head on an uttered curse. “You think I don’t have a past? You think I haven’t spent years trying to carve some semblance of a new life for myselfafter everything that happened to me over in that desert, or in the years that came before that? Think again.”
His gaze sears me as it travels every inch of my face. This man is steady and strong, but he burns hot. I can feel the intensity of his arousal in the heat that fills the space between us. I can see how tightly reined he manages his control, but he is on the verge of losing it.
He reaches out, stroking his thumb along my jawline. His fingers splay against my cheek and a moan builds in my throat. He shakes his head, whether in warning to me or himself, I can’t be certain.
“Do I want you, Evelyn? Hell, yes. You’re all I thought about after I got home last night. And today, I couldn’t get here fast enough, just to see you again.”
“Stop.” The word gusts out of me on a sigh. “Stop saying all the right things.”
“I’m just being honest.”
“Maybe you’re just saying what you know I want to hear. Maybe you’re just looking to put a notch in your bedpost. Another conquest to brag about.”
“Do I strike you as the kind of man who would do any of those things?”
“No . . . I don’t know.” God help me, I’ve never known a man who could strip away my defenses like Gabriel Noble is doing now. I cling to my indignation, but it’s a wall made of sand.
He lifts my chin on the edge of his knuckles. “Well, I’m not that kind of man. And if I were, you would’ve already been naked beneath me—either in one of our beds, or right up against your car in the parking lot last night.” When my eyes widen in shock, he pins me with a carnal look. “Tell me that’s not what you wanted me to do. In case you forgot, you were the one who touchedme first.”
“Did you also put that in your report to my brother and Nick today?” My heart is pounding as I say it, every cell in my body feeling electric under the intensity of Gabe’s stare.
He doesn’t react to my jab, just holds my gaze in abject seriousness. “No, they don’t know any of this. They never will. But I can’t let this happen between us, Evelyn. That’s what you need to understand. Your brother trusts me as a friend, as a colleague. Nick does too. I won’t risk that, not for anything. No matter how much I want you.”
