How was he doing? What, after his mortifying nightmare and then running off into the night without any explanation?
‘Are you feeling better?’ she went on.
Please don’t start talking about it, Walker prayed to himself. Please don’t make me relive the whole embarrassing drama.
‘I was worried about you.’ Her eyes were soft, probing. She was obviously determined to be nice about it. Even if Gabi thought he was a loser, she was going to be pleasant and keep up appearances so that they could all spend the rest of her time in Honeybridge on good terms. Walker clenched his jaw.
‘I’m fine,’ he said gruffly, pushing his hair off his face.
‘Good, I’m glad to hear that.’ She was still smiling up at him. Last time she’d been looking up at him, she’d been in bed with him, looking up from a slightly different angle. . . He shook himself. She wouldn’t want to do any of that again. He’d blown his chance for sure. There was a joke in there somewhere, but he wasn’t in the mood to find it.
‘Haven’t seen you for a few days?’ Gabi left the question hanging.
Or nights, he thought, thinking back to waking up that morning to his phone on his pillow. His call log said that he’d been on a call with Gabi for over eight hours. It had ended five minutes before he woke up. Thank God for that. He wouldn’t have known what to say if he’d woken and she’d still been on the other end of the line, having looked after a fully grown man all night to make sure he didn’t have another bad dream. Honestly, how pathetic.
‘Work’s been busy. . .’ he said vaguely, and she nodded, waiting for more.
‘Any more emergencies?’ she asked.
He shook his head tiredly and she bit her lip.
‘Walker, about the other night—’ she started but he cut her off.
‘Better get on,’ he said. ‘Late already.’ He nodded past her towards the weights. Her eyes widened and she took a beat before nodding.
‘Sure. Well, I’ll see you at the Honeybridge Awards on Saturday.’
Walker nodded, feeling like the biggest idiot in the world. He should say something, he knew that, but what? He didn’t know whether he should be thanking her or apologising to her. And it probably didn’t matter anyway, because she was hotter than hell and he was the town coward. It wasn’t like anything he said was going to change that.
‘I’m looking forward to it,’ Gabi continued as she started to move past him. And then with a mischievous smile over her shoulder, she added, ‘Jayden’s been teaching me to breakdance. I’m looking forward to trying out my moves.’
Walker watched her go, trying not to focus on her arse. Better to steer clear and not make a fool of himself all over again. He wasn’t man enough for the job.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gabi
Gabi shimmied in the mirror. Her little black dress sparkled and clung in all the right places. Her short, inky hair was extra sleek, and her big brown eyes were dark-rimmed with liner. She looked good enough for a red carpet– which was the last place she’d worn this ensemble– at the Oscars for a film. The only difference this time was instead of wearing death-defying heels, she was sporting one sequinned silver Birkenstock on her good foot, and a protective boot on the other. She’d show Walker McBride what he was missing.
First of all, he hadn’t rung or texted after their night together. Not that she’d been watching her phone or anything; he wasn’t her boyfriend after all. But he hadn’t even dropped her a message to say he hoped he hadn’t snored during their late-night call. Because he had, actually. Even if they were very little snores like a dog in front of the fire. Kind of cosy and cute. But anyway. Not only had he not messaged, but he’d pretty much blanked her at the gym. How dare he brush her off like that? What had she done to him apart from probably give him the best sex of his life and then ring him to make sure he was okay? He literally didn’t have a word to say to her when she’d run into him, and she’d stumbled off feeling like she was the last person he wanted to see. When she’d been so looking forward to it and still hoped they would be hooking up again. She believed that he’d felt the connection as much as she had, the electricity that shot through her every time he touched her. But maybe he’d enjoyed his night and that was that. What did she care anyway? She’d be out of this tiny town soon and back to real life. She had a call scheduled with her agent in the morning. Hopefully good news about the next role. She tilted her chin at her reflection, grabbed her bag and headed out to where Amber waited in the hall.
‘Holy shit, Gabi,’ Amber said, licking her finger and hissing when she pressed it to Gabi’s arm. ‘You look smoking.’
‘You too.’ Gabi nodded appreciatively at the low-cut, long gold dress Amber was nearly wearing. ‘Let’s go and have some fun.’
Jayden waved from his seat on the sofa with babysitter Millie Malone, and they were off.
The town hall was a pretty building from the outside, stone built, and ivy clad. Internally, it was all tiled floors and wood panelling. The women left their coats at the cloakroom and headed in to find a drink.
The great and the good of Honeybridge were stacked three deep at the bar wearing sequins and suits. The air was thick with aftershave and the noise levels were high with excitement. Amber spotted a gap and slotted in, quickly reappearing with a bottle of Prosecco and two flutes. Gabi meanwhile had snagged a high, round table with two stools and they settled in.
‘So, you trying to get the attention of anyone in particular?’ Amber asked with a wink.
‘Nope. Like I said, I think that’s done,’ Gabi lied with a smile. ‘You?’
Amber laughed. ‘Well, Alex’s band is playing later. . .’
Gabi pulled a face. ‘Poor Alex, I almost felt sorry for him the other day. You laying down your ground rules.’
