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Behind me, Gabby entered the living room. I turned to face her, only to have the air sucked from my lungs. But God damn. She’d changed into tight, light pants with a loose black top that swirled around her curves in the most fetching fashion. It looked absolutely tantalizing on her.
My mouth went dry and my skin went tight. It’d been a long time since I’d craved a woman as much as I craved this one.
“Let’s get one thing straight,” she snarled, her expression hard and unyielding; she obviously didn’t feel the same attraction I did. “I’m only going with you tonight to save my job. Got it?”
“Of course.” I casually slipped my hand into a pocket when I followed her from the apartment.
“It’s certainly not because I like you,” she went on, locking the door behind her. “Because I don’t. I pretty much loathe you right now. And I’m mad as hell about what you did.”
“Oh, I could tell,” I answered, following behind as she stalked down the hall. “It almost completely masks how grateful you actually are.”
“Excuse me, what?” After jarring herself to a halt, she whirled around to glare at me. “I’m not grateful, you dickhead. You said some terrible, awful things to and about my father. I’d love nothing more than to claw your face off right about now.”
“You sure about that?” I murmured, lowering my voice and leaning in. “Or are you secretly relieved that I stepped in and helped you out, saying the hard truths he obviously needed to hear in order to snap him back into shape?”
“Fuck you,” she snarled, her eyes flashing with rage. “The only thing that will relieve me is when I never have to see you or your psychotic mother ever again. And you know what?” She started to turn away, only to whirl back and point at me. “He didn’t need to hear shit from you. We were doing just fine without you butting in the way you did, thank you very much.”
“Really?” I lifted my eyebrows mockingly. “But it would’ve broken you if you’d had to say any of that to him. And it was getting to that point. You know it was.”
“You bastard.” She swung her palm toward my face. “Don’t tell me what I do or don’t know.”
I caught her wrist before she could make contact and flashed my snarkiest smile. “The truth stings, doesn’t it, little bird?” Leaning close, I mocked, “That’s okay. I can keep your relief a secret too.”
Growling when she couldn’t pull her wrist free from my grip, she bared her teeth at me. “God! I hate you.”
I laughed. “You think that’s going to put a dent in my feelings? Darling, my own mother hates me.”
“Then I’ll put a dent in your fucking head.” She swung her other hand.
I caught that wrist too, to her eternal displeasure. She struggled and hissed, cursed and flailed, demanding, “Let me go.”
“Not until you calm down and stop trying to hurt me.” I backed her against the wall and pinned her there because she was getting hard to keep contained.
Panting, she flung her hair out of her eyes and glared hard. “Let. Me. Go.”
My lips parted with a strange realization as I took in the agonized features on her face. She really was mad at me. Genuinely, gut-wrenchingly upset.
Except I didn’t want her to be mad at me. Not truly, unforgivably angry, anyway.
As that fact sliced through my chest, I leaned in until my nose was almost touching hers and frowned right back. “Let. Me. Apologize.”
She blinked in surprise. Then frowned out her confusion. “What? Really?” She glanced up and down the hall before squinting suspiciously. “Is this some kind of trick?”
I shook my head. “No trick. I was out of line.”
Too busy trying to figure me out, she didn’t seem to notice when I released my hold on one of her wrists in order to lift my hand and softly slide the back of my fingers down her cheek. She flinched in surprise, and that almost slayed me. I didn’t want her to recoil from me, not for any reason.
“I’m sorry I upset you and was so brutal with your father. Sometimes my asshole side comes out without my permission, which I know is in no way a valid excuse, but I thought you’d like to know I do regret the way I went about it.”
“I…” Looking stumped, she cleared her throat, then shook her head as if trying to clear her thoughts too. Then she slowly, uncertainly said, “Okay. But what about what you said just now with all the hard truths and secretly relieved bullshit?”
I shrugged. “That wasn’t bullshit. I still believe what I said and think he needed to be jostled back to reality. But that doesn’t mean I don’t regret hurting you in the proces
s.”
Letting go of her completely, I took a significant step back, giving her all the space she needed.
“It’s strange,” I said more to myself than to her. I shook my head, confused. “But being around you affects me. I find myself doing the oddest things I’ve never done before.”
