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With a gruff sigh, he took a swig of the hour-old coffee sitting on his desk and focused on his keyboard. Lusting after Hope Morgan wasn’t going to pay the bills. He needed to get his head out of the gutter.
He managed to put in another solid hour before the door to his office busted open, and Sean sauntered through carrying two big bags of takeout and a tray with two sodas on it. He was wearing a backward baseball cap, an athletic shirt, and basketball shorts even though it was fucking freezing outside, not to mention raining.
“You know,” Sean said, dumping everything onto Gabe’s desk before dropping his hulking body into a chair across from him. “For someone who got laid multiple times last night, you should be looking a whole lot perkier.”
To show Sean just how perky he was feeling, he lifted his middle finger before reaching for one of the bags. Sean snatched it out of reach. The guy had reflexes like a gazelle.
“Oh no, you don’t, princess. Not until you tell me why you’re being a sourpuss.”
“Fuck you.”
Sean grinned, clearly enjoying this little round ofpiss-Gabe-off. “She left you to wake up alone, is that it? You didn’t get your morning after snuggle.”
Because Sean was unpacking burgers and fries and now handing them over freely, he decided not to kill him, but he sure as shit wasn’t going to admit to Sean that he was getting way too close to the truth.
Gabe took a huge bite of his burger and a sip of his soda, feeling marginally better. He looked up at Sean over the rim of his drink. “How the fuck do you know what happened last night, anyway?”
Sean folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. “You really need to ask that?”
Ivy. Shit. If Ivy knew, that meant Hope had told her, and if Hope told her—well, what the hell did that mean? Despite having a pain-in-the-ass sister and a daughter of the same gender, he didn’t speak female. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
“Don’t worry, Hope didn’t kiss and tell,” Sean said, reading his mind and taking his own lunch out of the bag. “Hope did her walk-of-shame home as Ivy was getting ready to leave for her morning run. Ivy said she took one look at Hope and it didn’t take much to figure out where she’d just come from. And who she’d just come for,” he added with a wink, chewing on a fry.
Gabe buried his head in his hands.
Sean giggled, like a freaking giddy schoolkid. “Man, yougo,” he choked out, probably impressed that after all these years Gabe could actually still have sex. “I was starting to think that you didn’t have the guts to go for Hope. I was going to make a move myself if you didn’t do something soon.”
Gabe stalled mid-bite and glowered at his friend.
Sean burst out laughing in response. “Holy shit, you should see the look on your face. You’ve got it worse than I thought if you can’t clearly see I’m messing with you.”
Growling under his breath, Gabe finished off his burger, then dug into the bag for the next one, knowing Sean always bought enough food to feed an army. Or a bottomless pit such as they both were.
Why had he gotten so upset at the thought of his friend going for Hope? They made more sense together. They were both friendly and kind. Amiable and genuine. Sean had a big old soft heart that a girl like Hope could snuggle right into.
They could probably live fucking happily ever fucking after.
Whereas Gabe didn’t have much to offer Hope in terms of heart. He’d shut off his soft side years ago, and anything he had left was reserved for Ruby.
Great, now he was second-guessing if he could even be enough for Hope. As he’d said: ass-backwards.
He realized he’d gotten lost in thought when he heard Sean deliberately sucking the last of his soda through his straw as loudly and obnoxiously as possible.
He shot him a look, but Sean eyed him innocently and continued sucking.
“You’re good enough for her,” Sean said finally, when he’d sucked the last goddamn drop out of his cup. He tossed the cup toward the wastebasket in the corner of Gabe’s office. It went in without hitting the rim. Then he leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers, looking like a fucking shrink. “I knowyou thinkyou aren’t good enough, but you are.”
Gabe made himself busy crumpling empty wrappers into balls and taking his own shots at the garbage. Only half went in. Sean tsked.
“I’m distracted,” Gabe grumbled.
“No,” Sean said. “You’re afraid she only wants you for your body.” He leaned forward, elbows on knees, and hit the nail on the head. “But the thing that’s really eating at you is that she might actually want you for more.”
Gabe wasn’t in the mood for a heart-to-heart. Sean was putting words to what had just been a chaos of feelings bubbling around inside him, and he wasn’t ready to hear it.
“What if she’s not for me?” He pushed up from his seat. He needed to move. His chest felt tight, constricted. “I thought she could be, but maybe she’s not.”
“And why not, man?” Sean wasn’t going to let this go. “She’s beautiful, smart, funny, and can work the bar with the best of them. Ivy loves her. So does Ruby. Hope fits into your life like she’s always been there. So what’s the problem?”
