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I purse my lips. Wait until I take the coat off… elegant might not be the first word that comes to mind.
“I don’t know,” Thomas comments. “He doesn’t look all that rested to me. I bet he cried while putting on his suit jacket. Are your arms still sore, Gabriello?”
“I could punch you and find out.”
Thomas makes a mock-disgusted face. “How crass to resort to violence.” Then he leads us down the path, toward the resort restaurant.
“Cut it, Thomas,” Gabriel orders in a menacing tone.
Undeterred by the warning, Thomas turns to me. “Gabriel is not always the easiest to deal with. He has a bit of a temper. But once you get to know him better, I promise he’s a soft teddy bear underneath all that corporate crustiness.”
“I can agree with the bear thing,” I say, staring up at MGM furtively. “I’m not sure about the teddy part.”
Thomas opens the door to the resort’s vast lobby. “She has a point.”
Gabriel grunts in response, further corroborating my theory.
Thomas and I share an amused look, and MGM rolls his eyes.
“Remind me never to go out with the two of you together ever again,” MGM says.
I stifle a laugh as we navigate the massive, ballroom-like restaurant and meander through the many round tables until we find an empty one we can occupy for us and Thomas’s other invitees to the “cool kids” dinner.
A server is at my side in a matter of seconds. “May I take your coat, miss?”
I nod, and as I shrug the coat off and hand it to the server I can’t help but peak from under my lashes at MGM’s reaction.
31
GABRIEL
The moment Blake shrugs off her coat, revealing the long, low-cut dress underneath, the air leaves my lungs and contrasting instincts take over. I simultaneously want to rip the dress off her smooth skin to uncover the marvels underneath and put the coat back on her so that no one else will see how beautiful she is.
Blake’s skin is spotless, except for the dusting of freckles on her cheekbones and nose. Her hair, straight as a knife blade tonight, shimmers the color of a night awash in starlight, the silky locks tumbling over her shoulders and inviting me to bury my hand in them. Skimming the length of her mane is a mistake as my eyes land on the low-cut V of her neckline, and I have to clench my fists at my side to fight the urge to sweep the hair off her shoulder.
I look away. My gaze travels up from her exposed cleavage to her long neck to finally meet her blazing blues.
Those eyes… they’ll be the death of me.
She’s looking at me, blushing. I’ve been caught staring like a kid surprised with his hands in the jam jar.
I’m struggling to find something remotely smart to say when Thomas pounds his fist between my shoulder blades. “If you’re going to have a heart attack, brother, tell me now so I can call emergency services.”
Blake smirks. “You’d better put someone else in charge of your brother’s health, Thomas, since pounding his back would only save him from strangulation.”
I don’t have a witty comeback to hit her with. I’m still too choked up by the view.
Thomas chuckles. “Why, Miss Avery, you’ve accomplished the impossible and rendered my brother speechless.” He pulls back her chair to help her sit. “You should come to family brunch each Sunday and spare my ears his useless blabbering.”
I glare at Thomas. If I didn’t owe him for bringing Blake here, I’d give his smug behind a sound kicking.
Thomas takes the seat next to Blake, and I sit on his other side. For once, I don’t resent him for sitting next to her. Being too close to Blake dressed like that? I’m not completely sure I could control myself. Just looking at her is torture.
I’ve barely finished expressing gratitude for my brother in my head, when Thomas pretends to pick up something from the table and hands it to me. “Is this your jaw, brother? I thought you might still need it.”
I swat his hand away. “Quit being a jerk.”
He unfolds his napkin, places it on his legs, and turns to Blake. “Sorry, what I was trying to say is that you look dashing tonight, Blake. Killer dress. If the push-ups didn’t finish the job, your apparel will do my brother in for good.” He winks at her. “Call me if you need help hiding the body.”
