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“What on earth are you thinking, dragging our family name through this travesty?” his father continues, his tirade apparently only starting.
“Hanson is a popular family name,” Gabe growls. “There was no reason for anyone to associate me with you until you just came to make it public knowledge.”
Mrs. Hanson huffs, and his father steps closer, as if he might get aggressive. My back is up, although I have no idea what to do. I dart my gaze along for help, but all I see are the cameras, capturing every frame of this humiliating experience with too much glee.
“Did you think about how Luke will be affected by all this?” the older Hanson hisses. “Your brother is saving lives, and you’re what? Being a bartender and dating strangers on television?”
Now the older man looks at me, his eyes cold enough to send shivers through my entire body. Just as quickly as Mr. Hanson gazes at me, he’s back on his son, who eyes me humorlessly.
“Oh, how stupid of me, Dad. I forgot to check with Luke before making decisions about my life.”
“Excuse me,” I butt in again. “Did you just call Gabe a bartender?”
“Excuseme!” Mrs. Hanson spits back, whirling to confront me. “This is a family matter, which doesn’t involve the likes ofyou!”
I shake as adrenaline pumps through me, but I don’t close my mouth like I usually would. Anger fuels me. No one talks to Gabe like this.
“You made it a very public matter when you interrupted our evening,” I shoot back, causing her to balk. She isn’t expecting retaliation from the likes of me. I catch Gabe’s glance, but I don’t care. I’m fired up now. “You do realize that your son—this son—is a billionaire because of a business he built from scratch?”
“Hansons don’t brew beer,” his father barks back. “We’re doctors, lawyers, judges.”
Gabe opens his mouth, but I’m not finished.
“If you can base your opinion of someone based on their occupation, you have a serious character flaw. Maybe you should discuss that with your therapist,” I grumble, my cheeks heating up.
Mrs. Hanson quite literally clutches her pearls as her husband turns his wrath on me.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” he spits.
“She’s someone who cares more about my well-being than my own parents, apparently,” Gabe finally manages to say. “Come on, Stella. Someone sucked all the air out of here. I’m finding it hard to breathe.”
He grabs my hand and leads me out of the ballroom, the camera crew split on where to film.
“Hurry,” he whispers, and my heels click madly over the wood floor as we duck out of the main hall. In seconds, we’re squared away in a coatroom, the distant sound of the party in our peripheral.
“Oh, they’re awful,” I moan quietly, falling against a wall. “How can they speak to you like that?”
Gabe smiles nonchalantly, but the pain in his eyes is crystal clear and cracks my heart.
“They’ve got a better kid as a backup,” he replies dryly.
My hands reach up to cup his face, and I pull him toward me, feeling the rush of his pulse as his body draws against mine.
“I’m so sorry you have to endure that,” I murmur.
He shakes his head vehemently. “No. I don’t. I have my own life, my own business. They can’t take any of that away from me.”
My head cocks back pityingly, but to my astonishment, his eyes are gleaming, lustful.
“You were amazing out there, though. You almost gave my mom a coronary.”
Shamed, I look down. “That wasn’t my intention.”
“She deserved it,” Gabe insists, and I look back at him. Without warning, his mouth captures mine. I had been expecting it, but it still catches me off guard. “I love you, Stella Crestwood.”
Blood rushes through me at his confession, and I hold him tighter. I hadn’t expected the profession of love, but it feels so natural, so right. Perhaps it’s all the time we’ve been forced to spend together or the understanding of just how much of a self-made man that Gabriel truly is, disowning his family to make it by himself.
Whatever the reason, I know that my feelings for him are just as true.
