Chapter 13 Gabe
GABE
Drew is dressed to leave when she returns, her coat zipped up tight, and her hat and gloves on. My heart seizes a little. “Done for the day?”
“Yup. I don’t need to be here to do my job today, so I’m going home. And since I’m not an employee, I can do that.”
She sounds off. Formal. What the fuck happened between her and Adam? I will wring his fucking neck if he’s hurt her.
I signal for one of my shift leaders to come take my place up front.
I’ve been training him on some admin and paperwork tasks to give him experience, but I’m out from behind the counter with my coat and keys in a matter of seconds. “I’ll drive you.”
Drew doesn’t wait for me, but she does let me steer her into my 4x4. The urge to buckle her in myself is strong, but I tamp it down. She’s not a child. That much has been made more than clear to me since she’s come back.
Since she’s stoked this kind of heat inside me that I didn’t know existed. That I didn’t know she could breathe into me by her mere proximity. It ramps up my protective instincts to the extreme. It makes my reactions to her more than untrustworthy.
She’s silent, and I’m wringing the steering wheel with my hands the entire way home.
Adam retrieved her, and now she’s gone stoney. That’s not how she usually reacts to him. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
It has my grip tightening. I warned him.
I knew he would do something to fuck this up, and she’d have to deal with the consequences. The fall out. It’s all the men around her seem to do: place more problems on her plate.
The want to tear into something takes over me, and it’s difficult to keep those feelings tamped down.
When we get to the house, I lure her into mine instead of hers. “Let me make you some hot chocolate.”
She laughs softly. “What is it with you two and offering me cocoa?”
Her response eases some of that overwhelming anger, dropping it to a simmer.
“Cocoa always makes it better.” Since she was a girl. Didn’t matter if it was summer or winter, it always put a smile on her face.
She rolls her eyes. “Dopamine. Sugar. Antioxidants. It’s science, really. And yes, but only if you make it the right way.”
Her mother taught me how to make it the right way when I was a teen.
When Drew was seven.
After the first time she ran here when her parents were fighting.
Drew watches as I pull together the ingredients, and I hate the somber downward turn on her mouth. This version of her is all too familiar, but it’s also worse. Her parents’ fighting was never about her.
This is.
I don’t usually push her to tell me what happens. She’ll tell me when she’s ready. But something about this situation won’t allow me to let it go.
Melting the chocolate and keeping the milk from scalding keeps me from asking, but once I pour two cocoas and top the mugs with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, I ask, “What did he say to upset you?”
Her back stiffens.
I pass her a cocoa and lean against the counter, taking my first sip.
When she lifts her for her first taste, I can finally breathe. Some things never change. And now, I’m waiting her out.
“His need for control rubs me the wrong way.”
It’s vague, but it’s a start. “How is he trying to control you?”
Drew pulls in a deep breath and lets it vibrate between her lips on a long exhale. “It’s not that he’s trying to control…me. I think it’s more about him being in charge. You know how I am around authority figures.”
I do. She buckles under heavy expectations, takes on the weight of them like she’s carrying the world around on her shoulders.
There’s more, so I wait.
Drew swirls her finger in the whipped cream and sticks it in her mouth.
The small action breathes fire into me.
My attraction to her isn’t helpful right now.
It might never be, but I also can’t ignore this growing sense of possession.
I want her to be mine.
Which is probably not at all fair to her.
She swallows hard and sighs. “I—it feels like he rejected me earlier. And I need to set boundaries with him at work. And I know, I should have already had them in place. I shouldn’t mix business and pleasure that way, but I don’t have a lot of experience with this. You know that.”
“I do. I know.”
Drew nods, her shoulders relaxing. It’s a giant win for me when I can help her with that.
“And he rejected you? How?”
Now, she shakes her head, her cheeks turning red. That, I’m not so okay with. Not at all happy that he has the power to upset her and so much power over her livelihood—and likely whether or not she chooses to stay in Pinebrook.
Because, damn it, of course I want her to stay. I’ve always wanted her to stay.
She must see it on my face, that talking about him is making me upset. Try as I might, I can’t seem to let it go.
“Do you really want the details? It’s obvious you don’t approve.”
I pull in a slow breath through my nose and plant my hands on the counter. “You’re right. I don’t approve. But it’s also not up to me who you see and what you do.”
The red spreads from her cheeks down her neck and up to her ears. “It’s not, but it’s not like I don’t value your opinion.”
And what’s left unsaid is that had I been here when Franklin Johnson took advantage of her, it might not have happened. Which is something that’s circled my thoughts for the years she was gone.
The long, miserable years without her.
Gone like a missing limb that I had no way of getting back.
But she is now.
She’s here, and I will not let Adam ruin that.
He won’t take her away from me again.
“He’s a good boss. A good man,” I grit the words out.
Drew’s eyes narrow at me. “But?”
“But he’s not right for you.”
Her huff says it all. “Who is right for me then?”
My jaw clenches, and I grit my teeth. It’s on the tip of my tongue to say “Me,” but I can’t do that. It’s not fair to her, and I don’t want to mislead her. Don’t want to manipulate her. We’ve been friends for too long for me to do that.
When I don’t answer, she rolls her eyes and stalks back into the living room.
I’m on her tail. There’s no way I’m letting her leave in the middle of this conversation even if it’s a difficult one to have.
Standing in front of the couch, she whirls on me, eyes glittering with things I could interpret all wrong. It tears me apart. Because we’re tipping toward something we can’t stop.
If we go there, and it doesn’t work out, it could ruin us both.
“You’ve got no answer, do you? So what does that mean? Huh? That no one is right for me? I’m just meant to be alone? It’s probably safer for everyone if I am. Then no one would be disappointed in me.”
“That’s not it.”
“Well, until you tell me otherwise, what am I supposed to believe?” Her voice wobbles. Out of anger or out of despair, I’m not quite sure.
I don’t like not being able to read her every emotion.
I hate it when she hides from me.
Drew turns again and falls into the couch, covering her face in her hands.
No. No more hiding.
I drop down in front of her as she jerks back, like I’ve invaded her space. It just pushes me further.
I plant my hands on either side of her on the couch and lean in, leaving her nowhere to go.
“Of course, someone is right for you.” My voice is a growl, and I wish I could have tempered it before I spoke. Breathing too heavy, leaning in too close. Fuck, this is dangerous.
Especially when her breath catches and she can’t seem to regain control over it.
Drew lifts a finger to trace the tattoo down the front of my throat—a delicate pattern that felt right when I saw it. Something that reminded me of her.
We sink a little closer; the pull to kiss her…it’s right there.
I want it.
She pops up and presses her mouth to mine. I’m frozen even as heat tears through me. Her mouth lingers, teeth catching and biting softly on my lip before I’m moving.
I kiss her back, every movement drawn out and intense as I coax her mouth open and finally get my first real taste of her.
Fuck, I lean in harder, cupping the back of her head and tilting her for better access.
Sweet chocolate and cream fills my senses.
Desire beats its way through my veins like a sickness.
There’s no fighting it back.
This is fueled by years of care and closeness. By history and new feelings.
Nothing terrifies me more than having this twist on me. My heart is at risk now that I finally am willing to admit what I want.
Drew. I want Drew.
Her touch spreads across my throat, catching on the open collar of my shirt. Something so small, and my body is raging in response.
Fingertips trail down the front of my shirt, pressing against my body, and every part of me takes notice.
My mouth falls away from hers, and I’m panting. “What are we doing?”
“I think it’s pretty clear what we’re doing.” She retreats and pulls her shirt over her head to expose the skimpy bra barely covering her and all that smooth skin.
Fuck. Saliva pools in my mouth with the desire to taste every inch of her.
I reel in my common sense. “Isn’t this too fast?”
Fuck, she’s tugging at my belt buckle.
“I’ve been dreaming about this for years.” Her words slay me.
But no, it’s not right. It’s too fast.
“Stop, Drew.” I grab her hands and pull back to look at her. “Rushing into things is what got you in trouble to begin with.”
I watch her eyes shutter, and she yanks her hands from my grip, pushing me away.
I nearly topple backward into the coffee table as she stands and shoves her shirt back on.
“Go fuck yourself, Gabe.” She grabs her coat and storms out without putting it on, the door slamming behind her like a slap to the face.
Groaning, I fall into the couch and wipe my hand down my face. That could have gone better.