17. To Pretend
TO PRETEND
“Hey there, stranger,” Gabriela said to him on Monday morning.
In the gym and the first time he’d seen her since their little texting adventure on Saturday night.
First time he’d talked to her again too.
What the fuck was he doing pretty much sexting with Gabriela that night?
Mild sexting at that, but still on the border of something he’d never done before.
“Hi,” he said.
She was eyeing him like she was waiting for him to make the first move. Or bring it up.
Nope. Not going there.
It felt like something drastic had shifted and he was the one balancing on the thin line waiting to topple over.
She’d left him on read when he said he liked challenges.
Did that mean she didn’t? That it was all a game and one she got too deep in?
“Looks like you’ve been here longer than normal or came in earlier than normal.”
He was dripping in sweat, having run his ass off on the treadmill before she showed up. More to quiet the nerves that didn’t want to shut the hell up.
“I got some cardio in first.”
“Got it,” she said, her smirk still filling her face as if she knew how uncomfortable he was.
“Are you riding the bike, walking, or lifting today?”
“I think I’ll do the treadmill,” she said, “then get some leg work in. Looks like it’s arms for you.”
Since he was standing at the bench press it was an easy guess. Or maybe it was the way her eyes were moving over his body.
Her actions were saying much more than her words.
She’d caught him getting ready to start, so might as well slip them on and get to it.
The minute he turned his back, it was quiet. When he lay down, she was gone, over on the other side, on the same treadmill he’d dropped sweat on and cleaned up minutes ago.
Maybe he was pressing the weights up harder and faster than normal.
No maybe about it.
Before it could be a way to kind of show off. Hope to get Gabriela’s attention on him. That shit he did when he was single years ago.
Hell, he was single now and had to remind himself of that. He just didn’t remember it being this stressful before.
But hadn’t Gabriela told him how horrible it was to be single in your thirties?
Fuck, he was pushing forty.
“Are you okay over there?”
He lifted his head after setting the weights down and turned to see the employee standing close by.
“Yes, why? Just waiting to spot me?”
“That and you’re grunting and groaning like you’re trying to kill the equipment. Just wanted to make sure I’m not in the line of your sight if you do.”
Luca snorted at the joke being tossed his way.
“Sorry, didn’t realize it.”
His eyes glanced at Gabriela. The smirk on her lips said she had.
He stood up and added the weights since the employee was standing there.
When he was done five minutes later, more sweat was rolling down his back, soaking his shirt, and forcing him to wipe his face.
He got another piece of equipment done before Gabriela stepped off the treadmill and came closer.
“That’s a short walk for you,” he said.
“I just wanted to warm my legs up before I put them to work.”
His eyes dropped to her legs on display. Did it look like the bike shorts she had on were smaller than normal to him?
Riding up higher on her thighs? Making her ass look a lot rounder? He was in some deep shit.
“It’s always good to do that,” he said, sounding like an idiot.
She strutted to the leg press, set her weights and climbed on. He went to the chest press and did the same, got to work and tried to pretend that he didn’t spend half the night up with a stiff dick after their teasing texts.
They worked out for another twenty minutes each, moving around the gym, him returning her grin half the time.
If Saturday night hadn’t happened, this would be nothing more than what they’d done before.
Maybe that was how she wanted to play it. To pretend it didn’t happen.
She’d had a few glasses of wine. Could be she just got looser during that time.
“So,” she said when she finished up, was wiping the sweat from her neck, and standing next to him.
“Lunch today? Or are you busy? My parents left this morning. We got together with my Uncle Michael and Aunt Lacy, along with my cousins and the kids and my brother. One of those last-minute things that seems to happen after an event.”
Okay, guess maybe he was reading more into her silence yesterday.
Why did it have to seem this hard?
“Sure, I can do lunch. Where do you want to meet?”
It was only eleven now. He planned on going home to shower and change; she always did the same.
“How about McKay’s?” she said. “It’s about ten minutes from here, the middle of the island. Should be pretty quiet on a Monday afternoon. It’s a popular spot in the family.”
“Noon?” he asked.
“That works.” She walked back to the women’s locker room, his eyes on her ass. Then he caught himself and looked away, getting the hell out of here.
An hour later, they met up in the parking lot, just like they always seemed to do.
She was in baggy jeans, sneakers, a fitted white shirt and a purple vest over it. Not one of those puffy ones, but nylon, athletic. Like she was having fun just torturing him with her body.
“You said you come here often?”
“Not as often as Sandy’s Cafe, but my cousins, they came here more when they were single. One of those places. Not to pick up women, but just a place with great food. Mac Bond, he’s the Chief of Police, his wife, Sidney, used to be a bartender here. That is how they met.”
He opened the door for her, held it there while she walked in and followed behind.
They were seated, menus placed down, then the hostess walked away. Gabriela put her chin in her palms and stared at him.
“What?” he asked.
“I guess I have to bring it up.”
So much for them pretending it didn’t happen.
“What’s that?”
“Oh, you want to play that way? I mean, it was fun playing the other night.”
The wink she sent told him to relax now. It wasn’t a mistake. She remembered what she’d done.
Luca just didn’t know what it all meant.
“It was.” He picked up the glass of water that had been filled before the hostess left and took a sip. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to talk about it.”
“I’ll talk about anything,” she said. “You know, that’s how you get to challenge someone.”
He gulped. She’d had more practice than him for sure.
“I’m kind of rusty here and don’t want to come off like an ass.”
“It’s new for you. I get it. I like to joke. Sorry if I’m crossing lines.”
“So that is all it is? A joke?”
“Do you want it to be more?” she asked. The grin was still on her lips, her eyes moving over him, more curious than anything.
How the hell was he supposed to answer this?
He studied her for a long second, the playful ease between them suddenly threaded with something heavier. Real. Unexpected, but he learned that was what happened in his life more than he cared for.
“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “That’s the truth. I haven’t done this in a while. The joking, the flirting. I like it. I just didn’t want to misread you.”
Her smile softened, not retreating, but warming.
“I wasn’t teasing to be careless,” she said.
“I tease because I’m interested. Because it’s fun.
Because I wanted to see how you’d respond.
” The wiggle of her eyebrows made him wonder if fun was more than interest, but he had to stop second-guessing everything because he was out of his element too.
His mouth curved, slow and cautious. Taking it at a snail’s pace. “And?”
“You didn’t shut it down,” she said happily. “You didn’t push too far either.” Her lips pressed together like she was pondering the meaning, then she shrugged. “That tells me something. Just not positive what it was.”
Her laugh made him let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “I was trying hard not to screw it up or come off like an ass.”
She didn’t need to know that his finger hesitated on the send button every time, until that last one.
Until he said he liked challenges.
Then she just dropped the conversation into a canyon.
“That’s kind of adorable,” she said, tilting her head.
“And unnecessary. And I should say, I’m sorry I didn’t reply, but my mother knocked on my door and wanted to talk, so by the time I got back to my phone, it was later and I thought you would be sleeping.
Not really how I planned on stopping that kind of fun. ”
The urge to wipe his hand across his forehead was massive, but he didn’t. That’d be an idiot move.
Like someone with no confidence.
He was pretty sure she knew he felt that way, but again, best to play it off.
“Careful,” he said, his voice low, almost a whisper. A teasing one at that. Just using the word she’d put in her text the other night. “I’m already out of my depth. Heaven forbid what might slip out.”
She leaned back in her chair, her eyes still locked on his. Her smile was wide. She knew what he was doing and was going to offer a helping hand.
That he was opening the door and trying again.
Taking that first step back to the flirting, even if he was cautious with it. But she got it. She got him.
“Then let’s keep it simple. No pressure. No expectations. Just… honesty.”
“And if honesty says I liked what happened?” he asked. “That maybe I wasn’t ready for it to end, but don’t know the next step either.”
Her gaze flicked to his mouth, then back to his eyes. Deliberate. Unrushed. “Then honesty says we are thinking the same.”
The air between them shifted, thicker now, charged in a way that made the noise of the restaurant fade. Made his ears ring, his confidence shoot through his blood.
“So,” he said, his voice lower as he looked around to see if anyone was watching them, “what does that mean?”
She smiled again, slow and knowing, almost like she knew he was still confused. “It means we don’t pretend it didn’t happen. And we don’t rush to define it either.”
He nodded. “I can do that.”
“Good,” she said. “Because I’d hate to stop teasing you.”
His lips twitched. “I had a feeling. Could be the same for me... again.”
And for the first time since she’d brought it up, the tension didn’t feel dangerous. It didn’t feel as if he had to be careful.
It felt promising.