Chapter 6
GABE
“Oh, Gabe.”
The shortened version of my name rolling off Katherine’s tongue is one of the sweetest sounds I’ve ever heard.
She reaches for me, a hand against my cheek, the other clutching my suit jacket. I can’t shake her off. I’m not strong enough to deny her a second time and don’t want to.
I slide my hands around the curve of her waist and instantly feel like I’ve come home. Like the world has righted itself.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur as she stretches up, peppering kisses across my chin to my jaw. I don’t know that I’ll ever believe the wheels I set in motion didn’t cause Lucinda Winthrop to go off the deep end. But I can forgive myself and work on making amends with Katherine.
Whatever she wants, whatever she needs, all she has to do is ask.
“I’m sorry too,” she says between kisses.
My fingers tighten around her, the guilt trying to rear up and take over. I can’t keep the growl out of my voice. “What are you sorry for?”
“For not saying anything while you were melting down. For not setting you straight,” she says.
“I love when you set me straight.” She’s maybe the only person who can call me on my shit and make me want to be better and do better.
She pulls back, searching my face. “You do?”
“I do,” I say.
Her voice echoes through my mind, telling me to get into the bed. I’ll remember that first night together, the wildness after the auction and her tired-but-firm order for the rest of my life.
A small smile curves her lips, and I can see her filing that information away for later. But then her lips flatten, and she gives me a little shove.
“I’m still mad at you.”
My gut tightens. “Because I’m buying Cort?”
She shakes her head. “Because you’re fighting with Alex.”
“I wouldn’t call it a fight—”
“He told you to stay away from me,” she says, her pleased expression falling, but she doesn’t stop touching me.
If you’d told me ten years ago I’d meet a woman who could make me eager as a puppy to make her smile, I would have laughed you out of my penthouse and slammed the door.
But I’m a different man than I was then.
And Katherine is smarter, more sincere, more amazing than anything I could have dreamed up.
The new me isn’t holding back anymore. We deserve the truth from each other. “He was, rightly, upset with how I’d handled things—”
“Remember how I said I wouldn’t come between you?”
My mind tumbles straight into the gutter, and my lips pull into a smirk. I coast a hand up her spine, the zipper a tiny slit beneath my fingertips. “Do you remember how you did come between us?”
Her eyes flash with lust, and she gives my chest a playful smack. “Stop. I’m serious.”
I squeeze her waist, thrilled to have her against me again. “I’d never joke about that,” I tease, then turn somber. “We’re working it out. We both said some things that… needed to be said, I think. But we’re solid. I promise.”
She worries her lower lip as she stares at me, her brain clearly a whirlwind. I swear I can see the storm clouds darkening her lovely eyes. “I don’t want to walk away, but I don’t want your friendship fractured, either.”
Her meaning hits me like a cinder block. My stomach bottoms out. I stare at her for a long moment, noting the dewy pink of her lips, the wisps of hair escaping her updo.
“You’d give everything up, just like that, to preserve our friendship?”
There’s a split-second hesitation, like she’s thinking this through, but then, mind made up, her answer is quick. “Yes.”
She sounds so certain and unflappable. Still, it’s hard to fathom anyone would give up something as wonderful as the four of us have found, for any reason. Home. Family. Connection. Partners and trust. “You’re really that altruistic.”
It’s more of a musing than a question. A statement, really.
The fingertips of her right hand tap against my breastbone. “Altruism was in short supply when I was growing up. So were genuine friendships. So yes.”
I pull her into a tight hug, my body sinking against hers in relief. I don’t know why it’s so easy to believe her now. Heart, body, soul. It just is. I was crazy to let my demons take hold of me last week. I’d be even crazier to let her get away.
Closing my eyes, I soak in all the feelings and sensations bombarding me. How perfectly we fit against each other, how delicious she smells, how soft her dress is beneath my palms.
She lets me hold her for a long time. Finally, I say, “We’re not fighting over you, Katherine. Not this time.”
She pushes against my shoulders so she can look me in the eye. “Promise?”
“Yeah. We weren’t thinking clearly and were suffering from our own stupidity. Nothing to do with you.”
Her brows lift as she searches my face. “Can I ask what you both said?”
I step back, take her hand, and press a kiss to her knuckles before dropping it. “You can ask me anything.”
To keep my hands to myself, I shove them in my pockets, and she smirks. Then she hops up onto the gleaming conference table, looking like an elegant CEO ready to bring the world to its knees.
I stare at her for a beat, the room silent except for the soft sound of conditioned air coming through the vents. King was right. I’m crazy about her. Besotted. Head over heels in love for the first time in my life.
The realization, or rather, admitting the truth to myself, embracing it, owning it? Feels amazing. Like a weight has been lifted. All those old movies my mom used to watch were right. I feel like singing. Dancing. All those wild, out-of-character things people in love do.
Am I going to start whistling?
Her brows lift, a silent prodding to keep talking and tell her the truth. Tell her what Alex and I were arguing about.
If there was ever a woman who could bring me to my knees, it’s her.
Focus, Rothburn.
But as soon as I remember her question, my stomach sours.
I wasn’t very sensitive that night and never should have said what I did to Alex.
Gah, and in front of King, too. The two of them, no, all three of them just strip me bare.
Like right down to my core, where I can’t hide. Where I’m the most vulnerable.
“I get that you have demons, Gabriel. We all do. And I can almost guarantee that they’re going to rear their ugly heads at some point in our future. How you deal with those demons means everything.”
“I know.”
“I need to know that next time, you’ll find the willpower to regroup and then fight for us. That you’ll ask questions instead of jumping to conclusions…”
“I know.” I think we’ve both learned some things, especially when it comes to airing the truth between us.
“I never expected you to be perfect. And I get it. Maybe you felt trapped. You wouldn’t be the first man. But I don’t need your money, Gabriel. I don’t need your company, your power, or your connections. And I don’t need you to marry me.”
What?
My brain screeches to a stop. All the little hearts floating around us pop like bubbles.
“I thought you had to be married.”
“I do. Just not to you. Or any man.”
I rock back on my heels, stunned at the news.
“I don’t follow.”
“My grandfather was terribly short-sighted and unclear with his word choice. There’s nothing in the stipulation that says I can’t marry LaShonda and gain my inheritance.”
That takes the wind out of my sails, and I fall back against the wall, my jaw dropped in shock. Her expression remains soft and curious, watchful. Finally, I snap my lips closed.
She doesn’t—
Her grandfather—
I tip my head back, staring up at the ceiling. Then I huff a laugh. She really is ten steps ahead of the rest of us.
“I’m the world’s biggest idiot,” I say.
With her ice queen persona tucked away, though long may she reign, Katherine’s smile is soft, and her eyes are kind. “Yeah, but I love you exactly as you are. Idiot and all.”
My heart beats in double time, and I march the few steps until I’m pressed against her, one hand flat on the table, the other curling around her waist. Her hands press against my chest, and I feel the war inside her. Should she pull me closer and push me away?
“Say that again,” I demand.
With a husky laugh that makes my cock even harder, she shakes her head.
“Not until you tell me what you and Alex said to each other. I don’t want to know all your secrets.
I just—it was such an awful few days for all of us.
” Her thumb glides along the edge of my jaw, and I fight like hell to resist the urge to rub against her like a dog.
“I want to know that you’re okay. That we’re all okay. ”
“We’re okay,” I promise, dropping a brief kiss against her lips. “It’s just hard for me to say again because… it was mean. I was mean.”
Owning my words is hard. Telling the woman I love that I was a fucking dumbass is even harder.
She waits, ever patient.
Sighing, I pivot to her side and lean against the tabletop.
Maybe if I don’t look directly at her, I can focus.
Sucking in a deep breath, I embrace the discomfort and let the truth out: the guilt that was rubbing me raw, Alex’s little jab about having a handle on my demons, and then our verbal sparring session.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see her nod softly. No judgment. No gasping. No fury. Just quiet acceptance. And then, when I’m done, she puts a hand on my right thigh. My pulse leaps.
“Thank you for telling me.”
“Sure.” I press a hand over hers. “While I’m airing all my secrets…”
Thank goodness she laughs. After everything, she’s still capable of joy and finding the humor. It gives me the strength to tell her about Dr. Morales.
“I started therapy.”
Her head whips left. “What?”
“King encouraged me to talk to someone. So I am.”
Her grip on my thigh tightens. “Really?”
“Really.” I trace a circle on the back of her hand. Then another. And before I know it, the circle morphs into a heart. “I’ve got some things to sort out in my head. Things I should have handled years ago. King was right. It’s hard. Just the idea of reliving everything—”
She leans into me, a quiet strength I should have leaned on that day instead of doubting her.
“Anyway. My therapist came highly recommended. I’ve seen her once so far. Yesterday. And we’re doing two appointments a week until I graduate.”
Her grin is wide. “Of course, you would look at it as graduating therapy. You’re such a geek.”
I shrug, because at this point, I have my geek card framed and on display.
“I’m proud of you. I hope you get everything you need out of therapy. In fact, I think it’s already working.”
“She’s given me some new ways to look at life,” I admit, more confident in my decision.
“Yeah?” She sounds pleased. Relieved even.
“Yeah. Speaking of, I have a proposal.”