Chapter Thirteen
DIANE
I hurried home and headed straight in the shower. Right then I was on cloud nine, and not even all the worries thumping around my mind could keep the happiness at bay. I was going to indulge in this one day of joy before I pulled myself together and behaved the way I should.
I didn't want to make things awkward between Gabe and me, yet resisting this man proved to be impossible.
The new construction had been pretty dusty, so I ended up washing my hair too. After blow-drying it, I put on fresh panties and another dress, and then I opened my door. A lot of voices were coming from downstairs. His family had already arrived.
I looked over my shoulder. What if I just stayed here? I could read. Or I could leave the house.
But he'd told me that he’d love for me to meet them. But that was before we’d gotten down and dirty. What if he'd changed his mind? What if this would be awkward?
Oh, pull yourself together, Diane. The only way to make this truly awkward is to leave. That's not your style. You face difficult situations head-on.
When my ex started behaving like he didn't actually like having me around, I didn't beat around the bush.
We'd only been here for three months, and he was acting like I should be grateful to be with him.
He thought I couldn't afford living on my own with my new tour job, which was true.
He kept picking on me about anything and everything, so I confronted him about it, and we broke up.
I couldn’t understand why he’d changed so much after we moved to Boston.
Then I watched some therapy videos on YouTube because I couldn't actually afford to go to a therapist, and I discovered that some people completely changed their attitude when you were dependent on them.
I'd vowed never to let that happen again.
Yet somehow, I'd gotten myself in this situation.
It's not the same thing, Diane. You are renting from Gabe's landlady. It's not even remotely the same situation.
I took a deep breath and headed downstairs, then listened for a few beats at the foot of the staircase. There was laughter, and I heard two distinctive female voices.
I stepped into the living room, and the sight simply demolished my defenses. Gabe was holding a toddler, and he looked adorable.
Good gracious, a girl needs warning.
It was a boy, or at least I thought so. He was wearing a blue outfit that was absolutely adorable. His pants mimicked jeans, and they had suspenders. Gabe turned him around, and again I melted for entirely different reasons.
"Hi, you must be Diane," one of the women said. She was tall and slender, and she offered me her hand to shake. "I'm Natalie, Jake's wife."
One of the guys rose from the couch, coming to me. "Jake," he said, giving me his hand, and I shook it too.
"Come on, everyone, you don't all have to shake hands with her. Don't overwhelm her right now. Diane, I'll introduce you to my brothers in the order of how I like them best."
Everyone laughed, me included.
“Okay, let’s hear it,” I said.
He moved to the couch, putting a hand on one of the men's shoulders. “This is Cade and his gorgeous fiancée, Meredith."
Meredith waved to me from the couch.
Then Gabe patted the shoulder of the brother sitting next to Cade. "This is Spencer, Cade's twin brother and Ben's dad." He kissed the baby's head when he mentioned Ben. "And this is Penny."
He pointed at the man sitting next to Penny. “This is Colton.”
Then he looked at the three men sitting in the chairs at the table. "And these are my half brothers, Maddox, Leo, and Nick."
That would explain the subtle difference between the two groups of men. The trio had darker hair and their eyes weren't blue, whereas the guys sitting on the couch had the exact same shade of magnetic blue as Gabe.
I smiled. "I'm pleased to meet everyone."
"By the way, you just went in chronological order for everyone except me," Colton pointed out.
"Yeah, that was lazy of you," Spencer said and then looked at me. "Which, by the way, does describe my brother pretty well."
"How do you know I didn't do it on purpose?" Gabe asked.
"Because I refuse to believe you like us less than Colton," Maddox said.
Colton grinned. "Yeah, I actually don't buy it either."
Gabe laughed. “Man, your sense of humor improved drastically since you’ve met Zoey.”
I surmised Zoey was his girlfriend.
“I agree. She’s upset that she couldn’t come today,” Colton went on. “But I promised to pass on any… gossip.”
Gabe rolled his eyes. “Let’s move on to something else. I don't actually have favorites. Diane, do you like pizza? I'm ordering in for everyone. I don't want to subject them to my cooking and make a mess of things like last week."
I smiled sheepishly, though I felt a blush. "It wasn't that bad."
"What happened last week?" Cade asked.
Gabe opened his mouth, but I started to speak before him. "He tried to cook as a thank-you that I'd cooked the night before. It didn't work out, so we ended up having dinner in the city."
I felt a shift in the room, although I couldn't explain it at all.
Spencer got up. "You cooked? You never do that. Not ever."
"No, he did once, but he almost burned down his loft, so he gave up," Cade said and then stared at me. "But he wanted to make an effort for you. Good for him."
The silence became strange somehow. Natalie and Meredith looked like they were suppressing laughter.
"Okay, you called it," Jake said as Cade gave Gabe a thumbs-up.
"Called what?" I said.
"Please ignore my family," Gabe replied.
"It's impossible," Maddox said.
"Honestly, I think we should tell her, just so she's not caught by surprise," Leo said. Or was that Nick? I couldn't tell them apart.
"What is everyone talking about?" I asked.
Gabe returned Ben to Spencer and said, "Way to make this awkward. Remind me never to invite you here again."
"We're a handful," Spencer said, "but just the first time. You'll get used to us eventually."
"Want to do the honors or should I?" Cade asked Gabe.
Gabe looked straight at me. "Grandmother told these bozos that she thinks you and I have a spark. That's why she didn't want me to go with her that morning when I was supposed to drive her to her bridge meeting."
"Your grandmother… huh?" I mumbled. Maybe I misunderstood.
"Don't take it personally," Meredith said. "She usually makes statements like that. Though I have to say, she was correct with all of us."
I did remember Gabe telling me that she’d had a hand in matchmaking his brothers.
“Anyone know if she’s ever been wrong?” Natalie leaned forward, looking at the trio.
Maddox put his hands in the air. "Not that we know of."
"She's failed to introduce me to any friend of hers who I actually found interesting," Gabe said.
Spencer pointed at him. "That still doesn't mean that she had a bad hunch. She never said that you'd make a good pair with any of them."
"I wonder why she was introducing him to all those women anyway," Meredith said.
My jaw went slack. I couldn't believe this conversation was actually happening. They were talking about this with the same nonchalance as if they were debating the weather.
Gabe grinned. "Diane, pizza?" he asked, looking at me with a bemused smile.
"Sure.”
“What type?”
“I eat everything, honestly.”
“Okay! I’m on it," he said, tapping on the screen.
"Did you go over to the house?" Meredith asked me.
"Yes, this morning." I blushed at the memory of what we'd gotten up to while there.
"We saw it today too. It's going to be so amazing," Meredith exclaimed. "
When did they have time to go? Although, to be fair, it took me a long-ass time to wash and blow-dry my hair.
"I liked the second floor best," Natalie said. "I especially liked that cute nook with the brick wall."
I stood completely still, afraid that if I said even one word, I’d give us away, but I couldn't stop the vortex of thoughts. Was my face super red? Did I look embarrassed? Guilty?
I stole a glance at Gabe. He was staring straight at me intently.
"Yes, that nook does have a je ne sais quoi, doesn't it?" he asked.
Oh sweet Lord. The man was going to be the death of me.
"Do you guys want something to drink?" I asked, looking around.
Gabe seemed to snap out of it then. "Diane, you're my guest just as much as them. Just because you live here doesn't mean you have to help me entertain, especially not these bozos."
"But I don't mind," I said. I felt I needed to do something with my hands. But Gabe pinned me with his gaze, so instead of finding an excuse to head into the kitchen, I sat down in the empty armchair.
Jake turned to me. "So, Gabe tells me you're renting the attic apartment?"
I nodded. "Yes. Honestly, I couldn't believe my luck when this opportunity came up. Thank goodness Celia knew Gabe was moving.
"Who's Celia?" Meredith asked.
"My sister. She works for Gabe."
He hasn't told them anything about me, huh?
Why was I feeling disappointed? He didn't have to talk with his family about me.
"Oh, so you don't work for Gabe? I had my story all wrong," Meredith said.
Wait, so he did talk to them?
"No. My sister is a bartender at his bar. So, you all work at Whitley Industries, right?" I glanced around the room.
"Well, I don't," Meredith said, glancing at Cade. "I still work for the competition."
"Yeah, she's playing hard to get," Cade said playfully. "But I'm going to win her over to the dark side sooner rather than later."
“What do you do?” Jake asked.
Suddenly, all eyes were trained on me.
I thought it was lovely that they all worked together. Well, it wasn't together-together, but they were involved in the family business.
I spoke about my job as a tour guide for a bit, and then the pizza arrived. When the doorbell rang, I jumped from the armchair immediately.
"I'll get it," I said, darting to the door.
I felt Gabe come up behind me. "You can't carry ten pizzas all on your own, Diane." He tipped the delivery guy, taking the entire stack.
"I can help," I said. But clearly he didn't need it, because he was only holding them with one hand.
He put his other hand on my arm, and the contact singed me. "Diane, do you feel uncomfortable with us?"
I licked my lips. "No, just on edge."
"Listen, we can talk about this later, okay? Once we’re alone. If you enjoy spending time with me and my family, then I'm glad. But if you don't, then don't feel obligated to stay, okay? I'd love for you to get to know them, but it's up to you."
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask why he wanted me to get to know them. Just because we were roommates?
"Let's get back to the dining room," I said. "I'm starving and need some sustenance."
"Yes, I agree," Meredith called.
Crap, had she heard the whole conversation? Didn't seem likely. And I’d said that last sentence louder, after all.
Gabe walked in front of me, and I couldn't take my eyes off his ass as everyone filed in around us. The man was incredibly delicious.
As we ate at the dining table, I listened more than I talked. The dynamics were absolutely fascinating and completely hilarious. I felt Gabe's gaze on me the entire time we were eating, and even afterward, when we moved back to the couch area.
"All right. I think we've lingered here long enough," Colton said after a while, and I frowned.
"No, man, I can stay longer—” Maddox said but stopped abruptly when Leo glanced at him.
What's happening?
"Oh, yeah, sure. Okay. Cool," Maddox finished awkwardly.
"It was nice meeting you, Diane," Jake said, and then everyone bid us goodbye.
Gabe closed the door after they left and chuckled.
"What was that?" I asked. "They just… up and left.”
He turned around, giving me a wry smile. "I bet one of them noticed the way I was looking at you and spread the word."
"You mean they know?"
"One thing you can assume about my family is that everyone knows everything."
"Wow," I murmured.
“But they were right about one thing: I want you.”