Chapter 9 #2
“Oh.” She felt foolish. His reasoning was, as usual, backed by compassion. Until the other part landed. He was leaving in six weeks, and he was making sure to remind her. Remind them both. “You didn’t call because the ball’s in my court.”
His gaze glided to her mouth, his breath a calming caress across her cheek. “Consider this me calling.”
She smiled, brushing her knee against his. “An ambush in an alley? That your style?”
“Incomparable, right? I’ve got a ton of ‘em.”
Then his mouth was on hers again, less caution this time.
One hand slid to the nape of her neck, holding her there while he kissed her until the brick scraped through her sweater and her toes curled inside her dirty Keds.
He dragged his lips to her jaw, then lower, nibbling lightly at the side of her throat.
“When do you have another free night?” he murmured, taking her earlobe between his teeth.
She angled her head to give him access. Fuck, she wanted his hands on her. His dick in her. Which would be the perfect set-up if she didn’t want to know everything about him, too. “I have a weekend, actually.”
He leaned back, a dark brow lifting over the rim of his glasses. “Do tell.”
“The Children’s Center is having a sleepover this weekend.
Younger kids, hosted by the teens, with adults there, obviously.
Sam begged me not to chaperone.” Gabi laughed, though at the time it had hurt her feelings.
A ridiculous amount, considering her son was supposed to want small pieces of his life without her in them.
Only, he was growing up fast. Which was good.
Healthy. Horrible. What if he had a nightmare, and she wasn’t there?
What if he lost Alexander, his favorite teddy?
But he was so excited about this adventure, she wouldn’t ruin it with her fears.
And it would give her and Dallas the opportunity to stop stealing minutes in alleys and school choral rooms. For two nights, they could simply be.
“Up for that?” she asked, nerves dancing in her stomach.
“Can you leave town if I keep you close enough to get back to Sam fast? An hour, tops.”
Gabi paused, the tiny thrill catching her off-guard. Away from Promise. Away from gossip, schedules, Theo, the diner, the café truck. Just the two of them. “Yes,” she whispered.
A horn honked again, three beeps this time.
Dallas closed his eyes for one, pained breath. “I’m going to murder him.” Then he kissed her, his hands sliding into her hair before he forced himself to let go. “And I hate to tell Justin, but I have no idea how to hang a painting. Probably only an excuse to pick my brain, the prying bastard.”
“Notebook,” Gabi reminded him.
“Right. Gotta get my story straight.” His mouth curved, but his eyes stayed on hers. She’d never noticed the flecks of amber at the outer edge, making them almost glow in the sunlight. “Verna Mae already sent someone home with it, bless her considerate heart.”
He backed away, limping slightly, watching until he reached the mouth of the alley. Then he turned, shoulders squared, and disappeared into the commotion of Main Street.
Leaving her leaning against sun-warmed brick, lips tingling, the weekend suddenly too far away.
Dallas swung himself into the passenger seat of Justin’s blue Bronco, pleased as hell his ankle didn’t punish him for it. He was healing, which was good news for the weekend he had planned with Gabi.
“Where’s the notebook?” Justin asked before Dallas had even shut the door, like he was Magnum, P.I. or something.
Dallas frowned and cranked the window down an inch to catch the breeze.
Fall was the nicest season in South Carolina, by far.
Cool at night and still pleasant during the day.
He’d been getting by with his open in the cottage, waking to the bracing smell of pine.
Nothing metallic. No smoke. No hospital bleach.
No reason to sleep with a packed satchel by your bed in case you had to run.
“Verna Mae sent her delivery guy by my place, dropped it in the mailbox.” Slumping down in his seat, he avoided Justin’s gaze. His brother had a way of looking right through a person. He would have made a brilliant detective. “She left a message on my machine. Haven’t checked it yet.”
Justin’s hand flexed on the wheel, his mouth twitching. “She also kiss you on the way out?”
“What are you talking about?”
Justin dragged his thumb over his jaw. “Lipstick. Pale pink. I’d say it looks like Gabi Wilder’s style. Classic American girl.”
Fuck. Dallas swiped at his face.
“Not going to deny it?” Justin asked, laughing now.
“I can’t fall for her,” Dallas heard himself whisper, far too late to take back the statement or the thought.
Justin swore and popped the brakes hard enough to throw Dallas against the seat belt.
“Christ,” Dallas said, rubbing his chest. “The ankle’s healing. Let’s not start in on the sternum.”
Seconds clicked by in a charged silence.
Then: “You’re talking to me.”
Dallas stretched out his legs with a sigh.
Of all the things to make a man feel like shit.
“She’s a mom, Jus. A good one. And Sam…he’s wonderful.
” Dallas’s head fell back against the seat.
“I have a start date on December first. Cairo is a done deal. I want it. I’ve worked my whole career to get close to something like this. ”
But flashes of Gabi’s face when she came, her lips parted on a rough moan, shot through him.
Of her moist lips closing around the head of his cock.
She had a slightly crooked front tooth. A freckle above her top lip.
She chewed her nails when she was nervous.
Laughed from the belly when she meant it.
Her fashion sense was her own, part tailored cardigan, part worn Levi’s. She smelled like cinnamon and sex.
He wanted her, mind and body.
“This isn’t Lainey. Gabi and I barely knew each other before this,” Dallas said, arguing with the stubborn look on Justin’s face. “She wants something fun. Anti-Theo. She knows about my timeline, so back off.”
“Whoa, Dal. Just—whoa.” His brother pulled into an open spot in front of True Art, the gallery he’d opened after leaving a New York architecture job to restore old Southern structures.
“Lainey and I had a lot to work through when she came back. None of it was simple, not with our history. She was my first love, and Brooklyn wasn’t an easy thing to walk away from either, but I’m glad I did.
” He glanced at Dallas, his hand tensing around the wheel.
“Everything I wanted was here. It just took me a while to stop being an idiot and see it. Once I knew, I never looked back. Campbell, the same with Fontana. She even travels with him on photo shoots when she can.”
Dallas blew a breath through his teeth, embarrassed by how much he’d said and even more by how badly he wanted to keep going. First love. Who admitted that? But he needed someone to talk to. Maybe it was time to let Justin be the older brother he insisted he wanted to be.
“I’m not staying in Promise.” He hated that he had to keep reminding himself. Hated that he was back to sounding like the angry teenager who’d once counted the days until he could leave.
Why did coming home always have to turn a person inside-out?
Justin tapped his fingertips on the steering wheel.
“Are you ever going to forgive me for not being there for you when you first came to us? You know, Dal, I was only fifteen. Finding out my father had an affair was bad enough. Finding out he had a son he’d never told us about?
That was hell. Even when he died, he didn’t like to talk about why he’d made that choice, leaving you to grow up without us.
Then you walked in looking so much like me we didn’t need a damn DNA test. I tried after that, but you’d already shut me out.
I get why. The True men are known for holding a hell of a grudge. ”
The minutes rolled by as Dallas thought about the things he wanted to say.
Your rejection hurt me more than you can understand.
I know you were just a kid, too.
I love you, okay? All forgiven.