“Why did you tell your mom you were going to be here tonight?” Susannah asked after his parents had left. She shifted toward him on the kitchen stool, invading his space.
Gabe folded his brawny arms across his chest, and let out a sigh that reverberated through his six-foot-three-inch frame. Intuitive whiskey-colored eyes lassoed hers. “Probably because I am, unless you decide to kick me out. And I really wouldn’t advise that.”
She wished he didn’t radiate such potent masculinity or look so ruggedly fit in whatever he chose to wear. Never mind have such a sexy smile and such firm, sensual lips…
She could barely look at him and not wonder what it might be like to kiss him again.
With a huff, she planted both hands on her hips and declared, “I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Probably not. But your kids might.”
Not if I can help it. Susannah shut her eyes briefly and rubbed at the tension in her temples. “They’re fast asleep.”
Outside, there was a very distant rumble of thunder, a lightning flash against the blinds.
He strode over to where her dog was standing by the back door. Gabe reached down to pet Daisy’s head and scratch her behind her ears. “And it looks like Daisy needs to go out,” he said.
Was that what was bothering him? He looked more concerned than she would have expected him to be about her beloved pet. It was also a situation easily remedied and help she could use. “Would you mind snapping a leash on her and taking her out front? She’ll get down to business quicker that way. Then she’ll be all set for the night.”
“Happy to help.” Gabe eased out the door, making pains not to make any sounds that might rouse the sleeping children upstairs.
As soon as he was out of sight, Susannah grabbed her crutches again and hobbled across the kitchen. She was just trying to figure out how to pull the pizza box out of the fridge without dropping it when Gabe came back in. He let Daisy off her leash, then went to the kitchen sink to wash his hands. “You must be hungry,” he said kindly.
She was. Worse, his inherent helpfulness caused her heart to pang in her chest. She knew it would be far too easy to begin to lean on him. And where would that leave her when he left, as he inevitably would? Clamping down tight on the floodgates of emotion that threatened to open up, she forced herself to concentrate on her growling tummy.
Leaving him to retrieve the pizza, she perched on the stool again. Guilt flowed through her as she recalled, “Darn it! I meant to give your parents money for the pizza.”
Gabe shrugged. “I’m sure they’re fine.”
“I don’t want to owe them.”
Gallantly, he brought another stool over and situated it so Susannah could prop her swollen ankle across the seat and still enjoy her meal. “I’ll find out what the cost was and let you know.”
Susannah smiled her gratitude. “Thanks. I also need to pay them back for their kindness tonight. So, what can I do in return? So your folks will know I’m genuinely grateful.”
Gabe arched a brow in consternation. “I think they know that already, princess.”
Susannah thought about the years she had spent with her late aunt Elda, how bad she had always felt, upsetting the older woman’s life. She didn’t want to go back to feeling like a burden. Not if she could avoid it. “I still need to do something to show my appreciation. So, what do you think? Could I take them to dinner or…?”
Gabe cocked a brow, considering. “They both love homemade cookies, and my mom hasn’t had much time to bake lately.”
“I can do that in a few days when I’m feeling better. The kids can participate, too.”
“They’d love that. They’re both really into grandparent mode.”
“How many grandchildren do they have?”
“My brother Noah has three daughters. They’re all in California. And my sister Faith is fostering an infant here.”
“And the other six…?”
“Are all single. And childless. For now. Much to my parents’ dismay.”
And her children didn’t have any grandparents. Wondering what his future plans held, she asked, “Not planning to supply them with any yourself?”
He offered a wry shrug. “Kind of hard to do when I’m constantly on the move and living overseas.”
Before she could stop herself, Susannah inquired casually, “You don’t want to change that?”
Gabe hesitated. Something indecipherable came and went in his eyes. “No. Not really.”
Which was, Susannah reminded herself sternly, yet another reason why she shouldn’t give in to the attraction brewing between them.
Changing the subject, she pulled the pizza box on the counter toward her. “You want yours heated?”
A single shake of his handsome head. “Actually, I prefer it cold when it’s leftover.”
“Me, too.”
Rising and leaning on her good foot, she brought out two bottled waters from the fridge. “Sorry, I don’t have any beer to offer you.”
His eyes twinkled. “What makes you think I want beer with my pizza?”
“Back in college, you always ordered a pitcher whenever you got a pie.”
“I’m surprised you remember that.”
She remembered everything about him. But figuring he didn’t need to know that, she shrugged. Then hobbled over to get two plates from the cupboard. He was instantly at her side, his shoulder nudging hers. “You should let me do that.”
“I’m not helpless.”
“No one said you were.”
Their eyes met. And just that suddenly, she wanted to kiss him again. Not good. Figuring the more distance between them, the better, she relented. “Okay, Doc, if you insist…”
She moved around the island and sat down. He brought the napkins from the table. She told him where the silverware was. A companionable silence stretched between them. As they began to eat, he tilted his head at the wall of paintings in the breakfast area. They were all of Daisy, starting at eight weeks, and tracking her progress until the quintuplets were born. “Did you do all those?”
Susannah savored the crisp crust, flavorful tomato sauce and spicy toppings. “Kept me busy when I was going through the preimplantation process and waiting to see if the IVF took, and then during the months I was pregnant. The latter three months of which I was on bed rest. But I still managed to paint.”
Gabe helped himself to another slice and continued admiring the art. “They’re incredible. They seem to really capture her.”
Others had said so, too. Susannah dabbed the corners of her lips with her napkin. “I worked hard to capture the essence of her personality as she grew.”
Gabe’s eyes twinkled. “I think you succeeded.”
“Thank you,” Susannah said, not knowing why his approval mattered so much to her, just that it did. “I’m glad you like them,” she admitted.
He looked past the adjacent mudroom, to what had once been a screened-in porch and was now a sunroom, fully decked out with a tall drawing table, two easels, canvas and paint supplies. “This your studio?”
“Yes.” The depth of his curiosity paired with his quiet admiration had her offering, “You can look around if you like.”
While she finished her second piece, too, he stepped inside, in front of a half-finished painting on an easel of an exuberant Jack Russell terrier, catching a tennis ball in midleap. He studied it for a long moment. “Is this for someone else?”
“Yes. I have a pet portrait business now. People bring me their favorite photographs of their pets, and I paint them.”
He came toward her. “Nice.”
Her heartbeat picked up for no reason she could figure. Finished with her dinner, Susannah cleared her throat. “It allows me to stay at home with the kids right now, which is what I need.”
He stepped in to clear the dishes. “You don’t miss graphic design?”
“Not. One. Bit.”
He laughed. Lounging against the opposite counter, he indicated her current work in progress. “Well, you’re certainly capturing that little guy’s personality.”
“I take it you like dogs?” Susannah noted Daisy had joined them and was now gazing up at Gabe adoringly.
He petted her golden retriever on the head, gently rubbing behind her ears. “Oh yeah. We grew up with a lot of them on the ranch. We got a new puppy every year, until all eight of us kids each had a dog, and then a few more, for good measure.”
Susannah couldn’t help but be impressed. “Sounds…lively.”
“It was.” Gabe’s expression turned wistful. His hands cupped the counter edge on either side of him. “It’s the one thing I miss having now,” he admitted ruefully, “but in my line of work, with me traveling, the places I go, I can’t have a pet, either.”
Outside, the lightning flashed. The thunder was getting closer. With a look of concern, he got out his phone to check the weather.
“How big a storm is it?” she asked.
He showed her the large green area on the radar map. The fifty-mile radius was peppered with isolated red and yellow storm cells. He hit the time-lapse button that predicted the next eight hours of activity and showed her that, too.
Susannah sighed. “Looks like it will last all night.”
He glanced up, his expression inscrutable. “Will the kids sleep through this?”
Funny he’d even think to ask.
“They usually do, unless the thunder gets really loud. Or there is a power outage and the air-conditioning switches off and it starts to get really warm or something.”
He walked over to the bay window and stood there, staring out at the rain beginning to come down. Then turned back to her, his expression more concerned than ever. “Are you going to be okay here tonight without help?”
Another peculiar thing to ask! “Of course.”
Gabe frowned. “I really think I should stay. Just in case,” he added hastily. “I don’t mind.”
Taking his savior complex to new heights, wasn’t he? Aware the last thing she needed was to impose on him further, Susannah said, “First of all, I’m fine. Second, I can still comfort them with a sprained ankle.”
Another flash of lightning appeared, followed thirty seconds later by a clap of thunder.
He challenged quietly, “But could you get them out of the house in an emergency if you’re not able to move quickly?”
What in the world was going on with him? “Actually,” Susannah returned just as confidently, “I could. We’ve practiced both in-school and at-home emergency drills. Their preschool requires it, and I need them to obey me quickly and quietly in an emergency, too, since as you just pointed out, it’s usually just me taking care of them these days.”
He came back to sit next to her and finish his bottle of water. “Was it always like that?”
“The first year, I had lots of volunteers coming to help diaper and feed and rock them. Now it’s mostly just Millie and Mike and the occasional teenage babysitters. Although I always have to hire at least two sitters, so it gets kind of expensive and hard to schedule.”
“I can imagine.” Finished, he tossed his bottle into the recycling container and came to stand before her, Daisy still at his side.
“So. Back to your plans for the rest of the night… Princess, you really need to get some sleep.”
As if she didn’t know that! She met his level look with one of her own. “So do you, Doc.”
“Except I never sleep during a storm.”
“Why not?”
His lips twisted thoughtfully. “Just don’t. The point is, I could be here, make sure you’ve got enough ice to get through the night. Set up a bed for you on the sofa.”
“I’m planning to sleep in my bed upstairs. That way the kids will know where to find me if they need me, and I’ll be near them, as usual. But if you’re in a mind to help, you’re welcome to fill a cooler from the garage with ice and the gel packs I have in the big freezer out there and carry that upstairs.”
By the time he’d done that, she was halfway up the stairs, scooting stair by stair on her bottom. Crutches at one side. Leg straight out in front of her. Daisy bringing up the rear. It worked fine until she reached the second floor. Momentarily nonplussed, she tried to figure out how to get back to a standing position from where she was.
“Allow me,” he murmured. Tucking his hands around her ribs, he lifted her to her feet, and she stumbled into his chest.
Gabe looked down at her. And suddenly she could tell he was thinking about kissing her again. The only problem was, she wasn’t sure that if they started, they would be able to stop. And with the kids sleeping nearby, Daisy sitting there, looking up at them quizzically as if wondering what was going on, she knew there was only one thing to do—put an end to this before they did something they would both likely regret. So she whispered instead, “I’ve got it from here, Doc. There’s a spare key in the kitchen. You can see yourself out and leave it in the faux frog holder slash planter on the front porch.”
He paused, then regretfully bid her good-night, and did as she asked.
* * *
“Still in another time zone?” Cade asked the next morning, while making a smoothie with protein powder, fresh fruit, juice and yogurt.
Gabe scraped a hand beneath his jaw. Feeling the stubble, he went to pull his electric razor from his bag. “Why?”
“Heard you roaming around most of the night.”
Gabe looked out the window. The rain had stopped and the sun was coming out. Looked to be a pretty day dawning. Gabe felt the relief he always did when thunderstorms ended. He switched on his razor. “Sorry.”
Cade added a couple of handfuls of spinach and kale. “No big deal. I assume that was why you couldn’t sleep.”
Gabe rummaged through his clothes, pulling out a clean shirt and another pair of jeans. Straightening, he turned the tables on his brother, asking, “The real question is, why weren’t you asleep?” If Cade had been, he wouldn’t have heard Gabe pacing while studying the storm on the weather radar most of the night.
Cade fit the lid on the pitcher. Punched Blend. “I was texting with all three of our sisters.”
Gabe waited until the concoction was mixed. “What about?”
“Dad’s Father’s Day gift. We went all out for Mom for Mother’s Day, so we have to do the same for Dad, only no one knows what to get him. We can’t exactly get him diamond jewelry, too.”
Finished, Gabe switched off his razor and dropped it back in his bag. “He’s not exactly a bling kind of guy, is he?”
“No, but he is sentimental.” Cade poured half the blender’s contents into another tall glass and handed it over.
That he was. As was their mom. “Any ideas?”
“The girls were talking about maybe doing a family portrait of all the kids. But that just seems so…” Cade frowned.
“Hard to arrange?” Gabe guessed, wondering how early was too early to appear on Susannah’s doorstep, to check on her and make sure she’d made it through the night okay.
“Well, yeah, since half of us don’t even live in Laramie anymore.” Cade took his glass and stepped outside into the lavishly landscaped backyard, with the Jacuzzi and waterfall pool, and took a seat beneath an umbrella table. “I was thinking it should have something to do with the ranch, but Mom’s already given him fancy framed photos, including an aerial view of the Rocking L Ranch.”
Deciding he needed to wait until at least 9:00 a.m. before visiting Susannah and the quints, Gabe settled opposite his brother.
Cade exhaled. “Travis suggested we get Dad a new horse, but we already have a stable full and you know how much he loves Chestnut, so…” He rubbed the place just to the left of his right shoulder, as if it were hurting him again. Then dropped his hand.
“Actually, I might have an idea, but I need to talk to someone first,” Gabe said as Susannah’s beautiful face came to mind. “Make sure it’s even doable.”
Cade grinned. “That sounds mysterious.”
“Provident, actually,” Gabe corrected with another sip of the remarkably unsweet concoction. Since he needed to live up to his obligation and keep an eye on Susannah and the kids—at least while he was in the country—this would give him plenty of excuse to see her.
Assuming she agreed to his request, anyway. Gabe exhaled and put his glass aside. “In the meantime, I’m going to go check on Susannah Alexander, see if she needs anything.”
Cade shifted his upper torso to the right and gently flexed his injured shoulder, as if testing it for pain. With a lifted brow, he reminded Gabe, “She’s got friends, you know. Plenty of them.”
Gabe finished the last of his smoothie. “I feel responsible. If she hadn’t been so distracted talking to me, she wouldn’t have tripped and fallen.”
“Ahhhh.” A wealth of innuendo in the single word.
Gabe tensed with irritation. “Don’t read too much into it. I’m just being a Good Samaritan.”
Cade chuckled. “Keep telling yourself that.”
Gabe did as he made a stop in downtown Laramie. And then again, on the way to Susannah’s place. He didn’t see any other cars parked in front of her house when he shifted his gift to one arm and rang the doorbell. Susannah’s melodic voice rang out in the sweet silence of early morning. “Come in!”
He eased the door open. Saw Susannah sitting on a dining room chair, her ankle propped up on another, a cold pack draped over it. The easel had been lowered to her height. She had a palette of paints in one hand, a brush in another.
He scanned her, taking in the healthy color in her cheeks, the denim shorts riding up her thighs and the oversize pink button-up shirt that covered her curvaceous breasts. He eased closer, unable to help but admire her long, lissome legs and bare, silky skin. Drinking in her wildflower scent, he repressed a sigh of pure lust and nodded at the canvas in front of her. “Working?”
Oblivious to the ardent nature of his thoughts, she sent him a cheeky grin. “Looks like.”
His gaze moved over her soft, plush lips before returning to the tumult in her pretty blue eyes. The downstairs was as neat and quiet as it had been when he’d left the night before. He exhaled, still watching her intently, still keeping a careful distance. “Where are the kids?” he asked casually.
“Some of my girlfriends took them for the day so I could keep my ankle elevated and get some work done. What do you have there?”
Gabe put his offering from the Cowgirl Café down on the table. “Breakfast goodies, in case they were hungry.” He gestured at the wicker basket containing an assortment of fruit, pastries and two coffees for the adults. “A vanilla latte for you.”
Briefly, an ecstatic look overtook her delicate features. She gestured for him to make himself comfortable and have a seat. Took the stopper out of the coffee cup and inhaled the rich, creamy aroma. Then sighed as luxuriantly as she had when they’d kissed. Smiling, she took a small sip. “How’d you know that’s what I like?”
He pulled up a chair adjacent to hers. Opening up his black coffee, he admitted, “It’s what you always used to order at the coffee shop on campus.”
“Well, thank you.” She took another grateful sip. “You know, it’s weird how much you and I know about each other when it comes to the mundane.”
And yet they still knew relatively nothing about the important stuff, although he planned to rectify that ASAP.
“True,” he said, as she continued to survey him curiously, “but now that I know you’re a pet portrait artist, I may have a proposition for you.” Briefly, he explained that he and his siblings wanted to gift his father something really special for Father’s Day. “Which is where you come in…”
Susannah listened intently while she sipped. “So you’re looking for a portrait of Robert’s favorite dog?”
Gabe hedged. He and Cade hadn’t gotten that far in their discussion that morning. “I don’t think Dad could choose one pet, any more than he could choose a favorite kid.”
“The first pet, then?”
His next idea hit with pleasurable speed. “How about all of them?”
Susannah set down her latte, her mouth opening into a soft “oh” of surprise. “Who’ve lived at the ranch?”
Gabe could picture it as readily as he could envision her painting such a tribute to their past family life. “Yeah.” He exchanged excited grins with her. “That would be great if you could depict all the family dogs running and playing across the field in front of the ranch house.”
Susannah picked up her cell phone. “How many dogs would that be?”
“To date?” Gabe counted. “Sixteen, although he might have had a couple others before they adopted us. I’ll have to ask my mom to be sure.”
Susannah started making notes on her phone. “Wow.”
“I know. They love animals as much as kids.”
Thinking, she raked the edge of her teeth across her plump lower lip. “Well, it will be interesting, making that all work,” she concluded with a happy sigh. “How large a portrait were you thinking?”
Mesmerized by the softness of her lips, as well as the escalating urge to kiss her again, Gabe gestured off-handedly, not sure about that, either. “Dad has an oversize leather sofa in his study. He spends a lot of time in there, and the pets’ portrait would look great hanging above that.”
For a moment they talked approximate dimensions. Susannah warned, “Anything that large would be expensive.”
Gabe knew he and his siblings could afford to be generous. “Rough estimate?”
“If we included authentic renderings of all of the dogs, it would likely be five to six thousand dollars, minimum. And it would take some time, too.”
“But you could do it?”
“Yes.” She began to look as excited at the prospect as Gabe felt.
“Do you think we could have it by Father’s Day?”
Just that quickly, her face fell. “In a little over two weeks? No. I’m sorry. I’ve already got several commissions ahead of you.”
Undeterred, he asked, “Are they Father’s Day gifts?”
She straightened in her chair, and the gel pack she had across her ankle slid off. “They are not.” She frowned as it hit the floor. “But I do things in the order that they are commissioned, so…”
Gabe picked up the gel pack and, being careful not to touch her, draped it back over her swollen ankle. “What if I could get your other clients to agree to let us jump ahead with our gift?”
Susannah’s pretty eyes narrowed. “First of all—” she let out an exasperated breath “—that’s a big if.” Her chin lifted, and their gazes locked. “Secondly, I still couldn’t do a work that complex in the time frame you are suggesting since I’m only able to work afternoons, while the kids are napping, and then sometimes in the evening if I can get them down early enough.” She released a breath. “A project like that would take at least seven or eight hours a day for two or three weeks, minimum. So, at my current work availability, we’d be talking the end of the summer for delivery.”
Luckily, thanks to his mandated time off, he was planning to be here all summer. For the first time, that seemed like a plus instead of a minus. “But you are interested?”
“Yes,” she promised readily. “I think it would be a real challenge as well as a way to repay your parents’ kindness to me and the kids. I just can’t have it by Father’s Day. So, if that’s the condition, I’m going to have to say no.”
Gabe frowned in disappointment. He’d been so sure he had a solution that would work not just for his father, but all his siblings, too.
Seeing his displeasure, she attempted to appease him, the way any good businessperson would. “There are always other holidays, Gabe. His birthday. Christmas. Or we could just go with a much smaller, less inclusive pet portrait for now—like something that would work in a frame on his desk—and do something more expansive later.”
Gabe finished his coffee. “I doubt that would appease my siblings—” who were committed to delivering the most special Father’s Day gift ever “—but I’ll talk to them. See what they say. Maybe it would work as an additional gift, but not the gift.”
Susannah put her coffee aside, too. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you in the time frame you specified. But I can do something for you right now that has needed to be done.” She reached for her crutches and stood with a lot more ease than she had used the evening before. “I have five boxes of things in the garage that Brett left to you. I’d like to give them to you now.”
“Sure.” Not wanting her to overdo it, he lifted a staying palm. “But I can get them if you tell me where.”
She shook her head, her chin-length, honey-blond hair glimmering in the morning sunshine filtering in through the windows. “There’s a lot of stuff out there.” She adopted a defiant stance. “It will be easier if I just show you.”
Together, they walked past her studio, outside via the side door, out of the laundry room, nearly touching as he held the door for her and she maneuvered by him using her crutches. She even managed, with relative ease, the three steps down to the driveway that led to the detached two-car garage set just back from the house and built in the same Craftsman style.
She gazed over at him, wrinkling her nose. “I apologize. It’s going to be hot in there. It’s not air-conditioned.” She rested her weight on one crutch and entered the code in the keypad. The overhead garage door slid open. Her van was parked in the center. The whole back wall and both side walls were filled with shelves and well-marked plastic storage containers and cardboard boxes. His five were clearly marked and placed at the very top. She pointed. “You’re going to need the ladder to get them.”
“What’s in here, anyway?”
Abruptly looking a little exhausted from the jaunt out there, she perched on a step stool next to the wall. “Vintage record albums, CDs, DVDs…and a lot of UTSA med school memorabilia. Brett said you weren’t very sentimental and didn’t collect much of it in comparison to everyone else.”
“That’s because I knew, with my future plans, that it would end up in a storage facility with the rest of my stuff I couldn’t take with me.”
Abruptly, Susannah grinned. “But I heard you kept a futon.”
The mischief in her eyes had him admitting, “And for good reason, princess. I spent a lot of years sleeping on that thing.” He winked. “There was a desk lamp I was quite fond of, too.”
She laughed outright.
And it was one of the best sounds he’d ever heard in his life. Mood lifting even more, Gabe asked, “Mind if I back my brother’s pickup into your driveway?”
She couldn’t stop holding his eyes, as if she were enjoying the sudden pleasurable rapport between them, too. She gestured expansively. “Have at it, Doc.”
* * *
While she watched Gabe spring into action, an unexpected melancholy washed over Susannah. She didn’t know why she was suddenly so sad to see those boxes go. Maybe it was because she had been holding on to them for so long. Or perhaps it was because it was another link to Brett and Belinda she would no longer have. Or it could be because once she had handed Brett’s belongings off to Gabe, she knew she would have no official reason to see him again. Unless it turned out they wanted some sort of smaller pet portrait for his dad, or one in another time frame, but even that would not take anywhere as near as long a time as she had held on to these boxes for him.
But maybe, she thought, as she watched him climb the ladder nearly half a dozen times, retrieving one bulky cardboard container after another, the muscles in his broad shoulders, back and arms flexing beneath the weight of the contents, having his belongings out of her garage would be a good thing.
Heaven knew she was far too aware of the sexy doctor. She had spent way too much time thinking about the impetuous kiss they had indulged in, in the midst of their shared grief. And privately wished they might someday kiss each other again. Why, she wasn’t quite sure, when they were still clearly all wrong for each other. Was it loneliness that seemed to be driving her to his arms? Lust? The forbidden? An attempt to recapture what they’d once so briefly tasted?
It certainly wasn’t like her to daydream about a man like this…
“Penny for your thoughts, princess.”
“Oh!” Startled, Susannah looked up, embarrassed by the direction of her thoughts. “Finished already?”
Amusement turned his eyes a darker bourbon. “Mmm-hmm.”
Time to get out of fantasy land and back to reality.
With a beleaguered sigh, she struggled to get off the footstool. And, in the process, forgot to reach for her crutches at the same time. Consequently, as she lurched less than gracefully to her feet, she started to lose her balance completely. Would have, she swiftly and gratefully realized, had Gabe not reached out to grab her around her waist and steady her against him.
Just that quickly, the desire she felt when she was near him like this surfaced yet again. She flattened her hands across the solid warmth of his chest, jerked in a breath and glanced up. He looked down at her, his eyes shuttering. A shiver of desire swept through her, weakening her knees, causing her to lean against him even more.
And just that suddenly, everything that had felt off felt oh so right…
The next thing she knew, his mouth was on hers, giving her a kiss filled with passion and need, and he was tugging her even closer. He paused to lift his head ever so slightly. Grazed her earlobe with his teeth, touched his lips to the underside of her chin, her throat, her cheek and the top of her nose, before once again moving to her mouth. And this time when he fit his mouth over hers, she was ready for him.
Her lips parted under the steady, persuasive pressure of his, and his tongue swept inside. And then her hands came up to cup his head. He tasted so good, like mint and man and the unique flavor that was him. Her usual inhibitions fled. With a little moan of pleasure, she rose up on tiptoe and sank even further into the deeply satisfying, wonderfully evocative kiss. And to her delight, he responded, just as hungrily.
* * *
Gabe didn’t know why he had given in to impulse and kissed Susannah again after all these years. But now as he flattened his hand against her spine and brought her even tighter against him, he couldn’t not follow his gut and his heart or move boldly to claim her as his.
It was something about the searching way she looked at him whenever she thought he didn’t notice. The fact he was taking those boxes, which were his last excuse to come and see her—that she would likely accept, anyway. That, coupled with the as-yet unfulfilled promise he’d made years ago, and the sweet and vulnerable way she felt against him, had brought out the even deeper need to protect her. She struck a chord in him like no other. And judging by how she was snuggling close and pressing her breasts and thighs against him, the hot openmouthed way she was stroking his tongue with hers and returning his kiss with sizzling intensity, it made him think she was feeling the same.
Had it not been for the sound of a car door behind them, followed by footsteps and a clearing throat, who knew what would have happened.
But someone was there, and so Gabe had to pull away. Just as Susannah did. He couldn’t let her go completely, though, since she was still standing on one foot. So, one hand still firmly around her waist, he reached down to retrieve her crutches from where they had fallen next to the step stool.
As he straightened, he saw Susannah’s face. Flushed. Embarrassed. “Hi,” she said to their new guests.