Wiping off the Dirt
Gabe sat in his truck, allowing the two college students checking out his property time to look around. From the looks on their faces and the things they’d said, it was clear they were impressed. The low rent and the fact it was five minutes away from the university made this decision a no brainer for them—hopefully. He turned on the air conditioner and leaned his head against the seat. Now all he had to do was wait.
The twenty-year-old house looked nothing like the way he found it. Granted, the place didn’t have real wood floorings or marble countertops like Lauren’s, but considering the small funds he had to work with, it looked pretty damn good.
The rent money from this place would help pay for the expenses of his next project. The rundown cabin he’d bought overlooking Pike National Forest and the Platt River Valley. The perfect location for people wanting a vacation getaway.
As his brain whirled with numbers, a police car slowed to a halt behind his truck. Its dark-haired, uniformed occupant climbed out of the cruiser and walked toward him. The man was tall. Muscles filled out his starched navy shirt and a hand rested on his holstered belt.
Gabe lowered his window, positioned his palms on the steering wheel and waited. The last thing he needed was trouble. He’d already gone through enough of that back home and wanted no more issues with law enforcement. The officer took off his aviators and poked his head in.
Gabe stared at his nametag while the man looked around the interior of the cabin. B. Dawson.
“Hi,” Dawson said.
“Can I help you, officer?”
“I was patrolling the neighborhood and noticed you idling in your truck. Is there a problem?”
“No problem at all.” Gabe flashed his best smile and jutted his chin toward the house. “This is my property. I have potential renters checking it out and was giving them some privacy.”
The man nodded and looked back at its direction as if in deep thought. “What’s your name?”
“Gabriel Briggs.”
When he didn’t respond, Gabe tried to fill the silence. “I’ve seen you driving around the neighborhood. Thank you for all you do.”
Another quiet nod was his reply. Gabe’s mouth twitched. After twelve years of service in the Marine Corps, eight of those as a Scout Sniper, there were very few people he found intimidating and this cop was definitely not one of them.
The officer jutted his chin toward the house. “You’re going to rent it out to those two kids?”
He looked up to see the individuals in question approach and regard the cop cautiously. Gabe grabbed the door’s handle and cleared his throat. “Excuse me, I need to get out.”
Officer Dawson pushed off the truck, letting him exit.
“Another perk about the place,” Gabe said when he neared them, “is we have a great police department patrolling the neighborhood. Officer Dawson here is one of them.”
The two grinned at the uniformed cop who managed to crack a smile. “We’re ready to sign,” Todd, the athletic-looking kid, said.
Officer Dawson squinted his eyes and stared the boys down. “This is a quiet neighborhood. I’m hoping you can respect the peace and not cause any trouble while you’re here.”
Gabe fought the urge to roll his eyes. The man took himself and his job way too seriously.
“Yes, sir. No trouble at all,” Brent, the scrawnier of the two, answered with a big smile.
“Great to hear. Welcome to the neighborhood.” With a wave and a brief smirk, he got back in his squad car and drove away.
“All right, let me get the papers.” Gabe ran into the house.
On the way back, he noticed the two boys standing with their arms crossed, staring across the lawn.
Todd nudged his buddy. “She’d be an excellent cougar, my friend.”
“With that ass, she could be anything she wants,” Brent replied.
Gabe followed their stare to find Lauren tying her shoelace and shook his head. Planting a hand on each of their shoulders, he maneuvered them to their car on the driveway. “You’re not her type. Now put your tongues back in your mouths and fill out these forms.”
After the boys drove away, he stared in the direction Lauren disappeared. Although he had no clue what her type was, he’d hoped he was more it than those pre-pubescent kids.
Maybe it was time to investigate further.
In running shorts and a tank, Gabe stopped at the edge of the park, admiring the view. In particular, Lauren’s ass and legs as she rounded the corner. When her faithful sidekick caught a whiff of him, the beast turned his head and slowed down. It took a slight tug from the dog to get Lauren’s attention. Watching the two of them communicate was amazing. If he was honest with himself, he’d have to admit everything about her fascinated him. But since he rarely allowed himself to think along those lines, he ignored the thought and ran to them.
“Hi,” Lauren said, stretching her quadriceps. He shook his head and chuckled at the fact she knew he was there. Gabe tilted his head to make sure her muscle flexed the way it should. When her sea-green eyes rimmed with blue focused on him, he cleared his throat and looked away. Somehow she always seemed to know when he was drooling and having inappropriate thoughts about her lovely parts.
“You mentioned the trails were great, I thought I’d give them a try. Can I jog along?”
Her brows rose and she stretched the other quad. “You don’t strike me as a jogger.”
Hands on his hips, he tilted his head again to admire the stretched parts. “What do I strike you as?”
“A pushy neighbor who keeps staring at my ass,” she snapped and walked ahead.
He laughed as he caught up. “Sorry. Come on, it’s just two neighbors enjoying a jog together.”
“Okay, but no talking, no ogling, and if you fall behind, I won’t wait for you to catch up,” she countered and jogged off.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, easily matching her gait.
An hour later, drenched in sweat, Gabe was bent over holding his knees, wheezing for air.
“Not bad.” She handed him her water bottle.
“Thanks,” he puffed.
Before he could take a swig, her dog dropped onto its hind legs and started yodeling. Stunned, Gabe turned to Lauren, only to find her pale and rigid.
“Can you tell what he’s singing at?” she asked.
He tracked Jack’s stare to the source of the serenade. “Yeah. Officer Dawson, who’s currently leaning against his cruiser, arms crossed, watching us.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Where is he?”
Gabe gulped a swig of water and twisted the cap back in place. “Eleven o’clock.”
“Thanks. I need to go take care of something. I’ll see you later. Jack.” The dog stopped singing and stood on all fours. She grabbed his harness and rubbed his neck. “Go to Ben.”
Gabe sat on a nearby bench and watched them walk over to Officer Ben Dawson. He noticed the way Ben uncrossed his arms and shifted as she approached. How Jack jumped all over the man like he was family. The way Lauren stood, feet apart, hands on her hips, looking every direction than at the man in front of her. As if it caused her pain to be there.
Rooted in his seat, Gabe scrutinized them. There was history between those two and from the pitiful way the man watched her walk away, it was obvious Officer Ben wasn’t ready to let it stay in the past.
Common sense told Gabe to stay away. Far away. A cop. A confused, albeit hot, neighbor who sent mixed messages. This was getting way too complicated. Even as he told himself to run, idiot he was, he found himself jogging toward her.
She walked with her back straight and chin up as if nothing had happened. He didn’t comment on the moisture brimming in her eyes seconds before she blinked it away, nor did he mention how her hand clenched Jack’s leash so tight her knuckles were white.
“I thought you’d be home by now,” she said, acknowledging him before he uttered a sound.
How the hell does she do that?
“Forgot to give you back your water bottle.” Gabe handed her the disposable container. “You okay?”
“Yup.” She took a drink and continued down the sidewalk, obviously not in the mood to talk.
He kept her pace. “You know, people say I’m a good listener.”
“Oh yeah? Which people?”
He chuckled. “The ones in my head.”
She laughed.
“So the very serious Officer Ben is…”
“None of your business,” she said, moving faster.
Again, he kept pace. “Rude, but point taken.”
Gabe kept his mouth shut and walked her home. In front of her door, Lauren hesitated. “I’m sorry I was rude to you earlier. Ben’s my ex-husband and this was the first time I’ve seen him in a long time. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”
Yup. Everything about the woman screamed “run” in bright red flashing lights. And yet…
“No problem. We’ll do it again same time tomorrow?”
“Maybe. Goodnight, Gabe.” He watched her unlock the door. Although her words clearly were telling him to leave, he could sense her need for him to stay.
Walk away. Just walk away. “Hey, Lauren?”
“Yes?”
I’m a masochist who doesn’t know how to keep my mouth shut. “I’m kinda in the mood for Chinese.”
She laughed. “You get to pick what language the voices in your head speak to you in?”
He chuckled. Well look at that she’s got a sense of humor. “I do. Last night it was Swahili. And—” he nudged her, “—has anyone ever told you you’re a smart ass?”
Lauren giggled, her cheeks turning pink. “The label may have come up every now and then.”
Gabe’s chest tightened. He wondered how her laugh would feel under his lips. Shaking off the thought, he tried to stay on topic. “Anyway, I was wondering if I could pick you up some Chinese food while I was getting myself some.”
“That would be great.”
An hour later, he sat at her kitchen table sharing broccoli beef and sesame chicken.
He watched in awe as she picked up a piece of broccoli with her chopsticks and popped it into her mouth. “So what got you into real estate?” she asked.
He speared a chicken with his fork. “My dad. He was a real estate investor. Every evening, when I was a kid, he’d sit at the dinner table and talk about property and sales.”
“So you followed in his footsteps. He must be proud.”
“Don’t know. He killed himself when I was ten.” Gabe swallowed the chicken whole and tried to figure out why the hell he’d shared that uncomfortable bit of information.
“Oh.” She reached over and squeezed his hand.
He stared at the way her slender fingers rested over his large ones, savoring the heat of their connection and hoping she’d keep doing it. The fact that she knew exactly where on the table his arm rested and that he needed her touch, awed him.
“Those dinner talks you had with him obviously meant a lot to you.”
“Yeah. My mom was a drunk and she got worse after he died. She’d disappear for weeks sometimes. Which left me in charge of me and my little brother.”
“Wait, at ten?” When she pulled her hand away, he flexed his fingers, missing her warmth.
He nodded and played with his food. “Matt was six. Someone needed to be the grownup. I used to tell him the same stories Dad told me so neither one of us forgot him.”
“You lost your childhood. That must have been hard.”
“In some ways, it was good for me. Having to take care of Matt kept me out of trouble.”
“Where’s Matt now?”
He cleared his throat, took a sip of his wine and considered lying. Too much had already been shared but he couldn’t make himself lie, so with a shrug he dropped the next pitiful part of his life. “Dead.”
“Oh, Gabe.” She put the piece of beef she’d picked up back in her plate and focused her attention on him. “I…”
Having said more than he ever intended, he squirmed in his seat and cut her off. “Anyway, in answer to your question, my dad’s the reason I got interested in real estate. Now, your turn.”
Her brows rose. “My what?”
“Your turn. I opened my mouth and threw up my pitiful life story to you. Now you need to tell me yours.”
Her face colored. She fiddled with her chopsticks. “Why?”
“So I don’t walk away feeling stupid for sharing.”
She smiled. “What do you want to know?”
“About you and Officer Joe Cool.”
Lauren shook her head and took her paper box to the trash. “Not much to tell. Ben and I got married right after high school. Five years later, he cheated on me with Miss January.”
“Miss January?” Gabe picked up his trash and followed her lead to the garbage can.
“She was January in Colorado’s Ladies of the Law Calendar.” She proceeded to clear off the table as she spoke. “At least I’ve never had to ask why he did it.”
“You didn’t deserve that.”
She shrugged as she wiped down the table. “You didn’t deserve what you went through, either. But it is what it is. At first you cry about it, get mad, and feel sorry for yourself but at some point you get up, wipe off the dirt, and do what needs to be done.”
The tears she kept blinking away were a sure indication the tough shield she sported wasn’t all that solid. But he stopped himself from pushing the subject. All the emotional stuff was a minefield he did his best to avoid.
“Well, thank you for an unexpectedly nice evening. I needed it. But I have a long day tomorrow,” she said, walking him to the backdoor.
“You’re welcome,” Gabe said seconds before the door shut in his face.
He stood staring as the blinds on the other side of the pane glass swooshed from side to side. He flexed the hand Lauren had squeezed and wondered if she was crying yet. Gabe shook off the thought and walked to his empty house.