Gabby Revealed (Finding Perfect) (3 page)

Chapter Four

Damn, as beautiful as Gabby was, the look on her
face was priceless, like she’d swallowed the worst tasting liquid medicine in the world. The daggers she was shooting him, Shane was pretty sure he wasn’t the only one they were intended for.

It was almost amusing
. However, her caller had needed something. If Shane was correct, putting two and two together, it had been the same John she’d spoken of earlier. And he was going to go out on a limb and assume John was the older gentleman Gabby had lovingly watched walked all the way home.

The person she’d tried to make him jealous with
. And while it had worked for the last half hour of his drive, Shane had figured her out. It only added another layer of surprise to the puzzle, but it also tugged at his heart—a little too much. Especially since she’d tried to remain a virtual stranger to him.

“You want to tell me what’s going on
? At least before you manage to incinerate me with that evil eye you have. Which by the way, is quite perfected, if I do say so myself.”

“And after I kill that man I’ll add you to the body count
. How’s that for ‘perfected’?”

“Now
, darling, why would you want to do that? We are getting along so famously.”

“Stop
. Calling. Me. Darling. Are you going to help me or what?”

Exactly
like that wild kitten he’d found, Shane had learned with patience and a soft touch, it had turned into a sweetheart. His lips twitched, but damn it he couldn’t help himself, he had to do it. Running his finger down the bridge of her nose, he tapped the tip of it. It was almost comical how predictable her actions were. She backed up, a scowl deepened the lines across her face.

“What the hell was that?”

“Me, playing with you.”

“Sheltered much
? Didn’t your mom or dad ever tell you what happens when you play with fire?”

“Eventually all fires cool.
” Shane winked. “We better go help your friend.” As she scooted past him, he leaned into her ear. “Trust me, Gabby. You can’t burn me. I see through the charade.”

She stopped cold in her tracks
. As if her body was moving only in slow motion, she glanced over her shoulder. The look in her blue eyes wasn’t lethal as it had been before. It wasn’t even shock—it was pure fear. He’d seen through her mirage and something told him that was something no one had ever done before him.

He winked a second time, with a sincere smile tugging at the corner of his mouth
. Score one for the good guys.

A thousand insults were cut off by the lump in her throat
. The sidewalk to John’s house—with its occasional sunken spots, the grass growing through a crack here and there along with age—was one she had memorized. But for the first time, it was as if she was walking through a landmine. A heavy weight pushed her shoulders down, taking her ball-busting attitude with it.

No one ever pushed her the way Shane did
. He didn’t back down from her, he didn’t run the other direction. What was worse, she seemed to ignite something within him to see how far he could push her. Suddenly, the years of solid footing she’d shored around herself, the brick and mortar walls erected from teenage pain, were cracking. He left her confused, dazed, and almost wanting to smile. But she knew that was the worst thing she could do. It would be a victory in his corner, albeit small, but it was something no other man had been able to accomplish.

Shane grabbed her elbow, pulling her into his side.

Startled, she furrowed her brow at him as she tried unsuccessfully to yank herself from his grip. His eyes twinkled, full of mischief and something else she couldn’t quite make out. If she knew men better, she’d almost guess it was something close to desire.

Then she tripped.

He caught her around the waist and chuckled openly.

Damn
stupid, fucked-up, hundred-year-old sidewalk. Okay, so now she knew why he’d grabbed her. Now she knew why he openly enjoyed the surprise and embarrassment of his effect on her. However, why he hadn’t he let go of her, even though the crack was a good several inches behind them now?

“Shane?”

He leaned into her to speak. An awful habit he had that left his cologne lingering around her. The way he lowered his voice did funny things to her system. As if he had a power over her to make her forget he was the enemy.

Waiting for him to whisper something totally wrong, her heart started to pound and she swallowed hard
. “Yes?”

“This is John’s house, right?”

Glancing wide-eyed at Shane, it took a moment to process his question, and another to reconcile her reaction to his closeness and what she’d been expecting him to say. Turning back, she noticed they had indeed made it all the way to John’s little cottage-styled house, although she had no memory of the walk at all. Yes it was a short distance, but it had been Shane who had consumed her thoughts the entire way.

Seeing John’s house renewed an anger, although it was truly born of love
, she was mortified and felt justified the elderly man had a little something coming his way, something horrible like withholding all his favorite desserts for an entire week. If he thought he was going to walk away unscathed after pulling this little stunt, he was so freaking wrong. Him and his sweets, oh yeah, he was going down.

“Gabby
. Oh, Gabby. There you are, dear. And you did bring him. Thank you so much.” John shuffled onto the front porch of his house, fighting through his slurred speech in front of a stranger.

“Hmmm
, seems as if I have someone on my side now, doesn’t it?” Shane whispered.

Gabby attempted to elbow him, but he dodged her with a fool’s laugh
. “John, I assume? I’m Shane Compton. It’s nice to meet you. I hear you need some help with breaking and entering?”

“I’m pleased to finally meet Gabby’s young man
. And yes, well, actually, what I really need is to have you… As awkward as this may sound, I need you to lift Gabby up and through the bathroom window. It’s not locked.”

Gabby’s face was one of utter shock as the word’s
“Gabby’s young man” spilled from her friend’s mouth. But as Shane saw her take in the plan, which included him being able to touch her, it was near impossible to keep his laughter in check. Her face was priceless, and the shades of red deepened
across her cheeks and down her slender neck
before his very eyes. She was going to be out for revenge, and now he truly wondered if John’s life wasn’t really in danger. There was a smirk on the man who was old enough to be their grandfather. He wasn’t even trying to cover up the fact that he’d done it on purpose.

He would have to find out the history between the two, because knowing what very little he did of Gabby, Shane had no doubts she would have turned and left any other person stranded if they
had asked that of her.

Taking her hand, Shane tightened his grip as she tried to yank herself from his hold. “Come on, Gabby
, time to do a good deed, darling.”

“Shane, it’s th
e second window around the side,” John said with a twinkle in his eye pointing to the left side of the house.

Rounding the corner of the small house,
Shane raised an eyebrow. Okay, so maybe Gabby had a right to be a bit frustrated. John had failed to mention the very small bathroom window was above a row of rose bushes. Beautiful roses, bursting in different shades of pink, but covered with thorns nonetheless.

Shit.

Gabby snorted under her breath at his mumbled complaint. So she thought this was humorous, did she? Well, two could play at that game. He stopped at the window. Looking at the bushes, he tried to find a halfway decent opening to fit through so he wouldn’t be torn to shreds.

Turning back shocked him. Gabby stood with her arms across her chest,
a hip popped to the side, and a smirk a country mile wide. She’d known exactly what had been coming. “You’re not going to leave that poor man locked out are you?” He grinned back.

“So you’re
really going to fall for this shenanigan of his? Seriously? I thought you ‘New Yorkers’ were supposed to be street-smart?”

This was the fiery side of her he loved. Shane lived to poke at her,
rile her up. But now, seeing how beautiful she was, made it all the more interesting. Schooling his features, he tried to push her even more. “People still say that word ‘shenanigan’?”

The hint of smile she had fell away. “Yes.
People
still say it.”

He leaned in closer.
“I like those
people,
” he answered with a smirk of his own.

The snarl she
pinned him with disappeared instantly. Replaced with what looked like shock—again. Hmm. No wonder she’d preferred to keep him on the East Coast. Here, in person, her face was easy to read, her expressions left her feelings right on the surface for him to put the pieces in place. She whipped her head around so fast Shane was afraid she’d crack her neck.

“Let’s just hurry up and, and…you know.” She waved her hand toward the window.

“Okay…well, let me—”He paused, grunting as he maneuvered his way between the bushes. “Shit!” The branch swung back into place and poked him sharply in his lower back. Turning back to the soft chuckle he heard, there was Gabby, barely covering her grin with her hand. “Think this is funny darling? Wait ‘til I have your ass in my hands—literally!” Her eyes went wide, and it was Shane’s turn to laugh. “All right, I think I’m as close as I can get. Come here, carefully, and watch that branch, it’s vicious.”

Chapter Five

She hadn’t thought about this—at all. He was
right; her ass would be in his hands. Gabby wondered what in God’s name she’d done to piss off Karma this time. Chewing her bottom lip, she gazed between his outstretched palm and the small bathroom window. There was no way to get out of this predicament. Heat burned her cheeks as she thought more and more about his hands on her. Especially on her ass.
Just shoot me now.

A noise caught her attention.
Glancing at the front porch, she saw John peering around the corner. As soon as she busted him he quickly moved out of sight.

“You know we’re being played
, right?” she said blowing out a frustrated breath.

Shane leaned away from the house, reaching for her hand. Inching forward in the soft
, green grass, she felt like her boots were getting closer and closer to the edge of the plank and at any minute she was about to free fall. Shoring her armor, Gabby straightened her shoulders and moved her fingertips toward his.

And got bit.

Fuck!
Instinct had her jerking her hand away like he was fire. Through her dark bangs she glanced up at his eyes. Instead of playful, teasing Shane, his eyes were different. Dark, stormy and the warm golden brown was now pinning her as his nostrils flared.

Gabby didn’t know what to do. Her feet were glued in place, her hand still fisted in front of her from yanking it away from him.

“Trust me, Gabby,” he said, his voice more quiet. A hint of seduction laced his words instead of the normal lightness he usually spoke to her with.

He said it again.
That damn word. But he didn’t get it. Trust was something she didn’t give away, ever, along with her heart or soul.

Until now her life had been complicated enough. Keeping up with her separate identities
was all-consuming. Fitting into her small town took up what little energy she had left. Now, she was standing like prey in between the two men who knew her the best.

Focusing on a fuchsia rose petal, she couldn’t help but fear Shane’s reaction if he knew her past.
What if he knew the girl she used to be? She had been a nobody. And the woman now? Gabby still didn’t like to do much. Between working and writing, she spent her spare time reading. She was as boring as they said she was.

For some, running
was the only way to survive. Leave town and never look back. For Gabby, that hadn’t been an option. The Looking Glass was her baby. All of her had been poured into the business as an adult, and as a teen the empty building had been a place of refuge. After the doors were locked and the register drawer counted, it’d been the only private place she allowed her tears to fall. The walls of that one building knew everything about her and it was the one place she felt safe. Things that not even the two men on either side of her knew. She couldn’t leave it, even if it meant staying in the same town with the same people who had made her high school life a living hell.

“Gabrielle.”

His husky voice was no more than a whisper. She had no choice; she made eye contact again.

There was turmoil brewing in her big, chocolate
-brown eyes, and panic. Shane saw the way her thoughts rushed across her face, the lines coming and going, her brow creasing, her teeth pulling her bottom lip back in with worry. He’d hit a sore spot with one word. Trust.

He sensed it wasn’t him. There was too much fight in her for that. She
even put up a sarcastic front with her elderly friend. Risking more than just his family jewels, Shane leaned over as far as he could without moving the thorns at his back and gripped the hem of her T-shirt. With a gentle tug, she came nearer but her head lowered. As soon as she was close enough, he grasped her hand, the one still fisted near her chest. Encircling her small wrist, Shane paused, waiting for her to look up at him.

“Gabby
,” he said, encouraging her to meet his eyes. A moment of stubbornness flashed through her, she tensed in his hold, but finally looked at him. “You’ve told me more in the last two minutes of silence, than in all four, almost five, years of working with you. I can see you’re scared of something, and I don’t think it’s me personally, but of letting anyone in. Am I close?”

She blinked and her breath was shaky as it left her.
She remained silent. This wasn’t even close to the Gabby he’d come to know over the miles of phone lines. How they got to the place of having a personal moment standing outside a man’s bathroom window, he’d never know. Shane figured they’d laugh about it down the road, but for now, he had a branch full of needles in his back, and a prickly thorn in his hold, albeit a beautiful one.

A smile tugged at his lips. She wasn’t going to talk, not now, and he was afraid—not ever. So he let it go. “Come on
, darling. I bet your friend has to use the facilities.” A funny look twisted her gorgeous face into something in between a snarl and a smirk.

“Who says the word ‘facilities’?”

He pulled her into his space as he lifted his brow. “Touché, Gabrielle. Now get your pretty little butt over here.” Rolling her eyes, she went somewhat willingly.

There was a series of snorts, grunts, oohs
, and aahs as they each tried to avoid having blood drawn from the evil bushes, but Shane succeeded in lifting her into position. Her ass fit perfectly into his hands. Looking upward, he swallowed a groan and desperately tried not to picture her in a different position, in his temporary room at the bed and breakfast.

“Almost there,” she huffed.

He couldn’t tear his eyes off the denim in his palms, but the squeak of rusty hinges sounded like she was able to get the window opened. Her weight in his hands quickly vanished as she pulled herself up and onto the ledge. “Damn girl. I need to give credit where it’s due. You’re a strong little thing.”

Balancing on the sill, her arms locked in place, Gabby barely looked over her shoulder to smart back
, “You sit at a desk in your highfalutin New York office and pick up what one manuscript, maybe two, at a time? I, on the other hand, am used to lifting heavy boxes of books. So bite me.”

Bite her. Yes. That was exactly what he wanted to do to that delectable little ass of her
s as she shimmied through the window, disappearing into the bungalow. Shane ground his teeth, adjusting himself now that she wasn’t looking.

He could handle
the thorns in his back and her barbs she spat at him. But the pain building in his pants was another issue. This was quickly becoming the worst case of blue balls he’d ever endured, and it wasn’t like dress pants hid obvious things very well, not like a hard-on anyway. He knew he should’ve worn jeans, but who the hell would have thought an agent with one of the most prestigious agencies in New York would find himself in the middle of a rose bush out in western Kansas?

He’d expected a shocked reaction from her
at his arrival; after all, he’d teased her forever about hopping on a plane to meet her. Shane had pictured coffee while they worked out the schedule for the next few months. There had been visions of his boss’s excitement when he found out Shane had talked her into making public appearances. So much for that idea. He had not planned on the Gabby James he met in person. Over the phone her voice was as smooth as honey, even though her words were never that sweet. The wild, skittish kitten he’d met this morning was quickly becoming near and dear to his heart.

With a soft click, he heard the
front door open on its hinges. Carefully he pinched the worst offender between two fingers and held the branch away from him so he could back out of the bushes, hopefully without causing any additional pain.

Shane headed toward the front porch but
he stopped short when he heard voices. Eavesdropping was wrong on six different levels, but he couldn’t help himself. The conversation was heating between John and Gabby, and he had to bite his knuckle to keep from laughing, it was so comical.

“Damn it, John. You did that on purpose! You haven’t locked a door in this house in…well, I don’t know how long. More years than I’ve been alive, I can tell you that for damn sure.
My grandparents lived next door, remember? I
know
you.”

“Gabby
, honey, don’t be mad. I really did accidently lock the door. It just was timing is all. I know it appears—”

“It does way more than appear
, friend. You’ve got him looking at me all weird-like.”

“Good. It’s about time. I had a feeling that New York boy ha
d a little more backbone to him. I was hoping he didn’t scare as easy. These boys around here, I don’t know how you manage to keep them all from seeing the girl I know.”

“Those boys? Those boys
are now men, but are the same assholes from high school. I don’t want anything to do with a damn one of them.”

Shane
heard the boards creak under her boots and assumed she was pacing the short length of his old wood porch. Her admission to John hit him like a sucker punch to the gut.

She was so beautiful. Yes
, her mouth could sting, but that was easy to see through. Her tone and words were a self-defense mechanism. He actually liked the wit and sass she flung at him on a regular basis. It far out-weighed the silky come-ons he got but could see through. Those women wanted to use him for the power he held over their careers.

Gabby wasn’t like any of those women. She had come right out and told him on more occasions than he could count, that she
“in fact, did not need him.” And he could shove this or that up his ass, whatever
it
happened to be at the time. Her threats never failed to make him chuckle, which only seemed to piss her off more, and so the cycle began.

Years later, he was finally at the end of his
rope; the patience he normally boasted about was gone. He had to meet her—in person, face-to-face and see who it was he’d fallen for. It was crazy. He was crazy. They’d never swapped stories, or pictures for that matter. Oh, he’d tried. Given her pieces of his past, stories of the chilly home he grew up in, but she never returned the favor. She wouldn’t give him crumbs even of her personal life. That didn’t stop
falling for her
from happening. Maybe because she was so elusive. Maybe because she seemed so unobtainable when he was sitting at his “highfalutin New York” desk. Whatever the reason, Gabby James sent a thrill zipping through him at the very thought of her.

He wondered what could have happened to her in high school, in a small town that seemed so quaint and charming with its postcard perfect setting.
The town square was everything he’d pictured. Awnings covered most of the stone or brick storefronts and flowers of all colors, planted in different sized pots decorated the entries. The coffee shop and café had seating for two out in the sun along the sidewalk.

He’d gone to a private school in Connecticut before moving to New York for college. Shane had never looked at the world from a
ny different viewpoint other than easy. Suddenly the picture of a quiet girl with long, dark hair, slouched down, her bangs covering her eyes as she sat in the back row of a classroom sent a pang of hurt and guilt through him. Not that he’d caused it, but for her.

In that moment, Shane wanted her all the more. And for an added reason—to protect her.

Dragging in a breath, he scrubbed his palms over his face. Ran his fingers through his short, light-brown curls and blew out the air he’d held. Feigning happy, he rounded the corner before Gabby really did kill the dear old matchmaker with her long, slim fingers, her nails short and free of polish.

“Well there you go
, sir. You’re back in business.” He saluted John.

“Oh
, son, how can I repay you?” Behind John stood Gabby, her head fell back as she looked at the porch ceiling in a dramatic flair. “I’ve got it! Gabby here makes the most delicious pot roast in the world. Soft and tender, you could cut it with a fork. And her mashed potatoes are so creamy, they’re like whipped heaven. She told me she was bringing some over for dinner tonight. How about you join us?”

Shane bit his top lip as Gabby’s palm went with a resounding smack against her forehead. John didn’t look behind him to see the girl about to plot his death. Instead
, he smiled the biggest shit-eating grin Shane had ever seen. “I’d love to. Count me in.” Shane grinned back.