Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121755 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
I was evidently not done with tuna, because I got the tuna sandwich. Gabe made the excellent selection of their chicken sammy. He augmented this with their devilled eggs. He told me he’d never tried their tuna, so we went halfsies with the sandwiches, and I considered avowals of love at getting to eat both Ingo’s tuna and their chicken all during one dunch.
We ate on their patio.
I filled him in on the briefing. We talked about Raye and Cap. I told him how cool I thought it was that Ava was going to design Alexis and Jacob’s invitations, and the Rock Chicks were going to kick in from afar like that, not to mention NI&S were going to pay for the booze.
He told me he’d done “jack shit” that day, except watch some pregame shows and football.
I did not miss he got a lot of attention from women.
What I also didn’t miss, but had never noticed before, was that I was getting attention from men.
Gabe didn’t miss this either, and even though I ignored the women, he had no compunction to outright stare down the men.
This he did.
And you could just say the speed with which they backed down when Gabriel Stark shot them the evil eye was brisk.
It was all kinds of hot.
He took me to Churn after and got me a hot fudge sundae. I enjoyed the view of him eating a bespoke ice cream cookie sandwich.
Then we walked hand and hand to his Jeep in order to go to his and chill.
And it was only when I was in his Jeep and we were headed to the thrilling next chapter of us where I’d see his place, that I realized, Gabriel Stark didn’t ask me out on a date.
There was no fretting about what I would wear and if I’d spill something on it.
There was no mindfuck about who was going to pay (I’d already learned after he slashed a look at me when I went for my wallet at Beckett’s Table that he was old school about that and there was no discussion) and what was going to be expected after.
But we’d still just had our first date.
It was hassle-free. It was lowkey. It was fun. We were out on the town and out in the world. The food was great. Once we settled in, he didn’t talk much, but he didn’t make me feel like I was jabbering.
It was the best date I ever had.
It was maybe the best date that ever was.
But he was right.
It wasn’t a date.
It was a woman with her man going out to dunch.
And call me all kinds of crazy, that made it even better.
TWELVE
HERE WE ARE
I woke when my hair was pulled away from my neck, and then gentle fingers trailed down my hairline.
I opened my eyes and saw Gabe in very dim light.
“Sorry, baby,” he whispered. “So you can get home and get ready for work, you gotta get up.”
Damn it.
I’d passed out in front of the TV again.
I knew instantly that after days of Gabe looking after me, I’d had more sleep and was way more rested than I normally was, even if I could tell it was crazy early in the morning.
But I didn’t want to get up.
Gabe’s bed was preposterously comfortable, for one. His mattress was a miracle, and his sheets were the softest sheets I’d ever felt.
Further, Gabe was right there, looking his usual amazing, he was mine, we hadn’t done it yet, and I was in his bed, and again, he was right there.
And although that second bit was the most important bit, this bit was a close runner up: I didn’t want our chillax together time to end.
It had been heavenly.
“You want coffee for the road?” he asked.
Shit.
We both had bills to pay, therefore, our chillax time had to end.
I pushed up to a hand, mumbling, “Yeah.”
He caught me by the back of the head, planted a kiss on top of my hair, that came with the added gentle abrasion of his beard against my scalp and feeling my hair get tangled in it, so I got a happy shiver somewhere private.
He let me go and sauntered to the stairs saying, “New toothbrush by the sink for you.”
Such a good guy.
My good guy.
On that happy thought, I pushed out of bed and padded to his bathroom, shaking off the rest of my sleep.
I used the facilities, washed my hands and brushed my teeth, processing the fact that last night, after I woke up while Gabe carried me up the stairs (the stairs!), he’d taken his tee off and handed it to me, so not only was that what I’d worn to bed, it still smelled like him, and it made me happy.
On my way to leave the bathroom, I stopped as it dawned on me there were no beard clippings in or around the other sink (Gabe’s bathroom had two).