The following morning, Gabriella walked into the office, more than prepared for the day. She’d spent a wonderful evening talking with Nancy and considered the beautiful woman to be a friend now.
Also, she had a plan. A good plan that she’d worked out in her mind while trying to calm her body down so that she could sleep last night. First of all, never be caught alone with Teague. The last few times that had happened, she’d ended up in his arms and only some odd interruption had saved her from falling into bed with him. There was no way she was going to be caught alone with Teague again! That simply couldn’t happen! Somehow, she had to get him to sign those damn papers and still not be caught in his arms. That was emotional suicide!
So as soon as she walked in, she popped the top on the plastic container, stuck it into the microwave oven, pressed the timer for three minutes and sat down behind her desk.
When Teague walked in a few minutes later, all she heard was cursing as he stumbled out of the office.
“Gabby!” he bellowed.
Gabriella laughed, almost dancing in her chair behind Marcy’s desk while writing out work orders for the next three days. This was a great job, she thought, as long as one didn’t mind the smell of broccoli.
The radio crackled to life and she smothered a smile of satisfaction as she lifted it to her ear.
“Yes, boss?” she asked, trying to sound innocent.
“Won’t work, darlin’,” he warned her. “That hideous smell isn’t going to last and when it wears off…payback.”
Gabriella glanced down at the plastic grocery bag at her feet. “I’m not overly concerned.”
She could almost hear his eyes rolling and laughed once again, delighted with her victory.
She kept an eye out for Teague heading towards the office. She didn’t mind so much when she had to venture out to hand him or Harry some paperwork. But she didn’t want to be alone with Teague in the office. He was too dangerous and, well, her nerves couldn’t take much more of his touch or the way he kissed her. She became too frazzled.
By the time she was shutting down the computer and locking the cabinets for the night, she still hadn’t come up with a good way to get him to sign the papers, no convincing argument had come to mind, and…well, if she were being perfectly honest with herself, she missed him!
And that was the most ridiculous thought she’d had all week! She didn’t miss Teague! She’d almost lost herself in his arms just last night and today she’d cooked enough broccoli to choke a cow. Every time he’d started to come into the office, she’d had another head of broccoli cooking in the small microwave.
After so many hours in this trailer, the smell was enough to even make her gag.
Now she was tired, cranky, confused, and irritated. And hungry! The smell of broccoli hadn’t been so bad this morning, but by the afternoon, she was sick of it and the smell had made her lose her appetite.
Nothing that a huge, cheesy pizza wouldn’t fix, she thought with relish.
She’d just turned off the computer and locked up Marcy’s files when the door opened again.
He stood there for a long moment, his nose flaring. When he didn’t smell the horrid scent, his eyes changed. He was like an animal who had been hunting for too long and now spotted his prey.
Darn it! She was trapped! Gabriella looked at the door, the window and then down at her feet where one small head of broccoli was waiting to be cooked!
“Oh no you don’t!” he growled, storming towards her.
She had no idea what happened. One moment, she was reaching for the head of broccoli, the next moment, she was flat on her back on the desk, her hands held over her head and Teague’s hips pressing between her legs. The seam of the jeans made her more aware of their position and she looked up into his green eyes, her violet gaze showing him her fear of their position.
“We can’t do this, Teague!” she gasped. “I’m engaged to another man!”
He growled out his fury with that statement, leaning in closer. “You’re married to me!” he snapped. “So in reality, you’re cheating on me with your fiancé!”
She gasped and tried to yank her hands out from his grip. But he wouldn’t release her. He wasn’t hurting her, but she was defenseless. “That’s not the way I see it.”
He shrugged his shoulder, blocking out the light for a moment. “I don’t give a damn about this Toby idiot’s feelings. He’s not here, you’re here, I’m here, and we both want each other. Case closed as far as I can tell. We’re even married, so that makes it even better!”
“Not if you’d just sign those stupid papers!” she came right back.
His smile made her stomach muscles tighten. “You don’t want me to sign those papers, Gabby. Not really.”
She tried to shove him off of her but he wasn’t budging. “What do you think I’ve been trying to do for the past several days, you big lug?”
“Taunting me,” he replied after careful consideration. “Teasing me. Driving me crazy with lust and unfulfilled need.”
“You’re nuts!”
He shook his head gently. “Think so?” he asked, as he pressed his erection against her, stopping her words. “You’re mine, Gabby,” he whispered forcefully. “And I’m not letting any other man touch you.”
She shook her head, but even now, his words were making her weak with awareness and the same hunger. “I’m not yours. Not anymore.”
“Only because you think we’re too different.” He looked down into her eyes. “Perhaps it is time I showed you that I don’t give a damn about your arguments.”
“You never really listened to me anyway! You think you know me, but you have no idea who I really am! No one does and if they did…” she shot right back at him. And there was something in her eyes, a fear. Or perhaps a secret?
He was startled by that claim. “Gabby, is there some secret from your past that you’d like to share with me?” He spoke the words gently, truly curious now. “There’s nothing you can tell me that could make me change the way I feel about you.”
She struggled once again, but shook her head. “Oh, and what exactly do you feel, Teague? Lust? Great! I can get that from just about any man in a bar if he’s drunk enough.”
His eyes were surprised. “You think I only feel lust for you?” he asked her.
She stilled, looking up at him as if his question surprised her. “Don’t you?”
He bent lower, gently kissing her lips. “Ah, darlin’. If only it were that simple,” and his lips lingered, kissing her gently before increasing the pressure.
Gabriella felt his lips and shivered. An uncontrollable surge hit her and she lifted her head, deepening the kiss until he took over once again. A moment later, she was sitting up with his arms around her, his hand in her hair as he moved her head to the side so that he could deepen the kiss. Gabriella wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him in closer, closer still, and all she wanted was to crawl up higher, to feel every inch of his body against hers.
“Teague, I just…” Harry stepped into the office and stopped, frozen in place as he watched his boss and the newest assistant pull apart, the pretty woman frantically trying to adjust her clothes. “Uh, sorry,” he mumbled and started to back out of the office. Darn it, these two had been dancing around each other all week and he’d just stopped what looked to be closure on the tension that had been ramping up every day.
The rest of the crew was going to kill him! Hell, his boss looked like he was going to kill him right now!
“What do you need, Harry?” Gabriella called to him, looking down at her desk. She smoothed her hair down again, trying to pull her sweater back down around her waist since Teague had pushed it up higher, his roaming fingers straying from her waist to her….
She pushed that thought aside. Teague was…Toby was the man for her. Wasn’t he? She looked over at Teague, the strain in his features evident as he rubbed a hand over his face. He only wanted sex…right? And she wasn’t that kind of a woman. She wanted more. She wanted Toby. Yes, she definitely wanted Toby for her future…didn’t she?
“Sorry,” Harry mumbled, saying it more to Teague than to Gabriella.
“No problem,” she replied as she swung her new backpack over her shoulder. She’d grabbed it at the store early this morning before arriving here. The backpack replaced her black tote bag and was actually pretty convenient. She loved all the pockets and easy way it rode on her shoulder. “But can it wait until tomorrow?” she asked.
“Sure!” he said, relieved for an excuse to get out of the way. “Absolutely!” A moment later, he was gone and hurrying down the boards towards his truck.
“I have to go as well,” Gabriella muttered and hurried past Teague, twisting when he reached out to try and grab her arm to stop her. “Please,” she whispered, “I can’t.”
Teague watched her hurry down into the dim light, anger and frustration eating at him. Every time he got close to her, thought he might be making a breakthrough, someone interrupted them. He was about to lose his mind, he thought, as he stormed out of the office. He did one last check of the site, making sure that all of the security measures were in place for the night before he left. Cursing the whole time, he drove over to her place, wanting to talk things through.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t there! Or she was just ignoring him.
When he spoke to the guard at the front desk, he was told that Gabriella hadn’t come back from the office, but the man had heard the woman across the hall talking about dinner and a movie tonight, so she might just be out with her new friend.
He cursed at the situation all the way home, irritated when he walked into an empty house. He was glad he’d come back here tonight instead of staying in his trailer at the site. He needed a break. From everything. The crew was doing a great job and Gabby really was an asset to the team. A construction site couldn’t function if they didn’t have the supplies they needed. She was just as good as Marcy at organizing things and he respected her work. Amazingly, Gabby had stepped in and immediately picked things up, filling the gap they hadn’t been able to fill for Marcy’s maternity leave.
Grabbing a beer, he paced the confines of his house, wondering if he would ever get Gabby here. She would look so lovely sitting at the counter, watching him cook dinner each night. Yeah, he’d like that, he thought, as he wound his way through to the upstairs. Another cold shower and another sleepless night. Hell. Gabby was killing him.