CHAPTER NINE
Gabe liked the industrial feel of his warehouse. He liked the massive windows and the light they let in, the cavernous space stretching around and above him. Enough that he could breathe. The thing Gabe liked most about his latest property, though, was that no one knew he’d bought it.
Technically some people knew. He hadn’t hidden the paperwork, but no one had connected the dots yet, which meant no one had come here looking for him.
Earlier that morning he’d stormed out of a board meeting, having lost all patience and every trace of good humor in a scary rush of anger. His board members had been left gaping. It had surprised even him.
In an attempt to work through the restlessness that plagued him, he’d gone to the gym and put himself through a grueling workout. Even that once-reliable fallback had failed.
He’d returned to the warehouse on shaking legs and had spent the last twenty minutes in the shower. He ran the water as hot as he could stand, letting it pound on his shoulders, his back, his bowed head.
Couldn’t switch off.
Everyone was still on his case about the Nebula project, and he didn’t know what to do. Things had gotten worse in the last couple of months. For the first time ever, he didn’t have a solution.
Okay, he had a solution, but he didn’t think it would make the rest of the board happy.
He could cancel Nebula, and walk away.
Disappear.
Some days, it took all the discipline he had not to do it.
Gabe toweled off his aching body and scrubbed half-heartedly at his hair. He tossed the towel in the direction of the laundry hamper and, naked, wandered off to the kitchen to rehydrate.
At the gym during his workout he’d downed a bottle of water. He drank another on the walk to the warehouse, and he was still thirsty. He couldn’t seem to drink enough. Or eat enough.
All he wanted to do was consume.
He burned through everything he put in his body, and he couldn’t find any satisfaction.
Gabe stood at the sink and gulped a glass of water.
Maybe he should go out and get laid.
A no-holds-barred wrestle with a woman who went at him as hard as he went at her, that’s what he needed. Hours and hours of it, getting lost in each other. Going for it until… He glanced down, and grimaced.
Nothing. Not even a twitch of interest.
Fuck. It was worse than he’d thought.
Gabe rinsed the glass and set it beside the sink to drain. He leaned back against the cabinet, arms outstretched and ankles crossed. He dug his fingers into the sharp edge of the countertop and his biceps flexed.
He’d tried hard not to think about her. He didn’t have room to think about her, since he had so many other things to be thinking about. Not to mention, it scared the shit out of him that conjuring up the feel of Nora Bowman squirming on his lap flipped him like a switch and brought the laser focus that even a workout no longer could. The kind of focus that also brought on … Yep.
Gabe looked down. There it was. He was interested in having sex.
Just not with anyone.
All he wanted was Nora.
At the thought, keys scraped in the lock, the front door opened, and in she walked.
It was a sign.
Nora would think it was more like bad luck, since last time she’d caught him in a towel and this time he was buck naked and half-erect. But he was definitely thinking it was a sign.
Waiting for her to notice him, Gabe wondered if he should at least make an attempt to cover himself. What the hell. This was too entertaining.
Nora had closed the door and made it halfway across the room before she saw him.
He heard the air whoosh out of her. The purse she’d been digging around in slid off her shoulder and thudded to the floor.
Her big blue eyes hit his face and then, as if she couldn’t help herself but was trying really, really hard not to let it happen, her gaze tracked down his body and…
She made a little noise.
“Hello,” Gabe said.
Nora sucked in air, clapped her hands over her eyes and spun so her back was to him. “What are you doing here? And why are you always naked?”
“I’m not always naked.”
“Why are you naked now? It’s two o’clock on a Tuesday!”
“Are there laws about being naked on Tuesdays where you come from?”
“No. I—” she cut herself off and whirled back to face him. “Oh, no. Tell me you’re alone. There isn’t anyone else here, is there?”
“Nope. I’m having naked alone time. Well. I was. Then you showed up.”
“Thank God.”
“I’m glad that you’re glad about me being naked and alone.” Gabe hid his amusement as her eyes began to drift downward again.
“I’m not glad about you being naked. It was bad enough with the towel, how am I supposed to get over…forget that. Uh. I meant, I’m glad you’re alone while being naked, doing…whatever it is you do while you’re naked…” She trailed off into thoughtful silence.
“Showering? Browsing the internet? Cleaning the oven?”
“Yes,” she said. “That’s what I was imagining. Wait, no. I wasn’t imagining anything. The relevant point here is, I’m glad you’re alone, and I didn’t walk in on a lunchtime tryst.”
He laughed. “A tryst? Is that what they call sex back wherever you’re from, where you’re not allowed to be naked on Tuesdays?”
“You know what I mean,” she said, gathering herself.
“Rest assured the only people here are you and me.”
“Last time this happened… He wasn’t naked, but…” Nora tipped her head back to stare up at him.
Crap. When had he crossed the room? He’d intended to hold still because he didn’t want to spook her. Apparently, his body had other plans.
As did hers. She’d moved, too, drifting toward him. They’d met in the middle and now stood mere inches apart.
Gabe watched the awareness dawn. She didn’t run, though. Instead, she locked gazes with him.
“Wow,” he said softly, after a good minute had passed. “I don’t think I have ever maintained such intense eye contact with anyone for this long. Are we having a staring competition? Because I know I can make you break first.”
She made a strangled noise and shook her head.
“Don’t look down,” he whispered.
Aaaand she did.
“Nora,” he said after another long, agonizing moment. He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and used his thumb to nudge her chin up. Her eyes remained fixed.
“Hmm?”
“Stop looking, honey.” Or he was going to lose his cool.
If he lost his cool, he was going to grab her. While Gabe knew what he wanted, in graphic detail, he wasn’t yet sure what Nora wanted. He’d find out. Soon. Until then, he refused to be the jerk who thought he could grab a woman just because she was staring at his junk like the meaning of life was being revealed to her.
“Sorry.” She jumped back.
Gabe growled. “You do not have to apologize to me.”
“No. Sorry.”
“Okay. Two ways this can go. Either you join me in naked Tuesday, or I have to go put some clothes on.”
She was thinking about it. He grinned. Good. Let her keep thinking.
He headed for the bedroom, aware of her gaze on his ass. “You should consider going professional with the staring competition thing,” he called over his shoulder. “Once you lock on, woman? Damn.”
When Gabe came back out, she was sitting on the couch and fidgeting with a huge tape measure.
“I can save you the time,” he said. “Nine inches.”
Nora retracted the tape with a whoosh and snap. “Huh. I’d say nine and a half.”
He burst out laughing and threw himself onto the couch beside her. “To what do I owe the extreme pleasure of this visit?”
“It’s not supposed to be a visit. You’re not supposed to be here.”
“It’s my warehouse.”
“We thought you’d be out. You should take this back so it doesn’t happen again.” She tried to give him the key she’d used to get in.
Catching her wrist, he closed her slender fingers over the key and held her steady. “I have no problem with this happening again.”
“Are you—”
“Yes. I’m sure.” Gabe squeezed and let go. “Who was the other guy? Was it Vince?”
“What?” She looked startled.
“The guy you walked in on when he wasn’t naked, but he also wasn’t alone. Vince?”
“Yeah. Went in to water his ficus, found him with another woman, who happened to be his new wife.”
“Vince is an asshole.”
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but he isn’t. Not really. He fell in love.”
“Wasn’t he supposed to be in love with you?”
“And I was supposed to be in love with him. Turns out, we were both fooling ourselves. I’m grateful one of us came to our senses before we spent the next fifty years going through the motions. I will say, though, that he could have handled it better.”
“Sounds like you, at least, handled it in a mature manner.”
Nora went bright red and avoided his eyes. “Yes. I did.”
“You liar,” Gabe said in delight. “What did you do? You are telling me that story. You know I can make you.”
“Not today!” She leapt to her feet and held up the tape measure. “Today, I have work to do. Unless you want me to come back another time?”
“No need. Knock yourself out. What are we measuring?”
“I’ve got a detailed list in my Filofax.”
“I’m shocked.”
Nora pulled a face. “Anna needs wall and floor measurements, as well as pictures from a variety of angles to plug into her design software. We were supposed to take them before the meeting last time. You were here then, too. Why are you here, anyway? Hiding from something?”
Gabe kept his smile in place. “Where shall we start?”
“You’re helping me?”
“You’re welcome. Where’s the camera?” He peered into her open purse, spotted the camera, and took it out.
Hey,” she protested.
He waved her off. “No need to freak out, I didn’t see your tampons.” When he looked up from fiddling with the camera, he found her blushing again. “You are really easy to embarrass,” he told her, marveling at the deep color in her cheeks. “I wasn’t even trying.” He raised the camera and snapped a picture.
Nora blinked at the flash. “I dread to think what you’d do if you were trying to embarrass me,” she said tartly.
“Dirty talk.”
Her gaze tangled with his.
Gabe began to smile, slowly. “If I was trying to embarrass you, I’d talk dirty. I’m pretty sure I could make you burst into actual fire if I said something dirty.”
“You could not.”
He checked out the photo he’d taken. Her cheeks were scarlet, her eyes startled. Pupils wide and shining. He angled the camera for her to see the view screen. “Pretty sure I could make you burst into actual fire if I said something anatomical.”
Nora firmed her jaw. “No, you couldn’t.”
“Penis.”
The color rushed back into her cheeks and her mouth dropped open.
“Interesting reaction,” Gabe said.
She shut it with a snap of her teeth.
He winced. “Worrying reaction.”
Reaching out, Nora snatched the camera and stalked off, her Filofax under her arm and the tape measure in a white-knuckled grip.