Chapter 41

Ally

The scent of sizzling bacon and eggs woke me. I rolled onto my side, tangling the sheets around my ankles and groaning. My head was a swollen mass of aching nerve-endings. Yeah, drinking was definitely not my thing. One cocktail and I was half-hungover and ready to give up on life. Although that one cocktail had been about half the damn bottle. No dive bars again. Ever again.

“What happened?” I asked the ceiling and instantly regretted it. Pounding filled the fluffy space my brain had once inhabited. I fumbled for the aspirin on my nightstand and popped two out of the packet. I crunched them down.

Wait one hot second. I was in bed with a headache. So, who was in the kitchen cooking my favorite breakfast?

I bolted upright and grimaced at the responding throb of pain. Memories mulched together, jamming through me in a flood of images. Matthew at the bar, confronting me, pepper spray and then a flash of motion.

Gabe.

He’d come to my rescue the night before. I flapped the sheets back, but I was fully clothed. Thank God, we hadn’t done anything. I guess he was more respectful than Matthew, although that wasn’t the highest in compliments.

Still, he had no right to make breakfast in my kitchen after what he’d done. He had no right to be in my house at all. No right to be anywhere near me. I slipped from my bed, but paused to stroke Codsworth, who was curled into a ball at the base. Like he knew there was an interloper in the kitchen and he needed to protect me. He purred when I touched him and I stalled a moment longer, enjoying the simple touch of my fingers to his silky fur.

Animals were so simple. They loved you and that was it. No complications or betrayals, just loyalty and lots of cuddles.

Pity Gabe Moreno couldn’t emulate that.

I squared my shoulders and marched out of the bedroom and into the hall. I peered into the living room and sighed a stream of relief. Tangled blankets and a flattened pillow inhabited my sofa. I ignored the brief flutter of regret at the picture. A fantasy starring my naked body splayed out on that couch. And Gabe. Touching me.

He thought he could sweep in and save me, did he? I’d put him in his place. I wasn’t his to save anymore.

I stormed into the kitchen and stumbled into a scene from Leave It To Beaver. Eggs on a plate, accompanied by bacon and toasted English muffins with butter. There was even a pot of jam positioned beside it and steaming coffee in a mug on the counter.

Gabe turned, wearing my pink frilly apron and nothing else. Okay, he had jeans on, but his naked back and chest detracted from that minor detail.

“I thought you might appreciate a real breakfast,” he said, waggling a spatula at me. “Nothing like a bit of grease to fend off a hangover, right?”

I didn’t answer, but reluctantly tore off a piece of English muffin and dipped it into the sunny-side egg yolk. I deposited it in my mouth and let out a tight groan in spite of my intentions.

“It’s good then.” He grinned and switched off the gas with his free hand. “Allegra—”

“Don’t you dare start before I get a chance to speak,” I said, picking up my mug. I sipped and nodded approval. He’d gotten the cream and sugar right, at least.

“All right,” he said, opening his arms and dropping the spatula into the sink. “Speak.”

“How dare you swoop in and save me after what happened between us. Shouldn’t you be with your fucking fiancé at her house, anticipating the birth of your first child?” It spewed out in a rush of anger, and it felt so damn good to get it out.

“Whoa, okay. You don’t understand.” He ran a hand through his mop of bed-head hair. “I’ve been trying to tell you that I can explain.”

“Whatever,” I said, trying to detach myself from the situation, forcing myself to remember he’d lie. Again and again.

“Let me explain?” He stripped off the apron, muscles rippling beneath. He stretched, showing them off and pretending it wasn’t for my benefit.

“That’s a cheap trick,” I growled, but waved for him to explain. How could there ever be an explanation for having a fiancé?

“I’m not engaged, Allegra I told my dad I wouldn’t go through with it.”

“I don’t get it. What’s your dad have to do with this? If that were true, why wouldn’t you just tell me in front of him? In front of her?” I pressed my lips into a tight line.

“I didn’t want him to know how much I care for you. I wanted him to think you weren’t important,” he said.

“Well, you did an excellent job. I’m not important.” I turned to walk out, but he hurtled across the room and grabbed my upper arm. “To you.”

Gabe spun me on the spot and looked into my eyes. His gaze traced the contours of my face, resting on my lips, the tip of my nose, then flicking up to meet my anger again.

“A cheap fuck,” I spat, struggling against his grip. “So that’s what I am to you?”

He gave me a slight shake. “Don’t you ever talk about yourself that way in front of me again. Quit jumping to conclusions and let me finish. I wanted him to dismiss you because everything my dad touches turns to shit. He destroys whatever gets in his path, Allegra, and you would be nothing but a bug to crush beneath his heel if he thought I cared about you. He stops at nothing to control me.”

I stopped moving and swallowed. “Huh?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Donovan Moreno isn’t just the billionaire you’ve heard about. He’s a ruthless asshole and he’ll do whatever it takes to get his way.”

I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Okay, but what’s that got to do with… her.” I couldn’t say her name as childish as that might’ve been. It made me want to break things just to think about her. Her perfect hair and lips. Her perfect designer outfits. Everything that she was and I wasn’t.

“My father wants me to marry Faith because of her influence. Her father, George, is on the same ‘level’ as my dad. He thinks it would be a prosperous marriage. All he cares about are appearances. He doesn’t understand relationships. Or happiness.”

“I’m still missing something. Why don’t you just tell your dad to stick it?” I asked, keenly aware of his body pressed against mine. Abs against the fabric of my PJs, strong hands gripping me so I couldn’t move a muscle. I didn’t want to be fighting. I just wanted to forget everything except the feelings coursing through my body. I wanted to melt into him.

“He’ll cut me off if I don’t do what he wants. Sever my inheritance.”

“Money,” I spat out, “that’s what this is about? You’re willing to marry Faith and forgo a damn paternity test for money? For your daddy’s approval.”

“Once, yeah, that was who I was,” he said and his forehead creased in that way that made me want to comfort him. To trace the frown lines with my fingertips and take away his pain. Damn it. He should be worried about taking away my pain. “I’ll admit it. I wanted to be the golden boy, the son who impressed him. He hates the fact that I’m a firefighter instead of using my fancy college degree.”

“And now?” I wanted to believe every word of it. God, help me. Why couldn’t I stop these emotions and stop wanting him? I felt like every kind of idiot. What if it was a lie again and I got lost in him again? So deep that I drowned in it and ended up destroyed.

“Now, I don’t care what my father wants. I don’t care about the money. I want to do what I love and be with the woman I love.” He let go of me and gently reached up to cup my face in his palms. “That’s you, Allegra. I want your love. I swear to God, I could fucking breathe, eat and sleep your love. You’re all I need, woman.”

I couldn’t summon a word of argument. I wanted to put up those walls again and shut him out, but when we stood like this, chest to chest, his calloused skin brushing my cheeks, I couldn’t. I just couldn’t.

He was the man for me. Flawed maybe, with a child on the way from another woman, but he was the one. His soul was on the same level as mine, we were in sync and I couldn’t pull back now.

“Love me,” he whispered, kissing my forehead.