Page 52 of Anchor (First to Fight)
I tug on her free hand and circle her in my arms. “I told you that you didn’t have to help.”
“It’s just a bump. I’ll be fine.”
I grab a cloth and some ice from the dispenser and press it to the goose egg already swelling on her head. “You sit and relax. If you must do something, you can put together that salad while sitting. Surely, you can’t get hurt that way,” I tease. “The last thing we need is to take you back to the hospital.”
“Har, har.” She gets to work shredding and assembling the salad. “So I’m a little clumsy. You should probably know that about me up front. I also do crazy things like challenge people with guns. Spend the night with a strange man.”
“Do that often?”
She sputters around a sip of her drink. “Completely not what I meant and you know it.”
“C’mon. You’re gorgeous. I wouldn’t hold it against you even if you had. But you also don’t seem like the kind of girl to take relationships lightly.”
“Got me there. The last one I had ended pretty badly.”
“What happened?”
“Well, he told me he couldn’t ruin our friendship in case something went wrong with our relationship. He was my best friend when we got together.” She drinks heartily. “Did I mention he was my fiancé when he dumped me and he recently got engaged? Again.”
“His loss,” I tell her. And I’m being serious, even if she doesn’t think so. Only an idiot would let a woman like Chloe slip through their fingers, and I’m not a fuckin’ idiot.
“You’re so sweet.” She finishes sprinkling cheese on the salad and wipes her hands on a cloth. Finished, she scoots off the stool and rewraps her hand around my waist. She smells candy-sweet. Too sweet for an asshole like me, that’s for damn sure, but hell if I’m gonna let her go. I find the source of the scent at the base of her neck and nibble there.
“You didn’t think that a few days ago,” I mumble into her throat. “In fact, if I remember correctly, you weren’t very nice.”
“Well, I didn’t know you a few days ago.”
I bend her over the counter as my lips find her mouth. “I think you need to get to know me even better,” I say against her lips.
Chloe
“I don’t know about this.”
Gabriel smiles devilishly and I respond with a full body shiver. Now that I know he wants me in return, it’s like I have no control over my reactions to him.
We’d spent the last hour talking about everything. And I mean everything. He told me about his years in the Marines, and how much he wanted to get away from his horrible home life to make something out of himself.
I learned that he was one of those rare unicorns who believed in love and marriage, and when his had turned sour, it ruined him for future relationships. I’m not normally one to speak ill of another, but his wife has to be out of her mind to give up a great man like Gabe. Then again if she hadn’t, we never would have met.
Once he finally lets his guard down, he is truly a thing of beauty. His smile—and hisdamn goodspaghetti—had me reduced to a pile of goo by the time dinner was over. Well, that and the two drinks I’ve had to celebrate.
I toss my napkin onto the table with a groan. “I can’t possibly eat any more.”
“Excellent. Time for the next surprise.”
The food coma I’m nursing abates a little. “Next surprise?” I eye him warily. “If it’s dessert, I hate to say it, but I’m seriously going to have to pass. There’s no way.”
He chuckles and takes our dishes to the kitchen to rinse. While sitting back and relaxing, I hear a whine coming from outside, so I go out to the porch to investigate. I open the sliding glass door and am attacked by a blur of black and white. I immediately crouch down and start loving on the dog—a Boston Terrier from the looks of it. He’s equal parts bug eyes and smashed nose and the most awesome combination of ugly and cute.
“Who is this guy?”
“That’s Rudy. I’m surprised he didn’t introduce himself earlier.”
Rudy jumps up and licks all over my face. “Well, he’s definitely affectionate.” I laugh and give him a good back scratch. None of my apartments have allowed pets, and I’ve wanted one for years. “I bet he and Emily are best buddies.”
“Oh, they are. He ditches me to sleep in her room whenever she visits.”
“Was he my surprise?”