Page 9 of Gabe (Blue Team #2)

Dazed and confused.

That was what I was.

The last couple of days had been the craziest of my life with last night topping the charts by a mile.

After my shower and strange exchange with Gabe things were strained and wholly uncomfortable. Throughout dinner, Cooper had done his best to ease the strangeness. He’d jabber-jawed about mundane topics. Steering clear of any mention of why I was there.

As much as I wanted to get down to business I was grateful for the reprieve. My brain felt like it might explode with everything that was swirling around in it. Besides, I had no idea who the man was who held me at gunpoint and I’d given all my files to Garrett.

Part of me felt guilty for getting myself into this huge mess then dumping it on a bunch of Kyle’s friends to figure out. But not enough to go at it alone.

I felt guilty but I wasn’t stupid. I knew when I was in over my head and what happened back at my apartment was the very freaking definition of way the hell in over my head.

Last night I’d helped with the dishes then excused myself with the explanation I was exhausted and went to bed. I had been tired, but that wasn’t the reason for my hasty retreat .

No, no , no. My escape had to do with Gabe.

But once I was lying in bed I did what I was prone to do and I over-analyzed every word he’d spoken to me. Each smile, his frowns, the way he looked at me. It was a curse; I was an overthinker and with Gabe, there was a lot to think about so this went on until the wee hours in the morning.

Now I’d been awake for more than an hour but I hadn’t gotten up even though I knew I was being a chickenshit. But now, I was overthinking how I felt about Gabe. And there was a lot to think about with that, too.

He scared me but in an exciting way.

I was more than a little attracted to him. Okay, so ‘more than a little’ translated to butterflies and tingling in a supremely scary way.

But what I couldn’t stop obsessing about was the way he looked at me.

It was like he knew something.

I didn’t know what that something was, but I could swear I felt it, too.

Like, I just knew .

So that was why I was in bed dazed and confused, being a rude chickenshit.

There were things to do.

I needed to check in with my editor and make up some excuse as to why I would be working from home for the foreseeable future.

I needed to help Garrett.

But first I had to face Gabe.

Come on, bitch, get up and put on your big girl panties, strap on some armor, and rip the Band-Aid off.

It wasn’t the greatest pep talk but it got me out of bed and motoring.

With my teeth brushed, hair pulled up, and a new outfit, courtesy of Ivy, I walked out into the living room. Then I stopped short and stopped breathing.

Gabe.

Head bowed, arms bent in front of him wiping something off his face with what looked to be a balled-up t-shirt .

I had a good call to assume he was using his shirt, seeing as he wasn’t wearing one, which meant he was shirt less .

A shirtless Gabe.

Sweet mother of pearl.

And since his back was to me I was free to take my fill so I did.

Broad shoulders and muscles that made me want to call up Google and research human anatomy since I wasn’t familiar with the muscle groups, and it was a crying shame I couldn’t properly pay homage to all that was on display by calling them by their proper names.

Suffice it to say I wanted to run my hands over his sweat-drenched back and feel every dip and valley.

My gaze lowered and much to my dismay Gabe was wearing baggy athletic shorts that only hinted at a sculpted ass. But when my eyes lowered more I found perfectly formed calves. He was definitely a runner.

Regrettably, my perusal was cut short when Cooper said my name.

Last night I’d decided I liked Cooper. This morning however with his interruption I wasn’t so sure and when I glanced up and saw the smirk on his face coupled with his blue eyes dancing I changed my mind entirely—I didn’t like him.

“Everything okay over there, Evette?” Cooper asked.

Now, I really didn’t like him.

“Everything is great, Cooper. How are you?”

“Just another day in paradise,” he returned.

What did I say to that ?

“Are you hungry? There’s eggs and bacon for you in the kitchen,” Gabe offered.

“Thanks, I’m actually starving.”

Before I could make a break for it Cooper muttered, “Yeah, you looked famished over there.”

Famished ?

What the hell was he talking about?

“Huh?”

“Never mind.” Cooper shook with that damn smile still in place. “You better go eat. ”

Weird .

A reminder—I didn’t know Cooper or Gabe so I couldn’t gauge if he was making fun of me or teasing me.

Ten minutes later I was done with my scrambled eggs.

I took my plate to the sink, unable to get Cooper’s strange comments out of my head when understanding washed over me.

My head whipped back to the table and my gaze snagged on Cooper.

I was shooting daggers at the back of his head, firing off missile after missile when he turned to look at me.

With my eyes narrowed I gave my best eat-shit-and-die look. His blinding white smile deflected my look so I tried another look, this one said “you’re a total assmunch.” It was a direct hit and I knew it. However, he rebounded quickly and roared with laughter.

Asshole.

“I’m not being funny,” I announced.

“Oh, yes you are,” Cooper said through his amusement.

Jerk.

“What’s funny?” Gabe asked.

“Nothing,” I snapped.

“A little slow on the uptake. But that’s okay, you got there.”

Cooper winked at me before he turned back around and went back to his laptop.

“What’s he talking about?” Gabe was still staring at me in confusion but I couldn’t explain the exchange unless I admitted Cooper had caught me drooling over Gabe’s muscles and that was never going to happen.

There were many reasons I wouldn’t disclose that I had indeed been checking out Gabe like I was famished .

First, it was creepy, but more importantly on the off-chance Gabe went for another run and came back to the house hot and sweaty, which made him inclined to take his shirt off to wipe himself dry, I didn’t want to miss the show.

Great. Now on top of everything else I was a pervert.

“I don’t know,” I lied.

“You should ask her if she’s still hungry.” Cooper continued to poke.

“Did you get enough?” Gabe asked.

Cooper barked out a laugh and stood. The sound of the chair scraping the floor could barely be heard over his obnoxious cackling.

“I can’t,” Cooper choked out and held up his hands in surrender. “I’m going…fuck, I don’t know where I’m going. Be right back.”

Cooper strode out of the room and just like last night I was left alone with Gabe in awkward silence.

He was staring at me like I’d sprouted a horn out of my forehead and I was staring at him silently begging him not to ask any more questions.

“What the hell was that?”

“He’s your friend, you tell me.”

Please God, let it drop .

“Your cheeks are pink, did he embarrass you?”

Good Lord.

Why me ?

“No. I must be having a hot flash or something.”

A hot flash? Oh my God. Why did I have the crazy need to explain I wasn’t going through menopause?

“Do you want me to turn on the AC?”

“No, I’m fine. Sometimes I just get a flash.”

Stop talking, Evette. Shut up and don’t speak.

“You sure? Your face is really red.”

“Yep. I’m fine,” I squeaked and turned back to the sink.

I rinsed the plate and was reaching to turn off the water when I felt Gabe approach.

Again, why me?

“Hey,” he called. “Are you sure Cooper didn’t embarrass you?”

He sounded stern. Irritated even.

Shit .

Now I had three choices. Come clean. Lie some more which I sucked at and God knows what would come out of my mouth next.

I’d probably tell him it was that time of the month and my period gave me cramps and made my cheeks red.

Or I could let Gabe be mad at Cooper and that was not cool.

Two choices would cause me extreme mortification. The last wasn’t an option.

Come clean it is .

“He caught me staring at your back,” I rushed out.

“Come again?”

Holy hell .

I closed my eyes to fight back my humiliation.

“I came out of the bedroom, you were standing with your back to me, and I was checking out your muscles. I don’t know which ones because I’m not hip on all the muscle groups but you have a lot of them so it took me a while.

I don’t know when Cooper saw me, just that he did.

I don’t think it was when I was staring at your ass because I didn’t linger there long anyway, your shorts were too baggy to see anything.

But I was admiring your calves. You look like you run a lot. ”

“Famished,” Gabe mumbled.

My face heated. Then I felt a finger under my chin putting just enough pressure there to make me lift my head.

“Open your eyes, Evette.”

Now my life was complete. I’d admitted I was a creepy pervert and I was behaving like a silly child.

Awesome .

I slowly opened my eyes to find a pair of deep browns staring right at me.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been perving.”

Gabe’s lips twitched.

“I don’t mind.”

“Okay, well, then I’m sorry I got caught and gave Cooper ammunition.”

“Is that the only reason you’re sorry you got caught?”

“Well, no. I had to humiliate myself and tell you I was secretly ogling you which negates the secretly part.”

“So now you were ogling.”

I ignored Gabe’s comment in favor of continuing to embarrass the shit out of myself.

“Of course there’s also the disappointing fact that if you go for a run again you won’t take off your shirt when you get back because you know I’ll be ogling.”

“Right.”

There was another twitch of his lips and my logical mind took a hike, and I suddenly had the overwhelming need to experience what kissing Gabe would feel like.

“Evette?”

“Huh?”

“Babe, look at me.”

“I am.”

“No, you’re staring at my mouth.”

Shitballs.

Caught again .

My gaze snapped to his and there was no hint of a smile.

“You’re torture on a man’s control.”

“What does that mean?”

He shook his head and blanked his expression.

I would’ve been impressed he had the ability to completely mask his emotions if I weren’t so freaked out.

“Nothing.” He dropped his hand and stepped back.

A chill fell between us and he told me, “I’ll talk to Cooper.”

Since my big mouth had gotten me in a shedload of trouble already I wisely kept it shut and nodded.

Actually, it wasn’t my mouth that had gotten me into trouble, it was my stupid vagina that had woken up after being asleep behind the wheel for over a year. If it had stayed in the coma-like state it had been in since my last disaster of a relationship I wouldn’t have been perving on Gabe.

Stupid vagina.