Page 45 of Mr. Infuriating (Mister #1)

Gabe

I couldn’t help but smile when I pulled into Gretchen’s driveway and saw her garage door open with her silver Honda inside.

Instead of parking in the middle of the stall, like I do in my garage, she’d parked to the far right, as if she was leaving room for my truck.

So, of course I pulled in like I belonged there.

Why else would she have left the garage door open?

And I didn’t knock when I walked in, although I did loudly announce my presence.

“Knock, knock!”

She was nowhere to be found, so I set the pizza boxes on the island counter and stashed the bag with the cheesecake slices in the refrigerator before I went in search of her.

“Gretchen?” I called as I ventured through her house. “Sweetheart?”

I knew I had no business calling her that, but it didn’t feel awkward, so I said it again as I walked down the hall toward her closed bedroom door.

I noticed Jake’s room next to hers, decorated in a farm theme. She must have had the door closed when I was there before. While no doubt, I’d been laser-focused on her, I’m pretty sure I would have noticed the red toddler bed, green rug, brightly colored paint and animal decals on the wall.

The bean bags next to the bookcase full of books and easel chalkboard made me smile .

The whole room screamed, “tell me your mom’s a teacher, without telling me your mom’s a teacher”. Jake was a lucky boy.

I heard the turning of the knob, and before I could alert her to my presence, she came out of her bedroom and ran smack dab into my chest, letting out a blood-curdling scream in the process.

Grabbing her arms so she didn’t throw a right hook, I soothed, “It’s me! It’s me!”

She took a step back, out of my hold, put her hand on her chest, and panted, “Oh my god, Gabe! You scared the crap out of me!”

“I’m sorry! I called your name, but you must not have heard me.”

“I was in my closet, changing out of my work clothes.”

I took the opportunity to peruse her body.

She was in a pair of black yoga pants that looked like they had some sort of design on them, almost like circular racing stripes along her thighs.

Her light-blue t-shirt had red, green, blue, and yellow paint splotches on it, as if that was what she’d worn when she painted Jake’s room.

And she wore a pair of black tennis shoes with pink stripes and laces, and a thick pink sole.

Her hair was piled on top of her head with loose strands that framed her face; exactly like the first time she’d walked into my showroom. And same as that fateful day, I couldn’t get over how beautiful she was.

I realized I was staring when she blurted out, “What?” and looked down at her outfit. “I’m not going to wear something nice to tear out cabinets.”

“You’re perfect. ”

She cocked her head and narrowed eyes at my admission, and I quickly tried to correct myself.

“What you have on; it’s perfect.”

She pressed her lips together, as if to keep from smiling, I suspected at how awkward I was behaving.

“Good.”

I touched the paint on the hem of her t-shirt and let my fingers linger on her hip.

“I’m guessing this is what you wore when you painted Jake’s room.”

She seemed as affected as me by the contact because I noticed her chest rise and fall.

“Yeah. Troy and I were supposed to buy a farm house in Maine so we could spend our summers in the country. But since that’s obviously not going to happen anytime soon, I thought I’d bring the farm to Jake.”

She hadn’t pulled away from me, so I rubbed the fabric of her shirt between my index finger and thumb, itching to slide my hand underneath and touch her soft skin.

“You’re a good mom.”

“How do you know? You were only around us for a few minutes.”

“Long enough to notice how much you obviously love your son. And I don’t think a bad mom would go to the trouble of redecorating her child’s bedroom so it felt like he was at a farm.”

“Laura and my sister helped.”

I wondered if her fucking ex had done anything.

Even though Becky and I weren’t on the best terms, I was still always available to help with any projects she was working on—especially if they directly benefited Britt or Brayden.

My level of assistance usually depended on if my ex was between boyfriends or not.

Fortunately, the latest one seemed handy and eager to please.

Dang, that sounded familiar.

But I wasn’t Gretchen’s boyfriend.

Something I needed to remind myself about.

I reluctantly released her t-shirt and cleared my throat as I took a step back.

“Let’s eat while the pizza’s still hot.”

But fuck, did her ass look good in those yoga pants.

****

Gretchen

I pulled paper plates from a box I’d set up in the dining room while Gabe opened the pizza boxes sitting on the island.

He gestured to the two large pies—one with just pepperoni and the other loaded with toppings.

“Dig in.”

“Shouldn’t we wait for your brother?”

“Hell no. And he wouldn’t want us to. He’s probably bullshitting with one of his customers and lost track of time.”

“What does he do?”

“He owns Mitchell Automotives. It was my dad’s shop before he and Mav bought him out.”

“I’ll bet that’s nice—having a mechanic in the family. I never know if I’m getting ripped off or not.”

“Take your car to Beau. He’ll treat you right. ”

Before I grabbed a slice of pepperoni, I opened the fridge to get us drinks and immediately whirled around.

“Is that…?”

“Cheesecake?” he supplied with a grin. “Yeah. And there’s enough for everyone, so don’t get any ideas about hogging it all.”

“I would never!”

He paused filling his plate and tilted his head as he shot me a look.

“Okay, maybe. But I would never when you’re doing me a favor.”

“It’s not a favor. It’s quid pro quo.”

He was full of shit. He was definitely doing me a favor, and had I not wanted Jake to grow up in Lancastle so badly, my pride would have made me turn it down.

But Jake was more important than my pride.

Still. If Gabe wanted to try and pretend this was quid pro quo…

“Then in that case, I might just hog it all.”

He set his plate on the counter and came up behind me, invading my personal space as he reached past me for the bag.

His lips brushed my ear when he whispered, “Not if I eat it all first.”

My mouth dropped open in surprise, and I spun around to face him.

“Give me that!”

Gabe held the bag up high, out of my reach. The lines around his eyes crinkled in amusement as I jumped to try and get it from him.

“What’s it worth to you? ”

His remark took me by surprise, and I stopped jumping. Was he flirting with me?

“What do you want?”

He raised his brows as he shrugged his shoulders.

“What are you offering?”

What was I offering?

There was no doubt we still had sexual chemistry. Could I sleep with him again, knowing there was no future in it?

Why not? You did it before , the devil on my shoulder whispered.

I looked him dead in the eye and replied, “I mean… it is really good cheesecake.”

****

Gabe

My dick liked where this conversation was going. A lot.

I took a step closer, lowering the bag to my side as I did.

“The best I’ve ever had.”

Her pupils dilated, so I knew she understood the double entendre.

I inched my face toward hers and whispered, “It’s at least worth a kiss, don’t you think?”

Her mouth parted slightly, and she leaned in.

Ding dong!

My brother had the worst fucking timing in the world.

Gretchen jumped back, like the spell between us had been broken.

Then the little minx snatched the bag from me and ran toward the door, giggling as she did.