Page 48 of Mr. Infuriating (Mister #1)

Gretchen

I’d made such a fool of myself the night before, there wasn’t a chance in hell I was showing my face around Gabe Saturday morning.

There was no doubt in my mind that he’d been coming on to me before Beau arrived. But while they removed cabinets and I convinced myself sleeping with him again was a good idea, he’d decided just the opposite.

Talk about proof that we never would be on the same page.

After getting up later than my normal time and eating the rest of my cheesecake for breakfast, because frankly, I deserved it, I sent him a text.

Me: I need to pick up Jake and run some errands. The garage code is 1215. I’ll leave the door to the house unlocked. Please let me know what time you’ll be here tomorrow.

I set my phone down and ran upstairs to quickly get dressed. I wanted to get out of the house as soon as possible in case he decided to come early.

Although since he’d seemed as uncomfortable as I was last night after he’d rejected me, I’d be surprised if that was the case.

He did, however, give me the “You’re a great woman and will make some lucky man very happy someday. I hope you’ll always think of me as a friend,” speech, so maybe he would show up like nothing happened just to prove a point.

Yeah, fuck that .

I had enough friends.

It wasn’t like I wasn’t used to rejection. Hell, Troy hadn’t wanted to sleep with me since before Jake was born. I’d just thought with the signals Gabe was giving me, he was interested.

Maybe Beau had asked Gabe to meet at Flannigan’s when he’d walked his brother out, and he was going to find a new hookup.

Or maybe Beau had convinced him he could do better.

I mean, he wasn’t wrong. I’m sure there were plenty of prettier, more successful girls than me who’d love a chance at the hot Zaddy. I’d known that from the beginning.

My phone beeped as I headed toward the garage.

Gabe: I’m sorry I’ll miss you. I was hoping we could grab breakfast before I got started.

Me: Maybe another time.

Like when hell froze over.

Gabe: You should bring Jake to Brayden’s game. It’s at your school at noon.

Me: I don’t think we’ll be done with errands by then but thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow.

And by that, I meant, I’ll avoid you as much as possible tomorrow.

My pride had already taken a blow by accepting his charity with the cabinets, but I’d somehow allowed myself to think he might still be interested in hooking up with me, that’s why he’d offered me the deal he had .

The reality that I was just a plain ol’ charity case had really done a number on my ego. I wasn’t sure how I was going to salvage my dignity around him, but I hoped having his kids there would help.

I’d worry about that tomorrow.

****

Gabe

Beau broke into a big grin when I punched in the garage code Gretchen had given me.

“You know her code, huh?”

“Yeah, she gave it to me since she’s not home.”

His brows furrowed.

“She’s not home? Where is she?”

Hiding, I suspected, after last night’s disaster.

I flipped the light switch in the kitchen and surveyed the half-demoed room.

“She had to pick up her son, then she had some errands to run.”

“Did anything happen last—”

I cut him off before he even had a chance to finish the thought.

“Nope. We had some cheesecake, and I left.”

“Oh, that’s right. You had brought cheesecake with the pizza. And forgot to offer me any.”

“Your slice is probably still in her fridge.”

“I don’t give a shit about the cheesecake. I wanna know why you didn’t close the deal with her. The electricity between you two was palpable. ”

“Drop it, Beau.”

We squatted at the same time to pick up the first cabinet to move to the box truck.

“Yeah, okay, I will. For now.”

I needed to change the subject.

“What about you? Did you go home alone last night?”

“Pffft. Yeah right.”

“Are you ever going to settle down?”

“I’m sure I will someday when I meet the one . But until then, I’ll keep playing the field.”

We maneuvered up the truck ramp and set the cupboard down at the front of the truck bed.

“How do you know you haven’t already met her?”

“I haven’t,” he replied confidently as he wiped his hands on his jeans.

“But how do you know?”

I walked down the ramp, Beau, however, chose to hop off the back of the truck onto the ground.

“Because there’s hasn’t been anyone I’ve been willing to break, or even bend, my rules for. You know, like install an engine—or say, cabinets—for free in my spare time.”

“Fuck off.”

He didn’t miss a beat.

“What’s Mav think about this, by the way?”

“He doesn’t know yet.” I shot him a stern look. “And I’d prefer to be the one to tell him.”

“My lips are sealed, man. But it might soften the blow if you’re dating her.”

“I’m not going to fucking date her!”

Beau threw his hands up in front of him as if in surrender .

“Okay, okay!” He dropped them with a grin. “But I just want to be on record as saying, I think you’re a moron.”

Yeah, you and me both, little brother.