“I did.” He lifted the top of the box and held it out to her.
Anna took it, wonder shining in her eyes. “You made me a cake?” A little laugh escaped her. “All by yourself?” And that was when he saw it. A smile. A beautiful smile from the woman he loved.
“Yes.”
She moved into her condo and set the box on the counter, pausing to gaze down at it with a pose that made him want to pull her in close. Anna turned to him as he stepped closer. “Explain,” she said, her voice a little wobbly with confusion.
“I love you.”
Anna gasped, a hand flying to her mouth.
“I love you,” he went on, “and I will do anything you want, give you as much space as you need, but I want this fake relationship to be real because I’ve fallen in love with you. All of you. Even the parts of your past you’d rather not think about. I want you with me and I baked you a cake to show you that I don’t care about being perfect. All I care about is loving you.”
Anna couldn’t believe this was happening.
Gabe had shown up at her condo with the ugliest cake she’d ever seen. Anna burst out laughing, joy flooding through her like sunlight after a long night. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and spilled out. “I love you too,” she said. “I can’t believe you did this.”
She could not believe that he’d spent so much time doing something he didn’t like—and all for her. Gabe was the kind of man who’d prefer to show up with jewelry glittering in a box than a cake that looked like it had been decorated by a child. But she knew he’d tried. And more than that, she could see the faint embarrassment in his cheeks. Gabe didn’t just do embarrassing things for anyone. It meant the world. It was the most personal, caring thing she could imagine him doing.
Anna flew into his arms, wrapping around him and holding him tight. His arms went around her too, and she felt the tension drain out of him. Gabe’s hand slid down to her jaw and he tugged her face up to his, kissing her as though each kiss were priceless.
“I’m sorry,” she said against his mouth. “I’m sorry I ran out like that. I shouldn’t have done it.”
“I don’t care.” He kissed her again, firm and unyielding, and her lips parted for him instinctively. Their tongues met and danced together, warmth shooting down her body to her knees, making them weak. Gabe held her in tighter. “I love you no matter how you react. You put up with my antics, after all. It’s what makes us so good together.”
She ran her fingertips down the lines of his body, feeling like he’d lit her soul aflame in the best possible way. “We are good together,” she agreed, and some of the weight of her past fell away. Anna had been carrying it for so long that she felt a strange emptiness for a heartbeat, but the emptiness was soon replaced by another kiss from Gabe and a low sound in the back of his throat that spoke of relief and desire all at the same time. She was no longer empty but filled with Gabe’s love.
“I missed you,” she whispered.
“I missed you so much I baked,” he whispered back, and she laughed through her happy tears. Gabe pulled her in for another hug, then lifted her higher, and then he was walking through her apartment to the sofa. He sat down and arranged her in his lap, arms around his neck, the two of them as close as possible. Her pulse felt fluttery and delicious joy moved through her again and again. “I wanted to ask you something,” he said, a careful note in his tone.
“Anything.” Anna breathed him in, the leather and soap smell of him, and let her head rest against his shoulder. Soon they’d have to get up, but for now, she just wanted this.
“I want you to fly back to Colorado with me and spend Christmas with my family.” He stroked a hand over her hair. “Unless it would make you uncomfortable. If it did, I could spend it here with you if you let me.”
Anna thought her heart might fly out of her chest. Gabe was offering her an enormous sacrifice. There could be no greater sacrifice than offering to miss this holiday with his family. She sat up in his lap and put a hand on his face, studying his eyes. They met hers with humble honesty, and she ran a thumb over the line of his jaw, drinking him in. If he could make this sacrifice with everything going on in the Elkin family—with his grandmother’s health—she could make one too.
“I want to spend Christmas with you,” she said. “And I want to spend it with your family.”
Relief brought color to his cheeks, his eyes wide and echoing the sentiment. “Really?”
“Yes. If you can offer this to me, then I can face your family even after that whole big scene. I love you, Gabe, and I care enough about you to go for it even if they judge me.”
“They won’t judge you,” he said fiercely. “They can judge me all they want, but never you.”
“Oh, they can.” Anna laughed. “I stormed out of the family resort because I got caught in a lie. If that’s not judge-worthy, what is?”
“Anybody can be forgiven for what they do under duress,” Gabe pointed out. “My entire family saw your ex show up in the lobby. Plus, the entire scheme was my idea. You were only along for the ride. They can’t judge you without judging me.”
“Don’t remind me,” she grumbled, but then his hand was around the back of her neck and Gabe pulled her in for a tender kiss. A slow, searching kiss that soothed every part of her that was embarrassed or ashamed. She could do anything for this man, and she would. She’d make a grand apology to his family. She’d spend Christmas with them, knowing what they’d seen. Anything. “When do we leave?”
His other hand tightened on her waist. “The plane is waiting at the airport and the driver’s outside.” A smile lifted the corner of his mouth. “All of your things are still at the resort, so we could walk out the door any minute.”
“There’s just one thing I want to do first.”
“What’s that?”
She stood up and took his hand, pulling him up to stand. “Just a quick visit.”
Confusion furrowed his brow. “To where?”
“To the bedroom.”
21
They emerged from Anna’s bedroom a hot fifteen minutes later, her sheets newly messed up by the most gorgeous man she’d ever met in her life. “There,” she said. “That should tide me over.”
Gabe laughed. “Tide you over until when?”
“Until the family meeting is over,” she said briskly. “That’s first on the agenda, right?”
He put a hand on the small of her back. “We don’t have to do that right away if you don’t want.”
“Oh, no. We do.” Anna moved around her condo, gathering up the necessities. The suitcase would be good to have, so she brought that. She knocked all her bathroom things back into the outside pocket and went out for the cake, putting the box carefully in Gabe’s hands. “I’m already nervous.”
“How can you be nervous after what we just did?” He murmured the words against her temple, then punctuated them with a kiss. “I would have thought that would cure you.”