“Mia,” she calls for the dog who now has two ridiculous fucking bows on its head, one over each ear. “Come on, baby.” The dog goes to her immediately. “You want to come in for a sec? I need to grab the food.”
“Yeah.” I follow her into the house.
When she turns to the left, my eyes immediately go to her ass where there’s sparkly shit on the back pockets of her jean skirt. Thinking that I haven’t had a “type” in a long time, but Gabby just might be it, my eyes go from her ass to look around her house.
It’s pretty damn big and I wonder if she lives by herself. We move through a huge room filled with a shitload of furniture with windows along the back of the house. The backyard is deep and wide, surrounded by a rod iron fence with lots of landscaping that looks out onto a lake. I’m an outdoors kind of guy and have never been big on subdivisions, but there’s enough nature through those windows to almost make you forget you have neighbors.
Gabby cuts into my thoughts. “I’ve been thinking—you don’t have to take me to the draft. I’ll drive and you can follow me. I’ve no idea why it takes so long to pick football players, but those guys really get into it. It can go late.”
When I look over, she’s moving around the enormous kitchen with her back to me as she’s trying to get out of coming with me to the draft. I simply decide to change the subject on her to find out what I want to know. “You live here alone? You’ve got a sweet house, but it’s big for one person.”
She comes to a halt where she’s standing with the refrigerator open, in the middle of reaching for something.
I call to her. “Gabby?”
She moves again, grabbing a bottle with red stuff in it and an enormous silver bowl. She turns, puts it all on the counter without looking at me and answers quietly. “Yes. I live alone.”
Something isn’t right, she doesn’t offer anything else and continues to move around the kitchen at a faster pace than before. The investigator in me can’t help it, I move to the island and press on. “It’s a lot of house for just you. How long have you been here?”
She stops again with her back to me just on the other side of the island. Turning slowly with a blank face, she puts her hands on the counter and leans in. During the few times I’ve been around Gabby, she’s either asking me questions out of surprise or ranting about something while tossing her cute as shit attitude around. When she starts talking with zero emotion, it surprises the hell out of me.
“I’ve lived here since I was three when my parents built this house. I’m an only child so when my parents were killed in a car accident about three and a half years ago, they left everything to me and now it’s mine. I know it’s a lot of house for me, I’m updating it slowly, though my hot water heater seemed to have different ideas. Now the basement is on the top of my to-do list and will be done quicker than I’d planned. When I finish, I’ll put it on the market and hope for the best, as houses in this neighborhood tend to do well when they’ve been fully renovated.” She lets out a breath and finishes on a sigh. “So yes, I live here by myself. Well sort of, I have Mia.”
Well, shit. That didn’t go like I thought it would. I feel like a dick. She continues to stand there staring up at me emotionless. I don’t like the blank look on her beautiful face and I’m pissed at myself for putting it there. Wanting to do something—anything—to change that look, I make a quick decision and turn to move around the island.
Once I close in, I know I’ve chosen well because she turns slightly to face me and once again she treats me to her shocked as shit look I’m beginning to not only find cute, but down right sexy. Relieved her blank look is history, I move in as close as I dare—as close as I can without touching her body with mine like I want. I put one hand down to the side to lean on the counter and move my other to her face. She jerks slightly, surprised by my touch, then stills. I feel her silky skin, move my hand back, over her ear and into her heavy hair, which is softer than I imagined. I barely tighten my grip and she responds by tilting her head for me.
I look straight into her blue eyes soften my voice. “I’m sorry you lost your parents, sugar, and I’m sorry you’re here by yourself.” I hear her take in a breath and then she closes her eyes. I give the back of her head a squeeze and I get her clear blues at my silent command. “I’m an ass, I shouldn’t have pushed it.”
She barely shakes her head, whispering, “It’s okay. You didn’t know.”
Then, shocking me in a whole new way, her eyes drop to my mouth and quickly back to my eyes. Fucking hell, I want to kiss her but don’t want our first kiss to be right after I prove to her I can be a jackass.
Not wanting to let her go but knowing I should, I opt for something in the middle.
I let my hand slide through her hair, lightly down her back, finally letting it rest low on her hip. “We should go. And I’m not following you. You’re comin with me.”
She pulls in a deep breath again and this time I can feel her exhale softly on my neck. “Okay.”
I tighten my hold on her hip. “Get your stuff. Do you need help?”
She finally steps away, forcing my arm to drop. I let her go, even though I don’t want to, and she forces herself back to reality.
“I need to get my shoes, grab my salad and dessert then I should be ready. If you could carry that bowl, I’d appreciate it,” she mutters, before turning to disappear into a side hallway which I can only assume leads to her bedroom.
I move to pick up the bowl and turn to look around her house again, seeing it differently this time. This time it’s massive, too big, too much for Gabrielle Carpino to be shouldering on her own. Knowing what she just shared about her life, she seems more vulnerable than she did fifteen minutes ago. Although she was overwhelmed, she handled her flooded basement this morning without too much drama, adjusting to what life has handed her. But now she seems more alone than ever and I realize I’m no longer just curious about this woman.
Making a decision I haven’t made in a long time, I decide I want to know everything there is to know about Gabrielle Carpino. As I stand in her big-ass house knowing what little I do, that want turns into a need. A need I intend to start filling immediately.
Hearing her come back through the room, having taken too long to get a pair of shoes, she apologizes, “Sorry to make you wait.”
“It’s okay, Gabby.” I watch her grab the bottle and a platter covered in foil.
“We can go out the garage if you don’t mind. I need to set the alarm.” She moves toward a back hallway and I follow, into a room leading to the garage.
I look around and immediately start to take in all I can about her. There are lots of cabinets and counter tops on one side with a built-in desk. On the wall behind the desk is a bulletin board with a mass of pictures of what looks to be Gabby with friends and little kids who must be important to her. On the other side of the wide room is a bench with baskets and shit underneath with hooks above. Another door leads to a darkened room, but I see there’s a washer, dryer and sink.
Gabby grabs her purse off a hook, hesitates while looking up at me with a new look, a nervous look, and she scrunches her nose. “Mia likes to go, too. Do you mind?”