Finding Isadora (43 page)

I wondered if he was just being polite or if he, too, wanted to postpone the moment when
… whatever was going to happen would happen.

“
Uh, okay, a quick one. Coffee.” She darted for the kitchen. “But I’ll make it. Izzie always makes it too weak for me.”

Left alone with Gabriel, I stared up at him. His hair was loose,
tousled. Somehow I knew he’d worn it clipped back when he met Richard and had pulled it free afterwards, when he’d rolled up his shirtsleeves. Shadows under his eyes indicated that he’d slept no better than I.

Last night we
’d kissed as if we were trying to devour each other.

And now he was staring at me as if he wanted to do it again. The tingle of arousal threaded its way through me, straight to my core.

He smiled, a masculine, knowing smile, and said softly, “Hello, Isadora.”

“
Hello, Gabriel.” Those glowing, intense chocolate truffle eyes of his drew me toward him.

A clatter from the kitchen reminded me we weren
’t alone, and I jumped, taking a quick step backward. “Wine, coffee, or tea?” I asked nervously, leading him, finally, out of the hallway to my living room.

“
Wine, please.” A corner of his mouth tipped up ruefully. “Sorry. If I’d been thinking straight, I’d have brought a bottle.”

He hadn
’t been thinking straight either. This man who always seemed so powerful and in control wasn’t thinking straight. Because of me.

He sat down on the couch. The couch that was also my bed, as I
’d told him last night.

“
Uh, I’ll just…” I scurried into the kitchen.

The moment I turned the corner, out of his field of vision, Janice grabbed both my hands in hers.
“Izzie! My god! That’s the single sexiest, most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen!”

“
Sash. If you whisper any louder the whole building will know.”

I couldn
’t help grinning though. “Do you really think so?” I leaned close to her ear and murmured, “Even though he’s in his forties?”

“
God, yes! He oozes sex appeal.”

I squeezed her hands.
“Hey, girl, settle down. I thought you were hooked on Martin.”

She smiled radiantly.
“Martin is different. When you first meet him, he’s attractive, but not knock-your-eyes-out stunning like Gabriel. It’s as you get to know him you see all the special things that make him stand out. He’s … subtle. You learn to read the signals, and that’s part of the fun of it.” She freed her hands and turned to check on her coffee. “You sure you don’t want me to split?”

“
I’m scared what he’ll do, what I’ll do, if we’re alone. Do me a favor and hang around for awhile, Jan. Besides, I’d like your opinion of him.”

She giggled.
“You mean, other than I wouldn’t kick him out of bed for eating crackers?”

I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, other than that.”

Janice and I had finished off the sauvignon blanc she
’d brought for dinner, so I poured from a box of Sawmill Creek merlot. After filling a glass for Gabriel, I shrugged and poured a glass for myself. Tea would have been a wiser choice, but since when did my relationship with Gabriel have anything to do with wisdom?

“
Okay, here goes,” I said to Jan, who was pouring a stream of dark, dark coffee into a mug.

A glass of wine in each hand, I walked back into the living room. And almost dropped both glasses.

Peek-a-boo was curled on Gabriel’s lap. The tabby startled when I appeared, but Gabriel’s hand kept stroking, soothing him, and he settled down again.

“
How did you do that?” I whispered.

“
Do what?”

“
Peek
never
socializes. He was abused and I’ve only had him a month. He’s barely started trusting me enough to sleep on my bed.”

The words
“sleep on my bed” dropped between us.

Gabriel glanced away from me and down at the cat.
“Guess he came to check on me.” He kept his voice low and even, almost monotone. “I sat still, waiting to see what he’d do, and when he came over to sniff me I began to stroke him. He settled right in.”

Gabriel
’s magic hands. His magic personality.

Janice emerged from the kitchen, and Peek leaped up and skittered away.

“Yikes!” she said. “Was that Peek-a-boo, the invisible cat?”

“
He appeared for Gabriel,” I said.

She leaned close and whispered,
“Are you sure that cat’s not female?”

I spluttered a laugh and Gabriel, watching us, started to grin. Janice blushed again, but less furiously this time. Then she stalked over and claimed my chair, leaving me with the choice of sitting beside Gabriel or on the floor.

Handing him the wine, I said, “It’s not as good as your friend Vinnie’s.”

“
Next time I’ll bring a bottle of Vinnie’s.”

Next time.
More words that dropped like pebbles to the bottom of a stream and just lay there.

I perched on the edge of the couch, leaving space between his body and mine. I wanted to ask him about his dinner with Richard, but couldn
’t do that in front of Janice. What on earth could we talk about? I took a hearty slug of wine, hoping it would give me courage.

Gabriel glanced at me, then at Janice, then back at me.
“I had dinner with Richard.”

For the second time, I almost dropped my wine.

“Richard?” Janice’s voice was a high squeak.

He gave a wry grin.
“My son. Maybe you’ve heard of him?”

“
Uh, yeah.” She shot me a frantic look.

“
Janice,” Gabriel said, “I know Isadora has told you the situation. You’re her best friend, part of her family. Whatever I tell her she’ll pass on to you anyhow, so you might as well hear this. God knows, we could use a fresh perspective.”

I realized I was smiling. He
’d just met Jan, but he accepted her because she was my best friend. There was no way I could stop myself from reaching for his hand and gripping it. “How did it go, Gabriel?”

He threaded his fingers through mine and I felt that vital Gabriel-force flowing from his body into mine, an elixir far more potent than wine.
“Surprisingly well. Better than I expected. We actually talked, for the most part civilly, for almost three hours. Can’t remember when that last happened.”

“
Did he tell you about last night, with Eric and Caroline Winston?”

He nodded.
“Said he had a good time, told me all about the boy. I’m impressed with what he’s doing.”

“
Did you tell him that?”

His eyes met mine, twinkling.
“Yeah, I did.” Then he laughed. “Should have seen the expression on his face.”

“
Tell me.”

“
Shock. Then disbelief, like he was replaying my words to see if he’d heard right, not misinterpreted. And then…”

I squeezed his hand, and he cleared his throat and finished,
“He seemed pleased.”

“
He wants you to be proud of him. It means a lot.”

He cleared his throat again.
“So then we talked about the test, and what we’d do—”

The DNA test.
“Gabriel,” I broke in urgently, squeezing his hand. “I haven’t told Janice that part.”

She leaped to her feet.
“Look, this stuff is private. I shouldn’t be here.” She tossed me a strained smile. “Izzie will decide what I can and can’t hear, and tell me later.”

Gabriel nodded.
“Makes sense.” He rose with his usual effortless grace and held out his hand. “It’s been good meeting you, Janice.”

“
You too, Gabriel.”

Unlike the first time they
’d shaken hands, this time they held the grip for a long moment. Finally, Gabriel said, “Any words of advice?”

She dropped his hand.
“Uh… I guess, that caring for someone else shouldn’t have to mean that you forfeit your own happiness.”

He nodded thoughtfully and I felt her words resonate inside me.

“And, uh,” she said, “follow your hearts.”

Hearts.
I knew Gabriel had one—a wonderful one—but I wasn’t sure he believed it himself.

After she
’d gone, the tension level in the room notched up several degrees and I began to panic. “I should do the dishes.”

“
Sure. I’ll help.”

The two of us in my tiny kitchen? There wasn
’t enough room to move around without touching.

“
On the other hand, Pogo needs a walk.”

“
Okay,” he said easily. “Where’s his leash?”

I felt safer when we were outside, even though Gabriel
’s arm brushed against mine. “Tell me more about your talk with Richard.”

“
I told him I didn’t care what the damn test said. As far as I was concerned, he’d always be my son.”

My heart filled. For Gabriel, that was a major breakthrough.
“And?” I said softly, my voice husky with emotion.

“
He gave this funny little smile. Then he said that, if I’d said those same words a week ago, he’d probably have rejected them. Not believed me. But I guess this test has got both of us thinking. He said…” He cleared his throat. “He actually said he may have been too harsh on me. That I hadn’t always been such an awful father.”

I smiled, hoping I
’d had something to do with helping Richard realize that.

“
So,” Gabriel went on, “I said that was generous of him, and I knew I’d fucked it up badly. But that didn’t mean I didn’t care. And he said he was coming to realize that.”

He stopped suddenly, catching
my hand to stop me, too. Pogo whined disapproval, but we both ignored him.

“
This is your doing, Isadora,” Gabriel said. “He told me he’d been talking to you, that you’d helped him see things differently. And if it wasn’t for you, I’d never have said those things to him. Hell, I’d never have suggested dinner. I’d have let him slide away.”

I shook my head.
“I don’t think you would have. He means too much to you.” I smiled to ease the tension. “It might have taken you a little longer, though. Men can be pretty thick about this kind of stuff.”

He smiled briefly.
“Especially me. Thank you, Isadora. I’m getting my son back, because of you.”

I bit my lip. I was so happy for both of them, and yet I still wanted Gabriel.

Pogo whined again and I let him pull me forward.

Gabriel fell in beside me, our hands still linked.
“I don’t want to lose him again.”

“
I don’t want that either.”

“
I know you don’t.”

We were both quiet as we walked the last couple of blocks to English Bay. The beach was almost deserted under a starry sky, and I let an excited Pogo off his leash.
“I shouldn’t do this, but he loves it so much, and he always comes when I call.”

Standing side by side, we watched Pogo streak down to the edge of the water, yap at the surf, dart away again to explore an interesting pile of kelp. An alarmed gull took flight and my dog scrambled after it.

“He loves chasing gulls,” I said. Pogo, the eternal optimist, pursuing impossible dreams and never losing hope.

“
Have you done anything with Valente’s ashes?” Gabriel asked.

Startled, I gazed up at him.
“No, not yet.” I remembered that, just before I put Valente to sleep, I’d told her to dream of chasing gulls on the beach.

“
We should scatter them here. She can chase seagulls along with Pogo.”

My eyes filled. And, that suddenly, I realized something. I loved Gabriel
DeLuca. “Shit.”

“
What? Sorry, was that a bad idea?”

Really bad. I couldn
’t let myself love him. Except, it was already too late.

“
No,” I said quickly. “Uh, the ashes. Yes, that’s a wonderful idea. I was thinking of something else.”

“
Okay,” he said warily.

He looked so puzzled, my beautiful Gabriel. I remembered him saying he couldn
’t read me like he could other women. Thank goddess.

And then I remembered other things he
’d said. That he couldn’t forget me, couldn’t think straight, that I made him lose control. Could Gabriel be falling in love with me, too?

I had fallen in love with a man who was totally wrong for me. And yet, he was the finest man in the world. If he could love me, too
…