The Rebound Pact (5 page)

“Right.”
A fresh start. Far healthier than submerging her emotional scrapes from Len under pints of So Delicious Chocolate Peanut Butter “ice cream”.

“So, let’s be spontaneous about it.”

She raised a brow. “Spontaneous?”

“Yeah.
When you feel the need to…climb into a darkened bed and have your way with me, I’ll be here.”

“
At the winery?” She eyed the counter, imagining them licking drops of wine from each other’s bodies as they lay naked on its top.

“Well, not here. I live in the manor house at the back of the property.”

“Fancy.” She looked him up and down, humor in her gaze.

Holden laughed. “Sounds pretentious, but it really is a manor house.
Built sometime in the 19
th
century.”

“
Not pretentious, fascinating. I’d love to see it—in the daylight, too. And if you need me—”

He shook his head and she immediately felt embarrassed, like she was a pity-fuck, but his
next words quickly assuaged her feelings.

“No,
Gabrielle. You make the first move. Your breakup was more painful than mine. Just know I’m here and ready whenever you are.”

She nodded. If she wasn’t half-drunk on
desire, her unsettled emotions and his heady scent she’d take him up on his offer right now, but something told her to hold off. Besides, she was supposed to be home already and her father was probably starting to worry. As if on cue, her cell rang.

Holden laughed.
“Saved by the bell.”

Gabrielle
smiled, wanting to kiss him again. Instead she climbed off the bar and grabbed her cell from her purse. It was Melanie. She’d call her back in the car.

“I gotta go, my dad is probably wondering where I am.”

“All right. Want a bottle to go? It’s on the house.” Holden thrust an unopened bottle of Belle Ami Merlot into her hands.

“Thank you. I’ll see you…soon.
” Which she swore wasn’t going to be for at least two solid days. By then she could flush whatever craziness had overtaken her.

Holden flashed a wicked grin and winked.
Gabrielle hurried from the winery, still reeling from their kiss and their unusual pact.

Once in her car, she
dialed Melanie. They’d met in college—roommates for all four years. After getting a master’s degree in therapy, she was now a full time couple’s therapist in a DC suburb.

“Hey, Gabs, did you make it home already?”

“Not quite.” How much could she share with Melanie without her friend trying to talk her out of it? She didn’t want to be talked out of it…

“Almost there?”

“Yeah. Made a pit stop at a winery.”

Melanie’s soft laugh sounded on the other end.
“A pit stop or a drink stop?”

Gabrielle smiled at her friend’s humor
as she turned back onto the main road. “A bit of both.”

“Where did you go?”

Practically all the way on top of a counter. “Belle Ami winery.”

“Why does that sound familiar?”

“The name or the winery?”

“Bellamy. Yeah, that’s what sounds familiar.
That hot guy…the one that was always with your brother.”

“Yup
, it’s his. But it is actually
belle
as in beautiful and
ami
as in friend.”

“Did you see him?”

She slammed on the breaks, nearly running a red light as her mind wandered back to the winery. “Yeah.”

“That’s it? Not going to dish?” Melanie urged.

“He’s still completely hot. And still completely…unavailable.” She wasn’t sure she wanted to divulge the nature of their pact to Melanie. Even if she did tell her best friend everything. There was a chance that practical Mel would make her call it off. She couldn’t. Not now. At least not yet.

“I’m missing something.”

Gabrielle could picture Melanie on the other end of the phone, her eyes narrowed as she tried to pull apart her words. To read between the lines and come out with the real meaning.

“There’s nothing to miss.
Small talk, a sip of wine. Then I headed out. I’m looking forward to some time off with my dad while I look for a new job.”

Melanie was quiet for a while, making Gabrielle shift uncomfortably in her seat. She pulled into her
Dad’s neighborhood. Everything looked the same. Large, leafy trees. Fenced in yards. Colonial houses. Dogs, kids, walkers, joggers. It was peaceful here.

“I’m happy for you, Gabrielle,” Melanie finally said. “Len really did a number on you. And I can’t say that I didn’t see it coming.”

Gabrielle rolled her eyes. “I know.” Melanie warned her a couple times, but Gabrielle had always brushed it off. Melanie always over analyzed everything. But she’d been right. And she couldn’t bear it if her best friend made a conclusion about Holden that wasn’t positive.

“Well, maybe this is a sign. You back in your old town. Your old flame in the same town. Still hot. Maybe you need a little rebound sex.” Melanie actually sounded happy about the idea.

Gabrielle
slammed on the breaks, almost hitting a soccer ball rolling in the street as her mind wandered to Holden in his tight t-shirt and crotch hugging jeans. “Yikes. I gotta go. I forgot how kids like to dart into the streets around here.”

“All right.
Well, keep me in the loop.”

“I will.” She hung up the phone, feeling a bit
more sane, even though she hadn’t completely revealed everything that went down today. Melanie wouldn’t have been ready for that truth.

And if she was honest,
Gabrielle wasn’t sure she was either.

Holden stuffed the tasteless veggie burger into his mouth and then speared several tomatoes and cucumbers onto his fork. He
couldn’t wait until his restaurant opened. He was starving for a good meal and he was horrible cook. Take-out only took you so far.

At least his wine was a pleasure to consume.

He finished his bland dinner and tossed the dishes in the sink, then walked into his cavernous den and flipped on the television. He leaned back on the couch and stared blankly at the screen, not paying any attention to the game being played. The only thing he saw was Gabrielle crawling up onto his bar, her eyes sparking with sensuality as she kissed him.

Damn
…

When she’d said she wasn’t sure if she could do it, he almost
gave up, too. Seeing her out of the blue like that, and then kissing her again had brought out latent emotions he’d thought long since laid to rest.

Turning
off the television, he wandered into his office. The need to absorb himself in his work was strong. Getting his mind off Gabrielle or the rebound pact would be anything but uncomplicated. After the way Lacy fucked him over with some other dude, the last thing he wanted was a relationship—even if it was with his dream girl Gabrielle. Holden just wasn’t ready to put his heart out there again. Next year he’d be thirty, so logic told him it was time to be more serious, settle down. But he only had to remember a string of heartaches to nix that idea.

Holden
sat heavily in his office chair and turned on his monitor. He clicked on his email and scanned through the messages.

Lacy’s name caught his attention. Why would she be emailing him? Wasn’t she happy enough with her new rich
, dick-head boy-toy? He didn’t even know who the dude was, and he didn’t give a fuck either. Highlighting her name with the intention of deleting her email, he changed his mind and clicked on it anyway.

Holden,

We need to talk. It’s important. I still…love you.

Call me.

~Lacy

Well, f
uck a unicorn horn… He deleted the email, rage running rampant in his veins. That woman had a sixth sense when things were going good for him, wanted to mess him up in the head. Knew the right things to say—no,
used to know
the right things. Not anymore. He couldn’t let her get to him. God, he needed Gabrielle. She would be the perfect balm to soothe him, make him forget.

About to close his email and call Gabrielle, another email popped into his inbox
from his building contractor, the subject:
Ridge Vineyards is Opening a Restaurant.

What the hell? The man had to be joking. He scanned the devastating news. Ridge Vineyards, his biggest competitor, definitely was adding a restaurant and contacted
his
builder for the job. The man assured him he wouldn’t work with them both and would stick with Belle Ami.

What type of restaurant were they opening? He was really hoping to build a niche in the area. There weren’t many vegetarian restaurants, and none at a winery.
Holden swiped his hands over his face, and groaned. Picking up the phone he called the owner of Ridge.

“James, its Holden Bellamy.”

Silence echoed on the other end of the line.

“I hear you’re opening up a restaurant. Also heard you tried to steal my builder. Not going to happen.”

“Holden, nice to hear from you.” Holden could practically hear the man squirming on the other end.

“Here’s how it’s going to be—if you want to open up a restaurant, good for you, but do not ever try to skim my people from beneath
me again.”

“Or what?”

Holden wasn’t expecting that. He ground his teeth, keeping every obscenity within his throat. “Hopefully we won’t come to
or what
. Let me be clear, if you want to play hardball, I’m a damn good thrower.”

“See you in the game.”

Holden slammed down the phone. James had made a clear threat, and there was no way in hell he was going to go down without a fight. No way in hell he was going down period. Belle Ami would trump Ridge. That was the only option.

In retrospect, the rebound pact was probably a bad idea. He had to tread lightly or he’d mess up the whole deal with the restaurant.
Being on top of everything was of the utmost importance. If he was too busy thinking about sex… The whole deal could go down in flames, especially with Ridge now playing hardball.

His cell buzzed. The caller ID said:
Mega Bitch.
Emailing wasn’t enough apparently. He slid his thumb over the ‘end call’ button and shoved it back into his pocket. He couldn’t deal with Lacy right now. She was two tons of crazy.

Yup, despite it being a bad idea, he needed Gabrielle and their pact. H
e didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to be with her. Even if it was in a casual, no-strings attached way. For the brief, delicious moments she was with him,
under him,
she would be his.

Damn, there he went again, traveling down th
e path that only led to his pain at being the wrong dude in her bed.

But he could still hear
her say,
I’m glad it was you.

“Dad!
I’m home.” Gabrielle dumped her bag in the foyer and peaked into the family room where her mouth promptly fell to the floor.