Threads Of Desire (Creative Hearts Book 3) (19 page)

It was Ava and, damn it, she was looking for him. He froze, silenced his breathing, and in a panic, put a warning finger over Gabby lips. Her eyes had narrowed and went cold, as he quickly pulled out of her. His heart pounding, Nick had righted his clothes, tucking himself back into his rumpled chinos. Gabby’s skirt was all twisted and wrinkled, up around her waist. Her blouse was open and her breasts were rising and falling quickly over the top of her bra. Her lips were full and lush, swollen from being kissed, and her hair was a tumbled mess, half up half down from his hands fisting through it. She gave him a half smile and his dick twitched.

Ava called his name again from the hall. Shit, how would he explain himself? He looked at Gabby pleadingly. If Ava found out and told her dad, then his scholarship could be out the window. His future gone. He leaned in and whispered in Gabby’s ear. “I’m sorry. I’ll be back.”

The look in her eyes was more than he could take. He knew that look. Had seen the hurt look way too many times on his own mother’s face when she saw the back of his father as he walked out the door to another woman. He tried to shake it off, but couldn’t. Nick knew then and there, the nature of his heart, and knew she could never be his. That a good woman could never be in his future.

He grabbed his coat and met Ava in the hall. Remembering her words brought pain back to him. “Oh, you had me worried for a minute. I thought you’d run off with that little chubby girl.”

He draped an arm around Ava’s shoulder, careful, he thought, to pull the closet door closed behind him. “Now why would I do that, baby, when I have you here to take home?”

Nick turned from the twinkling of the chandelier in the sunlight and came back to the present, looking at Gabby again. “You were always too good for me. And I was always wrong for you. Can’t that be enough?”

Gabby turned her head and looked at him straight on, seeing all of him, stripped down. Nick felt more raw and exposed than he ever had. She reached out and ran a hand gently across his tense jaw. It was so much more than he deserved, but it felt as hard as any smack she could have given him. When she spoke, her voice was little more than a whisper. “You know what, Nick. It’s fine. It’s over now. You are who you are, and this is what it is.” She got up from the bed then, slowly and sensuously, not bothering to wrap the sheet around her naked body.

“I did go back for you, you know,” he said, by way of feeble attempt at explaining.

She paused at the doorway, not bothering to look back at him.

“That night. I know it was late but still, I made an excuse and went back to the closet to look for you, but you were gone. Then after, when I could, I went to your room and you were gone from there too. I know it was cowardly, but figured it was for the best.”

She turned to him then, once again challenging him with the full force of her body, her beauty, her amazing power. But her eyes told a different story. They now looked weary. Like she was done. There was a resolution about her gaze that scared him. She nodded. It was small, barely noticeable but still a nod. “Good call.” Her voice was hollow, empty, as she turned away, making her way to the bathroom, leaving him with the image of her curvy behind and her straight back as he watched her walk out the door. “Really good call.”

Chapter 15

Once again, Nick was gone. Gabby emerged from the bathroom to find an empty bed and, this time, an empty apartment. After his wayward confession-slash-apology-slash-”it’s not you, it’s me” speech, she hadn’t known what to make of things, so she’d hidden out in the bathroom for a while soaking in the tub. She didn’t know the workings of her old-as-hell building, but she thanked God for ancient facilities and oil heat and relished the hot soak after the night she’d had. Her muscles were grateful for the soothing warmth.

Nick talking about that night back at college brought so much back that she didn’t want to deal with. How did he expect her to believe that bull about
him
 not being good enough when he’d gone straight from inside her to the arms of Little Miss Perfect? Sure, Gabby had heard her from the closet when she questioned him on where he’d been. And it hadn’t even hurt all that much when the skinny bitch had called her chubby. What did that matter? Gabby was used to it from girls like her.

What hurt was Nick’s dismissal afterwards. The disappointment had been almost unbearable.

Gabby’d heard Miss Perfect giggle, then say something about being quiet because they were in her father’s hallway. Gabby remembered thinking at the time that Nick must have been doing something quite naughty to get such a response. It sent the blood rushing loud in her ears, and her mind boiling with rage. She was hot and embarrassed and sticky and wet and all she could think was that she had to get out of there and find her way back home.

She waited for their steps to fade before she made her way down a back staircase. Without passing go, she made her way to the temporary housing she was in, changed as quietly as she could, left a note for her weekend roommate, and headed to the bus station to go back home. She’d never heard from Nick. Didn’t see him until a year later when he returned home, the summa cum laude graduate with a bright future and a fresh job at an up-and-coming firm. They didn’t speak about what had happened, and she didn’t ask about the girl. Gabby’d guessed she was long gone. She’d done her job, and he was onto the next. Classic Nick.

Just like the empty bed and apartment. He could never take her as she was. Of course he’d gotten out of there. As if he could really have anywhere to go with the city at a virtual standstill. She let out a sigh. It was probably better this way anyhow. They’d had a good night, and it was more than she’d ever expected considering their past. It was better that it was all out in the open now. She’d come home the night before vowing not to be the same woman and not to live life as she had in the past. She could go on from this. There would be no future with Nick, she’d known this from the start, and now the secrets were out. He knew now how much he’d hurt her with his careless words.

Gabby’s brows drew together as other words of Nick’s pricked at the edge of her pain. “I’m my father’s son.” What did he mean by it? She wanted to dismiss it as just some excuse, a way to put her off, but something about the way he’d said it made her pause. She knew the damage their father had done to both Nick and Steve—hell, she knew firsthand the damage any parent could do, but she’d thought somehow Nick had come through the storm better. But something in his tone and in his eyes today said that smooth talk and that veneer of perfection was all an act. She didn’t know how she’d missed the curtain going up and down. Gabby shook her head and fell back on the bed. She let out a sigh and turned to her side.

Suddenly the silence was too much to bear, and she wondered about the time. She reached for her cell. 6:43 am. So early. She really should just go back to bed. But she was wired. She sat on the edge of her bed and stared. The battery still had half its life on her phone, although her log showed six missed calls, and four voicemails. Funny, the phone hadn’t rung last night. She guessed service was a mess. Probably jammed up with the blackout.

She checked the log. There was one from her mom and two from Steve, two from Sam, and a surprising one from Dono. Who would have thought? Gabby listened to her voicemails. Her mother had checked to see if she was all right, as had Samara. She had to chuckle when Dono offered to send a car letting her know he could put her up in a small place out in Queens if this went on. He had a friend with a room. How generous. But then Steve’s voice came on and she choked up. “Hey, babe, you all right? I heard from the crew about the blackout. I’m calling both you and Nick. That brother of mine had better be treating you right. I know you don’t like the dark. Stay well. Love you both. You take care of each other.”

She suddenly wanted to cry. Just mewl like a baby. A choked sob escaped her lips. How had she let this happen? Why had she let this happen? Her mind was a swirling mass of confusion all tangled up with her stupid heart. She put the phone down and flopped back on the bed again, looking up at the chandelier and blinking back hot tears. It was then that she heard the front door open and she jumped up, swiping at her face. But he was there. Too fast he was in her doorway.

“I’m sorry I went out. It was just a quick run but I wanted to see what was doing out there. How much damage there was.”

Gabby cleared her throat, sat up straighter, and shrugged. So what? What did she care where he went? She looked at him. “And was there lots of, you know… damage?”

He stared at her, his chest rising and falling. Suddenly he came to her and was down at her knee. He looked up. “Not too much. Just some old crap thrown around. Nothing that can’t be cleaned up. I’m sure it will all be fine by Monday.” His voice caught. “At least I hope so.”

He looked at her so earnestly then, his eyes full of a ridiculous hope, or, she didn’t know, maybe it was her own heart just telling her to see what she wanted to see. She reached up and touched him. Ran her thumb across his cheek and he closed his eyes, letting out a breath, leaning in and kissing the inside of her palm.

She let out a choked laugh. “You are full of so much shit, Nicholas Ross. Did you at least get me some coffee while you were out?”

He looked up at her and smiled wide. “Of course I did. I may be a fool but I’m not a complete fool.”

Nick powered up the burner on the stovetop and Gabby scrambled sausage and eggs. He had indeed found her a large black coffee. The bodega was open and doing a brisk business in the old-fashioned stove-perked kind. It was strong and had a jolt that had Gabby thinking she had found her new love.

While she cooked, Nick jumped in the shower, and over breakfast they didn’t bring up the earlier conversation or talk about the night before. She was fighting hard to keep her feelings pushed down and just make it until the lights were back on. She’d decided they were both on edge and raw enough. There was no need to keep picking at the scab. The only hints of discomfort now were the furtive glances at the burnt-down candles on the coffee table and the tightening of her nipples as she watched Nick eat the rest of the strawberries she served with breakfast.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?” His voice poured over her.

“Like you know what I’m thinking.” She bit down hard on the end of her sausage.

He laughed. “Woman, I wouldn’t dare attempt to know what you’re thinking.” He made a big showing of crossing his legs. “I have a feeling it would be my downfall.”

She raised a brow and cocked her head to the side. “I’m nowhere near that good.”

He stared at her for a long while before he spoke. “You’d be surprised.” He scraped up the last of his eggs and leaned back, looking at her. “Tell me about that dress in your room, the one on the dress form. What’s it for?”

She looked at him in surprise. “It’s my dress for Sam’s wedding. I didn’t think you noticed.”

“Well, I was busy with other things but it’s plain as day on your dress form. It’s beautiful. You’ll look lovely in it. Where did you get it?”

She dropped her fork. “I made it, of course.”

He held up his hands. “Well excuse me. It’s just so different from the things I saw you sketching the other night. I didn’t want to assume.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, that was necessary work. Some things you do for money and some you do for love. This is for love.”

Her answer seemed to pull him up short. Once again he was staring at her. She got up to clear the plates. Coming around to his side she picked his up to take it to the sink but he stopped her when his hand clamped around her wrist. “Will you put it on for me?”

She looked at him and shrugged. “Sure. If you want.”

“Will you do it now?”

Gabby’s eyes narrowed. What was he getting at? Suddenly Nick wanted to play full-figured Barbie dress up? “Don’t you want to wash these dishes first?”

He took them from her hands and placed them in the sink. “They can wait. I want to see you in that dress.

She let out a long breath. “Nick, I have work to do. And I’m thinking you do too.”

He poked his lip out. “How much can either of us do without any power? Come on. Let’s have some fun today. Who knows when the power will be back on? Could be any moment or it could be days. We need to steal this time while we can.”

“But I can do lots while I have daylight. I’ve got to work on Sam’s dress still. There are things I can do by hand.”

He pulled her hands to his chest and then up to his lips. “Will you just give me this morning and then I’ll get out of that gorgeous hair of yours?”

She frowned. “There is nothing gorgeous about my crazy, untamable hair.”

He grinned. “That’s what I love about it. That fact that it’s untamable—just like you. Now please put on the dress.”

She stared at him. He was asking for the day, and in her heart she knew she wanted the day too. She wanted him in the light for a change, not some figure in the dark. She gave him a narrowed gaze. “Just this morning, huh? Okay, well, if I’m dressing for you then you’re dressing for me.”

His eyes went to slits and he licked his lips. “Like I said, you’re untamable.”

• • •

She was beautiful. Gabby stood before him looking like a goddess in the simple, grey, one-shouldered, Greek-style dress. The way the fabric twisted and then flowed, it accentuated her slim waist and the sensuous flare of her hips. The soft fabric opened just enough to be both sexy and demure, showing off the fullness of her ample breasts, making him want to reach out and touch them. The fabric of the one shoulder gathered up and flowed down her back to the other side, making a slight train. She looked regal with her hair softy twisted up and suddenly he had the impulse to go out and gather flowers to make her a crown to show his love. Nick coughed. “You look amazing.”