Unexpected Love (Timid Souls Book 3)
Read Unexpected Love (Timid Souls Book 3) Online
Authors: Melanie Munton
Unexpected Love
by
Melanie Munton
Unexpected Love
Copyright © 2016 Melanie Munton
All rights reserved
Cover Design by L.J. Anderson at Mayhem Cover Creations
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This is a work of fiction and any similarities to persons, living or dead, or places, actual events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters and names are products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
Table of Contents
Unexpected Love
is the third installment in the five-part
Timid Souls
contemporary novella series. Each of these novellas will be standalone and do not need to be read in sequential order, though this is recommended. The characters in this series were initially introduced in the
Possession and Politics
trilogy and though it is not necessary to read the trilogy in order to follow the
Timid Souls
stories, it is also recommended.
Read more about the rest of the
Timid Souls
novellas on
my website
!
Stubborn Hearts (Timid Souls #1)
Casual Affair (Timid Souls #2)
Check out the
Possession and Politics
trilogy at the links below:
Felicity
Try not to drool over him today.
This was what I told myself as I prepared to once again face the man whom I’d been crushing on for the past several months. The man I always stared at, dreamed about, fantasized over. It wasn’t a secret either. My sister Bea and our friend Gwen teased me relentlessly about it, insisting that I take some kind of action since he hadn’t. It seemed like everyone knew how fixated I was on this man.
Everyone except the man himself.
Gabe Wexler.
To my constant dismay, he seemed completely oblivious to the attentions I paid him, treating me as nothing more than a colleague. Something I should have been grateful for—his professionalism—but I wasn’t. I didn’t want him to maintain his distance. I wanted him to shove me into the nearest closet and have me any way he wanted.
I repeat,
fantasies
.
I’ve had months to amass quite a collection of them.
For months I’d been Gabe’s interior designer, assisting him with the concept for the new 10,000-square foot Cape Cod he recently had built. That kind of square footage wasn’t small by any means, but the man could have even afforded a lot bigger. He had been some sort of Wall Street guru in New York years ago before moving to Washington, D.C. I didn’t know much about the work he did for the companies he consulted for now, but he was still apparently one of the most well-known financial moguls on the East Coast.
The reason he hadn’t gone for a 50 Cent-size humongous mansion on a palatial estate? His six-year-old daughter Penny. After divorcing his ex-wife, he’d wanted to find a home that was suitable for his young daughter, one she’d feel comfortable in and think of as home.
Now, tell me you wouldn’t be crushing on the man too after hearing that.
It wasn’t as if he and I had become super close over the last several months, despite my inner desires for exactly that, so I didn’t know a lot of the details regarding the situation. What I had been able to glean from snippets of various phone conversations and his general moods around me was that he was in the middle of a nasty custody battle with his ex-wife and it hadn’t been going well. I’d never met the woman before, but she sounded like a real piece of work.
All I really knew about the man, other than the fact that he was filthy rich, was that he loved his daughter more than anything in the world and that he wanted to make a nice home for her.
And that he was hot.
I mean so incredibly, deliciously sexy that it was becoming rather torturous to contain my urges to climb up that hard body of his and fulfill every single one of those dirty fantasies of mine.
But the other thing that was glaringly obvious about me was that I was shy, perpetually so. Especially around men. I couldn’t even explain why, but I’d always been nervous around the opposite sex, always afraid I was going to say the wrong thing and look like an idiot.
The fact that I’d been cheated on by my college boyfriend hadn’t helped either.
Because not only was I a shy woman, I was also a naïve, trusting fool to boot. I had literally caught him red-handed—making out with my own roommate, no less—at a house party. Ever since then, I had sunk further into my shell, afraid that the only kind of men I was able to attract were the jerks.
So, when Gabe hired mine and Bea’s business—Paxton Designs—to design his house and I quickly developed an infatuation with him, I knew that I needed to listen to my head and not my heart. He had a complicated personal life and he hadn’t sent me any signals whatsoever that he was interested in dating. Ever since the moment I shook his hand, that head of mine had been screaming at me to stay far, far away from Gabe Wexler.
Not because he was one of the jerks.
But because he was someone I could easily lose my heart to.
As a matter of fact, I think I had already lost a part of it to him.
Not good.
So many times, Bea had encouraged me to just take charge with Gabe and go after what I wanted. If he wasn’t interested, at least then I would know for sure and I could forget about him. That was easy for someone like Bea who had an unshakable confidence and never cared what anyone thought about her. She was tall with long brown hair and a Victoria’s Secret model figure so she had every right to be confident.
I, on the other hand, was barely five feet tall with pale blue eyes and a blonde bob. I knew I was nothing special to look at. Guys didn’t exactly give me a double take when I walked down the street. Those were all reserved for women like Bea or our friend Gwen. Next to them, I looked like their teenage little sister.
Being a gymnast for fifteen years hadn’t exactly done my height any favors.
With the development of this crush on Gabe came Bea’s determination to help me overcome the shyness I suffered from. I had even stupidly made a bet that whenever Bea—the former poster child for casual sex—found herself a man, I had to ask Gabe out on a date. But I’d been completely joking at the time. Not that they took it that way. As soon as Bea had settled down with her hunk of a British boyfriend, Zane Price, she and Gwen were all over me to call Gabe and set it up.
And they thought I had.
But I chickened out.
I had called him but panicked at the last second and made up some business-related question to ask him. Luckily, Bea had been so preoccupied with Zane as of late that she didn’t think much of the explanation I’d given her involving Gabe’s aversion to the dating scene. I’d told her he wasn’t quite ready to date right now, and she hadn’t followed up on it since. That was months ago.
Of course, he never said that because I never asked.
Which I think was due to the fact that I was terrified of him saying
exactly
that. Scared of putting myself out there, making him aware of my feelings, and then getting shut down. It would mortify me and would alter our entire relationship, making my job that much more difficult and any of our encounters just plain awkward.
What can I say, I didn’t have a lot of experience asking men out.
And I wasn’t ready to start trying today.
I was revealing Penny’s bedroom to Gabe today, the last big project in the house to be completed, and my anxiety levels were spiking. This entire house was essentially for Penny and I knew that I had to get her room right. Gabe had loved everything else I’d done with the house up to that point, but his daughter’s bedroom was the true test. He had to love it, but most importantly,
she
had to love it.
I steered my Honda Accord up the tree-lined paved driveway and came to a stop in front of the charming Cape Cod that Gabe Wexler was now the proud new owner of. Gabe had been very meticulous about the location of his new home from the amount of land he purchased to the neighbors he was surrounded by. He’d chosen a quaint spot of about three acres on which to build the house, which gave Penny a large yard to play in, but was still close enough to the neighbors that she could play with the other kids.
No one could ever say that Gabe Wexler wasn’t thorough.
He was also very protective of his daughter, another extremely attractive quality. He wanted privacy for her but also wanted to have other children nearby that she could play with. I had the suspicion that the girl didn’t have many friends, which broke my heart.
I got out of my car, smoothed my hands down my form-fitted teal dress that showed off what meager breasts I had—thank God they had come in a little bit since I quit gymnastics—and fluffed my hair in the car window’s reflection. This was my favorite and most flattering dress. The color looked awesome against my hair tone, and I always felt strong in it, powerful. Every woman had that one kick-ass outfit that made you feel like you could do anything—this was mine.
It didn’t even require Spanx.
Damn right.
I noticed that Gabe’s Range Rover was already parked in front of the garage, so I took a few deep breaths, mentally adjusted my big-girl panties, and walked to the front door. The landscaping crew I’d hired was still working on the yard and flowerbeds, but it was coming along nicely. Now that spring was in full bloom they could finally start the planting process.
I opened the door, knocking to make my presence known. “Hello?” I called into the empty foyer. “Gabe?”
“Back here!” I heard his voice shout from behind the open French doors off the living room, which led to a room we had converted into his office.
I headed in that direction, checking the furniture and wall art as I went, ensuring that everything was as it was supposed to be. The first thing I saw when I entered the office was cardboard boxes everywhere. Those definitely weren’t here the last time I was at the house.
“Gabe?”
He popped his dark head up from behind his desk, a bright smile on his bearded face. I had quickly learned that he didn’t have a particular preference when it came to facial hair. Just whatever suited him in the moment. I’d seen him with a beard, stubble, clean shaven, a mustache, a goatee. It looked like today was a beard day.
Not that it mattered. He looked good in all the above.
His dark brown hair also had a slight curl to it, and it just made me want to run my hands through it, over and over again.
“Hey, Felicity,” he greeted me as he stood up, brushing off his jeans.
He was dressed down today, wearing faded blue jeans and a loose-fitted Yale University t-shirt. I was used to seeing him in his impeccable three-piece suits, but was having no problem with this look either. I’d seen it more and more as we’d been working on the house together. It was a comfort to me that the man could actually look casual because Lord knew I wasn’t always spruced up on my days off.
“Hi,” I replied, returning his smile with one of my own. “Movin’ in already?”
Bea and I may have moved up to Washington, D.C. from Alabama with our parents when we were twelve, but our southern accents were as thick as ever. I think it made our father proud that we had kept them all this time. “The Yankees haven’t completely corrupted you,” he liked to say.
Gabe looked around the office with a sheepish expression. “I just thought that I’d bring some of my files and books over. They were taking up too much space at my apartment.”
I nodded, trying my best to prevent my eyes from drifting down that toned body of his. “Have you gone upstairs yet?” I asked.
He shook his head, a smirk playing on his lips. “Figured you’d want to show me.”
I flashed him a grin. Sometimes when he looked at me like that, it really felt like he was flirting. But since he had never made anything that even resembled a move toward me, I could never be sure.
“Follow me then.”
I turned on my heel and headed for the stairs, hearing his footsteps immediately behind me. As I walked up those stairs, I was very conscious of the fact that my ass was right in his face, and I sincerely hoped that he appreciated the view. Because I had certainly checked out his ass a time or two and most definitely had sent up prayers of thanks for the beauty of a man like Gabe.
We turned the corner at the top of the stairs and stopped at the first door on the right. I thought the baby blue letters across the door that spelled out “Penny’s Room” was a nice touch. Figured a six-year-old girl would like that. My suspicions were confirmed when Gabe’s eyes connected with the door and he smiled, the warm, loving one he always reserved for his daughter.
Not knowing if I should say something, I remained silent, letting out a heavy breath as I opened the door. We were instantly immersed into another world—that of a six-year-old girl—and one I’d affectionately come to know as “Horsie Heaven” because everything in that room was horse-related.
Penny absolutely loved her “horsies.”
That was the one stipulation Gabe had with this room. He wanted her to have horses everywhere because that’s what she told him she wanted. Other than that, because he had never been a little girl himself, he had no clue what to do with a girl’s room so he’d given me free rein. I was just grateful that she wasn’t obsessed with
Frozen
like every other little girl on the planet seemed to be. Or at least that she had already gotten out of that stage.
I also loved the fact that Penny’s favorite color was baby blue and not pink. You could already tell the girl was different, had a mind of her own. It was an endearing quality. So the room had been painted baby blue with almost an entire wall covered with a mural of Penny’s favorite animal: horses. They were large, majestic creatures that I had at first feared might have been a little too mature-looking for a six-year-old’s room, but the end result had exceeded my expectations. The guy I’d hired to do it was a genius.
Her bed was a twin and the rest of the room was filled with her favorite toys, dollhouses, and Fisher Price vanity. She was a little girl through and through, and I had to admit that I’d actually had fun designing Penny’s room. I honestly couldn’t wait to see her reaction.
Which snapped me right back to reality. I hesitated before looking over at Gabe and was rewarded with a beautiful sight.
He looked at a loss for words.
He had a soft smile on his face, almost one of disbelief, as his eyes tracked the room. He stepped forward, walking around and reverently caressing all of her toys, appreciating the scene as if in wonder. Then he stopped at the mural, taking in the sight as his eyes flicked back and forth between each graceful horse.