Getting Gabriel (4 page)

But then she’d just had to get naked in front of him, to show him quite a lot of what he had diligently been refusing himself to even fantasize about.

It was a tough job to be a gentleman.

And he’d been doing such a good job repressing that annoying lust. Sometimes he’d almost managed to convince himself she was nothing but a surrogate sister to him.

Hah!

Cursing he turned back to the – normally – leaking faucet. The sound it made, the continuous drip-drip-drip he’d been listening to now for days and days, made it his number one priority – after the warm water was back on, of course. He’d need more tools. The question was, which tools?

He wasn’t very familiar with tools, their names or their functions, but he’d learn. He’d bought a whole pile of DIY books, even videos for good measure. Of course, he thought, kicking a loose door on a cabinet closed, he didn’t have a VCR yet. He was going to buy one to reward himself for fixing the television antenna.

He’d intended to attack the problems one by one, but for every one he managed to fix, several others popped up on its place. Becoming a handyman was more work than he’d anticipated and his late aunt’s house was in a lot worse shape then he’d originally thought. The combination was daunting.

Three days later Alice returned to Gabriel’s house after work. She parked next to his pickup and climbed out of her car, shading her eyes with her hand as she peered up on the roof.

"How’s your hot water?" she called.

"Nonexistent." Gabriel waved, straddling the roof. He was holding something – a book. Alice frowned in surprise. He was reading up on the roof?

She noticed tools strewn randomly on the ground, some hidden in the tall grass, others – the sharp ones — sticking out of it in a manner that suggested they would be sticking at the same angle out of someone’s skull, had anyone happened to be standing there. She stepped further away and took refuge behind Gabriel’s pick-up. Clearly, this was a danger zone.

Alice grinned up at him. "I would prefer to wear a hardhat, but I’ll trust you." She entered the house without mishap and dashed to the living room to turn on the television. She flipped through a few channels, then opened a window and leaned out. "Looks great," she shouted. "We’ve got sitcoms, news, the weather channel! Yippie! You must have been doing something right up there!"

A thud echoed through the roof, then Gabriel’s legs, jeans torn and splattered with what seemed like at least three colors of paint, appeared just outside the window. Then he fell down, landing with an "oof". She leaned out the window to find him sitting in the grass just outside, rubbing his knee and looking dirty, sweaty, disgruntled and irresistible.

"I see. I guess we’re lucky you didn’t fall yourself and land with the toolkit on your head. But hey – we’ve got a working television! Maybe there is hope for you yet."

"There’s something so sexy about a man holding a hammer," she prattled on. "I edited a terrific article on it last week – ‘Hardware, Hormones and Hotties.’"

"Fascinating. Remind me not to read it."

She leaned on her elbows out the window, rested her chin on her hands and grinned down at him. Lord, he was cute when he was scowling. "Surly and grumpy. You haven’t changed much since you were sixteen, have you?"

Gabriel got to his feet and brushed loose dirt of his pants. It didn’t help a lot. "Are you here for a reason, or did you just need someone to bug?"

Alice shook her head. "Sometimes it’s hard to believe you’re your father’s son. I saw him on television last evening. He certainly charmed the brain out of that reporter. You must have charm hidden away somewhere in your genes."

Gabriel motioned her to step back away from the window, grabbed the edges and climbed in. He leaned against the windowsill and held out his hands, inspecting the grimy palms. "Charm is overrated. So is my father." He tucked his fists in his armpits and looked her over. "Want something to drink?"

Alice cheered. "Manners! Perhaps your father did teach you something after all."

"Right." Gabriel headed into the kitchen and Alice trailed after him, taking care not to trip over all the junk lying everywhere. He reached inside the fridge and tossed her a can of lemonade and got a beer for himself. "I don’t have a lot to choose from and I don’t suppose you’ll want a beer. Lemonade okay?"

Alice made repeated attempts to lift herself up to jump on the counter to sit there. It didn’t quite work. Gabriel put his can down and crossed over to her. He grabbed her around the waist and lifted her up on the counter.

"Uh, thanks," she said, fighting back a sudden blush and distracting herself by squirming into position, her feet dangling down. "You’re strong."

"Nah." Gabriel leaned against the fridge and looked her up and down. "You’re just tiny."

"I know," she sighed. "I blame my mother. She smoked during my pregnancy, dooming me to a life of stepladders and pats on the head. I’d probably be at least two inches taller if it weren’t for the curse of tobacco."

"Don’t worry. Tiny is irresistible. Makes men fall all over themselves wanting to protect you."

"Really?" Alice perked up. "Men find that attractive? I thought they all wanted long legs and someone they don’t have to put up on a pedestal to get them within kissing distance."

Alice hid her smile by taking a drink. She’d just had to hear him say it. Of course there were adjectives she’d prefer to ‘cute’. Like hot. Alluring. Sexy. Irresistible.

Alice swallowed her lemonade, and nearly coughed as she realized they were flirting. The temptation to taunt him, ask if he was afraid of her big brother was almost overwhelming, but she managed to stomp it down. She was here to enlist Gabriel’s help, for God’s sake, not play games.

Gabriel wasn’t sure he liked the way Alice was looking at him, a speculative and secretive look in her eyes. She was up to something, but he wasn’t sure what.

"Anyway," she said breezily. "I came to apologize for the other night. Ugh. I should locked away at night, for my own safety." She grimaced. "I don’t remember all the details, but I think I said some nasty things about you, as well as the male gender as a whole."

"Time heals all wounds," Gabriel said drily. "I’ll live."

"At least something good came out of that – my multi-dating idea. What a brilliant plan! I should get drunk more often. It seems to stimulate my creativity."

Gabriel groaned. "Oh, come on, Alice! You’re serious about that?"

"Absolutely. Mr. Right is out there, right? Somewhere. I just have to find him. That’s the tricky part. But you see my logic, don’t you? The more men I meet – the better my chances of finding The One."

Gabriel stared at her, one side of his mouth quirking in a smile. "Why don’t you just find yourself a hobby, Alice? Or get a pet? A dog would be good for you. Or a couple of fluffy kittens?"

She ignored him. "I already have a five dates lined up."

Gabriel coughed on his soda. "Five? Five? Five different guys?"

"I told you, multi-dating. Isn’t it a brilliant concept? I should market it. Would make a fantastic television show. Imagine.... if I can keep this up, getting to know at least ten guys every month, that’s 120 men in one year."

Gabriel imagined. He didn’t like the image one bit.

Alice smiled broadly, looking very happy with herself. "It’s statistics. I’m increasing my odds of success. Isn’t it a great plan? Out of hundreds of guys, one has to be right for me, don’t you think? And even if I don’t find one, I’ll have eliminated lots. Either way, I’m ahead."

"You know," she shrugged. "Here and there. Friends of friends. Brothers of friends." Her gaze darkened. "In some cases they become brothers of ex-friends." She shrugged. "I’ve pretty much exhausted most traditional avenues, so now I’m going to concentrate on the Internet."

"The Internet?" he yelled in horror. "What?"

Alice quirked an eyebrow at him. "You have heard of the Internet?"

"Don’t tell me you’re picking up guys online?" Oh, God. Gabriel nearly hyperventilated as all kinds of scenarios flashed through his mind. The soda can crushed in his hand, and he dropped it to the floor as both hands raked through his hair. Women. Even when you were staying the hell away from them, they were trouble. "Hell, Alice, don’t do this to me!"

"Yes, paranoid," she retorted. "I’m not stupid, you know. Internet dating is quite safe if you take the proper precautions. A lot of people have fond their soulmate online. And I’m careful. I mean -- I don’t give out my name or address or anything. Well, I won’t until I know them better."

"Let me guess – you’re going to ask them if they’re serial murders, and when they say no, you give them that pretty smile and your home phone number?"

"Uhm... something like that."

Gabriel needed to sit down. He probably needed to lie down. This wasn’t funny anymore. "Alice, don’t be so naïve. If you’re meeting them, hell, if you’re just giving them your email address, withholding your name is not going to do you much good. You can’t trust people you meet online. Oh, damn! You need a babysitter. No, you need a prison cell."

"Can’t believe you’re so uptight, Gabriel. The Internet is a great place to meet people. You should try it. And I have an anonymous email address. It’s quite safe."

"That’s no guarantee you won’t be meeting a psycho!"

"There are psychos everywhere," Alice dismissed. "Not just online."

That was not reassuring. "You’re nuts. Have you even taken self-defense lessons? Do you know anything at all about protecting yourself if you’re attacked?"

"I can kick and scream with the best of them. Don’t be ridiculous, Gabriel. I can take care of myself!"

Alice suddenly found herself held in place against the wall, Gabriel’s hands tight around her wrists, holding her arms above her head. His body was pushing her against the wall, his leg over hers.