His Unlikely Lover (Unwanted #3) (22 page)

“Nobody,” Gabe admitted. “It’s nobody’s damned business.”

“And how long has this been going on?”

“Not long.” He couldn’t believe it had been only three nights and the more he had of her the more he craved. This need he had for her seemed to grow with every touch.

“And what are your . . .” Chase shook his head and then snorted. “I can’t believe I’m asking this, but what are your intentions?”

“My intentions?” Gabe asked, meeting his brother’s disapproving stare head on. “My
intentions
are to have breakfast and go to work.”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Chase growled.

“That’s the only answer you’re getting though,” Gabe retorted, shoveling a forkful of eggs into his mouth and glaring at his brother defiantly.

“This won’t end well,” Chase predicted. “How the hell could you allow this to happen?”

“It’s none of your business.” Gabe hated how his brother automatically assumed that whatever was going on between Bobbi and Gabe would end, even though he knew it would as well.

“I’m
making
it my business,” Chase responded. “You’re going to hurt her.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gabe said heatedly. “You’re making assumptions based on
what
? You don’t know what the paradigms of my relationship with Bobbi are.”

“Yeah? So what are they? You guys are involved in some secret romance that will eventually lead to marriage and kids? Is that it? Because if that’s
not
it, then I’m going to have to kick your dumb arse!”

“Look, we’re attracted to each other. That’s it. We’re working it out of our systems. It’s between us and nobody else needs to know about it.”

“Bobbi isn’t the type of woman you work out of your system, Gabe.”

“Why not? Because I happen to have known her longer than the women I’ve dated and slept with before? They were all daughters, sisters, and friends too, you know? It’s hypocritical of you to insist I treat Bobbi differently. We have a mutual respect for each other and we’re indulging in an adult relationship with clear-cut boundaries that we’ve both agreed to.”

“You’re so full of shit,” Chase lambasted him. “You never
hid
your relationships with those other women like they were dirty little secrets. If Bobbi is no different than any of them,
why
are you hiding this from everybody? Have you been out with her in public?”

“We’re always out in public,” Gabe replied, knowing that it wasn’t what Chase had meant.

“Oh cut the crap, Gabriel,” Chase derided. “You know that’s not what I meant. Bobbi doesn’t deserve to be treated like some second-class citizen, good enough for warming your bed but nothing else. You’re embarrassed to be seen with her, that’s what this is about.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Gabe said, feeling guilty as hell. Bobbi
wasn’t
the type of woman he was usually seen with. She didn’t have the dress sense, the gloss, or the elegance he enjoyed in a woman. Where would he take her for Christ’s sake? When she didn’t seem to own more than that one ugly dress?

“You’re going to hurt her,” Chase repeated.

“I’m not a cruel man, Chase,” Gabe said, annoyed by his brother’s self-righteous attitude.

“No, you’re not,” Chase agreed, leaving Gabe waiting for the “but” to come. “You’re not cruel, you’re merely indifferent. Your previous lovers knew the score, when you got bored or they got bored, you both walked away. No ill feelings on either side. You were okay and they were okay. Everything was just . . .
okay
. So what happens when you grow bored with this relationship? When the novelty wears off and you feel the need to move on to the next woman? How do you cut
Bobbi
out of your life? Because that’s what you do, Gabe. It’s almost surgical—once you call it quits, you never mention them again. No pictures, no fond recollections—it’s as if they were never a part of your life. You’re a good guy, Gabe. The bloody best man I know and you treat women with the utmost respect when you’re with them, but you’ve never been in a relationship that lasted longer than a month or two. And this thing with Bobbi can’t really even qualify as a relationship, can it? Not when you’re skulking around pretending that it doesn’t even exist.”

“That’s rich, coming from you, Chase! You’re not exactly Mr. Reliable when it comes to women,” Gabe retorted, feeling his temper bubbling to the surface.

“I’m not the one who’s
shagging
my best friend, you idiot!” Chase’s own temper was always quicker to rise than Gabe’s, and Gabe could see it sparking in his eyes. “You’re going to hurt her but you’re too blinded by your own lust to see it.”

“Bobbi knows the score.” He felt driven to make his brother understand that this wasn’t as bad as he seemed to think it was. “And one of the main reasons we decided to keep this quiet was because we feared reactions like yours. The less people who know, the less external pressure from family and friends, and when it ends, there’ll be no awkwardness from people who would feel compelled to take sides.”

“Oh, so you’re doing it for all of us?” Chase asked sarcastically. “How big of you! What a relief to hear that you’re not just covering your own butt so that you don’t look like a complete dick when you dump Bobbi and move on to your next conquest.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” Gabe pushed his plate aside and shook his head in disgust. He was pissed off and hurt by his brother’s low opinion of him. “
None
. This thing between Bobbi and me sprang up out of nowhere; it’s not something I went looking for. It just happened and I’m trying to deal with it as best I can. So, I’d appreciate it if you’d butt out. This is between Bobbi and me.”

Chase looked like he was about to respond but he clamped his lips together and said nothing. His eyes were stormy and he still looked royally pissed off, but he thankfully said nothing further. Gabe knew better than to think that his brother would let it go though and he already dreaded the next confrontation.

Gabe’s day didn’t improve. Mike was being difficult and insisted on knowing every single detail about the Valentine’s Day Ball. Since Gabe didn’t know a
single
damned thing about the ball, trusting their assistants to get it done, his replies to the older man’s questions hadn’t satisfied Mike and had led to a heated debate about what each man believed leadership roles entailed. Accusing Mike of micromanaging hadn’t helped the escalating argument and the man had hung up in a huff, leaving Gabe frustrated and bad-tempered. He and Mike often disagreed, but this was a petty argument, which had escalated because of Mike’s misgivings about retiring and Gabe’s already foul temper after that morning’s argument with Chase.

An hour later, while he was instructing Stephanie to set up a meeting with one of the GNT accounting executives about restructuring the company’s pricing packages, his cell phone rang. He glanced down and grimaced when he saw his mother’s photo on the screen.

“I have to take this,” he told his assistant and the woman politely excused herself. Gabe watched her leave before picking up the call.

“Hi, Mum,” he greeted.

“Hello, darling,” his mother greeted warmly. “How are you?”

“All good here, Mum.”

“Wonderful.” His mother wasn’t one to waste time before getting to the point and that was the case now. “I’ve been concerned about your brother. When will he be back in town?”

Great
. Gabe winced. He didn’t want to lie to his mother, but Chase had put him in an impossible situation. If he came clean now, they’d both be in the crapper.

“You might want to talk to Chase about that, Mum,” he said carefully and there was a long pause before his mother replied.

“I asked you a straightforward question, Gabriel. Why can’t you give me a straightforward answer?” Full name. Fabulous. This wasn’t going to end well. Their mother knew that something was up.

“I thought I
did
give you a straightforward answer,” he said.

“No, you tried to divert me back to your brother.”

“Mum . . .”

“Where’s your brother, Gabriel?” she asked bluntly.

“Mum . . .”

“Don’t you ‘mum’
me
, young man. Just answer the question.” Lucy Templeton-Braddock Colbert could be downright terrifying when she wanted to be.

“At home,” he confessed miserably.

“And why did neither of you see fit to inform me before now?” She sounded unsurprised, which meant that she had known beforehand but had decided to put him in the hot seat for the sheer hell of it.

“You knew,” he accused.

“Roberta told me.” Their mother had never called her Bobbi. “I called her earlier to ask her about her new boyfriend and
she
tried to distract me too, by saying that I must be happy to have Chase back in town. This time the distraction worked because I wasn’t aware that my
own son
was home.”

“Mum, you should talk to Chase about . . .” He paused as his mother’s words sank in. “What new boyfriend?”

“Don’t change the subject, Gabriel,” she said, but he barely heard her.

“Mum, what boyfriend are you talking about?” he asked urgently, wondering if there were any rumors floating around about Bobbi and him.

“The landscape architect she’s seeing, Kyle something. I heard about him from Suzie Claiborne,” his mother said dismissively before continuing on her original course of chastisement, but Gabe wasn’t listening anymore. He was wondering why the hell Jason’s mother seemed to think that Bobbi was seeing that Kyle guy.

“Gabe, are you listening to me?” His mother’s voice had elevated shrilly and he shook himself and refocused on her tirade.

“Sorry mum, I was distracted by . . . stuff.” He grimaced at the lame excuse but his mother wasn’t paying attention.

“I said we’re coming around for dinner,” she said.

“Mum, look . . .” He sighed. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you that Chase is home but you have to prepare yourself. He looks . . . he doesn’t look great. He’s lost a lot of weight and he just seems exhausted. I think he knew that it would worry you, so try to lay off the guilt tripping, okay? I can take it but I don’t think he’s in a great place at the moment.” He and Chase may be at odds, but that didn’t mean that Gabe was going to hang his brother out to dry.

His mother was quiet for a long while after he had spoken and a shuddering sigh on the other end of the line told him that she was crying.

“I’m just happy he’s home,” she said, punctuating the sentiment with a wet sniff. “I won’t say anything about his appearance. Thank you for the warning.”

“No problem,” he said. “Love you, Mum.”

“I know, darling,” his mother said softly. “I love you too.”

Gabe disconnected the call and then glared off into the middle distance, thinking about Bobbi’s
boyfriend
. What was that all about?

“I hear you’re seeing that Kyle guy.” Gabe’s deep voice sent a shudder of longing down Bobbi’s spine before she registered his words.

“Oh my God . . . ,” she groaned. “Not you too.”

“No truth to the rumor then?” He asked in a strained voice.

“That’s a stupid question,” she shot back. “When exactly was I supposed to squeeze in a budding romance with Kyle Foster when I’ve been spending my free time in dead-end shagfest with
you
?”

There was a long silence at the other end of the line.

“My mother, Frank, and Kim are coming round for dinner tonight,” he said after a while. “I think it’ll be a late night, so it’ll probably be best if you didn’t come around.”

Wow. That hurt more than it should have. Under normal circumstances, he would have included Bobbi in what was essentially a family gathering. So this was what it would be like after they ended their
thing
. They would remain friends, of a sort, but he would start excluding Bobbi from more and more of the family meals and outings until they would simply have “drifted apart.” It wouldn’t be intentional but it would be the inexorable result of an impossible situation.

“Okay,” she whispered. “I’ll chat with you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah . . . ,” he said, sounding reluctant, and she winced. “Okay, I’ve got to go. Take care.”