Kiss of a Stranger (Lost Coast Harbor #1) (16 page)

“Let me go in first and check it out.” Gabe insisted.

Gabe wasn’t surprised to hear the porch stairs creak behind him as he approached the front door.

At least she didn’t argue when he held out his hand for her keys.

He didn’t need them. The door was unlocked.

Maddie’s eyes widened and her breath came faster.

“Now will you stay here?” Gabe asked.

She only hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

He slipped inside. No lights were on. He remembered the layout well enough to find the nearest table lamp. Gabe peered into each room. He looked behind doors and inside closets.

He whistled low to Maddie. “Downstairs is clear. I’m checking the rest. Sit on the couch and don’t move.” To his surprise, she didn’t argue.

Ten minutes later, he joined her. Gabe had examined every room thoroughly, then checked every window. They were all locked, as was the back door, and none showed signs of forced entry. He flipped on all the lights, and Maddie visibly began to relax.

“Any chance Bree stopped by?”

Maddie shook her head. “She’s out of town till tomorrow.”

Gabe sighed and sank onto the sofa next to her. “It doesn’t look like anyone was here. Nothing’s out of order. You’re certain you locked up this morning?”

“Uh-huh.” Maddie’s voice was even. He knew she was scared, but she was doing her best to hide it.

They hadn’t taken anything from the office. Nothing in her home appeared disturbed. What did these assholes want? If it was even the same people. Her tidy home looked nothing like the ransacked office.

At least they’d come while she was out. This time.

“You shouldn’t be alone. Not until we know what’s going on.”

Maddie turned big eyes on him, and for the life of him, he had no idea what she was thinking. But at least she didn’t say no.

Instead, she walked to the kitchen and turned on the faucet. He watched her move around the other room, each gesture so graceful, so self-contained.

If she wanted to avoid the subject, he’d go along with it—for now.

“Were you a dancer?” Gabe could see that. With her long limbs and tight bun, Maddie would have fit right in on a ballet stage.

She gave an indelicate snort as she returned to the living room. She traveled around the room with the watering can, caring for her small jungle. “My mother tried to get me to take dance classes, but I wanted to be a gymnast. I was terrible at it. I couldn’t do a cartwheel, let alone some complicated tumbling pass. But it’s how Bree and I became friends, so it was the right choice.”

“A bad tumbler with the grace of a ballerina and a green thumb. And terrible taste in pajamas.”

Maddie stuck her hand into the water and flicked it at him, showering him with drops.

He relaxed into the couch, grinning.

God, he loved watching her move, but this time her beauty had nothing to do with her body or her grace. It was the care she took with each plant. She tested the soil and examined the leaves, and each plant earned a few words of encouragement. They all mattered to her.

“Have you always kept plants?”

Maddie turned a large ficus so the other side faced the window. “Always. My mom was allergic to most animals, so she decided to keep plants instead. She taught me so much.” A small smile played on her lips, one that disappeared too soon. “I didn’t get out of control until the situation with Charlie. It didn’t seem to matter how tight money was. I still bought a new plant every payday.”

Gabe understood. When everything was destroyed, she needed to make something beautiful grow in its place.

It sounded so wonderful. Almost easy. When his life was ruined, all he’d nurtured was his pain.

For a second, he wondered if he could let it go. Stop fighting. He could take Maddie’s hand, and lead her upstairs, and in the morning he wouldn’t leave. He’d let Maddie care for him the way she cared for those plants. If anyone could bring him back to life, it would be her.

Only a second, and it was gone. Six years. It always came back to that. Six years when he hadn’t been there for Mateo. When he hadn’t been at his ma’s side as she passed. Six years when he’d spent every day fighting instead of giving in.

That wasn’t something you got over because a beautiful woman made you think there might be more to life than revenge. Gabe didn’t know how to stop fighting.

Some things could be forgotten, but not six years. Never that.

“About earlier…” Maddie’s tentative voice brought him back to the present.

He knew what she was about to say. That they’d gotten carried away. That he wasn’t what she was looking for. That they had no future.

Gabe didn’t want to hear any of it, so he interrupted. “Let’s have a look at that file, then. The one about me.”

She nodded, and he tried to read her expression. Was it disappointment? Relief?

After she returned the watering can to the other room, Maddie joined him on the couch, the manila folder in her lap. She opened it with caution, as if afraid it would bite her.

The first several pages were official documents. He’d seen them all at one time or another, usually from his lawyer. His arrest record, both as a juvenile and when he was caught with the guns. Then there were the court transcripts, though it had been a straight-forward procedure. No courtroom intrigue when you plead guilty. Psychological files confirming he’d demonstrated good behavior and shown remorse. Maddie gave a quiet laugh when she saw that one. There were records of the items he’d carried into prison and the ones he’d carried out. Whoever compiled this file had access to a hell of a lot of information.

“You were wearing the same clothes when you first arrived in town,” she murmured, her finger tracing the itemized list. “You came straight here.”

Gabe glanced down at his new pair of jeans and his top. They were nothing fancy, but he was glad to have them. They beat orange jumpsuits. “Yeah. At least I got arrested in winter. It would have sucked to be released in shorts and a tank top.”

“Is that why your clothes didn’t fit when I met you?”

“I gained some muscle in prison,” he said. “Exercising was one of the few things that felt normal. The cafeteria had awful food, and the library had whatever books were donated, and the cots were tiny, but a dumbbell is a dumbbell the world over.”

Maddie read the list again, but there were no other surprises on it.

She turned the last official document and froze. He glanced over her shoulder and wasn’t sure whether to be angry at the person who gathered so much personal information or amused at Maddie’s reaction.

It was a picture of him when he was nineteen. He’d just gotten out of juvie, and back then Gabe thought he had the whole world figured out. He’d believed two years in juvie had made him a grade-A badass.

Gabe touched the photo, running his finger under his eyes. Eyes that hadn’t seen half as much as they thought they had.

Maddie mirrored his thoughts. “You’re so young. You almost have baby fat.”

“Hey!” Gabe protested, though she wasn’t wrong. There was a softness about his younger self. His cheekbones were less pronounced, and his muscles far less defined. It was almost like prison had carved him physically, the same way it molded his soul.

Maddie pointed at his younger self’s arms, revealed by the black t-shirt he wore. “No tattoos?”

Gabe shook his head. “No. I got them over the next couple of years, before I went inside. I wouldn’t trust some felon named Tiny to give me a prison tattoo. I knew a guy in Oakland who traded ink for labor. It was a good deal.”

“Do they have stories?”

He smiled. “They all do. What about you?” His eyes roved over her untouched skin. “Any tats hidden under those professional clothes you insist on wearing?”

She blushed, and he didn’t fight the image that barreled into his brain. The memory of what Maddie looked like under those professional clothes—and how much he had yet to explore.

Gabe shifted, leaning forward to hide his growing erection.

“You’ll have to look for yourself,” Maddie whispered.

Gabe’s breath caught. Had he read her wrong before? Maybe she’d been prepared to say
About earlier…I think we should do it again.

Holding his breath, he dropped one hand on her knee, his fingers stroking her inner thigh.

She slapped it away.

“You have to earn it.” She opened a small drawer on the coffee table and held up a deck of cards. “You play?”

Gabe sat up straighter. “Of course.”

“One question…what happened to my underwear?”

A little sheepish, he pulled the flimsy lace out of his pocket. “I forgot I had them. I swear.”

Maddie took them and disappeared upstairs for a minute. When she returned, she was wearing a different blouse, one with all its buttons. This one was a pale gray. The strands of hair that had been loosened in the office were back in a tight bun. Gabe tried not to show his disappointment.

She sat beside him and lifted one brow, the expression both delicate and wicked. “I’ll make you a deal. Each hand you win, you get to ask me one question…or remove one article of my clothing.”

He went from semi to completely hard in the space of a second. No way he was hiding that. Maddie watched as he adjusted himself.

“And for each hand you win?” He didn’t expect her to win many, but he could always throw a few. He’d do whatever he needed to keep her playing.

“I get the same. And now that I have underwear again, we’re wearing an equal amount of clothing.”

“What brings this on?” He was an idiot. Why couldn’t he just enjoy the moment? Not everyone had an ulterior motive.

She shrugged. Her blouse moved with her. If he played his cards right—literally—he would see that shirt lying crumpled on the floor.

Maddie met his eyes, hiding nothing. “Because after everything that happened today, I need a distraction. And I have a lot of questions. I want to unravel the mystery of Gabriel Reyes.”

Gabe swallowed. She might be asking too much.

But any reservations he had were annihilated with her next sentence.

“Plus, we have some unfinished business from this afternoon.”

Chapter Seventeen

H
e watched as Maddie slid the deck from the case. Holding Gabe’s eyes the entire time, she executed a perfect waterfall card flourish, winked at Gabe, then added a card spring for good measure,

Gabe’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. This wasn’t some poker virgin he was facing. “You trying to hustle me?”

She dealt five cards as competently as a Vegas dealer. “Five-card stud, aces wild. Unless you want to back out?”

“Not a chance.” His cards weren’t anything to write home about, but they’d do.

Five-card stud was a straightforward game, with no bluffing or raises. Luck was as much a factor as skill, but she still played like she was at a high-stakes tournament.

“Two,” He dropped his rejected cards on the table. She replaced them, then took one card for herself. “Show them.” Gabe lay his flat, grinning. Two pairs, kings high.

Maddie had a full house.

He should be disappointed. If he’d won, that flimsy shirt would be coming off, one pearl button at a time. Instead, he felt a hint of excitement, even pleasure. It was an opportunity to find out what she wanted from him.

“What’s it going to be, Maddie? Truth or nudity?”

She took a second to consider. “What scares you?” Those blue-green eyes fixed on him, monitoring his reaction.

The question caught him off guard. “Scares?” He repeated, stalling.

When she didn’t reply, he leaned back. He supposed he could lie, but that went against the spirit of the game.

He answered in a level tone. “I’m scared I’ll never learn the truth, and that Hastings bastard will get away with it.”

She flinched. It was a tiny movement, but he saw it. Such a perfect poker face when she played, and so honest when they weren’t. “That’s not new information.”

“You asked.” He tried to leave it at that, but she waited, silently demanding more. “Fine. I don’t like the dark either. Never have, and prison made it worse.”

He knew she wanted to ask more, but at last she gave a simple nod and pushed the deck of cards to him. Gabe shuffled, though without the same finesse she displayed, and dealt.

He grinned to see two aces in his hand. One exchange later, and he had three. It was enough to win.

Gabe’s eyes dropped to her pearl buttons. He wanted to know all of her body, not just what he’d seen in the office or at the party. He knew her shoulders, the tops of her breasts, the feel of her nipples through lace, but he didn’t know her stomach. Her waist. Her ribs. Every part mattered.

“Take out your hair pins.” He blinked at his own words. That wasn’t what he planned to say.

Maddie was just as surprised. She reached tentative fingers to the base of her neck, to that always neat and tidy bun, and removed one pin. When she saw his eyes burning, she slowed down, turning it into something closer to a strip tease. Gabe watched, captivated.

At last, every pin lay on the coffee table, and she released her hair.

It didn’t just fall down. Her hair cascaded, thick brown waves spilling over her shoulders. It was longer than he’d imagined, long enough to cover the tips of her breasts.

Gabe had always liked women. He’d liked their bodies, their faces, the way they moved. Never, in his entire life, had he been transfixed by a woman’s hair. He wanted to run his fingers through it. Wanted to see it spread across a pillow. Wanted to feel it on his chest while she rode him.

And with that thought, he was achingly hard again. This might be the most painful game he’d ever played.

“Your turn,” he rasped, sliding the deck back to her.

She won the next round, and she studied him for a very long time, deciding. “Tell me about one of your tattoos.”

Another question, but he’d known this was coming. He’d taken off both his coat and sweater when he entered the room, even though it wasn’t warm enough for just a t-shirt. It was almost like he wanted to share a story or two with Maddie.

Gabe studied his arm, trying to choose one. Several were geometric shapes with no other purpose than to connect the more meaningful ones, but a few mattered more than the rest. He pointed to the bars on his wrist. “This is the first one I got.”