She's Got a Way (26 page)

“There will be no splatting.” He pointed to the rope, which was clipped securely to the harness he had on. “I've got you.”

“Hey, Luke?” She turned back to the rock, but made absolutely no move to let go. “Pretty sure you still don't actually like us. Why would I trust you?”

Gabi saw him smile. “Good question. Two answers. One—you're growing on me, and two—I've had the opportunity to drop way more annoying kids off from a rock, and I've never given in to the urge. I think you're safe. Plus, our insurance would go through the roof.”

“Very funny.” Eve turned her head to look over the other shoulder. “Gabi?”

Luke raised his eyebrows, and she knew he was silently asking Gabi to support what he was doing here, even though he knew she wasn't completely on board with it. Gabi scanned the ropes, saw the tension in his wrists as he tried to play everything casual … saw the way he balanced his body so it was crazy-stable.

She had to trust him.

“It's okay, Eve. You need to let go. Do what Luke says.”

Luke nodded at her. “Fall off the rock, Eve. Just let go with your fingers and fall back a little.”

Gabi watched Eve's fingers tighten, then saw her take a couple of deep breaths. Then, like she knew she'd chicken out if she didn't go big, she pushed herself away from the rock. She let out a timid squeak as she found herself suddenly hanging in midair, but then looked down at Luke, who held her completely steady.

“I didn't fall.”

He shrugged. “Nope.”

“Huh.” She looked over at Gabi and winked. “Maybe he
does
like us.”

Luke laughed. “Don't push it. Get back on your rock.”

Eve clambered back onto the rock face and found finger holds, and five minutes later, she'd reached the top of the fifteen-foot mini-cliff. She stood up, grinning, and Gabi had to laugh at the pride she saw on her face.

“I
own
this rock!” Eve shouted, and Luke nodded calmly, adjusting his grip on her rope.

“Yep. And now you get to come back down.”

“Down?” Her grin faded. “But I—you never said we had to go back down. There's a perfectly good path right there. I can walk down to you guys.”

“Remember when we did the rappelling yesterday off from the admin building roof?”

Gabi felt her stomach jump. When had he done
that
?

He looked up at Eve. “Come on down. Same as the building, just rock. Hold on to the rope, bounce on your toes, and I'll feed the rope out to you. Trust me.”

Eve growled as she sat down and turned around to face the rock, fumbling with her rope. “You know what, Luke? I never hated those words before, but I sure do now.”

Luke glanced at Gabi, smiling. “It's okay. You're not the only one.”

*   *   *

“A-plus, Sam. You're doing it. You're totally doing it.” That afternoon, Gabi heard Luke's voice as she looked up from the letter she'd been trying to compose to Laura Beringer, the chairwoman of the Briarwood board. She'd been sitting in the dining hall for an hour now, searching for just the right combination of words—respectful, but pleading—that might make Laura change her mind about the future of Camp Echo … and in turn, lead the other board members to change theirs. So far, she had six crumpled pages at her feet, and she growled in frustration as she crumpled yet another one and stood up to walk to the window.

Luke had Sam in the water, floating on her back, and the girl wasn't flailing, or scared, or exhibiting any of the emotions Gabi would have expected. The puppies cavorted around her in the water, but even their splashing didn't seem to panic her.

“He's got her, Gabi.” Oliver's soft voice came up behind her, and she looked back to smile at him. He pointed to the thinning hair on his head. “I got a lot of gray hairs over the years, but none of them came from him. You can trust him with your girls.”

“I know.” She nodded, but didn't uncross her arms.

As Gabi watched, Sam rolled over in the water, as graceless as a baby seal, but not slipping under. As Luke walked beside her, she dog-paddled to the end of the dock, then turned around and paddled back to where the water was up to her knees.

Gabi put her hand to her mouth as she felt tears in her eyes. She was—swimming! Clumsily and slowly, but … swimming! As she watched, Sam leaped out of the water and gave two giant fist pumps. “I totally rocked that, Luke.”

“You totally did.” He smiled, and Gabi melted. She'd never once seen Sam grin so widely, and her own chest ached with pride as she watched Sam do a little victory dance.

After they both toweled off, Luke started to walk away from Sam, doing the forced-casual thing Gabi'd learned was sort of his MO. But Sam grabbed his arm before he took two steps.

“Luke?”

“Yeah, mermaid?”

Sam smiled. “Thanks for helping me.”

“Eh, it was nothing.” Luke shrugged. “You helped yourself. You had it in you all along. I just watched.”

Oliver touched Gabi's shoulder as he turned to go. “Told you.”

Gabi clasped her hands under her chin as she watched Sam hug Luke, then run up the beach, heading for the tent. Luke sat down on the dock, looking suddenly ragged, like he hadn't been nearly so convinced of her abilities as he'd let on.

As Gabi watched him brush the water out of his hair and close his eyes to the sun that bathed his body in a glorious light that made him look even more like an Adonis, she had a sudden, painful, beautiful realization.

She wanted him—wanted
all
of him—and it scared her to her very core.

 

Chapter 25

“That is not a word.” Gabi took a sip of her beer and pointed to the Scrabble board later that night. “Define it.”

It was eleven o'clock, the girls were long asleep in the dining hall, and she was sitting on Luke's porch with letter tiles in her lap. The bear hadn't made a reappearance since its kitchen foray, but they'd made a mutual decision to keep the girls behind locked doors until they were sure mama bear wasn't an issue. Luke had brought down the dogs again just as everyone was settling in for the night, and as much as Gabi knew the little puffballs wouldn't be able to defend anyone from more than a rogue mosquito, it was still comforting to know their little ears would warn them of danger.

But right now it was quiet except for the crickets and a pair of loons out on the lake. Luke had pulled out Scrabble after she'd admitted a weakness for men who played board games, and as they'd set up tiles, her zapping nerves had decreased to a low hum.

Luke raised his eyebrows. “Seriously? You're challenging me?”

“Absolutely. You feed me your favorite beer and give me the comfy chair, and then you do those eyes … and that half-smile thing. You think you're toying with me, but I'm onto you.”

“That so?” His smile was lazy, inviting, oh-so-flipping-hot. “And what is it you think I might do if you let your guard down?”

She felt her face flame as possibilities flew through her mind. “Um, cheat?”

“I don't cheat.”

“Okay. What …
would
you do?”

“I don't know.” He studied her. “But has anyone ever told you you're cute when you're flustered?”

“No.” She rolled her eyes. “And what makes you think I'm flustered?”

“You're blushing, which I find incredibly … cute. You're also cute when you're annoyed. Cute when you're downright mad. Cute when you're overthinking. Cute when you show up in the dining hall in the morning with one side of your hair all mashed down and the other side sticking out.”

He laughed as she automatically reached for her head. “I'm not sure how you are when you're in your normal element, but I'm finding I like the out-of-her-element Gabriela. Like her a lot.”

“Well, I could use a few more element-appropriate skills.”

“I do kind of have those wrapped up.” He winked, holding up a bruised thumb. “For instance, my skill with hammers.”

“Well, you do have …
some
skills.” She smiled. “Like, for instance, pancake making. You are excellent with the pancakes.”

“Comforting.” He sipped his beer. “Anything else?”

“Absolutely. You're aces with rope tying.”

“Aces?” He smiled. “Seriously?”

She pointed to the Scrabble board. “And you can … spell. I assume. Not tonight, but usually.”

“Vital life skill. Thank you.” He nodded at the board. “And that is, too, a word.”

She looked at his face, let her eyes trace his jawline, his lips, the eyes full of heat. Then she swallowed hard. “You wear a Red Sox T-shirt really, really well.”

He tipped his head. “Well, there's a skill I never realized was a thing.”

“Oh, it's a thing. It's most definitely a thing.”

She pushed herself up, and like a hummingbird to sugar water, stepped toward his chair. “You also take
off
a Red Sox T-shirt really, really well.”

“Is that so?” He set down his beer, full concentration on her.

“Yes. I might have maybe seen you do it once or twice. It might have been a problem.”

He reached out one finger and slowly hooked the elastic waist of her skirt, pulling her ever so slightly toward him.

“What kind of a problem, Gabriela?”

She let him pull her, let herself fall slowly toward him as his other hand came up to caress her cheek.

“Um … the kind of problem that makes concentration a little challenging?” Her voice faded to a whisper as his fingertips touched her earlobe and she leaned her face into his hand.

“Sounds kind of serious.”

“It—is.”

“What should we do about it?” He slid his fingers ever so slowly along the waistband of her wispy skirt, and she took a sharp breath as he pulled her even closer. There was no way she'd be able to resist him tonight, even if she wanted to.

“I think … maybe we go inside?” Her voice was breathy, shaky as she swallowed.

He pulled back. “Is that what you want to do?”

“I—yes. No. Yes? I don't know?”

He paused, smiling again. “One thing I've never put you down for is indecisive, Gabriela.” Then he kissed her softly, making her sigh quietly. “Easy question, sweetheart—do you want me? Because I have to tell you, there is nothing in the world I want more than you right now.”

“Oh. God.” Her words left her lips just as he kissed her again, then stood up, holding her hand firmly as he swung open the cabin door and led her into the warmly lit space.

Gabi smiled as she got her first glimpse of his home. Warm pine walls glowed in the low lamplight from two end tables, and a futon-style couch separated the living room from the kitchen area.

“Wow,” she said, as she spun around slowly. “I love it. It's so rustic and charming and warm.” She narrowed her eyes. “And neat. Are you always this tidy?”

“Depends. Is that a requirement on your perfect-man checklist?”

She laughed. “I don't have a checklist.”

“You should. How will you ever know when you've found him?”

“I'm hoping my well-scarred gut, along with my brain, will help me out with that, thanks. And if I did have a checklist, tidiness wouldn't be on it. I'm too much of a slob to make that fair.”

He reached out and braced his hands on her hips, making her shiver in anticipation. “All right. Let's make you a list. What
would
be on it?”

“Let's see.” She looked up, pretending to ponder. “I'm really a tall-dark-and-handsome sort of girl, as cliché as that is.”

He nodded, pointing at his hair. “I've got the tall and dark covered. You'll have to look elsewhere for the handsome part.”

Gabi laughed, taking in his gorgeous eyes, the perfect five o'clock stubble, the mouth that promised to make tonight one she'd never forget.

“Yes, I've been meaning to talk to you about the homeliness thing.”

He rolled his eyes. “What else would be on your list?”

“Really? We're doing this? You want me to draw a picture of my perfect man for you?”

“Yes. Because for some reason—and I'll be really clear here, this has never happened before—I feel like I need to know.”

“Oh.” Gabi bit her lip, feeling the weight of his words hit her way down low. A slow smile crept over her face. “Okay. I want a man who can make me take myself less seriously.”

“Easy,” he nodded. “What else?”

“Someone who's dead sexy, but doesn't flaunt it.”

“I'm a total nerd. Got that one covered.”

She laughed. “Someone who's not afraid to fight coons and skunks and bears, should the need arise.”

“Hm.” He tipped his head thoughtfully. “Gonna be hard to find one of those outside this general area.”

“Someone willing to share his secret stash of coffee, even though I drink more than the average air traffic controller.”

“You
do
drink a lot of coffee.”

“I do.” She nodded, pausing. “But you know what's really tops on the list, if—you know—there was a list?”

“I'm dying to know.”

She took a deep breath. “I need somebody who can sweep me off my proverbial feet and make me feel like … the only person in the world. I need the guy who'll swoop in when things are at their worst, kiss me silly, and make me feel like together, we can face anything. I need the guy who isn't afraid to be romantic and sweet and self-deprecating, all while he rocks a sexy smile and a deadly five o'clock shadow.” She put up a finger. “The stubble thing's a new addition, by the way. Never liked that before.”

“Honored.” He smiled, but didn't say more.

“This is totally ridiculous, and you can freely say so, because I'm already admitting it … but I want the rom-com ending, Luke. I want to take the journey and earn my happy ending, but I
want
that happy ending, and I'd prefer to find it before I'm a million years old.”