The Rebound Pact (16 page)

“Email? No.” He was normally pretty good about checking his email, but he’d been working on setting everything up for Gabrielle’s arrival tonight that he hadn’t even bothered to check. That was odd in itself. She really was disrupting his normal order of things.

She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed out an annoyed breath.
“I quit. I’m not going to work with you anymore and I’m breaking the pact. It’s not working for me any longer.”

“What?”
He shifted on his feet, clenched his jaw. When he reached out to grasp her hands, she pulled them behind her back. He was completely confused. She was so hot and cold all the sudden. Maybe he’d read more into the sparks that flew between them, then what really was.

She shook her head.
“It’s not working, Holden. Too complicated. Thanks for stopping by though.” She turned to head back into the house.

“
Gabrielle, seriously? What happened?”

She whirled around, a flash of anger making her lips thin.
Her hands flew out in exasperation. “Does something have to happen for me to change my mind? I just don’t want to do it anymore.”

He put his hands on his hips, frowned.
“But you were so passionate about it. I thought we had a good thing going.”

“What, our pact or the restaurant?”

He paused a minute, feeling like it was a trick question. “Both.”

She laughed bitterly. “Did Lacy used to work with you
, too?”

That question
made his blood run cold. He dropped his arms to his sides. “Lacy? What does she have to do with this?” When he spoke his mouth felt cottony.

Gabrielle
’s hands settled on her rounded hips. “Don’t you mean, she and your baby?”

He shook his head, pain searing from temple to temple. He should have told
Gabrielle what happened when she asked the other night. Should have been honest with her about his past, about his relationship with the blonde she-devil. “It’s not what you think.”

“That’s what all players say.”

She had him there. He’d probably feel better if she just went ahead and punched him right in the stomach. “That’s not fair, Gabrielle.”

“Why not?”

“People change.” Except he had instigated the rebound pact with her, and how else would it look? “Where did you see Lacy?”

“She came to the winery today.”

Damn. Probably while he was out running. As much as he hated to talk about his ex, he had to tell her. She needed to understand. “It’s not my baby, Gabrielle.”

“Isn’t that what all
copout baby-daddies say? Why should I believe you?” Again the hostile laugh escaped her.

“I don’t know. All I can answer for is
myself, and I am not that child’s father.”

“Did you do a
paternity test?”

He exploded then, more at his anger for Lacy than anything else, it was just too bad that
Gabrielle was there before him to take the brunt of it. “No! I damned well know because she told me. Because she slept with some other asshole while I was in Europe. That’s the reason I broke up with her. Is that good enough for you, Gabrielle? Is that what you wanted to know? I’m no good for you. Remember, I’m just a player. Not the marrying type.” He came in close, his mouth only an inch from hers. Her rapid breaths tickled his lips. “This is bullshit. And I’m fucking tired of hearing it.”

Full of regret, he slammed open the porch door and stalked through her backyard toward
the front. When he reached his Jeep, he slammed his hands on the roof, just like he’d done six years ago—the last time he walked out on her in a rage.

Chapter Eleven

H
ot tears pricked the back of Gabrielle’s eyes.

She stared angrily at the porch door, willing Holden to come storming back through or at least willing her own feet to move.
To run after him.

She should have run after him years ago, and she’d stood just like this.
Unmoving.

Once again he was running away from her, for a pain she
caused him. She shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions about Lacy, but what was she to do? The floozy had practically shouted it out. But it made sense. Maybe she’d seen Gabrielle as competition and the best way to eliminate her competition was to hit her where it hurt. Holden.

Dammit. She’d fallen for it.

Gabrielle was finally able to get her feet to work. She ran out into the yard, her flip flips slapping with each stride.

“Holden!
Wait!” she shouted, rounding the corner.

He was backing his Jeep down the driveway. She ran into the path of his lights, holding one hand up to wave at him and the other to block the glare. He stopped.

Her heart pounded. Now she had to apologize, to make things right. She walked slowly toward him, trying to form the words in her mind that she would say.
I’m sorry.
No. A simple sorry wouldn’t work.
I’m a horrible person?
Nope, he wouldn’t buy the pity party thing either.

She reached the door. He rolled down the window, his
blue eyes a storm cloud of conflicting emotions. Anger, fear, pain…love? Her own expression probably matched his.

“Holden.”
She placed her hands on the window sill, partly for balance and partly to keep him there. She met his gaze, probably the hardest thing she’d done that day. But she held her eyes locked on his, not daring to move unless he decided the connection was lost and drove away. “I made an assumption that I shouldn’t have. I—” She couldn’t make excuses for herself, that’s not what he needed to hear. “You are…”
Shit.
She was making a muddle of this.

She wanted to scream, to stomp her foot. Why was it so hard to just tell him how she felt and that she was sorry? He wasn’t much help either. He sat there, stony.
Silent. Staring.

“You mean a lot to me, Holden. More than you know. More than you should.” She bit her lip, watched his face change subtly, becoming softer somehow.
“When I saw Lacy. When she asked for you… I shouldn’t have immediately thought the worst of you. You aren’t a bad guy, you’re perfect.”

He smiled a little then. “I don’t know about that.”

She returned his smile, her heart lightening a little. “I’m sorry. Really sorry.” She reached in and grabbed his hand, thankful he put up no resistance. “I over-reacted. I should have asked you before freaking out. And honestly, I guess I took the easy way out. Like I did all those years ago. I freaked. I let you go, when all I really wanted to do was pull you closer.”

There. She’d said it. Now things would change. He would tell her t
hey couldn’t see each other anymore. That she needed to find another job. That he’d only wanted to keep things business, casual. That she’d tossed in emotion and that wasn’t part of the deal. Her heart pounded in her ears. She tried to swallow around the lump forming in her throat.

He threw the car in park, turned off the ignition.

She watched, a little confused. What was he doing? Even though she wanted him to listen, to stay, she hadn’t expected it. He was supposed to nod, shake her hand, tell her he’d see her around and then drive away.

He climbed out of the car, shutting the door gently.
Gently.
That wasn’t a good sign. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close as he leaned up against the door.

“I wanted to run after you.
To run all the way to Paris. But I didn’t. I regretted it for years. Up until the day you walked into my winery. But you know what? I don’t regret it now.”

She narrowed her eyes. The first part of what he’d said had sent a flood of soothing warmth through her. The last part had that warmth quickly receding.

“What?” she asked softly, not sure she’d heard him correctly.

“I’m glad I didn’t run after you.” He said it with a straight, serious face.

She tried to pull away but he held her in place against the hard planes of his body. She tried to fight it for a moment, but her struggling was pointless. Her body melted against him, even though her mind careened in a million directions.

“Want to know why?” he asked.

She nodded, unable to speak for fear of crying.

“Because,
Gabrielle, if I’d run after all those years ago, it would have been a fling. We both would have moved on. We wouldn’t be here right now. We were friends, are friends. A fling would have ruined that. Made things awkward when Max was around. I don’t want to ruin the friendship we’ve had.”

Friendship.

“I was a player. Max had me pegged. I would have had fun with you, cared about you, but relationships weren’t my thing. I’ve grown up a lot since then.”

Yes, he had.
In more ways than one. He was still devastatingly gorgeous. His body still gave her heart palpitations. But there was more to him now. Emotionally. More depth to his personality. He had vision, goals, interests. And while a hot body was excellent, depth was the real turn on.

But he’d said
friendship
.

“Then I’m glad
, too. I was so focused on school, on advancing my career, I probably wouldn’t have paid much attention anyway. And you’re right, it would have been really awkward.” She squirmed a little, not liking where this was going.

He put a foot of space between. “
Look, we’ve both…sort of messed up with our pact. Let our feelings and emotions get in the way.”

Gabrielle nodded, knowing he was right, but wishing he wasn’t saying
it.

“I want to add a
couple new rules.”

She started.
He still wanted…

“Friends first.”
His voice was calm, even.

She smiled
wanting to take his hand in hers, but afraid to. “Always. What’s second?”

“Business.
There’s a lot riding on the bistro. Together, we’re a powerful team, I don’t want anything messing that up.”

“And third?”

“Lovers.”

The way he said the word took her breath away, made her tingle all over. She had to take a moment to remember that there was more at stake here than wanting to kiss him senseless.
“Deal. Anything else?”

“Yeah…” He leaned closer. “We still can’t tell Max.”

Gabrielle laughed. What Max didn’t know couldn’t hurt him. “Never.” She glanced at the house, seeing the darkened lights and wondered if anyone peeked out at them. “Come here.”

She grabbed his hand and pulled him around to the side of the house, where there were no windows.
He might have said friendship, but he wasn’t willing to let her go completely. There was still a chance for…what?

“We’re alone,” she said.

Holden grinned. “No prying eyes.”

“That doesn’t happen very often.”

He shook his head.

“I’m going to take advantage of it.”
With that she reached up and pressed her lips to his, kissing him with everything she had.

Their bodies pressed together, their tongues tangling, breaths mingling.
Holden grasped her ass, lifting her closer, his erection pushing hard against her, enticing sparks of pleasure.

Thank God her neighbors weren’t
close, else she’d never hear the end of it.

“See you in the morning?” she mumbled against his lips.

“I was hoping to find your sexy sweatpants crumpled up on my floor.”

She laughed.
“Seriously? I can’t, not with Max here.”

He
frowned. “Forgot about that. Here I’ve been wanting him to come home, and now he’s getting in the way of me getting a sweet piece of—”

“Are you hungry?”
she interrupted with a little giggle.

“For you, of course.”
He winked, and she almost dropped her pants right there.

“I meant for dinner.”

“I could eat.”

“Give me
a sec. I can’t spend the night…but I think we can still have some fun.” She ran into the house, gathering up all the supplies she’d bought previously to make peanut stir-fried rice, “crab” cakes and Asian coleslaw. After she’d stuck it all in a canvas grocery bag and her insulated freezer bag, she ran upstairs to her room to freshen up.

After brushing her teeth she rushed from her room and
almost ran smack into Max on the way back downstairs.

“Where are you going?” he asked,
his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Heat infused her face.

“Holden and I still have some business to attend to.”

“It’s
after nine o’clock.” Max crossed his arms over his chest.

Dammit! He wasn’t going to let her just leave. “Look, Max,” she said, sounding much like she was scolding a child. “We have a restaurant opening soon and I’ve yet to finish presenting the meals. This is a good job for me. I need this.” She didn’t mention that what she needed was to be in Holden’s arms, to feel passion that she’d never felt in Len’s.