Gabby Revealed (Finding Perfect) (13 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

It wasn’t as if there were a lot of gourmet choices in Renlend for fine dining, but Shane managed to pick a quiet booth in the corner of Jenny’s. Gabby tore her paper napkin to pieces, wishing he would spit out what he had to say. Shane dabbed his own napkin along his forehead, so at least she wasn’t the only one affected.

“Shane.”

“Gabby.”

They both chuckled, picking the same moment to speak. “You first
. This was your idea after all.”

Shane swept the pile of paper bits to the side and took both her hands in his. “You don’t like making things easy for me, do you?”

“Since I’m not sure what the hell it is you’re even talking about…okay, whatever.”

“I prefer this side of you,” he said with a wink.

“As opposed to…” She left him to continue digging his own hole.

“When I got here the night John died. You had me really worried, Gabby. Then the next day, working so hard like that, writing until you finished your current book. God, Gabrielle. You scared the hell out of me.”

“How’d you know I finished it…the first draft?”

“I saw the words ‘the end’ on your screen.”

“But you haven’t asked me about it, bugged me like normal?”

“That was before. I never cared about deadlines, Gabby. Don’t you see, I had to come up with excuses to call that
would keep you on the line longer than five seconds. The instant I’d drift off onto anything remotely personal—you were gone. You made me hide behind deadlines, cover art, and editing questions, when all along, I just craved your voice.” Gabby studied his hands holding hers. “I know you haven’t had much time to let everything I’ve said sink in, your mind has been on twenty different things at once. I fell years ago. But, Gabby, I knew meeting you in front of your store that first day, I knew then and there. I just needed to feel it, that chemistry, see if it was really there or if it was my imagination. Wanting you so bad it felt real. But it is. The last piece of the puzzle fell into place the day your hand reached for the door handle at the same time I did.

“Gabby…” Dragging her gaze upward to meet his, she saw the uncertainty, the vulnerability. “I moved here because I believe in us. I want nothing more than to be with you.”

“But we hardly know each other, Shane. I mean, we
know
each other, but don’t know, know each other?”

He grinned at her.
“Yes, I’d say I know you very, very well as of this morning. But let me add on, I know your favorite color is green. You hate all sports, especially football. You won’t wear anything other than your jeans and boots, no skirts for sure. You are passionate about books, reading, your store, and your writing. You’d prefer a quiet evening in with a pizza and cuddling on the couch, over a fancy night on the town. And you’re able to open your heart when you want.”

He’d nailed her peg for peg
. Her jaw fell open. “But how?”

“Your heart? Because a piece of it will always be with John. The rest, well…I’m in love with you. I pay attention.”

“What did you say? You’re what?”

“In love with you, Gabby.
”

He had thrown her yet again
, and Shane wasn’t quite sure what she was thinking. “Gabby? Say something, darling. You’re making me nervous.” He was trying not to panic, but it was difficult to play it cool with her sitting there staring back at him stunned. “I know I’m not imagining this—”He motioned between them. “And it’s more than the sex between us, your kisses prove it.”

“Shane, you just. I’m
—” The air left her chest, her whole body deflated before him. “I never thought anyone would feel that way. About me, I mean.”

Reaching under her chin, he tipped it up, but the tears glistening in her eyes weren’t from laughter this time. Shane cared so deeply, he felt the pain she did. “I care very much about you, Gabrielle. Do you want to talk about it?”

Shrugging, she struggled to pull herself together. “It’s really stupid, I know I should move passed it, but some hurts just don’t go away that easily. I just, well, I trusted someone that I shouldn’t have.”

“I’m a good listener.”

Shane didn’t look away as she took in every line, every part of his face. “Not here,” she responded finally.

***

Walking up the wooden staircase, Shane dropped his hand from Gabby’s lower back and took her keys. She let him and his mouth twitched, but he kept the growing pride within him private. Now wasn’t the time to gloat. The feel of coming home to her apartment was something he’d never known in New York. None of his belongings were here, but crossing the threshold, leading her to the couch and making his way to the refrigerator for a bottle of wine and two glasses felt totally natural. Gabby simply filled in the empty places of his heart.

“Here
, darling.” He held out a glass for her.

Staring at the liquid, she shook her head. “I’ve never liked wine. White or red.”

“But it was in your fridge?”

Running her finger around the rim of the glass she never looked at him
. “I bought it for you.” The deep bold red was an acquired taste and her admission meant more to him than she’d ever know. That would also explain why there were only two wine glasses in her whole cabinet. They had to be new as well. Shane took the untouched glass from her hand and placed both on the coffee table. Gathering her in his arms, he breathed in the familiar scents he loved. The vanilla in her hair, her perfume, the fabric softener from her clothing, all combined and they were scents of “home.”

Leaning back against the cushion, Shane stretched out, taking Gabby with him. Once she settled in comfortably, pressed along the length of his body, he stroked her hair. “Darling, I can tell this is really upsetting you. You haven’t spoken a word since we left dinner. I promise to help in any way I can.”

With her cheek resting on his chest, Gabby started fingering the button on his shirt. “I…I, this is so stupid, I don’t know why I can’t just let it go. But those bitches were so mean back then and…and they just never changed. It’s like every time any of them comes into the store, they still act better than me. At what point do people just grow the fuck up and leave high school behind?”

“
Oh, I saw that all right. Firsthand remember?”

“Yeah
, and it was embarrassing as all hell. God, I was so mortified that you were witness to that.”

“
Don’t ever be embarrassed—not with me. But that’s why you can’t get passed it. It’s not you. They won’t let you.”

“But I don’t get it. At some point, it’s time to grow up. Quit acting like you’re sixteen, seventeen. High school’s been over with for years. But those women, they still have their own little clique. The brands have changed, become higher priced. The houses bigger than I’d ever want, and I have no idea why. It’s not as if they have anyone around here to impress. They’re from here, everyone knows their parents, their grandparents. It’s like some people mellow with age,
but they just get nastier. Just to me. I never did anything to them, Shane…I don’t get it.”

Finally. She was his. Her heart was opening, letting him in. He wanted to take all of her pain on himself, not let her have
it back again. Shane wanted to let her experience only happiness from now on.

“
They want to keep that same power over you. Do you know why?” Only a disgusted breath answered him. “Because you’re beautiful, Gabrielle. You’re smart, you own your own business, and you’re a very successful author.”

“They don’t know that.”

“Yet.” He twisted a chocolate brown curl between two fingers. “What happened?”

“Stupid girl shit. I had a best friend. Well you know Dianna, from the B and B, it was her younger sister, Maggie.
”

A surge of anger flashed through him. His gut instinct had told him th
e little drama showdown in the store that day had more to it. Gabby hadn’t wanted to elaborate, but he knew with every fiber of his being that bitch had everything to do with Gabby’s need to protect herself.

“
I liked a boy, Dalton, in eighth grade, not that he ever would have noticed me. But then high school changed everything. All she could talk about were the popular girls.

“The year went on, she got inside their clique, circle of hell, whatever you want to call it. She told them I like
d Dalton. But she didn’t stop there. Rumors started going around that he and I did stuff, and that I went down on him over the summer to get him to like me back. And that turned into we had sex, which led to me being called a slut and all sorts of stuff as just a freshman.”

“What’d this punk do?”

“Oh, he’d sneer at me and look down at me in the halls, but he would be all shits and giggles with his buddies, they would pat him on the back like he was some stud.”

“Let me guess, you never even kissed him?”

“Kiss him? Hell, Shane, we never even spoke.”

“Then how could he let those rumors go like
that?”

“Welcome to small towns, Mr. Compton
, home of cruising the square, field parties, two movie screens, and more rumors and lies than a Hollywood tabloid. He was a popular jock, who was going to question him?”

“But, you don’t seem the type of girl to let—”

“I’m not the same girl I was back then, Shane.” She propped herself up to look at him finally. Shane reached out, feeling the satin soft skin of her cheek and waited. “It took those four years of hell for me to become this big of a bitch.”

His brow rose, warning her. “You are not a bitch, do not ever let me hear you sa
y that again.”

Gabby rolled her eyes
. “Oh for fuck’s sake, Shane. We both know I am. Get over it.”

Shane snared her, rolling her over so fast the shock left her wide-eyed and speechless. His body blanketed hers. Between anger toward people he prayed he’d never meet, hurt for the woman splayed underneath him
, and a raging desire to protect her, Shane had done it—he’d reached his breaking point.

He had an unreasonable guilt building within him for not being there to stop those bullies. Total nonsense
, and it wasn’t like he could go back in time, but his stomach still burned all the same.

Her walls were thick and solid, now he understood why she’d needed to protect herself.
He’d seen how her parents handled things with his own eyes. It was a small town, couldn’t dare piss off the very people that patronized their store. God forbid their daughter’s happiness was worth less than a future sale to the parents of the kids making her life a living hell.

Unfortunately,
he and Gabby had something in common. But that was over, done—in the past. She wasn’t a young girl living at home anymore. Neither of them was dependent on the people they should have been able to turn to any longer. Luckily, Shane had a couple of servants he’d grown close to, and Gabby, she’d had her grandparents and John and Edith.

John’s words came echoing back. The pride and hopefulness he felt as Laura slid him his own set of keys to what was now
their
house tamped down his anger some.

Shane dropped a peck on her lips and winked as she studied his face, no doubt trying to
access the ten emotions that had swarmed him. “Stay here.” Her eyes narrowed but she didn’t ask. He practically leaped off of her with the excitement coursing through him.

Somehow John had known, that wacky old man Shane now missed.
A part of him knew he’d always be poorer for not getting to spend more time with John. He’d flat out told Doug and flipped him off when his friend had called him crazy. Despite her anger, hell, and pain, Shane shook from giddiness as he fumbled with the jacket he’d slung over her chair, looking for the right pocket.

Inhaling deeply, Shane kneeled in front of the couch, placed the robin’s egg blue box on her old barn wood coffee table. The two unique styles mesh
ed perfectly. Helping her to a sitting position, he saw her eyes fixed on the box, wide and not blinking. He sat on the edge of the table, wedging her legs between his.

“Gabby.” Shane waited for her attention even though his heart was trying to take over his mouth. His brain kicked in and he paced himself. “We can both lie to ourselves and say we’ve only known each other barely, well shit, not even a month, but as I said—that’s a lie. This has been a long time coming, too long.”

Picking up his treasure Shane held it out in his palm, waiting. Her fingers were shaking when she finally reached for one end of the ribbon. The bow fell away, the ribbon sifted past his hand, landing on the braided rug below. Shane took the ring box out, placing the other behind him, without tearing his gaze away from her face. He opened it, removing the piece of jewelry he’d spent almost two hours painstakingly shopping for in the New York store, studying every ring, it’s shape, the style, the cut until he found the perfect ring for the perfect woman sitting in front of him.

“When?” She breathed out.

“The night I got back from my first trip here.”