Gabby Revealed (Finding Perfect) (5 page)

“I grabbed up your book, my laptop
, and found what had to be the last cab still running in that God-awful, freaking storm and got home an hour later. With a fire, a beer, and leftovers I poured over your manuscript. Then I read it twice more that weekend. I knew I had to have you. And when I finally got the writer on the phone, do you know what happened?”

She bit her lip, and try as she might to be aloof, Shane could tell immediately she remembered that phone call as much as he did.
Being this close to the woman he’d longed for, pined for, was intoxicating. Gabby was as real as real got; there wasn’t any game to her, the sweet scent of vanilla with a hint of coconut encircling him. She was tumbling curls and model beautiful with no makeup. The girl next door with ripped jeans and love of cowboy boots. In his hold, she wasn’t full of fire like she was across a thousand miles of phone line. Gabby was a mystery he was quickly unfolding, even though through his whole admission, she’d yet to say a word.

“You…you were a total brat on the phone.” Gabby’s mouth dropped open, but before she could speak, Shane silenced her with a kiss, then whispered against the side of her mouth, “and I
loved it. You told me I took too long to get back to you—which I’ll have you know was less than forty-eight hours. And you hung up on me. Me, Gabby. You hung up on
me
. Do you know how many authors beg for me to call them back? But no, you knew you were good. And I knew I’d fallen in love. First with your passion on paper, then your voice on the phone, and your fire. But you’ve driven me from crazy to sane and back again too many times to count. I can’t tell if I’m coming or going, all I know is that I love seeing your name come across my email, or listening to your slaps on the phone when you actually take my calls. You don’t want me for who I am. You’re not using me. There are no pretenses. We both just love something in common.

“But
, Gabby…for me—it’s become more.”

“You have been exposed to way to
o many fucking exhaust fumes in that damn city of yours you…you crazy…fool!” Gabby’s heart pounded so hard she felt dizzy. Shane still had his hands on her upper arms, and her barb only made him grin all goofy-like before tipping his head back, laughing out loud. “What the hell is wrong with you? Did you get drunk at Jenny’s before you got here?”

“Drunk? No. Gabby, I’m laying my cards out for you to see, and I love that you’re just you.”

“Who the hell else am I supposed to be?”

“You don’t get it.” He smiled.

“Oh I get it all right. New Yorkers are freaking nuts, and you’re the King of Wackjobs. Now let me go you fruitcake. John will be wondering where the hell I am with his dinner.”

Shane leaned in, laying a lingering kiss on her forehead. She could feel his lips curled in a smile against her skin. It shouldn’t make her heart jump
. He shouldn’t be the one person to ever make her this nervous to be around. He was from halfway across the country. She lived in a dot on the map in the middle of the States. Gabby knew the truth though. His story wasn’t far from her version because she’d felt her pulse skip the first time she’d heard his voice years before. Until now, she’d done a damn good job of hiding from him.

***

It pissed Gabby off that Shane seemed to be enjoying the home cooked meal as if it was his first. She didn’t want to feel the pride or happiness coursing through her. It was after all…just a damn dinner. Oh and an apple pie. She rolled her eyes as his mouth closed around his fork, the appreciative murmur he hummed while sliding it back out was faked, it had to be for her. He was trying way too hard to win her over—and for no reason. The man surely had a woman for every day of the week waiting on him back in the “city.”

S
he gritted her teeth. It didn’t keep her stomach from twisting a bit. She had worked overtime to never be jealous of anyone, yet, the line of women who received Shane’s attention suddenly drove her to the point she wanted to stab them all with her fork. Glancing down at her white knuckles, she released the sterling silver piece and tried to tuck her hand in her lap before John saw her.

“So
, young man. Compton? I’ve read about a man named Compton a few times in the
New York Times
.” John’s question finally was laid out, though his stroke took ease away from him. Gabby glanced at Shane and saw several layers of what looked like hurt wash over him, from his eyes to his fallen shoulders. “Is that any relation of yours, I mean, New York is a big state. Probably not. I guess you can tell I’ve been in a small town too long. Here, you know a family name and you can be assured anyone with it is some relation to it.” John’s chuckle at his own joke didn’t seem to douse the hurt the assumption had caused.

Gabby’s first response was to look away, but she couldn’t make herself.
Swallowing his bite of pie, Shane carefully placed his fork on the dessert plate.

“Yes
, sir. That’s my father…was my father.”

John cleared his throat. “Oh, wow. Well, it’s none of my business.”

Gabby was going to have to do a little reconnaissance because the two men’s attitude chilled the room about ten degrees. Watching his every move, every twitch of his jaw, she waited for some angry response, like she’d have given.

Damn
ed man surprised her again. The corner of his mouth tipped but fell instantly. “No, it’s not a problem. Yes, Christopher Compton the second was my father. A Wall Street legend.”

“Yet, his name and success doesn’t give you anything but sadness I see, son. I’m sorry. Closed doors hide a lot from the newspapers. They always have, always will.”

“Yes, sir. It wasn’t as if I was beaten. My childhood had many silver spoons, but I was um—” Shane ran a finger around the plate in front of him. “—a disappointment, I guess in my parents’ eyes. For not following in his footsteps and taking over his business so he could retire. My mother…” He trailed off.

Gabby’s stomach flipped. How John had a way of
friending people so easily had always been a wonder to her, yet within one meal, John had pulled out of Shane a very personal piece of information, and as much as she didn’t want to feel, her heart was breaking. His mouth kept twitching as if he was trying to smile through it, but the hurt was still on the surface. It made him all the more dangerous. Gabby couldn’t risk falling for him anymore.

“She blamed you for his heart attack and death, still does by the look on your face, son
,” John said softly, patiently, and lovingly.

“Damn.” Shane winked at the man across the table from her. “I didn’t mean to bring the dinner down. It was so good to have a real home
-cooked meal for once. I guess when you mentioned it earlier, I hadn’t thought of what the fallout might be. I am so sorry. Let’s change the subject to something a little less, ah, dramatic I guess.” He laughed, but Gabby saw the acting job he tried to pull off. He hadn’t perfected it quite like she had.

Chapter Seven

Shane gazed through the pristine glass of the dining room. His secretary had picked a gem when booking him
at Renlend’s historic bed and breakfast. They boasted three, but this particular one—run by Dianna Lane—was as close to five stars as Shane had ever been. The hold music playing while he waited on the phone for his boss, Doug, normally grated on him, but staring out into the timber and seeing the clouds reflect off the perfectly still pond eased his lack of patience.

“Shane?”

“Yeah, I’m still here. What the hell is going on there?” He hated to ask, and hated to know the answer even more. Doug was going to kill him, but thinking about his next stop made his potential death worth it.

“God, don’t ask. So when are you coming back? I could really use you right about now.”

“Well—”

“Don’t even finish that statement.
Damn it, Compton, you’re not coming back are you?”

His boss
and close friend had no idea how good that sounded. The stupid, simple joy of watching two squirrels chase each other around a tree bigger than Shane had ever seen did more for his system than the normal double-shot of espresso he had to grab on the way to work every day. “I can’t get her to commit, Doug.”

“Can’t get her to commit? Fuck, you
have probably gotten a couple death threats for even suggesting she reveal herself to the world haven’t you?”

“Well,
I’m sure I will, but we haven’t gotten that far. Let’s just say I had to start from ground zero. I don’t think she thought I’d show up here in her world. And there’s more to the story than just wanting to remain anonymous. She started to open up to me—”

“James? She-devil? She opened up? What the hell did you slip in her drink? I’m not bailing your ass out
of any small town cell. You’ll just have to stay. Hope you like orange.”

“It wasn’t like that
you d-bag. She’s not at all what she comes across like.”

“
Oh my God. You’ve fallen for her. Fuck. I knew sending you was going to wreak havoc on my life. I just never for one fucking minute gave that a second thought.”

Shane was quiet. He wasn’t a liar, never had been and never would be. Stretch the truth to avoid hurting someone’s feelings maybe once in a while as opposed to some of his associate
’s tactics at work. But his boss, and owner of the agency, was a decade older than Shane and more than a superior. They’d started off more as mentor slash student, but ended up as friends. He couldn’t hide the truth from Doug, not even across a phone line.

“Of all the skirts that chase your pretty boy face, you fall for the one
who scares the piss out of all of us here, and we’re used to bitchy women!”

“She’s not like that, Doug.”

“Shane, you know I’ve sort of used you over the last few years. Having my younger brother die about the time your dad did, I don’t know, it just happened. I took to bossing you around like I did Russ. It was my big-brother duty, I couldn’t quit and you remind me so much of him. Just don’t get hurt. I know your parents were less than welcoming. How you ended up not being a cynical bastard like your Wall Street father I’ll never know, but just keep a level head, okay?”

His boss was correct in the picture he painted. Shane’s father had been a
blue blood through and through, and jackass to the core. It’d been a fight from the first time he mentioned he wasn’t joining his father’s investment firm, to the day his father died of a massive heart attack. His mother still blamed him for causing it, for not going to work with the bastard so Shane could relieve some of the workload and stress. He was an only child, heir to God knows how many millions. Still, Shane didn’t care. He’d grown up in a cold, cold world and knew from the servants, who were more like family, that he had no desire to live the rest of his life like that. And Doug knew the story. His friend had warned him about his last name and the women who would do anything to have it. He also warned him, once Shane was in a position of power, how another breed of women would do anything to have him further their careers.

They’d shared a thousand beers over the years together, but never had Doug been so frighteningly dead
on. Joking about a hot chick, betting on a ball game, or eating a homemade meal once in a while that Doug’s wife invited him for was their style. His friend’s advice shook him up and made his pulse spike. He had been chased for a thousand reasons, but Gabby was different and even Doug could tell. Shane remained tightlipped as Dianna filled his coffee cup with her cheerful smile then stepped away as to give him his privacy back.

“I will.”

“Well. I guess, just keep me posted. I’ve emailed you two files I think you’d be interested in. And I know I don’t have to remind you, you’re more than just an agent around this joint.”

Fuck.

He had forgotten. Forgotten all about it. Swallowing hard, he pushed the sick guilt back down and closed his eyes. Never one who needed the next rung on the corporate ladder as soon as possible, Shane worked hard at what he loved. Searching out the next author who could change the literary world. Didn’t matter the genre, he loved the hunt, the scouring over pages and pages of words. He’d been dragging his feet for two years, but Doug was ready for a partner, had groomed Shane for his own corner office and the fifty-fifty papers had been drawn up. All that waited was for Shane to sign on the dotted line. It was more headache and less fun. Doug loved it, thrived on the victory of sales and numbers. Shane knew business inside and out, but it wasn’t his passion, and so far Doug’s promise that his job wouldn’t change too much hadn’t been enough to get him to commit. Something deep in his gut told him to wait for the right time. Meeting Gabby in person, he knew somehow, she was part of that decision.

Even her name brought a grin to his face, despite the sudden depressive turn in conversation. He was surprising her at the store again this morning. Maybe more so now that
he had a potential partnership to dread.

“I keep telling you, Compton, you’ve got it. Things here, things with me
, won’t be like your father’s world. I have no plans to take over the world. You and I, we’ll keep the agency the same size it is now. You can still focus on your clients and finding new talent. It’s what you do best. I’ll handle the business side. It’ll be the best of both worlds. It’ll relieve some of my headaches, get Melissa off my ass, let her shop a bit more, which I hope to God makes her happier. But we can bounce things off each other. It won’t be much different than your position now; just you’ll own half. I’m sure that will be an enticement for people who work with you, like James. Dealing with an owner slash agent, they’ll think they’re big shit then.
It’ll just add a flair of importance.
”

Shane snorted.
“No one cares about that. No one in the business I mean. They want to see what I’ve sold, they don’t give a shit about a title. Pretend they did, that might sell all of my clients but one, Doug. I’ll try to get her to agree to come to New York with me. As far as pulling her into the limelight, I just don’t know if she’s that girl. She writes because she loves it, Doug. She’s unlike any other woman I’ve ever met. Books are her everything. She doesn’t need the rest.”

“Sounds like…”

“What?”

“Never mind, Shane.”

“What were you going to say, smartass?”

Doug softened a bit, making Shane perk up. “Just that it sounds like you two are quite the match.”

“I’ll keep you posted,” Shane said and ended the call.

“Did you not like the cinnamon roll, Shane? If it’s too sweet, I can bring you anything else you might like?” Diann
a asked quietly.

He peeked up at her China doll features. She was so quiet, shy and sweet, it was hard to think of her running the bed and breakfast almost single-handedly
. “No, no, it’s delicious. I just got caught up longer on the call than I’d intended.” She smiled and turned, but he reached out. “Dianna, do you have just a quick minute?”

“Of course.” She pulled the chair out across from him and waited silently.

“I would never do this in a million years, but I’m not from here.”

Her smile fell away as if she knew his question already. He tipped his head. “I can’t Shane. It’s Gabby, right? You want to know more about her?”
Dianna softly shook her head. “I can’t, I’m so sorry. She’s a very sweet girl, but things weren’t always easy. I know you’re here to see her from New York, something I’ve kept to myself. But I have to just say, be kind to her, and if you want to get to know her…ask her. Her story isn’t mine to tell.” Dianna patted his hand and stood. “I’m glad you’re enjoying the inn, Shane. Everyone deserves to be happy.”

She was his age, no older by any means, but Diann
a seemed to have a soul that had seen everything. With a soft smile she was gone, filling the next cup of steaming hot coffee in her quiet manner. Pulling his eyes away, he sipped the steaming black coffee while contemplating the last two conversations he’d had. Like the squirrels still running circles, the words circled back as well, in two very different ways, they both said the same thing.