Gabby Revealed (Finding Perfect) (7 page)

“Shane
,” Gabby whispered as the gold bells jingled. “Shh. Please.”

Her eyes were wide, staring at the door
, and it appeared what relief she’d found with her parents relishing her secret was wiped away as two women waltzed in, their clothing, purses, heels, the complete package was what he’d run from in New York. The hair on the back of his neck stood.

Gabby’s mother swiped at the air, confusing him. “Just be nice, Gabby. They’re customers
, remember?”

“Yeah, you said to be nice back in high school too, Mother. A lot of damn good that did me now
, didn’t it huh?”

“Gabrielle, don’t talk to your mother like that.”

Shane ran his finger through her belt loop, securing her place at his side. Funny how he’d always heard a picture was worth a thousand words, but here, a hushed conversation spoke millions. Gabby had forsaken everything to keep from hurting her father, yet business came first. Even before their daughter’s heart. He’d have to ask her later if it had always been like this. Leaning toward her ear, he softly spoke, “I feel like I’m under a microscope.”

“Welcome to Renlend, Shane.
You’re the hottest thing here next to sliced bread. Those two want nothing more than to see if you’re real or if the rumors are false.”

“Well, well, well
, Gabby. Are you going to continue being so rude to your clientele, or are you going to introduce us to this handsome man?” Elise said, reaching toward Shane’s forearm.

Pulling out of arm’s length, he
repositioned himself behind Gabby, pulling her against the length of his body, not shielding himself from the venomous bitch, but staking Gabby as his claim, using Gabby to mark him as hers. The instant he took himself off the market for either woman, the other glared directly at Gabby, the contempt in her dark eyes wasn’t only ugly—she looked pure evil. Her hair and face though seemed familiar.

“What do you need, Maggie?” Gabby asked, but Shan
e heard the fire in her brewing, and he didn’t miss the condescending look her mother threw her
daughter
. Another piece of the puzzle was close to revealing itself, and Shane had a feeling it wasn’t pretty. She went taut in his hold, taking slow deep breaths.

A perfectly manicured brow rose as her chin tipped. “Well, I was on my way next door for a latte, non-fat of course
, for those of us that worry about our appearances.” Maggie snickered at the woman standing next to her, but Shane caught the insinuation. “We wanted to stop in here on our way to see if you’d finally gotten Jamieson’s latest book in since you never seem to run enough inventory in this little “shop” of yours.”

“How ironic
,” Shane said, not thinking about it until he caught Gabby’s lethal elbow right in the gut—for the second time.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she hissed.

“Nothing, Maggie. I got some in yesterday, you walked right passed them, but then again, you were too busy ogling Shane to notice. Surprise, surprise.”

“Well apparently his taste isn’t up to par, so why would I waste my time? Why don’t you go fetch me the latest
, so I can just pay and get out of here?”

“Why don’t you walk your ass over there to that shelf right over there, pick up a damn book
, and I’ll ring you up. Better yet, order online. Then I don’t have to deal with you.”

“Gabrielle
,” her mother spit out.

“It’s quite
all right, Mrs. James. I’m used to this sort of service now that you and Mr. James retired and sold the store to her.”

Gabby continued breathing heavy in his hold as her father picked up the book while the two women stared each other down.
Shane wanted to reach across the glass counter top and smack Maggie, fixing her eye-rolling problem for her. He’d dealt with bitchy, but this woman took it to a new extreme. Punching in the information, she scanned the card and gave it a flick of her wrist, sending it gliding over the glass to the floor below.

“Oops. Sorry. Sign.” Gabby slammed a pen down on the receipt.

“You never change.”

“Oh I had to. Thanks to you.”

“Shane, since you’re not from around here and don’t know a real woman from a wallflower, give me a call. It’s been a pleasure meeting you. Oh, and its Maggie Lane. I don’t believe I caught your last name or where you’re staying.”

“No. You didn’t.” Shane sneered. Lane. Wow. That was it. She was Dianna’
s sister, but damn. There was no way they could be close to being related. Sure the similarities lay in their faces, but ended there as well.

“And?” Maggie smiled.

He’d been flashed a thousand fake smiles in his lifetime. Shane could see through them each and every time. “And…what?”

“You
r name?” She grinned as if the last seven minutes had actually taken place. “Where are you staying?”

Waiting for a long moment, he gave her as little information as possible,
“Shane.”

“Shane…you don’t have a last name?”

He wrapped his arms around Gabby, enveloping her across the chest in his hold. With a million dollar smile of his own, “It’s been nice meeting you both. The pleasure has been all mine. I’m sure.” Gabby’s wild streak didn’t ignite, even with her parents seeing her in his hold. Sensing her vulnerability, Shane hugged her tighter, wanting to protect her. Her ice-cold hands reached up and gripped his forearms.

“Maggie, I’ve got a million things to do, so hurry up
,” Elise said, her nose in the air.

Chapter Nine

No one said anything as the pair flounced their way out of the store, and he felt the tension drain from Gabby as soon as the door closed behind them. The last few moments of his life had been surreal, as if he’d walked straight back through a set of high school doors.
The minute they were gone, Gabby’s mother acted as if nothing had happened to her daughter. There was no apology, no sincere sorrow in her eyes, only the scolding Gabby received for not pampering the customer. Shane held in his disgust, concentrating on the girl still in his arms.

“We must get going.
” Her mother’s chipper voice, the one that made him feel like he’d missed something as a child suddenly irritated him.

Happy to see them go,
Shane walked with Gabby through the store, his palm resting on her lower back as they ushered her parents to the door. The familiar bells chimed.

Her father reached out,
“Well, son, it was nice to meet you.”

Shane gripped the outstretched hand for a hearty shake.

“Yes, Shane, it seems it has been a long time coming—though unbeknownst to us.” Her mother’s smile matched Gabby’s identically—the few times she’d allowed it to shine.

It struck him in that moment, although he’d managed to get Gabby to laugh a few times, there was a
new lightness to her, even after dealing with that witch. Keeping her secret must have really been dragging her down. With her career revealed, Gabby appeared different.

The bronze knob twisted back into place as the latch fell and
, though they were alone, Shane couldn’t hear the soft music drifting through the maze of shelves due to the loud pounding of his heart, the rushing blood in his head dominated the quiet.

Here they were
, the two of them alone once again. Gabby stared up at him, silent and blinking. There wasn’t a sharp slap falling from her tongue, the barbs and sass he was used to were missing. Two very different pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place when he figured out why her identity had been tightly guarded, unique and painful. But the front she put up to protect it, even from him or maybe especially from him, was destroyed. He’d demolished it without meaning to. He’d been the one to change their relationship for the second time in days. Now neither knew what to do.

She blinked once more and
her guard went up before his very eyes. She rushed back to the counter. “Fine. I’ll do it.”

He shook his head, the cobwebs
made it hard to think straight. “Do what?”

“Whatever it is you came to talk me into. I’ll do it. You can go now and tell your boss. You win.”

Win? Oh Fuck.

The game had seriously changed since he stepped out of the rental car and was hit, literally
, by the brown-haired beauty now trying to send him packing. She apparently didn’t realize she’d met her match. “Gabby, wait.”

“Just go
, Shane. I’m behind on a deadline—for you of all people.”

How was he supposed to argue with that? He knew each of his authors and their individual writing process
es. It wasn’t something to mess with. “All right. Well, can I at least meet you here and we can walk down to John’s together later?”

“Shit. Dinner. I forgot.” Gabby didn’t look up, her fingers stalled on the keyboard. After a long pause, she inhaled deeply. “Fine. I guess.”

He stared at her back, wishing she’d turn around, but she’d shut down, even more than he was used to.

***

Pulling on her second boot, Gabby stopped and pressed her palm to her stomach. Shane had been in town for days, in her space, constantly following her around like a puppy. For years she’d bossed him around, told him not to call her all the time, not to bug her, and he’d never listened. Until today.

The store had people in and out all morning and afternoon, but she felt nothing but empty silence.
The run in with Maggie and Elise had sickened her, both with anger and embarrassment. She hadn’t wanted him to see that, didn’t want him to know what people thought of her. It’s why she’d tried to keep him in New York. He’d shut the door, the bells jingling as the wood framed brushed the small gold treasures. Then he was gone, and he’d stayed that way. No calls, no cute texts, no surprise visits to the store despite her protests. Something had changed, she wasn’t sure what, but why had he chosen today to follow her directions? Gabby gritted her teeth and blinked rapidly to keep the tears at bay.

Rejection wasn’t new to her, but this was by far the loneliest
she’d ever felt. Adjusting the leg of her jeans over her boot, Gabby leaned forward, rested her elbows on her thighs, and lowered her forehead into her palms. Her cell had been quiet. Too quiet, but she grabbed it, checking for any missed calls or texts while she’d been upstairs changing. Nope. Nothing. Her heart fell as fast as her stomach.

“Shit.” Somewhere along the way, she’d fallen for the flirt, however this wasn’t like writing a book. This love thing was something totally foreign to her.
“Damn it.” She slapped the step she was sitting on. Gabby didn’t want him to turn out like the rest, but it was always women like Maggie who charmed men like him. She thought she’d felt something when he’d held onto her in the store. Obviously the imagination that created books for her could also break her heart, because that’s all it had been. A simple connection that meant nothing to him.

Holding her eyes closed, she let anger wash through her
. At herself for letting his touches mean something, at her parents for always ignoring her feelings for the sake of a sale, and at Maggie. “That bitch never changed,” Gabby whispered to the empty room. “She just gets worse with age. God. How can she still get to me like this?”

***

Shane set his fork on his plate. Like he’d given a signal he hadn’t meant to, Gabby instantly jumped up, snatched his and John’s empty plates up, then disappeared through the swinging door into John’s small kitchen. Absentmindedly, he ran his fingers over the lace tablecloth. The bungalow still showed every feminine touch John’s late wife, Edith, had placed in it. The door swung back into place, the squeak stilled as Shane stared at the white louvers, pondering why Gabby was so distant this evening.

John cleared his throat, folded his cloth napkin back into a perfect rectangle
, and in his shaky, pained speech, “Why don’t you go help her with the dishes, son? She won’t let me. And something tells me, you two have some unfinished business.” Shane glanced back, catching the twinkle in the elderly man’s eyes. “And I don’t mean ‘work.’”

“You know her better than anyone else it seems, may I ask you a question?”

Drumming his wrinkled fingers on the table, John chuckled. “Go ahead and ask, but doesn’t mean I’ll answer. That girl in there—she’s special. One of a kind if you catch my drift. I promised her granddad I’d look after her after he and her grandma passed. She loves her parents, but well you found out she’s kept a big chunk of herself from even them. Now, she takes care of me. As much as I want to see her find a nice young man such as yourself, I don’t want her hurt…not again.”

Pulling away from the warning in John’s gaze, Shane steepled his fingers in front of himself, concentrating on them instead. “I’m thrown
, honestly. I thought we were getting along well, really well actually. Then, as soon as her father found out about her writing and that whole scene with those two women, it’s been like she can’t get me out of town fast enough. I haven’t talked to her all day since she threw me out of her store this morning. And tonight, I was going to walk down with her, but when I got to her door, there was a note saying to meet here, yet her whole demeanor changed as soon as you let me in the front door. Gone are the snide jokes and comments that are ‘Gabby’. I love that side of her. The smart ass slaps and her brand of humor is what I look forward to everyday. Tonight, she hardly said ten words, and never dared to look at me. I realize now the secret part of her she hid from her family must have weighed on her, but why the sudden cold-shoulder? What did I do to hurt her? She didn’t seem terribly mad at me for telling her parents, so what then?”

The water rushing from the faucet halted, John leaned across the small table for four and lowered his voice. “You’re right, I do know that girl. And though she’s made something
extraordinary of herself, there’s a past she can’t move beyond. I won’t tell you details, that’s for her to decide if and when you’ll know, but kids were mean to that sweet girl in there. She became a prisoner locked behind book covers. Worlds and words where she couldn’t be tormented. That doesn’t go away easily.”

“But why the sudden flip of a switch?”

“For one, she told me about Maggie and Elise visiting the store today. She’s terribly embarrassed. But also, I think it’s because she’s fallen for you and she’s petrified of being hurt. She’s smart, I mean smart as a whip. She knows if you come into her world and break her heart, it would be three-fold to what those kids said.”

Pictures and flashes of high school scrolled through his mind. Scenes of teasing he simply walked passed while
with his posse. He never took the time to see the hurt in those kids’ eyes. Not until he placed a younger Gabby in those same images, in the same halls standing near the navy blue lockers of his school. Shane’s breath caught as he imagined her chin dropping to her chest. The viciousness of the women earlier had to have been worse for Gabby at a younger age. The pain in his chest was suddenly real. Without details or circumstances, Shane felt her pain as if it was his own.

“Excuse me.” He pushed back
. His chair slid easily over the aged wood planks. With a palm on the swinging door, Shane pulled in a steadying breath. Gabby stood at the sink, her hands buried in bubbles. Her long hair twisted into waves and curls against her back.

The growing desire for Gabby instantly increased the minute he laid eyes on her. With a quick look at his wrist he silently swore. He had less than sixteen hours to get her to open up, talk to him—fall in love with him.

Deflated, Shane shook his head. Who was he kidding? This was Gabby he was dealing with.