Stranger in Town (Dundee, Idaho #5)(34)
Author: Brenda Novak

“This isn’t what you seem to think,” she argued. “It’s just a night out with friends.”

“Right.” He rolled his eyes. “It’s venturing into the singles scene, and if I’m going, you’re coming with me.”

Her forehead gathered into a V. “Why?”

“Why not? Don’t you want to date, have fun…maybe even make love again?”

She turned a deeper shade of red than before. “I have kids.”

The way she said it told Gabe more than she probably wanted him to know. It had been a long time since she’d felt a man’s hands on her body—and, yes, she missed it.

He fought off a fresh wave of desire. “Some people don’t think having kids and an active social life are mutually exclusive.”

“In Dundee they are. There’s no way to have a relationship without word spreading all over town. I’m beginning to think the bigger gossips actually troll the neighborhoods at night, hoping to find someone’s car in the wrong drive.”

“The gossips are still that hungry after all I’ve offered them over the years?”

She propped a hand on her hip. “You haven’t been doing your part lately.”

He chuckled. “Okay, I’ll give you that. But you have to meet men somehow. Don’t you plan to remarry someday?”

“No.”

She didn’t qualify her response, which surprised him. He rolled back several feet. “It was that bad with Russ?”

“It was that bad.”

He felt a flicker of sympathy for her, but he knew he couldn’t give in to it. He had to push her the same way she was pushing him or she’d spend the next six years like the last. Maybe, because she didn’t live in a remote cabin, no one else noticed, but she was isolating herself almost as much as he was. “Not every guy is like Russ.”

She didn’t respond, so he went for his ace in the hole. “And the way I figure it, you owe it to me to do pretty much whatever I ask.”

She folded her arms—which wasn’t too lamentable in that white shirt—and leaned against the wall. “I owe you?”

He struggled against a smile and indicated his wheelchair. “Look what you’ve done to me. It’s tragic.”

She pursed her lips together. “Somehow it’s more tragic when you’re not trying to capitalize on it.”

He couldn’t help laughing. “Can you really begrudge me a little fun?”

“Fun? At my expense? You told me I should forget you and move on with my life. You told me to forgive myself. What happened to that?”

“You didn’t do it,” he said with a shrug. “You decided to stick your nose in my business instead. Now I’m doing you the same favor.”

She stared at her feet for a few seconds before looking up at him again. “So this…revenge of yours. It’s essentially a blind date?”

“More or less,” he said brightly. “Now go put that blouse back on so we can leave.”

She shoved off the wall. “You don’t think your friend will like me in this?”

He let his lips curve into a slow, crooked grin. He suspected she was still wearing the bra he’d seen earlier and he enjoyed the contrast of daring and sexy hidden beneath the almost-puritanical while shirt she had on now. He liked thinking he’d be the only one who knew the color and texture of that skimpy bra. But he was pretty sure Hannah needed some sexual experience beyond Russ, and as much as he wanted to do the honors, he knew he wasn’t the right man for the job. “I think it’s safe to assume he’d prefer Option A.”

RACE, THE MAN Gabe had set Hannah up with, was nothing short of gorgeous. He had blond hair, of course, just as Gabe had promised, a tall, muscular body, a perfect tan, and large white teeth he often revealed in a gleaming smile. When Gabe first introduced his friend, he announced that Race had been part of a male revue in Vegas. That information certainly didn’t impress Hannah, but she would have been okay with it if subsequent conversation hadn’t revealed the guy to be immature and egotistical.

He was the male version of the stereotypical blond bimbo, she decided as she watched him talk, and knew by the devilish smile Gabe cast her every once in a while that, not only did he agree, he’d invited Race for that very reason. He was playing with her—and seemed to be enjoying it.

While watching her, he entertained Ashleigh and her two girlfriends, Michelle and Jessica, so well they worshipped him with their eyes and hung on his every word—while she struggled to keep from yawning as Race regaled her with his latest modeling exploits. He’d just received a call from someone at Calvin Klein, he said, and was ninety-nine percent sure he’d be their next underwear model.

She was a thirty-seven-year-old mother of two, and he was a twenty-four-year-old model with his sights set on New York and Paris. They were worlds apart, but she was determined to prove to Gabe that she could have as much fun tonight as he was. She told Race he was perfect for billboards across America and Europe, and of course the job would be offered to him because…gosh, he was so darn handsome. Then she told everyone she wanted to wash her hands and excused herself from the table so she could manage a brief respite in the bathroom.

At least she no longer felt self-conscious about her blouse, she thought as she crossed the small, trendy restaurant. Race didn’t even seem to be aware of what she was wearing. Of course, Ashleigh had squeezed into a tiny black dress cut so low she nearly spilled out of it, so Hannah looked tame by comparison. It did seem a little odd, however, that the only person who really seemed to notice her, at least at their table, was Gabe. His eyes lit on her every few minutes and drank in what her blouse revealed, causing a sudden rush of heat to pool low in her belly. Then he’d give her a mysterious smile, and she’d respond by throwing herself into her role as the ideal date for Race with renewed enthusiasm.

If he was trying to teach her a lesson, it was working. Setting him up with Ashleigh had been a bad idea. Wearing this outfit had been a bad idea. Spending the past two hours driving to Boise with him, talking comfortably about their days at Dundee High, the football team, her hopes for Kenny and Brent, and her photography business was a bad idea. Now all she wanted to do was ignore everyone else and draw him away.

“Isn’t this a blast?” Ashleigh said.

Turning in surprise, Hannah swallowed a sigh of disappointment to see that her friend had followed her into the bathroom. So much for finding solitude.