Stranger in Town (Dundee, Idaho #5)(60)
Author: Brenda Novak

She supposed she should’ve called to give him some warning that she was coming. She wasn’t sure exactly why she hadn’t. Maybe she was afraid he’d act as if he didn’t want to see her after all the gossip.

“Sorry to bother you,” she said. “But James Deerborn—”

His eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Who?”

She took a deep breath because her heart was hammering so hard she could hardly speak above it. “The yearbook guy. He’s been bugging me to finish up the pictures I was supposed to give him last week, so…I was hoping I could take that photograph we talked about the other day.” The day she’d brought Ashleigh to his house. The day he’d insisted she join the party on Saturday and everything between them had changed….

Gabe studied her for several seconds but didn’t move back or invite her in. “What happened to your cheek?”

“Oh.” She laughed, hoping he wouldn’t press. “I ran into the door in the middle of the night. It was dark,” she added quickly.

He didn’t smile in return. “When?”

“Sunday.”

“After you left here.”

She nodded.

“Let me look at it.” He motioned for her to lean closer.

After a moment’s hesitation, Hannah bent down so that they were at eye level. Lazarus tried to lick her face, but Gabe nudged him away and held her chin firmly as he examined her injury. Meanwhile, she could see the long sweep of his dark lashes, the soft lips that had grazed her skin in so many places….

“It’s almost gone,” she said, pulling back before the longing could grow any worse.

He seemed oblivious to the instant arousal flooding her. “You want to tell me again how you got it?”

What did he mean? She just had! “It was stupid, really. I—”

“Didn’t walk into a door,” he finished for her.

She wasn’t sure how to respond. No one else had challenged her story. “Well…”

“Well?” he repeated.

She swallowed hard and knelt to pet Lazarus. “I need to take your picture, Gabe.”

“Was it Russ?” he asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “It’s not going to happen again.”

The line of his jaw hardened. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I have the situation under control.”

“Do the boys know?”

When she stood, Lazarus whined as though disappointed to lose her attention. “Of course not. No one knows. It wouldn’t matter anyway. I could announce it from the rooftops right now and no one would even notice. The only thing anyone seems to care about is the fact that we slept together last weekend.”

At her reference to what had happened between them, his gaze swept over her, letting her know that the arousal she’d experienced wasn’t as one-sided as she’d thought. Still, he wasn’t willing to let the subject go. “Is that why he hit you? Because he found out about us?”

It hadn’t taken even that much. The flowers had done it. But she didn’t want to spell out the details. “He got jealous, that’s all.”

“I think he and I need to have a talk.”

“It’s fine, Gabe. I filed a police report.”

“Good. So you’re going to press charges?”

“No. At this point, taking it that far would only succeed in making the boys and everyone else feel sorry for him. I can already hear what he’d say. I barely hit her. It only happened once. She threw Gabe in my face. I only wanted to document the incident in case I need to go back to court someday.”

“You’re considering filing for full custody of the boys?”

“I’ve tried that several times already, but it never works. Russ’s family always marches into court and makes it sound as though I’m uptight and worried about nothing. It’s frustrating for me, and all the anxiety and fighting only makes life more difficult for the boys.”

“Having this on record should help.”

“Russ took one impulsive swipe. Because he’s never done it before, the court might decide I provoked him. Bottom line, I doubt it’ll be enough. But I’m ready, just in case it happens again. One isolated incident he might be able to explain away; two, he wouldn’t.”

Suddenly Lazarus barked and tore off in pursuit of some small furry animal. Hannah caught only a brief glimpse of it as it scampered into the trees, but she thought it might be a skunk.

When Gabe whistled, the dog immediately halted, but he swung his head between his target and his master as though he was still tempted—until Gabe added a sharp command to the whistle. Then Lazarus reluctantly returned. “He could hurt you a lot worse next time,” Gabe said, looking back at her.

“I honestly don’t think there’ll be a next time,” she said. “He seemed pretty upset by what he did.”

Gabe rubbed his chin for several seconds, then finally rolled back. “Want to come in?”

She nodded and stepped past him. Lazarus followed her inside and cocked his head curiously as she started retrieving the camera from her bag.

“You’re not going to take a picture of me like this, are you?” Gabe asked.

“Why not?”

“Because I need to shower first.”

“Oh, right.” To her, he looked good just the way he was. “You want me to wait here?”

“Is it my choice?” he asked.

Too late, Hannah realized how he’d interpreted her question. Their gazes met and held, and she knew things between them could never be the way they used to be. She knew too much. She knew the salty taste of his skin, the woodsy scent of his body, the gentle play of his hands when he touched her in places only Russ had touched her before. She even knew the intimate sounds he made when he abandoned all restraint and drew her as close to him as a woman could get….

“Hannah?” he prompted when she didn’t respond right away.

She knew she should still be fighting the good fight, for self-preservation if nothing else. She was going to be destroyed when he finally broke things off with her. But her boys didn’t seem to object to her seeing Gabe, and the entire town was already buzzing with the news. She had nothing else to cling to. Her attraction to him seemed bigger than she was, almost beyond her control. In any case, deep down, she knew it was no use fighting—she’d already lost the battle.

Setting her camera aside, she knelt between Gabe’s legs, lifted his shirt and pressed her lips to his warm, flat stomach.