She flopped into a nearby chair and curled into a ball to watch. I regarded Gabi from across the room and gauged my strategy. How could I approach this cold, distant creature? How could I ever explain how I really felt?
I took a step closer. “I guess you overheard my conversation with Jason. I guess that’s why you left. But it is not what you think it is. The paparazzi caught us in the coat closet. They’re trying to paint me as a bad boy again, and my brother and my team want me to get rid of you, but I told them no, Gabi. I told them I wouldn’t do it. I told them I would stand behind you, no matter what.”
Ever so slowly, her eyes swiveled around to my face. She was listening. I had her on the hook. Just a little bit more, and I would be able to get through to her.
I took the last little step. I stuck my hand in my pocket. It was still there. I still had a chance. The words rushed out of me faster than I wanted them to. I couldn’t stop them. “I love you, Gabi. I want to make it all okay again, the way it used to be. Come home. Come home with me. I’m begging you.”
Her face remained as impassive as stone, but her pupils dilated just the smallest amount. This was it. I had to do it now or die trying. I pulled out the velvet box and snapped it open. I dropped on one knee in front of her and held out the ring. “Marry me, Gabi. Marry me for real and make me the happiest man in the world. I love you. I love you more than life itself. I ca
n’t stand you leaving me now. I can’t face the future without you by my side. Say you love me, too. Say you’ll be mine forever and we’ll raise our baby together and be a real family. Please, Gabi. Please marry me. Love me. I need you.”
She stared at the ring so long my heart ached. Then she lifted her eyes to my face, tears brimmed against her eyelids. Her mouth contorted when she tried to smile. She raised her hand, but she wouldn’t let it touch my cheek.
“Yes. I love you more than anything. I never wanted anything but to love you and share your life. I love you.”
20
Gabriela
I checked my lipstick in the dressing room mirror. Gray paced back and forth and shrugged his big shoulders inside his coat. “You look fine. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
I straightened up and turned around to face him. “I know. I’m just checking.”
He put out his hand. “Come on. Let’s go knock ‘em dead.”
I had to smile. We could always knock ‘em dead as long as we did it together.
After Gray had proposed to me, he called his PR team and fired every single one of them. He was sick of how they were dictating his life, and I couldn’t blame him for it. A week later he had an entirely new team in place, a team that he trusted and understood how important I was to him. The team worked tirelessly to spin the gala in our favor.
Gray also had worked everything out with his brother. He explained to him that I was pregnant and how this would only help his re-election campaign. After some thought, his brother had finally backed off as well.
Gray strode down the hall and out from behind the partition. A long table spread out on the other side, and floodlights glared down on the microphones set there. He pulled out my chair until I got settled into place. Then he took the chair next to me.
Cameras clicked, and microphones whined in the sea of indistinct silhouettes beyond the floodlights. Voices boiled out of the crowd. “Can you confirm you were messing around in the gala coat room? Are you pregnant or not? When’s the big day?”
Gray held up his hand for quiet. I didn’t have to stoop to answer these questions with him around. He would always protect me. “We called this press conference to answer all your questions. You’ll leave here with no more innuendos or mysteries to sling around. I can confirm that Gabi is pregnant. As soon as we know the due date, we’ll let you know, too, so you can start counting down the days.”
A titter of laughter rippled through the crowd. I bit back a smile. He always knew how to work an audience.
“I also want to dispel any myths about the gala,” he went on. “We went into the coat closet to get some privacy and quiet. Gabi wanted to tell me the great news that she was pregnant without a lot of strangers overhearing. I admit I kissed her a few times when I found out.”
I couldn’t stop myself from glancing over at him. He turned at the same moment and smiled at me. Our hands migrated across the table to interlock our fingers. A mystical hush fell over the room, all except the clicking cameras.
Gray snapped out of his trance. “Anyways, now you know exactly what we were doing in there. You know why we left suddenly when we came out. I think that’s probably all you need to know.”
Excited talking broke out on all sides, but Gray pushed back his chair. He raised me to my feet, and in sight of everyone, put his hand behind my back and kissed me. Then he steered me back around the partition and away.
The press conference exploded the minute we disappeared. Voices shouted. One reported stuffed his head into the corner and dictated copy into his phone pressed against his ear. “Gabi Landon looks better than ever, and the couple remains rock solid in their commitment to each other and their future family.”
I didn’t hear any more. Gray hustled me down the hall, past the dressing room, and out the back door. The limo stood in the alley behind the building, but no screaming fans clustered around it. Gray yanked the door open, and I ducked inside. The next minute, the limo whispered away from the curb and disappeared into Manhattan traffic.
I sank back in the seat. Gray gazed out the window for a minute, but as soon as the other cars swallowed us up and no one followed us, he turned his piercing eyes on me in a way I couldn’t deny. I knew what that look meant. He was coming after me.
He slid across the seat and cast one thick arm over my shoulders to draw me into his embrace. His lips hovered before me, so inviting, so warm and tingly and exciting. I could let myself get drawn into his magnetic presence. I didn’t have to play the good girl part anymore. Everybody knew about us, and we knew about us, too.
He was my husband, and I was his pregnant wife, and we were going home and….to our home. What could be more perfect than that? He turned me on like I couldn’t believe, and being pregnant awoke hidden powers in my soul I never knew were there. An insatiable hunger for him shattered all my thinking. I couldn’t do anything but respond.
He inched nearer, nearer. His breath filled my nostrils with his manly scent. Even before he kissed me, I slipped my hand inside his blazer against his crisp new shirt. His muscles tensed when I dragged my fingertips over his sides. I loved the way he shivered all over in aching delight. Was he hard right now? All I had to do was feel a little bit lower, and I would find out.