CHAPTER SIX
Gabe
Iglance up from my phone as I cross the street and my gaze lands on Lo and her friend Clementine. They each have cupcakes in their hands, and Lo’s mouth drops open when she notices me.
I throw my arms wide as I step closer. “Oh, shit. Here’s trouble.”
“Hey, we were just talking about you,” Lo says.
“Really? All good, I hope.”
“Yeah, I was just telling Clem how much fun I had the other night.” She reaches up on tiptoes to kiss my cheek. I sweep her tiny frame off her feet and ignore the knowing look Clementine gives me over Lo’s shoulder. She smells fucking incredible, like daisies, ocean salt, and sun-warmed skin. I’d give fucking anything to be that cupcake in her hand right now.
“How’s the healing?” I set her back on her feet, even though I don’t want to let her go.
“So good.” She steps back, color in her cheeks and those bright golden eyes sparkling. “I mean, we’re in the gross, itchy, scab stage right now, but I can already see that you were right. It’s going to be gorgeous.”
“Yeah,” Clem agrees. “Great work. It must have been tough getting into some of those creases, huh? Bet you had to get all up in there nice and tight.”
Lo rolls her eyes. “Clem’s just jealous. Nobody’s been all up in her tight bits for so long she’s grown cobwebs.”
Clementine playfully shoves her friend. Lo screws up her nose and then pokes her tongue out. This fucking woman’s whole demeanor is infectious.
“Besides, it wasn’t even like that,” Lo says. “Gabe is a professional.”
“I have no doubt.” Clem gives me a shit-eating grin. “So, how’s Annie?”
My smile falters. “She’s good. Working.”
“And where are you going with such pretty flowers?”
“Uh ...” I glance at the bright, fuchsia tulips. “Hot date. You guys wanna come?”
They exchange a glance and I know exactly what they’re thinking—player. They couldn’t be further from the truth.
“Seriously?” Lo says, looking disappointed.
“Seriously, she’s about yay high”—I hold my hand out at waist-height— “sharp as a tack, a real, brown-eyed doll, and around eighty years old.”
“Does Annie know you’re dating a senior citizen?” Lo says.
“She’s surprisingly okay with it.”
“Well, this I have to see,” Lo says with a laugh.
Clementine frowns. “Not me. Old people scare the shit out of me. I have to be at work in an hour anyway.”
Lo hugs her roommate. “I’ll see you later tonight?”
“Sure will. I finish around two.” Clementine arches her brows at me as she squeezes her friend. “Don’t wait up.”
Clem swats her friend on the butt as she walks away. Lo giggles and turns to me with a smile that steals the breath from my lungs and knocks me off my fucking feet.Jesus. Friends don’t have this reaction to one another. Friends aren’t supposed to want to push the other against the nearest wall and fuck their brains out. I need to get whatever schoolboy crush I’m harboring for Lo Maven out of my goddamn system, because I’ve been with Annie for a year. IloveAnnie, or I wouldn’t put up with her insecure bullshit. She’d kill me if she knew I was taking Lo to meet Ruthie. So what the fuck am I doing courting this insanity?
Lo’s smile falters as she stares up at me. “What? Do I have cake on my face?”
No.
“Yeah.” I reach out and pretend I’m brushing crumbs off her lip, but it’s just an excuse to touch her, to see if they’re as soft as they look. “Perfect.”