Gabby Revealed (Finding Perfect) (12 page)

Chapter Nineteen

What was o
nly hours ago, when he’d held her in his arms now felt like a lifetime ago. Sitting at the same dining table in John’s house with Gabby felt surreal. It hadn’t been that many days before that the ornery older man was both playing protector and matchmaker at this very table.

Gabby sat stirring her coffee
. It was the same china cup still full from when they arrived and was probably ice cold, yet she’d never even taken a sip. Shane reached for her hand, without looking up, she snaked her own hand out looking for the support. A hundred people had patted her on the shoulder, names and faces Shane would never remember. For only a few did Gabby stand and accept their hugs. A cop and his fiancé, Taryn, were two. Shane was able to pick up on them from Gabby’s stories. The only others he recognized on his own were from the bar, Jeff and Kelly, and Gabby’s parents. However, John’s small house was busting at the seams, a testament to how much everyone in town liked him.

“
It’s nice to see you again, man. Hey, I’m so sorry, Gabby.”

She and
Shane both looked up to see a face Shane knew he’d seen somewhere before.

“Thanks
, Tyson,” Gabby replied and went back to stirring. The two men shook hands silently.

“I don’t understand why everyone keeps telling me they’re sorry. I wasn’t his daughter, granddaughter
, or family at all.”

“No, you were more. You chose to be there for him. That’s a true friend.” She didn’t answer but squeezed his hand. Shane made sure she had a plate of food and a drink, although she seemed content on stirring the first cup of coffee she’d gotten when they arrived some time ago. As the afternoon started to fade
, so did the crowd, until it was
just
Laura and her brother, Conner, along with their families.

“Good, you’re still here
,” Laura said softly as she sat with them. “Conner and I wanted to catch you before you left.”

Gabby glanced between the pair of siblings
, now both sitting with them, then at him. In an un-Gabby-like move, she grabbed for his hand, first this time.

“Gabby, we can’t thank you enough for everything you did for Dad.”

“I didn’t, it really…it wasn’t.”

“Honey, Dad loved you
,” Conner said gently. “He lived for your meals, conversation, and for your latest book.” Shane hid the laughter bubbling up within him, seeing Gabby’s face go from shock to embarrassment. “It’s okay,” Conner continued. “We were bound to secrecy. But Dad made sure we knew about and bought each book the day it hit the shelves. You’re amazing.”

“There was one thing Dad wanted for you.” Laura winked at her brother. Gabby’s eyes narrowed and Shane stroked the top of her hand with his thumb. “You knew Dad as well as we did. And by your actions, loved him as much too. That means you weren’t immune to his, um
—” Laura bit her lip, shifted in her seat and turned to her brother. “His, ah, quirky pranks?”

Conner snorted
. “I was going to say he liked playing cupid, but you go ahead and beat around the bush some more if you want.”

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Gabby spit out.

Shane knew Gabby was in no mood for games, it’d been a long day and, for her, John was more than simply the friendly old guy in town. The scowl lines deepened across her face.

“Conner…geez, I was trying to soften the blow a bit. Anyway. Dad left you something very special to him. However
—” Laura giggled. “You know Dad—there’s a catch.” Inhaling, Gabby popped her neck side-to-side, but remained aloof. “Here, read this, it should explain everything.”

Shane kept his eyes on Gabby, his stomach rolled. She’d been through a lot, more than anyone knew. He’d been an agent long enough to hear the stories of how writing in some cases left the author spent. In this instance, with the marathon Gabby had pulled it was true. She’d yet to recover
, and add in John and her feelings for his loss, she was running on empty. Shane liked to think the only reason she’d slept the last two nights was because he’d held her tight in his arms. He sucked in a rush of air as she unfolded the letter written on simple notebook paper.

“John didn’t write this?” Gabby looked up at his kids.

“No, but he signed it. When I visited last weekend, he told me he wanted my help, so I did. Word for word is his, Gabby. I promise,” Laura replied, tipping her head sincerely.

Gabby released his hand,
and gripped his arm tight instead. Shane scooted his chair closer and wrapped his free arm around her, reading over her shoulder.

My dearest Gabrielle,

You are so special to me, like my own. Your grandparents and Edith would be so proud of the person you’ve become. They loved the store, but not as much as you, and I know they are probably relieved to see that it will stay in the family for many more years. Their love of books continuing on. I’m so sorry neither of them got to see the success your writing has become, or meet the man your books brought into your life.

You spent as much time in this house as you did the one next door. We sure loved living next to your grandparents. I remember your help as a little girl with the garden, and Edith was so glad to have another little girl to bake with once Laura and Connor were both gone away at college. You kept us young. You need to show Shane your growth marks on the back door frame, next to the other kids’ and grandkids’. Oh and the bathroom, I can’t be sorry about that. Although I did promise Laura you’d tell her about it. Did Shane ever figure me out?

About him. I’m so glad you found your match. He’s perfect for you Gabby. It’s time to let go of old hurts, honey. Time to move on. I saw the way he looks at you, and he and I spoke, he knows not to hurt your already sore heart.

Gabby paused, glancing at him. Shane simply kissed her temple. Letting out a deep sigh, she returned to the letter.

I want to give you something. I know you would never accept a dime for all you did for me. That help came from your heart, as does mine to you. It made me so sad when your folks sold the house next door after your grandparents passed. There’s more than a lifetime of memories linked to these two homes. I want that to continue. You cannot
argue; the deed has already been changed. This home is now yours—and Shane’s. He’s the one, Gabrielle. I know this like I knew my Edith was meant for me, and as Connor and Laura found their perfect soul mates, an old man like me knows certain things. Whether he said the words yet or not, he feels it. He loves you. Let him, Gabrielle. Let him in. My strong, strong girl, let him take care of you.

I always worried about you. Then five years ago, a change occurred. You thought no one noticed, but I did young lady. And I quickly figured out it had more to do with who was in New York than the publishing of your books. You could care less about your name on a shelf, or the money, but you live to write and after meeting Shane, I know why you’ve been so much happier these last few years.

Now do an old man a favor, keep filling this home with memories, and don’t ever quit writing.

All my love,

John

A wet drop landed next to John’s shaky signature. Shane was as dumbfounded as Gabby appeared.

“How can you be all right with this?” she asked gasping. Shane held tighter to the woman he’d fallen for. He hadn’t been sure it was mutual until John pointed it out.

“Dad want
ed this, Gabby. Connor and I, we agree. We don’t want to sell this house to anyone, it means too much. No one else would care about it, about the memories, the marks in the wood, the squeaky board on the porch, they wouldn’t know which window Connor broke four times with a baseball. You understand the love in the wood and plaster. You know how much of the carpentry was done with Dad’s own bare hands. Plus, our lives are settled away from here. Connor’s girls are in high school, he can’t move them here, and mine are going into middle school next year. This isn’t home to them. It is to you. And Shane.”

“But?”

“Hon.” Connor chuckled, wiggling his eyebrows as he looked between Shane and Gabby. “We may not live here anymore, but the rumor mill still works incredibly fast.”

“I believe these are yours now.” Laura slid John’s key ring across the lace tablecloth. “You’ve always been an honorary Ramsey, sweetheart. Connor and I never had to worry about Dad, and we have you to thank.”

Shane studied the worn keys, the shine gone from the key chain. Gabby snaked her finger toward the colorful pieces of plastic braided together. “You made that didn’t you?” he whispered.

“I…I didn’t know he kept it all this time.”

Chapter Twenty

“Gabby, can I drop in at Dianna’s for a minute?”

Dragging her gaze away from the passenger window of his rental car, Gabby stared blankly at the man driving. Shane was stunningly handsome. His smile melted her heart, even though she never let him know it. He kept his eyes, his perfect eyes, on the road ahead with only the occasional glance her direction. She’d been close enough to see the flecks of gold and green in his light brown eyes.
She’d seen them roar to fire within a single heartbeat.

It’d been a rollercoaster of a day, now she was numb.
All her secrets had been spoken by a man no longer on the earth. He’d made sure before he died she had no way of hiding any longer.

“Darling?”

Blinking away from the letter pictured in her head, she spoke, “Sure.”

Passing The Looking Glass storefront, Shane turned left
and continued on the square to the first right on Maple instead of turning left again to stay on the square. She’d grown up here, a series of left turns, one after the other.

“Ladies first.” Shane winked as he held Dianna’s main door open for her.

“Hello you two.” Dianna smiled sweetly. “I’m sure you’re not hungry, but I can set a table for two in the dining room if you’d like something, coffee, tea…anything at all?”

“No, thank you though. We’ll probably not be here long
,” Shane answered.

The last five days had changed everything
the world as she’d known it. Her private life no longer existed. Everyone at John’s funeral seemed to know Shane was more than a friend. Hell, until this morning it wasn’t as if she’d really accepted the truth but the whole damn town had figured it out by God. Even her second career…she’d been outed.

“Are you
all right, Gabby? You’re awfully pale. Do you need some water?”

The weight crushing her made her movements feel like she was in slow motion as she shook her head at Dianna.

Shane grasped her hand lightly in his and led her down the hall talking over his shoulder, “I think she’s just had a hard few days. I’ll keep an eye on her.”

“Please do, Shane.” Dianna’s voice betrayed her worry, but Gabby didn’t turn to face her.

“Come on in, I’ll just be a minute, but I really wanted to change out of my suit and grab something I needed.”

Gabby remained quiet, drifting to the chair in the corner by the window. She’d been in this room before. Dianna had always been one of the few women close to her age
she’d had any relationship with. On occasion, she’d pitched in at the inn, helping her. Gabby respected her as a businesswoman as well. They both had taken an established family business and run with them. And like Gabby, Dianna also lived a quite private life, though for different reasons.

Running a finger over the plush velvet of the arm on the chair, Gabby felt pride for her friend swelling within her. What she’d done with the bed and breakfast was nothing short of phenomenal.

The breeze drifted through the leaves on the trees, the flowers planted in the earth below danced as well. She’d hit that invisible wall, sliding face first down it. In the moment, she’d pushed her fears of Shane’s intentions far out of reach where she couldn’t feel them. During the funeral, with her heart already cracking, they bubbled up through the empty spots. And how could that crazy old man leave a house to her and him? What if Shane didn’t want that?

Shane stood
staring at her from the bathroom doorway for several long moments. Gabby had no idea he was watching her, she was lost in her own thoughts as she gazed out the window. Fortifying his nerves, he stepped tentatively toward what he hoped was his future. She didn’t seem to hear his motions, not that he’d tried to be quiet. Running a hand over her head, he continued down the length of her silky brown hair as he kneeled in front of her. He’d never tire of that softness. Slowly she faced him, wide-eyed, but waiting.

“I want my Gabby back.” He took her face in his palms. “And in time, I know you’ll be back to the spit and fire I love so much. For now though
—” He leaned in closer and closer to her mouth with every word. “I’ll take advantage of the quiet.”

Winking, he made contact finally. Her lips were everything he’d ever desired. Soft and yielding
. Exactly as he’d hoped, Gabby gave herself into the kiss, her hand gripped his biceps then slipped, her fingertips fisting the cotton of his sleeve. For years she’d fought his flirting, his advances, numerous emails, most totally unnecessary and not business related at all. She was practical. He understood that now. She’d been hurt and that scared him more. Shane had moved halfway across the country for a girl that might not ever learn to trust him.

But then, the tip of her tongue met his. Shane pulled her into him, tilting her head for more, a deeper connection. Gabby sagged against him. This time not from exhaustion, but from want, from ne
ed, both he was happy to fulfill. The weight of her against him felt so good, so right. Shane sat back on his heels, pulling her with him out of the chair slowly until they were lying on the rug in front of the fireplace in his room.

Although it was unlit, it didn’t matter. She’d allowed him to take more. Gabrielle James, the most stubborn,
hardheaded, smart-mouth he’d ever known in his entire life was letting him have control. Shane rolled, adjusting them so he could work his leg between hers. Pressing himself into her. With the thin black dress pants she had on, Shane made sure Gabby had no doubts regarding the way he felt about her.

Pulling away from his greedy mouth, Gabby gasped for air. Shane
moved his kisses to her neck, felt the pounding of her pulse and didn’t the moment to end because of something minor like oxygen.

“Shane…”

Her voice was raspy and hoarse, and his name had never sounded better. “Say it again. Please Gabby, say my name again.”

“Please
, Shane.”

His name was one thing, begging for him was a force of nature he had no defense against. Not after five long years, even if most of it he’d spent in love with a mystery woman.
This morning, making love to her for the first time had been everything he’d wanted. It wasn’t enough. Shane didn’t think he’d ever get enough of his Gabrielle. “Darling, just my name. I’m weak right now. Not here. Not where walls are thin. I want you in a bed this time, I want all of you. Nothing held back.”

A strained chuckled rumbled in her throat
. “Jackass.”

Shane licked a ticklish spot near her ear lobe he’d found
. “Smartass.”

“Two.” She panted.

“Two. What?” he asked moving back toward her plumped and abused lips.

“Cuss words. From
the proper—ahh. The proper Mr. Compton.”

The enigma fro
m Kansas had left him hard and needing relief on more occasions than he cared to count. Now though, this move may kill him. Risking more things than life and limb. “I’ll show you proper.” Shane got to his hands and knees and stood quickly, pulling Gabby off the floor. The momentum had her crashing into his chest. He loved that feeling, however at the moment his control was running dangerously close to the snapping point. “Let’s go out to dinner.” Shane kissed her forehead, afraid touching her lips would spike the pain in his already tight jeans. “We need to talk.”

Dragging in a deep breath Gabby narrowed her eyes. Shane wanted to laugh
. She was always suspicious. The other part of him wanted to beat his head against the wall.

“About what?”

“Everything.”

“Everything what?”

“Us, Gabby, us.”

“There is no—”

“Don’t finish that sentence. For years you’ve shut me out and I let you because, well for God’s sake, we hadn't met. That, by the way was all your doing. But now? I told you this morning. Flat out, word for word, I told you. Yes Gabby…there sure as hell is something special between us, and I’m not letting you pretend there isn’t for one more damn minute.”

Gabby let out a snort, an unladylike one at that. “Three.”

“Three what?”

“Cuss words.”

The evil glimmer sparkled brightly in her blue eyes. He ran his hands through his hair, fisting the short strands. “God, woman. You drive me crazy.”

“Then why would you want me?”
she taunted back.

Shane gripped her shoulders and backed her up against the wall. With his face close to hers he spelled it out. “Because I love that you make my dull life crazy. I love that you fight me, but I know I’m winning one way or another. I don’t care how long it takes—I’ve waited five year
s, I can wait another five. I moved here, now it’s not as easy for you to just hang up on my ass and ignore me.”

“Four.”

“Woman!” Shane drew in a ragged breath trying not to laugh, knowing it would only suffice in making her more incorrigible. “I know how to shut your ass up—”

“Five.”

Shane dove in, attacking her lips with a passion and rage she’d been stoking like a slow burn. Her teasing and smiles were drops of gasoline on smoldering embers. She didn’t know this side of him well—yet. He’d fallen hard for her. As he’d strived for good grades in college, dedicated his time to his work, he had a quiet fight in him. Seemingly though, a certain brown-haired, bestselling bookworm was the one person who could bring that part of him to the surface.

Her fingers grasped at his belt loops through the fabric of his untucked shirt. The minx was going to win this battle yet. Shane let the kiss go, resting his forehead against hers as he slid his palms from her shoulders to the wall behind her, bracing himself, trying desperately to hold himself back, mumbling under his breath.

“Six.” Gabby snickered, at first. Then slid down the front of him, for a split-second her face was dangerously close to his crotch. She ended up on her knees in a fit of uncontrolled giggles.

He gazed at the top of her head, his brow raised. Her giggles turned to gasping-for-air laughter. It dawned on him—he’d never heard that beautiful sound from her. Sure it was at his expense
, and he had no real clue as to why she thought it was so funny he said the occasional curse word. It was the stupidest thing ever and Shane couldn’t help but catch the contagious silliness. Crouching down in front of her, Shane tipped her chin up to see her face. Her eyes glistened, her fingers pressed against her jaw as she worked it side-to-side.

“Damn, my face hurts.”

“I love seeing you this happy. You’re perfect Gabby.”

She rolled her eyes, but her smile didn’t fade.