She's Got a Way (23 page)

“Gabi—”

“I work at Briarwood, Luke, because I
hate
how entitlement turns out the kinds of people you hate. I
hate
that schools like mine pamper rich kids and sweep their transgressions under expensive Oriental carpets. I
hate
that kids like Madison and Waverly grow up thinking the world is there
for
them, not the other way around. The reason I'm there is to challenge that entire system, and it pisses me off to no end that I've been doing that for eight years now, and yet the moment I step off campus, the
first
thing you believe is that I'm just another rich bitch putting in her time.”

He pressed his lips together like she'd hit a tender nerve. “I don't think any such thing, Gabi.”

She barreled forward, even though she knew she should probably stop. She wasn't even sure where all of these words were coming from. “Do you have any idea how hard I fought to get those two scholarships approved? How many meetings I had to attend? How much research I had to do in order to prove to the board that having
two
strangers in our midst wasn't going to ruin the entire reputation of my stellar, snobbish school? Do you have any idea how hard I've worked to try to expand that program? To make the case that we should be spending our endowment money on our students, instead of new science buildings and a raise for Priscilla?”

“No.” His word was simple and quiet.

“No. You don't. That's right. And yet you stand there yesterday, after sharing what—I'm sorry—was probably the best damn kiss of my entire life, and you accuse me of
slumming
?”

“I—”

“I don't slum, Luke. I don't fall for people based on their economic level or their résumés. I most certainly don't kiss people I wouldn't want to see the next morning. And I have never done the hookup thing. Ever. I don't. I won't. I kissed you because I like you. I kissed you because you looked so flipping gorgeous sitting there in the moonlight that I couldn't
resist
kissing you. And I
kept
kissing you because I liked it. I liked
you
. It had nothing to do with vulnerability or fear or any of the other things you threw at me.”

“Gabriela?”

Gabi took a breath, trying to corral her racing thoughts. “What?”

“Stop talking.” His voice was gruff and pained at the same time as he stood up and reached for her hands.

Before she could think better of it, she let him pull her out of her chair, and before she could react, he'd hauled her against his body, holding her close as he found her lips with his. This kiss had none of the gentle, languishing energy of two nights ago.
This
kiss was powerful, commanding, hot.

His hands wandered downward over her jean shorts as he kissed her, and as he cupped her, he pulled her tightly against his body, leaving her with no doubt that she wasn't the only one feeling the heat.

Minutes later, after both of them were a little breathless, he pulled back, sliding one hand deliciously upward to cradle her jaw. His eyes skated over her eyes, her nose, her lips, and as if he couldn't resist doing so, he kissed her again. This time it
was
gentle, like she was made of the thinnest glass and he was afraid to shatter her.

And when he pulled back, his eyes were dark, but his smile grew slowly as he tucked her hair behind her ears, then slid his arms around her, bringing her against his chest. He laughed softly, and she could feel him shaking his head gently, his chin moving on top of her head.

“Apparently I like you, too, Gabriela. Didn't mean to. Didn't
want
to. But damn, woman. You're going to be the death of me.”

*   *   *

“Whatcha doing?” Two hours later, after the girls had scattered to brush their teeth and tidy up the tent, Gabi walked toward the admin cottage, where Luke had what looked like six miles of rope lying scattered on the grass.

“Laying bait.”

Gabi felt her eyebrows go upward. “For
what
? What are you hoping to catch?”

“Relax.” He laughed. “Didn't mean it literally. Thought I might see if the girls might be interested in learning a little rock climbing.”

“Rock climbing?” Gabi swallowed. “Like on cliffs? That sort of thing?”

He shrugged casually. “Yep.”

“Um, no. They're not. Interested, I mean.”

“Had a feeling you'd say that.”

“Luke, they're not ready for something like that. I mean, I know we talked about doing some challenge-type stuff, but I didn't think you meant
this.
This is potentially dangerous.”

He stopped coiling a bright green rope, a half-smile on his face. “Waking up in the morning is potentially dangerous, Gabi. Rock climbing with perfectly good safety equipment is not.”

“But—cliffs.”

He winked, holding his thumb and index fingers an inch apart. “Just little ones.”

“Not funny.”

“Let's just see what happens, okay? They may not even take the bait.”

She put one hand on her hip. “But you're pretty sure they will, aren't you?”

He laughed. “They totally will.”

Half an hour later, Gabi sat at the picnic table watching the girls finger the ropes, intrigued by the colors and textures. Luke stood casually winding up different lengths of rope and using complicated-looking knots to bind them.

Sam spoke first. “So you use these for rock climbing?”

“Yep.”

Waverly held up a fluorescent one. “I never would have pictured you using a hot-pink rope, Luke.”

He shrugged. “One of my favorites.”

“Where do you actually go?” Eve asked. “To do the rock climbing?”

Luke pointed across the lake at Kizilla Mountain, which Gabi thought looked much bigger now that she was imagining her girls hanging off its sides.

“Good cliffs over there.”

Sam raised her eyebrows. “You usually take camp kids to do it?”

“Yeah. Took a whole crew last summer. We made an overnight out of it. Hiked up, climbed, did some rappelling.” Luke shrugged like it was no big deal. “Fun stuff.”

“Can
we
do it?” Eve asked, running a blue rope through her fingers.

Luke made a derisive snorting sound. “Hell, no.”

Gabi felt her eyes go wide. What? Hadn't he laid out these ropes exactly for this purpose—to get the girls intrigued and wanting to try it?

“Why not?”

“First, because we have too much to do here. Second, because there's way too much to it. You have to learn knots, and how to build body harnesses, and how to rappel and hold for each other, and—” He made a motion that dismissed the entire idea, and Gabi almost laughed, now realizing what he was doing. When he shot her a warning look, she lifted her water bottle and took a sip, trying to tamp down her smile.

“We could learn.” Sam put her hands on her hips. “You could teach us.”

“Nah. We really don't have time.”

“We have
weeks,
Luke.”

“Exactly.
I
have only weeks left to get this camp whipped into shape. I showed you guys the project list. I don't have time to teach you this stuff. Sorry.”

He turned away from them, setting a coiled rope on the picnic table. As he did, Sam motioned for the girls to pick up other ropes.

“Come on, Luke. Please? Just teach us one knot.” She put up her eyebrows like
she
was playing
him,
and it was all Gabi could do not to laugh. “One knot'll take, like, five minutes, right?”

He sighed, then turned around, rolling his eyes. “Fine. One knot. But that's it. We've got work to do.”

Twenty minutes later, all four girls were sitting in the grass, working their ropes into complicated configurations. Luke had shown them four different kinds of knots, and then handed Gabi a length of rope, as well.

“Want to try?”

“Oh, absolutely.” She smiled as she took the rope, speaking almost in a whisper. “You're good, Luke.”

He shrugged modestly. “Nah. They're just not always as complicated as we make them out to be.”

He walked around the grassy area checking knots, nodding here and there while he gently pointed out mistakes, and despite the fact that she was supposed to be tying her rope, Gabi couldn't unglue her eyes from him.

He crouched down beside Madison to help her untangle one of her knots, and Gabi felt herself staring at the way his T-shirt pulled tight against his back. She took a deep breath, trying to look at anything but him, and her eyes landed squarely on Sam, whose eyebrows were arched.

Sam looked at Luke, then back at Gabi, and she shook her head, a frown touching the corners of her lips as she returned her focus to the rope in her lap.

*   *   *

Later that afternoon, Gabi was up in the garden with Madison, Eve, and Waverly when she heard splashing from down below, and immediately panicked. She and Luke had split up the girls this afternoon in an attempt to tackle more jobs, and the sound of the water sent her adrenaline coursing.

Was it Sam? How could it
possibly
be Sam?

She ran to the edge of the grassy area and peered down through the trees, praying nothing bad had happened. She heard another splash, then saw a ball of white fur, and she laughed. Luke's dogs were playing in the water, and—wait—
was
that Sam?

It was. And she was
in
the water. Still in a T-shirt and shorts, even though Gabi'd bought her a swimsuit before they'd left school, but she was in. The. Water.

Gabi put her hand to her mouth as she watched Sam wade up to her waist, giggling as the dogs circled her. Luke stood only a few feet away in the water, tossing little sticks to the dogs when they came toward him.

After a few minutes, she saw Luke talking to Sam, but was too far away to make out what he was saying. Then he motioned toward the dock, and picked up a couple of tools he'd put there. He handed her something and pointed, and before Gabi knew it, Sam was holding the dock steady, handing tools to Luke as he ducked under to fix something.

Gabi felt her forehead furrow. Sam didn't even look scared right now. She'd avoided the beach area at all cost since they'd arrived, except when she'd pseudo-bathed in water barely over her knees, but now she was waist-deep in water, working on the dock with Luke.

Was this another one of his baiting exercises? Was he getting her into the water under the guise of helping him? Had he already decided that getting her to agree to swimming lessons was a useless venture? Was he using a back-door approach that—so far—looked like it might actually be working?

Then she crossed her arms carefully, thinking back to his words this morning, the way his hands had splayed across her ribs, inching slowly, achingly higher the other night.

Was he baiting
her,
too?

 

Chapter 22

Just before dinner, Gabi was in the kitchen helping Piper when she heard giggles coming from behind the admin cottage. Pausing with a potato half peeled, she looked up at Piper, who'd paused as well.

Piper cocked her head. “That's an odd sound from this crew.”

“I know,” Gabi answered, setting down the potato and wiping her hands. “I'm not sure it's a good one.”

She walked quickly through the dining area and pushed open the screen door, heading for where she'd heard the laughter. When she came around the corner of the cottage, she stopped fast, her eyes widening at the sight. Hanging from the trees were all four girls, tied into rope harnesses Luke must have taught them to make themselves.

Piper came up behind her, laughing when she caught sight of the girls. “Well, this is different.”

“He's tied my students to trees.” Gabi tried to make her voice sound imperious, but when all four girls broke into laughter at once, she stopped bothering.

“They're only three feet off the ground,” Piper pointed out.

“Yes, but … trees. They look like monkeys.”

Just then, Luke tossed a beach ball into the air. “Score is three to two. Go!”

The girls scrambled to get hold of the ball and toss or kick it to—well, she had no idea what the goal was, but
they
seemed to know. They bounced and swung and grabbed the ball, aiming it at each other and cheering randomly. A minute later, they all dissolved in laughter when Madison got her foot caught in her rope and spun in two full circles before she was able to get it freed.

As Luke held Madison's rope steady, he seemed to realize for the first time that Gabi and Piper were there.

“Hey, ladies. Want to play?”

Piper stepped forward. “Calvinball? You bet I do.”

“Gabriela?” Luke reached down for a rope. “Remember the harness I showed you?”

She crossed her arms. She was
not
getting tied to a tree. No way, no how. “Yes, I remember. And no, I don't want to play, but thank you.”

“Oh, come on. It's fun.” Piper's fingers flailed as she tied her rope into a series of knots that would probably keep
her
from executing an embarrassing splat, but Gabi was far less convinced of her
own
knot-tying skills.

Sam tipped back in her harness, to the point where Gabi started to reach for her so she didn't topple out and land on her head.

“Come on, Gabi,” she said. “Let Luke tie you up. It'll be fun.”

Gabi's eyes flew to Sam's, but the imp had already fixed her gaze elsewhere. Luke's shoulders were shaking, however, as he knotted a rope.

“You know what?” Gabi lifted her chin. “Fine. I will.”

Waverly and Eve smiled, but Madison assumed her trademark bored face, even though she'd been laughing just minutes ago.