That Mistletoe Moment (25 page)

CHAPTER 8

G
abe whistled as he shuffled through a stack of marketing proposals on his desk. He should have been tired. He'd been in Rachel's bed almost every night for the past two weeks, and very little sleeping had taken place. But he felt energized. Invigorated. Like he was able to take on the world.

His phone vibrated, and Gabe smiled at the text. Whereas Trevor's and Rachel's texts had returned to being generic, Gabe's and Rachel's texts were hot enough to steam a Christmas pudding. He raised his eyebrows. If she made good on only half the things she promised in her text, he was in for a very entertaining night. Damn, she was sexy. And sweet. He just couldn't get enough of her.

Ben paused in the open doorway of his office. “Are you whistling ‘Jingle Bells'?” His voice was all horrified fascination, but Gabe was in too good of a mood to care.

“And if I was?” Gabe plucked a proposal from the top of the stack. “We should hire this company. I think their ideas will break us into a whole new market.”

Flopping down in a chair, Ben shrugged. “Whatever. That's your department.” He narrowed his eyes, examining Gabe closely.

Gabe looked down at his suit. “What? Did I spill something?”

“I just talked to Joe.” Ben waited, as if that should be enough information to go on.

Gabe swung his legs onto his desk. “And?”

“He said you let everyone off early today. Told them they could leave at three this afternoon?”

Gabe spun his phone around on his thigh. “Yeah. I thought they could use the time to shop for Christmas. It was, uh, good for morale.”

“So it was a business decision?”

“Of course.” Gabe shifted in his chair. “A happy worker is a productive worker.”

Ben's eyebrows disappeared beneath his mop of hair. “Really?”

“Oh, shut up,” Gabe said without heat. “I'm not the Scrooge you seem to think I am.” His thigh buzzed, and he looked down. A smile flashed across his face before he shut it down. “Excuse me a second.”

Promises, promises,
he typed.
If you want me to bring cheesecake, I'll need an added incentive
.

He ignored Ben's grin while waiting for Rachel's response.

“Are you texting client 2375F?” Ben stretched out his legs and crossed his ankles. “Isn't it time you officially admitted you lost that bet? Our clients are obviously not losers.”

My heart's already set. Get creative
. Gabe scowled at his friend. “Yes. I concede. I already spoke with Deb in Accounting about my bonus. Or my lack thereof, now.” Funny, he wasn't as upset about losing the bet as he'd thought he'd be. His employees worked hard. It might take a little longer, but he was confident they'd still go public.

“What's happened to you?” His friend shook his head. “It's like you've been a different person these past couple of weeks. Did you just need to get laid all this time?”

“Hey, watch it.” His friend's question was G-rated compared to a lot of their conversations, but Gabe didn't want to hear it this time. Rachel deserved better than locker room talk. “Besides, I got laid plenty before.”

“You're right, you did. So, what's changed now?”

Gabe opened his mouth, shut it. That stumped him. His musings were interrupted by an incoming text.

Gabe threw his head back and laughed.

“What's so funny?” Ben asked.

Gabe showed him his phone.

A crease lined Ben's forehead. “Someone flips you off and you laugh?”

“Yep.”
While I adore every inch of you, I don't think your finger qualifies as sexy
.

“Any plans for the weekend?” he asked his friend. “You should take off early, too. No use us working in an empty office. In fact, I'm thinking of taking a long lunch.” A really long lunch if he could get Rachel to play hooky. A lunch that just might extend until dinner and beyond.

“I'm going to see that new sci-fi movie.” Ben fiddled with the hem of his shirt. “With Juliette.”

Looking up from his phone, Gabe cocked his head. “Juliette?”

His friend blushed. “Just a girl I'm seeing.”

Gabe shook his head. “You don't turn red like that over just ‘a girl you're seeing.' You'd only get that embarrassed if . . .” He brought his feet down to the carpet. “You have a girlfriend.”

He turned even redder. Well, damn. Ben had a girlfriend. His nerdy friend dated, sure, but this was the first time Gabe could remember him getting flustered about it. “Congratulations. Am I ever going to meet this Juliette?”

“Maybe. If you can be nice to her.”

Well, fuck. If that wasn't a donkey kick to the gut. “Do you really think I'd be a jerk to someone you care about?”

“Maybe not intentionally. But you might be critical of how we met.” Ben looked him straight in the eye, his expression firm. “And I won't have you making her feel bad about herself.”

“What does that mean?” His phone vibrated, but he ignored it.

Stretching to his feet, Ben tossed him a small smile. “Look, you're busy. And you will meet Juliette. In fact, she's coming by the office today so we can go to lunch together. I'll bring her around. Just be your usual charming self and we'll be okay.” He turned for the door, and stopped at the threshold. “But not too charming. This one's mine.” Pointing his finger at Gabe, he pulled an imaginary trigger, and was gone, leaving Gabe all kinds of confused. How Ben could ever think Gabe would hurt a woman he cared for was beyond him. What kind of jerk had he become?

He spun his phone on his desk. Well, whatever he'd become, it stopped right now. Ben's friendship was too important to lose. And Gabe did think they'd become closer these past couple of weeks. Ben had dropped by his office more. They'd shared some laughs. Keeping his door open probably helped. Gabe eyed the exposed rectangle. The noise from his employees didn't annoy Gabe half as much as he'd thought it would.

But he should make actual plans with Ben, even if that meant spending a night away from Rachel. Glancing at his phone, he read her text.
I don't know. A finger can be very sexy. Just imagine what all I could do to you with it
.

But it wouldn't be this night. Shooting to his feet, Gabe responded while making his way to the elevators.
I don't want to wait until tonight to see you. I'll meet you in your cafeteria for lunch. 1 pm okay?

See you then
.

Gabe started whistling, caught the look from the other man in the elevator, and broke off with a cough. Oh, fuck it. He serenaded the poor dude with his squeaky rendition of “Joy to the World.” Because the world looked pretty damn good right now. His friend was happy, and things were getting better between them. Business was good. And he was off to find cheesecake for tonight before having lunch with the most beautiful woman he knew.

Yep, life was good. Now, if only he could find a way to keep it that way.

* * *

Hooking the toe of her suede pump under Gabe's pants leg, Rachel rubbed his calf. Discreetly. None of her coworkers were in the cafeteria as far as she could see, but she wasn't about to get caught feeling up Gabe. She couldn't even hold his hand.

A bit of mayonnaise rested in the corner of his mouth, and she swiped it with her thumb, sighing. It had been fun sneaking around with Gabe the first week or so. Now she wished they could be open about their relationship. She cursed her fictional Trevor, and kicked herself for ever thinking him up.

Gabe took a sip of his coffee. “Problem? You look like you have the weight of the world resting on your shoulders.”

“No problems.” She picked at her Cobb salad. “What time can you get off tonight? Off
work,
I mean,” she added when he smirked.

“Early. In fact”—he nudged her with his knee—“if you want to call in sick for the rest of the day, I'll make it worth your while.”

“Can't. I have a four o'clock meeting.”

“Another one? Too many business meetings start to eat away at work efficiency. It can be an indicator of poor management.” Gabe broke his peanut butter cookie in half and gave her one side. The side with the majority of candy bits, Rachel noticed. She smiled.

“Mmm.” Cracking open one eye, she swallowed her bite of buttery goodness. “What would a computer programmer know about office management? Did you get a promotion I don't know about?”

“Uh, no.” He darted his eyes around the cafeteria. “Hey, look.” Standing, he waved at someone near the salad bar. “It's my friend, Ben.” He shifted his weight, and glanced down at her. “On second thought, I might just go over there and—”

“Too late.” Rachel watched as the man standing beside a willowy brunette headed their way. “He's already on his way over. Who's that with him? His girlfriend?”

“Juliette, I assume.” Gabe clapped his friend on the shoulder when he arrived. “Hey. I thought you were going out to lunch. Is this the Juliette you've been hiding from me?”

His friend blushed adorably, and wrapped an arm around the woman's waist. “Yeah. Juliette, I'd like you to meet Gabe. Gabe, Juliette.”

They shook hands. “And this is Rachel. A friend of mine.”

Friend. Right. Her stomach sank as she rose to meet them. “Hi. You work in the building, Ben?”

He looked anywhere but at her eyes. Rachel bit back a smile. Gabe's friend was as shy as Gabe was self-assured. A yin-and-yang friendship.

“Yeah.” His voice trailed up, making it sound like a question. “Maybe we should get—”

“So, how'd you two meet?” Crossing his arms over his chest, Gabe stood with his feet wide apart. “Don't tell me it was at one of those gaming conventions you go to. Juliette is much too attractive to be interested in that.”

Ben scowled. “First, offensive much? A lot of nice woman go to those conventions, some of whom are very, well, at least, semi-pretty. Second—”

Juliette laid a hand on Ben's forearm. “Second, it was a compliment. To me, at least.” She turned to Gabe, a smile on her lips. “But, no. Believe it or not, we met through Build-A-Boyfriend. When Ben began leaving me voice mails, I couldn't help but start to answer his calls. He was so cute and funny. And, well”—she lifted her shoulders—“one thing led to another.”

Gabe's jaw dropped, and Ben looked at him and shrugged.

“You use Build-A-Boyfriend?” Rachel lowered her voice and glanced around to make sure no one was listening. “I use that service, too. What are the odds of that?”

Juliette cocked her head. “Well, considering the company we keep, not astronomical.” She squeezed closer to Ben. “But I don't use the service anymore. Not since Ben.”

“What do you mean?”

Scooping all their trash onto his tray, Gabe picked it up with one hand, put his other at Rachel's back. “She means that she doesn't have to use the service anymore since she's dating Ben now.”

Rachel rolled her eyes. Well, obviously. That wasn't the part of Juliette's statement that needed clarification.

“We've got to get going,” Gabe said. “Rachel has a meeting—”

“Not for another two hours.”

“—and I have to get back to work. Lots to do.” He herded her toward a trash can. “It was nice meeting you, Juliette.”

Tucking her hand under Ben's arm, Juliette followed. “We'll go up with you. Ben wants to show me your offices.”

Rachel stumbled to a stop. “You work here?”

Checking his watch, Gabe blew out a breath. “Our company has an office here and one a couple of buildings over. I usually work in the other building. Speaking of which, I really have to get going.” He darted a look over her head toward his friend.

Ben cleared his throat. “Yeah, um, right. I want to get a brownie before I go up.” He turned Juliette toward the bakery counter. “So, we'll just see you guys later. Right?”

Gabe waved over his shoulder and herded Rachel to the elevator. Pressing the Up button, he leaned down and kissed her cheek. “I'll see you later tonight. Thanks for lunch.” And in a waft of expensive cologne, he was gone.

Leaving Rachel staring at her reflection in the elevator doors, a confused vee creasing her forehead. That was odd. First he asked to spend the afternoon with her, then he couldn't rush away fast enough?

She joined the crowd in the elevator and shuttled up to her office. And why hadn't he ever mentioned that his company had a branch in her building? She'd think that would be information that would have popped up in conversation. Because he didn't want to tell his temporary fling any more personal information about himself than he had to give?

Gabe had to be scared that when they broke things off, she'd be clingy. Rachel smacked open the door to her office, giving her office mates a tight smile in apology. She plopped down in her chair. What kind of woman did Gabe think she was? She wasn't clingy. She wouldn't stalk the man once their relationship went belly-up. And it was a little insulting that he'd think she would.