The Organized Bride (Billionaire Marriage Brokers Book 2) (11 page)

“And lose? No thanks, I’d rather throw you in the pool.”

Brooke laughed. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Challenge accepted.” David grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the hall.

Gabe leaned against the table and shook his head. “He’ll do it, you know.”

MaKayla laughed. “He can try. Brooke has taken tae kwon do since she was five. Ten bucks says he comes in soaking wet.”

Gabe leaned his head back and laughed. “I’d pay ten bucks to see that.” He considered MaKayla for a moment. “Who would win if I tried to throw you in?”

She returned her cue to the holder. “I’m afraid that would be you. I didn’t get tae kwan do lessons. But you’re looking at the star of the Nutcracker three years running.”

Ballet training explained the grace in her movements and the way she carried herself as if she didn’t know how to slouch.

A faint masculine yell sounded from downstairs. Gabe and MaKayla looked at each other and laughed.

“Should we get him some towels?” asked MaKayla.

“There’s a bunch by the pool.” Things were going well between them, and now that Gabe had her alone, he wasn’t ready to give her up. “I should probably give
you
a tour, though.”

He walked her through the main level, which contained their rooms as well as the kitchen, the formal dining room, the formal hall, the parlor, the bookkeeper’s office with a vault, the private office, a storeroom, a washroom, a mud room, several bathrooms, and a receiving room. Each room was as elegant as the last, and she noticed the details that Gabe loved.

The second floor extended over half the main floor and part of the garage. There was a home theater room, a nursery, a man cave complete with bar, and a library that stopped MaKayla in her tracks. It was the only room that made her stop and stare. Gabe smiled as he watched her run her hands over the books and pause under the stained glass window.

“If you ever lose me, look here first.”

“I won’t lose you, because this is where I go to disappear.” He moved to stand beside her in the multicolored light coming through the window. “What do you like to read?”

She took in a deep breath and tipped her face up to the light. “Everything,” she breathed. Gabe watched her as the tension from the last few days seeped away. Her shoulders lost their rigidity and she sighed happily. When she opened her eyes, they sparkled as she placed her palm against his cheek.
“This
is a magical room.”

If Gabe could have spoken, he would have agreed with her. Here, in the warm patch of rainbow-colored sunlight, there was magic. Magic that had him completely suspended in time and place. Magic that tied him to MaKayla and blocked out all his reasons for keeping away. Magic that drew them together and told him to never let her go.

Catching her hand and holding her gaze, Gabe pressed his lips to her palm. Light danced around them as he placed his hand on her waist and pulled her close. She slid her arms around his neck and tipped up her chin, her lips parting slightly. As her eyes closed, Gabe leaned down and brushed her lips with his. It was like striking a match: there was a spark, and then he was consumed as she pulled on his neck, begging him closer.

Their lips collided, and all the feelings he’d been holding back he put into the kiss. He kissed her for every time she’d touched his arm or placed her hand on his chest and he couldn’t do anything about it. MaKayla returned his ardor. Moving his hands to her neck, he tipped her head back and kissed her throat, her jaw, and then found her mouth again as she moaned against him.

She dug her fingers into his hair, sending a thrill through his body. He whispered her name and she stilled in his arms. Gabe paused, waiting for her to decide which way this was going to go. He moved to kiss her again, but this time, she pulled away placing her finger over his lips.

“Is this what you want?” she asked.

Gabe struggled against the desire coursing through his blood and the common sense, barely a whisper comparatively, which hovered somewhere where they weren’t encircled with dancing sunlight. He must have hesitated too long, because she dropped her hands and stepped back.

He let her go, giving him enough space to catch his breath, and asked, “What do you want?”

MaKayla sat in the window seat, and Gabe sat next to her, shoulder to shoulder. The energy they’d shared was still there, just under the surface; it wouldn’t take much for it to consume them once again. Gabe was surprised at the lack of pressure and tension in the room. Being with MaKayla was that easy. He got the impression that they would be able to weather many a storm together. This wasn’t a storm, but if they could talk about it, they’d come to an agreement they’d both be happy with. Were all marriages like this? Or was it part of the magic in this room?

MaKayla threaded her ponytail through her fingers. “I came into this with a goal and you came into this with a goal. I’m afraid that if we allowed this—” She gestured between them. “—to cloud our judgment, neither one of us will end up with what we really want.”

Gabe nodded. “I’ve had the same concern. We need to keep the end goal in sight.” Gabe had done all in his power to make the Center succeed. He’d chosen it over Natasha and he’d choose it over MaKayla too.

MaKayla bumped him with her shoulder. “I’m, I’m not sure where the line is, or if there is one, or what. It’s a bit uneven.”

Gabe appreciated her honesty. “We’re going to be together a lot. I think touching, like this ...” Gabe tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear, and her cheeks colored. “... is fine. But anything more and we’re pushing our limits.”

MaKayla ducked her head. “We have to act natural in front of people. But when we’re here, it might be better to keep our distance.”

“Agreed. Deal?” He held out his hand for her to shake.

She didn’t hesitate to take it. “Deal.” She jumped up. “We should probably rescue David.”

The distance she’d placed between them suddenly felt like a gulf. The way she squared her shoulders had him thinking that he’d see a lot more of business MaKayla and a lot less of the woman he’d glimpsed today. The thought made his heart feel heavy in his chest. There was no going back now. They’d made a deal and he would stick to it.

They found David and Brooke in the pool playing a game of volleyball.

“Your sister is a total cheat,” David said.

“I know. Stay away from Monopoly,” laughed MaKayla.

Brooke missed an easy shot because she was scrutinizing Gabe and MaKayla.

“Game point.” David raised his hands above his head.

Brooke splashed him with a face full of water and made a mad dash for the edge of the pool where she pulled herself out just as David reached for her foot. Laughing, she scooted out of his reach.

“Looks like things are going well here.” MaKayla whispered.

Gabe gave her hand a squeeze but didn’t say anything. He knew David’s track record, and he hoped Brooke would go easy on him or at least take him seriously. Setting them up had seemed like a good idea at first, but he liked both of them, would have both of them in his life at least for the next year, and he didn’t want things to become awkward and ruin the feelings that had infused his home this afternoon.

Brooke came over squeezing the water out of her hair. David went to grab a couple of towels. “Can I borrow something to drive home in?” she asked him.

“Are you going?”

“Yeah. It’s been fun, but I need to get some study time in tonight.”

David handed her a towel. “Can I help?”

Brooke crossed her arms. “It’s not really fun stuff.”

David tucked a towel around her shoulders. “I’ll make the flash cards.”

She smiled up at him, and Gabe knew David had passed a test.

“Come on; you can borrow the camo PJs to get home.” MaKayla went to go inside and Gabe resisted the urge to call her back. Each time she put more physical distance between them, he felt a loss in the connection they’d shared. How could one kiss have made such an impact?

David stood next to him, rubbing a towel over his head.

“Did she throw you in?” asked Gabe.

David nodded. “That girl scares the crap out of me.”

Gabe slapped David on the back. “Looks like I owe MaKayla ten bucks.”

“Yeah, but Brooke owes me.”

“Why?”

“I bet her you were in there seducing your wife, and she said no way.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “MaKayla looked totally kissed, and you were lookin’ pretty satisfied yourself. Boom! I just won dinner.”

Gabe shook his head. He couldn’t blame David for thinking that way when he didn’t understand the whole situation, but he didn’t try to correct him, either. He had kissed MaKayla and he would have kissed her a lot more if she hadn’t stopped things. As disappointed as he was that they’d placed some parameters, he was just as grateful that they were on the same page. He could put her goals ahead of his desires. Obviously, his goals hadn’t been enough to stop him from giving in to his desire the moment they were alone together. But he could do this for her.

“You need clothes?” he asked David as they walked back to the house.

“I have a gym bag in my car. I’ll change downstairs.”

“See ya in a few.”

Chapter 15

MaKayla hugged Stuffy Bear to her chest as Brooke changed into the ugliest pair of pajamas on the whole planet. She couldn’t remember who had gotten them as a white elephant gift years ago, but they hung on to them and traded them back and forth as needed.

“What is going on with you two?” Brooke asked through the bathroom door.

MaKayla’s face flushed as she remembered the way Gabe’s lips felt against her own. There was no hiding things from Brooke, not when she was determined to get to the bottom of a situation. It was what made her a great lawyer, and an incurable snoop. Brooke’s courtroom tendencies aside, MaKayla needed to talk. “We’re … we … kind of kissed.”

“What?” Brooke shrieked as she yanked open the door. “This morning you’re all
it’s all business
and now you’re kissing him?”

MaKayla flopped back on the bed. “I couldn’t help myself. We were in the library, there was this hush in the air, and sparkles. It just happened.” She picked her head up. “And then it really happened. I think my center of gravity shifted.” She dropped her head again.

“Are you guys a thing now?”

“No.” MaKayla pulled a pillow over her face and let out a scream.

Brooke yanked it away. “No?”

Sitting up, MaKayla took a deep breath and straightened her spine one vertebra at a time, realigning herself. “No.” This time she said it with determination. “This job. My company. Then guy. In that order. That’s the way it has to be.”

“What about kissing?”

“I think it’s off the table.”

“You think?”

MaKayla nodded. “It’s off the table. Although now that we’ve kissed once, it will be hard not to do it again.”

“Um, yeah it will.” Brooke glanced at the door. “You’d better put a lock on that thing.”

“You’re not funny.”

“What? You said yourself he was gorgeous.” Brooke sat down next to her.

MaKayla laid her head on Brooke’s shoulder and sighed. “This would be so much easier if we weren’t married.”

Brooke snorted. “Yeah, that’s the problem.”

“It is,” MaKayla insisted.

“Nope, the problem is you like him.”

MaKayla sat up. “I’ve known him less than a week.”

“Correction: you’ve been married less than a week.”

MaKayla groaned. “I’m an idiot.”

Brooke patted MaKayla’s arm. “Why don’t you give it some time? If you fall out of
like
with him, then you’re no worse for wear.”

Having the attraction diminish like a dying fire wasn’t MaKayla’s biggest fear. She hardly dared voice it, so the words came out in a whisper. “What if I fall in love with him?”

“Don’t think that far ahead. Just stay in the moment.”

MaKayla sniffed. She wasn’t the type of person to live in the moment. She was a
planner
by nature. However, given the situation, it wasn’t practical to envision a real wedding with Gabe; therefore she could make the huge effort to refrain from mapping out the year they had together. As soon as Brooke left, MaKayla would pull out her old business plan and start revisions. That ought to keep her mind busy enough to distract it from Gabe. If that didn’t work … she’d throw herself in the pool.

Chapter 16

MaKayla didn’t see Gabe all day Sunday, but got a text around ten that said he’d been called out on an emergency. Gabe didn’t elaborate and MaKayla didn’t dig for information. She and Brooke went to brunch and tried the steam room. It was heaven, exactly what she needed to clear whatever gunk remained in her system from the cold and gear up to face Gabe Monday morning.

Trish had lined up a personal trainer to take her through a workout once a week and familiarize her with the equipment in Gabe’s home gym, but he wasn’t coming until Thursday, so Monday morning, MaKayla hit the ground running.

She started off with some time on the treadmill. Her cold was gone and her lungs felt clear. She had a week’s worth of exercise to catch up on and a desire to keep her mind occupied, so she picked an intense interval program and was sweating in the first four minutes.

Gabe came in just as she was leaving, and they smiled and said a quick hello. She managed to make it through their brief encounter without stumbling over her words or her feet. A grand accomplishment, considering that the moment their eyes met, her heart beat triple time and her brain scrambled to keep up.

By the time she was ready for work, Gabe was dressed and pressed and looking extremely yummy in his suit. MaKayla hid behind her game face, asking about the first work-related subject that came to mind. They rode into the office together, quickly reviewing their schedules and determining that they wouldn’t see each other until their dinner date that night. They separated outside their office doors, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

MaKayla met a few new people and had lunch at a trendy restaurant with Susan, head of the fundraising department for St. Anthony’s Hospital. Every year, the hospital held a Christmas ball to raise funds for new equipment and research, and Gabe was always heavily involved. This year the task fell to MaKayla, and she found that she was looking forward to it. A ball was a grand affair and the budget had plenty of room for her imagination to run wild.

The theme, Winter Wonderland, had been selected back in April, but only the preliminary work, like arranging for the venue, caterers, and the band, had been done.

“To tell you the truth, I was overwhelmed with the haunted house we did to raise money for the children’s wing, and I haven’t given this much thought.”

MaKayla waved away Susan’s concern. “We should have this knocked out before dessert arrives.”

Susan blinked. “There’s more to it than just throwing up some streamers and blowing up balloons.”

“I didn’t mean to minimize the importance of the evening. I just meant that with your understanding of the hospital’s goals and the image they want to portray and my experience with these types of events, we should be able to take care of this in no time.”

Susan gave her an icy stare as the waiter deposited their salads. “Where does Gabe find his event planners?”

MaKayla’s fork stopped halfway to her mouth. “Excuse me?”

“First he sends in Natasha, a woman who wouldn’t know a ball from a barn dance, and now you come along thinking this will be as easy as prom.” She pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose. “If he wasn’t such a huge contributor to the hospital, I’d ask to just plan the thing myself instead of babysitting Gabe’s latest girlfriend.”

MaKayla felt like the waiter had poured her water glass over her head. Several questions screamed for attention, not the least of which was,
who was Natasha
? Did Gabe always have his girlfriends do this job? If so, why had he bothered to marry her; why not just get another girlfriend? A strange sensation rose up from deep inside. Jealousy? On a conscious level, MaKayla had no reason to be jealous of this Natasha person. On an only slightly subconscious level, she wanted to tear through the woman and send her screaming. Her reaction was completely unjustified based on the sparse information available and MaKayla shook with the effort to control it.

Instead of pressing for information about Gabe’s personal life, she focused on the other issues. Wiping her mouth with her napkin, she pasted on her professional smile. “I assure you I will not need babysitting. I have five years’ experience coordinating large events, some of them much more detailed than the hospital’s ball, not to mention a degree in public relations and a minor in business.”

Susan smirked. “But you are sleeping with him, aren’t you.”

MaKayla ground her teeth together. “I
married
him.”

Susan laughed. “Good job landing that one. Natasha tried for years to get a ring. How long did it take you?”

“That is none of your business.” MaKayla pushed aside her salad plate, still full, and pulled her iPad closer. “Now, if we want to create a true winter wonderland, we will need ice sculptures.” She pulled out a floor plan on the space they were using for the ball. She’d sketched in the band, the food tables, the bar, and seating for those who weren’t dancing. “I think we should have at least three: one here, here, and here.”

Susan leaned over her salad to inspect the schematic. “Aren’t ice sculptures expensive?”

“Some are. I have a contact who may be willing to do them pro bono for this event.” Had Susan been at all friendly, MaKayla would have told her that the man had undergone open heart surgery and two months later was able to hold his first grandchild thanks to the surgeons at the hospital, but she didn’t feel at all chummy toward the highbrow drama queen and decided to keep her contacts to herself.

“Then I guess it would be all right,” Susan conceded.

“Good. Next, I’d like to do backdrops behind the food tables. This particular location has tan walls and icy blue backdrops will bring in the colors of winter. We should put up old-fashioned street lamps along with the snow-covered trees; maybe go with a Narnia type of wonderland with all the magical feelings instead of the traditional eighteenth century look.”

“Do you want us to have centaurs for waiters?”

MaKayla completely ignored Susan’s sarcastic tone. “It’s a good idea, but I couldn’t justify the costume expense. Fairy wings would be too juvenile. Let’s think on that one, shall we?”

She continued to take control, pushing each new thought forward and not letting Susan catch up. When they were done, she handed Susan a to-do list and pointed to her own. “Let’s have these done by next Monday. We should meet again for lunch, don’t you think?”

Susan gave her a guarded look as the waiter appeared.

MaKayla gave him the only genuine smile she’d used since lunch started and said, “We’d like separate checks, please.”