The Rebound Pact (17 page)

“Fine. But you just let me know if you need me…to come pick you up or something. Or to talk. I feel like you’re keeping secrets from me.”

Gabrielle gripped her brother’s shoulders. “If I have anything to tell you, I will. This is just work.
Promise.” God, she felt horrible for lying, but Max would seriously have a conniption, and then she’d end up at home pouting with a pint of sugar-laden fatness.

“Don’t stay out late.”

“Don’t worry.”

Max grunted, moved aside and trudged
upstairs. At the bottom of the staircase, she stopped, took a deep breath, pressed her hands to her belly, trying to quell the butterflies that had taken up residence.

This was good.
No pressure of a relationship to contend with. Just sex. Except… Gabrielle shook her head. She couldn’t want anything more than that. Not yet. Her heart still ached for the loop Len had tossed her through. Holden still had Lacy to worry about.

Gawd, that woman was crazy and she’
d had Gabrielle really stewing for a few minutes. But she trusted Holden. He wouldn’t lie. The pain etched on his face had been real. She couldn’t imagine how he’d felt returning from his trip to Europe to the devastation the blonde devil had created.

Gabrielle
would never be the one to cause such hurt. She wanted to be the one to heal him. To show him he wasn’t just a player unworthy of affection. But what gave her the right to be that woman?

Oh my God.
It wasn’t like she planned to marry him…did she?

No. She wasn’t ready to jump on that bandwagon again. There was a beautiful wedding dress shoved into the back of her closet right now. One she’d thought to wear when marrying Len.
She wasn’t sure she could put her heart out there like that again. At least not soon.

Holden was nothing like Len. But when it came to her heart, she was going to
shield it like the Queen’s Guard protected the Queen.

“Chill,” she told herself as she swung her
purse onto her shoulder and picked up the grocery bags.

When she stepped outside, Holden still leaned against his Jeep, but he was fiddling with his phone. As soon as he heard her approach, he stuffed his cell into his pocket and reached out to help her.

“Want me to drive?”

“Shouldn’t I take mine?” she
asked, hesitation in her voice. “I don’t want you to have to drive me back home.”

He grinned crookedly, obviously reading her thoughts. “Need an escape route?”

She shifted on her feet, stuck her hip out. “Not exactly. Just don’t want to make Max think anything of it. And it will force me to go home, even if I want to spend the night. Don’t want any of your employees seeing my car in the morning.”

Holden held up his hands.
“Good call. Belinda would probably not be able to concentrate at all until she forced me to spill.”

“Does she know about Lacy?”

“Yeah. The whole sordid ordeal. Lacy used to work with me, sort of like a consultant. Her family owned the vineyard before I bought it—used to be called Manor House Wines. We sold their reserve wines until our own wine was stocked up. Took a couple of years. Anyway, they went bankrupt which is how I bought the vineyard and revamped it. I felt bad about their situation, so I offered her a position to get me started, but also to keep her on her feet. We hit it off for a while.” He glanced away, as if remembering was too painful.

“Oh,”
Gabrielle breathed out, that was where she’d seen the girl before. She’d been to Manor House Wines a few times. “I thought I recognized her. She’s a few years younger than me.”

“Yeah, she was a
sophomore in high school when you graduated.” He swung the bags he held into his backseat and shrugged nonchalantly.

“And the rest is a terrible history,”
Gabrielle said with part sympathy and part humor to lighten his mood.

“Exactly.
Out of a nightmare.”

“
Let’s get to your place. I’m getting hungry too.” She hurried into her car.

As she followed Holden back to
Belle Ami, she was glad they’d reconciled. She was enjoying working with him. Even after their pact ended, she had a feeling the bistro was going to be a hot place. Whatever she was feeling, wanting, she had to put it aside. Her future had nearly been obliterated today. Friends first, then business, then lovers.

The pulled into his long driveway, her nerves jumping, her skin tingling with anticipation.
Tonight she’d make them an awesome meal then they’d have hot, sweaty, no holds barred, make up sex.

Chapter Twelve

H
olden put his Jeep in park and let his held breath out in a whoosh. He climbed from the car, a completely different person then when he’d left his house.

What an emotional roller coaster.
But in a good way.

He hadn’t enjoyed her anger, but at the same time it had shown him that he meant a lot more to her than a one-night stand, a booty call. He’d needed to tell her about Lacy and now he had. He wasn’t happy with the way things went down, but a tremendous weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

He grabbed her bags in one hand, and with the other gripped her fingers.

“I’m glad you decided to come back.”

She smiled up at him shyly. “Me, too.”

“Did Max say anything?
”

“Yeah.
Wanted to make sure it was strictly business. He had that look on his face like he was trying to read my soul.”

“Oh,
man.” Holden rolled his eyes.

Gabrielle
laughed, a light-hearted sound that made him want to drop everything and pull her into his arms. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he was headed over her right now for a little recon.”

“Maybe we should turn off the lights,” Holden teased.

“And cook in the dark?”

He
set down her bags, careful not to break anything. He turned her to face him. “The idea has merit. Sounds sexy.” He pressed his lips to hers.

“I like being sexy with you.” She bit her lip a subtle blush coloring her cheeks.

He didn’t want her to be embarrassed. Tonight was meant to be amazing and he wasn’t about to let her ruin it by blundering on. He knew what she meant, knew he felt the same way, but also was aware that those sort of things said out loud would somehow ruin whatever it was they had. That admissions of liking each other was still too soon. The comfort they shared and the peace that came over him when they were together. It was too soon to admit anything else. Took away from the whole point of them being together. Neither of them were ready to make that kind of commitment.

He wrapped his arms around her, loving how she sagged against him, her hands curling up around his neck, her fingers in his hair. He kissed her slowly, deeply, sensually, letting all their emotions, their feelings seep through that kiss.
Leaving it there for them both to just feel.

When they pulled apart they were both panting.

“We’d better get inside and start cooking, or dinner might turn into a midnight snack.”

He looked at his watch, noting it was near ten o’clock. “It might already.”

“Race ya!” She picked up her overnight bag and ran toward the porch.

Holden grabbed up the canvas
and insulated grocery bags and rushed after her. They made it to the porch at the same time, both grinning with eager anticipation.

“Tie,” she
said, her voice a little breathy from running.

“Then we’ll have to have a tie breaker.”

“What do you propose?”

“
You cook dinner and I pour the wine. Whoever gets done first wins.”

“Not fair, you know it’s going to take me longer.”

He laughed. “Exactly.” He loved the way she crinkled her nose. When he won, he was going to have fun claiming his prize.

“This is definitely war then. What’s the prize?”

“You can’t possibly win.”

“We’ll see about that. I think I can distract you from your task.”

Lord did this woman take his breath away.

“Deal.”

Gabrielle dropped her purse by the front door and they made their way into the kitchen.

“I see you’ve left my decorations up.” She pointed toward the pot rack.

Holden laughed spying the black and white thongs. “Yup. Added that one from the patio, too.” He eyed her up and down. Her sweats were baggy, but hung in a way that promised curves were worth the wait. Her t-shirt was form-fitting and outlined her breasts. He could just make out the lace beneath. As he continued to stare he watched with amazement—her nipples hardened, puckering up and begging for him to reach out and touch them.

He reached for her, not wanting to waste such an opportunity, but she batted his hands away.

“Dinner first.” She scooted around the island and out of the way of his reaching hands with a giggle.

“That’s fine, as long as I get you for dessert.”

“You’ve got yourself another deal, Mr. Bellamy, seeing as how I didn’t have time to make the mousse or the tart.” She shivered subtly and his cock reacted with lightning speed, raging hard in a second flat.

Thankfully, the island was between them, hiding his bulging
hard-on. Not that he was embarrassed, in fact he was happy to show her how much he wanted her, but he also wanted her to believe he was interested in more than just sex, because he was, even if his dick didn’t know any better.

“What can I do to help?” he offered.

She raised a brow. “What about our bet?”

“Whew, you’ve got me so distracted, I almost forgot.” And that was completely true.

“All part of my plan,” she snickered and winked.

“Well, damn girl, it’s working.” Even if he had a few more brain farts, he could still win. There was no way
she’d be able to make two dinners in the amount of time it took him to pour two glasses of wine.

Knowing that, he took a couple minutes to watch her work. She pulled out a Tupperware of cooked rice, another with sauce and another with cut up veggies.

“It’s getting hot in here already,” she said. She crossed her arms over her waist and lifted off her t-shirt, revealing a light pink lacy bra.

Hot damn…it was… He couldn’t stop staring. Her nipples were hard, her breasts perfectly plush. All he could think as she reached up to grab a pan from the rack was reaching across the counter, grasping her breasts in his hands and yanking away the thin fabric so he could taste the cherry tips.

She put the pan on the stove, lit the burner, drizzled oil and tossed in the veggies. He studied her back—totally sculpted and smooth. Her spine was straight, muscles visible but not bulky, just in shape. He watched the way her skin moved with each lift of her arms. He walked up behind her, trailed his fingers down each notch of her spine, then up over her shoulder blades. He gently massaged her shoulders, listening to her contented sighs.

“You’re so soft,” he whispered against her neck, kissing her right below her ear.

She gave the veggies a quick stir then turned around, her breasts crushed to his chest. “I like when you touch me.” Her voice was soft, husky, and she stroked up his chest and over his shoulders.

“I’m happy to oblige.”

“Kiss me?”

“You don’t have to ask twice.”
Dipping down, he captured her lips with his in a teasing kiss. If she was going to tease him by cooking topless, he was going to make her hot, wet. Holden wanted her to pant for him.

Gabrielle
pulled away and turned back around to stir her veggies. He continued to stroke her back, even taking a moment to massage her lush ass.

“Smells good,” he said, taking in the scents of the veggies she’d mixed with the rice and peanut sauce.

“It’s one of my favorites. I could live off of peanut butter. The crunchier the better.”

Leaning
her head back on his shoulder, she lifted an arm up behind her to stroke through his hair. He wrapped his arms around her, finally cupping her breasts and thumbing over her hard nipples.

Softly moaning, Gabrielle
wiggled her hips with just the smallest hint of pressure against his hard arousal. Holden blew out a breath, if he didn’t slow down, he’d bend her over against the counter.

She took her hand off him and returned to stirring. “Watch out, boss, meal number one is done.”

He stepped back, a little surprised. She raised a challenging brow. “Where’s my wine?”

“Why you little tease,” Holden
said with mock exasperation. The little minx had tricked him, seduced him into not getting the wine ready.

Gabrielle
poured the food onto two plates, topped them with tinfoil to keep the warm and dumped the pan in the sink while he took a bottle of Belle Ami pinot grigio from the wine fridge. Holden set it on the counter and took out his uber expensive wine opener, the kind most women drooled over. But Gabrielle didn’t stop what she was doing. She dumped a container of chopped cabbage, carrots and green peppers into a bowl and topped it with another container of dressing, mixing it up with her hands.