Page 49 of House of Scarlett
He looks at me with a bemused brow cocked skyward and his jaw slack. “Do what more?”
“Laugh. It suits you. You look good happy.”
He glances down at the cowboy salt shaker. “Seems like Dolly should’ve been the salty one.”
“Nah, women like her are too happy to be salty. But they can be spicy.”
“And what kind of woman are you, Scarlett Priest?”
The kind that’s falling in love with you,I think.
Instead, I say with a smile, “The ordinary kind.”
Gabriel shakes his head. “That’s where you’re wrong. There’s nothing ordinary about you. You are extraordinary in every single way. Now, eat your breakfast before it gets cold, or the cook might think you don’t like it.”
Twenty-Nine
Scarlett
Every time I wake up,it’s with this feeling that every moment that has come before is part of a dream. To be more specific, every moment that involves Gabriel Legend feels like it was all a dream.
When I open my eyes, I glance around my room, looking for signs that the conversation we had about salt and pepper shakers wasn’t a figment of my imagination. But there’s no sign of the breakfast tray. Just a glass of water on my bedside table ... and the menu.
He was here. It was real.
As I stretch and yawn, I ignore the twinges from my incisions and focus on the warm feeling building in my chest. Gabriel Legend is good for my recovery.
Sure, we’re from two completely different worlds, but we can work. Right? Because if we can’t, I need a sign now because I’m already headed into too-far-gone territory.
I wait a few seconds, but there’s no sign from the universe.Okay, then. Good talk. I’ll take that to mean we’re all set. Smooth sailing from here on out.
It may sound naive, but in my experience, optimism has never been a terrible thing.
Carefully, I get out of bed, stop in the bathroom to take care of business, and then peek out into the living room and kitchen. The warm feeling grows as soon as I see his blond head bent over his laptop at my kitchen table.
“I didn’t hear any swearing this time, so I’m taking that as a positive sign.”
Gabriel whips his head to the side to look up at me and then pops out of the chair. “Shit. I was going to help you out of bed when you got up. I got sucked into trying to figure out this damn thing again.”
“I appreciate the thought, but I can get up on my own.”
I carefully tighten the belt on my robe, which is apparently my new favorite piece of clothing, and walk toward the table to pull out a chair. When I’m seated beside him, I hold out my hands and waggle my fingers at him.
“Let me try. I’m pretty good with computers.”
His blue gaze cuts from me to the laptop and then back to me again. “You don’t need to be working. You need to be resting.”
“Trust me, this isn’t work. I’m helping my ... friend.” I stumble over the last word, and the tension that seems ever present in Gabriel’s face fades.
I wanted to say boyfriend,I tell him silently, but his expression is unreadable. I didn’t mean to friend-zone him after everything, but I chickened out.
He swallows and clears his throat. “I’m not used to having manyfriendswho are willing to help me with no strings attached. Thank you, though.”
He pushes the laptop across the table so it sits open in front of me while my heart cracks.
How could this man not have friends who are willing to do him a solid without expecting something in return?
I don’t know him as well as I will, but even after the last few weeks, I get the sense that he’s a fiercely loyal man. Once someone is in his circle, I’d be willing to bet that there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for them. Maybe that’s why he keeps his circle small—becausehe’s ferociously devoted to them. Once someone is in, they have the power to hurt him. It makes sense now that I put the pieces together.
