Once Upon a Bride. Helen Lacey

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СКАЧАТЬ indoor plants—so painting was one of the first things on the agenda. The kitchen was neat and the bathrooms bearable. And although the furniture he’d bought a few months ago looked a little out of place in the shabby rooms, once the walls and floors were done, he was confident it would all look okay.

      Gabe tossed the keys in a bowl on the kitchen table and pulled his cell from his pocket. He noticed there were a couple of missed calls. One from Aaron and another from his mother. It would be around midnight in California, and he made a mental note to call them back in the morning. Most days he was glad the time difference let him off the hook when it came to dealing with his family. At least his younger brother, Luca, and baby sister, Bianca, didn’t stick their nose into his life or moan about his decision to move to Crystal Point. As the eldest, Aaron always thought he knew best, and his mom was just...Mom. He knew she worried, knew his mom and Aaron were waiting for him to relapse and go running back to California.

      He’d come to Crystal Point to start over, and the house and job were a part of that new life. Gabe liked that his family wasn’t constantly around to dish out advice. Bad enough he got lectures on tap from Scott. Hell, he understood their motives...he might even have done the same thing had the situation been reversed. But things had changed. He’d changed. And Gabe was determined to live his life, even if it wasn’t the one he’d planned on.

      The private cul-de-sac in Crystal Point was an ideal place to start. It was peaceful, quiet and uncomplicated. Just what he wanted. A native bird squawked from somewhere overhead and he stared out the kitchen window and across the hedge to the next house along just as his cell rang. He looked at the screen. It was an overseas number and not one he recognized.

      Uncomplicated?

      Gabe glanced briefly out the window again as he answered the call. It was Cameron Jakowski, and the conversation lasted a couple of minutes. Sure, uncomplicated. Except for his beautiful, blonde, brown-eyed neighbor.

      * * *

      The thing about being a go-to, agreeable kind of person...sometimes it turned around to bite you on the behind. And this, Lauren thought as she drove up the driveway and then pulled up under the carport, was probably going to turn out to be one of those occasions.

      Of course, she could have refused. But that wasn’t really her style. She knew her brother wouldn’t have called if there was any other option. He’d asked for her help, and she would always rally her resolve when it came to her family.

      What she didn’t want to do—what she was determined to avoid doing—was start up any kind of conversation with her new next-door neighbor. Bad enough he’d bought the house and moved in just days after the never-to-be-spoken-about and humiliating event at the wedding. The last thing she wanted to do was knock on his door.

      Ever.

      Lauren had hoped to never see him again. But it seemed fate had other ideas.

      She took a breath, grabbed her bag and jacket and stepped out of the car. She struggled to open the timber gate that she’d been meaning to get repaired for the past three months and winced when the jagged edge caught her palm. Once inside her house, she dumped her handbag and laptop in the hall and took a few well-needed breaths.

      I don’t want to do this....

      But she’d promised Cameron.

      And a promise is a promise....

      Then she headed next door.

      Once she’d rounded the tall hedge, Lauren walked up the gravel path toward the house. There was a brand-new Jeep Cherokee parked in the driveway. The small porch illuminated with a sensor light once she took the three steps. The light flickered and then faded. She tapped on the door and waited. She heard footsteps before the door swung back on its hinges, and she came face-to-face with him.

      And then butterflies bombarded her stomach in spectacular fashion.

      Faded jeans fitted lean hips, and the white T-shirt he wore accentuated a solid wall of bronzed and very fine-looking muscle. His short black hair, clean-shaven jaw and body to die for added up to a purely lethal combination.

      He really is gorgeous.

      Memories of what had happened by the pool came rushing back. His hands on her skin, his glittering gaze moving over her, his chest so close she could almost hear his heartbeat. Mesmerized, Lauren sucked in a breath. He knew all about her. He knew things she’d told only her closest friends. He knew she’d thought about him...and imagined things.

      But if he dares say anything about my knees being weak, I’ll...

      She finally found her voice. “I’m here...”

      One brow cocked. “So I see.”

      “Did Cameron—”

      “He called,” he said, and smiled as he interrupted her.

      “Is he...”

      “He is.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder and toward the door behind him. “Safe and sound and flaked out in front of the television.”

      She ignored the smile that tried to make its way to her lips and nodded. “Okay, thank you.”

      When she didn’t move, he looked her over. “Are you coming inside or do you plan on camping on my doorstep all night?”

      “All night?” she echoed, mortified that color was creeping up her neck. The idea of doing anything all night with Gabe Vitali took the temperature of her skin, her blood and pretty much every other part of her anatomy up a few notches. “Of course not.”

      He dropped his arms to his sides and stepped back.

      Lauren crossed the threshold and walked into the hall. He was close, and everything about him affected her on a kind of sensory level. As much as she didn’t want to admit anything, she was attracted to him. And worse luck, he knew it.

      Her vow of celibacy suddenly seemed to be dissolving into thin air.

      She walked down the short hallway and into the huge, open-plan living area. The furniture looked new and somehow out of place in the room. And sure enough, on the rug in front of the sofa, was her brother’s one hundred and fifty pound French Mastiff, Jed. Fast asleep and snoring loudly.

      “Thanks for picking him up from my brother’s place,” she said as politely as she could. “When Cameron called this morning, he said the house sitter had left quickly.”

      He nodded. “Her daughter is having a baby. She took a flight out from Bellandale after lunch and said she’d be back in a week.”

      Lauren bit down on her lip. “A week?”

      “That’s what she said.”

      A week of dog-sitting. Great. As much as she liked Jed, he was big, needy, had awful juicy jowls and a reputation for not obeying anyone other than Cameron. Too bad her parents had a cat that ruled the roost, or she would have dropped him off there. She had to admit the dog seemed comfortable draped across Gabe’s rug.

      She looked around some more. “So...you’ve moved in?”

      “That was the general idea when I bought the house,” he replied.

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