Tracking You. Kelly Moran

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СКАЧАТЬ was a deaf kid in her class. That was Gabby, forever thinking of others. He’d dug his heels in to quash his crush for the same reason. She’d do anything for him and had slowly stopped noticing other males. Such blips would ruin what they had as friends.

      Pulling her feet from his lap, she sat up, her expression telling him she was forming her own conclusions during his lack of response. Hell.

      He went for humor. “You’re hideous. I can barely look at you without gagging.”

      Her pretty pink mouth twisted. Her baby blues narrowed in unamusement. “I’m serious.”

      “Me, too. I might need to run to the toilet to retch.”

      She sighed. He couldn’t hear it, of course, but he could feel it like a warm caress on his cheek. What in the hell was wrong with Tom, anyway? Gabby was ten times the woman her sister was. He had perfection right in front of him tonight and he’d walked.

      Flynn tugged on the ponytail she’d put in when they’d arrived at his cabin. She’d changed out of her dress and into an old pair of his sweats that she’d had to roll three times at the waist before they stopped falling.

      “You’re adorable.” Safe answer, but she was. Adorable.

      “That’s the problem.” She waved her hands as if trying to conjure a cyclone. “Cute little Gabby. She’s so adorable.”

      He didn’t see the negative in that comment, so he kept mum.

      “No one wants to get it on with cute. I’m never going to get laid again, am I?”

      He wasn’t touching that one with an eight-inch…pole. He lifted his hands to sign a placating answer, like she’d find the right guy one day or something, but she wasn’t done venting.

      “I mean, I want a man to look at me how Cade looks at Avery.” Her face relaxed into a whimsical kind of serenity as if picturing Flynn’s brother and fiancée in her la-la land. “Like she’s his everything.” Her gaze drifted back to him, sad and gutting. “I’ve never been anyone’s everything.”

      First thought? Romance movies were bad for her psyche.

      He had to force his hands not to respond with she was his everything. A gut-punch reaction, but true nonetheless. She was his best friend, his link to sanity, his vet assistant who kept the business end of his life in order. None of which were romantic, and he knew exactly what she meant, though. Things hadn’t been very active in his bedroom either, never mind proclamations of love.

      “I’m sorry on behalf of my species.”

      She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “You’re not exactly a bad catch. I’m sorry about my species, too.”

      Yeah. Thing about Gabby? She understood, even when he never once voiced a complaint. He swore she could read his mind most days. He shrugged like he couldn’t give a good goddamn.

      “Why don’t you have women climbing all over you?”

      Her question was rhetorical and not necessarily directed at him. And she knew the answer. He might be as attractive as his two brothers, but no woman wanted a long-term thing with someone who couldn’t listen. “People tend to pay attention to the guy who shouts and ignore the one who whispers.”

      Her shoulders rose and fell with an exhalation. The understanding in her eyes had him backtracking for a topic change. He glanced at the TV, noting the movie had ended. It was nearly midnight, but neither of them were working tomorrow. He wondered if he should start another chick flick or if she was feeling better and would head out.

      Fletch, his golden retriever, unwound himself from the floor by the fireplace and made his way over to drop his head in Gabby’s lap.

      Her round cheeks lifted in a grin that split her face. She rubbed the dog’s ears, her mouth moving to speak to him, but Flynn couldn’t make out the words. Wisps of her caramel hair broke free from her ponytail and brushed her neck.

      She wasn’t sultry or hot by any stretch of the word, but she had some kind of illumination from within. A warmth most took for granted and overlooked. She was so damn beautiful inside that it mattered not what she looked like outside. But unattractive? Gabby? Not one iota.

      He may be deaf, but the men in this town were blind.

      “Your dog has agreed to marry me.”

      As usual, she pulled a laugh from him. “You bribed him with bacon. Admit it.”

      “He agreed based on my merits.”

      There was no arguing with that. She had merit in spades. “We’ve had this discussion. You marry my dog, I’m part of the package.” What a ridiculous conversation, but he sensed she needed a little nonsense tonight.

      Her gaze swept over his body as if considering…him. After a moment, she looked away, him being no wiser on her conclusion. “Who are you bringing as a date to Cade’s wedding?”

      His brother and Avery were set to tie the knot late next month. Because it was Avery’s second marriage and she didn’t like a ton of attention, they’d wanted a small ceremony out at Mom’s cabin just down the road. Drake’s and Cade’s places were on Flynn’s wooded private drive, too. But the Battleaxes—as Cade referred to their mother and two aunts—caught wind of the wedding plans and had turned an intimate gathering into a circus. The venue was now set for the botanical gardens with all of Redwood Ridge in attendance.

      He hadn’t given much thought to a date. If he and Gabby weren’t seeing anyone, they were typically each other’s fall-back crutch for such events. Come to think of it, he’d spent more time as her plus one than anyone else. “If some other Neanderthal hasn’t plucked you by then, you want to be my date?”

      “We’re paired in the wedding party together, anyway. Why not?”

      Which brought up another minor anxiety. Okay, a big one.

      “What’s wrong?” She stopped petting Fletch, much to the dog’s discontent, and focused those blue eyes on him. They tripped him up every time. A cross between cornflower and sapphire, he could never resist spilling his guts when she looked at him like that.

      He sighed. “The wedding party is expected to do a first dance, right?”

      Her brows furrowed. “Yeah.” She studied him closely. “We’ve danced hundreds of times together. Prom, town events.”

      Emasculated, he stared at her until she caught up. Didn’t take her long.

      She nodded gradually. “But never a slow song with everyone watching us.”

      Yep. It was one thing to observe the crowd and mimic what they were doing, and another to be expected to perform some complicated steps to a tune he couldn’t hear.

      Gabby had her phone out and was texting in the next blink. Once her message was sent, she watched the screen for a reply.

      “Who are you talking to?”

      “Brent. He’ll know what song Avery picked for our dance.”

      Brent СКАЧАТЬ