One Good Reason. Sarah Mayberry

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СКАЧАТЬ you think you’re pretty clever,” she said.

      “No.”

      For the life of him he couldn’t think of anything else to say. Then she stepped out of the sunlight and his brain came back online.

      “I want to apologize,” he said. “For last night. For the whole gay/lesbian thing.”

      Her mouth tightened. “You already said sorry. It was a misunderstanding. I get it.”

      He looked at k.d. lang again. “Do you?”

      She pulled her keys from the lock and dropped them into the pocket of her baggy pants.

      “You done? Because I’ve got work to do.” She turned on her heel. He grabbed her elbow. She stilled, then narrowed those incredible eyes.

      How had he not noticed them before? He must have been blind.

      “I really am sorry, Gabby. I know we didn’t exactly get off on the right foot, but I didn’t mean to embarrass or hurt you last night.”

      He felt her stiffen. She shook off his hand.

      “I wasn’t embarrassed. And you certainly didn’t hurt me. I barely know you. Why would I care what you think of me?”

      She was so damned prickly. He bet the word gracious wasn’t even in her vocabulary.

      “You know, I have no idea. Just like I have no idea why I even bothered to apologize again. You go ahead and enjoy your indignation. I’m sure it’s very satisfying.” He walked away from her.

      “Fine. I accept your apology,” she called after him.

      “Good. Great.” He pushed through the swinging door with more verve than strictly necessary.

      The door swung sharply back, cutting off anything she might have been about to say. He stood in the silent workshop for a long beat, trying to rein in his temper.

      What was it about her that pissed him off so much? Even when he tried to be nice they wound up fighting. She took everything he said the wrong way, even his apologies.

      He simply didn’t get it.

      The door opened and Gabby entered. She didn’t look at him as she marched toward her office. He watched her straight spine, then he shrugged.

      So what if she didn’t like him? He wasn’t one of those people who had to have everyone love him. He was a big boy. He could live with her animosity. It wasn’t as though it was forever, after all. A few months from now, he’d be somewhere else and she’d be nothing but a fading memory, notable only for her defensiveness and fantastic eyes.

      He turned his back on her. He had work to do.

       CHAPTER FOUR

      GABBY FELT LIKE AN IDIOT. She’d been so determined to show Jon that she didn’t give two hoots what he thought of her. Then she’d put so much time and energy into dressing to meet his mistaken assumptions that she’d done the exact opposite. She might as well have stuck with the miniskirt and stilettos.

      She glanced at the k.d. lang T-shirt. She’d had to drive twenty minutes out of her way to pick it up this morning before coming to work. Just so she could thumb her nose at Tyler’s brother.

      God, she was dumb.

      But that was fairly well established after last night’s self-revelation.

      What had she said to him? I barely know you. Why would I care what you think of me?

      It should have been true. She wished it was. But she had only to look in the mirror to know what a big fat lie it was. She’d spent hours this morning caring about what Jon thought of her. And for the life of her she didn’t understand why.

      The beginning of a headache pulsed behind her left eyebrow. She pulled her in-tray close and grabbed a stack of invoices. She needed to stop gnawing on this stuff. It was doing her head in—literally.

      It took some serious willpower, but gradually she lost herself in her work. The rest of the team straggled in, until finally she heard Tyler’s deep voice as he called out a greeting to the crew.

      Her stomach tensed and she put down her pen.

      Any minute now he would stick his head through the door and say hello. A dart of panic raced up her spine.

      Relax. It’s a day like any other. He’ll say hi, and you’ll say hi back, and the world will keep spinning. The same as it did yesterday, the same as it will tomorrow.

      The only difference was, yesterday she hadn’t acknowledged that she was still in love with Tyler. Seeing him this morning, looking into his face with all those feelings of grief and rejection so close to the surface … It was going to be hard. Damned hard.

      “Morning, Gab. Anything I need to know about?” Tyler asked from the doorway.

      She took a moment to compose herself before facing him. Tyler must never know how she felt. Ever.

      “All good here, chief,” she said, a bright smile on her face.

      “Bloody hell. What have you done to your hair?”

      She blinked. “Excuse me?”

      “It looks like a helmet. Or that snap-on plastic hair they have for Lego figurines,” Tyler said, moving closer to get a better look.

      For a moment she didn’t know what he was talking about, then she remembered she’d pulled out all the stops for Jon this morning, including gluing her hair down with gel and creating a ruthlessly straight side part.

      “Is that hair gel?” Tyler asked.

      “I’m trying something different.”

      “Like what? Sculptural hair? I could carve this stuff.” He tapped her hair experimentally.

      Gabby pushed her chair back out of his reach. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess you have no idea how rude you’re being right now.”

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