Page 70 of Enchanting the CEO

"It would have been hard not to. I don't know who wanted to be there less, you or Helen. Or Nick, Leo and Maddox.”

"Helen is their mother."

I nodded. "Yeah, I got that."

“I'd never met her until today. My half brothers and I avoid talking about her. Or my mother, for that matter. I could have handled it better, but I was just so surprised to see her."

"Gabe," I said slowly, "I think you handled it fine. Don't be so hard on yourself."

I put my hand on his neck. He seemed to relax beneath my touch, though the veins and muscles of his neck were corded. But they softened the longer I kept my hands there.

"I know this is crazy, but it feels a bit like betraying my mom."

"Gabe," I murmured. I was hurting for him. "Sometimes pain is irrational."

"Yeah, I guess it is." He closed his eyes, tilting his head back.

I rose on my toes and tried to kiss his Adam's apple, but the man was far too tall to do that, so I jumped a bit, managed to kiss him, and then landed on his foot.

"Aah!" he yelled.

I jumped back and nearly lost my balance.

He put a hand on my arm, steadying me. His face was still contorted with discomfort.

"I'm so sorry. I just wanted to kiss your neck, and, well, coordination's not my forte."

"Obviously," he snorted, then burst out laughing. He was back to being happy again, so that was a win. "Come on. Let's go."

Once we got in the car, I realized we didn't have a plan. "So? What's on the agenda for today?" I asked.

"How would you feel about going to a cooking course together?"

I clapped my hands together. "That would be so fun."

He nodded. "I thought so." He took his phone from his pocket and opened a browser. The Google search read "Top things to do with your girlfriend in Boston." He'd researched this.

"Class starts in about an hour, but there's no way to make reservations online."

He'd clicked on some Michelin-type cooking for foodies. I suspected this might be above Gabe's skill level, but it sounded like fun.

"There’s the phone number," he said triumphantly, grinning at me and quickly bringing the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" he said. "This is Gabe Whitley. I’m interested in one of your cooking courses. The one that starts in one hour, actually. Do you still have spots available, for two?"

A woman's voice sounded on the other end, but I couldn't gather what she was saying.

"Two people, yes. I'm sure you can make an exception. I’ll pay double the price of the ticket."

I opened my mouth to contradict him, but then he said, "Excellent. Thank you. We'll see you right away."

After he hung up, I was too stunned to say anything.

"We've got our cooking course," he said.

"You offered to pay double, just like that?"

"I figured it would sweeten the deal. She admitted that the course wasn't actually full. She probably just didn't want to deal with the hassle of adding two more to her paperwork."

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