Page 22 of Tangled in His Embrace

Before he could respond, Gabby ducked under his arm and made a beeline for her bedroom. She slammed the door shut and turned the lock, something she rarely ever did, and let her back slide along the wood as she lowered herself to the floor.

Several minutes passed with no sound coming from the hallway. It was like a replay of earlier that night, except she wasn’t crying this time. Of course, as soon as she heard his footsteps retreating down the hall, her anger began to dissipate, leaving her feeling raw and exposed.

She’d heard the saying ‘rip your heart out’ over the years, and she’d thought she understood it after Jax left the first time, but what she was feeling now was much worse. He’d chosen for her, not trusting that she would do what was right for her and her baby. It was as if the wounds from him leaving three years ago, wounds she’d worked desperately to heal, had been ripped open again and had salt poured into them.

Forcing herself up, she went to her desk and turned on her computer. There was no way she was going to be able to sleep, so she might as well do something productive. It was a good thing she was in the middle of writing a shootout between the hero and the bad guys. She needed to get out some of her frustration, and what better way than to kill some fictional characters? It was a better option than breaking something over the head of a certain man who was currently sleeping on her couch, which sounded pretty good at the moment.

Gabby closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and let her fingers dance over the keys. She poured all her anger out, letting it consume her hero as he closed in on one of the bad guys. By the time she finished the scene, her hero was covered in blood with four dead bodies lying at his feet, but Gabby had to admit she felt a little better.

As she sat there staring at the words she’d written, she began to feel the lateness of the hour. She knew she needed to at least try and get a few hours’ sleep.

After saving her work, she powered down her computer and stood, stretching her stiff muscles. She’d been sitting in the same position for hours.

Gabby could barely keep her eyes open as she crossed the room to her bed.

The mattress dipped when she crawled under the covers. She rested her head on her pillow, letting its softness soothe her even more. Within seconds, she was asleep.

***

It was a long night. Jax ended up spending most of it staring at the Christmas tree. The lights weren’t on, but it was better than staring at the ceiling.

He kept replaying what Gabby had said over and over in his mind. Was she right? Had he not trusted her? It hadn’t played out that way in his head at the time, but he did recall his mom saying something along those lines.

Eventually, the first rays of the sun began peeking through the curtains and he decided sleep wasn’t going to come for him. He slipped on his jeans, folded the sheet and blanket Gabby had given him the night before, and placed them on the end of the couch with his pillow. Then he went to the kitchen to see what he could dig up for breakfast.

Gabby’s refrigerator contained everything he needed to make a decent breakfast. He pulled out the eggs, milk, ham, cheese, and found some potatoes and onions in her pantry. Considering how early it was, Jax didn’t figure Gabby would be up for a while but that didn’t mean he couldn’t fix something for both of them. Besides, it might help him get back in her good graces again. That was probably wishful thinking on his part, but it couldn’t hurt.

Jax turned the oven on to preheat and took his time cutting the ham, potatoes, and onions before mixing them together with the eggs, milk, and cheese. By the time he had everything combined, the oven was ready. He poured everything into a glass baking dish, covered it with tinfoil, and popped it in to cook.

Once that was done, he was left wondering how he should pass the time. He wanted to check on Gabby, but something told him that wasn’t such a good idea. She’d been pissed at him last night. The last thing he wanted was to make it worse.

A brief look outside told him that things hadn’t improved much during the night. Icicles hung from the tree branches and car mirrors. A glance at the roads confirmed that the snow plows hadn’t been through and he doubted they’d see them anytime soon. If the rest of the city was like this, the salt crews would have their hands full making sure the main roads were clear.

Jax picked up his phone from where he’d left it on the coffee table and checked his email. He’d gotten eight new messages in the last twelve hours, five of them from clients. If he’d known he was going to be stuck here for any length of time, he would have brought his laptop.

Two hours later, his belly full of the breakfast casserole he’d made, he sat on the couch, flipping through channels on the television, trying to find something decent to watch that wasn’t cartoons. That was where Gabby found him. Or, at least, that’s where he was when she strolled out of her bedroom. She completely ignored him and walked into the kitchen.

He debated for a split second whether or not to give her some space but decided against it. Taking his time, he made his way into the kitchen and rested his elbows on the island. “I made breakfast casserole.”

She opened the dishwasher and began putting dishes away. Once she’d finished with that, she went to the refrigerator, took out the orange juice, and poured herself a glass.

“Are you not talking to me this morning?” he asked.

“There’s nothing to say.”

Gabby didn’t even bother to look at him. She did, however, lift up the foil on the casserole. He wondered for a moment if she was going to pass on it, but she got a plate out of the cabinet and scooped out a healthy portion for herself.

After heating her food up in the microwave, she brought her plate to the table and sat down, bypassing Jax.

He went to take the seat across from her. While he wanted to continue their conversation from last night, he thought he’d start out with something a little safer. “The roads are still covered with ice. I’m honestly surprised we didn’t lose power.”

She glanced up at him, and then went back to her food.

“It looks like I’m going to be stuck here for a little while longer.”

Nothing.

“Are you planning to ignore me all day?”

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