Page 87 of Sanctuary

Shay caught Gabe’s eye. “They’ve got a 24oz porterhouse. Want to go 70/30 on it?”

“Sure,” Gabe said, though food had suddenly become unimportant. She felt Lori’s foot against her shin, and then Lori’s hand on her thigh. Was this really happening? The air in the restaurant thickened, and the heat became stifling. Gabe wanted to rush out of there into the cool summer air—after grabbing Lori, of course.

But she couldn’t, could she? Because Gabe still hadn’t summoned the courage to tell Lori about her past and what had happened with the Nelsons. As they’d gotten closer, the omission had begun to feel more and more like a lie, invading their intimacy like an aggressive cancer, threatening to eat away their relationship. And if she just had the chance to calmly explain the circumstances, maybe Lori wouldn’t equate the situation to her own experience.

Gabe barely noticed that a waiter had arrived and was halfway around the table taking orders, and their glasses were already full of champagne. After he’d gotten their preferences, Hank stood on the other side of Lori and tapped his knife on the champagne bottle in a bucket beside him. Lori withdrew her hand and gave all her attention to her dad, allowing Gabe to breathe easy again.

“I want to propose a toast,” he said and looked at Lori. “First, I want to say thank you to the God Almighty for blessing us with a beautiful, talented, and driven daughter. A daughter who has shown us time and time again that she has an infinite pool of kindness from which she waters all the animals and people in her life and watches them grow in her care. A daughter who has suffered emotional torment at the hands of another human being and yet hasn’t let it diminish her capacity to love and care for everyone around her. Lori, you made us proud from the moment you entered this world, and that pride has grown with every single thing you’ve done, every achievement you’ve made, and every animal you’ve saved.” He took Karen and Lori’s hands and smiled brightly at each of them. “When we started our first care program with hack towers for bald eagles, we imagined building an NPO to help animals worldwide, and you’ve helped us make that dream come true. Thank you for giving us more joy than we ever imagined possible. You’re the most amazing human being we’ve ever known.”

Hank picked up his glass and toasted Lori, and everyone did the same. Gabe concentrated on the elaborate lighting rig snaking across the ceiling and blinked her eyes repeatedly. His speech had been incredible; the only other time Gabe had been overcome with emotion like this had been at her Army graduation ceremony. When she refocused on the people at the table, she could see his words had had the same effect on every one of them, including her team, and the soft lights of the restaurant were reflected in the tears pooling in their eyes. She was glad no one would be asking her to say anything because she couldn’t follow that, and she was sure she wouldn’t be able croak anything past the ball of emotion in her throat.

“Thank you, Daddy,” Lori said after the clink of glasses and explosion of applause had died down. “I could never have been any of those things or done a fraction of what I have in this world if I hadn’t had the most wonderful parents a daughter could ever hope for. You’ve supported me in everything I’ve ever wanted to do, even when it was a little crazy—like when we were in Koh Samui, and I wanted us to fly to New Orleans to help rescue people’s abandoned pets after the hurricane?—”

“And did you go?” Gabe asked, astonished.

“We couldn’t stop her,” Karen said, her pride shining from her face like a lighthouse beacon. “We were there for six weeks.”

Gabe shook her head, and her admiration for Lori grew even more. She looked back at Lori’s parents, whose love for her was so clear that it was almost a physical presence on the table. What would it be like to be loved that much? She glanced at Shay, who seemed to have the same kind of wonder in her eyes. They shared a look and a rueful smile. It was impossible not to be envious of the relationship Lori had with her parents.

“Anyway,” Lori said and gave Gabe a light shove, “if I could continue? I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the parents that you are.” She raised her glass. “To Mom and Dad.”

Another round of shouts and applause erupted.

Hank raised his glass again. “And my second toast goes to the five ex-soldiers of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, who have generously given their time and considerable expertise to the restoration of what has turned out to be a very special car indeed. And because of its provenance and connection to the world-renowned and widely celebrated craftsman, Marie Zimmerman, I’ve been told that the Brewster will probably sell for upward of half a million dollars.”

Solo whistled loudly. “No fucking way!”

Gabe frowned, a little stunned by the outburst and the fact that Solo already sounded buzzed. She saw Janie place her hand on Solo’s forearm, but she shrugged her off and emptied her glass before refilling it again. There was definitely more to their story than Tia acting up. She shared another look with Shay, who rolled her eyes as if she’d expected it. Solo had always been the baby of the team, but she’d seemed to mature with Janie.

Lori’s hand on her thigh, dangerously close to her crotch, slammed her attention away from Solo’s issues and back to her own, while, to Hank’s credit, he largely seemed to ignore Solo’s interruption and laughed.

“So thank you to Gabe, Shay, Woody, RB, and Solo for your fantastic hard work. Having looked at Woody’s photographs and seeing what you’ve already done, I can’t wait to see the finished product in a couple of days. And I really can’t wait to see Lori put a huge check in the Sanctuary’s bank account after the auction!”

Hank sat down to another sea of cheering, and though Gabe had been touched by his words, she was on fire from the touch of his daughter. Gabe slipped her hand under the table and placed it over Lori’s. “What’re you doing?” she whispered.

Lori wiggled her eyebrows. “If you have to ask, I can’t be doing it right.”

“Oh, you’re doing it right. Too right for a friend.”

Lori didn’t answer and took a sip of her champagne. Gabe watched the way her mouth held the lip of her glass as the alcohol swirled into her mouth. Damn, Gabe longed to be that glass. But she couldn’t…could she? But, but, but—fuck the buts.

“I don’t just want to be your friend anymore, Gabe.” Lori placed the glass on the table. “I want more than that,” she said as she slipped her hand all the way up onto Gabe’s crotch and squeezed. “So much more.”

Gabe tensed every muscle in her body to stem the insane reaction to the feel of Lori’s hand cupping her sex through the soft cotton of her trousers.

“You’re so hot down there,” Lori whispered.

Hot didn’t even begin to cover it. Gabe was on fire, and she had to fight against the desire to make an excuse that could take her and Lori away from this dinner celebration and straight to bed. She couldn’t think of anything feasible— Hell, she could barely think at all.

Several waiters circled the table to serve their food, and everyone’s attention was on them while Lori behaved like a woman possessed. What had brought this on? And did Gabe even care to ask in case Lori came to her senses and simply stopped?

The waiter placed the porterhouse and two plates of roasted vegetables and baked potatoes with all the trimmings between Gabe and Shay. It smelled amazing, but it had no chance of taking her attention from Lori and her gently probing fingers running up and down her thigh.

Lori removed her hand to begin eating her salmon, and Gabe didn’t know whether to sigh in relief at the respite or shout in frustration at the loss of her touch. Lori cut off some pieces of her fish, speared one with her fork, and popped it into her mouth. Gabe had barely had the time to figure out what she was supposed to be feeling, let alone think about eating the steak Shay was slicing into before Lori’s hand returned to her thigh.

She rubbed her finger along the seam of Gabe’s crotch. “I’ve wanted to touch you like this since the moment you stepped out of your truck the first time you came to the Sanctuary,” she whispered then put another piece of salmon into her mouth as innocently as if they were discussing the weather.

Gabe closed her eyes briefly, remembering that same moment she’d laid eyes on Lori and thought exactly the same thing.

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