Page 36 of The Talk Around Town

Gabe grunted in reply, not wanting to commit himself. What he thought of her ass wasn’t any of Ryan Thomas’s business, wasn’t anyone’s business.

Heck, Gabe didn’t even want tothinkabout her ass.

He looked down at where she fought with the overgrown jungle of weeds and vines, hauling them from the ground, wiping a hand over her sweat-drenched face and tossing the offensive things into a pile on the gravel of her driveway.

“… are you?”

Ryan’s voice dragged him back to reality.

“What was that?”

Ryan frowned a little and glanced from Emma back to Gabe. “I asked if you were interested in her. Just say so and I’ll back off. I like her, but you… Well, we’re friends. If you want—”

“No.” Gabe shook his head and lifted his hammer from his tool belt, focusing on the buckled and rusted roofing beneath his feet. “I’m not.”

“But the way you look at her sometimes. Are you sure?”

The tick and pop of the roof in the warm sun was the only sound around them. Gabe looked up to see Ryan staring at him, waiting for an answer. Sighing, he held his friend’s gaze and kept the image of Ryan and Emma when he’d walked up the drive firmly in his mind.

And lied through his teeth.

“No, I’m not interested. She’s Darby’s friend and looks like ending up being mine as well. Satisfied?”

Ryan twisted his lips into a semblance of a smile. “I’m not sure. Should I be?”

Gabe growled in frustration. “What do you want me to say? Don’t ask her out? Let me have a chance? What? I have no intention of going through all that again. Sami was a lesson learned the hard way. I’m not going back there ever again. You have my permission to chase her as long as she’ll let you.”

He kept his gaze on the roof, trying to see where he’d start. He didn’t want to look up and see the compassion on Ryan’s face.

“Sami’s lies can’t be excused, but you shouldn’t use that as an excuse to live half a life. Everyone’s been hurt at some stage. You’re not the only one to have a woman use you.”

Gabe raised flat eyes to stare at Ryan. “I am not going to discuss this. Not now, not ever again. It’s over, in the past. I’m done with it. Move on.”

Ryan’s expression softened. His brown eyes turned sad. “I have, buddy. Have you?” Ryan threw his hammer in the air, letting it spin so that he caught it by the handle. “Don’t let something special pass you by because you’re scared of the consequences.” He pointed the hammer at Gabe. “Because the consequences of that are even worse.”

*

Emma looked upand wiped her forearm over her brow. Her hat had a wide brim, but it didn’t stop the early spring heat from getting to her.

Mmm. Nice. Very nice indeed.

She licked her lips, unaware of the involuntary reaction to the display of pure male yumminess gracing her new porch roof.

Both Gabe and Ryan had shed their shirts over an hour earlier, her comments about sun care and sunburn eliciting a saucy grin from both men and a cheeky suggestion from Ryan about applying sunscreen.

Emma had shaken her head in mock disgust and carried on pulling weeds. Letting them get burned could be their penance for being all macho. It didn’t stop her from having a good look when they were too busy to notice though.

She could see why Millie had a thing for Gabe. He was gorgeous—from his wide shoulders, right down to the hard, defined slabs of muscle that were his stomach. The way the muscles moved and flexed as he worked, twisting and hammering under the warm sun, clenched her whole body into a mass of yearning so intense it stole her breath. He had a body to die for. Sweat had lent it a sparkling sheen, which was undeniably sexy in the mid-afternoon heat.

Tight, well-worn jeans moulded to his lean hips, the waistband firm and low. The denim outlined the shape of his incredible butt and thighs, almost looking as if it had been painted on by one of the Masters.

He’d give Michelangelo’s David a run for his money.

Ryan was no slouch either—his firm body proudly on display up there as well—but it wasn’thischest and stomach that had her fanning her face at regular intervals.

It’s just this weather.

Yes, that was it. Just the early spring heat taking its toll on her.

---