“Gabe Mitchell, nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too, sir.” He cast a sideways glance at Gretchen. “You’re a lucky man. Mrs. Wain— er,Ms. Wainwright is the best.” He stole another look at his former teacher, and I recognized there was more than admiration on the young man’s face.
And I didn’t like it one bit.
Possessively putting my arm around her with a grin, I replied, “She is indeed.”
****
Gretchen
Gabe and I ordered, then sat in a corner booth as we waited for our pizza and beer.
The pitcher of Modelo arrived first, and after Gabe poured us each a glass, he held his drink up and offered a toast.
“To unexpected surprises. When I woke up yesterday, I would have never imagined I’d be spending my weekend with such an amazing, beautiful woman.”
“To unexpected surprises,” I murmured and clinked my mug against his.
I took a sip of the ice-cold beer, then set it on the scratched, wooden table.
“When I got your lawyer’s letter yesterday, I never in a million years would have thought I’d spend the weekend withyou.”
He let out a low chuckle. “You didn’t imagine you’d be getting naked with the ‘infuriating Jerk of the Year’?”
“After getting that letter? No, I had a few ideas what I wanted to do to you and getting naked was nowhere on the list.”
“I’m sorry about that. I needed to get your attention, since you wouldn’t respond to Rick.”
I was still harboring a little resentment with how aggressive the letter had been.
“There are other ways you could have gone about it, you know.”
“True, but to be fair, you wouldn’t return Rick’s calls, and I needed the cabinets out of the shop to make room for a lumber shipment I have coming on Tuesday.”
“And they’re almost out. No lawsuit necessary.”
He seemed unfazed by my sassy response and raised his glass again.
“Like I said, to unexpected surprises.”
“Hopefully, that will also include a payment plan I can afford.”
Gabe set his glass on the table without taking a pull.
“I’ll talk to Maverick on Monday, I promise. But for tonight, let’s forget about the cabinets and enjoy our time together.”
“You’re right. Tomorrow will be here before we know it, and it’ll be back to reality.”
His voice was soft when he replied, “Yeah.”
A tiny part of me wanted him to ask for more than the weekend with me.
I knew that was my pride rearing its ugly head. We were at two different stages in life, and he’d already told me he didn’t want more kids. But my ego didn’t care. I wanted him to want me for longer than the weekend.
The sex had been incredible, but it had seemed like it was deeper than that. I mean, we were out to dinner and not naked in bed together. Granted, it was the local pizza place, but still. It felt like Gabe was interested in more than just getting between my legs.
It doesn’t matter!