Page 17 of Tempting Gabe
If she went to work with him, she was dressed already. "After your work, we'll go to the graveyard?"
"Yes. Together."
"And I will talk to the caretakers on the phone."
"Good plan."
Her thoughts cleared. At least this way they would get everything in order and be together. Her stomach no longer rumbled for food. She pointed to the front door. "Better get going."
He arranged the plates in front of them. "Relax, you're with me now and you were hungry."
She let him guide her to sip her coffee without complaint. While he folded her napkin in her lap, she tugged at her ear. "Gabe, why me of all women?"
He winked at her. "Because you make me feel like I'm home."
Perfect answer. She picked up a piece of toast as she felt her face grow warmer. "I feel the same which is funny because my mother told me I was the strong one who could survive anything."
"We can both be strong, together."
For once, she had a partner and this was great. If only her brother didn't ruin her chances to be happy and fall in love because Gabe Hawke was amazing and the best man she'd ever met.
Chapter 8
Gabe heldthe front door for Megan that she walked past him and into Hawke Inc. He placed his hand on her lower back and led her to the elevators. No one said anything to them, but he saw his employees glance over and then look away. Megan agreed to be his girlfriend, and he worried he couldn’t offer her all she deserved since they were starting off on this path with her brother between them. Once her brother was captured, he'd make the time to whisk her off to Venice for the weekend where they could eat at his favorite restaurant.
The elevator beeped and opened which brought him back to the present moment. No one joined them, so he leaned forward and smelled the roses of her skin that made his body ache for her. Then he stood straighter and admitted, "Memories of what happened in the desert are coming back to me."
"Are they about my brother?" she asked the moment the doors opened to his office floor.
"Yes." His secretary stared at the pair of them, but she lowered her head immediately. Megan kept her question to herself, but he smiled and showed her the way to his office. She stayed in step with him.
The second the doors closed to his office and they were alone again, she asked, "What happened?"
He led her a chair across from his desk, but she picked it up to move it closer. He held out his hands and took it from her and then placed her seat next to him. Once they were settled and he sat at his desk, he turned toward her, hands together. "Even as a Marine, I intended to take a loan from my father and start Hawke Inc as a computer security service. I was stupid at twenty-two and decided to create a hack that would grant me information about almost any company or government organization that would mutate until it found a point of entry."
Her brown eyes seemed to assess him, like one of his computers. She nodded and said, "Sounds like a virus."
"Yeah. I'm using non-tech terms, but that's a good comparison."
She leaned forward. "Okay, so you created a virus hack, and?"
Memories flashed in his mind of the explosion, of how Belle screamed and pulled Colt toward her, of dust and rocks that flew in his face the moment, and the shards of that metal fence that poked at his skin. The images blurred in every thought, but he focused on the USB and said, "I told James, Conner, Colt, Belle, Harrison and Maddox my plans and what I had done while we were on a mission. A few days later Maddox stole my hack on a USB on the day we were attacked."
Her eyes widened. "He what?"
"I thought he died."
With her nod, he felt calmer. Good. Memories of the desert and what had happened to him drained him.
Silence clung in the air and he took the moment to regroup his energy for the day. The second ended when she asked, "So what do you plan to do now?"
Right. Focus on today. He reached out and patted her hand. Her email was for Morgan Enterprises and that was how her brother traced her. He swallowed and said, "My clients are safe because I created a way to block my own hack years ago, but your boss is not my client and he's under attack. I have no idea how many other companies or organizations Maddox might have hacked."
She reached out and held his wrist while her gaze read that she was almost pleased with him. "Did you feel guilty this morning when you asked me to be your girlfriend because of what you did?"
"Absolutely not." He tugged her closer and then kissed her forehead because he didn't have a clear shot at her lips. "You're the prettiest and most interesting woman I've met in a long time."
A slow smile emerged as she lifted her chin. "Good answer. Did you forget all of what you said?"
