Page 51 of A Table for Two
“Only one way to find out,” Natasha said, gesturing toward the front. “It might be somebody who heard about these chocolate-dipped strawberries.”
Laughing, Serenity shook her head and started toward the front. Her pulse skipped when she looked through the peephole and saw Gabriel standing there. She snatched the door open. “Gabriel! What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming back until Sunday.”
“I changed my mind.” Gabriel stepped inside and curved his arm around her waist at the same time his mouth connected with hers.
He kissed her with an urgency she returned. Had it been only four days since she’d felt his lips on hers? Tightening his hold, he continued to plunder her mouth, and her body started to tremble. Through the haze of desire, she heard dishes, remembered she wasn’t alone, and jumped back.
He stared down at her curiously. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. I forgot for a moment that Natasha’s here. You want to come into the kitchen?”
“Nah. I don’t want to interrupt. I just wanted to see you for a few minutes to let you know I’m back.”
Serenity smoothed her hair down. The man’s kisses had the ability to rob her of every brain cell. “And you never did answer my question.”
“I wrapped things up sooner than I thought.” His hand made a slow pass down her back as he nuzzled her neck. “What are you doing this weekend?”
It took a moment for his words to register because she couldn’t concentrate with his tongue and lips on her. “Um…” Her head dropped back and her eyes slid closed. “I don’t have anything planned. Why?”
Gabriel lifted his head. “I thought we could drive down to Napa on Saturday for your wine train tour, dinner, and anything else you want to do, then come back Sunday.”
Serenity waged an inner debate for several seconds. Was he planning for them to share a room, and wassheready for whatever happened? Staring up at his handsome face, she answered her own questions with a resoundingyes. She was ready for everything he wanted to give. “I’d love to go. Do you want me to make the reservations?”
“Nope,” he said, dropping a kiss on her nose. “I’ve got it. I’ll call you to let you know the itinerary. Tell Natasha I said hi.” He stepped back onto the porch and, after gifting her with one more spine-tingling kiss, loped across the yard to his house.
She closed the door and leaned her head against it for a moment to calm her racing heart. Once she felt in control, she went back to the kitchen. “That was Gabriel. He just stopped by to let me know he was back earlier than expected.”
A wide grin spread across Natasha’s face. “He could have called. Obviously, that’s not the only thing he stopped by to do by the look of your lips.”
Serenity’s hand involuntarily went to her mouth, and she snatched it back down. Natasha chuckled. “He also wanted to know if I’d be available to go to Napa this weekend as part of a bet I won.” She didn’t say what the bet was because she’d promised not to divulge his secret about the yams.
“Mm-hmm. With a man like him, it’s going to be harder than you think to let him go when he leaves. And, as I said, long distance is still an option.”
“If he’d come along before Lloyd, I might’ve thought about it, but I’ve finally found my peace, and I’m not too inclined to jeopardize it.”
“Who said he’d jeopardize it?”
Serenity shrugged. Her friend had a point. “He only has another month or so left, and I think I’m just going to leave things as they are.” So far he hadn’t done anything to upset her balanced life, but she was a realist. She didn’t see it lasting past the allotted time and didn’t plan to get her hopes up.
Chapter 14
Gabriel got up early Saturday morning and drove over to Nana’s to cut her grass. It had been over two weeks since he’d last done it, and when he’d called to let her know he was back, she had asked if he had time to stop by on the weekend to handle the chore. Halfway through, he noticed Nana standing on the porch waving at him and cut the power on the mower. “You need something, Nana?” he asked, moving in her direction.
“No, baby. I was just coming to tell you I can cook you some breakfast after you’re done. If I had known you were coming this early, I would’ve had it ready when you got here.”
“You don’t have to do that. I ate before I came. And Serenity and I are doing the Napa wine train tour today, so I can’t stay.” He’d be picking her up at nine forty-five so they’d be on time for the ten thirty check-in. The train left an hour later, and the experience would last three hours.
“Oh, you’re going to have such a good time. I can’t wait to go back.” She shooed him. “Well, hurry up and finish, so you’re not late.”
Chuckling, he walked back over, stuck in his earbuds, and cranked up the power. As soon as he was done, he swept up, said his goodbyes, and drove home to shower and change.
Afterward, Gabriel walked over and rang Serenity’s doorbell. The excitement he felt when she opened the door let him know he might be in trouble when it came time for him to return home for good. He’d realized that when he’d cut his trip short and had gone directly to her house on Wednesday. He’d never missed a woman—never missedkissinga woman—before, but he had with her. Even now, as she stood there in one of those cute sundresses and sandals that showed off her beautiful legs, he had to fight the urge to back her inside and go straight to her bedroom. Gabriel readily admitted to himself that he liked Serenity, but he had been asking himself all day why he was going through all this trouble for a casual relationship. It didn’t help that he’d also spent a restless night trying to figure out how to proceed. He still hadn’t come up with an answer and decided to go with the flow for now. They would go their separate ways when he left, and he’d move on, as would she. “Good morning.”
“Good morning to you, too,” Serenity said with a smile. “I’m ready.”
She reached down for her overnighter, and he eased it from her. “I got it.” He waited for her to lock the door, then led her to his car. After programming the address into the GPS, he got them underway. Fortunately, traffic was light and they would make it to their destination with time to spare. “How was your week?”
She rolled her head in his direction. “Busy. School will be starting next month, and parents are bringing in their kids for annual checkups, immunizations, and sports exams. It gets crazy like this every year.”
