Page 20 of Finding Home

“I wasn’t expecting to see you until eleven,” came the sexiest voice she’d ever heard.

Lifting her head, she squinted against the February sun—and found Gabe.

A long-sleeved running shirt hugged his superbly toned chest and a beanie revealed his just-a-touch-too-long hair curling under it. He gazed down at her with the lopsided smile that she’d learned last night had the power to simultaneously stop her heart and wet her panties.

Seriously, being this hot should be illegal, or at least punishable by fine. He could cause an accident, distracting innocent joggers from watching where they were supposed to be going. They could run into a pole or the river or, even worse, knock over a child in a stroller or something. Honestly, did no one care about the safety of innocent pedestrians anymore?

Without waiting for an invitation, he dropped down beside her on the bench and stared at the water.

“I didn’t know you were a runner,” Hope said.

“I’m pretty sure,” he replied without looking at her, “there’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

Wasn’t that the truth.

“Do you do that on purpose?” she asked.

That got her a look. His green eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed as he observed her. “Do what?”

“Keep your life so tightly guarded.”

“Maybe,” he said with a shrug. “I guess I got used to it over the years. I’m not good at sharing myself with people. I learned pretty early that the less people know about you, the fewer people get close to you. And the fewer people you have in your life, the less likelihood you get hurt.”

His revelation struck her, mostly because it was so unexpectedly raw and honest. She shifted her gaze from his face to the water. As sad as his words sounded, she could understand them and had to agree. In theory, if the people you loved the most were the ones who could hurt you the deepest, it made sense to have less of them in your life. Except in practice it wasn’t working out for her in the way she’d imagined.

“And how’s that been working for you?” She asked Gabe, truly curious.

He looked at her. “It’s been working great. Never thought about switching it up.” Then he turned to look back out over the water. “Until recently.” A little smile tipped his lips upward.

Oh-kay. What didthatmean? Her heart started to pound again, her cheeks heating. But she couldn’t bring herself to reply. He couldn’t possibly be referring to her. They’d only met yesterday. People didn’t change their life philosophy after one meeting. Did they?

They sat in silence, and Hope’s breathing finally returned to normal range.

Just as she was settling into their companionable silence, Gabe rose to his feet. “Come on,” he said, taking her hand and pulling her up from the bench.

She almost succumbed to total humiliation when her rubbery legs nearly buckled under her.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

Sauntering beside her along the river, he smiled, the first all-out smile she’d seen on him, and she just about melted into a hormonal puddle. Was helaughing? Unashamedly staring now, she took him in, admiring his stunning look of joy. He really was a beautiful human when he smiled outright like that.

Her admiration fizzled when she realized he’d picked up their pace. Once again, she was jogging along the river.

“Well, I figure since we are both here now, we might as well go a little farther to the donut shop I know a few blocks away. We can discuss what we need to about Ruby over coffee and a maple-bacon donut.”

Maple-bacon donut? Was that a real thing?

Resigned to going farther than she’d anticipated, and too proud to beg him to stop, Hope kept pace with him—even as her screaming muscles had her plotting all the ways she might shove him over the riverbank without anyone being the wiser.

* * *

Gabe had to hand it to Hope. Even though she was clearly a novice runner, and probably reached her limit three city blocks ago, she kept up with him. Her breaths came in quick little gasps, crystallizing in front of her like puffs of smoke. He probably shouldn’t be pushing her, but the look of utter determination on her face was the cutest thing he’d seen in a long time. She hadn’t complained once, or asked him to stop, and he admired that. She had grit, and it was sexy as hell.

As they continued jogging, they said nothing, probably because she didn’t have any extra air for talking, but Gabe wanted to talk, so he slowed to a walk. Beside him, he thought he heard a muffled “Thank God” but when he looked over, she only matched his stride and smiled up at him.

There it was again, her optimism. Her unapologetic determination to make the best of every situation. Even though her skin was sweat slicked and she still hadn’t caught her breath enough to speak. Running clearly wasn’t her jam, but she was looking at him like she was happy just to be walking beside him. Gabe couldn’t remember the last time anyone other than Ruby had made him feel this wanted. Or the last time he’d allowed himself to feel this wanted.

A few minutes later, they were sitting on bar stools by the shop window, with two steaming mugs of coffee and a couple of donuts between them.

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