Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45918 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
He doesn’t like the sound of that. He sits up straight, and his eyebrows practically disappear into his hairline. “Am I one of them?”
Even though I know he’s not, I shrug. “I’m not sure. You would need to call King’s office to find out.”
“But… maybe you could call him. I’d be happy for him to join us here, and he can get to know me.”
This time, my mouth drops. The audacity of this guy. “Uh, King became a father two weeks ago. He’s not going to come down here tonight to get to know you.”
My refusal doesn’t even faze him because he throws a hand up. “But I’m sure once he looks at my credentials and knows that we’re friends, he will want to take a closer look.”
“Look, Roger. I’m not sure how to say this in a way you’ll understand, but I’m not going to talk King into hiring you.”
“But—” he starts, and then his eyes swing over my shoulder. I can feel Gabe’s presence before I can see or hear him. I turn to look up into Gabe’s eyes. The stool I’m sitting on is high enough for Gabe to press his shoulder against mine.
“Hey, Chrissy. How’s it going?”
I grab my beer and stand up. “Roger, this is Gabe. Gabe, Roger.”
Roger just nods his head at Gabriel. I can see Roger judging his long hair and the tattoos on his arms by the frown on his face. The fact that he’s a snob makes me feel even better about what I’m about to do. “Roger, I think we can both agree that this isn’t going to work. Since you asked me out to get a job with King and I’m not going to help with it, I think we can go ahead and call it a night.”
Gabe literally growls when I mention why Roger asked me out, but to his credit, he doesn’t say anything.
Roger leans forward and says, “Chrissy—”
But that’s all he gets out. He looks up at Gabe, and Gabe must be giving him a look because Roger’s tone weakens. “Yeah, okay, sure.”
Gabe puts his arm around my shoulder and leads me away. He doesn’t stop until we’re across the bar and he pulls out a stool, picks me up by the waist, and lifts me up to put me in the chair.
He then walks around the small table and sits down across from me. I look to where his fireman friends are all sitting, and I gesture to them. “You don’t have to babysit me, Gabe. You can go back to your friends.”
He gives me a look like I’m crazy. “Yeah, that’s not happening. But if you want to give me permission to kick in the doctor's teeth, I’ll be happy to do that.”
I shrug. “He’s not worth it.”
He grits his teeth. “It would make me feel better.”
I reach over and wrap my hand around his forearm. “It’s fine, Gabe. It’s not a big deal. This isn’t the first time someone has asked me for a favor or befriended me to get close to one of you guys.”
He rears back in surprise. “Excuse me?”
I shrug like it’s no big deal, but I’m obviously bothered by it. “Yeah, I have nurses that suddenly become friendly because they want to date you.”
He frowns. “You’ve never told me that.”
I nod. “Yeah, well, I never fixed you up with one of them. I assumed you wouldn’t appreciate that kind of behavior, but I mean, I can always—”
He holds his hand up. “No, I don’t want any part of that. I’m sorry, Chrissy. Roger is a dumbass. He doesn’t know how bad he screwed up.”
I laugh at that. “Yeah, he does because he’s not getting a reference from me to King.”
Gabe reaches across the table and puts his hand on my chin. “Look at me.”
I blink my eyes and look into his. I’m trying to hide it, but there’s no hiding anything from Gabe. Sometimes I think he knows me better than I know myself.
Gabe smiles softly. “He screwed up because he had a date with the most beautiful, the most special, the most big-hearted woman in Whiskey Run, and he fucked it up. You were right there in front of him, and he didn’t see it. Fuck, he has to be blind.”
My heart is racing, and I take a deep breath because I can feel the flutters in my stomach. Sometimes the things he says to me make me think he feels more for me, but I have to remind myself that this is Gabe. This is who he is. He knows I’m hurt, and he’ll say and do anything to make me feel better. I try to make light of the situation. “Fine, you’re forgiven.”
He releases his hold on me, but he doesn’t go far. He wraps his hand around mine. “What do you mean, I’m forgiven?”