Chapter 27

GABRIEL

He put a scoop of ice cream into his mouth as he settled against the wall at the edge of the roof, thinking about Dr. Abrahams’s text telling him to meet her there for their session. He actually enjoyed their last session up there, even if he didn’t like the conversation they had ventured into.

With a hard sigh, he pulled his thoughts away from the session and memories the good doctor could elicit, and instead followed her other suggestion—thinking about Sarah and Amelia, and especially the interlude he had with Sarah earlier that morning.

Gabe felt his jaw tense at the memory of Sarah’s eyes, the wide pupils so full of emotion it had been difficult to gauge what she was thinking. The excitement he had felt when he saw her at the door that morning had become the highlight of his day. A day that had gone from cloud nine to the depths of hell in less than an hour.

He ate another spoon of ice cream as he thought about the accident that he had come across on his way to work, a teenage girl pinned beneath the upturned car while her boyfriend scrambled out of the car, the smell of alcohol so potent Gabe was afraid that the heated engine would ignite the scene. After detaining the drunken driver in his car, Gabe went back to the girl to watch her go into cardiac arrest just as the paramedics arrived. Cleo, the EMT who was constantly flirting with Gabe, had let him know that the girl had died before reaching the hospital. Gabe had been in the team truck on their way to an early morning raid when he got the call, and it had taken all his concentration to get the pretty little girl out of his head and mentally review the brief they had received before rolling out.

As if on cue, the stitches on his left forearm and right side started burning. Gabe had just spun out of the open doorway to avoid the attack from one of the drug dealers, his quick hands slicing Gabe on the arm with the short blade in his fist. Before he could strike again, Gabe snapped the knife-wielding wrist until the hand bent at an awkward angle, the assailant screaming at such a high-pitch that Gabe’s ears hurt. He had barely put cuffs on the man when a gunshot rang out behind him, and Gabe felt the familiar sting of a flesh wound on his right side.

He had dropped his detainee to the floor, the man curling into a fetal position as he cradled his broken arm, Gabe turned to the man with the gun. He shook his head in confusion. The man—a boy of about sixteen—was standing less than ten feet away from Gabe and had still missed him. Gabe raised an eyebrow, held his hand out and the kid turned over the Smith & Wesson without an argument. Gabe sighed as he nodded his head toward the floor and the youth complied immediately, kneeling on the floor so that one of Gabe’s teammates could cuff him, the rest of the raid winding down.

With a muttered curse, Gabe inspected the cut on his arm before putting a hand to his side and swearing even harder at the blood on his fingers. To his luck, Cleo was the EMT who had to patch him up, and Gabe just shook his head at her sly remarks about him needing to get shot before she could get her hands on his body.

“Gabe!” Dr. Abrahams called as she made herself comfortable on the bench.

“I brought you some ice cream.” Then, he frowned at her. “You do eat ice cream?”

“My favorite food.” She closed her eyes and moaned as she took a bite. “So, Gabriel, where were your thoughts just now?”

The frown deepened as he looked at her, his heart jerking at the same question Sarah had asked him. “I’m sorry, I’m not with you…”

She indicated the open notebook and the fact that she had been able to settle herself on the picnic bench without him even being aware of it. “You were so preoccupied that you didn’t even hear me come up.”

Gabe put his cup down and ran a hand through his newly cut hair. “Shit, doc, I’m sorry.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Let’s start this session with the story of that bandage…and the blood seeping through your shirt.”

“Fuck,” Gabe gasped as he looked down at the edge of the white T-shirt he had changed into at the end of his shift. With a deep breath and a nonchalant shrug, he looked at the doctor. “Yeah, why not…”

SARAH

Sarah was humming as she twisted croissants onto a baking tray. Even though the bakery was not officially open, it had dedicated customers who had waited patiently for it to be functional again. Sarah and Cleve baked on specific orders, and this helped to give them some funds that they could renovate with.

“Cliff’s order nearly finished?” Cleve asked as he came into the kitchen after serving some customers at the counter.

“Croissants just went into the oven and the jam tarts are nearly packed,” she said, dusting some sugared powder over the tarts.

“I like this rogered Sarah,” Cleve teased, bumping her shoulder as he took a larger box from a shelf and transferred the dusted tarts into them.

“Rogered? Is that some foreign English term?” Sarah retorted.

“Yip. In the same range as ~bonked, screwed, banged, shagged, romped, copulated, fornica~—”

“Fine!” Sarah laughed, holding up her hands in defeat.

“Blady ’ell, Sarah!” he squealed. “That delectable man put his pickle in your olive!”

Sarah could feel the blush staining her cheeks, confirming his suspicions. They both swung around at the sound of Indie’s voice from the kitchen door.

“What delectable man is pickling whose olive?” She glanced between Cleve and Sarah, unstrapping a kicking Connor from his stroller.

Sarah wished the ground could swallow her whole, but seeing that that would never happen, she opted for changing the subject as she took Connor from his mom’s arms. “How delectable is this little man?”

“Don’t change the subject,” Indie huffed, settling on a stool at the stainless-steel workbench.

“I have—” Sarah’s phone vibrated in her pocket, and she reached for it, transferring Connor to the side that would block their view.

Gabe

Thank you for making my day brighter this morning.

Sarah felt the blush intensify as she remembered the feeling of Gabe bringing her earth-shattering pleasure in her kitchen that morning. She could feel Indie’s and Cleve’s gazes on her, Indie confused and Cleve smirking with knowledge.

Sarah

It was very much my pleasure.

Gabe

Can’t stop thinking about…your pleasure…

She buried her face into Connor’s sweet-smelling neck to smother the moan that Gabe’s words elicited.

Sarah

I’ll chat later. Got company.

Gabe

Meet at our spot later?

Her body thrummed in anticipation.

Sarah

I’ll—

“Hey!” Sarah gasped as her phone was taken out of her hand and she turned to glare at Indie who had moved away from her. Indie gaped as she scrolled through the conversation thread. “Has no one told you it's rude to read someone’s messages?”

“It’s not rude when my sister is being pickled by some guy named… Who’s ~Jimi~?” Indie snorted as she continued scrolling.

“I would also like to know…” Gabe’s deep voice made Indie yelp in surprise. They had all been so preoccupied with the texts that none of them had seen him standing behind Indie. Sarah’s heart was beating so fast at the sight of him in jeans and a T-shirt, his black hair cut into inch-long spikes that yelled at her to run her fingers through. From his superior height, he could read the texts over the much shorter Indie’s shoulder and glanced at Sarah with an impish glint in his blue eyes.

“None of your damned business,” Sarah sassed as she extricated her phone from Indie’s hand and stuffed it into her pocket again. “My delectable man and I are going to peruse the best treats at Wrapped Happiness while you lot gossip like plucked hens.”

She raised her brow at Gabe who was blocking her exit from the kitchen. The way he was clamping his lips together told Sarah that he was trying hard to control his laughter. “Seems Sarah has a secret…”

“It seems that way,” Indie said, her eyes fixed on Sarah. “Come on, Sar, spill. He’s obviously a catch if he can make you blush like that.”

“Oh, he does more than make her blush,” Cleve added, sitting on the stool next to Sarah’s almost-sister-in-law. Indie spun to him; her wide amber eyes bright with curiosity.

“What do you know about him, Cleve?” she asked eagerly.

“I know he smells like a dreammm…” Cleve hummed, closing his eyes at his memories.

“Really?” Indie chimed. “I know he’s intensely passionate.”

“How?” Cleve squealed.

“Well…” Indie crossed her arms as she glanced at Sarah. “I have it from a very reliable source that she had ~bite marks~ on her shoulder this morning…”

“She did?” Cleve and Gabe’s voices harmonized as they asked the question together.

“Geez! Is nothing private?” She turned back to the door and saw the concern darken Gabe’s eyes. She bit her bottom lip as she looked back at him, still feeling the bite as he exploded inside of her, and she felt her essence flood her underwear. In frustration, she poked him on the shoulder. “You’re probably here for Grandma’s custard cake.”

She pushed past him and stormed out of the kitchen, the door swinging shut on Cleve and Indie’s whispered conversation about the man who gave her such pleasure ~while he was standing there~! Sarah was just very glad they had no idea who “Jimi” was. With a resigned sigh, she walked over to the counter that held Grandma’s order.

The breath hissed out of her when she felt the heat of Gabe’s finger against the collar of her shirt as he tugged it aside. She hadn’t seen him follow her but enjoyed the feeling of him so close. He sucked in a hard breath at the sight of the bruising. “Shit, Rah, I’m so sorry.”

She closed her eyes as he ran the tip of his tongue across the teeth marks before placing a soft kiss against the spot. She turned to him, their bodies so close she could see the different flecks of blue in his eyes. She gently cupped his cheek before placing a quick kiss on his mouth. “It’s okay.” She gave him a saucy smile. “I like remembering why it's there.”

“Damnit, Rah!” he growled as he grasped her meaning. The kitchen door squeaked, and she pushed Connor into his arms and spun back to the counter before Cleve and Indie appeared.

“Please ask her to confirm the number for Friday’s bridge club tea. Her numbers keep changing and I want to be sure there are enough treats for all the ladies.” Sarah hoped that Indie wouldn’t hear how breathless she sounded, paying extra attention to boxing up the cake.

“I’ll let her know.” Gabe handed Connor to Indie after blowing raspberries into the baby’s neck, getting a lopsided grin from him. And then Gabe turned his gaze back to Sarah and she braced herself for what he was about to say. “Oh…are you keeping that date with ~Jimi~?”

“I’ll think about it,” Sarah sniped as she escaped back to the empty kitchen, Gabe, Indie, and Cleve’s laughter following her.