Page 31 of Flirt

“Yes, it is,” he answered and stared back at me.

“I agree with coming clean, but I’m going to wait until next week when we’re scheduled to meet.”

“You’re making a mistake, son.”

“I’ve held off for months. What is a little over a week? She’s been busy with work since she got back from visiting her family in Vegas for the holidays. Plus, she has a daughter to take care of, too. We’re trying to finish the bikes for our current order at the garage before babies start dropping. And—”

“Stop,” my dad said, effectively cutting me off. “You are making excuses to prolong the inevitable, which is new for you, because no matter what you did—right or wrong—you didn’t hide behind excuses. The woman is going to be hurt by your actions. It’s a given. What I want to know is where my son is? The son who has always known his own mind from the minute he could voice himself. The son who has always laid everything out, planned, then executed that plan to obtain what he wanted. Hell, it’s what made you a great SEAL.”

“It’s what I have been doing. I planned. I executed. I controlled the situation,” I said, my voice raising with each statement, and stood. “But Gabriella still held back from me.”

“You’re a goner, and it has caused you to miss the obvious,” my dad replied and followed up with a chuckle. He rose from the chair and moved until he stood in front of me. “What did you and the rest of your team do when a snafu occurred on one of your missions?”

“We stepped back, made adjustments to the plan.”

“You adapted and executed under a new plan,” he said, smiled, then turned and headed for the front door.

“Goddammit,” was all I said.

“Life is one big ole mission. You plan and execute, and when a snafu happens, you adjust the plan. It’s the difference between failing and succeeding. You might have started with a plan, but you didn’t adjust it along the way. Really didn’t matter, though. Your plan wasn’t going to work because you forgot to adjust for the most vital part.”

“Vital part?”

My dad opened the door and stopped before he stepped out onto the porch. “You were dealing with a woman,” he said, walked out, and pulled the door closed behind him.

Fuck me. I thought I had control of the situation when in fact, I had lost it the moment Gabriella had walked into my life. When it was all said and done, the only hope I had was that she felt half for me what I felt for her. I would be able to work with that.

Gabriella

––––––––

“Hello,” I said as Iswiped the screen on my cell when it rang without even looking at who was calling.

“I got tired of waiting for you to call, and I had a break between clients. Have you spoken to Max? Did you tell him?”

“I haven’t had time, Tori. I’ve been working, like I am right now, and getting everything back on schedule from the holidays. Sawyer is adjusting to being back to school. We’ve had a lot going on.”

“All excuses. Why are you dragging your feet?”

I sighed and stepped into the empty exam room. I didn’t want to confess to my sister or myself, and I sure wasn’t going to do it in the middle of a hallway at my place of business. “What if he doesn’t feel the same, Tori? What if I confess that I’m falling for him and he ends it because that isn’t what he’s looking for?”

“Oh, honey, I don’t think you need to worry about that. With everything you told me while you were here, he is in as deep with you. Come on, Brie, if it were only sex, nothing would have changed from the occasional hookup. He was the one who initiated going out to dinner before going to the club or skipping the club altogether and taking you to a movie, a diner for coffee, and other places just to talk. Grabbing a drink and a hotdog from a street vendor while he walked with you on the pier. For God’s sake, I say the man is in deep. Look at it this way, if Max turns out to be an ass, you can always ask Sawyer to hook you up with Flirt. At least you know she likes him. The biker boots and vest with interrogator on it was awesome.”

“You don’t think it was strange Flirt gave Sawyer a Christmas present?”

“Maybe a little at first until I asked her about it. She told me how all the kids at Black Hawk have boots and a vest, and now she did, too. Maybe she said something about it and being a nice guy, he didn’t want her to feel left out. Have you once ever gotten the creepo vibe when you’ve been around any of the club members?”

“No, but he is the only one I haven’t met.”

“From what you say of the women and the men you have met; do you think they would let a perv or pedophile hang around?”

“No. They’d strike me as the type that would be more apt to kill him and hide the body,” I said and chuckled.

“Listen, I have to get going, and you probably have a patient waiting. But, sis, go for it and tell Max how you feel. I think you might be surprised in the end. You deserve to be happy.”

“I promise, I will. Don’t work too hard.”

“Love you, Brie.”

---