Page 57 of If This is Love

I slipped out of the dining room and wove through the house toward the kitchen, but once I could see through the doorway, I immediately stopped short.

Brennan and Liza were alone in the kitchen, and the way they were standing and talking with each other raised every single red flag from my former life. There was no way inhellI was going to insert myself into whatever was going on in there right now, so I stepped to one side and waited next to the wall until the conversation sounded less…intimate.

It had to be my own issues screaming that what they were doing was wrong. They were both happily married andgood people. It couldn’t be what it looked like. Brennan was a very affectionate person, and everyone in this group of friends were so close they were basically family. It couldn’tpossiblybe what it looked like.

“Hey,” came Gabe’s low, steady voice.

I turned my head to see him making his way through the hall toward me, glancing between me and the doorway.“Hi,” I whispered, lifting a finger to press against my mouth and nodding at the doorway.“I think they need a little privacy in there.”

He stopped directly in front of me and spoke in a whisper. “Who?”

I nervously shifted my gaze and spoke even quieter. “Brennan and Liza.”

His brow pulled low, and he tilted his head slightly like he was peering around the wall but then immediately righted it. “It’s not what it looks like.”

“Yeah, I figured,” I hastily replied.“I’m just giving them privacy.”

“Yeah,” he echoed. “They’re really close. They were really close like this before everyone was married and involved. It’s just how they are, and it’s not what it looks like. It’s weird, and I don’t understand why it doesn’t bother Connor or Skye because that would bother the hell out of me, but…” He shrugged. “I just know them, and it’s not what it looks like.”

I nodded. “I know, it just looked a little…”I absently dragged my fingertips back and forth across my collarbones, my mind playing on repeat the way Brennan was cupping the back of Liza’s head and looking at her like she was a pearl of great price. “…romantic.”

And there was something about this dark hallway… Something about being on just the other side of the wall from scandalous behavior that made something inmewant to do something equally salacious. Something about being alone with Gabe only inches from me, looking at me through perfectly clear, silvery eyes; looking at me like I washispearl of great price, and a firebolt of pure lust shot through me, and I didn’t even know what happened. I was just suddenly against him, my hands cupping the base of his neck like I was trying to mimic what I just saw Brennan do in the kitchen.

“Hey,” Gabe murmured, his voice laced with concern as he looked down and met my eyes. “You okay?”

I had no idea what had possessed me to do such a thing. Although, now that I was right here against him, it reminded me of theothertime I got to feel his solid, strong body against mine, and how that time had basically rendered me speechless. How good he felt, but also how distressed he was; so distressed he was having physical symptoms, overheating and shaking like a traumatized alley cat. And it was justinsultinghow injured this poor man was after he gave, and gave, and gave. And I just…cared.

I cared about him. A lot. He had become a dear friend to me, and I just cared about him.

So, maybe seeing the two close friends in the kitchen intimately conversing just made me feel like he needed a hug.

“Yeah, Iwas just making sure your neck wasn’t bothering you.”I benignly patted the base of his neck with both hands and slipped them away, backing up a little.“I thought I’d grab a damp cloth for you while I’m getting Luke a sponge.”

Gabe’s large shoulders lifted and fell as he sucked in and blew out a huge breath, and he backed up to stand across from me, leaning against the wall. “So many great jokes, and I can’t tell any of them.”

I pressed my fingertips to my lips to hold in a snicker. “Why not?”

“I’d sooner walk on hot coals than say that kind of toilet humor to you.”

I wrinkled my nose as I smiled at him. “Why?”

“Because.”He tilted his head backward to lean it against the wall and looked at me with an easy, serene gaze. “You’re way too regal for toilet humor, Ruth.”

My grin silently overtook my face in place of me giggling like a little girl at recess, and I lolled my head to one side. “You’re always buttering me up.”

A half smile pulled in that one dimple of his.“Nah, I just like when you wrinkle up your nose like that.”

Giggles were going to escape. It was going to happen, and it didn’t sound like any progress was being made in the kitchen—Lord,this place was kind of like a real-life soap opera—and I absolutely did not want to announce my presence like that. I threw my fist to my mouth and pressed my lips as tightly together as I could, and then I prayed for a miracle.

And lo and behold. Ask and you shall receive.

The doorbell rang.

“Oh, I think that’s them!” Liza chirped from in the kitchen, and then hollered, “Skyyyye!Y’all, come over here!” She marched out of the kitchen, glancing sideways and sucking in an excited gasp and reaching for me like she didn’t think a thing of it that Gabe and I were just outside the kitchen eavesdropping while we were alone in a dark hallway together. “Oh hey, y’all come sit in the front room so we can all meet Emma and Austin.”

Brennan stepped out of the kitchen, and Liza flipped her wrist at him. “B., go get Skye. Tell them to put that on pause and come over here because Ophelia needs us to come get the kids in about an hour.” She marched away from the hall and toward the front room. “I’ll get the door.”

Brennan paused next to the hallway, looking at her with an odd, exasperated expression for a second before he looked at Gabe and me. His exasperation melted away, and a coy but understated smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Hey, you two.”

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