told me I should take Isabel. In front of Isabel. I wasn’t going to be rude and say no. So we shared a drink, I danced with you, drove her home, and with a kiss on the cheek said good night. She’s called a few times, but I told her I wasn’t looking for anything permanent. End of story.”
“Oh,” was all she said, but he could tell that she believed him and was now feeling silly.
“Yeah, oh.” He cupped her face. “And, Regan. I didn’t kiss you the other night.”
“Yes, you did,” she argued. He loved it when she tried to argue with him.
“No, I didn’t. This is a kiss.” He gave her a hard, quick smack on the lips. God he loved those lips. Had been fantasizing about them all week.
“And this is what we did.” With that, he covered her mouth with his, surprised when she didn’t knee him in the nuts and instead kissed him back.
He started out slow, nibbling her lower lip and taking his time to thoroughly explore every inch of her mouth. She made a sexy little noise in the back of her throat, her shoes hit the floor, and then her hands were on him. They slid around his middle, her nails digging into his back, and when they dropped down to his ass he was lost.
Lost track of time. Who he was with. Hell, somewhere between her hands digging under his shirt and raking up his back, and him doing the same, only exploring her front, he forgot they were standing in the doorway of his brother’s office, in clear view of anyone passing by, making out like two horny teenagers.
With a groan, he eased back, just enough that they could catch their breaths, but their foreheads and noses still touched.
“Can you see the difference now? Because if you’re still confused I can show you again.”
Her fingers fisted in his hair and she pulled him to her, obviously wanting another demonstration of the distinct difference. So he showed her. Twice.
“You smell good,” she whispered, nuzzling his neck.
“I smell like the gym,” he chuckled. She nuzzled deeper. “Besides, anything is a step up from your apartment.”
“It’s not the gym, you smell like—” She stopped, pulling back enough to level him with a look, but she didn’t move out of his arms. “We promised not to do that again.”
“I never made any such promise.” He kissed her nose. “Because making a promise I have no intention on keeping is a waste of time, Vixen.”
“We can’t...this won’t...I have to get to work.” She looked at him horrified, like she’d blown it, like she was about to get screwed. And not in a good way. “I work here. I was going to tell you. And then I saw...I should have called you and told you.” When she exhaled, her breath was so weighted and shaky that it left him unbalanced.
He took in her starched white shirt, which had somehow come undone again, black pencil skirt, matching blazer with the hotel logo embroidered on the lapel, and smiled. “Kind of figured.” He wanted to ask who she had seen but knew better than to push. He’d find out later. “It’s okay, Regan, ChiChi told me the day you were hired.”
Which was ridiculous, since Marc had been the one to come up with the idea of hiring Regan as a way to keep an eye on her, then slyly mentioned the opening to ChiChi. Gabe hadn’t been a part of it, but he also hadn’t stopped it. He figured Regan needed a job and was too stubborn to let him help her. What he didn’t know, until that morning when Jordan had called him, was that his dickhead brother had given Regan a job as a maid.
“She also told me that if I were to upset you in any way, she’d pull out the wooden spoon.”
That got a smile out of her and Gabe felt his chest relax.
“To spank you?”
“No, to bake me a fruitcake.”
“So, when Marc gets home he isn’t going to fire me?”
Did Regan really think that after last weekend he’d allow that? He still didn’t have a solution that made everyone happy, but he was working on it.
“We’re not going to cause problems for you, Regan.” He tucked her hair, now a rumpled mess tumbling around her shoulders, behind her ear. “That, I can promise.”
She showed genuine surprise at his confession. God, he felt like shit.
When they found Richard, he was going to kick his