Keeping Secrets in Seattle - By Brooke Moss Page 0,14

he was going to let me take things every night made me crave him when he wasn’t around and anticipate our dates even more.

After walking Landon to my door and saying good-bye, I quietly danced back to my bedroom and quickly undressed, put in my earbuds, and turned on my iPod. Beaming up at the ceiling, it occurred to me that I was starting to get perma-grin whenever Landon left my apartment. What would my face do when he actually stayed the night?

There was a tap at my door, and I heard Kim’s sleep-filled voice in the hall. “She’s asleep. I don’t know if she wants to see you.”

Gabe’s deep voice rang out. “Hey, wake up.”

I sat bolt upright in my bed and popped my earbuds out. Gabe was here? Meaning, he was actually in my apartment?

“Hold on.” I scrambled to find some pants to put on, and settled for a pair of cutoff sweats.

“I hear congratulations are in order.” Kim’s voice was painfully polite on the other side of the door.

Gabe coughed. “Yes. Thanks…uh…nice shirt.”

I snickered. When she and Betsy called it a night, she’d been wearing her T-shirt that said, “I slept with your girlfriend.” I pictured the two of them standing opposite each other in the hallway, both of them staring at the floor or wall—anything but each other—waiting for me to open the door and break the tension.

“Good grief, open the door,” Gabe said after an awkward pause.

I slid an old rock band T-shirt over my head, then pulled my bedroom door open and came face-to-face with Gabe. He was poised to knock again, wearing an expensive-looking suit and button-down gray shirt that contrasted with his skin perfectly. His suit coat was darker on the shoulders from rain, and speckles of moisture dotted his skin.

His eager expression warmed me from head to toe, lighting me up on the inside like a Roman candle. “Vi.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

Kim spoke before he could say a word. “Glad you’re done having a wrestling match with your boyfriend now. I’d really like to get some sleep.”

My cheeks burned, and I glanced up at Gabe, whose eyes had widened. “Landon left. So, Gabe, what’s up? Where’s Alicia?”

“She’s at her place. She’s really tired. You know, from all the wedding planning.”

I nodded, even though I had no idea what he meant. Had I recently gotten engaged to him, I wouldn’t be tired. I would’ve been running through the streets and screaming it from the Space Needle.

Kim had a frown on her pixie-like face. “You sure she’s not knocked up?”

“Hush,” I hissed at her.

She grinned wickedly. “I heard pregnancy can really wipe a girl out. Especially when she only weighs seventy-five pounds.”

Gabe glared at her. “Well, it was nice to see you, too. But I’d like to visit with Violet now.”

Kim rolled her eyes. “Okay, lover boy, as you wish.”

I offered Gabe an apologetic shrug. “Sorry.”

I gestured into my room. “Come on in. It’ll be quieter if I can shut the door.” Gabe meandered toward my rumpled bed, and I gulped. “Unless you want to go somewhere else? We can sit in the living room or something? I mean, you know, since you’re engaged now and everything.”

Gabe’s face split into a grin, and he sat down on my bed, stretching across its width. “This is fine. So…why are you acting weird about this now?”

“Well, have you heard of calling first?” I sat down on the edge of the bed, the farthest away from him that I could manage. He smelled like a mixture of his Bvlgari cologne and rain.

“I did. And I texted you.” Gabe frowned disapprovingly. “I didn’t realize I would catch you in a postcoital glow. Who’s Landon?”

“He’s someone I’ve been…” I stopped speaking and gulped. Seriously, was it hot in my bedroom, or was it just me?

“Dating?” he finished for me.

I nodded dumbly. “Yeah. But, we weren’t…I didn’t…”

Gabe’s jaw twitched. “So you weren’t….”

“We weren’t having sex. We were just…chasing each other.”

One of his eyebrows went back up. “Chasing?”

I folded my arms across my chest. “Don’t give me that look, Mr. I-can’t-see-my-best-friend-anymore-because-I’m-freakin’-engaged.”

The corner of his mouth tugged upward. “Yeah, sorry. Alicia has had me busy every single night since Christmas.”

I frowned at him. “You’re helping with the wedding plans? That’s…weird.”

He tucked a pillow under his head. “Alicia thinks it will bring us closer together.”

“Oh, I see.” I couldn’t help but grimace. The girl was already marrying my best friend—now she needed to monopolize all of his time making