Going Down Easy (Boys of the Big Easy #1)(9)

“That’s really nice, but we’re not really to the flower-sending stage, are we?” she asked.

And that annoyed him. “I didn’t realize there was a specific flower-sending stage.”

Addison took a deep breath. “I guess it just seems . . .”

“Nice?” he supplied when she trailed off. “Sweet? Thoughtful? Romantic?”

“Yes,” she said firmly with a frown, looking around as if to make sure no one was listening. “Romantic.”

Well, good. “Then you’re welcome.”

She scowled up at him. “I don’t want romantic, Gabe. Or sweet or nice.”

That was stupid. “You’re actually annoyed that I sent them?”

She blew out a breath. “Yes.”

Bullshit. She’d loved them. Magnolias were exactly the kind of thing to make her go all soft and sweet and giddy. Giddy was exactly how she looked and acted and, dammit, felt when they were out and about in the Quarter. He loved that look on her. It was what made him put up with things like the souvenir shops on Decatur and the line at Café du Monde and eating the gumbo at the place on St. Peter that Addison loved. He didn’t eat gumbo anywhere but at his mother’s house. Because she used his grandmother’s recipe, and no one made gumbo like his grandma. They didn’t even serve it at the bar because it would never live up to what he believed gumbo should be.

“So you’d rather I just stick to things like sucking bourbon off your tits or fingering you to orgasm on my balcony while you watch a parade?”

Her cheeks got pink, her eyes got wide, and she stepped close, lowering her voice. “Stop it.”

“I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on here.” Except that he knew what was going on here. She only wanted sex from him. And he should have been fine with that. Truthfully, only about half his frustration was because of her. The other half was directed at himself. Because he wasn’t fine with that. At all.

“Gabe!”

Suddenly a booming male voice from down the hall interrupted them.

Gabe dragged in a deep breath, not even realizing until then that he’d been breathing harder. He gave Addison a last look. She was also breathing faster, and her cheeks were still pink. Then he turned and gave Travis Monroe a smile. “Hey, Travis.”

Travis took Gabe’s hand in a firm shake. “Good to see you,” he said, thumping Gabe on the back. He looked at Addison. “I see you’ve met our newest associate.”

Gabe didn’t look at Addison as he nodded. “Addison and I have been spending some time together since she’s been here consulting.”

“No kidding.” Travis looked back and forth from one to the other. “Well, then, you’re probably especially happy about her move.”

“Her move?”

“We’re thrilled to have her. Addison is a perfect fit in New Orleans. Don’t know what she saw in the Big Apple anyway.” He grinned at Addison. “Hey, we should have you sit in on the meeting with Gabe. You’d love his bar. The structure and history are right up your alley.”

Gabe didn’t know what the hell was going on, but instinctually he wanted to let the other man, and any other human being, for that matter, know that Addison had very much seen his bar. So to speak. “Addison’s been at Trahan’s a number of times,” he told Travis. “In fact, she’s the one who encouraged me to hire you guys. I couldn’t ignore her recommendation.”

Travis looked at Addison with surprise. “I didn’t know that. Well, thanks, Ad. And Gabe, glad you listened to her.”

Yeah, he really didn’t like Travis calling her Ad. “I think Addison could talk me into just about anything,” Gabe said.

Travis laughed. “Then she’s definitely sitting in on the meeting.”

“Oh, no,” Addison said quickly, shooting Gabe a you’re-in-huge-trouble look.

Well, good. He hoped he was. He didn’t like her little comment about how she didn’t want flowers and romance. He didn’t like that she hadn’t mentioned to Travis that she knew Gabe and his bar. And what the hell was this about a move? Had she moved to New Orleans? As in, was now living here? She was their newest associate? He supposed they could refer to consultants as associates, but that seemed odd. And he had every intention of delving into whatever the hell was going on.

“I know that Elena has a lot of great ideas for Gabe and Logan. This is my first day. I don’t want to barge in.”

“Don’t be silly,” Travis said. “It’s Gabe’s first day with us, too.” He clapped Gabe on the shoulder. “And it sounds like you have a more . . . intimate knowledge . . . of Trahan’s than Elena does.”

Wow, okay, so Travis had definitely picked up on the fact that the time Gabe and Addison had spent together had been . . . well, exactly what it had been. Intimate.

“I think it’s safe to say that Addison has a really good idea of what I need,” Gabe said with a nod.

He heard her little gasp even as Travis laughed, and Gabe could admit that he had probably gone over the line with that. He didn’t need to spell out that they’d had an affair. Travis didn’t need to know that. But fuck. He hated that she clearly didn’t want Travis to know. Because he was her boss? Or because she just didn’t want people to know she’d hooked up with a bartender a few times when she was on a semivacation from her life in New York? He’d known from minute one that Addison was a classy woman who was used to wining and dining in places a hell of a lot nicer than Trahan’s. But she’d seemed to love the bar. Hell, she was the one who kept coming to find him.