Rock Hard (Rock Kiss #2)(92)

Charlotte narrowed her eyes at the grinning taunt. “You’re going down, T-Rex!”

He winked at her and, tapping the ball with his foot to restart the game, spun it back into Jake’s steady hands. From there it went to Joseph, then to Emmaline, who pumped halfway down the field before yelling, “Mommy!” and passing to ísa right before Alison tapped her.

ísa would’ve made it over the try line if her husband hadn’t gotten his hands on her.

“Sorry, honey,” Sailor said, stealing a kiss, “this is war.”

“Watch it, mister.” Expression fierce, ísa restarted the game, but a series of touches by the pink team meant they regained possession of the ball.

Charlotte caught the pass this time, got it to Esme, who was a tiny rocket. She passed to Sailor, who threw to Danny, who sent it back to Charlotte again, their team moving across and up the field. Able to see the try line, Charlotte ran her hardest. She was almost there when strong arms lifted her off her feet.

“Uncle Gabe is cheating!” Esme cried out while Charlotte tried not to laugh.

“Here!” She threw the ball down into the little girl’s hands.

Face gleeful, Esme grounded the ball on the other side of the try line just as Gabriel finally let Charlotte down. “I thought this game had rules,” she said to him.

He kissed her. “Most of the time.”

They played for another twenty minutes, Emmaline scoring for the other side when Gabriel fed her the ball right on the try line.

All other try attempts were foiled by quick, legal touches, or very illegal body blocking—or in one case, by Sailor throwing ísa over his shoulder and running off toward the trees.

“I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard,” Charlotte said afterward, having collapsed on the grass to soak up the sun, Gabriel on one side and Danny on the other. She really liked Gabriel’s youngest brother. Despite the fact he was starting to build up a serious profile, with all the attendant media and female attention, he was a genuine sweetheart. She hoped he never lost that gentleness of nature.

“I love playing for my team,” he said right then, “but these are my favorite games. I reckon Esme’s got what it takes to make a rep team.”

“She’s good,” agreed Gabriel. “Em’s doing well at soccer—I caught one of her school games a month back.”

Feeling content, Charlotte lay there under the sun as the two spoke. A dragonfly buzzed somewhere, and she could hear the girls playing with Jake and Sailor, the atmosphere warm and alive and happy. This, she thought, was what she wanted. A big, rambunctious family that welcomed everyone, even prodigals who’d made awful mistakes.

Gabriel’s phone buzzed into the hazy quiet. He’d left it on the sideline during the game but now slipped it out of his pocket. “Bishop,” he said, then paused. “What’s the situation?”

He left ten minutes later, heading to deal with an unexpected supply issue that could derail a nationwide campaign set to launch tonight. “No, stay here,” he said to Charlotte when she readied herself to accompany him. “I’ll sort out this headache and be back in time to eat.”

“Can’t Arnett handle this?” He was Gabriel’s Chief Operations Officer, and highly competent.

“He’s meeting me there. I want to make dead sure we put out this fire.” A kiss and he was gone.

Charlotte frowned after him, thinking once again of family. What kind of family would they create—if her hang-ups didn’t sink them after all—if Gabriel was never around or always obsessed with work when he was around?





35


A SLIGHT GLITCH (OKAY, FINE, A BIG FREAKING GLITCH)





GABRIEL DIDN’T, IN FACT, return in time to eat. Charlotte caught a ride home with Jake and Esme, and didn’t confront Gabriel about his work habits when he came in late. He looked so stressed that she didn’t want to add to it.

There was kissing and petting, but she went to sleep in the spare room that night and on Sunday, the latter being a quiet day where Gabriel only spent a few hours on work. It worried her, but again, she let it go because he finally relaxed in the afternoon—bringing it up at that point would’ve likely led to an argument, wiping out any mental rest he’d managed to get.

The next day at the office, she was still musing over how to handle things when a dozen red roses were delivered to her desk. Her heart threatened to crack, but unable to believe he’d break up with her so callously, she reached for the card, opened it.

“Gabriel!”

He was beside her in a heartbeat. “What’s the matter?” Seeing the flowers, he picked up the card she’d dropped.

“That pathetic piece of shit!” Though the words were hot, his tone was ice-cold. “You okay, sweetheart?”

She patted his chest. Her heart still raced, but now that she’d calmed down from the first stab of shock, she was angry more than anything. “I’m good,” she said, taking the card and putting it in an envelope so she could pass it on to Detective Lee. “I’m going to give these to Tuck for his girlfriend. No point in good roses going to waste.”

Wanting the bouquet out of her sight, she carried it to the mail room herself. Tuck was over the moon.

“You sure you don’t want them?” he asked, touching his fingers to the petals of one. “They look real expensive.”