Rock Hard (Rock Kiss #2)(93)

“I’m sure.” Charlotte smiled, pleased that Richard’s sliminess hadn’t had the intended effect. “Hope you get lucky.”

Tuck grinned. “No question. She’s going to love me today.”

Gabriel was looking out the window in his office when she got back, his hands on his hips and his shoulders so tense he was like a stone statue. Ignoring her ringing phone, she shut the door to his office, then went over to him.

“I’m fine,” she said, her hands on his chest. “Come here.” She petted his nape, kissed his jaw, claimed his mouth.

It took time, but his muscles finally began to ease. “You’re really okay?”

“I am. A whole lot of that has to do with you.” She’d come a long way on her own, but she’d become stuck in stasis at a certain point. It had taken Gabriel challenging her, expecting her to handle him, that had pushed her to go further. “So thank you.”

His arms came around her, and they stood there for a long time. Charlotte had never felt safer, and the fact that Richard had sent her flowers right after his release, along with a card that said “I miss you,” was not about to change that. “Don’t let him inside your head,” she said to Gabriel when they drew apart. “That’s how he gets you. He’s a bug, and we ignore bugs or we squash them. We don’t think about them.”

Gabriel’s lips curved

“That’s my Ms. Baird.”

“Yes, I am.”




RICHARD MADE FURTHER ATTEMPTS at mental manipulation over the next two weeks, but Charlotte shrugged them off while continuing to pass everything on to Detective Lee. Richard was being very careful not to cross the line that would shove him back in jail, but eventually, he wouldn’t be able to help himself, and then they’d have him.

In the interim, she settled into Gabriel’s apartment and into his arms. He kissed her on the back of her neck every morning, rippling a shiver through her body. And he kissed her there when he walked her to her room every night. They made love in his bed but she slept in her own.

The one time they’d tried sleeping together, she’d woken so panicked that she’d given him a black eye. Of course, that was only because he’d been trying to calm her without holding her down. Her resulting emotional mess of a mind threatened to unravel all her progress.

“Does it hurt still?” she asked at breakfast two days later.

The bruise under his eye blue and green, Gabriel sighed. “I’m crushed, fragile flower that I am.”

“It’s not funny.” She hated that she’d hurt him.

“Sweetheart, I took worse hits than this in training.” He cuddled her close, big and strong enough to not care that she’d gotten in a lucky shot. “We will sleep in the same bed one of these days.” A deep, demanding kiss that left her breathless. “In the meantime, we’ll amuse each other in other ways.”

She couldn’t be as sanguine, but as the bruise faded and they continued to become more entwined as a couple, she listened to Dr. Mac’s advice and forgave herself for the incident. Festering over it would only hold her back. It still hurt though. Deep in the night, when she lay alone in her bed, she couldn’t help the tears sometimes.

She hated, hated knowing that something inside her remained fractured. But for that one huge obstacle to the life she wanted with Gabriel, things were good. The man she adored felt the same about her, and they were an incredible team at work. That Friday, he was at a meeting with all the regional managers while Charlotte held the fort at the office.

When she did need to contact him, she sent through a quick message, received a response. A couple of times, he called her back during breaks in the meeting in order to give her more complicated instructions, which included her having to deal directly with CEOs of supply companies, VPs, and other high-level people.

A few months ago, she’d have quivered and stuttered and curled into a ball at the very idea of it. Today she was greeted by name, she chatted easily with the people on the other end of the line, and got matters sorted out one after the other. The T-Rex at whose head she’d once thrown a stapler, then a muffin, had been good for her.

No one could travel a hard road all alone.

Not even Gabriel.

She called him at two. “Have you eaten lunch?”

“Yes, since it was delivered right to my hand.”

“Good.” She’d organized the catering for the meeting and given very specific instructions about making sure Gabriel’s was handed personally to him. “How’s it going?”

“No one’s been an idiot so far” was the short answer. “I’m giving it another hour, then heading to the North Shore store to speak to the staff.”

That was the thing about Gabriel—he was consistently noted as one of the most approachable CEOs of a major corporation in the country. Everyone on the staff, from the most junior new hire to the old guard, had his e-mail address. She’d seen his inbox. She also knew he answered every one of those messages. That’s often what he did at night and on the weekends.

Aware that it was important to him, she’d started to figure out ways to clear time during the day so he could deal with the e-mails at the office rather than constantly taking work home. Part of that meant handling more things herself. “I need an assistant,” she said to him now. “What I was to Anya.”