Terri came back to the table. “I meant to ask you about your yard, Serenity. It looks good. Did everything get straightened out with the mowing company?”

How did this conversation end up back on Gabriel? She was trying to keep him off her mind. “No. Gabriel did it earlier today.” She kept her eyes focused on her plate because she knew they’d see it as one more thing added to the list of why Gabriel would be a great catch. Finally, she glanced up and found them all smiling at her. “Don’t say one word.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Natasha said with feigned innocence.

“Mm-hmm.”

“Not too many guys would mow your grass just because. Gabriel might be a keeper.” Natasha dropped her head and shoved a spoonful of strawberry shortcake into her mouth.

Serenity eyed her friend.

“That’s more than one word, so you can’t get mad.”

“Smart aleck.” If only she’d met Gabriel before her ex. At this point the jury was still out on whether Serenity could risk opening herself up completely to another man, no matter how much she liked him.

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Gabriel woke up bleary-eyed Sunday morning and peered at the nightstand clock. He’d stumbled to bed at 5:00 a.m., which meant he’d gotten a whole four hours of sleep. He rolled over onto his back and blew out a long breath. He couldn’t keep his mind from wandering to the woman who’d invaded his dreams for the past few nights. Dreams so erotic, he’d had a difficult time convincing himself they weren’t real. Gabriel thought by working himself to exhaustion he’d be too tired to dream, but that wasn’t the case. No amount of cold showers, running, or any other form of exercising had helped. As he lay there, he decided distance be damned, he was going to see Serenity today.

He drifted off to sleep for another hour, then got up to shower, dress, and find some food. Gabriel surveyed the meager contents of his refrigerator and realized he should probably go grocery shopping. Whenever he got focused on programming, everything else took a back seat, including food. There had been times when he’d gone an entire day without eating. Since being here, he’d done a better job of eating on a somewhat regular schedule. Until now. Closing the door, he went to put his shoes on. He’d pick up breakfast from Ms. Ida’s place, stop at the ice cream parlor, and grocery shop afterward.

Once outside, his gaze automatically traveled to Serenity’s house. Without stopping to think about what he was doing, Gabriel crossed the yard and rang her doorbell.

“Gabriel. Hey,” Serenity said, clearly surprised to see him.

“Good morning.”

“Is everything okay?”