The kiss that followed was so achingly sweet and tender it brought tears to her eyes. She’d been falling for him since the first kiss, and she was in danger of losing the one thing she’d vowed never to give away again—her heart.

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

How was the Jill Scott concert last weekend?” Darius asked. “I figure since you skirted the topic every time we talked during the week, claiming we should be in work mode, you can’t avoid it today. It’s Saturday and we’re off.”

For the hundredth time, Gabriel wished he hadn’t answered that call. He’d done so only because it might be work related and something he could solve quickly. “The concert was off the hook. She put on one of the best shows I’ve seen. We had a good time.”

“Better than good, more than likely.”

“Something like that,” he murmured. As he’d said, the concert was great, but the time he and Serenity spent sitting near the water had been far better. The fulfillment he’d felt scared him to death because he could envision them sitting that way for years to come. And that wasn’t supposed to be on his radar. At all.

“I have to say I’m really surprised you’re still seeing Serenity. Since your breakup, I can’t recall the last time you went out with a woman more than a couple of times, if that. Yet it’s been what, more than two months?”

“Thereabouts.” Darius wasn’t the only one surprised, and he’d described Gabriel to a tee. The difference? Those women weren’t Serenity. Not one possessed the same sweet, caring spirit or could make him lose control simply from a kiss.

“I mean, I can’t blame you. Serenity is a beautiful woman. All those curves packaged in one compact, stacked body, and—”

“You can stop right there, D.” Something akin to jealousy—if he were owning up to it—rose fast and hard. Gabriel jumped up from the lounger he’d been sitting in on his deck and paced. What is wrong with me? It shouldn’t bother him that Darius noticed Serenity’s beauty, especially since he knew his friend wouldn’t even think about trying to make a play for her, now or sometime in the future. That had always been one of their friendship rules. They did not go after a woman one of them had dated, no matter the circumstance.

“Interesting.”

He dropped back down on the lounger. “What?”

“You. You know what I think?”

“No, and I don’t particularly care. Not that it’ll stop you,” he added wryly.