Once Upon A Time(51)

“Why would you want to know that?” he asked, placing his coffee beside mine. “It’s The Notebook, by the way.”

I balked back a little. The Notebook? Was he playing around with me?

“Wait, you’re telling me that you, Gabriel Black, CEO of Black Enterprises and all around pain in my ass, has not only watched The Notebook but it’s your favorite movie. Are you serious?”

He sat back against the sofa, placing his fingers beneath his chin, a grin drifting slowly across his face.

“I blame my mother for my poor choices in movies.” He chuckled softly. “What’s wrong with The Notebook?”

“Everything,” I answered honestly without a second thought, deciding not to elaborate further.

“Are you going to tell me why you hate it so much or am I going to have to take a stab in the dark?” He arched his brow when I stared at him blankly. “You, Payton Miller, are afraid of love.”

Nail. On. Head.

“What makes you say that?” I whispered, picking up my coffee, in need of a distraction.

“You prioritize your job over everything,from your clothes to visiting your parents. The minute anyone gets close enough for you to feel any kind of emotion, your walls are thrown up instantly, not to mention the hurt I see in your eyes every time I move close to you. That kind of reaction only comes from being hurt in the past. Who hurt you, Payton?”

The conversation had taken a complete one-eighty within seconds. How had we gone from talking movies to the reason why I don’t believe in love or a fairy tale ending? Gabriel could read me better than I could ever read myself and that alone scared the living shit out of me.

“The Brothers Grimm.” Gabriel’s brows pinched as he stared at me, waiting for some kind of explanation why the woman he was next to had suddenly lost her mind. “The creators of Cinderella? They created a story that is now something of a legend, although slightly misconstrued, along with other folk tales they recorded. They unknowingly set the bar too high for men and portrayed women as damsels in distress. What they did was promise every little girl that one day she'd be rescued, because apparently, we all need rescuing, by Prince Charming or a knight in shining armor. Then they’d kiss and ride away into the night and live happily ever after.”

He paused for a long moment. I wasn't sure what he was thinking. I was of the mind that he had two options: bash me over the head with the coffee mug and make a run for it, or laugh in my face and call me mentally unstable while a strong pair of men threw me into a straightjacket. Then, Gabriel surprised me.

“Your Prince Charming broke your heart.”

I stood from the sofa and walked to my room, pulling the book of fairy tales out from under a pile of clean laundry on the floor where I had left it when I thought I was about to lose my job. Holding it to my chest, I walked back into the living room and sat down next to Gabriel.

“Cam was my high school sweetheart. We both moved to New York to go to Columbia but a few weeks into our first year I found him tongue deep in someone else’s vagina. It was safe to say he’d turned from my Prince Charming to the villain in disguise. I haven’t believed in love or fairy tales, even Prince Charming, since that day.”

I wondered what the hell he was thinking, then he caught me off guard with a question I knew would change our relationship, business or otherwise, forever.

“What’s your biggest fear? What’s the one thing you’re afraid of?”

“You.” I paused, looking up at him through my lashes. “I’m afraid I'll fall in love with you.”

He leaned forward, his eyes on mine as he pulled the leather-bound book from my grasp and placed it on the table next to our discarded coffees. The more he stared at me with those eyes I could get lost in, the more I found myself unable to find a way out. I was lost up shit creek without a paddle.

“I’m not the big bad wolf, Payton. I’m not a fairy tale villain but I’m not Prince Charming either. There’s no reason to be afraid of what your mind is telling you.”

“What about what my heart is telling me?” I asked, a little breathless from his proximity.

“You’re already following it, otherwise I wouldn't be here,” He countered, shrugging his right shoulder.

“Why are you here, Gabriel?” I asked, my mind going back to his comment about wanting to do something since we’d first met.

“Because I’m already falling for you.”





HE’S FALLING FOR ME.

No. No. No. No.

This can’t be happening.

Standing from the sofa, I turned to him, his expression blank and completely unreadable as always.