Treasured by Thursday(61)
“A splash of power.”
She met his gaze and felt the edges of her heart crack.
“You shouldn’t have,” she told him. And before he could reply, she said, “But I’m happy you did.”
“Wear them for me?”
She grinned. “I think they’ll look better on me than in the box.”
A mirror sat above the foyer table. She removed the simple gold loop earrings she’d put on and replaced them with the gems.
Their weight was a testimony to the carat of the stones. When she attached the second one she gave her head a tiny shake. They found the light and sparkled.
Hunter slid up from behind her and caught her reflection in the mirror. He brushed one of the earrings with the backs of his fingers.
She stood perfectly still and watched the wonder of emotions pass over his face. “You’re beautiful, Gabriella.”
The tilt of her head wasn’t voluntary.
A hint of his frame brushed hers from behind and sparked.
“I don’t deserve you,” he whispered.
The request to be set free sat on her lips unspoken. The truth was, she hadn’t felt this alive since . . . since ever. Being set free now would mean an absence of the emotions inside her. Moving from day to day had been her life since she left Florida.
Perhaps it was time to start living again.
She lifted a hand to the side of his face. “Thank you.”
They stood staring at each other through the mirror.
“We should go,” he said without moving. “Before I blow off the Adams account and destroy every self-made pact I made about you.”
“Self-made pact?” she asked with a giggle.
His lips came dangerously close to her neck before pulling away with a growl.
He grasped her hand and pulled her toward the door. “We’re leaving . . . now.”
The upscale restaurant sat in the heart of Dallas and was frequented by celebrities, the rich . . . and the up-and-coming entrepreneurs who wanted to make an impression. Money in Dallas was a lot like it was on the West Coast. The people in this town didn’t care if you just made your millions or if Daddy left them to you. If anything, a self-made man held a hair more clout.
Hunter led Gabi to the bar to await their dinner companions. Heads turned their way as more than one man took notice of his wife. During the drive to the restaurant, he’d kept his distance from her in the back of the limousine. He now made sure some part of their bodies were touching. It was his way of making sure any man watching understood she was with him.
Hunter wasn’t sure where the jealousy stemmed from. He couldn’t claim a time he’d given any thought to another man’s eyes on his date.
It was the ring, he decided. Gabi wore his ring, and somehow that deemed him capable of jealousy, demanded it even. That was the bullshit he fed his head in order to ward off anything deeper.
They found a high-top table and Hunter tucked her into a chair. “What do you want?”
“Dry martini . . . two olives.”
He stepped away and captured the bartender’s attention. While he waited for their drinks, he kept an eye on his wife.
She sat with her back rod-straight. The earrings dangled over her slim neck and glistened with every shake of her head. Her full breasts hugged the inside of her dress, which slimmed to her waist. He let his gaze fall and noticed her tapping her foot to the music. He really didn’t deserve her. He meant the words he’d uttered in the hotel room. The thought of letting her go was a double-edged claymore ready to decapitate him. He should be isolating himself, emotionally, from her.
Yet he’d thought about nothing but her since he’d left LA. He thought the distance would ease the fire inside him. Instead, it blew a steady puff of air and forced that flame to life.
The bartender tapped his arm. Hunter tossed a bill on the bar and grasped the drinks. By the time he turned around, someone had approached Gabi and was leaning over the table.
Hunter wove through the people crowding the bar and interrupted the stranger midsentence.
“I could most certainly quench your—”
Hunter wasn’t sure what the Texan was suggesting he quench, but Hunter set the drinks down and did something he never did . . . he wrapped an arm over Gabi’s shoulders and glared.
“Well.” The other man stood as tall as his boots would let him and smiled. “Looks like you do have a man attached to that ring.”
“I tried to tell you,” Gabi said as she shifted into Hunter’s side.
The infatuated man held out his hand, and in order to avoid a scene, Hunter had no choice but to grasp it.
“You’re a very lucky man,” the Texan said. He let go and sent Gabi a wink before wandering off.