Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 93984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry,” Gabriel murmured, and he meant it. Justin had at least tried something that Gabriel had never ever let himself dream of. Yes, he might have been with Ivan, but never in his wildest dreams would he have called them dating. They’d never gone out to a restaurant together, held hands, seen a movie together. They’d worked together and fucked. Sure, Gabriel had cared for Ivan, and the older man had cared for Gabriel in his own reserved manner, but Gabriel clearly understood the limitations of what they’d had.
Justin shrugged. “It’s okay. It’s just incentive for me to not spend my entire life doing this. I like it, but I want more. I know it sounds stupid, but I like the idea of happily ever after. Maybe not marriage and all that—but finding someone who looks forward to seeing me at the end of the day. Someone to argue with about dinner and chores and where to go on vacation.”
“It doesn’t sound stupid to me at all.”
Not once had Gabriel let himself even contemplate the kind of things Justin was talking about. His life had been contracts, travel, and the occasional one-night stand to relieve a little stress. There had been no thought to even trying to do something else.
He watched Justin from the corner of his eye as they continued through the store, wondering if the man he’d quickly brushed off as a reckless idiot was actually a hell of a lot smarter. And maybe he did envy him just a little bit for at least having those dreams.
Chapter 10
Running into Chris was not what Justin would have called a comfortable encounter, but he’d been more surprised at Gabriel. The man was gay. He knew it. Something in his eyes. Not hunger, though he swore he’d felt Gabriel checking him out a time or two. This was more a look of almost relief when Justin had announced to all and sundry in the middle of Kroger that he was gay.
Maybe he’d hoped to hear the same words from Gabriel, but he wasn’t overly disappointed when he didn’t. Gabriel had to do what was best for Gabriel on that front, and Justin was fine with it.
No, he was more surprised at the easy way they’d talked about Justin’s one attempt at a relationship along with how it had spectacularly crashed and burned. Gabriel had listened, and there’d been no look of judgment on his face. By the time they’d reached frozen foods with a cart filled with meat and carbs and way too many things that were bad for them, Justin had felt lighter than he had in all the months since the end of the relationship.
The lingering pain hadn’t so much been about missing Chris as it was guilt over hurting him. But one walk through the grocery with Gabriel and he felt freer, as if the guilt had finally lifted from his shoulders.
After returning to the house and putting the food away, Justin had fetched the iron and ironing board for Gabriel before retreating to his office in the basement. They’d made it out of the house that morning with Gabriel wearing a pair of dark jeans and a black button-down that was only mildly wrinkled. Clearly, the man was anxious to put his wardrobe to rights.
That was fine with Justin. He had a hospital database to crawl through, information to follow up on, and other details to check out.
While he was willing to let Gabriel help on matters, he wasn’t ready to hand over any of the computer research. He didn’t know what kind of skills the assassin possessed and right now, he’d much rather handle it all himself.
Justin managed to get lost in work for a few hours, but it was early afternoon when he found himself staring at the wall as he tried to puzzle out who had torn apart Gabriel’s room. That felt as big a problem as getting information out of Iaso. It was hard enough to dig into the pharmaceutical company. They didn’t need to also worry about watching their backs for someone trying to protect the villain in this story.
Or was this competition?
Justin snatched up his phone and shot off a text to Marilyn before surging up the stairs. He quickly moved through the house, searching for Gabriel as a new thought popped into his head.
That thought nearly fell out of his mind when he located Gabriel in his private workout room, jogging on the treadmill. He was wearing only a pair of loose basketball shorts. Sweat glistened, sliding down to soak into the waistband of his briefs. He had deliciously swarthy skin with just as many tattoos on his back as on his chest. From what Justin could see, there were none on his muscular calves and thighs. He could definitely think of a few other ways Gabriel could work up a sweat.