A Second Chance

Chapter 22

The phone was left ringing, forgotten in my hand, as I stared at the person standing on my doorstep, with my mouth wide open.

He, too, stared back at me while reaching into his pocket. Then he casually glanced down as he pulled out his phone, which was ringing.

Without answering his phone, he asked, "You're calling me?"

He looked up slowly, tilted his head to the side, and met my stare. His face was completely blank, and his eyes were unreadable.

"Uh huh," I answered. My voice came out squeaky, so I cleared my throat. I blinked slowly, coming out of my shocked state. "Gabriel?" I asked.

"Yea..why are you calling me?" He asked, putting his phone back in his pocket when it stopped ringing.

"Because I don't want you to go," I blurted out softly that I'm not even sure he heard me. My cheeks had turned pink, realizing what I had just said.

He raised one eyebrow in question, waiting for me to reply.

But I just gulped, staring at him with wide eyes.

"And why is that?" He asked when I didn't reply, confirming that he had indeed heard me.

"Ummmm...well.." I started unsure of what to say, I looked down, shifting from one leg to another nervously. "I.. I just wanted us to finish whatever fight we are having before you go." I finally rushed out, saying, peeking up at him to see his reaction.

"We are not fighting." He said unhelpfully.

I huffed in annoyance, making his lips quirk slightly, and his eyes filled with amusement.

" I know, but we are not at peace with each other either! " I snapped back at him, making his face sobber again, which I regretted. I liked that his mood had lightened.

"I'm sorry. I have jumped to conclusions and judged you pretty harshly as well. I have blown up on you one or two times unnecessarily." I said, biting my lips, my cheeks turning even brighter.

" Can we please stop living in the past and move forward? I don't want the girls to feel any stress that we are creating. I want us to be able to get along with each other. Could we?" I tried explaining, pleading with my eyes to understand what I was trying to say.

I had taken a step closer to him without realizing it, and I got enveloped in his familiar musky smell with a hint of pine in it today. I instantly got distracted, looking up at his sharp eyes, which was busy searching my face at the moment, I drifted my eyes downwards. Down his straight, narrow nose to his high cheekbones. He had left his beard unshaven, which left a slight stubble, which was just calling out to be touch. I quickly shifted my eyes away from it before I did something stupid like that.

There you go again, Nicola! Stop ogling your sister's husband, for God's sake. Yes he is very, very hot, especially in that light blue figure hugging shirt with the collar left open and sleeves rolled up, which showed off his muscular body and gray pants hugging all the right areas... Any woman would be drooling right now.. But you keep your eyes and everything else to yourself! He is off limits for you!

"You want us to be friends?" He asked softly, making me snap out of my reverie, blurting out a harsh." No!"

I instantly regretted it, seeing his hurt expression, so I quickly corrected," I mean yes? I meant yeah, be friends. Of course, not like before," I quickly amended," but as two people who have a common goal would be friends. You know the common goal being, Livy and Bella.." I blabbered.

"Ok." He interrupted.

"Ok?" I repeated stupidly

"Yeah." He said, shrugging.