Anchor

Chapter 13

Gabriel

I've not been a man prone to violence in my personal life. Temper, maybe. Do I have a tendency to be a jerk at times? Sure, if the situation warrants it. But never in my life have I wanted to throttle someone quite as much as I do in this moment.

The rapturous expression on Chloe's face, the one that I was admiring mere moments before, is replaced by panic and I instinctively move to cover her half-exposed body with my own. I, regretfully, free my hand to grab the blankets and pull them over us. Beneath me, she's trembling and I let loose a string of expletives.

"Shit," Tyler says and then covers his twinkling eyes, the bastard. "Didn't think you'd have company."

I'm going to kill him. I'll be sad to see him go, but it must be done.

"Bit busy here, Ty," I bite out.

Tyler, damn him to hell, grins and says, "I'll say."

Maybe I'll enjoy killing him. "Get your ass out of here before I throw you out, man."

With his hands still covering his eyes he says, "Nice to meet you, Ms. McKinney."

Her face a gorgeous color of red, Chloe peers out from behind the blanket and says, "Nice to meet you, too."

"My name's Tyler. The idiot you're with is a good friend of mine. I was going to find out which hotel room you were in, but this saves me the trouble."

"Ty!" I shout. "Wrap it up."

"Just wanted to tell you thanks for taking care of our guy," he says.

Chloe smiles even though he can't see her. "You're welcome," she says. "It's nice to meet you, officially."

"Why don't you have Gabe bring you over next weekend? My wife and I are going to grill out." Before she can respond, Tyler gropes for the handle of the door. "I won't take no for an answer now," he says. "So I expect to see you on Saturday. You two have fun."

He makes a quick escape before I can untangle myself from Chloe's arms and the grasping tangle of the monitor wires.

She puts a hand on my shoulder and I still. "It's okay," she says softly.

I fight my way out of the wires until I can see her face. "Are you sure? I never should have—I mean I should have waited."

Her hand moves up my cheek. "No, it's okay. It was pretty damn good actually."

Her shy confession makes me want to do it all over again. "Really?" I ask, my voice husky.

"Really."

I kiss her again, because I can. When it ends, she rests her head on my chest and draws patterns on my stomach. "When do you have to go home?" I almost don't want to know the answer, but I figure I'd better rip off the band aid.

She shrugs. "I'm not sure. My boss, her name's Sienna, we've been good friends for a long time. Anyway, she feels like shit for making me get on that ferry so I think it's safe to assume I'll have as much vacation time as I want for the foreseeable future."

"This Sienna sounds like a great friend."

"She is. Anyway, why'd you want to know?" she teases. "Want me out of here?"

"Definitely not." I hesitate, then barrel through. "I'm asking 'cause I was going to see if you wanted to come stay at my place. I mean until you have to go back."

We knock heads when she arches backward to look at me. "Are you sure?" she asks. "What about Emily? I wouldn't want to intrude."

"She's with her mom. They both hadn't slept in a couple days and Emily was getting a little cranky. She's so young, I didn't want to scare her being at the hospital so much. They're staying at her mom's house for a couple days and then Em's gonna come spend the week with me when things calm down. I don't want you to feel obligated—"