Zari Davis flees Dallas after witnessing her fiancee cheating, with no clear plan on where she's going. After flipping her Volkswagon Beetle, she wakes up convinced that the cute guy that's been reading raunchy novels aloud while she slept is actual...
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P L A Y L I S T
The Temptress - Alesana
Zari hadn't even left the damn hospital yet and was already testing his willpower. He was fucked, and not in a good way. Gabriel's first surprise had been Zari's hand on his dick. Then how quickly it had reacted to her touch. But the biggest shock came when he'd said he was happy about her coming home with him. How the hell did that happen? She'd looked so sad and sounded so desperate. That had to be it. His Good Samaritan persona must have kicked in once again because he couldn't be happy about her staying with him. Was he?
He turned onto the road that led to his mother's house and went back to his confused state. On the one hand, he wanted to help Zari. Needed to help her. That was his MO. Been that way all his life and couldn't change. But on the flip side of that coin was the bad vibe that kept niggling at him every time he thought of sharing space with her.
She belonged to someone else, and even if she believed that someone was him, Gabriel knew the truth, which put him in a bad situation because he was attracted to her. A woman he could never have, and now he'd be sleeping with her, even in the most innocent sense.
He needed to look on the bright side. Still two more days before her release. A lot could happen in forty-eight hours. She could get her memory back. Return home, and he'd never see her again. Damn. His chest squeezed. Stomach clenched. He opened his glove compartment, pulled out the bottle of Rolaids and shook the tablets directly into his mouth.
His mother's house came into view. It looked like Grand Central. Silbie's car, Owen's rental, and another vehicle Gabriel didn't recognize lined the drive. He wheeled in behind them.
As he approached the front porch, Mom's laughter spilled over the fence from the backyard. He'd not heard her laugh like that in a while. He stopped and cocked his head. Did she have a man back there? Holy hell. What was going on? Silbie interested in an older guy. Gabriel about to live with a complete stranger. And now Mom entertaining some dude? Well, it sounded more like he was entertaining her, but still, she'd not dated since Sil's dad died.
Gabriel wasn't sure how he felt about that. She was still young at forty-four, but too old for a boyfriend. God, just using the word in connection to her made his skin crawl. He crept to the end of the porch for a closer listen and didn't like what he heard.
"Oh, gosh. I haven't been on a date in..."
Mom's voice trailed off, and Gabriel knew she was doing the math, just like he was.
"Almost fifteen years," she said. "I'm not sure I'd even know how to act."
Gabriel recognized the man's mellow tone.
"It's been a long time for me, too," Matthew said.
Gabriel fisted his hands. Owen. Zari. Now Matthew. Damn family. Fucking up everything.
