Betting the Billionaire by Avery Flynn Page A

you?”
    She blinked in surprise and realization. “I do.”
    “Is that why you were so worried about telling your dad about your new job?”
    She jerked out of his grasp, stumbling away from the workbench. “How did you know that?”
    “There are only so many places to eat in Salvation.” He circled the workbench, crossing to her side and leaning against the edge. “I ended up having lunch at a diner, The Kitchen Sink. Your friend Ellen was my waitress. I complimented her on the elves she gave you, and pretty soon, she’d brought me up to speed on all things Keisha.”
    Good Lord. Of all the people in the world he could have a little chat with, it had to be the one person who knew every last embarrassing factoid. “I’m gonna kill that girl.”
    “I hope you don’t.” He grinned, diffusing the tension wiring the room. “I hear she knows the secret ingredient for the pecan pie.”
    Keisha snorted. “So she says.”
    “So why didn’t you tell your dad?”
    Next to the word “stubborn” in the dictionary, there had to be a picture of Gabe Campos. And if that was the case, that page was dog-eared at every high school in America. “It’s a long story.”
    “We have to wait until tomorrow to assemble and stain it, and I doubt the loft up there has WiFi, so I’m all yours.”
    He was as charming and poisonous as a rattlesnake, but she found herself hypnotized into giving her secrets away anyway.
    “Okay, I’ll give you the short version. I was engaged.” Embarrassed heat beat against her cheeks. “The invitations were mailed and the RSVPs collected. Then, about a week before the ceremony, I found my almost husband in bed with two women. We called off the wedding. When I told my dad, he had a stroke. I thought he was going to die. I couldn’t do that to my dad again. I had to wait for the right time, which never seemed to come up since there was a wolf from Harbor City howling at our doors.”
    He stared at his sawdust-covered shoes. “What changed your mind?”
    “He sort of pummeled it out of me.”
    “I could see that.” Gabe laughed. “But you know you shouldn’t spend your whole life doing what people expect just because you think you should.”
    Ouch. That hit close to the bone. “So says the man who tried to take down a small business based on a faulty gut.” Nothing like a snappy comeback to make her feel on steadier ground with Gabe. Too bad it still felt like the world shifted every time he reached out and touched her.
    “She shoots, she scores,” he bellowed in a fake sports announcer’s voice before his gaze dropped to her mouth, and his eyes darkened into two pools of Caribbean blue. “One more thing. He’s an idiot.”
    Her breath caught. “My dad?”
    “No, your dickwad former fiancé.” Gabe’s finger traced an electric path across her jawline from her sensitive earlobe to the dimple in her chin, angling it up. “He is, without a doubt, a stone-cold moron.” He leaned down and delivered a devastating kiss.
    Everything tumbled to place inside her. It wasn’t forever. It may just be for tonight. It didn’t matter. She was done waiting on the sidelines for her life to begin. It started now.
    His teeth scraped against her bottom lip, entreating her to open. She didn’t need the encouragement, but that didn’t mean she was going to make it easy for him. Pushing against his broad chest, she gained an inch of space between them.
    Confusion danced in his eyes.
    “We’re going upstairs.” She turned toward the stairs, adding a little extra swing to her steps before looking over her shoulder at the man who kept her body humming like a well-tuned engine. “What I plan on doing with you is going to take time and a comfortable bed.”

Chapter Ten
    Gabe slapped at the wall, searching for the light switch at the top of the loft stairs. Lights were the last thing his body cared about at the moment, but he wanted to see Keisha as she went over the edge. And he’d take her to that