Heart Ache (Bound by a Touch Novels #1) by Morgan Kearns Page A

jumped from the car. After checking his pocket to make sure the ring was still safely where he’d left it, he jogged up the stairs to her door. Her neighbors were busy tonight; an old episode of Friends from the door behind him and moans of ecstasy flowed from a door down the hall.
    Thump-thump.
    Thump-thump.
    Gabrielle was home. She was behind that door. All he had to do was knock. Yeah, knock. Goddess, he was nervous. Had he ever been this nervous? He didn’t think so. If she turned him down now, his life would never be the same.
    He sucked in a breath, blew it out. Ground his teeth, opened his jaw wide enough to crack it. Rolled his head on his shoulders, flexed his hand then formed a fist … which knocked on the door.
    “ I’ll get it,” a male voice hollered. “It’s probably the pizza.”
    Jealous rage seethed through his bloodstream. He tightened his hold on the ring in his pocket.
    The door opened and Jayson narrowed his eyes at Nikolai.
    “ Well, well,” the male snarled. “My fiancée’s secret admirer.” He looked at the flowers then glared when he met Niko’s gaze. “I know what you’re doing.”
    “ Do you?” It took everything Niko had to remain calm. Blood raced behind his ears. The throbbing in his chest so intense it actually hurt.
    “ She’s mine .”
    “ You’re mistaken,” Niko growled, “Gabrielle is—”
    “ Niko!” She squealed, seeming to be truly surprised to see him standing at her door. Even in sweats and a t-shirt, his female was gorgeous. And she was his —no matter what her fiancé claimed. Her eyes were the bluest blue, he could stare into them forever. Her gaze flicked down at the flowers, then met his. “What are you doing here?”
    Niko held the flowers up and extended his hand toward her. She took them and their fingers brushed. A small sigh flowed from her lips and her eyes grew heavy-lidded.
    They did, right? He didn’t just imagine that. Jayson’s disgusted snort revealed Gabby had reacted just as Niko thought.
    “ Those idiots!” Jayson exclaimed. “I told them to deliver those to your apartment.”
    Niko’s blood boiled. How dare he?
    An alarm of some kind went off in the kitchen and Gabrielle asked Jayson, “Can you get the brownies?” When he continued to glower at Niko, she encouraged, “Please.”
    “ Yeah, of course, babe.” He turned to leave but returned to plant a possessive kiss on Gabby’s mouth. Thank the Goddess, there was no tongue. Niko was having a hard enough time keeping his fists out of the male’s face. Jayson grinned at Niko, raised a brow, then said to Gabby, “Glad you like the flowers, babe.”
    “ The brownies. Please,” was her only response.
    The beeping ceased and a curse wafted from the kitchen. Gabby glanced over her shoulder before easing out into the hall and closing the door.
    “ Thank you for the flowers.”
    “ How did you know?”
    Instead of answering his question, she asked one, “Did you send the ones last week, too?”
    Time seemed to pause around them. Her tongue slipped out to moisten her full bottom lip just before her teeth clamped down on it. He was just about to tell her yes, to pour his heart out to her, when an adolescent male voice behind him asked, “Hey lady, you live here?”
    The scent of garlic and oregano and tomato sauce registered in his mind. The pizza had arrived, interrupting the most important moment of his life.
    Gabrielle didn’t move, didn’t respond, and neither did Nikolai. They just looked at each other; her waiting for him to answer her question, him waiting for her to … he didn’t know what. She’d figured out he’d sent the flowers, yet she hadn’t approached him about it. Why?
    The door whipped open and Jayson muscled his way into the hallway to accept the pizza. “Oh, good. I’m starving.”
    Nikolai didn’t take his eyes off of Gabrielle and she didn’t so much as blink. Jayson paid the pizza guy, who looked from Niko to Gabrielle to Jayson and shrugged