“Perfect.” Molly’s gaze lingered on her face. “It was the hair, wasn’t it?” she said gently. “Did Dick do something to your hair?”
Charlotte gave a short nod. “It’s a stupid thing in the overall scheme of things, but…” She just couldn’t forget; so many memories of terror were tied to the wrench of hair against her scalp. “Gabriel likes my hair,” she whispered, staring down at her hands. “I… maybe I’ll put it down for him. Just not tonight.” There were too many people at a game, too high a chance of an accidental tug.
“Hey.” Molly’s voice was warm, loving. “Don’t stress yourself out. You’re about to go to a game with a gorgeous hunk who wants to do delicious, bad things to you. Have fun.”
“I don’t know if I can let him do any of those things.” It was a hard confession to make. “I don’t know if I have the courage.”
“I know you do, Charlie. I know.” A passionate vow. “Just consider where you are now and compare it to where you were three months ago.”
Put that way, Charlotte couldn’t argue. “God, I have Anya’s job and I’m really good at it. And I argue with Gabriel on a regular basis.”
Molly laughed. “Exactly. One step at a time, babe.”
“Right.” Charlotte straightened her shoulders. “One step at a time.” Then she gave in to a huge grin. “I did take a pretty big step last night.” She fanned her face at the memory of the things Gabriel had said. He could talk dirty to her anytime.
“Are you going to tell me the details?”
“When you tell me what you did with Fox the night you went home with him after the party.”
Molly fell back in her chair and sighed, her face dreamy. “Maybe when we’re old and gray.”
Charlotte grinned, understanding. Some things were so special you had to hug them to your heart. “Ditto.”
“It’s a date.”
GABRIEL BROUGHT HIS SUV to a stop in front of Charlotte’s town house to see her stepping out the door. Getting out of the car, he waited for her to finish locking up before walking over to cup her face gently in his hands. He was ready to break contact if she displayed any discomfort, but though she blushed, she didn’t pull away.
“I want to eat you up,” he said, rubbing his thumbs over her cheekbones, and when she still didn’t pull away, he leaned in and took his first taste of the delicious Ms. Baird.
She shivered, her hands coming up against his chest. Fighting the urge to shove his fingers into her hair, unravel her ponytail, and thrust his tongue into her mouth like a damn marauding barbarian, he suckled at her upper lip because he couldn’t resist one more taste, then broke contact. “We better get in the car before I back you right into your house and give in to my ungentlemanly side.”
Though her cheeks were red, her breath shallow, Charlotte said, “You have a gentlemanly side?”
“Cute, Ms. Baird.” Opening the passenger door for her, the fleeting taste of her only ratcheting up his desire, he gave in to the urge to run his hand over her denim-clad ass as she climbed in.
She inhaled sharply and turned to narrow her eyes at him over her shoulder. “Gabriel, that was—”
“—inappropriate.” He smiled slowly, utterly delighted by everything about her. “You do know by now that I intend to be highly inappropriate with you?”
Charlotte fiddled with the belt tie of her black coat, but her eyes were bright when they met his. “Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself?”
“Always, Ms. Baird.” Closing her door, he went around to get into the driver’s seat. “You want some music?”
CHARLOTTE’S TOES CURLED AT the simple intimacy of the question. Reaching out, she switched on the radio and found a station that played rock. As the throaty sound of one of Schoolboy Choir’s first hits filled the car, she settled back and just wallowed in the happiness bubbling through her veins. Gabriel had kissed her, and not only had the taste of him blown her circuits, she hadn’t freaked out.
In fact, she wanted to do it again. And again.
“Do you always watch your brothers play?” she asked as they turned out of the drive.
“When the game’s up here, yes,” he answered. “I can’t make as many of the away games as I’d like, but in New Zealand one of us is always in the crowd. International matches we tend to gather together in one place to watch.” He shifted gears, the car’s engine a smooth hum. “Jake had a small car accident that ended his season prematurely, but when they’re both playing, it’s a finely tuned operation in terms of support schedules.”
Charlotte heard the pride, the affection. “It must be tough for Jake to miss the entire second half of the season,” she said, knowing Jacob Esera had suffered a broken arm in the accident.
Gabriel nodded. “He’s healed well and the physiotherapist sees no problems ahead. The fact Danny managed to injure himself at the same time gave him some company at least.”
“He has incredible footwork on the field,” Charlotte said. “Daniel too. I can’t believe he got the ball over the line his last game.” Tackled by a huge opposition player, Daniel Esera had stretched out his arm even as he went down under a bone-bruising tackle; he’d slammed the rugby ball to the earth an inch over the try line.
“You’ve just proven you’re my perfect woman.” Gabriel’s grin lit up everything inside her. “You like the game.”