House of Scarlett Read online

  Today is the day. I’m getting some make-out action, at the very least.

  When I emerge from the closet, Gabriel is there waiting for me. Approval glints in his eyes, and I have to wonder if his head is where mine’s at—getting more of each other. I’m not brave enough to say it out loud again yet, but I’m working on it.

  When we reach the door in my apartment that leads to the fourth-floor office space, he pauses with his hand on the knob.

  “Promise me you’re not going to attempt to lift anything heavy or overdo it.”

  His concern feels good instead of stifling.

  “I promise. If there’s any heavy lifting to do, I’ll make sure to call in the muscle.” I use finger guns to point at the biceps stretching the short sleeves of his black T-shirt.

  His lips twitch and he opens the door, stepping aside to let me pass through first. Gabriel may not have been raised by a mother who gave a damn, but somewhere along the line, he learned his manners well.

  The offices are quiet, as they usually are on Saturdays. As we make our way downstairs, there’s no noise or movement, and I peer into each room looking for employees.

  “They must have gone to the storage units to get more inventory,” I murmur as we walk into the front room that houses my favorite living room setup and leads into the kitchen.

  “I’m surprised you don’t have a warehouse at this point,” Gabriel replies.

  “It’s on my list of things to do, but I didn’t want to split up my employees and have some isolated in a warehouse. You’re right, though—it’s time. Ryan has been working on finding us space so we can expand, because we don’t have any more room here.”

  “Who’s Ryan?” Gabriel asks.

  “My business advisor. His sister is my financial advisor. They’re the closest thing I have to siblings—besides Flynn—and you can definitely tell by the way we bicker sometimes.” I give him a quick rundown of how their dad worked with my mom, and we basically followed family traditions on both sides by continuing to work together. That, and they’re damn good at what they do.

  “I’m glad you have them,” he says when I finish explaining our long and colorful history.

  “Me too. You’ll meet them eventually. Ryan doesn’t come into the city as often as he used to because he’s got little kids, and Christine rarely leaves LA anymore. She’s become one of those people.”

  He laughs, and I start doing my thing in the front room. Tweaking setups and rearranging items to better display them on the tables and shelves. When I reach for a heavy brass lamp, he’s right there, picking it up for me.

  “I’m the muscle, remember?”

  “Duly noted.” I point to the sideboard where I want it to go. “Muscle it over there then, He-Man.”

  “That nickname isn’t going to stick either.”

  Scrunching my face, I shake my head. “That’s not how nicknames work. You can’t just say it won’t stick.”

  “Keep trying, ladybug.”

  An hour later, I’m happy with the front room, and Gabriel points to the sofa. “Break time. I’m going to get your water and pills. You’re overdue.”

  “Bossy.”

  “Already told you that one was out.”

  “I disagree. It’s a strong contender.”

  I stick my tongue out at his back as he heads up the stairs to my apartment to retrieve my next dose of antibiotics, and I take a seat on the sofa in the front bay window. As soon as I lean my head on the edge and stare outside at the still-drizzling Manhattan day, I catch sight of a large hooded figure coming up the walk.

  “Who the hell is that?” I ask the empty room.

  The gray sweatshirt hood obscures the face, but as he comes closer, he lifts his head. Bodhi.

  Shit. Crap. Damn.

  I totally forgot to cancel my self-defense classes, and now he’s here.

  Faster than I’ve moved in days, I pop off the couch and rush to the door to whip it open. I have to get Bodhi out of here before Gabriel comes back down. I remember what he said—that Bodhi wants him dead—and I’m not letting that happen.

  Bodhi’s head jerks back when he sees me at the door. “So you are alive. I was starting to wonder. You no-show twice, and I don’t even have a number to call you and find out if I’m wasting my time waiting for you to show up. Did you lose interest, or did I piss you off over protein shakes?”

  Before I can reply, big hands pick me up and move me out of the doorway.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” Gabriel’s voice drops to a growl as he blocks me from the entryway.

  From my position at the side, I crane my neck to see Bodhi’s face. Shock and rage flash across it.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” Bodhi seems to stand straighter, making himself inches taller than Gabriel.

  “This is my woman’s place, not yours. I’m asking the questions.”

  Bodhi’s face, normally stoic, twists with contempt. “You afraid I’m going to steal her from you? Did you make her stop coming to training? You that afraid of me, Legend? Because word on the street is you’re a giant fucking pussy these days. Won’t take a fight because you’re afraid of getting your ass beat.”

  Gabriel’s hands clench into fists at his sides. “We’re not doing this here. No fucking way. The only thing you need to know right now is that Scarlett doesn’t exist for you. Not anymore. You forget her name. Forget you ever fucking saw her face.”

  Bodhi’s laugh comes out cruel and cold. “Keeping your bitch on a tight leash, huh?”

  Gabriel’s entire body tenses, and I can almost picture invisible ropes holding him back from launching himself at Bodhi for that horribly offensive asshole comment. “Watch your fucking mouth, or I’ll close it with my fists.”

  “Hey, guys, seriously—” I try to get their attention, but the two are facing off toe-to-toe on my freaking doorstep, and neither of them is listening to me.

  Bodhi glares at Gabriel. “You want to close my mouth, then take the fucking fight. We’ll see who’s still talking at the end. Your jaw will be wired shut, so it won’t be you.”

  The words produce such a visceral, terrifying image in my brain that I can’t stand back and let him taunt Gabriel into agreeing.

  “Stop it. Both of you.”

  Bodhi laughs again, and I hate the sound. “She doesn’t listen to you as well as she does me.”

  Gabriel’s so still, he looks like a gargoyle. “Not one more fucking word out of your goddamned mouth. I will end you. You want a fight that bad?”

  “Yeah, I want it so fucking bad I can taste it,” Bodhi says, his nostrils flaring. “You took everything from me. My wife, my kid, my fucking life. I lost it all because of you.”

  Chills streak down my spine. I have no idea what Bodhi’s talking about, but I recognize hate when I see it.

  I reach out to touch Gabriel’s arm. “Please, close the door. This conversation is over.”

  He ignores me. “Get the fuck off this street, Black. Don’t come back. You’ll never see Scarlett again. Go fuck yourself.”

  I already told Gabriel that I wasn’t going back to self-defense with Bodhi, but I’m independent enough to dislike him stepping in and handling the situation for me. I’ve never come across this breed of man in my life, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.

  “Fuck off, Legend. You’re just trash who snagged a hot piece of ass for a minute. Don’t get used to it. She’ll drop you soon enough. Next time she wants to go slumming, she knows where to find me.”

  Gabriel lunges, but my hand clamps down on his arm. Like a switch is flipped, he steps back and reaches for the door handle and slams the door in Bodhi’s face. Breathing heavily, Gabriel stands there, his shoulders tense, jaw clenched, and every muscle in his body poised to attack.

  I dash over to the window and watch as Bodhi jogs down the walk and across the street until he disappears.

  Gabriel and I stand in silence until he finally steps away from the door and faces me.

>   “You never see him again. Ever.”

  I don’t know if it’s the ire that started with Chadwick and his orders, amped up by Christine and Ryan telling me I shouldn’t see Gabriel, but something inside me snaps.

  “You are standing in my house, Gabriel. I’m an adult, not a child or an invalid. Whenever decisions need to be made that affect my life, I am the one who makes them. No one else makes them for me.”

  His brows dive together, and his mouth hardens. “Are you saying you want to keep training with that fucking asshole?”

  “Hell no. I’m saying that I already made that decision and told you, and you didn’t need to communicate it for me. I could’ve handled Bodhi myself. I was handling him myself, until you picked me up and moved me out of the way.”

  Gabriel takes a few long, hard breaths before shaking his head. “No, you don’t deal with him. I’ll apologize for hurting your feelings and stepping on your toes, but I’m not taking back what I did or said. Bodhi doesn’t come near you. You don’t exist for him. That’s the way it has to be.”

  Thirty-Nine

  Legend

  Shit. I’m fucking up, and I can’t stop because this is too goddamned important.

  Scarlett holds up her hand with one finger raised. “Let me see if I got this straight. I’m not allowed to speak to him? Did you not hear me tell you I’m not a child?”

  I don’t know how to tell her in words that will make sense and not be a total asshole about it. Fuck. This is harder than I thought.

  “You’re too important to me, Scarlett.” I take a step toward her, but she shakes her head.

  “No. I’m not a piece of crystal or fine china to be put up on a shelf where nothing can touch me. I’m not breakable.”

  But she is, my brain argues. She’s so fucking precious and delicate, and I can’t fucking let someone like Bodhi get near her again.

  Something clenches in my chest, and I’m pretty sure it’s my heart. I’ve watched her while she sleeps, and checked to make sure she’s still breathing more times than I care to admit. I want to protect her from the world and everything bad in it. Is that so fucking wrong?

  Looking into her blazing steely eyes, it’s clear her answer is yes.

  What the fuck am I supposed to do now?

  Her chin lifts and her eyes glisten. “If you can’t see me for what I am—a strong, capable, smart woman—then I don’t know if this can work, Gabriel.”

  Fuck. Jesus Christ. No.

  My jaw clamps down, and the urge to reach out and drag her to me is so goddamn compelling, I can barely stop myself. But I stand there, my arms aching to hold her, and try to reconcile my instincts with her ultimatum.

  “I can’t . . .” I pause to suck in a breath. “I can’t hear him say those things about you without wanting to fucking kill him. It’s how I’m wired. I need to protect you. I don’t give a shit what he says about me, but I’m not the kind of man who will sit idly by while someone takes swipes at you. Those insults can’t go unpunished.”

  Her face changes slowly as she processes my words, and I would bet she’s repeating them in her head right now, so I keep going.

  “You are smarter and more fucking capable than any woman I’ve ever met. I respect the hell out of you, Scarlett, but there are things I can’t and won’t let slide. It would go against everything I fucking am, and I can’t cut out that part of me. It’s the heart of me. You deserve respect, and if I didn’t give it to you a few minutes ago, then I’m fucking sorry. I was out of line on that. But I will always demand respect on your behalf, and I will never let anyone take shots at you without answering back. That goes for him, your shit-for-brains ex, or your motherfucking dad.”

  She swallows, and I watch as her head dips. My stomach plummets to the floor, and everything in me goes cold and still.

  This is it.

  This is where she shows me the door.

  Because I’m not the kind of man she needs.

  When she lifts her head, tears are streaming down her face.

  Fuck. This is going to hurt.

  I brace myself for the pain, even though it won’t help. My entire body tenses even more than it did with Bodhi at the door as she opens her mouth.

  “I—”

  I can’t even let her get another word out. No matter how fucking rude it is, I interrupt her to beat her to the punch. “I’ll go. You don’t have to tell me to leave.”

  Her eyes widen, and a stricken expression crushes her features. “What? No!”

  She rushes toward me and wraps her arms around my middle like she’s planning on physically holding me in place with only her brute strength. But she doesn’t need brute strength to level me. Her words do that all by themselves.

  “I don’t want you to leave. Jesus Christ, Gabriel. Give me a goddamned second to process this, okay? I’ve always fought all my own battles. No man has ever been willing to go to the mat for me, so I don’t know how to handle this.”

  Her tears soak into my shirt, and I wrap my arms around her.

  How has no man ever been willing to fight for her? She’s the kind of woman who could cause a fucking riot without even trying. It’s one more blindingly bright fact to show that her father was a complete and total failure at protecting his little girl, and I fucking hate that for her.

  “I won’t go.”

  She looks up at me. “You’d better fucking not. I’ll just track you down and make you promise that when we’re in my house or on my doorstep, I get to have a say, and you will not run roughshod over me and pretend like I’m not even here. I don’t care who is at the door.”

  “I can’t make that promise,” I tell her and watch as her face crumples.

  “Why?”

  “Because if someone with bad intentions comes and wants to make trouble, I’m your shield, Scarlett. I stand between you and the bad shit outside that door. It doesn’t touch you. I’ll give you all the respect you deserve and more, but I can’t lock that protective instinct away. I won’t. There’s too much ugliness in the world, and if it comes looking for you, it’ll find me instead.”

  Forty

  Scarlett

  “Well, hell,” I whisper with a shake of my head. “How am I supposed to argue with that?”

  I meet Gabriel’s eyes and stare into them for long enough to drown in the deep blue pools of swirling emotion.

  He’s giving me the truth, not just the answer that will shut me up, and that alone tells me he’s different from every other man who has played a role in my personal life.

  It’s not easy to hear that what you think you want isn’t what you’re going to get. But the longer I stand here in silence, the more my respect for Gabriel Legend grows.

  He is who he is, unapologetically, and while I’ve been getting to know him better each day, there’s still so much more I want to understand.

  What kind of hellfire does it take to forge a man who would throw himself in front of any danger so that it doesn’t touch what he cares about? My heart aches for what he’s been through, but I can’t help but marvel at the man he is.

  Honorable. Forthright. Unflinching in his convictions.

  Shit. Now I really want to climb him.

  “You can argue all you want, ladybug, but—”

  I move forward and press a finger to his lips to stop him. “I need you to kiss me. Right now. And hard.”

  His brows dive together for a beat before that half smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. He doesn’t say another word as he reaches out to wrap both arms around me and pull me against his body.

  His lips crash against mine, and it takes no time at all for his tongue to demand entrance. Like the emotions running high between us, the kiss is electric. My nails bite into the skin at the back of his neck, and he responds by lifting me and carrying me to the sofa. Spinning around, he lands first, cradling me against his body as he frees a hand to spear into my hair.

  We devour each other, lips melding to lips, tongues dueling, teeth nipping and scr
aping.

  Before I lose myself completely to the kiss, one thought echoes through my brain—I don’t have to be strong every minute of the day with him. I can finally let go.

  It’s a heady feeling, and I pour every ounce of it into the kiss, tugging his T-shirt up and scraping my nails across his bare skin. I want him so fucking badly that if I don’t touch him, I feel like I might lose my mind.

  “Baby, someone’s coming in.”

  I jerk my head up to look over at the door as the knob turns. For a split second, I consider not moving, because I don’t want to lose this feeling.

  But I also don’t want my employees walking in on me making out on our display couch.

  “Shit.” I jump up and twist around before Gabriel can help me, and wince in pain at the movement.

  The door opens and Amy comes to a halt, with Liz bumping into her due to the abrupt stop.

  “Whoa. I didn’t expect you to be down here. Is everything okay?” Amy’s gaze shifts from my disheveled appearance to Gabriel.

  Calmly, I smooth my sweater down but stop myself from touching my hair. I’ll just look even guiltier.

  Thankfully, Gabriel comes to the rescue.

  “I asked for a tour. You guys do a great job with this place. It’s really fucking cool. I might even have to buy that banker’s lamp for my manager’s desk. She’ll freak out knowing it’s from Curated.”

  Amy beams with pride. “We would be happy to box it up for you, Mr. Legend.” Her gaze finds me, and from the heat burning my cheeks, there’s no way she misses my blush. “And it’s good to see you feeling better, Scar. If you give us another couple of hours, the whole third floor will be ready for you to play with.”

  She’s giving me an out of this awkward situation, and I grab onto it with both hands. Well, actually, I grab onto Gabriel’s with one.

  “We were just going to order some food. We’ll get out of your way. Just let me know when you’re ready for me, Ames.”

  “Deal, boss.”