Page 91 of Chasing the Dream

He shook his head and looked down at the blank card. What do you say to someone you’ve known for a long time yet, in some ways, feel like you’ve just met? How do you explain in such a tiny space how important that person has become and how you hate the idea of them leaving? How do you tell someone who once thought of you like a sibling or friend that you want to be so much more?

He chewed on the end of his pen until he came up with something, and then he quickly wrote it down before he chickened out. He tucked the card into the center of the chocolate bouquet and stood up from the table.

Then he went into his bedroom to find a blue shirt that matched the color of his eyes.

Chapter 25

Morgan answered the door in her “going out to dinner” outfit: pencil skirt, short-sleeved bodysuit, and high heels. Gabe greeted her with a smile and his hands behind his back.

“Don’t peek,” he said as she held the door open for him.

She closed her eyes and waited until she heard the door close behind him. “Can I look yet?”

“One second. Okay, open!”

She popped her eyes open to see him holding out a beautiful bouquet of chocolates. “For me?”

“Yes, unless I got the wrong house.”

“Don’t even think about giving my chocolates to somebody else!”

“Heaven help the man who comes between a woman and her chocolate.”

She reached out and took the bouquet. “Oh. There’s a card.”

“Yeah, about that.”

She plucked the card out of the center of the bouquet and was about to open it, but something in his voice made her hesitate.

“Open it later, when I’m not here.”

“Why?”

“I’m not a very good writer, and I’d rather you just read it later.”

“Okay,” she said, deciding not to argue with the man who’d just given her a giant bouquet of chocolate. “I guess I should put this in my room if you don’t want Maria to see.”

He shrugged. “She knows about our little spat, so you can tell her this was my apology gift.”

“Is that what this is?”

He nodded. “I hope you like it.”

“Like it? I love it! I would hug you if I weren’t holding this.”

“Well, put it down. Please.”

She laughed and carried the vase into the kitchen, where she set it down on the counter. Then she turned and stepped into his outstretched arms.

What started out as a friendly thank-you hug quickly turned into something else. It felt wonderful to be held by him again, especially since they hadn’t touched at all in the past few days.

She looped her arms around his neck and leaned her head against his shoulder, where she inhaled his clean, masculine scent. “Mmm. You smell good.”

“So do you,” he whispered against her hair.

“I wish we didn’t have to go work right now.”

“We don’t.”